If tonight's Ashcroft polls are worrying for Liberal Democrats, they will be petrifying for the Labour Party – and not just in Scotland where their new leader Jim Murphy's seat is on a knife edge. Of the eight Scottish seats polled, six are predicted at this stage to go to the SNP. These include the seats of Liberal Democrats Bob Smith and Charles Kennedy. The loss of these north east and highland heartlands would be a massive blow to the party. You can see the figures in this table: [IMG: Ashcroft polls 4 March 2015] The race in Charles' seat ...
British music and comedy lost one of the true greats, Vivian Stanshall. I could have chosen any number of videos to pay tribute to him, but rather than the obvious (Canyons Of Your Mind, Big Shot, Look Out There's A Monster Coming) I thought I'd go for something a little different — here's High School [...]
.@David_Cameron The British public want the debates so let's get on with it. Stop holding them to ransom by trying to dictate the terms. — Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) March 4, 2015
Earlier tonight, I attended the latest meeting of Community Spirit Action Group, the residents' group for the 'north' of the West End Ward, covering areas like Cleghorn, Pentland, Ancrum, Tullideph and Milnbank/Forest Park. There was a presentation from the Environment Department on the impending changes to waste and recycling collections. Most of the Community Spirit area is not covered by Phase 1 of the new arrangements that will be implemented imminently - but will be covered by Phase 2 in the autumn - though it was good that the group was updated and able to ask questions about what is ...
After Devon and Bedfordshire, I am getting a taste for these slideshows. Particularly interesting here is New Holland Pier, which I visited while it was still in use. It was where the ferry to Hull left from before the Humber Bridge opened.
Embedding of the video has been disabled (why?) so hurry over to Youtube to hear Norman Baker sing about the plight of endangered species. He has also written an article on the subject to Politics Home: The facts are stark. Tiger numbers have fallen from 100,000 a hundred years ago, to a situation where there are now more in zoos than in the wild. Central Africa has lost 64% of its elephants in just ten years. 50,000 were slaughtered in 2013 alone. In the oceans, 73 million sharks are killed every year for their fins. Clearly this is all hopelessly ...
Local MP Mark Hunter and the Lib Dem team are working to build support for a new Metrolink service to Cheadle and Gatley. Cheadle & Gatley Lib Dem Council candidate Graham Greenhalgh said "The joint report from Stockport Council and TfGM proposes a Metrolink service running along the Stockport-Altrincham train line with new stops in Cheadle and Gatley. That's the first stage but we need to do a lot more if we're going to deliver. We need local residents to show your support for the scheme and we need to get others to support it too." Cllr Iain Roberts said ...
After a really long Wednesday at school there is nothing like coming home, turning on the TV and watching Cameron being picked apart at PMQ and then waffling on to avoid the question in order to cover his tracks. Watch for the best parts at 2:30 and onwards.
The Palace of Westminster is in a bad way. Generation Rent wants to turn the old pile into flats and send Parliament to Hull. I have a better idea. Just let the place gently fall into decay. Imagine how much more attractive it would be as a ruin aliver with feral cats, buddleias and fragments of Gothic tracery. It could be a first glimpse of the future Ian Martin imagined for the whole city the other day: Poor London, the ancient and forgotten metropolis, crumbling slowly into an enchanted urban forest.Parliament would still have to go somewhere, of course, and ...
As our roads get busier, many people complain about road safety as residents, pedestrians, cyclists and even motorists face increasing dangers. Current policy only allows officers to look at improving street design after 3 people have been killed or seriously injured in a 3 consecutive year period, or 25% of households in a given area have [...]
We brought you the first in the Open Doors series of broadcasts at the end of January. Here is the second in which Willie Rennie's scarf tying doesn't improve, Kirsty Williams speaks Welsh and there are lots of good reasons to vote Liberal Democrat with much more policy detail. Feedback about lack of appropriate accents has clearly been listened to and they have slotted in different comments from each person to each version so you really do have to watch them all. England Scotland Wales (English version) Wales (Welsh version) What did you think of the visual policy messaging? If ...
Nick Clegg: "treatment not punishment" Back in 2011, I gave my first speech to Liberal Democrat Conference. Unsurprisingly to those who know me, this was on the need to reform our approach to drugs I spoke of the need to abandon the "war on drugs" (which isn't working), to consider drug use more in terms of it being a health issue than a criminal matter, of taking an evidence-based approach and of the wisdom of considering the merits of the Portuguese mode. I was one of many speakers that day, who helped to ensure a historic vote in favour of ...
LDHQ have launched a bulk buy deal for two sets of leaflets. The templates for the items can be found on the national party's Google Drive: Templates for the A3 Team Leaflet / Flying Start can be found here. The finished artwork for the A6 National Cards can be found here. More details about the deal, including [...]
Here's the new film from the Liberal Democrats:
I don't know whether to get angry, despair, or both when I hear David Tredinnick MPs pronouncements on astrology and homeopathy and why NHS spending on them might be an effective use of our taxes. From a politician's perspective, there does appear to be some mileage in championing these pseudosciences. A substantial minority of the ... Continue reading »
Today should be an important occasion in the council life of Liverpool - it's the day that the council sets its budget. In fact a better description would be a damp squib given the way that the Labour Party runs ... Continue reading →
Earlier in the week I posted a video of Paddy Ashdown and Maajid Nawaz talking about tackling extremism. I've received some very interesting feedback - thank you for your views! I agree with Paddy and Maajid – that tough conversations and community cohesion are the best ways to respond to extremism and to prevent radicalisation. That's why I've put words into action in our local area. Here's a video featuring just some of my local visits to Mosques, Synagogues, community groups, youth groups and more: This is just a starting point. There is still a long way to go, even ...
As the General Election approaches many organisations are trying to lobby/survey/ambush our PPCs on a huge variety of issues. Particularly for those outside our target seats this can be a distraction from their active campaigning. To combat this and help, the party is providing policy support for our parliamentary candidates. The policy department is now [...]
[IMG: childrenstudy] Angry parents are demanding to know why the vital Internet services telling them whether their children had gained their chosen secondary school failed for most of Monday. It was only in the late afternoon following the intervention of Lib Dem County Councillor Chris White that the problem was spotted and the service established. Opposition Spokesperson Mark Watkin commented "This is unacceptable. The County Council should have had back-up services ready to meet this sort of emergency. Being allocated the school of your choice is second only to learning the results of the state's exams in the significance it ...
Those Buzzfeed UK politics people noticed this today. A definite contender for unfortunate headline of the week. Shocking news about Sir Menzies Campbell: pic.twitter.com/qSxKhjKLI5 — BuzzFeed UK Politics (@BuzzFeedUKPol) March 4, 2015 * Newshound in training. I'm sweet and full of mischief, just like my stories.
[IMG: civic centre hemel blog] Dacorum Council chiefs have justified a rise in the 2015/16 council tax charge saying it means borough services like bin collections and street cleaning will cost householders just 49p per day. At Dacorum Borough Council's full council meeting last Wednesday, conservative councillors voted a 1.8 per cent increase to its portion of the charge. Dacorum Borough Council keeps around 12% of the overall council tax charge. For an average (Band D) property the charge breaks down as follows: £179.83 for Dacorum Borough Council's services £1,141.09 goes to Herts County Council services £147.82 goes to Herts ...
To help make your campaigning as easy as possible, we've gathered together some of the essential campaign tools, paperwork and information that you'll need as the campaign goes on. Do let us know if there is anything else that you need and we will add it in. Campaign template artwork ALDC has commissioned templates for [...]
I guess I was lucky to survive my breakfast today. First of all, I almost choked on my Corn Flakes reading some of the tales on the "What's your funniest canvassing experience?" post. Mark Smulian has a lot to answer for. And if your sides aren't sore enough, Alex Wilcock has done a whole post recounting his tales from the doorstep. I might disagree with him on the worst by-election candidate ever, though. Things got more serious, though. Hilarity turned to annoyance and shame when I saw Nigel Farage on BBC Breakfast going on about immigration. "Uncontrolled mass immigration" he ...
[IMG: Stephen Williams] Will you be in London on Tuesday 24th March? Here at Lib Dem Voice we have been planning a joint session with Localis, the local government think-tank, under the title "The local offer: what should the Lib Dems offer on devolution in their manifesto?" We are delighted that Stephen Williams, who is the Minister for Communities, has agreed to speak. Alongside him will be John Shipley, (advisor to the Government on cities from the House of Lords), Caroline Pidgeon (Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the London Assembly) and Tony Greenham (New Economics Foundation). I will ...
[IMG: Labour Party logo] Voters in Kenton ward in Brent go to the polls tomorrow in a by-election. In May last year, the Conservatives took all three seats with Labour being some 14% behind them. The Times (£) reports that Labour have been forced to withdraw a leaflet which claimed that the Conservative candidate wasn't even voting Tory any more. The leaflet contained an image of a feedback form to a Labour leaflet from someone with the same name as the Tory candidate who said they had voted Tory in 2010 and wouldn't be doing so this time because he ...
There was a debate in Parliament yesterday which was interesting because Labour admitted that the Labour government was planning to bring in a flat rate housing benefit payment in the Social Housing Sector. In Labour's current Phraseology "Labour planned a Bedroom Tax for Social Housing". The full debate is here:
The first Tuesday of the month is the night on which Sunniside History Society meets. In the past 4 years I've only missed 3 or 4. I was there last night and was almost mobbed by members as I walked through the doors! There were people wanting me to get street lights fixed, others wanted to know about the Marley Hill opencast plans, someone wanted to know when the next Focus is coming out and
Scottish Liberal Democrats have their Spring Conference in Aberdeen from 20-22 March. At that event, a series of awards will be presented for outstanding service and commitment to the party. Nominations are sought from members for the following: The Rae Michie Quaich for best contribution to membership recruitment and retention The SWLD Quaich for the Liberal Democrat who has done the most to advance diversity within Scotland in the past year The Robin McSkimming Award presented by East Dunbartonshire Liberal Democrats to the person who has done most for their community The Russell Johnston Award presented by Argyll & Bute ...
I am now in my fifties - a bit of a shock and I still haven't got over it yet - and I have discovered over the past few years that one political objective above all others has gripped me. I'm not saying it's the only thing that matters - just that it is what I want to do now. I want to find ways that the mainstream and the radical thinkers and practitioners can learn from each other. There is nothing so frustrating in UK public life - and in economics particularly - that decades go by in mutual ...
Why you should never assume anything about people with autism (tags: ) How many more of these have to happen before it's accepted that we live in a victim blaming rape culture? (tags: ) Beer, Baccy And Crumpet Party Banned From Election Because Its Name Is "Offensive" To Women (tags: ) Six Conversations I've Had About Devon History With A Small Poodle Called Billy (tags: ) Tory Minister Nick Boles Slams Iain Duncan Smith's 'Inhuman' Benefit Sanctions - but then withdraws Shame. Appeared there was a Tory Minister with a touch of humanity for a moment, there. (tags: ) It's ...
Would you be interested in activities like these for 4-15 year olds and their families? If so, please email healthylifestyle.southglos.gov.uk or 01454 863947 to ask about the Reach programme (Rethinking Eating and Activity for Childhood Health) In the meantime, how about a simple healthy "Sugar Swap"? Just google "Change4Life" for lots of ideas and free gifts to help you.
[IMG: labourreform] Labour have launched their plans for political reform (there's a PDF with more detail here) and at a first look, they're not that bad. Not perfect, but definitely steps in the right direction and with a bit more coherence to them than the rather random nature of the combined authorities/city regions plans currently being scattered across the country. The good news is that Labour remain committed to having a Constitutional Convention and are looking at how devolution within England works as a whole, not on a piecemeal basis. There's no detail on how the convention will be made ...
The General Election will take place two months tomorrow, and while for voters at home it means just two months of wishing it would all shut up, for active political volunteers it's two months of joy and excitement. Or hell and exhaustion. So from my many election campaigns past, here are my experiences of: worst Lib Dem candidate ever! Best old lady ever! Canvassing moment least likely to be repeated! Election secret I should have admitted at the time! Best and worst police! Best and worst dog bites! Best bakery order! Best conversation in bed! Most racist voter! And more! ...
The first Turkish president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, once stated "He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government". Although falling short of advocating a fully secular state, Ataturk highlights the weakness of a state reliant upon a particular religious doctrine to lend legitimacy to a government. Secularism, according to Dictionary.com, is the view that public education and other matters of civil policy should be conducted without the introduction of a religious element. In simple terms, the separation of church and state. The separation of religious influence from public policy is greatest within OECD nations such as the ...
In a Telegraph article, talking about her worst day in politics, Natalie Bennett was still positive about one thing: "I think we're going to see massive change in British politics." This goes together with the "peaceful revolution" (which sounds a lot like what Russell Brand is after) that Bennett also tells us is just around the corner. This gets echoed in the political media on occasion, for different reasons than the leader of the Greens touts it. Basically, it sounds a lot more exciting than "everyone's going to have a hissy for a few weeks, and then we'll get 2010 ...
Montrose SNP Cllr Bill Duff has excused CyberNat attacks on the BBC's Nick Robinson following his diagnosis with cancer. Cllr Duff's tweet suggested that as he had met people wishing ill of Alex Salmond, that celebrating's Nick Robinson's cancer diagnosis was therefore acceptable Replying to a comment I made on Twitter about ugly nationalism, Twitter user @TheQuietNo tweeted, "Burning Smith Report, saying Murphy stole from the Clutha fund, laughing at Nick Robinson getting cancer, etc. etc. #SNPout". In response, Angus SNP Cllr Bill Duff tweeted, "Met plenty of people who wished Alex S ill . What's your point?" @TheQuietNo @ssamani ...
I've seen a lot of links going round over the last day or two to this study, or to newspaper reports of it. It's a meta-analysis of various studies of the size of the human penis, and utterly unsurprisingly it comes to the same conclusions as every study on the subject ever. My knowledge of [...]
The BBC reports: The Liberal Democrats' manifesto will include a pledge to hand drugs policy from the Home Office to the Department of Health, Nick Clegg is to say. His party would also shift resources away from prosecuting drug-users. Mr Clegg's comments are expected at a joint appearance with Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, who has long called for reforms to the drug laws... [Clegg] will pledge to end the "nonsense" of jailing people for possessing small amount of drugs for their personal use, and say young people should not be penalised in later life because of a criminal record. ...
From Zero Waste Scotland : Get your work colleagues swapping and sharing for Pass it on Week! National re-use week from 7th to 15th March is the perfect time to get staff thinking beyond recycling and have a bit of workplace fun. If your workplace is committed to sustainability, or you're looking for some fun activity to get staff interacting, Pass it on Week is a perfect time to run some office events. Pass it on Week is all about encouraging re-use, and getting people passing on, swapping, sharing and donating things they no longer need to a new home, ...
The Lib Dem team have secured an investment of £200,000 in Cheadle village centre to complete the paving works at the east end. "This funding will allow the final section of paving up to Audio Works to be replaced, improving the look of the whole village and making the pavements safer for pedestrians." said Lib Dem council candidate Graham Greenhalgh. "We've worked hard to ensure the project is completed and I'm very glad that will now be done." The proposals still have to be formally approved by the Council and there is a chance that Labour and Conservative councillors could ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg Glasgow 2014 by Liberal Democrats] In a major keynote speech today, Nick Clegg will call for responsibility for drugs to be moved from the criminal justice system to the health care system. In that, he has the support of Richard Branson and the two men have written for the Guardian's Comment is Free section. First of all, they show how the current system is both wasting money and failing: Since the "war" was declared by President Richard Nixon in 1971, we have spent over £1tn trying to eradicate drugs from our societies. Yet the criminal market continues ...
Those who know me well will realise that I don't have a religion so may be wondering why am I taking photo's of the inside of a Baptist Church. The answer is that I like church architecture in its many forms and regular readers of this site will note that I have covered other churches in my posts. My reason for going to Ash Street was hardly religious either; it was where my branch of PCS trade union held its AGM. Indeed, it has been having meetings in this church for many years but in my time as Branch Secretary ...
Last week saw the annual 'Budget Council' meeting of Bury Council. Councillors are required (by law) to set a balanced budget each year so this is an important meeting. Council Tax Rise The first news many people want to know is what is happening to their Counci Tax bill. The GOOD news is that, thanks to another grant from the Government, Council Tax rates will be frozen from 1 April 2015 for yet another year. The Government gives Bury a grant conditional on it freezing Council Tax. Bury Council have agreed to take the grant so our Council Tax will ...
The Lib Dems are launching exciting new proposals to make Stockport Town Centre a much greener and more pleasant place to be, creating an urban green infrastructure across the centre. There are some great ideas and proposals. The next stage is to find ways to fund them. Some we might be able to bundle in with work we're already planning, others we might be able to get Lottery, community or business support to fund. We want to see green roofs, green walls and rambling vegetation on trellises across far more of Stockport's buildings and we've set an ambitious target to ...
The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last week announced £115m in funding for cycling projects across the UK. The money will be split between eight major cities, with each using the money to improve the safety and accessibility of their cycle routes. The full details are below – but importantly Greater Manchester is to get £22 million of this £115 million, to be spent on the second phases of the Cycle City plan. As previously reported it is vital that some of this money is spent on the Manchester 'northwards' corridor towards Prestwich and beyond – since the original Manchester ...
Transport for Greater Manchester and Bus Operators are proposing some significant changes to the bus services which currently serve the Hilton Lane, Butterstile Lane and Bury New Road areas of Prestwich. Not directly relevant to us in Holyrood Ward – but may well affect residents who use the buses to travel across Prestwich, or who connect onto the buses to get to Salford, Radcliffe or Unsworth. The proposed changes are: 92 (Manchester – Carr Clough – Pilsworth – Bury) CLOSED 93 (Manchester – Carr Clough – Whitefield – Bury) Changed to just Manchester – Carr Clough ONLY – but increased ...
Plans for a petrol station and convenience store on the corner of Bromfield Road and Coronation Avenue will be considered by Shropshire Council's South Planning Committee next Tuesday (10 March). I will be telling the committee that I think the plans are too dangerous to approve without revisions. I have a number of concerns. My [...]
Residents who live in Rhodes may be affected by a proposed change to the 164 bus service currently being considered by Transport for Greater Manchester. 164 is an hourly service from Shudehill to Heywood, via Heaton Park and Middleton. The proposal is that the service will in the future run only to from Manchester to Hollins in Middleton, and not through the Heywood. According to T4GM: Service 164 is subsidised on daily evenings and Sunday daytime and operates between Manchester Shudehill and Heywood at an hourly frequency. The incumbent operators have reported that the service is subject to punctuality problems. ...
Can you offer experience to young people? Please see below an appeal for volunteers from one of our local Scout Groups This is a request for anyone with some spare time who would like to help improve the minds and development of local children within the scouting programme. The Scouts are a well-known organisation and cater for children and young people between the ages of 6 and 18. Unfortunately, due to the shortage of adult volunteers, some Cubs, Scouts and Explorer troupes in the Prestwich area may be forced to close. The Scouts can offer challenge and adventure to both ...
The First Minister's response to the St David's Day agreement can best be summed up as sniffy in my view. This is particularly the case on the proposed funding floor, which has been a major objective of the Welsh Government for the last five years: On funding, the UK Government has agreed to "introduce a floor in the level of relative funding provided to the Welsh Government". Without a floor, Welsh funding levels will fall further below what is needed for our front line public services. So I welcome the fact that the UK Government has - at last - ...
