That sound you can hear is the wailing of Labour campaign organisers in Grimsby as they work out how to deal with outgoing Labour MP Austin Mitchell's latest bout of Foot in Mouth disease. From the i: From the shuttered-up homes by the once bustling fish market to derelict harbour-side factories, politicians of all stripes admit privately that the east coast town alternates between being forgotten and taken for granted in Westminster. It's a narrative that Ukip is pushing hard and one that the Lincolnshire town's veteran MP, Mitchell, unwittingly reinforced by telling the Independent on Sunday that Labour would ...
Lord Bonkers continues his survey of Liberal Democrat prospects at the next general election, perhaps becoming a little sidetracked in the process. Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Caithness, the most northerly part of this most northerly of mainland Scottish constituencies, was once the seat of Sir Archibald Sinclair. It is an area best known in recent decades for the Dounreay atom plant, with its habit of spilling nuclear waste on to the neighbouring beaches. Sir Archibald, the grandfather of the current member, was a gentleman, a fine leader of our party and a friend of mine; certainly, he was never ...
Eric Avebury, the Liberal Democrat peer, writes movingly on the campaign to legalise assisted dying and his very personal interest in the subject. The Telegraph has a chief executive, but what it needed was an editor, says Peter Preston. "A recent panel for Smith College alumnae aimed at 'challenging the ideological echo chamber' elicited this ominous 'trigger/content warning" when a transcript appeared in the campus newspaper: 'Racism/racial slurs, ableist slurs, antisemitic language, anti-Muslim/Islamophobic language, anti-immigrant language, sexist/misogynistic slurs, references to race-based violence, references to antisemitic violence.'" Wendy Kaminer on the progressive ideas behind the lack of free speech on American ...
The New Walk Centre, the two Seventies office blocks that until recently housed the offices of Leicester City Council, will be demolished tomorrow. I cannot find the exact time of demolition online, but a wide exclusion zone will be in force between 6am and 6pm. The Leicester Mercury promises a live feed of events on its website. I went to photograph the Centre today. It is not coming down for aesthetic reasons but because it is so unsafe that no one will insure it any more. With the windows all taken out, it looks rather like a multi-storey car park ...
The Bishops of the Anglican Church have written a pastoral letter. I haven't read it yet: maybe it will be read to us at church tomorrow morning, but if so there will be a few late lunches as it's 52 pages long. Pending reading or hearing it read I'll content myself with comments on the Guardian's headline, "Democracy is failing, bishops tell politicians." Well, if that sums up what they say, I think they are absolutely right. In my view democracy is failing for the following reasons: Politicians aren't just seen to lie, they really do, routinely. Labour promised not ...
Jose Mourinho said there was a conspiracy against Chelsea. The world scoffed and pointed out that decisions have gone both for the west London team and against them. This is true but in this modern day and age, we all have access to plenty of football and get to watch a lot of the action. I have bought into the conspiracy to some degree even before the game today but choosing the Chelsea v Burnley match as my 3PM game of choice and seeing the way referee Martin Atkinson handled the game, you have to wonder what is really going ...
Police will need to get a judge to give them permission before they access journalists' phone records, according to the BBC. A temporary measure means officers must follow the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and get legal permission to obtain any communications data. The move comes after strong criticism of the way police were using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to access journalists' sources. The Home Office said it was an "interim solution" ahead of the next parliament. It was the Liberal Democrats and Nick Clegg in particular who pushed for this change: A spokesman Mr Clegg ...
Sat 21st
17:38
Appearing on the Big Debate talking about ISIS, alcohol at football matches and decriminalising drug...
Yesterday, I went to Paisley in Renfrewshire to be part of the panel for Radio Scotland's Big Debate which is the Scottish equivalent of Any Questions. Also on the panel were shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander, local SNP MSP George Adam and Peter Murray from the Media Trust. I did try to persuade presenter Gordon Brewer that he should "accidentally" call Douglas Danny in homage to Jo Joyner who made an error with someone's name in the EastEnders live episode the other night but he was having none of it. It was a much more thoughtful and less combative discussion ...
The "Hackney Heroine" Pauline Pearce has applied to be the Liberal Democrat candidate in Hitchin for the General Election: From the Hertfordshire Mercury: Pauline Pearce - dubbed the Heroine of Hackney - could stand as the Lib Dems' candidate for Hitchin in next year's General Election. The Hackney resident, who moved from Hitchin eight years ago, said: "Plain and simple, it's home to me. "I'm a Hitchin girl, I know quite a bit about the issues down there, especially concerning the youngsters. "I want to help kids and let them know what they can do to open their eyes and ...
December 2014 Lib Dem Nick Clegg helped lead the UK government persuading the EU to agree 40% carbon reduction by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. An amazing achievement. 40% many think amazingly hard to achieve. We actually need an 80 or 90% reduction to avoid irreversible climate change. Either way 40% felt amazing. This week it was announced that tests replacing regular spark plugs with laser ignition in a normal combustion engine had been successful. Not only does it work but in the first ever tests of the idea they had a 27% boost in combustion efficiency. That is a ...
Of course, it would be completely unfair to speculate that Chuka Umunna has decided to start using the Liberal Democrat fairer society, stronger economy slogan because he's decided the Labour campaign is a bit of a shambles and hasn't come up with a message he likes... [IMG: Chuka Umunna takes up Lib Dem slogan]
Politicos know I can't be talking about the General Election which is just 75 days away. So do I really have another life? This morning I went for my first run of the year, a year in which I have promised myself that I will do the Great North Run again. I have plans in mind for a local charity, but think I'd better see how the legs and the lungs go before I commit too heavily to that. In the meantime, give me a toot or a wave if you see me (slowly) passing. There's nothing like a bit ...
Away from the ugliness of yesterday (no, not my face, that is ugly every day), I'm going to tell you a story with two parts, one amusing and one slightly worrying but both interweaving. I was at Sainsbo's yesterday getting a few groceries, nothing too exciting you might think and indeed it wasn't. I get to a till and an old lady is buying the world and the conveyor belt is full. She takes a good ten minutes to have everything packed and then she goes to pay, out of her handbag she pulls a huge rolled up ball of ...
I think the post about bridges a fortnight got me thinking of other of my favourite things. So I have decided to look at five of the favourite museums I have visited. Here is my list of five that I could happily visit again. 1. Pergamon Museum, Berlin In fact I could have probably not gone off Museen Island in Berlin with a list, as the Bode Museum, Neus Museum, Altes Museum and Alte Nationalgalarie are also well worth a visit. But the think about the Pergamon is the sheer scale of some of the exhibits from its ancient society ...
[IMG: "an exclaimation of annoyance, exasperation, rage or other negative factor or to expel anger, disgust, disappointment"] "an exclaimation of annoyance, exasperation, rage or other negative factor or to expel anger, disgust, disappointment" The Pitch: It's the early days of Twitter, and someone's had an idea for a parody account. Surely, nothing could be more amusing than a right-wing Tory MEP who continually misunderstands things, gets his facts wrong and continually blusters and insists he's right regardless? So, our protagonist creates the account, and finds the perfect picture to illustrate it in an illustrated dictionary's image for 'harrumph'. The account ...
How very green of Ukip, reusing rather than binning: Our colleagues in #ukip Yorkshire seem to have run out of money to print new leaflets #ukipfail pic.twitter.com/nVWregzPMT — UKIP Trumpton (@Trumpton_UKIP) February 20, 2015 Mind you, not all of them have quite got this new green thing: Ukip candidate wonders "what happens when renewable energy runs out?" Victoria Ayling, Ukip's candidate in Great Grimsby asked the question at a public meeting – prompting "guffaws" from the audience Although to be fair, recycling is the in thing when it comes to another candidate, Lynton Yates. Suspended over a barmy policy idea, ...
Sat 21st
10:45Some more secret party elections you can stand in - act by noon next Friday, 27th February
There are some more secret elections happening. We feel it's our duty to disseminate the information as widely as possible. Here are the details of the positions available and how to get yourself nominated: All persons elected to these posts will hold office for the calendar years 2015 and 2016. For the election of: One Vice-Chairs of the IRC Three members of the SAO Review Group Two members of the FE Candidates' sub-group (meets with JSCC) One representatives on ALDE Congress Two representatives to the LI Congress The election regulations approved by the Federal Executive in May 2009 are attached ...
I know that Liberal Democrats have nothing to boast about on tuition fees. We let people down and we are being punished for that. However, the outcome of that debacle, more by accident than design it has to be said, is that we have created an effective graduate tax, in which the principle of no up-front fees has been maintained, the vast majority of students will not repay the full amount, if they pay anything at all and which is actually leading to more people from deprived backgrounds going to university. Labour's record on this issue is far from perfect ...
Sat 21st
09:34
David Cameron's Labour-SNP messaging is classic Cameron: short-term gain, long-term nightmare
The Prime Minister has given a speech in Edinburgh this week in which he outlined what's going in Scotland with Labour and the Nats as he sees it: "The SNP and Labour are halfway up the aisle together already. They've picked out the wedding list. They've booked the honeymoon, probably in North Korea. They've set up the joint account - unlimited overdraft, obviously." Fine, let's get this out of the way first: it was a pretty bold line, which you have to appreciate. I'm sure it went down well with the Scottish Tories in attendance. The Guardian described it as ...
Most definitely the oldest building in Maghull and one that is being looked after by a Trust. I came across the photos below in my collection although I did not take them myself. My guess is that they were taken by Nigel Winchester, who sadly died last year, as he was very much involved with the preservation and upkeep of the Chapel. It is sited within the grounds of St. Andrew's C of E Church and is literally feet away from the grave of world famous toy maker Frank Hornby of Meccano fame. [IMG: rsz_unsworth_chapel_08_10_-_nigel_winchester] [IMG: rsz_unsworth_chapel_08_10_2_nigel_winchester] The photos were ...
Sat 21st
09:11An inspiring talk for a Saturday morning - John Loughton on his journey from poverty in Edinburgh to...
John Loughton grew up in poverty in Edinburgh. He is a truly inspiring character. In this video he talks about his life and how he founded a youth leadership organisation that has worked with thousands of young people across the world. John is a member of the Liberal Democrats and if you look at his Wikipedia page, you'll see just some of the things he's done and the powerful circles in which he has moved.
The Compendium of Alcohol Ingredients and Processes (tags: ) Politicians needn't be so afraid of saying what they think - good idea with just ONE problem from @IsabelHardman (tags: ) This is what happens to your brain when you give up sugar (tags: ) congrats to @gameofkittens: I'm proud to have been involved, & am really looking forward to my game arriving :) (tags: ) Sleep study shows new moms are dangerously exhausted for months (tags: ) Would you like 5 million votes and 4 seats, or 1 million votes and 56 seats? (tags: ) Some of the problems with ...
[IMG: Das Boot - The Director's Cut] Only 34 years late to the party, I recently finally watched Das Boot, going for the sort-of-new (18 years old) director's cut version of the classic film about a German submarine in wartime. Weighing in at 208 minutes, it is nearly an hour longer than the original cinema release but doesn't feel it. If somehow you too have left it as long as I did before watching, or have watched it but not recently, I'd heartily recommend it. You don't have to be particularly interested in the Second World War or submarines either ...
From Solar Cities Scotland about improving your home insulation : We are having a drop in event from 10am-6pm on Monday 23rd February in Room 17 at the Mitchell Street Centre. We have invited all Pentland residents in order to view their recent thermal images as well as Logie residents to in order to discuss the progress of our internal insulation pilot project in one home in Logie for which we received an award of £2000 from Dundee Partnership. Full information on the outcomes will be in the final report which will be produced by the end of March 2015. ...
From the City Council : Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating building operations at Verdant Works. The Order is expected to be in force for 10 weeks from 23 February 2015. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic in (1) West Hendersons Wynd from the north side of the entrance to Verdant Works extending for a distance of 26 metres or thereby northwards to the north side ...
There's no change at the top, as George Murray's Marauding Fullbacks continue to lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 25, with 1,491 points, just ahead of Jon Featonby and Sam Bowman. But let's also hear it for three players outside the top 10: Will Barter (Mid-Table Meanderer) had the best week's performance, with 70 points. Honourable mentions go to Max Wilkinson (Regency Spa Town) and Richard Farrance (Wirral_Rovers), with 68 and 67 points respectively. [IMG: LDV FANTASY FOOTBALL 26] There are 161 players in total and you can still join the league by clicking here. * Stephen was ...
^Bolo Na from Chittagong. Winner of the 2013 Silver Lotus Award for best lyrics. In the same year the Academy decided only to nominate two of a possible six films for the Best Song Oscar^ I have pretty big reservations about the Oscars. When this year's nominations were announced I blogged that: The pale, male and stale [...]
