Apparently number 10 Downing Street are about to ignore overwhelming support to a public consultation and block opening the right to carry out marriage to humanist celebrants in England and Wales. This would have brought England and Wales in line with Scotland where since 2005 humanists have been able to marry mixed sex couples. It would also put them at the forefront along with only USA and Australia in having humanists able to carry out marriage at all. It is a sign that those of use who were fighting for marriage equality were not only thinking about it as a ...
Iain Sinclair interviewed by John Rogers at The London Review Bookshop on 23 October 2014. He discusses his life in literature, film, London, John Clare, walking in Los Angeles, and more.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 402nd 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 (7 – 13 December, 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. Say it ain't so, Jo ...
On 8th November, the Guardian reported that MyCSP, the government's 'flagship mutual venture' was a shambles. If our experience is anything to go by, it still is. My husband applied for his civil service pension in early October. Shortly afterwards, our marriage certificate which had been enclosed with the application was returned to us. [...]
Kim Jong-Un would feel at home in Liverpool City Council Sometimes politics can be very complicated and local government can be very complex for outsiders (the ones that pay their taxes to make it work!) We deal in £millions in ... Continue reading →
Sun 14th
18:05
Buses hitting bridges – How on earth does a bus driver not know the height of their bus?
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above:- [IMG: Rock Ferry bus bridge crash] These stories pop up every now and again but why do they happen? Surely bus drivers should know the height of their bus and whether it will fit under a bridge. Good job no one was on the top deck of this bus! For K1 the mini-bus driver.
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 33% 34% 8% 18% 2% -1% 10-12/12 Online ComRes 28% 31% 9% 18% 7% -3% 28-30/11 Phone ICM 31% 32% 11% 14% 6% -1% 7-9/11 Phone Ashcroft 30% 31% 8% 19% 5% -1% 5-7/12 Phone MORI 32% 29% 9% 14% 7% 3% 8-10/11 Phone Opinium 29% 34% 6% 19% 6% -5% 3-4/12 ...
Perhaps it requires exposure to the brisk, clean air of a properly liberal country to get the old philosophical juices flowing but, finding myself in the Estonian countryside this afternoon, along with Ros and Cicero, talking about what is wrong with British politics, I find myself faintly perturbed by the relationship between political parties and political philosophies. Or, in the case of the United Kingdom, the evident lack of such a relationship. The Labour Party has little in common with socialism these days, and Conservatives behave in a way which is anything but. And, it dawns on me, Liberal Democrats ...
Earlier this week, I was asked by the Turkish newspaper Daily Zaman for a comment on credible rumours that a host of media professionals in Turkey were about to be arrested. Alas, this prediction has proved to be true and several high-profile journalists and broadcasters have been taken into custody, notably people connected with media [...]
Unlocking Liberalism: Life after the Coalition, published by Liberal Futures. Taking a leaf of out Lord Bonker's diary, and there is no shame in copying the Liberal blogfather, I will post my review of the book which has appeared in the most recent edition of Liberator in instalments. This is the third instalment, the Introduction can be found here and Part 2 here The Scottish dimension David Steel also contributes a chapter this book reflecting on the implications of the Scottish Referendum. Hibernophiles everywhere will be delighted to see references to the Darien Scheme, Aine Satyre on the Three Estates, ...
View image | gettyimages.com From the Daily Telegraph: The Deputy Prime Minister said he was absolutely sure that at the present time torture "cannot, will not and is not being used under any circumstances by British agencies or indeed on our behest". However an inquiry could still be needed if police and parliamentary probes fail to answer key questions, he said... Mr Clegg said during his weekly LBC radio phone-in: "Once the police investigations are done, once the report from the Intelligence and Security Committee is done, we should keep an open mind if we need to about moving to ...
Here's a single from 1978 that everyone knows, yet it was not a hit at the time. It has has a long afterlife through being used in commercials and films and being covered by an impressive list of artists. And today Allmusic calls it "an eternal three minutes of pop perfection".
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 15600 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Reasons to be careful about new analysis suggesting Lib Dems "set to lose several more seats than national polls with uniform swing would predict" (77 comments) by Stephen Tall Game on in Gordon! Liberal Democrat Christine Jardine has to defend seat against former First Minister Salmond (25 comments) by Caron Lindsay Clegg's letter to Burnham: "you may have inadvertently misled" Commons on Labour's NHS privatisation record (31 comments) by The Voice Opinion: Is the Centre Ground ...
Sun 14th
11:55
It's not just forecasting the future economists have trouble with; they're not so hot on the past ei...
Continuing my occasional series in how economic figures often turn out to be massively wrong, not only about the future but also in the much easier task of recording the past too, here is a graph from the Office for Budget Responsibility showing how much change there has been in estimates of business investment: [IMG: Business investement graph] Note in particular what happened with the 2013 revision – making huge changes to the figures for a decade earlier – and also how the 2014 revision shows investment now above the pre-crash peak when before it wasn't close. As I wrote ...
After the problems of getting Absolutely Free released, Frank Zappa quickly ran into more record label problems, this time over an album to be titled Lumpy Gravy. Zappa had signed with Capitol records as a solo artist and, working with Nik Venet as "producer" (although Venet was very hands-off, and essentially left Zappa to his [...]
Today' Telegraph reports on the comments of Liberal Democrats Cabinet Minister, Vince Cable that there should be a judge-led inquiry into Britain's alleged involvement in US torture if investigations by MPs and police fail to restore public confidence. The calls come as Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chair of the Commons' Intelligence and Security Committee, strongly hinted former prime minister Tony Blair and former foreign secretary Jack Straw will be ordered to give evidence on what they knew. The Tory grandee has requested America hand over redacted sections of a controversial Senate report into CIA's involvement in torture that make mention of ...
Sun 14th
11:32
Dear Liberal Democrat MPs: Judicial review restrictions are a messy compromise too far
Dear Liberal Democrat MPs, Tomorrow you will be asked for the second time amendments which the House of Lords has made to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill. The Government wants you to severely restrict the right of citizens and ... Continue reading →
Sun 14th
11:00
Vince speaks out against "devastating and ideologically driven" Tory spending cuts plan
[IMG: Vince Cable Social Liberal Forum conference Jul 19 2014 Photo by Paul Walter] The Tories have been "well behaved" over the past few years because the Liberal Democrats have kept them on a tight leash, apparently. So said Vince Cable on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. He said that we were now getting a glimpse of what they would be like without that leash, adding that the consequences of their spending decisions would be that there would be around half as much money to spend on Police, defence, local government and social care. He highlighted the differences between ...
View Poll: Breakfast [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: 640px-A-Charlie-Brown-Christmas-image-2] For anyone who had a North American childhood, this time of year calls up memories of the many television specials that dotted the landscape annually. There was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", a wonderful twenty-minute cartoon in which Boris Karloff voiced a green goblin Scrooge-like creature. This was unfortunately partially ruined by a DNA-changingly awful Jim Carrey live action feature film made near the turn of the century with the same title and premise. It padded out the story to over an hour and a half, filling it in with boring back-story. Then there was "Rudolph the Red ...
View image | gettyimages.com Four months after I covered the hefty increase in election expense limits for the 2015 general election on this site (such as here), The Observer has splashed on its front page no less the news that these new limits have "emerged". In fairness, the piece does point out that the Labour Party didn't notice them going through Parliament but still, if you want to know the news months before it emerges in the national media, do keep reading this site... (On the substance, I think the increases are sensible as in the past there has been ...
Sun 14th
09:41Dear Liberal Democrat MPs: Judicial Review restrictions are a messy compromise too far.
Dear Liberal Democrat MPs, Tomorrow you will be asked for the second time amendments which the House of Lords has made to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill. The Government wants you to severely restrict the right of citizens and organisations to use Judicial Review to examine its decisions and those of local authorities. This interferes with a key check on government power. I don't think any of you would have come up with this idea on your own. The Liberal Democrats are there to challenge entrenched power and vested interests, after all. This measure is one of those "messy ...
From earlier this week, here's Nick Clegg's message for Human Rights Day: The fight for global human rights doesn't begin and end on 10 December. But Human Rights Day is a reminder of the struggles that human rights activists around the world face every single day while working to secure equal rights for those women, men and children still denied them. No person, no country can ever truly prosper without these basic freedoms - the rights of free expression, democratic participation and equality before the law, the right to peaceful protest, the right to be educated and the opportunity to ...
Jeremy Corbyn wins Parliamentary Beard of the Year for record 5th time - Thurso was ROBBED (tags: ) Skinny Puppy demand $666,000 royalties from U.S. govt for using music in Guantanamo torture Of the other bands listed David Gray would be by FAR the worst torture I think (tags: ) Guy invents Q-tips by watching his wife invent Q-tips. They should return to their original name IMHO I mean: who wouldn't buy more of them if they went back to being called Baby Gays? :) (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Sun 14th
08:57Sefton's Local Plan – Who really is behind the anonymous leaflet delivered around Maghull &...
My last posting on this matter – see link above – drew an interesting response, from a person that I can't trace the address of, who seems to have decided for some very odd reason that I may have be involved in distributing said anonymous leaflet in Maghull & Lydiate! [IMG: This is the anonymous leaflet which was recently delivered across Lydiate & Maghull Click on the image to enlarge it] This is the anonymous leaflet which was recently delivered across Lydiate & Maghull. Click on the image to enlarge it But what stood out from the response was ...
The sign at Sulis Manor Road opposite Poplar Road has been damaged. We have asked for this to be repaired.
Quite a few residents have queried the extended period that temporary traffic lights have been operating on Perth Road, just west of Windsor Street. The City Council has now updated me as follows : "The temporary traffic lights currently on Perth Road at Windsor Street belong to Scotland Gas Networks. SGN have been renewing the mains in several west end streets and this section of Perth Road is part of this project. The temp lights have been listed in our weekly road report since they were set up. The reason for the lack of site personnel is that work on ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black has welcomed changes to the blue badge scheme announced by the Minister for Economy, Science and Transport today. In a statement issued to Assembly Members (attached) the Minister announced that she will be issuing revised Regulations, which will become effective on 15 December, 2014, so that people who would receive Personal Independence Payments (PIP) at the highest level for mobility activity but who are not of working age and therefore unable to apply for PIP will be eligible for a blue badge. She has also said that she ...
