[IMG: 4635240754_eb76ddc5e5_m] When the history of this Coalition government is written a substantial chapter will no doubt be devoted to contrasting the vaulting ambitions of IDS's welfare reform agenda with the incompetence and inhumanity of its implementation. Like some sort of inverted alchemist IDS has the ability to turn golden prospects into practices of base metal. In his Times column on Friday Philip Collins offered a magisterial overview of the welfare reform agenda under the title Beware the march of IDS and his gothic folly. Collins likens Universal Credit (UC) - the centrepiece of IDS's grand scheme - to the ...
Camberwell, Walworth Road and Borough Road stations were closed during WWI. They were already dieing stations after the tram network covered SE London. Why wait up to 15 mins for a train when a tram will be along every minute or so. WWI was just the final excuse closing these and other stations to release manpower. But the trams closed in the early 1950′s leaving Camberwell and Walworth Road without decent public transport. The zillions of buses are helpful but are not the same as a public mass transit system. We've had a large number of campaigns for a new ...
Sun 30th
21:41
Dear members who read Liberal Democrat Voice, it seems that we aren't as representative as you thoug...
So, Sal Brinton is the new President of the Liberal Democrats, a result which seems to have come as a surprise to some people. Me, I had no clue in advance of the declaration, as the Presidential campaigns almost entirely bypassed Mid Suffolk, which is my connection to what one might describe as 'ordinary members' (they aren't ordinary, as I note here). Nobody visited us, nobody approached any of our members to canvass support on their behalf as far as I can tell, and all we saw was the mailing and, for those of us on e-mail, three messages from ...
I'm sure that someone will be able to recognise where this photograph of my father's was taken fairly easily, but it's defeated my brain as well as the well-known image search engine I've tried. [IMG: Devon village - 1950s] The picture is from the mid-1950s and is most likely to be somewhere in Devon, probably South or East Devon judging by the other slides in the box that it came from. The two most obvious landmarks are the Beach House Hotel, opposite what is presumably a restaurant or tea room called The Lobster Pot. Unsurprisingly, there are far too many ...
Derived from Jonathan Davies's helpful comment on Lib Dem Voice: Total votes cast: 16,809 Of which: 4,421 online and 12,388 via the post First preferences in the online votes: Sal Brinton 1,864 (42%) Daisy Cooper 1,678 (38%) Liz Lynne 873 (20%) First preferences in the postal votes: Sal Brinton 6,001 (48%) Daisy Cooper 2,852 (23%) Liz Lynne 3,516 (28%)
It's been a brilliant, lively and fun weekend here in Ludlow. I take my hat off (a rare event) to the town council, the festival organisers, Cwm Harry and everyone who contributed to fabulous weekend. The Medieval Fayre was simply wonderful, with a great atmosphere, unusually mild weather and great recycling. The Christmas Lights switch [...]
Nearly 400 people attended last night's Abbotswood Christmas Event. The Abbotswood Primary School Choir set the mood by singing beautifully. Father Christmas arrived in a police car - fortunately, there was no sign of handcuffs! We discovered that government ministers make very good elves - we had two surprise visitors, our local MP Steve Webb, and Ed Davey the Minsiter for Energy and Climate Change. Steve Webb was particularly pleased when he was introduced to Santa's Dad! It was lovely to see so many people at the event - the community feel is really starting to return to Abbotswood. Many ...
I know those of you in the US gave thanks on Thursday, but the expat USians of my acquaintance who live in the UK tend to do it over the weekend; indeed [IMG: [personal profile] ] strangecharm is having her thanksgiving party as I type. So I don't feel overly late in giving thanks for the things I am grateful for right now: My family - not just in blood terms, but all y'all who are there for me when I need you. You know who you are. Calderdale Liberal Democrats - yes, we're troublemakers. Yes, we wind people up ...
This afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in hedgerow planting at Riverside Nature Park, with a great team of well over 20 volunteers. The Woodland Trust had kindly donated 450 native trees to Friends of Riverside Nature Park and we planted them to form a new hedge in the park. Here's a couple of photos from this afternoon : Alan Young and myself - team effort on digging and planting! The hedgerow beginning to take shape!
Bangladesh conference last Thursday.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 400th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (23 -,29 November 2014), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. The silver lining to UKIP's cloud ...
If my feet thought they were going to have a quiet week, they were rudely awakened to the reality of a large tonnage of Focus newsletters arriving at lunchtime. 2000 copies of my Sunniside Focuses just waiting to be delivered, sitting expectantly in my living room. It is the first leaflet to announce my selection for the constituency. Labour are missing so much by not bothering to produce
Watch the new video from Amnesty International UK: You can also watch this on YouTube.
The Blues Council were reckoned to be one of the best Scottish bands of their era, but they released only one single. This track is the B-side of Baby Don't Look Down. This short career came about because in 1965 their van crashed while they were touring and their bass player and singer both died. The bass player was James Giffen and the singer was Fraser Calder. He is no relation as far as I know, but I thought he should be remembered on this blog. In 1972, when a member of Stone the Crows, the Blues Council's guitarist Les ...
Work is currently under way to widen the carriageway on the northern side of Westerleigh Road near on the the Kidney Hill junction to accommodate a new refuge for the cycle route crossing. If you've driven out of Westerleigh towards Bristol recently you will have encountered the temporary traffic lights we warned about a couple of weeks ago. The funds currently available for cycling schemes won't cover much more work, however. The major part of the scheme will be to bypass Westerleigh on a largely off-road track that will emerge under an unused arch of the railway bridge near the ...
Sun 30th
17:10
That LibDemVoice survey on the party presidency (which, ahem, called it wrong): 8 thoughts from me
What happened there, then? I refer to the LibDemVoice survey of party members reported here on Wednesday which showed Daisy Cooper with a clear lead over Sal Brinton in the contest for party president; when actual votes were counted the result was reversed. Is this moment to the LDV surveys what the 1992 election was to the pollsters? In haste, here are a few initial thoughts from me... 1. The sample itself is drawn from the 1,500+ current Lib Dems signed up to our members-only forum. This is therefore self-selecting; as is who chooses to respond. It isn't the random ...
My emotions and behaviours appear to be extremely cyclical. Case in point: the release of the Jurassic World and Star Wars trailers in the same week triggered off my "geeky obsessive" cycle which will eventually peter out to be replaced by a Mormon history or a Scientology obsessive cycle. A similar thing happens when it comes to my political outlook. I've been quiet on here because, right now, I'm in my disillusioned phase. Our Government is trying to destroy freedom of movement (ironically 25 years after the Berlin Wall fell we're busy trying to put up barriers again) and threatens ...
Here are the latest national voting intention figures from each of the main pollsters. To put the numbers into longer context, take a look at my database of polling figures going back to 1945, which is updated quarterly. Con Lab LibDem UKIP Green Con lead Fieldwork Method ComRes 30% 34% 8% 19% 3% -4% 12-14/11 Online ComRes 30% 30% 9% 19% 4% 0% 24-26/10 Phone ICM 31% 32% 11% 14% 6% -1% 7-9/11 Phone Ashcroft 27% 32% 7% 18% 7% -5% 21-23/11 Phone MORI 32% 29% 9% 14% 7% 3% 8-10/11 Phone Opinium 30% 33% 7% 19% 4% -3% 18-20/11 ...
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 17,200 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Opinion: Taxing stuff: What George Monbiot got wrong (41 comments) by Max Trueman (an oldie from 2011) Alex Folkes: Cornwall Council and its Chief Executive have serious questions to answer (25 comments) by Stephen Tall The "nowcast" for 2015 which gives the Lib Dems 28 MPs (78 comments) by Stephen Tall Should LDV put up a post if and when a blogger leaves the party? (45 comments) by Paul Walter Election for Lib Dem Party President: ...
#3252562 / gettyimages.com I used to be very closely involved in running the Lib Dem Voice surveys of party members (until I stood down from the editorial team) and the FAQ I wrote two years ago gave then a pretty solid set of reasons why they were very likely to be accurately representing the party membership overall. Since then there have been some snippets of further supporting evidence (extracts from the party's own polling of its members I've unofficial seen) but that gets completely knocked sideways by what Nick Barlow aptly describes as the LDV polls 'Literary Digest moment', a ...
As far as party presidential elections go, this was not one to set the pulses racing. That said, it has been one that should have a profound effect on how we "do" democracy in future - and it has been one that has asked questions about the kind of figurehead the party needs at a key time. Before entering into any kind of analysis, it is right to congratulate Sal Brinton on her victory in the election. She will serve as the next Liberal Democrat president when Tim Farron's term expires at the end of the year. The result, announced ...
Linda Riordan's latest annual report is being delivered to houses across Halifax. In it she makes a number of claims about the economic situation in Halifax which are misleading and paint a far gloomier picture than the reality. Linda should stop talking down the town, and be proud of Halifax and its economic turnaround. Let's have a look at her claims: Unemployment has increased, job prospects have decreased and a number of small and medium sized businesses have struggled to survive in the recession – Annual Report Winter 2014 The truth is unemployment has fallen in the three years since ...
There will be two Christmas markets in the Whickham area next weekend which I am helping to run. The first is being hosted by Lighting Up Whickham on Saturday 6th December and will be in a marquee on St Mary's Green. Opening times will be 10am to 2pm. We will be using a shop on St Mary's Green as well for extra stalls and for Santa's grotto. The 2nd is at Marley Hill Community Centre on Sunday
Sun 30th
10:55
Grab a coffee and take a read: crypto haiku and the emotional stories behind passwords
[IMG: Facebook login screen] Colleagues in my different jobs over the years know me as the one who can get a little bit fanatical about password security, mocking obvious passwords, proselytizing about using password safes, picking up on passwords left in plain sight on post-it notes and even sometimes replacing said post-it note with an apparently identical one, but with the wrong password written on it. One reason for all this is security. Another is convenience. People are off ill, away on holiday or uncontactable, and if a password is locked up in their memory or in their wallet when ...
#454218494 / gettyimages.com Nigel Farage seems to be everywhere these days (except for turning up to propose his own motion). But, curiously, there is one fairly crucial place he isn't. He's been selected as UKIP candidate for Thanet South and we've been told to expect even more wall-to-wall coverage of the Farage visage, as he seizes a seat at Westminster. So you'd expect Nigel Farage to be digging in at Thanet South wouldn't you? You know the sort of thing: being regularly spotted at Thanet Women's Institute meetings, holding Thanet babies, holding forth about Thanet potholes....that sort of thing. Well, ...
Sun 30th
10:32
In ten years time, the present day debate about immigration will seem weird and archaic
[IMG: 384px-Texas_FM_2024] The Daily Telegraph has a feature on today about what the world will look like in ten years time, as seen through the lens of Cameron's immigration speech. As even the Telegraph had to admit, the tone of the debate at present will seem completely bizarre in a decade's time for several reasons. In 2024, it will be obvious to everyone that we'll be facing a shortage of the young people required to make the economy function. In other words, we will need workers from outside of the British born in order to keep the lights on. The ...
This morning we have George Osborne all over the media talking about how wonderful it is that he's able to give £2 billion to the NHS. Let's bear in mind that Norman Lamb has been pushing for a cash injection for some time. All he gets is billing on the Liberal Democrat website for the months of tenacious evidence building and making the case for further investment. I was quite pained to see Simon Hughes put out round the news channels on Wednesday to promote the Counter Terrorism Bill. While he was in the BBC News Channel studio, David Anderson ...
It is a general rule of politics of course that you cannot choose who supports you but UKIP have particular problems in that regard. The Independent reports that Nick Griffin, the former leader of the far, far-right British National Party, has said he is planning on voting for Ukip at the next general election.# Now that is not UKIP's fault apart from the fact that they clearly have policies that appeal to former BNP MEPs. Oh and Nigel Farage said earlier this year that he was "quite proud" of taking votes from the BNP. So I am afraid that it ...
Sun 30th
09:50
Lib Dem Voice got the presidential race badly wrong, and it raises questions about their surveys
[IMG: dewey] So, Lib Dem Voice took the route of the Literary Digest as their survey got the result of the presidential election completely wrong. They predicted that the first round results would be 52% for Daisy Cooper, 30% for Sal Brinton and 18% for Liz Lynne, with the actual result being 47% for Brinton, 27% for Cooper and 26% for Lynne. That's one candidate given almost double the votes she actually got, while the other two are underestimated by about 50% each. Basically, as a prediction of the result, it's not much better than a random number generator would ...
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58172 Registration Date: 14/11/2014 Location: 25 Guest Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 3DJ Proposal: Single storey extension at rear Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
www.northernrail.org/news/7539 Northern Rail – see link above – joined in the 2014 men's health campaign and here, snapped at Southport Station, is one of their 150 diesel units with facial hair:- [IMG: rsz_150_northern_rail_dmu_at_southport_with_facial_hair] In fact it is the very unit that they launched their charity campaign with for November 2014. The photo above is amongst those on my Flickr site at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
I have long been fascinated by this former railway station that once served the ocean liners arriving and departing from Liverpool. I have recently purchased another old photo of it, this time showing a couple of the tank engines that would bring the coaches to and fro on the last leg of the journey. The photo is undated. [IMG: rsz_liverpool_riverside_tank_engines] My previous posts on this are at:- and The photo above is amongst those on my Flickr site at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
Save the Children trying to contain damage from awarding Tony Blair an award (tags: ) 11 Film Posters Improved By Mark Kermode's Scathing Reviews - Keith Lemon is the best one (tags: ) I believe Shia LaBeouf (and Piers Morgan is a rape apologist rat turd) - v sweary but right (tags: ) The image making the rounds of MPs debating welfare and pay rises? A fraud, of course. (tags: ) Abusive student relationships: 'he raped me, then he broke up with me' (tw obvs) (tags: ) Bless you @ArfurSmith - you're not ruining MY fun you're trying to make ...
A worrying story which the Liverpool Echo is carrying.
[IMG: Tim Farron Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul Walter] The Lib Dems now have a President-elect: yesterday it was announced that Sal Brinton had won the only post other than that of party leader subject to an all-member ballot. Congratulations to her; and a big thanks to runner-up Daisy Cooper as well as Liz Lynne for ensuring a healthy debate. However, this post isn't about them, it's about the current President (until 31st December, when the second of his two-year terms expire), Tim Farron. Tim might not have been party president. Initially he stood for ...
I have called on Dundee City Council to consider having two free parking Saturdays in the City Centre's council-owned car parks in the run-up to Christmas to boost the attractiveness of the city to the wider region for Christmas shopping. I have also said the City Council should look for additional ways to help promote the city's district shopping centres such as Perth Road, Broughty Ferry, Blackness Road, Nethergate/South Tay Street/West Port and Lochee in the run-up to Christmas. I contacted the City Council's Head of Transportation about the Saturday free parking suggestion and received the following response : "This ...
A reminder that just because someone has posted something on social media that doesn't mean it's true. To be clear these were not mistakes. The people who made them knew they were fibbing. They had to take a screenshot of PMQs or MPs debating tuition fees in 2004 and write a caption below it saying [...]
As part of a debate on faith tourism in the National Assembly for Wales the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the Welsh Government to do more to link up and promote religious sites as part of its Faith Tourism Action Plan. Tourism is a vital part of the Welsh economy and our nation is replete with religious sites which need to be given greater prominence as part of the Government's wider Action Plan. Wales has a proud religious heritage with sites such as Strata Florida in Ceredigion, Abbey Cwm-hir and Coleg Trefecca in Powys and Llanthony Abbey in Monmouthshire ...
Posters for awful films should be required to include quotes of Mark Kermode slagging them off For me as a Christian, the Gospel of Mark is a book in the New Testament written by Saint Mark. As a film fan, however, they are Mark Kermode's reviews. I don't think he's not always right, I'm no [...]
Today the Liberal Democrats announced their new President, Sal Brinton. She wasn't my first preference, but I'm sure she'll do a very good job — people who work in equalities stuff tell me that she's extremely good on that, especially. She'll have to work very hard, though, to be as good as the outgoing President, [...]
Let's hear it for D9009 'Alycdion' and 55019 'Royal Highland Fusilier'.
