I have been uneasy about some of the measures in the Counter Terrorism and Security Bill which will be debated in the Commons in the next two days. It will clear its Commons stages, but once the Lords get their hands on it, they could quite easily defeat some of its key provisions. Nick Clegg has signalled that Liberal Democrats may withdraw support if more judicial oversight isn't guaranteed. The Guardian has the story: Clegg is calling on the home secretary to introduce government amendments in the upper house to meet the concerns of David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer ...
Mon 5th
22:18
LDVideo: Nick Clegg on buoyant form, saying: Liberal Democrats needed to govern responsibly and fair...
Nick Clegg looked not just ready for but enthusiastic about the 122 day long election campaign to come this morning. He was in great form at his monthly press conference and in a short video afterwards made 3 key points: 1. "The simple question is who can finish the job of sorting the economy but do so fairly." 2. It's not lefty Labour or never-ending austerity with the Tories. He also called the SNP, UKIP and Plaid a "rag bag" of factional and sectional interests who would make a mess of the next Parliament. 3. Liberal Democrats offer compassionate, fair ...
View image | gettyimages.com Brayford Pool is now the centre of the city's university.
I've been amused by the news today that Accrington Stanley are selling 250 tickets for a third round FA Cup tie with Manchester United that never was, as they'd been already knocked out in the second round by Yeovil Town. It led me to think about the tickets I'd like for events that never happened. In reverse chronological order: 1. The State Opening of Parliament for the Liberal-SDP Alliance government in 1983. View image | gettyimages.com Ahh, the heady days of the Alliance and David Steel's 1981 Liberal Assembly speech – go back to your constituencies and prepare for government. ...
View image | gettyimages.com Like most voters. I dislike negative electioneering. It does nothing but give the impression that politicians behave more like little children who cannot share their toys than like the people in whose hands we should be placing the safety and economic wellbeing of the country. That said, we can be confident that there will be plenty of negativity about, particularly as the Conservatives try to distance themselves from the steadying effect that the LibDems have had within the coalition. So I wonder if we should take this opportunity to get negativity out of the way now, ...
Iain Duncan-Smith is to accelerate the rollout of Universal Credit so that Labour can't scrap it, or so it is said by the Daily Telegraph. My first thought, when Ros told me this, was, "Is that the action of a politician who expects to be in power after 7 May?". Hardly. And it isn't as though Labour are fifteen points clear in the polls, without a cloud in the sky to spoil their triumphant stroll to power. Increasingly, talk is of a hung Parliament without any clear indication of how the chips may fall. Heaven knows, I haven't a clue ...
The starting gun has fired for May's general election in the UK, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has stressed that the LibDems can be a useful moderating force in a future Coalition with either the Conservatives or Labour. That's all well and good, but "Let's have another Coalition!" isn't a message that is going [...]
[IMG: BuzzFeed politics and cats bag] Go on, you know you want to... click here for the 16.
View image | gettyimages.com In 1900 just one in ten people lived in cities. Today over half do and nearly all population growth in the next few decades is expected to be in larger conurbations. Around the world cities are the engines of growth and prosperity, with governments working to tackle the challenges that brings with it. The UK has a major city problem: with the exception of London our cities underperform. Other countries do it better – the concentration on one city at the expense of the rest is unusual. As the Royal Society report The Future of Cities ...
View image | gettyimages.com Throughout the 12 days of Christmas, we're bringing you the 12 most-read posts on this site of 2014. Here's our final offering... Yes Scotland is a bit late to realise that Wings over Scotland is bad news – Caron Lindsay | Fri 20th June 2014 Yes should have been worried long before now, though. There's been plenty cause. Here are a few examples: There was the time "Rev Stu" did me over for suggesting that being in the UK gave us more influence in the world to tackle violence against women and girls. "Vote yes for ...
Mon 5th
14:20
The HERD Reich: Farmer forced to get rid of Hitler's Nazi cows because ultra-aggressive breed tried ...
The Daily Mail wins Headline of the Day.
[IMG: Nick Clegg Glasgow 2014 Liberal Democrats] At the press conference this morning Nick Clegg said: We, as a country, have come a long way since the great crash of 2008. Those long nights in May 2010 when we negotiated the coalition as riots took place on the streets of Athens and our economy teetered on the brink seem ages ago now. It's been a hard slog – for everybody – but one that is beginning to pay off. The economy is recovering, the deficit is coming down, more people are in work and wages are starting to overtake inflation. ...
Following his first press conference of the new year, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg summarises the three key messages from his opening remarks:
Please find to follow an update as to which villages will be visited as part of the Op Oaklands initiative to tackle shed and residential burglary. Officers will be visiting the following villages: 05/01/2015 - 11/01/2015 Melbourn12/01/2015 - 18/01/2015 West Wratting & Weston Colville19/01/2015 - 25/01/2015 Willingham & Over26/01/2015 - 01/02/2015 Papworth EverardAs with all policing initiatives regular operational policing duties continue in conjunction with the operation. The deployment of officers may be changed in certain circumstances according to current policing needs. Regards South Cambs Neighbourhood Team
[IMG: wasteHemel] Opening times and days at Herts' household tips change from today (Monday 5 January 2015), following HCC's public consultation this summer. Winter: 1st October to 31st March Summer: 1st April to 30th September All sites are closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day but open all other Bank Holidays including Good Friday. Berkhamsted Northbridge Road, Berkhamsted, HP4 1TL Open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday All year 8:30am to 4:30pm Closed: Thursday and Friday. During these times please use Hemel Hempstead HWRC or St Albans HWRC Hemel Hempstead Eastman Way, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7DU Open: Monday, Thursday, ...
View image | gettyimages.com There's a fairly standard structure and substance to writing about social media and politics: first point to some disturbing trends in politics (but remember only to point to trends that look bad*); then point to the spread of social media and the good it can do; beat up politicians a bit for not doing more of what you think they should be doing with social media; end with a hope for a political future rescued by more savvy use of social media. [IMG: Like, Share, Vote by Jamie Bartlett, Jonathan Birdwell and Louis Reynolds - cover] ...
Opening his press conference today (Monday 5 January), Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will say that the biggest threat to Britain's economic recovery comes from Labour and the Conservatives. In his opening remarks, Nick is expected to say: "The biggest threat to our economy comes from Labour and the Conservatives, both of whom are reverting to type as the election approaches. "Labour say 'trust us, we'll fix the economy and raise living standards'. But they won't. They are a clear and present danger to the recovery. Their economic policy consists of huge borrowing and total denial ...
Mon 5th
12:12
"Rural bus services are crap,", says Labour shadow minister, "so we'll reallocate the blame to someo...
Michael Dugher has, somewhat belatedly, realised that subsidies for bus services have been cut, resulting in a loss of services, especially in rural areas, according to the Guardian. Well spotted, that man (apologies to anyone who doesn't really approve of sarcasm)! Unlike Mr Dugher, the MP for Barnsley East, I am a non-driver living in a rural community. I actually experience the problems caused by the absence of public transport but also have an awareness of the costs of providing bus services that are sparsely used. The bus from Stowupland - subsequently axed for lack of subsidy Firstly, bus services ...
[IMG: Pavement_parking_1 by PeterEastern] It is a badge of honour for Lib Dem MPs, Councillors and activists when people call us pavement politicians. We are a party that is relentlessly focused on community politics and the issues that matter on streets up and down the country. That's why, when I was drawn earlier this year in the Private Member's Bill ballot, I decided to champion a Bill focused on an issue that blights tens of thousands of streets across the country - pavement parking. It's an experience that virtually every one of us has had in our communities. Walking down ...
Blue Badge Schemes Blue Badge Schemes can often take up a lot of casework time for councillors! Parkinson's UK has recently distributed a booklet to councils administering Blue Badge schemes. This includes information about Parkinson's, how the condition affects mobility and what reasonable adjustments could be made. Parkinson's UK hopes that Lib Dem councillors will [...]
The Times reports that panic appears to have broken out amongst Tory MPs over the fact that 1.5 million 'foreign' residents will have the vote at the next General Election. They say that under a so-called obscure law that has never been reformed, people from Ireland and the Commonwealth who live in the UK are given voting rights. Irish, Indian and Pakistani citizens top the list of those allowed to cast a vote. The fact that this has been the case for many General Elections previously does not seem to have registered with them: Figures drawn up by the Commons ...
Mon 5th
11:05
Surely, it is not beyond the intelligence of Portsmouth City Council to inform those of us who have ...
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Joe Anderson once again has a letter in the Liverpool Echo today saying that other people than him are holding back the development of a city region wide authority which would bring us untold riches. Nothing could be further from ... Continue reading →
Residents may be aware of the consultation that has been taking place by the Post Office, regarding the proposed move of the 'Holyrood' Post Office from its current location near St Margaret's Road, to the 'Best Buy' at 426 Bury Old Road (on the Polefield parade of shops). The Post Office was aware of a number of concerns raised by residents regarding the attritional distance that some users would need to travel, but it has decided to go ahead with the move. The new Post Office is 290 metres from the existing one. The new local style Post Office will ...
Cis People Know Best, They Tell Us – How the New Statesman used the death of Leelah Alcorn for a spot of anti-trans concern trolling. Will the UK voting system survive 2015? – "It's actually quite clear which way people are going to vote; what is unpredictable is a voting system that is so poorly suited to its purpose that the numbers that it chews out could go anywhere. That this doesn't lead more people than it does to declare that it is time to pick another system is a sad testament of how badly let down our media and ...
Mon 5th
10:09
Is talk of a Labour-Tory coalition simply click-baity nonsense? Or is it a real possibility?
At Labour conference last year, I organised an event at which Maurice Glasman said that in the case of another hung parliament, Labour should have coalition talks with the Conservatives straight off and ignore "the Liberals". This would be the "Grand Coalition" of many a Westminster pub lunch discussion, ones which most of the participants take at face value as a flight of fancy. But Ian Birrell wrote a piece in the Guardian about it over the weekend, and in response, Nick Barlow proffered that it was all click bait driven nonsense. But is it really impossible? I cited Glasman's ...
View image | gettyimages.com The fact that there are just over four months now until the general election put me into a pensive mood about the state of British politics, what we need to do to change it and what I need to do to win. The "trends" are: People are increasingly disengaged from politics and have little faith in either politicians or the political process People are increasingly not aligned to individual political parties Young people, in particular, generally struggle to see the relevance of politics to their own lives Because of prolonged austerity and "squeezed" living standards for ...
No surprise that Russia is at the top and Poland near the bottom, but the placings for Greece and Pakistan are surprising. [IMG: Views of Russia - Pew Centre]
New years always take me a little by surprise. I've looked back to see what I was predicting for 2014, and I seem to have been pretty much right. I said that the key intractable issues of the year would be: 1. The rise of the intolerant, nationalist right across Europe. 2. Political stalemate over the status of Scotland. 3. The breakdown of the measurement and transparency system in UK public services. I'm not sure that I completely hit the nail with No 3. In fact, the measurement and transparency systems which govern public services still stagger on, as boneheadedly ...
Most Homework is Completely Pointless apparently. Cue millions of children screenshotting (tags: ) Eulogising Blair's legacy ignores that he wasn't as popular as you think (tags: ) Cool story, bro. (tags: ) Transgender life: What to know, say and understand - not entirely problem-free but sympathetic (tags: ) A Scottish Liberal: Why no-one should vote Lib Dem to get a coalition (tags: ) That thread in which bodybuilders rip into each other over how many days there are in a week I know we shouldn't laugh, but... (tags: ) Awesome vintage 2000ad advert (tags: ) Sir James Dyson attacks Theresa ...
Mon 5th
08:45
My ConHome column: Labour and the Conservatives know what they need to do to win in May. But they're...
How's [IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here last week. In particular, admire how I seamlessly and subliminally insert the Lib Dem slogan 'stronger economy, fairer society'. 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. Does any party want to win a majority any more? It's a serious question. I don't mean, 'Does any party want to have more MPs than all the others put together?' Obviously, they all want that. The trouble is, though, ...
ALDC launched our Election Law Helpline service for the Party on Friday December 19th. The Helpline will run throughout the 2015 election period. It is vital that everyone in the party stays on the right side of the law throughout the campaign, and we'll be here to help you do this. To avoid getting into [...]
Following discussions and meetings with a number of constituents, I have been in correspondence with the City Council's Head of Democratic and Legal Services about the council's Houses in Multiple Occupation policies and concerns about the way policies are working in practice. He has now advised me : "Further to previous correspondence, I thought that you would wish to know that the Director of Housing is preparing a report for the meeting of the Licensing Committee on 5th February 2015 setting out the current policy on HMOs (the 12.5% in each census output area limit) and also how this has ...
Firstly let me say that I am a climate change realist. It is happening and we do need to find alternative sources of energy that don't generate CO2. Wind turbines are a part of the solution despite what the Daily Mail may say. However, I don't want them plonked on high grade agricultural land – that is just a daft thing to do. That's one reason why many people have been campaigning to stop the Lower Alt Wind farm being built between Ince Blundell and Lydiate in West Lancashire. Putting them out at sea is fine with me as is ...
View image | gettyimages.com While AMs in Cardiff have another week off, it's back to business at Holyrood and Westminster. So what will MSPs and MPs be debating this week? Holyrood Mental health is starting to really matter on the political agenda and although the Scottish Government is lagging behind Norman Lamb and Nick Clegg in terms of improvements to service, at least the Parliament will be debating a Scottish Government motion on mental health on Tuesday. There will also be debates on boosting the economy, active travel and Winter Festivals. Westminster Nick Clegg takes to the despatch box for ...
I have, over the years, been notable for my utter and complete failure to win any of the Liberal Democrat Voice blog awards (or any others, for that matter). And, I have to say, looking at the list of past winners, they have been of a quality that I aspire to, in terms of the depth and breadth of ideas, or humour, or sheer wonder of the writing - well, mostly (ooh, something controversial - who could he mean by that?). And I found myself, on a drab, grey, rather soggy Saturday afternoon, finding myself thinking that I might enjoy ...
Suffering from exhaustion and overpeopled, back in work tomorrow, so just links today. Are some diets "mass murder"? Sarah Brown's speech to the London vigil for Leelah Alcorn Will the voting system survive this year? Charles Stross on the business of writing short stories And Popular on Cliff Richard's Millennium Prayer Tagged: linkblogging
Kicking of a week of posts about my new home At a wedding this summer, me and a friend idled away a lull in the proceedings picking over a comment I'd made. I'd shared a then very vague plan to move to Hanoi and teach English. I explained that while I wanted to be based [...]
