I have been posting my review of Unlocking Liberalism in instalments. Below is the full version with added observations. Firstly I should record what an excellent initiative this is and how impressive are the collection of authors that Liberal Futures have gathered. Secondly given how impressive the book is and how professionally it has been produced and the quality of the writing it is a mystery to me why the group did not invest a fraction of the time and effort they had put in to launch the publication. At no cost they could have had a website /blog to ...
Craig Murray has always been a free spirit. As an ambassador, he favoured human rights over the war on terror. He was always happy to criticise the Liberal Democrats when he was a member, as are many of us. He left us in 2011 and joined the SNP to campaign for Scottish independence and was a shoo-in for the seat of Falkirk which the SNP hope to win. Unfortunately, he came up against the SNP's approval process and lost. Here's what he had to say on his own blog: Upset and depressed after being barred from the SNP candidates' register ...
My first appointment as a teacher was in the late 50s, to a school in Northolt, outer London. There discipline was maintained by the award to any pupil who offended against the school's ethos of a "black mark." Recipients of these were made to stand up in one of the daily assemblies and were were given a public lambasting by our somewhat ferocious Scottish headmaster. I don't recall any corresponding "white mark" for achievements of which the school approved, but maybe there was one. However, when in the early 70 I took over my post as deputy headmaster of Port ...
The 1970s say the dawn of the modern "Good Morning" leaflet, pioneered by the Liberal Party. But before them came the pseudo-telegram leaflets as seen in these two examples from the October 1974 election, the first from the Tories and the second from the Liberals. [IMG: Eric Morley - Dulwich - Oct 1974 - Conservative Party] [IMG: Robert Pincham - Leominster - Oct 1974 - Liberal Party] Eric Morley, the Conservative candidate in Dulwich, did not win in October 1974 and then also missed out – by a tiny 122 vote margin – in the succeeding 1979 general election. He ...
Low oil prices – a threat to the dollar – Some interesting speculation from Jim Bliss on the longer-term implications of the falling oil price and crashing rouble. Ayn Rand Reviews Children's Movies – Something for the family that hates each other. Ayn Rand helped the FBI investigate whether 'It's a Wonderful Life' was commie propaganda – This one isn't a spoof, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it was. Inadvertent Algorithmic Cruelty – The problematic consequences of social media creating automatic content. Right to own – Why aren't capital unions treated the same way as labour unions? Related PostsWorth ...
Work on the Wapley bridge came to a halt last night due to the wind and rain - it would have been unsafe to lift the new bridge sections in. We don't yet know the new timing for this but we're guessing next week, maybe New Year's Eve / New Year's Day. A train thunders past the gap and the crane. Parts of the new bridge are on the lorry on the right. The gap, with the left-hand support being built up with concrete to the new height. The support beams for the new bridge waiting on the lorry.
Throughout the 12 days of Christmas, we're bringing you the 12 most-read posts on this site of 2014. Here's today's offering... Clegg opposes ban on halal and kosher slaughter; now we need to hear his reasons – Nick Thornsby | Thu 6th March 2014 This issue is a classic liberal dilemma, requiring us to consider competing rights: on the one hand the right of animals not to be caused unnecessary pain and of society to impose regulations to ensure this; on the other the right of religious observants to cause pain to animals that, on their interpretation, religious texts require. ...
The Stoke Sentinel reports: A LABOUR councillor has left the party in protest over housing policy - just nine months after defecting from the Lib Dems. Madeley councillor Simon White is now sitting as an independent on Newcastle* Borough Council, leaving the ruling Labour group with a majority of just two. * As in Newcastle under Lyme.
The Telegraph reports that the Conservatives will try to lift the fox hunting ban if the party wins May's general election. They say that the party will offer a free vote in the next Parliament to legalise hunting if the party wins in May: The Hunting Act 2004, which prohibits the pursuit with hounds of various wild mammals in England and Wales, came into force under Labour in February 2005. The pursuit of foxes with hounds was banned in Scotland in 2003. Simon Hart, a Tory MP and chief executive of the Countryside Alliance between 2004 and 2010, said: "All ...
The "long campaign" period for the UK's May 2015 general election has already started, though with the intervention of Christmas people could be forgiven for not noticing. What I find fascinating is that unless there is a massive sea change in British politics over the next few months, the result — in terms of what [...]
The Western Mail reports that council which banned the development of new casinos on the grounds gambling could lead to debt, divorce, crime and stress, has been asked to explain a "Las Vegas themed" New Year's Eve ball which was planned for one of its top entertainment venues. Swansea council adopted the "No Casinos" rule stopping new casinos being licensed over the next three years earlier this year and it actually came in force this month. So Sketty Welsh Liberal Democrats councillor Paul Meara asked the authority's Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Healthy City, Mark Child, to explain the gambling ...
Norman Baker has revealed that the report into effective ways of tackling drugs policy commissioned by Liberal Democrats in Governemnt had some of its conclusions removed by Theresa May, presumably for fear of upsetting the Daily Mail. From the Guardian: He said that drugs policy should be based "on evidence, not dogma" and that, although the Conservatives were opposed to liberalisation, they were losing the argument on the issue. Under pressure from the Lib Dems, the Home Office commissioned a report looking at the international evidence on the impact of legislation on drug use. Theresa May, the home secretary, made ...
Upper Bangor's Lib Dem Councillors work hard for their community all year around, not just at elections. We spend all year delivering leaflets, knocking on doors, attending meetings, events, representing and fighting for residents, and more.
After over six years of strongly identifying as a LibDem - I can no longer do so in good conscience. Certain issues have dominated my thoughts on the issue since August this year and this is not a decision I have taken lightly. However, the conclusion I have come to is that I would like to start the new year disassociated from the Liberal Democrats. Over the years, my direct debit to the party hasn't always been perfectly constant – especially when I was living in America – but I've always thought that if I were to be a member ...
[IMG: Concept of war or fighting. Lemon and lime against each other] Yesterday's Telegraph carried a piece about the rise of the Green Party, largely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. It opens: Nick Clegg has "betrayed" his voters and traditional sandal-wearing Lib Dems are switching to the Green party across the country, the party's leader has said. Natalie Bennett said that the only people left in Mr Clegg's party are "right wing Liberal Democrats" and their traditional supporters voters are choosing the Green party because they do not want to make the "mistake" of 2010 again. Bennett subsequently ...
[IMG: Lydiate in the snow 26th December 2014] Lydiate in the snow 26th December 2014 The half expected snow fall arrived on Boxing Day but it was soon gone. The Liverpool Echo has some nice shots of the snow on its web site from around the city at:-
There's been a Guardian/ICM poll done this week, measuring Westminster voting intention in Scotland. It's not quite as bad for Labour as some of the other Scottish polls done recently, but it's still pretty awful. The SNP has a 17-point lead over Labour, enough of a lead, on uniform swing, to reduce the Scottish Labour parliamentary party to a mere 10 seats (they currently have 41). The amazing thing is, if you look closer, the actual problem is a lot worse than this for Scottish Labour. Their share of the vote is dropping even further in their former heartlands, those ...
[IMG: Charles Kennedy] Over the next few days, we'll remind you of five posts from each month, to give you a flavour of what was in the minds of LDV readers and contributors in what proved to be a gruelling and often bruising political year. 1 January 2014 was the day we were going to be overwhelmed every single Romanian and Bulgarian coming here. We would all turn up to work the next day to find out we'd been replaced. They'd be hiding everywhere, even in our bread bins. Or so Farage would have had us believe, anyway. Remember all ...
[IMG: Gold record card. Image courtesy of http://www.raileasy.co.uk/information/rail-cards/gold-card] I've only had a London annual travelcard for the best part of two decades, so you can't really expect me to know all of its features... But I have, ahem, only just discovered that my annual zone 1-2 travelcard comes with a Gold Card which gives 1/3rd off rail tickets across a large slug of south east England, and stretching a good way further north and west too. Bah. Details of what you get with the Annual Gold Card are over on the Transport for London website but include a 34% discount ...
The Time 4 U service provides carers with the chance to have a break from caring. If you look after or support a person aged 65 and over, this service may be able to help. Time 4 U is being piloted on a trial basis in Dundee and is funded by the Scottish Government's Older People's Change Fund. The Dundee Carers Centre operates the service and they are working together with social work services and other providers to ensure that carers are supported to get meaningful breaks. Further information from Dundee Carers Centre on 200422.
George Osborne has been accused by Danny Alexander, his Liberal Democrat deputy, of planning the "willful destruction" of key public services if the Conservatives win the next general election. In an interview with The Independent, Mr Alexander said the Chancellor would make £60bn of unnecessary cuts by 2020. Claiming that the Chancellor wants to "shrink the state", he warned that even deeper cuts would be needed to deliver the Tories' planned "unfunded" £7.2bn income tax reduction. Mr Alexander said that the schools budget, provision for 16- to 19-year-olds, nursery education and the pupil premium for children from low-income families would ...
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