London is without doubt Europe's premier city, as well as being one of a handful of truly global cities. Its population has now topped 8.6 million and a third of the inhabitants were not even born in the UK, let alone in London. Immigration has been a large part of the secret of the UK [...]
Sky News have put all their Stand up and be Counted #AsktheLeaders sessions on their website. Nick Clegg's is here. I felt he was best at making it more like a conversation with the young people, listening to what she had to say. He was also much more confident on the facts and details on all the issues, particularly housing and the NHS. As for the others, Natalie Bennett's heart is in the right place but her party's policies are not well thought through and I didn't need to listen to her for half an hour to find out that ...
This evening, Ludlow Town Council raised its precept by 8% to make up for Shropshire Council retaining the Council Tax Support Grant which it was meant to pass on to the council. The four unitary councillors for Ludlow and Clee have tonight written to council leader Keith Barrow saying his decision to retain funds meant [...]
Well, not the whole of the line, but 36 miles or so from Edinburgh to Tweedbank. But already there are demands for a futher reopening to Hawick. Who knows? It may one day make it all the way back to Carlisle.
BBC News wins Headline of the Day.
"Had the campaign been, as it should have been, against the general principle rather than the specific example of books, then we might now be celebrating a real victory, rather than a Pyrrhic one which leaves prisoners without access to the most basic necessities, but allows them to read..." Andrew Hickey believes Chris Grayling has been allowed to get away with banning prisoners from receiving parcels. Petra Schleiter explains why the Fixed-term Parliaments Act should not be repealed. A new report shows why Cameron's flagship idea of the Big Society has foundered. The Barrow Cadbury blog introduces it. Sam Brodey ...
Press release from my Lib Dem colleague Norman Baker's office, 30 January 2015: 'A further £2.9 million will be poured into the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road, if the draft budget being put before the county council on February 10th is approved next month. Meanwhile the Tory-controlled council is at the same time slashing bus services to [...]
I have a soft spot for Natalie Bennett. She and I used both to be members of the team that took turns to host the Britblog Roundup. But her performance on the Sunday Politics the other week has led some to wonder whether the Green Party would do better to field Caroline Lucas in the leaders' debates later this year. And Natalie should be careful, because Caroline Lucas has sharp elbows and previous form. Brighton Pavilion was the Greens' best prospect of a gain at the last general election largely because a local activist called Keith Taylor had built it ...
Lib Dems in the House of Lords have, once more, blocked the Snoopers' Charter. An amendment to the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill was withdrawn following pressure from Lib Dem Peers who have raised arguments against the proposed legislation throughout the Bill's passage through the Lords The amendment, led by the Conservative Peer Lord King, would have seen a copycat of the previously blocked Data Communications Bill introduced into the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill currently going through Parliament. Lib Dem Peer and Former MET Police Officer Brian Paddick commented: Nick Clegg fought off the discredited Data Communications Bill in government and ...
Today David Cameron unveiled his plans for Education after the elections in May. His big plan: to force failing schools to become academies. Apart from wielding a big stick what is new about academies and are they actually working? Academies were first introduced under the Labour government to introduce competition into the system. The rush [...]
So, having settled in, visited Eagle's Nest and the Creados in Santa Cruz, it's time to head into the city for some light shopping and a visit to my aunt and uncle in Colaba, at the southern tip of the peninsula that is downtown Mumbai. I could take an air-conditioned car from my hotel but, instead, I've taken the slightly more complex and rather cheaper route of walking to Santa Cruz station and catching bus number 83 to Hutatma Chowk. When I was younger, and before the local Marathi nationalists (think "North Indians go home!" and you'll get the idea...) ...
Let us hear your views on Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre and Harpenden Swimming Pool and Sports Centre by completing a short survey at: www.stalbans.gov.uk/consultations. St Albans City and District Council opened Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre in St Albans just over two years ago. We want to find out what you think of this facility and [...]
MP Julian Huppert is pushing for a Parliamentary review of the government's schemes which allow social housing tenants to buy their homes at discount prices. He wants research to be carried out into whether local authorities should be given the power to suspend the schemes to stop social housing stock being depleted in their individual towns and cities. Julian is co-sponsoring a Bill tabled by former Liberal Democrat President, Tim Farron which calls for a review of the Right to Buy scheme for council housing and the Right to Acquire scheme for housing association properties. The research would investigate whether ...
The rainbow flag will fly over South Cambridgeshire Hall throughout February to mark Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) history month. LGBT History Month takes place in February every year, celebrating the lives and achievements of the LGBT community. South Cambridgeshire District Council's chairman, Cllr David Bard, was joined by council staff as he raised the flag this morning (Monday 2 February). This is the fifth year that the flag has been flown outside the Council's offices in Cambourne Business Park. Cllr Bard said: "I'm proud to see the rainbow flag flying outside South Cambridgeshire Hall again. We're committed to ...
The benefits of a victim of crime meeting their offender to understand why they did what they did will be spelt out at conference on restorative justice next week (February 9th). The event is being hosted by Cambridgeshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Graham Bright, as part of plans to develop the provision of restorative justice in the county. Speakers include Ellie Acton, National Policing Lead for Restorative Justice and the Chief Executive of the Restorative Justice Council Jon Collins. There will also be an extended session from Peter Woolf, an ex-prolific offender who will share his experience of restorative ...
CAMBRIDGE City Council is encouraging residents to find out more about dates on food labels to help eat safely, save money and the environment. The dates are there to help us use food when it is safe and at its best. By understanding what 'Use By' and 'Best Before' dates mean we can take control and make effective use of the food we buy while saving money and reducing waste at the same time. Questions over date labels are common - only 36% of us correctly understand the term 'Use By' and by getting dates in a muddle, we can ...
[IMG: David Steel at Malcolm Bruce's anniversary dinner] I'm sure that there will be many LDV readers wanting to see the film Selma (as a well-earned break from campaigning!) which is released this week. It depicts Martin Luther King's leadership of thousands on the march from Selma to Montgomery in search of equal voting rights for African Americans who were largely excluded from voting rolls. The five day fifty-four mile march arrived at the State Capitol on the 25th March 1965. It was on the day before that the young David Steel was elected in a by-election for Roxburgh, Selkirk ...
Mon 2nd
17:47
The Greens, Citizens Income and how journalists still don't understand how political parties work
After it flared up into media prominence over the last week, the Telegraph today eagerly covered the news that the Green Party won't be including Citizens Income as a policy in their General Election manifesto. However, there seems to be a problem with that news: it's not true. Reading an account from a Green Party member, it seems that the party's conference has insisted that the policy is included in the manifesto, and the Telegraph's report is merely extrapolating wildly from some comments by Caroline Lucas. The member's account suggests that she has opposed the inclusion of it in the ...
Councillor Iain Roberts, Deputy Leader on Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council writes: The Coalition's Tuition Fees policy cut the cost of university for poorer graduates (but increased it substantially for the wealthiest) and has seen not only record numbers going to university, but also the highest ever number of young people from poorer backgrounds signing up. And yes, not the Lib Dems finest hour with the pledge and all that - no doubt commentators below the line will find new and interesting things to say on that topic that no-one's thought of in the last four-and-a-bit years. But let's take a ...
[IMG: Cllr_Joe_Anderson,_Leader,_Liverpool_City_Council.jpeg] The link above takes you to a Liverpool Echo article which is worth a read. Readers of this site will know how utterly opposed I am to the communities of Sefton being run from Liverpool Town Hall by a Metro Mayor. And let's be honest it's no surprise that Merseyside's Labour leaders are kicking lumps out of each other yet again in public:-
In the 1930s there were many heated debates about issues which in retrospect seem rather beside the point. The role of the League of Nations was hotly debated, but in the face of the unrelenting aggression of the dictators, the whole idea of peace-based policies fell apart in the face of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. There were many rational arguments as to why a second Great War was unthinkable: war itself had become the ultimate evil. Surely, no matter what the grievance, a rational and peaceful solution could be found? In the end such enlightened humanity lead to the disaster ...
This was my contribution to the collection of historical counter-factuals, President Gore...: and Other Things That Never Happened. At one key stage the Great Reform Bill was passed by a majority of just one. What would have happened if the Bill had instead been defeated at that stage? The general election of July and August 1830 took place in an atmosphere of intense political crisis. The 1829 harvest had been very poor and food prices rose sharply. Widespread agricultural riots and organised protests spread, triggered not only by the state of the economy but also by the make-up of the ...
Cllr Mike Wilson We are very sad to hear that Councillor Mike Wilson has died following a long illness. Councillor Wilson (aged 71) was a Liberal Democrat councillor representing the Bredbury and Woodley ward on Stockport Council. He was a Chair of the Werneth Area Committee and a former Mayor of the Borough during 2004/2005. Councillor Wilson also served as the Deputy Mayor on three occasions during 1999/2000, 2008/2009 and 2013/14. The Leader of Stockport Council, Councillor Sue Derbyshire, said: "I am deeply sorry to hear of Councillor Wilsons' death. "He was a genuine, friendly colleague who was committed to ...
[IMG: University of the West of England, laboratory, science. Some rights reserved by Jisc] Ed Miliband is announcing that a Labour government would cut university tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000. It's more of a re-announcement as the policy's been knocking around for a while – and you can understand why. On the surface it sounds good. In reality, Labour want a tax hike for the poor and a tax cut for the rich. The Coalition's Tuition Fees policy cut the cost of university for poorer graduates (but increased it substantially for the wealthiest) and has seen not only record ...
Babergh and Mid Suffolk councils are consulting on a joint Local Plan for the two Districts. This is a chance for residents and businesses in both council areas to have their say on future planning. The recently adopted planning blueprint for Babergh has identified that 300 new homes should be built each year to fulfil demand across the District council's area. Most of that development is scheduled to take place in the more urban areas – on the fringes of Ipswich and in Hadleigh and Sudbury, with larger villages also taking some development. In Babergh there is an opportunity for ...
[IMG: Ballot paper] The Guardian reports the predictions of Prof Paul Whiteley of the University of Essex. His study forecasts Labour with 291 seats, Conservatives 281, Lib Dems 48 and others 30. The study is based on a model used by the British Election Study which came up with some pretty accurate predictions for 2005 and 2010. The article explains: The Essex forecasting model works by combining the number of seats won by parties in the previous election with voting intentions data from polls conducted six months prior to the election. Whiteley acknowledged that the model forecast a relatively large ...
Tories tried to cut schools budget Lib Dem education minister David Laws has revealed the Conservatives wanted to cut the schools budget on entering office in 2010. However, the proposal was categorically rejected by the Liberal Democrats, and we would do exactly the same in 2015. David said: "When we came into Coalition Government, tough [...]
On Thursday 5 February Bite The Ballot ( a not-for-profit movement that empowers young people to speak up, act, and make their votes and opinions count) are hosting a national day of action to encourage more young people to join the electoral register. Throughout the day they will be hosting a series of events online and [...]
Works are due to start today (Feb 2nd) on the installation of speed cameras on the A12 between the Suffolk/Essex border and East Bergholt junctions. These are not to be confused with the TEMPORARY – although permanent looking – speed cameras already in place to enforce the 40mph limit during the resurfacing works between East Bergholt and Copdock Mill roundabout. There are no current plans to permanently reduce the speed limit between Stratford St. Mary and East Bergholt. Work on building the crossovers between the carriageways continues on the A12 between East Bergholt and Copdock Mill roundabout. Nightime closures are ...
Mon 2nd
14:01
Opinion: Wanting zero suicides and dignity in dying are neither contradictory nor hypocritical
[IMG: DADiD] Many Lib Dems may not have been aware of the fact that amongst disabled activists recently, the Party has been at the centre of a hotly debated issue over suicide prevention and the legalising of assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent dying people. Earlier this month, Leader Nick Clegg hosted a mental health conference with Liberal Democrat Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb. Together, they announced the admirable ambition of the NHS working towards 'zero suicides' – a key target for suicide prevention of people with mental health issues. Policy launches normally induce merely mild nausea from ...
Ah bless, the Conservative Party is finally catching up with just how unsuited Ian Liddell-Grainger is to being an MP (such as his cavalier disregard of personal information supplied by his constituents, his claim to personally fund his website despite the official records showing him claiming expenses for it and his airbrushing of photos to remove someone he doesn't like, an attitude more suited to a sulky teenager): West Country bore Ian Liddell-Grainger is having a right old ding-dong with local Tories down in Somerset, where his own blue council group have passed a vote of no confidence and accused ...
House/Elphick review of the Local Authority Role in Housing Supply Keith House, the Lib Dem leader of Eastleigh Council, has co-authored a report on different steps that local authorities can take in improving housing supply in their areas - including a call for councils to provide more of their own housing outside the Housing Revenue [...]
Lord Carlisle recently announced his firm decision to split away from traditional notions of justice, declaring that he now finds the foundations of British law, which he committed to as a young man, to be "boring". Under his proposed laws, tired and outdated ideals such as living our lives as a strong, free and united nation would be retired. In their place, there will be a new policy of splurging out on fancy new technology with more superficial appeal. Lord Carlile is joined by a tiny number of fellow peers in the belief that their sheer self-regard will overcome the ...
Councils can apply to the War memorial Trust for grants towards the conservation and repair of local memorials. The trust administers grants across the UK, and information on eligibility on its website. In additional, money is available to help conserve, repair and protect First World Ward memorials and burial sites across the UK and overseas. [...]
[IMG: people powered prosperity] Danny Alexander started all this. He asked me, back one day in 2012, about how local economies could find levers to regenerate themselves - rather than waiting around hopelessly for outside investment that never came (that isn't how he put it). The result was a dialogue between the Treasury and the local economic regeneration activists - local bankers, local energy organisers, local procurement advocates, local currencies - which revealed, it's fair to say, something of a gulf between them. As a result, and thanks to some funding from the Friends Provident Foundation, I have been organising ...
In May's local elections we need Lib Dem candidates more than ever. Target Candidates Standing as a Lib Dem candidate, even in a paperless ward, is a service to the party that is easily and often under-estimated. As ever it's a hard slog to match all our target wards with the right calibre of candidate. [...]
[IMG: Person at a computer] Back in November I wrote how The slow death of comments on newspaper websites continues with the news that Reuters was dropping comments from its website. Now Bloomberg has joined the growing list of news sites that have taken a look at their comments, the costs of moderation and decided to do something better with their money and their readers' attention: Bloomberg Business - the new home for all content from bloomberg.com and businessweek.com - was given a "soft" launch on Tuesday night, with no facility to comment on published articles. A spokeswoman for Bloomberg ...
[IMG: This was the future, once.] This was the future, once. Amidst all the coverage of the Greek election last week, one line from a report stood out for me: The ruling New Democracy party is still wondering how its platform of Endless Suffering For Everyone was defeated by Syriza's competing message of Maybe Not That. Yes, it's from the Mash, but as so often one line of satire gets closer to the truth than thousands of pieces of punditry. When traditional politics and traditional parties neglect to offer a positive vision of the future, there's a natural appeal to ...
I think valuing carers and respecting older people go hand-in-hand. Do you know that there is a 'Respect for the Aged Day' in Japan each year in September? It is a national holiday (KeirÅ no hi) - can you imagine devoting one of our Bank Holidays to celebrating older people? I think it would be a good idea, and raise awareness of the value and contribution older people have made and continue to make in society. Many older people have active and engaged lives well into old age – something I am hoping to achieve! But others suffer ill-health and ...
[IMG: Asktheleaders] Update: After some confusion it seems that Nick will now be appearing later. David Cameron has also agreed to appear later today. Sky News is running an Ask the Leaders event today, with young people asking the questions. The Q&A sessions with each leader (Miliband, Clegg and Bennett, but not Cameron, it seems) will be shown live on Sky News for 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes on Facebook. Nick Clegg's turn comes at 12 noon. You can watch live updates or get involved on #AskTheLeaders or on the Stand Up Be Counted page on Facebook.
South Glos has already been round collecting in some areas, but in other areas residents didn't hear about it until it had happened. Details of the green bin removal day will be provided on a tag secured to your black bin around one to two weeks before the collection. This is a one off service and if you no longer want your green bin it must be put out for removal on the date on the leaflet you receive. The latest local collection dates are as follows: Chipping Sodbury - Wednesday 4 Feb Yate - Tue 17 Feb (This includes ...
Mon 2nd
09:44
As the election campaign begins, so the press goes more to the right - and more to the left
As a politico I enjoy reading both the Guardian Politics page as well as the Telegraph's version of the same. As you would expect, you get a very different take on the political events of the day on each, one of the reasons I read both. However, I've found the pair a little hard to take since the start of 2015. Both of them have gone further to their ends of the political spectrum than I'm accustomed to. Take the Telegraph Politics page this weekend. There was an article about Nicky Morgan's "Trojan Horse curriculum", which was apparently going to ...
Here at LDV Towers we've received an invitation to an event organised by the Resolution Foundation on Wednesday 11th February, when Steve Webb will be speaking. Most of us are unable to attend, so we are passing the invitation on to you, our dear readers. It reads: Today's workers, tomorrow's retirement problem: A new agenda for pensions and assets A speech by Pensions Minister Steve Webb MP 9.30 - 11am Wednesday 11 February at the Resolution Foundation offices in Green Park Chaired by Becky Barrow, Money Editor at The Sunday Times The proportion of people saving into a workplace pension ...
Caroline Lucas started very sensibly on Today this morning. But as she was put under pressure she fell apart. When asked about the detail of the Green party policies she bleated that they were a very small party and didn't have many staff. Hello? So you are there saying that you are bigger than UKIP and the Liberal Democrats, but you are not big enough to have sufficient policy detail to be ready for coalition discussions. Coalition discussions that you were a whisker from being involved in five years ago, so it's not as if there hasn't been much warning. ...
Stephen Fry did an awesome (tags: ) You don't need to vote for the Elite Consensus Party, because they'll win anyway (tags: ) on the increasing incompatibility of the UK's political party and electoral systems (tags: ) I love you, Bradford. (tags: ) God I wish these rights really were universal and inviolable (tags: ) "books are to be excluded from the ban on sending items into jails" - ban is still there, then So you still can't get birthday cards or spare underwear or a picture drawn by your kids, but you can have a book. As long as ...
Lights near the rail bridge Last week, along with two local residents, I met with an engineer from the City Council's Urban Traffic Control team about the new pedestrian crossing lights on Riverside Drive, following concerns that these are overly bright and dazzling at night. One query is why the latest two sets of lights (just west of the Tesco roundabout and just east of Barnetts Motor Group) have a "double header" arrangement, whereas the new crossing at the playing fields further west has single lights in both directions. It was explained that this is because it was considered two ...
I've blogged a fair few times about how the ONS's official figures have been showing rents falling in real terms and the gap between that evidence and the standard political rhetoric about soaring rents. Which made the news that the ONS has revised its figures upwards, um..., interesting. So how does my regularly repeated argument fare in the face of the new evidence? Rather better than I feared at first. First off, let's look at the last year. According to the new figures, rents have risen by 1.7%. That's for the 12 months to December, during which time inflation (CPI) ...
I am pleased, not to say excited, to announce that I'm taking to the airwaves tomorrow (Tues) in the Radio 4 documentary Clinging On: The Decline of the Middle Classes. As I explained in the Guardian on Friday, I don't quite understand why it is that admitting you are middle class in public should be such a difficult thing to do - but it is difficult, as you may have heard me saying on the various trailers for the programme. It is even more difficult to admit it and then to complain the the middle classes are getting a raw ...
Nobody should say that they were not warned. When Labour first thought of their gimmick of freezing energy prices, wiser heads suggested that there would be unintended consequences. Specifically, the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey said: the move is "highly irresponsible and fails to deliver what consumers want," adding "we think it's a con, because the energy companies will all shove up their prices before and certainly shove them up afterwards, so the consumer won't get any benefit. "Mr Davey said that the price freeze would hit the small, independent, gas and electricity companies much harder than the Big Six suppliers. ...
A meeting took place at Maghull Station recently where representatives of Merseytravel, The Frank Hornby Trust and Maghull Station Volunteers came together to discuss a display/story board for the station all about Hornby, his products and his association with Maghull. I took took a couple photos of the participants:- [IMG: rsz_img_3504] From right to left are Les French – Chairman of the Frank Hornby Trust, Mark Cleave of Merseytravel, Ena Winchester of Maghull Station Volunteers. Just out of shot Alan Pritchard of the Station Volunteers. We were joined later by Cllr. Steve Kermode. [IMG: rsz_img_3506] This shot has Alan on ...
On Monday, I emailed asking for your suggestions about what I should ask the Prime Minister at PMQs. First of all, I wanted to say thank you for all your feedback. I received almost 400 individual suggestions, all of which I looked over personally. It was great to have so much input, but of course I couldn't ask every question that was suggested. Responses were varied, but one issue stood out in particular, the National Health Service, and in particular the role of the private sector. It's for that reason that I decided to ask the Prime Minister about the ...
The Guardian reports: The Labour Party will narrowly win more seats than the Conservatives - and the Liberal Democrats will be saved from wipe out... This model successfully predicted the outcomes of the 2005 and 2010 general elections... The new forecast for the 2015 election released to the Guardian shows Labour on 291 seats, the Conservatives 281, the Lib Dems 48 and others 30... The Essex forecasting model works by combining the number of seats won by parties in the previous election with voting intentions data from polls conducted six months prior to the election... Whitely acknowledged that the model ...
Figures showing the relationship between pupil achievement and entitlement to free school meals, show yet again that the pace of progress in Wales is still painfully slow. Despite the Welsh Government setting targets to close the gaps in attainment, monitoring mechanisms are failing to detect the likelihood of targets not being reached and no timely preventative action is being taken to improve matters. It has also been two years since the Minister said that closing the attainment gap for children from low income households was the 'top priority' for his department. The gap for pupils at Key Stage 4 has ...
