Would you credit it, Labour votes against reducing the number of councillors and against reducing the amount of money paid to senior councillors. Well yes you would credit it actually! Sefton Council is much smaller than it used to be because of huge budget cuts and it is likely to get much smaller whomever wins the General Election. Labour, despite their 'come the revolution speeches' of a few years ago, has already backed George Osborne's spending plans in their first year of Government, should they get elected of course. On top of that in the 2nd to 5th years a ...
In a landmark judgement, the EU's General Court has annulled plans by the European Central Bank (ECB) to require companies handling large trades in euros to base themselves in the eurozone, ruling that this would go beyond the ECB's competence. The case was brought by the UK government, following concerns that the proposals could threaten London's status as Europe's financial capital and undermine the EU's single market. Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder commented: "This ruling confirms the primacy of the single market over the eurozone and strengthens the case for Britain remaining at the heart of EU decision-making. "Outside the ...
Lord Ashdown told the BBC the PM's decision to offer a one-debate ultimatum was "unbelievable" and said he couldn't imagine Margaret Thatcher refusing to take part. (The Independent, 5th March 2015) This is, of course, rubbish. Here's The Lady herself in 1979, rejecting a debate with the Labour prime minister, James Callaghan: "I believe that issues and policies decide elections, not personalities. We should stick to that approach. We are not electing a President, we are choosing a government." [IMG: thatcher 1975] And indeed when she was fighting for the Tory leadership in 1975 she refused to take part in ...
Colin Talbot gets it right on the imposition of a new mayor on Greater Manchester: "The proposed changes ... have all the hall marks of a policy being made on-the-hoof, behind closed doors, by small groups of like-minded people - just the sort of ingredients identified by King and Crewe which lead to monumental blunders." Wages are decided by the market? Nonsense, says Stumbling and Mumbling: they are social constructs. " One of the problems about getting economic policy-makers in a room together is that you sink immediately into acronym hell." David Boyle reports on a seminar he organised at ...
This is an interesting article that looks at the question as to what extent Greece was inherently a financial disaster waiting to happen. It summarises as: "Greece never had the productive structure to be as rich as it was: its income was inflated by borrowings that weren't used to upgrade its productive capacity." There is a difficulty with macroeconomic theories that ignore the nature of the
[IMG: toddler] The Lib Dems have always believed that a good education has to start early, and in 2012 Nick Clegg announced free early education and childcare for two years olds who's parents receive qualifying benefits – going further than ever before. Councils have the job of finding the families who qualify and getting the children a place, and Stockport is second best across the whole country at achieving this – making a real difference to the lives of over a thousand young children across the borough. In Stockport: · 1,081 children took up a place in the Autumn Term ...
We have seen two very good policy announcements by Nick Clegg in the past two days. There, I've said it, and I hope my one regular reader doesn't expect me to make 'Clegg praising' a habit. It was a monumental effort to find the self will to offer this modest praise! On a more serious note, the manifesto commitment on drug law reform is good liberal policy and emphasises much needed treatment over draconian criminalisation. Hot on its heels today came the commitment to establish a Cornish Assembly. As well as being fundementally right, it will play well to a ...
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by Teads (previously Ebuzzing / Wikio). Most unusually, no-one joins, no-one leaves. Doubt that will happen again any time soon. 1 (4) Liberal Democrat Voice No change 2 (7) Mark Pack Up 2 3 (23) Stephen Tall Up 6 4 (30) Nick Tyrone Up 6 5 (31) Alex Marsh Up 8 6 (38) Caron Lindsay (Caron's Musings) Up 5 7 (39) Jennie Rigg Down 4 8 (42) Zoe O'Connell (Complicity) Up 13 9 (45) Pink Dog Up 29 10 (57) Lynne Featherstone MP Down 8 11 ...
Thu 5th
17:58
Baroness Lindsay Northover on developing evidence-based policy to strengthen LGBT rights across the ...
Tonight, Lindsay Northover, our International Development Minister is giving a speech at a Sexuality, Poverty and Law Symposium in Brighton, outlining DFID's new approach to LGBT rights in developing countries. Lindsay and Lynne Featherstone before her have been integral in putting DFID on the front foot in prioritising LGBT rights and protections everywhere DFID works. The symposium is part of an ongoing DFID-funded research programme led by the Institute for Development Studies in Brighton, which will produce evidence-based, practical options for activists and policymakers for strengthening legal protection of LGBT people and sexuality rights. The research will also build understanding ...
There's a nice moment in the "Beyond the Fringe" sketch about the war where one of that "fab four" says: "Every day Alvar Lidell brought us news of fresh disasters" and this is immediately followed by a mock BBC voice-over: "This is Alvar Lidell bringing you news of fresh disasters." Accurate that is or not, there is no doubt that nowadays, if not every day at least every week, we get news of fresh actual or possible financial scandals, so much so that most of us have lost count. In the last week or so we have heard that: the ...
I was invited recently by Whickham School (I was a pupil there from 1975 to 1982) to be interviewed as part of their involvement with BBC School Report. In it, the children run the whole programme from deciding the questions to filming, directing, and presenting the programme. The recording was this morning at the Media Centre in Sunderland University. I was asked a range of questions about why
Week Five Interpersonal Effectiveness OrGetting what I want, without coming across as a complete shit. Along with mindfulness, this programme has proved equally as difficult: though I think in a small way, I was able to contribute more to group discussions. The majority of the group are passive or passive/aggressive; a trait I am familiar with up until the death of my Mother. I turned: I think almost overnight; I refused to be treated by my employers (Headteacher, Deputy Head, and Line Managers) as a piece of shit. They treated the depression as me being selfish, that I was in ...
Delivery of our latest tabloid in the Whickham area of Blaydon constituency is going well. Yesterday I lent a hand to get more out. In the morning I headed to Watergate Estate and delivered all 370 houses in and hour and a half. After lunch and a haircut in Blaydon, I headed to Dunston Hill to deliver 200. And that was where I saw one of those extremely rare sights - a Labour leaflet (there
Sarah Teather has been writing for the Huffington Post in the wake of the report on immigration detention released the other day. She started with a shocking story: One such occasion took place last July. I was sat in a committee room in the House of Commons, chairing the first evidence session of an inquiry into immigration detention. We were talking, via a phone link, to a young man who was being held in one of the giant detention centres next door to Heathrow. He told us about how he had ended up in the UK. At the age of ...
[IMG: viral-voting-cover-image] Like many who were raised on the optimistic visions pre-cyberpunk SF gave us, this isn't the future I expected us to have. By now, we should all be travelling everywhere by jetpack or hoverboard, except for our holidays where we'd have to go to our local spaceport to get the rocket that would take us to hotels in orbit or the moon. We did get some parts of the future right – computer screens everywhere and phones in your watch, for instance – but those bigger parts of the vision proved either technologically impossible, or just far too ...
[IMG: Screen Shot 2015-03-05 at 09.39.28] Today is World Book Day. I thought it might be fun to have a discussion about our favourite books. We should probably try to stick to books which are vaguely linked to politics, but I'm not going to complain too much if you don't. My all-time favourite, after 21 years, remains "All's Fair: Love, war and running for President" by Mary Matalin and James Carville. The two authors are now married and got together just before both of them took jobs on opposing sides of the 1992 presidential election campaign. Carville was Clinton's main ...
In advance of this evening's Sefton Council budget meeting at Bootle Town Hall, Lib Dem leader councillor Iain Brodie Browne has given a warning that even bigger cuts in council spending could be in store if Labour were to win May's General Election. Just before Christmas, Ed Miliband announced that a Labour government would impose extra cuts of £2,000 million in central government funding to local councils. [IMG: Cllr. Iain Brodie Browne] "We've seen many example of Labour politicians on Sefton Council saying it's all the Coalition Government's fault that they are having to make cuts in local services," commented ...
[IMG: Tony Blair] "Rich Labour Member gives £100k to Labour" is not the biggest surprise in the whole world. When it's Tony Blair, though, and he's giving £20k to campaigns against Liberal Democrat MPs who stood up against his catastrophic intervention in Iraq, that will set Liberal Democrat blood boiling. At least that's what Tim Farron hopes. He's sending an email to members and supporters asking them to donate enough to match Blair's £20k against our MPs. Labour candidates fighting fabulous Lib Dem MPs like Lynne Featherstone, Jo Swinson, Jenny Willott and Julian Huppert will be getting Blair money. Anything ...
Spring has sprung as far as the birds are concerned in the garden. Despite the frosty nights and regularly frozen pond, buds are ripening and the crocus are marching with their trumpets in full bloom. The weather forecast promises an unseasonably warm weekend and so it's time to repair and reseed the much neglected lawn. I've gone for some Grammy-chic orange temporary fencing to protect the newly reseeded and filled holes our dog had decided the garden needed. Hopefully, by Easter, the lawn should be looking in better shape. jack frost patterns patching up the lawn temporary fencing hyacinths nearly ...
Thu 5th
13:09
Tony Blair has donated to Labour candidates fighting Lib Dems. Here's your chance to match him
An email from Tim Farron arrives: Yesterday Tony Blair donated more than £100,000 to the Labour party's election campaign. Of course, Tony Blair isn't short of money. Since leaving office Tony Blair has earned hundreds of thousands through his consultancy company, Tony Blair Associates. Some of his clients will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Tony has worked for the government of Azerbaijan, where journalists critical of the state are routinely locked up. He has advised the government of Saudi Arabia, where people are still beheaded and flogged in public. Blair is now taking their money and using it ...
[IMG: Norman Baker's Animal Countdown] Lewes MP Norman Baker has taken to music to warn us all of the dangers facing some animals we take for granted. Lions, tigers, elephants and rhinos are under threat. I spent 99p on it and it's actually very good. You can find out how to download Norman Baker's Animal Countdown here and the video, which I can't embed, can be watched on You Tube here. Norman wrote an article for Politics Home ahead of his Adjournment Debate last night in which he outlined what needed to be done: I am pleased to say that ...
Thursday A quiet day on the Bonkers Hall Estate. In particular, I don't have the police turning over the cottage of one of my employees - unlike another Rutland aristocrat I could mention. Ha ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...
[IMG: Affordable homes for sale in Pendeen] Terrace of 3 two bed homes for sale at £116,500 to those with local connection Open viewing event of homes for sale at £116,500 in Pendeen on Saturday 14 March any time between 11 a.m and 3 p.m. Just come along to Croft Mear, at the end of Moorland Close, Pendeen. The new, 2 bed homes with sea views can be bought by people who can show a connection to Cornwall and a housing need. People will need to be able to provide a deposit of at least £12,000 and be able to ...
[IMG: New Miswell Lane Crossing] New Miswell Lane Crossing "A Family Friendly Tring!", that's the ambition for two Liberal Democrat Councillors, Cllr Christopher Townsend, DBC Councillor for Tring West & Rural Ward and Cllr Nick Hollinghurst, Herts County Councillor for Tring & the Villages. They've been working for two years now to get a new zebra crossing where two footpaths, used by parents and children going to and from school, go over Miswell Lane. Now it's in place. But they've done a lot more than that. Together with Cllr Nigel Nutkins they have supported the parents in Longfield Road who ...
[IMG: kmb-nickbelfitt2] Kelly Marie Blundell is one of the Liberal Democrats' brightest young stars. At every conference, she's been involved in making policy aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people in our society whether it's about food banks, the work capability assessment, a fair benefits system or mental health. She's such a persuasive, compelling, passionate speaker and would be a force to be reckoned with within both a Liberal Democrat Parliamentary group and in Parliament itself. She also has freakishly neat bookshelves. She's our candidate for Guildford, a seat that we held between 2001-5 with Sue Doughty. Now the town ...
Liberal Democrats and Independents on Redcar & Cleveland Council today announced a rise in pay for council staff that will ensure all receive a "living wage".From 1 April 2015 the Redcar & Cleveland Minimum Wage will be raised to match the National Living Wage, which is £7.85 per hour.All staff will receive a 2.2% pay rise, except those on £100,000 or more, whose pay will still be frozen.Lib Dem Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor Glyn Nightingale (Ormesby ward) said:"Labour froze pay for council staff in 2008. Now all except those on over £100,000 will get a 2.2% pay rise. And ...
I've been interviewing economists and radicals for the last six months about the conundrum of local economics, and why they don't see eye to eye on it - given that they want the same thing (more prosperity). The result has been my co-written book People Powered Prosperity. One of the things I realised while I researched it is that, actually, the word 'local' is neither very accurate nor very useful. It is inaccurate because the real problem isn't so much the lack of local financial and enterprise institutions (though that is a problem too), but how to scale them up ...
I've just seen Jonny Evans from Manchester United and Papiss Cisse from Newcastle try to foul each other a few times. I didn't see much of the football. Oh yes and they spat at each other. Louis Van Gall, the Manchester United manager was reported to have said that his player should not be found guilty. On the BBC website he is reported as saying "I don't think Jonny Evans is a spitter. Maybe spitting on the floor, but we were on the bench and you cannot see from there." It's a nonsense quote based on ignorance. Sounds like poor ...
Yesterday at PMQs, Miliband gave Cameron a hard time about ducking the TV debates. "I think the British public deserves it, and David Cameron should now name the date." In response, Craig Oliver, the Number 10 comms director, wrote a letter to Sue Inglish, Head of Political Programmes for the BBC. The closing of it goes: "There should be one 90-minute debate between seven party leaders before the short campaign. As well as the prime minister, the leaders of the Green party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, SNP and Ukip should invited. The leader of the DUP should be allowed ...
[IMG: TV remote control] Newspaper circulation is certainly in sustained, long-term decline. Whether the political influence that newspapers have is in quite such a decline is another matter, not only because of the rise of their websites but also because of the way in which newspapers still set so much of the media's agenda. It's best illustrated by the late night and early morning newspaper reviews so common on TV and radio. Twice a day they hand over the decision on what is important to the newspapers, reporting what a different medium has decided to prioritise instead. Before newspapers went ...
Labour seat Cause- death LD candidate- Zack Polanski
The political parties are playing a blame game on the British economy. Yesterday another report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) was the unedifying battleground. This debate is interesting but unresolvable. And what matters is what the parties might do now if they were in charge. And on that neither Labour nor the Conservatives are convincing. The controversy starts with the financial crash which began in 2007, and let to wider economic collapse in 2008 and 2009. The crash was a huge surprise to most politicians, and their electors. Before this steady growth of about 2% a year seemed ...
Conservative seat Cause- death LD candidate- Bob Wharton
Labour seat Cause- death LD Candidate- Geoff Morley
UKIP seat Cause- death No LD candidate
High blood pressure is a condition that many people have without being aware of it. If you haven't had your blood pressure checked in the last five years, you really should so so now. Each year the Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury organise a Know Your Blood Pressure Day with this year's event taking place on Saturday April 11. Full details are available from the Gazette article on the event.
Thu 5th
09:14Clegg: I'll take Cameron's place and defend government's record if he's too important to take part i...
[IMG: Nick in suit on call clegg] David Cameron has moved the goalposts on the leaders' debates so many times that they are now not even on the pitch any more. They're nestled somewhere in between the burger stand and the toilets. His final ultimatum is so obviously his get-out clause and it's unsurprising that he's done it because he wasn't very good at it last time, frankly. Here's how the BBC reports the latest developments. David Cameron has said he will take part in only one televised debate ahead of the general election, featuring seven party leaders. The announcement ...
Consent: Not actually that complicated (tags: ) Could a 'citizen's income' work? | Joseph Rowntree Foundation (tags: ) 'Skeletorus' and 'Sparklemuffin' the Newest Spiders : Discovery News (tags: ) We have been losing the war on drugs for four decades - end it now (tags: ) Picture of the election campaign so far, by miles. (tags: ) Female Company President: "I'm sorry to all the mothers I worked with" Still paints childcare as almost exclusively female, though :/ (tags: ) Skeletons Hug, Kiss, And Dance Before A Crowd. When They Step Out From The Screen? I'm Smiling (tags: ) Liberal ...
Thu 5th
08:49
"Hipsters voting for UKIP?": how young people are drifting away from the two big parties
Ipsos Mori has put out some fascinating data on the voting patterns and choices of 18-34 year olds. Over the course of the past year, UKIP, the Greens, and even the Lib Dems have made modest gains in support amongst this age group. Meanwhile, both the Tories and Labour have seen their support from "Generation Y" dwindle in the same period. Between 2013 and the end of 2014, Labour lost almost 8% support amongst this age group. The Tories lost almost 5% – but proportionally, the Conservative Party are somewhat worse off having had much less support within this subset ...
Victoria Park Bowling Green As reported in last night's Evening Telegraph and today's Courier, I have expressed concern about the City Council's decision to close the Victoria Park Bowling Green, axed in the SNP administration's budget, after it emerged that, only last year, the council had spent nearly £23 000 on repairs to the bowling green's pavilion. As residents are aware, I attempted at last month's City Council Budget Meeting to save the Victoria Park Bowling Green and also the one at Baxter Park from the axe but unfortunately the SNP voted to close them and Labour also failed to ...
Do you know that registering to vote has now changed? You now must register as an individual. Register to vote by downloading the app here. #YoungVoicesMatter
2015 does not seem to have got off to an auspicious beginning. The news has been almost unrelentingly grim so when I came across an article headed 'Why Now Is The Best Time To Be Alive, Ever' I was only too eager to see what it had to say, especially as it is not a million miles from my own world view. The article cited most of the same examples that lead me to think the world is better than it has been throughout most points in history, though if you take a look at the headlines on any given ...
The Lib Dems have called for an improvement in the maintenance regime in council owned or managed property after a spate of leakage problems across the estate. Chris White, speaking after Wednesday's council meeting where he asked a question specifically about Thirlestane, in Clarence Ward said: 'I am coming across too many residents with drainage [...]
[IMG: image] It occurred to me today that the Liberals and Liberal Democrats have a long track record of having at least one bit of good news at general elections by making a gain from another party. Not necessarily gains overall, but at least one seat being picked up from another party. A quick bit of research showed me that the last time it didnt happen was 1970, when the Liberal Party lost 6 seats, but gained none to replace them. Every general election since then saw at least one gain compared to the previous election. So, I wondered when ...
A new report suggests more sharing of research equipment may be a better way of getting more bang out of the science funding buck than clawing back 'efficiency savings' out of grant funding. UK science may be the most productive in the world in terms of top papers produced per unit of funding but, in a climate of austerity, this has not stopped researchers from constantly being urged to become more efficient. In the last spending review the Government took a top-down approach to seeking efficiency by scaling back the costs that can be claimed from grant funding. The result ...
Overcrowding on commuter trains across Wales is a huge frustration for passengers, with packed services and people being left behind on platforms every morning. We desperately need more trains, but if the government doesn't get its act together it will only get worse as our towns and cities grow. Today, Carwyn Jones gave no indication on what has been done to date or when commuters will find out what the Welsh Government is planning to do. Time is running out. The electrification of the Valleys Network is due begin soon, and new equality laws that comes into force on 1 ...
An island in Japan where cats outnumber humans by six to one. It sounds like heaven
