Ashcroft Scottish constituency polls seemed to have leaked online through unsecure back end of his website – http://t.co/sf9QFaW8IY — Andrew Learmonth (@andrewlearmonth) February 3, 2015 The files look genuine, and we'll find out soon enough. But for the impatient with an interest in the Liberal Democrats: [IMG: Gordon constituency: Lord Ashcroft poll] [IMG: Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency: Lord Ashcroft poll]
There's no wonder that people in Consett are angry about the pitch black route from Consett to The Grove. It's a walk to school route, it's a cycle-way, and it's the way that a good many people from The Grove travel to shop and follow leisure pursuits in Consett. What's particularly galling is that, as one of your councillors, when the original proposals came out I immediately fed in the reasons why I believed these were not safe lighting reductions. I heard nothing back – not a dicky bird before the removal of the lights started. Now we're in limbo. ...
There are proposals for more lights to be removed in this area as part of the Street Lighting Energy Reduction Project approved by Cabinet. Here's a list. I'm not averse to some reductions – though I continue to protest the removal of lights on the busy pedestrian route from Consett to the Grove – but would appreciate any comments people have to make on the particular proposals that follow: [IMG: Lights Out]
Visitors to the new Richard III Visitor Centre in Peacock Lane, Leicester, can see a full version of this video, which was put together by De Montfort University's Digital Building Heritage Group. Read more about the digital reconstruction of Grey Friars Priory on the university's website.
I can't imagine Alistair Carmichael will have been much prouder in his political life than he was that night when he stood at the Despatch Box in the House of Commons and gave the Scottish Parliament the power to do something that he's wanted to see for many years – give the vote to 16 and 17 year olds. He said: On 18 September last year, the people of Scotland, including tens of thousands of 16 and 17-year-olds, voted in the Scottish independence referendum, and made the historic decision to remain a part of the United Kingdom. The participation of ...
The Leicester Mercury reports: The former leader of Leicester City Council Ross Willmott has been deselected. Coun (sic) Willmott is currently a Labour member for the Rushey Mead ward but has not been chosen by local party officials as a candidate in the forthcoming city council elections in May.Since Sir Peter Soulsby became Leicester's elected mayor, Ross Willmott (as you can see from his blog) has done more than most councillors to hold him to account. Originally this was as chair of the city council's scrutiny committee, but Leicester Labour ousted him from this role in May 2012. Now he ...
Time to Talk day: Sir Graham Bright encourages people to talk about mental health concerns NATIONAL Time to talk Day on 5th February will be a chance for stigma to be dispelled by encouraging open conversations with people about mental health. Cambridgeshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Graham Bright, is supporting the initiative by raising awareness of the links between domestic abuse and mental health. Commenting on Time to Talk day, Sir Graham said "Research shows that women with mental health concerns are around two and a half times more likely to have suffered domestic violence than those without. Likewise, ...
Cambridge City Council, alongside the police and more than 30 community representatives have taken part in an event to raise awareness of the government's 'Prevent' agenda. 'Prevent' focuses on ways that local communities can respond to the challenge of terrorism and extremism and the threat posed by those who promote views that encourage violence and attempt to radicalise people. The aim is to prevent people from being drawn into violence or terrorism and ensuring they have the appropriate advice, support and understand the alternatives available to them. The event featured speakers including Imam Adil Hussain from Bradford who is a ...
Cheadle Area Committee met this evening at 6pm. Here's the summary of what we discussed and decided. Manchester Rugby Club (based in Cheadle Hulme) asked for money towards a second hand vertidrainer to stop their pitches getting waterlogged. Cheadle & Gatley and Cheadle Hulme North wards contributed £250 each. Other wards have been asked to contribute, an application has been made to the Airport community fund and the club is doing its own fundraising. Planning application 53876 (new houses, 9 Rosewood Gardens) was granted, there being no planning grounds to refuse. Planning application 54943 (apartments and house at Pymgate House ...
[IMG: Full moon] Every time I learn something more about Conservative MP David Tredinnick it gets more incredible. Yesterday there was this: Bosworth's alternative therapy-loving MP has been blasted by an autism expert for claiming homeopathy can cure the condition. But that's quite in line with his previous views, such as: MP claims solution to A&E crisis is alternative medicine... The Tory MP for Bosworth raised the issue with the Department of Health saying: "To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of regulated complementary and alternative medical practitioners to reducing ...
The world of planning works in convoluted and sometimes confusing ways. One of the most common confusions is the amount of time people have to comment on a planning application. Today is the deadline for comments on the Rocks Green supermarket application. Except it's not. You still have many weeks in which to comment. On [...]
BBC News wins Headline of the Day for the second day in a row.
Tue 3rd
19:30
Jo Swinson MP writes....new powers for Groceries Code Adjudicator will ensure fair deal for local su...
Thanks to the persistent efforts of Liberal Democrats, especially Business Secretary Vince Cable, the Prime Minister has agreed to our demands for the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) to be able to impose significant fines on any large supermarkets who treat their suppliers unfairly. The Adjudicator will now be able to impose penalties on the supermarkets of up to 1% of their UK annual turnover, dependant on the seriousness of the breach. I was proud to build on the work of my predecessors Ed Davey and Norman Lamb, take the Bill through Parliament to create the Groceries Code Adjudicator in 2013. ...
[IMG: Flowchart - Should you vaccinate your child] Hat-tip: Scott Bateman via Flowing Data.
The links below take you to the London Midland passenger information leaflets for both the West Coast Main Line and Abbey Line closures this February. These can also be downloaded from the London Midland website: Euston Line Abbey Line www.londonmidland.com/watford
'Let Bartlet be Bartlet' is one of the most famous sayings from the US show The West Wing. The saying becomes a recurring theme throughout the series and it basically means let the president be himself and the politics and public perception be damned. This is obviously a TV show but if you look at the political leaders in the UK and you'll see that only two of them have any sort of personality that can engage with people and they are Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg. Cameron doesn't, Miliband doesn't and Bennett doesn't. The Lib Dems are in the ...
The Institute for Government launches today former Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey's report After the Rose Garden, on the workings of the coalition and lessons to draw for the future, Some of these issues have been debated on Lib Dem Voice before. Nick observes that more "bums on seats", even at the expense of policies in the coalition agreement may have had greater impact. This is the summary of Nick's recommendations. The big wins of this coalition must be consolidated - in particular the DPM's 'veto' (receiving contemporaneously and having to approve PM papers); the evenly balanced Quad; DPM ...
Well, not so much a debate as a bloody great row. The Western Mail has the latest on the shouting match that has erupted as a result of the Secretary of State for Wales' comments on the Welsh Government's failure to improve our education system. Anybody would think there is an election coming. It all started when Mr. Crabb described Labour's stewardship of Wales' schools as a "much bigger scandal" than its handling of the health system. He said that Wales had slid down the international Pisa rankings and cautioned that basic skills such as reading, maths and foreign languages ...
Three revisions to election law, affecting the count, ballot papers and postal voters, are going through Parliament and very likely to be in force for the May general and local elections. Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 Its primary impact will be to allow the counting of votes for the Parliamentary election to go ahead in a seat once their verification has been completed, but without having to wait for the verification for any simultaneous local elections to have also been completed. European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Regulations 2015 Aside from a little legal ...
At the Huffington Post, Tim Farron is decrying the delay to the Chilcot report into the Iraq war. The publication of the Chilcot report is crucial and the delays are unacceptable – we cannot afford to continue walking in the dark. The underlying issue which we need to understand and question is the alignment of British foreign policy with American priorities. Has Blair and Thatcher's determination to maintain "the special relationship" benefitted our country? Should we continue in this vein? The Chilcot report, when it is eventually published, must force us to learn lessons for the years ahead: at the ...
Just mega mega busy at the moment. Elections and all. However, I would like to highlight something that [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgb said in the comments to the very first one, and that is:If someone is absolutely convinced they're right and not prepared to consider other evidence, they're not Liberal even if they're espousing a liberal positionwhich I think is a really pithy way of putting the liberal attitude to an evidence base for your ideas. Also there's some discursive comments in the first two that could do with some more discussion but I haven't had the time or ...
[IMG: 9780992691943] "The problem with David Boyle and his sort is that they're too buried in their bien pensant leftiness to realise that the best and strongest argument for localism is actually a conservative argument..." Bien pensant lefty? Moi? It is a step towards the kind of debate we wanted to create with my new book People Powered Prosperity, that Conservative councillor Simon Cooke, a thinking blogger, has produced a thoughtful response. But I can see - never having met each other - that he doesn't understand where I'm coming from. Let me step back a moment. People Powered Prosperity ...
Many will have felt a sense of hope seeing the British Election Study's prediction that the Lib Dems will win 48 seats in May, to Labour's 291 and the Tories' 281. Most commentators expect the Lib Dems to win more like 25 - 35 seats and the optimistic projection, if replicated in the election, would be good news for liberals. It would, interestingly, give us the power to put either the Conservatives or Labour in Number Ten. That would be a hilariously awkward situation as Nick and our negotiation team try to hammer out two alternative programmes for Government in ...
Lib Dem HQ have been in touch to confirm the details of their Canvass lealflet bulk buy offers and deadlines. Please see the info below and this post which lays out the current LDHQ literature schedule for the election period. To see the templates, or simply use the template artwork see this linked article . For [...]
A free vote is due this afternoon in the House of Commons on whether to allow a process of transplanting a nucleus into an ovum or embryo with healthy mitochondria so that parents may have their own (99.9%) genetic child while preventing mitochondrial disease in that child. Details on the BBC. Calling a child born following this process a '3 parent' baby is a little hyperbolic, and helps to add oil to the flames of the "ethical" debate surrounding every kind of intervention in the embryo or germ line. I believe that mitochondrial disease is a bad thing and preventing ...
LDHQ have now published their Canvass (calling) leaflet templates (these match the Bulk Buy offers). The items were designed for the strategic parliamentary seats but the templates can be adapted for anywhere. The design is full colour A4 folding lengthways. There are versions for Scotland, Wales and England. Also for those in Labour facing and [...]
Tue 3rd
12:00
Yate Cinema construction starts next week, but Overflow Car Park closed March to September
It has been announced that work on Yate Riverside, the cinema and leisure development, will start next Monday, 9th February. The first steps will be to establish the contractor's compound and start removing the trees and shrubbery in the development area, an operation that will take around four weeks. The developers and Yate Shopping Centre been working closely with South Gloucestershire Council officers and Natural England to minimise the impact on any wildlife. We understand that the outstanding tree issues have been sorted out, and the badgers have been successfully moved to their new sett nearby. What's more they have ...
Are you 16-19? Have you recently left School/College and not sure what to do next? Pop along to the City College Peterborough Options Event. Monday 9th February 2015 3pm-6pm at the John Mansfield Centre, Western Avenue, Dogsthorpe, Peterborough PE1 4HX Come along and discuss your options including: Apprenticeships Childcare Office Skills Business Admin Customer Service IT Motor [...]
A few weeks ago, I wrote a small, little noticed piece in which I opined on how nice it would be to win an award. It was, I admit, a bit tongue in cheek. After all, not much happens out here in 'bow and arrow' country - a non-political friend once described Norfolk as 'stone tools and incest' country if it's any consolation - so this is not likely to be a place for breaking stories. However, since then, readers of LibDem Blogs have honoured this site with six nominations for Liberal Democrat Voice's weekly 'Golden Dozen', four on votes ...
To me it was one of the surprises of 2010. As the Liberal Democrats [IMG: Green_Party_of_England_and_Wales_logo.svg] joined the Conservatives in coalition, and their popular support promptly crashed, why didn't the Green Party benefit? Surely large numbers of the rather leftist, protest voters that were disillusioned with the Lib Dems would migrate there? But Green support hardly moved, while Labour surged. But now many more people are asking themselves whether they should vote Green in the forthcoming General Election. Should they? The Greens have not been idle since 2010. Perhaps they too were surprised about their failure to draw in ex-Lib ...
Readers of this blog will know that for the past few months I have been travelling extensively both on behalf of the LGA and also for UCLG the world LGA. That has given me the opportunity to take to many ... Continue reading →
Tue 3rd
10:25
Sign up for next Lib Dem Newswire: the 10 key Lib Dems in a hung Parliament no-one talks about
[IMG: Silhouette] Who are the 10 key people for the Liberal Democrats in a hung Parliament who no-one is currently talking about? Find out who they are, along with other exclusive analysis and news about the party, in the next edition of my monthly email newsletter, Liberal Democrat Newswire. It is coming out later this week, so sign up for it here and make sure you don't miss out. In the meantime, you can browse the previous editions online.
Tue 3rd
10:14LibLink: Vince Cable - Why is Labour planning changes to tuition fees that benefit higher earning gr...
Writing on the Guardian's Comment is Free, Vince Cable takes Labour to task on their developing plan to reduce the tuition fees cap to £6,000. He culminates with this question: Why is Labour making regressive changes that benefit higher earning graduates before lower earners? We deliberately set up the loan system so graduates on lower incomes would not have to pay it back in full. We did not want loans to act as a disincentive to study. However, the proposals floated by Labour would do the opposite: those who benefit from cutting fees are richer graduates. In 2010 my colleagues ...
South Gloucestershire Trading Standards would like to remind residents to remain vigilant and suspicious of unexpected telephone calls. Some local residents have received unsolicited telephone calls about crime prevention and alarms. The caller claims to be ringing on behalf of the local 'Safe and Strong' group. South Gloucestershire Council's Safer and Stronger Community Groups DO NOT contact people unexpectedly by telephone to offer crime prevention advice or sell equipment such as alarms. THIS IS A SCAM. If you receive a call claiming to be on behalf of the Safe and Strong group please hang up immediately. If a telephone number ...
Everyone knows by now the existential trouble the Labour Party faces in Scotland, post indy referendum. Different estimates give the SNP a dozen, two dozen, fifty, every seat in Scotland - take your pick. The counter-narrative runs thus: they've got a solid chap in Jim Murphy running the show up there now, and besides, we've all heard this before. Some incumbent party is going to sweep all before them in a general election, blah, blah, blah; then on the day, First Past the Post comes along and crushes them into the dirt. But as you can imagine, there are several ...
[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here last Tuesday to mark 100 days 'til 7th May 2015. 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. "I don't know anyone who can call this election," asserts BBC director-general Lord Hall. Everyone agrees: this election is uncallable. Which is true enough about the outcome. But there are things we do know, or at least as good as know, will unfurl in 100 days' time. Here are five ...
Funding boost for community groups in Rastrick (tags: ) Greens ditch citizens' income from election manifesto (tags: ) Renting uncovered - a citizen's advice policy report (tags: ) Things the lib dems stopped Gove from doing to education (.pdf) (tags: ) The Comedy Of Terrors is shipping out from @ArrowFilmsVideo *excite* OfC it'll have to wait till payday till I can afford to buy it... maybe someone else in the house might buy it. ? *hopeful face* (tags: ) 12 British Politicians' Faces Swapped With Other Politicians - utterly terrifying (tags: ) We Lib Dems are stuck between being ignored ...
Tue 3rd
08:55Michael Gove frustrated: 8 policies the Lib Dems blocked and 3 Lib Dem policies he failed to stop
[IMG: Lib Dems stopped Gove] 8 things the Lib Dems stopped Gove doing Profit-making free schools Bringing back the old O-level and CSE divide Cutting new nursery buildings Rewriting history in the national curriculum Axing climate change from national curriculum Cutting the time childminders can give to each child Axing human rights from the national curriculum Politicising Ofsted 3 things the Lib Dems secured despite Gove A £2.5bn Pupil Premium Universal Free School Meals for infants Duty for schools to provide careers advice Download this document
Last night, I was pleased to take part along with Friends of Magdalen Green Chair Catherine Fairweather and other local charities in a photocall at Taypark House in Perth Road. The purpose of this was for the Dundee 330 Round Table to present charities with their shares of the charity funds raised as part of their Christmas fundraising - Friends of Magdalen Green took part in this back on 7th December at Tesco Riverside. Our many thanks to Dundee 330 Round Table for their great efforts for yet another year in raising so much for worthy local charities.
Our Ministers have done much to rectify the shameful situation under Labour where mental health was a poor cousin to physical health - something Labour's policies still haven't addressed. Last week, Norman Lamb announced we are looking to invest £500 million yearly in mental health. We've already invested £120 million for 2015/2016 to fund waiting time targets. We've pledged £150 million over 5 years to improve underage eating disorders services. And profoundly, we're looking at shifting from per-patient funding to outcomes-based funding. What more could we do? Two ideas - 1. Mental health representation on CCG's who commission mental health ...
As residents know, last June, I proposed to the council's City Development Committee that the City Council consult communities on where local people feel a 20mph limit would be appropriate. This failed to get support at committee by a single vote, due to the failure of SNP councillors to support a consultation exercise. I have now secured a further debate on the matter at the City Council meetings on Monday 23rd February. The sort of locations I feel these may be appropriate are narrow streets in highly residential areas, particularly where there are large numbers of elderly people or children ...
www.jospice.org.uk/110/section.aspx/109/new_year_new_road The link above gives details of a great fundraising event for the Jospice at Thornton. Here is a photo of the present stage of works taken last Friday at Brickwall Lane:- [IMG: Link Road work 30 01 15] Click on the photo to enlarge it
Some time ago I posted an article about the former Langton Dock Branch railway. Here is a link back to that article:- And a further posting showed the tunnel under the Liverpool Southport railway line, then and now:- This branch railway also served the extensive Bootle Gas Works, some of which remains adjacent to Marsh Lane. The railway connection with the gas works, which came off the Langton Dock Branch, is long gone (just like the Langton Dock Branch) although traces of both can still be seen. Here is a shot of the Gas Works site and surrounding ...
Our Liberal Democrat candidate for the by election on February 12th for the County Council will be Fiona Whelan. Fiona is currently a Parish Councillor in Caldecote and a former County Councillor for the Hardwick Division. She lives within a mile of the division boundary. Fiona stood down in 2013 to help her son through his GCSE exams, but with that (successfully) behind her, she's willing to take up the challenge again! "I'm a committed campaigner," says Fiona, "and I don't like to take no for an answer. I believe it's really important to work closely with Parish Councils over ...
As reported in the Peterborough Telegraph , a catalogue of "unforeseen problems" resulting from work on Fletton Parkway, has resulted in Peterborough City Council facing an additional cost of £4.5 million, including diversion costs for Virgin media services? Obviously, mistakes do happen...... though the rate at which they happen for the present Tory controlled City Council seems [...]
A couple of days ago I wrote an obituary for Andrew Sullivan's blogging career. Over at his blog on the Atlantic Ta-Nehisi Coates also mourns. The two men had an interesting relationship. Coates was exceedingly critical of Sullivan's decision as editor of the New Republic to publish extracts of a book positing a correlation between race and [...]
