I have had another letter on same-sex marriage published in the Belfast Telegraph. IT seems that much of the coverage of the gay marriage cake affair has portrayed it as Christians on one side and gay people on the other. It is too easy for people to forget that some of us are both. There [...]
Ciaron O'Reilly very kindly spoke at a political session I hosted in 2013 on Bradley/Chelsea Manning Ciaron O'Reilly, a non-violent Catholic pacifist has been arrested in Brisbane, Australia, where the G20 is taking place. The offence against Ciaron? It is for being a 'prohibited person'. What on earth does a 'prohibited person' mean? Some things just stop you in your tracks and this one did it for me. I have only ever seen the word 'prohibited' being used at the airport or certain public places where people are prohibited from carrying dangerous things such as sharp metal objects or glass. ...
I don't often write on national topics on this blog. I don't often write on anything as dull sounding as the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee. But this quiet committee, which is pretty much ignored by the media, is gradually compiling a portfolio of common sense reforms. This week, the committee [...]
I often sing the praises of the Maghull in Bloom volunteers but stay with me as this is a different angle. You see with 2014 being the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1 the volunteers ran a competition amongst local schools and young people to design new WW1 memorial posters to go on the planters in Maghull's Central Square Shopping Centre. There are quite a few to see but here are a couple that I took photo's of recently and they fit nicely with the theme of this blog site in 2014. Well done to all the youngsters who ...
Mindfulness II I am having series doubts to the efficacy of mindfulness regarding my mental health condition(s). The nature of my depression is clinical due to chemical imbalances, ' ...the transtmitter chemicals, serotonin and noradrenaline' (Cantopher 2012), fail. In his words, it is akin to '18amps through a13 amp fuse'. Something is going to blow. My experience with mindfulness so far has been dealing with situational depression. Whilst the societal economic environment has a direct influence on the depression, it is by no means the main cause. Mindfulness is trying to get me to 'radically accept' situations, which I find ...
I fear the days of Mosley are returning, at least to Rochester As a liberal, and an opened minded person I firmly believe in the freedom of speech for all. This is tempered with the addendum that you can say what you want as long as it does not interfere with another person's freedoms. This said, I am horrified that Britain First have come to Rochester yet again. Reports say 50 Britain First "activists" in uniformed dress arrived at Rochester railway station attempting to march up the High Street with Union Jacks unfurled but we're held off by 100 odd ...
I've got to be honest, I can't share Malcolm Bruce's cautious optimism about the Government's proposed counter-terrorism measures. Denying our own citizens the right to come back to our country without much mention of testing the evidence against them seems pretty drastic to me. When you consider that it's likely that some of that evidence is likely to be held in secret and therefore not challengeable by the accused person. We could have situations where young muslim men are denied the right to travel or to return to this country unfairly. Malcolm says that nobody will be made stateless – ...
I'd never heard of Julien Blanc till a few days ago. I see him referred to in the press as a "pick up artist." In itself the term is sexist and pretty disgraceful, but it fails to articulate the horrid reality of what this man does. Jenn Li wrote about his so-called act in the Independent recently: In Blanc's videos his treatment of women is – to put it lightly – horrifying. There are videos of him going up to women, clasping their throats, while putting his finger on his lips, saying "shhh".He has decided to document this abuse by ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Kirsty Williams gives her keynote speech to the Welsh Conference today. She's had a barnstormer of a week. First of all, on Monday, she gave a speech to the Electoral Reform Society in Wales in which she called for more Assembly Members and for Assembly Members to be subject to recall, resulting in this very on message headline: [IMG: More AMs for stronger economy] Her idea proved popular in this poll for Wales online [IMG: Wales recall poll] Then, the Welsh Liberal Democrats took their campaign to scrap the Severn Bridge tolls to the Senedd, Kirsty ...
Sat 15th
13:30
Are you a Federal Conference representative? You have just five days left to vote in the Federal Com...
So, here's all you need to know. How do I vote? Voting papers were distributed by email to all those federal voting representatives for whom the party had an email address on the morning of Monday 3 November. It came from Electoral Reform Services and has a two part security code and a link to enable you to vote. Those for whom the party did not have an email address were sent a letter advising them how to vote online and if they weren't able to do that, to contact LDHQ for advice. If you haven't had either of these ...
We've occasionally covered Miriam Gonzalez Durantez's Inspiring Women campaign. This week the Guardian covered an event which was dedicated to talking to girls about careers in the fashion industry. Groups of eight students grill each of the women in turn. Leila, 14, who wants to be a journalist, dives straight in and asks Gonzalez Durantez: "Is your job more challenging fun or a fun challenge?", "Where would you be now if you weren't here?" and "What advice would you give your 13-year-old self?" On Daisy Lowe's table, the atmosphere is giddy. "How tall are you?" asks one girl. "Are you ...
#487337325 / gettyimages.com Here's an intriguing idea: Cloud&Heat is a cloud infrastructure company that has started distributing its servers to people who want to store them in exchange for free heat in their homes or offices. Since servers generate so much excess heat and cloud companies have to spend a lot to cool them, the idea to repurpose the waste heat isn't new... Customers pay to have a Cloud&Heat fire-proof cabinet installed in their homes or offices (the cost is comparable to installing a standard heating system). Then Cloud&Heat pays for the electricity and Internet service the cabinet needs and ...
York's The Press wins our Headline of the Day Award.
#56801284 / gettyimages.com The 2015 Spring Liberal Democrat Federal Conference will be held in Liverpool on 13-15 March. The deadlines for submitting motions etc. are: Drafting advice (motions): 1pm, 17 December Motions deadline: 1pm, 7 January Drafting advice (amendments and emergency motions): 1pm, 24 February Amendments, emergency motions and questions deadline: 1pm, 10 March Registration is not yet open for conference but will be in the next few weeks, before Christmas.
Recently published Government figures show there were more than 750,000 incidents of fly-tipping last year. Analysis of the data by the Guardian shows Newham, east London, was the worst-offending borough, with more than 22 incidents per 100 people last year. According to the paper, the top ten worst local authorities per 100 people is dominated by London boroughs, with Haringey, Enfield and Southwark following Newham. Only two areas outside the capital – Burnley and Great Yarmouth - appear in the top ten. This took my eye because of the recently documented (on this blog site) problem areas for fly-tipping in ...
[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] Seven principal by-elections were held yesterday. In Cambridge, Liberal Democrat candidate Viki Sanders gained a seat from Labour in Queen Edith's to add to the party's victory in the ward in May's local elections. Viki polled 36.5% of the vote to finish 143 votes clear of the Labour candidate. When summarising the win, Cambridgeshire County Councillor Amanda Taylor, who had been assisting with Viki's campaign said, "Helpfully assisted by a vacuous Labour campaign, the victory was essentially based upon a routine of all-year-round ALDC-style activity and the delivery of regular leaflets and surveys, combined ...
[IMG: Kool & the Gang] When people hear the name of the band Kool and the Gang, they tend to think of "Celebration", or perhaps the string of other cheesy disco hits the band produced in the late 70's and early 80's. Or they think of that and "Jungle Boogie", a song that was featured on the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack, and wonder what the band must have been taking when they seemed to transform from purveyors of synth drowned ballads into a badass funk machine. Of course, the transformation was the other way round: the key piece of information those ...
#450994002 / gettyimages.com The Evening Standard reports: A High Court judge has thrown out a second legal challenge to the government's moves to send a takeover squad in to run Tower Hamlets council. In a fresh blow to the borough's controversial Mayor, Lutfur Rahman, a judge blocked a judicial review against the unusual step ordered by cabinet minister Eric Pickles. Tower Hamlets council launched the review when the government appointed external inspectors to report on Tower Hamlets amid allegations of "mismanagement of public money". At an earlier High Court hearing in August a judge branded the application "hopeless" – but ...
Peter Dazeley photographs the unseen parts of London - BBC News (tags: ) Government petition to replace the Benefit System with a Universal Basic Income (I'd love to see this debated) (tags: ) Tower of London poppies obliterated by machine guns (tags: ) Lovely article by Vince Cable on Alan Turing <3 (tags: ) 21 Incredibly Sexist Questions From The "Apprentice" Relationship Guru Board Game (tags: ) T-Rex Trying... - I identify with T-Rex Trying. I WANT to do stuff but just don't have the equipment... :/ (tags: ) I voted in this survey (tags: ) Author Philip Ardagh beard ...
A planning application has been submitted for a detached three-bedroom house on the site of the domestic garage adjacent to Brook Cottage, Fishmore Road (14/04637/FUL). The planning statement gives the context for the proposed development: The client's son is looking to move back to his home town with his partner, both to live and work [...]
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling on all parties in the National Assembly to support the Liberal Democrat policy of scrapping the Severn Bridge tolls when the bridges come back into public ownership. The Severn Crossings are currently managed by a private concessionaire. The concession will end when a revenue target collected from tolls is reached. Current forecasts are that the concession will end in 2018. Once the tolls are transferred into public ownership and debts are repaid, the Liberal Democrats have pledged to scrap the tolls completely. Scrapping the tolls will be a manifesto commitment in the up and ...
Sat 15th
05:43
Severn Bridge Tolls to go up again and still it is only the Lib Dems who want to scrap them
It was only a few days ago that the Welsh Assembly debated a Liberal Democrats motion to abolish the tolls on the Severn Bridge and now the Western Mail reports that the cost of entering Wales is to rise again: The tolls cost just 12p when the first Severn bridge opened but have risen sharply in recent years and will be £1 more expensive than five years ago after January's rise. Heavy goods lorries will see tolls rise to just 40p shy of £20. Severn River Crossing PLC said that tolls for cars and motor caravans will increase from £6.40 ...
Today has been a bad day. However, tomorrow is Thought Bubble, so things should improve. There will probably be no posts here until Monday, but I'm *hoping* to get my thoughts on Batman's (rather racist) wartime adventures posted to my Patreon site at some point over the weekend. No promises though — Thought Bubble weekend [...]
I am not a campaigning guru by any stretch of the imagination. I have never artworked a piece of literature, never mind written a campaign plan or come up with a political slogan. Yet even I winced when I saw ... Continue reading →
