Thu 18th
23:47

More Bobbies

For many years various campaigns have called for 900 or 1,000 Police officers in Southwark. Pretty random round numbers plucked out of thin air. And it is very appealing to campaign for more Police officers. In Dulwich we don't so much need more Police officers as much as Police officers organised back into Safer Neighbourhood Teams based in East Dulwich. We used to have 15 police officers between the Village ward and East Dulwich ward SNT teams with further dedicated school Police officers. They worked alternate weeks. So we regularly had 6 or 7 Police officers covering our area. As ...

Posted by James Barber on James BarberJames Barber
Thu 18th
22:56

CHTC statement

 

Posted by Eric Avebury on Eric Avebury

I attended Jeremy Thorpe's funeral yesterday and was moved by the eulogy given by Steven Atack, a longstanding good friend to Mr Thorpe. Mr Atack has kindly given me permission to publish it. Jeremy Thorpe Eulogy - by Steven Atack I have been asked by Jeremy's son Rupert, Jeremy's son to say a few words about the man I have known for forty years first as a political colleague and then as a dear and cherished friend. My journey on the Thorpe Express, for that is what life with Jeremy was like, began when I was elected National Chairman of ...

Posted by Maelo Manning on libdemchild, aged 15

[IMG: Morrissey Progress Report] As promised earlier, here are my first thoughts on Helena Morrissey's progress report which she published earlier today. There is so much in the report that I could go in to but these are the main points I've noticed. The party needed to come out of this well, and show good progress in 18 months. To a certain extent it does, and the people who needed to come out of it most well were the leader, chief executive and president, the holders of most power in the party and who are perceived by the public as ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Dear Editor [of the Hastings and the Rye Observers], Local Post Offices are the beating heart of our communities and provide a vital service for vulnerable and elderly residents across Hastings & Rye. That is why I am delighted that Liberal Democrats have thrown a crucial lifeline to Post Offices that will help keep the [...]

Posted by nickperrylibdem on Nick Perry For Hastings & Rye

It was recently brought to my attention that the lights in this large shopping centre car park are not working and it seems they have been like this for some time. The photo I took below (This evening) illustrates the problem! [IMG: rsz_photo1131] I have taken the matter up with the Maghull Group Company who own the car park and indeed the shopping centre. More news when I have it. As an aside I recall the lights being installed quite some years ago following an incident where someone was attacked and the darkness was thought to be a contributory factor. ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus

Dear Resident, Thank you as ever for your interest in what I've been up to here at home and down in Westminster on behalf of Cheadle constituency. I was delighted to hear that the Reverend Libby Lane is to become the Church of England's first female Bishop when she takes up her position as our Bishop in January. I understand that Mrs Lane has previously lived in Stockport so it will be great to welcome her back. Less good news that the Secretary of State responsible for planning, Eric Pickles, has decided to ignore the wishes of local residents by ...

So, those of you who know my podcasting habits will know that one of the few constants is The Wyrd Ways Rock Show. It's the ONLY music podcast that's lasted the distance for me - must be five or six years I've been listening to it now. There's several reasons for that. It helps me keep up with new music I'll (probably) like in this increasingly fragmented musical world, because it defiantly includes all kinds of rock and metal, and doesn't restrict itself to any of the increasingly narrow bands that modern bands like to slot themselves into. I like ...

I have posted about this before but at last the Penny has dropped with Sefton Council who have very belatedly put the missing white lines down around the Woodend Shops and most importantly around the speed cushions at the Meadows. [IMG: White lines at last!] White lines at last! Goodness know how they have got away with having no lines around the speed cushions, it must be pure chance that a cyclist has not been involved in an accident.

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus
Thu 18th
16:45

Evolution not revolution

For years some Peers' strategy in the face of all reforming governments has been resistance and then snail-like reluctance in retereat. Witness the hard fought, last ditch rear-guard actions of the hereditaries to the Blair government's removal of much of their number in 1998/99. Their watch word was always as little as possible, as slowly as possible. Now there seems to be a new mood, promoted enthusiastically by the ultra-conservatives to be found on some of the Labour benches. Their strategy is to demand a comprehensive, all embracing "Constitutional Convention", before ANY more modest individual improvements are to be agreed. ...

Posted by Lord Tyler on Lords of the Blog » Lord Tyler
YouGov
Thu 18th
16:39

The law is an ass

Mr Bumble says so and so do I. Today at the planning committee we found ourselves in a position where we either agreed to grant a Certificate of Lawful Development, or risk making the council subject to an expensive legal case which it would almost certainly lose. And the subject? Back in 1973 Stanley Urban District Council approved a planning application for four dwellings on a site in Burnopfield. Only three were built and now, forty years later, an applicant wants to erect the fourth. No matter that planning law has moved on, that the climate has changed, the roads ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple & Margaret Nealis

Last year, Helena Morrissey published her Report into the Processes and Culture of the Liberal Democrats and made 9 recommendations for change. Here are Stephen Tall's and Caron Lindsay's thoughts on it from then. It was always intended that Helena would come back and evaluate the party's progress on implementing her recommendations. Her progress report is published today and can be seen here. This is what she has written in the foreword: Considerable efforts have been made in a relatively short time, notwithstanding several new adverse revelations and complaints made since my original Report was published. I am satisfied that ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

#463953305 / gettyimages.com That's the title for the next Liberal Democrat History Group meeting, coming up on Monday 26 January 2015: As we enter the final months of the present Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government it is an appropriate time to look back to a previous partnership between the two parties in the 100th anniversary of its formation. In May 1915, following political and military setbacks, Liberal Prime Minister H H Asquith brought senior figures from the opposition parties into his government. The meeting will look in detail at the background to the formation of the coalition and go on to ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

A thought occurred to me this morning that with Gordon Brown stepping down as an MP at the next election, if David Cameron is re-elected, there'll be no former Prime Minister in Parliament. There'll be living former Prime Ministers – John Major, Tony Blair and Brown – but as the first two haven't taken seats in the Lords, they're not in Parliament. Assuming Brown chooses to follow their example (possibly confirming a new precedent), none of them will be in Parliament. That got me wondering about if it had ever happened before, and if so, when was the most recent ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

[IMG: European Flag] If you're interested in the evidence about UK interests at stake in EU membership, it's now available: over 2000 submissions, to 32 government reports. And the overwhelming evidence, from small business and large, from legal bodies and service providers, is that the EU serves British interests well, above all in the regulations that underpin the Single Market, but also in fighting cross-border crime and providing a multilateral framework for UK foreign policy. Eurosceptic Conservatives hoped that this exercise would demonstrate how Brussels regulations cramped British enterprise and undermined English common law. Four rounds of consultation over two ...

Posted by Lord William Wallace on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: skating_13xii07 005] It's 7 years to the day since Nick Clegg was formally elected leader of the Lib Dems. Over at the Telegraph, professional Labour contrarian Dan Hodges has penned what I'd call a fair-minded piece (Clegg's critics would call it a generous whitewash) which concludes: Nick Clegg has become the pantomime villain of British politics. A cipher for our discontent about politics, and the modern political class. But let's step back and look for a moment at the New World Clegg has had a hand in shaping through his own eyes. He has lead his party into government. ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Sheer genius. RT @66000mph: This currently my news story of 2014 pic.twitter.com/2PPvYrM3a3. #LostandFound — Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) December 17, 2014

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Twitter has been full of Labour types slating Liberal Democrat MPs for voting against Labour's parliamentary motion on the Bedroom Tax. When longstanding critics of the measure like Tim Farron and Julian Huppert vote with the Government, then there has to be a good reason. In fact, there are three. 1. This was just a Labour stunt It was a parliamentary game to go along with a data gathering exercise Labour have been doing over the past few days. Social media has lit up with a link to a site in Liberal Democrat colours asking people to sign up to ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: cuba] Yesterday, The United States of America normalised relations with Cuba, fifty-five years after the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power and twenty-five years after the Berlin Wall fell. That last figure tells the story of how overdue this move really was. The trade embargo still has yet to be lifted, and hopefully it will be very shortly. The ability for Cuba to trade with America would not only help lift many Cubans out of poverty, but also greatly weaken the Castro regime and move the country towards a saner political and economic path. I say all of ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

[IMG: Lynne Beaumont and Tim Prater on Horn Street bridge] Kent County Council Highways department have demanded more detailed information about projected traffic around Horn Street bridge as part of the Shorncliffe Barracks planning application, or have threatened to reccommend opposing approval of the application. In a letter to Shepway Development Control on 10 December Kent Highways say they need to see much more detailed traffic projections before they could accept the development, saying the submitted information is "not satisfactory". They've placed a "holding objection" on the development until more information is provided, and if it is not say they ...

Posted on Tim Prater
eUKhost

 

Posted on Tim Prater

You have to admire the energy and determination of Lucy Hurds and the Lib Dem team in Hereford and South Herefordshire. When I went to Hereford the other day, I found I was the most recent of a gaggle of peers and MPs (is that the right collective noun for Parliamentarians?) whom Lucy had persuaded to trek westwards. Going to rural seats always reminds me how different it is campaigning in the countryside. In my neck of the woods, the challenges are from entry phones and gated developments (how does anyone ever get in, or - as happened to one ...

Posted by Sally Hamwee on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: David-Cameron-and-Nick-Cl-006] There was a fascinating article in the Daily Mail yesterday. The top line was Cameron saying he won't do a deal with UKIP under any circumstances after the next election, no matter what. Well, Cameron didn't exactly say it; rather a "Downing Street aid" did. Anyhow, it all seems to have been done with the Prime Minister's blessing, so we can assume that he wants to get the message out there. He is also aiming to do down the idea that the Tories could do another deal with the Lib Dems. Minority government is voiced to be the ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

[IMG: Telferscot 1] Earlier this week I posted about the school where I am Chair of Governors, Telferscot Primary School in Balham. We are celebrating our recent acquisition of Outstanding status from Ofsted. That achievement mainly reflects on the school leadership, and in particular the Head Teacher, Jenny Martin. But what of the school's governors? I suspect hat quite a few of my readers are, or have been school governors. Our journey may be of particular interest. What is a school's Governing Body supposed to do? Unfortunately you will not much practical help from officialdom, local or national, well-intentioned though ...

Posted by Matthew on thinking liberal

[IMG: tring station crop] Train passengers at a Hertfordshire station and 25 others across the country are getting a share of £60million in government funding. It will be used to improve access making the stations including Tring step-free to help wheelchair users and people with pushchairs.

Posted by Nick Hollinghurst on Tring Liberal Democrats

Labour seat, death Liberal Democrat candidate- Marylyn Rayner

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

[IMG: Barnfield plan] Veolia has taken to the High Court to challenge the decision refusing the building of a £1bn energy-from-waste incinerator in New Barnfield, Hertfordshire. The planned plant on green-belt land at New Barnfield was judged "inappropriate" by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who went on to say that the benefits did not outweigh the potential harm to the green-belt. Veolia is challenging the decision on legal grounds, claiming the government department contradicted its own planning and policy rules. Herts County Council spent almost £6m trying to get the plans approved. [IMG: Celebrating Veolia's failed planning appeal for New Barnfield ...

Posted by Nick Hollinghurst on Tring Liberal Democrats

Conservative seat, death Liberal Democrat candidate- Annette Wookey

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

[IMG: Norweigan hotel room sign from Spyship] Spyship was a gripping BBC TV drama in the early 1980s which still entertains. Loosely based on the true story of the disappearance of the trawler FV Gaul, Spyship tells the tale of a fishing boat that sinks whilst on an espionage mission for the British during the Cold War. The son of one of the sailors lost at sea tries to find out the truth behind what happened. [IMG: Spyship - DVD cover] The six part drama is fairly slow moving, which gives the characters time to develop and the focus is ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

View image | gettyimages.com Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what our sample of Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. 747 party members responded – thank you – and we're publishing the full results. Yesterday, Fifa's independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia quit in protest over the handling of his report into bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Here's what Lib Dem members had to say about Fifa in our latest survey... Do you think the 2022 football FIFA World Cup should go ahead ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here on Tuesday. My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke – constructively, I hope. We live in an age of outrage in which a clumsily expressed remark will be punished without mercy. Just ask the Conservatives' Baroness Jenkin, whose genuine, long-standing commitment to tackle food poverty was brushed aside by opponents ready to vilify her for her ill-chosen ad lib that "poor people don't know how to cook". Or, alternatively, ask Labour's ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

ALDC members can now sign up for our local by-elections notification service. Whenever ALDC is notified of a by-election, it is posted to our website. From today, members who sign up will receive an email with details of all new elections within 24 hours of them appearing on our site. Sign Up in Three Simple [...]

Posted by Craig Whittall on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Why I Never retweet people trumpeting increases in employment (tags: ) Answer to why pupils perform differently not found by looking at girls & boys as separate groups (tags: ) Total Politics recs some political board games. I 2nd their rec of Junta, & I want to try Legislate?! now (tags: ) The science of magazines in doctor's waiting rooms (tags: ) A guide to the beard friendly mince pie (tags: ) Brighton cops arrest disabled man: for feeding the homeless (tags: ) Man rings police after neighbour posts "creepy" picture of Cliff Richard in his window (tags: ) It's ...

Why does the Federal Executive spend time discussing policy when (a) there's a Federal Policy Committee and (b) it often runs out of time to discuss things within its remit at its meetings? That was the question prompted in my mind when reading Chris White's useful write-up of the last Federal Executive meeting over on Lib Dem Voice. Here's the exchange we had in the comments: Mark Pack I'm interested by the reference to the FE discussing the party's views on devolution. As that's a policy matter, it doesn't immediately sound to me a good use of the FE's time. ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Back in October, I queried at the City Council's City Development Committee the proposed possible siting of an electric vehicle charging point on Perth Road, west of Shepherd's Loan, at the Sinderins junction - see right. Yesterday, along with a representative of West End Community Council, I met with the council's Head of Transportation and the Sustainable Transport Team Leader on-site to discuss this. Although the principle of providing public electric vehicle charging points is a good one, my concern about this possible site was sight lines for vehicles emerging from Pinegrove. I am pleased to say the City Council ...

Southport has a new visitor facility – a 'Drunk Tank' (Alcohol Recovery Centre) but I don't think Sefton Council will be adding it to the brown signs advertising the Town's attractions on its entrance roads. The Liverpool Echo has the story................

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus

An independent report by Lord Myners published today has concluded Vince Cable and the Government made "the right decisions" during the process of selling off Royal Mail. [IMG: royal mail sell off] The BBC explains the background: The probe was ordered by Mr Cable after a National Audit Office review into the privatisation of Royal Mail said too much emphasis was put on rushing the sale – the initial public offering (IPO) – at the expense of value for money. Shares in 60% of Royal Mail were sold in the flotation. A further 10% of stock was given to the ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

The Assembly has not had a formal meeting since Thursday but it has still been a busy week for most Assembly Members. On Friday I was back in Cardiff Bay in my capacity as a member of the Assembly Commission to meet staff at their Christmas brunch, and then onto Pyle, Morriston and Gorseinon for advice surgeries. I spent the weekend writing and printing a Christmas leaflet for my ward giving residents information on church services, refuse collections, PACT meetings, useful numbers, holiday chemist opening times and much more. I will gloss over the Swansea Tottenham game quickly and move ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black