This morning, I had the pleasure of supporting Shelter Scotland's awareness raising campaign - Illegal Evictions: Know Your Rights, run with the support of Police Scotland, Crimestoppers and the Scottish Association of Landlords. Shelter is running this excellent campaign to ensure that tenants and landlords know their rights and responsibilities and that illegally evicting a tenant is a criminal offence. I am pictured below at the Dundee University Students' Association with Shelter and Police Scotland representatives:This afternoon, I had a very useful meeting with Housing Department officers and a representative of Community Payback about improving the Logie Estate's railings. We ...
Just fifty-eight days until polling day - we've got Parliamentary, District and Parish elections here in Creeting St Peter. Admittedly, you'd probably never know it if you were relying on one of the political parties telling you. Apart from during last year's European elections, not a leaflet of any sort has come to our home, although our District councillor may deign to pay us a visit from Eye one of these days (I'm not counting on it though...). It shouldn't come as a surprise, really. Four years ago, despite my doing everything in my power to attract attention (what do ...
Lib Dems celebrated as the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill passed its Third Reading in the Lords yesterday. This Private Members Bill, introduced by Michael Moore, ensures 0.7% of our national income is devoted to aid spending each year. This builds on the Coalition's achievement of reaching this target. we won't to lock it into future governments. With no amendments made to the Bill in the Lords it will now proceed for Royal Assent. Phew! It has been a long campaign and I'm proud of this Lib den achievement. Not only is the UK the first of the ...
The Market Rasen Mail reports that Lesley Rollings, who represents Thonock on West Lindsey District Council, has been chosen to fight Gainsborough for the Liberal Democrats at the forthcoming general election. The paper quotes the constituency chairman Angela White as saying: "We have chosen one of our most active councillors to stand for Parliament in her home constituency. Lesley has a close understanding of rural and urban issues that concern people of all ages, but especially young people who are starting out on their working life."Read more about Lesley Rollings on the East Midlands Liberal Democrats site.
Yes, it's a listicle, but I hope it will be of use to my fellow bloggers. And if you know of any other good sources, please share them in the comments. Getty Images Getty used to be famous for coming down heavily on anyone who infringed their copyright. But last year everything changed. Now bloggers can embed most of Getty's images without charge - an article on the British Journal of Photography site takes you through he small print, You do have to use them at the size Getty specify and with the link to their site that is automatically ...
This post was first published on the website of the Social Liberal Forum. Liberal Democrats enter the impending general election campaign with a sense of foreboding. Battered and bruised from our experiences in coalition with the Tories, we can expect to face the wrath of those left leaning progressive voters who, with some justification, feel that we gave too much in exchange for too little. The value of Liberal Democrat 'currency' is probably the lowest it has ever been in my lifetime. I've spoken to many people who bought into the Lib Dem vision in 2010 who feel they have ...
Decisions taken and issues considered at the March Cheadle Area Committee: We had a presentation from Give2Gain on developing a local Timebank which we believe could make a big difference to health outcomes locally. We gave £950 to St Ann's Road North Allotment Association to help them repair the road through the allotments. Planning application 57234 (seating in front of White Hart hotel) was approved, there being no planning grounds to refuse it, but at the excellent suggestion of Cllr Burns it was limited for two years, so we can see how it works. Planning applications 57381 and 57383 (Barnes ...
When I was at primary school in the 1960s (jumpers for goalposts, isn't it?), the most popular Christian name among my fellow pupils (at least the boys) was Gary. At least that is what I recall. The truth may be different, even accounting for regional differences. (I went to primary school in the Hertfordshire new town of Hemel Hempstead. For the Independent tells us that Gary peaked in popularity in Britain in1964, when it was only the 16th most common name. It also tells us that only 28 British-born boys were named Gary in 2013. The reason for this rapid ...
Stockport Council has received a letter from Edward Timpson MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, congratulating us on the performance of our adoption service following publication of the 2014 Adoption Scorecards. The Council has met the Government's threshold for the time taken to place children with their adoptive parents. In doing so, we have reduced the time children wait between entering care and being placed. We have also reduced the time between gaining a placement order and matching children with their adoptive family. The average time between entering care and moving in with the adoptive family ...
[IMG: I said Carswell, not Criswell!] I said Carswell, not Criswell! We are now just 58 days away from the 2015 General Election, which you might have heard about through the odd fleeting mention of it on the news, in the media or even on this blog. What you might also be aware of is that I'm currently a Masters student in the Department of Government at the University of Essex and the academics there are also aware of this upcoming event. (It's usually known as a 'large scale sampling of voter intention data') The department is having a competition ...
Sometimes I wonder if some commenters on blogging sites will one day spontaneously self-combust. You know, burst into flames. I regularly see commenters who appear to comment in a parallel universe. They get themselves worked up and put enormous anger into precisely worded comments. (I think I may have been guilty in this regard in the past.) I do wonder if they should just chill. There are a lot of people – almost exclusively male – who can make themselves seem like very big men from behind a keyboard, with the relative anonymity of the internet. But I suspect – ...
Here's the new film from the Liberal Democrats: The huge boost to apprenticeship numbers is of course only one of the Liberal Democrat achievements in government.
It is a significant day for two major Government-backed projects, both of which could dramatically change the economic outlook for Wales. Over in Ebbw Vale a public inquiry has got underway into plans to build a £325m motor racing circuit in the south Wales valleys. The eight-day hearing is examining the request to take over 250 hectares (600 acres) of common land. This is a private sector initiative of course but it has had significant support from the Welsh Government. There are conflicting accounts from experts over claims the circuit will damage habitats and plant life by building on the ...
This year's ALDC-LGA Lib Dems Local Government Conference will be taking place at the Mercure Hotel in Manchester on the 19th and 20th of June. The Local Government Conference is a highlight of the year for local campaigners, combining training, information, valuable networking opportunities. The conference agenda will be made available soon. A map is here Lunch and [...]
As the Department of Health starts to draw a map of thousands of genomes, will it keep its promise to anonymise our data? Edward Hockings and Lewis Coyne investigate With the UK launch of 23andMe's home DNA testing kit, the legalisation of mitochondrial DNA transfer, and the 100,000 Genome Project underway, optimism abounds about the science of genetics delivering on its early promise. But there is also cause for greater caution and oversight than some biotechnology enthusiasts would like to admit. These developments are taking place with insufficient regard for their social and ethical implications. We can, however, be sure ...
[IMG: digitaldemocracy] They had the Digital Democracy debate in Parliament this morning. This link should take you to a transcript for the rest of today, but I'll need to go to Hansard in the morning to get a permanent link to it. That does show just one of the problems we have with the concept of 'digital democracy' and as I said before, I think a lot of the Commission's proposals, especially around education and participation, are very good and the next Government needs to work to introduce them. However, all those good ideas flee the room the moment online ...
[IMG: Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge] For the first time today, members of the public who attended a debate in Parliament were permitted, and indeed encouraged, to keep their phones and use social media. Sadly it wasn't in the House of Commons, where you still have to hand in your phones and tablets before you go into the public gallery, but appropriately it was in a Westminster Hall debate on Digital Democracy (#digitaldemocracy). It's not clear to me how many of the tweets were directly from the admittedly small public gallery, and how many from people watching it on ...
[IMG: WhatsApp] Interesting news from Spain: With just months left before municipal elections in Spain, Gutiérrez Iglesias, the People's party mayor of Brunete, near Madrid, has taken his campaign to the next frontier: WhatsApp. "It's been about a month since we went around giving every resident my phone number," said Gutiérrez Iglesias, who has headed the small town of about 10,000 people since 2011. After taking to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, WhatsApp - a smartphone application that allows users to send and receive free texts to anyone in their contact list - felt like the final frontier, he said. Since ...
An amendment to the Small Business Bill being debated in the House of Lords next week would change the law to force firms with more than 250 staff to declare how much they pay men and women. Jenny Willott, Lib Dem MP for Cardiff Central, said: "Real equality means fair pay. Women on average are paid 20% less than men, and are less likely to be in a leadership role. That frankly isn't good enough."I have been pushing within Government to see this change - companies need to be held to account for how much they pay their male and ...
THE BIG PICTURE Plan your polling day and GOTV strategy now. In years gone by getting out the vote was all about running an effective polling day operation and moving resources to more marginal wards. Since the number of postal voters has risen, the concept of "One election two polling days" developed. In elections since [...]
So, the vote on plain packaging of tobacco is going to happen tomorrow – Wednesday (and by sheer coincidence – or not – "No Smoking Day"). It is hard to understand how this policy ever got to the voting stage. It did not appear in any major poli [IMG: responses to govt consultation 2012] tical party's 2010 manifesto; the Government's "independent" evidence review, though undertaken by advocates of the policy, admitted that the evidence available couldn't predict the likely impact of plain packaging; the Government's 2012 "public" consultation reported that of the 665,989 public responses, 427,888 opposed the policy; the ...
Liverpool's planning committee today voted to agree to plans for a Co op on the bit of vacant land at the junction of Greenhill Road and Booker Avenue (there was a petrol station here some time ago) Councillors were asked to delay the decision so that they could have a look at the site for themselves but refused. Given that local residents are worried about increasing traffic problems at that junction, it seems irresponsible in the extreme for the committee to not even be prepared to come and have a look. I'll post a link to the paperwork for the ...
The politics of the Devil's songs is easy, anyone can do that ... but the politics of releasing the better angels of our nature – that's much tougher. This is a powerful short film to support the cause of liberal tolerance in contrast to extremism and division. Cutting between Paddy Ashdown and Maajid Nawaz, it explains the parallels between the extremists of the muslim world, and of the non-Muslism far right and why it is a "quintessential liberal struggle" to find ways for us to live together and to oppose the forces of division and fear. Ashdown: And it is ...
The Welsh Labour Government has still not instructed Network Rail to start work on the Valleys Line Electrification project, despite an agreement over funding being reached in November. In a meeting with me, Network Rail confirmed that they have not been given the go-ahead to start work on Valleys Lines Electrification. This is despite the funding disagreement between the Welsh Government and UK Government being resolved in November. The project has reportedly been frozen on the second stage of Network Rail's 8-stage "GRIP" planning process now for two years. This is causing concern within the rail industry, because the Valleys ...
I don't agree with Polly Toynbee who rails against the married couples' allowance (actually the married couples' and civil partners' allowance) in todays Guardian. Or with Caron Lindsay who has said she won't claim it on ethical grounds. For several years before we went to Canada in '06, the only income I had was non-means [...]
The latest issue of Ad Lib has an article on the 1906 Liberal landslide that states that the Liberals 'had been out of power for 20 years'. Wrong.
Labour has already started to throw personal abuse at me, two months away from the election. At the last full council meeting, I was called "Wallace and Vomit". The description was made by John Eagle who describes himself as a "socialist". He is a Labour councillor for Bridges ward in Gateshead and is a former mayor of the borough. Sticking with his descriptive theme, I don't know if Mr Eagle
The eagle-eyed among LDV readers may have noticed last week good coverage for Nick Clegg's trip to Cornwall on St Piran's Day. As well as the usual round of school and business visits, Nick took the opportunity to publish a joint article on Cornish devolution with local Lib Dem Council Leader, Cllr Jeremy Rowe. For some reason the local papers, which published it, haven't put it online, so here's a link to it on my own website. For the first time, Jeremy and Nick spell out how Cornwall could use the Lib Dems' proposed Devolution Enabling Act to form a ...
These are exciting times in British politics. The two party system, dominated by the Conservative and Labour parties for s long, is under threat as never before. Other parties are increasing their share of the vote. But the electoral system will mostly shut them out of parliamentary representation. The real threat to the big parties is that they will fragment. This looks increasingly likely after the General Election in May. Both main parties are in fact coalitions covering a wide spectrum of political values. This is forced by the electoral system, but a tribal, class-based loyalty provides stability. But class ...
I arrived at Gateshead Civic Centre yesterday morning for a scruting meeting with DWP officers about the introduction of Universal Credit, open minded about how the new system will function. It was clear that Labour turned up with an expectation of a lecture on a system destined to failure. After all, that's their narrative, at least locally. Any benefits reform has been attacked by them though
Tue 10th
11:25
It's not just Tories who want to remove vote from half a million Indians and Pakistanis; idea has La...
One of my most popular posts this year so far has been Liam Fox wants to kick half a million Indians and Pakistanis off the electoral register, so it's great to see Tim Farron setting out very clearly Lib Dem opposition to the idea: Fox is upset at a law which allows Commonwealth citizens living in the UK to vote in general elections. Leaving aside the blatant pandering to Ukip, his substantive point is just plain wrong. Those voters "who are not British citizens" in fact come from Ireland and the Commonwealth. Given the frequent suggestion emanating from the Tory ...
Wander through the nineteenth century and what you find, over and over again, is an alliance between business and Liberalism. Not so much with the Whig landowners but with the radicals and non-conformists. Because, as I argued in my recent pamphlet with Joe Zammit-Lucia, it was a different understanding of business and its potential - based on the right of the small, weak and new to challenge the big, strong and feather-bedded with economic privilege. What's more, the two key Lib Dem ministers in this area have re-invented the old radical tradition with a range of important measures from clamping ...
Tue 10th
11:13
Philip Hammond speech today demonstrates once again that the Tories "small state" rhetoric is just t...
My least favourite politician of all time is Ronald Reagan. In fact, most of my political sensibilities to this day are governed by an anti-Reagan feeling. This is because Reagan epitomises for me both the hypocrisy of the Right, and everything else that annoys me about conservatism at the same time. In many ways, it defines my liberalism. Reagan gave the impression that his time in office was about two things principally: shrinking the state in fiscal terms, and shrinking the state in terms of interfering in people's lives. On both counts, Reagan failed epically. Fiscally, he turned a country ...
The Guardian's David Walker says Eric Pickles has made a wrong decision in abolishing the Audit Commission, which is set to close on March 31. He argues that public finance, even at a parish council level, is necessarily and unavoidably complicated and that invigilating how money is spent demands expertise. "The communities department may not survive the election but Whitehall will still struggle to find a way of checking whether council services and finances are about to fall over," he states. The Guardian Online covered this story Being a liberal I am always of the view that regulation can stifle ...
Our friends at Lib Dem HQ have been in touch to confirm this month's bulk buy deals. Signup deadlines are this Friday, so act now if you are interested! LDHQ Message: This email sets out new literature items. Templates for the these items can be found here. Items are as follows: A4 Personalised Colour Switch Leaflet Letter Head [...]
Paul Hulbert and Tony Davis at the Abbotswood junction on Rodford Way Last week's Frome Vale Area Forum approved expenditure on two of the accident blackspots on Rodford Way. One of the worst spots is the offset junction between Rodford Way, Shire Way and Sundridge Park. As Paul Hulbert explained to the meeting, drivers are confused by the lack of clear priorities at the junction. South Glos investigated and found that most of the casualties are actually cyclists - the drivers are obviously too busy looking out for other cars that they don't see the cyclists. The proposal is largely ...
[IMG: Tim Farron] Analysis of politicians' tweets by Demos shows Tim Farron to be the most engaged MP on twitter, while of the three party leaders, Nick Clegg is the most likely to interact with followers, as measured by the proportion of @ replies. The think tank's stats shine a light on the three biggest parties' leaders. Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg tweeted 48 times in total, of which seven were "@ replies". Leader of the Opposition and head of the Labour party Ed Miliband wrote 58 tweets, of which just two were "@ ...
Tue 10th
09:35
Lib Dem private polling v Lord Ashcroft's polling (PLUS the sting in the tail for the party)
[IMG: times red box] I have a piece on today's Times Red Box blog looking at Lib Dem prospects for this May's election: Ignore the Liberal Democrats at your peril - and don't write them off. Here's its premise: There is a new fear which stalks the Liberal Democrat leadership. Forget unpopularity: we've grown used to that. For five years the party has suffered the slings and arrows of its outrageous fortune, thrust into a coalition government in the midst of the biggest financial crisis in a century. What worries party strategists now is something different, worse: being ignored. And ...
Tue 10th
09:09Labour have allowed themselves to get played into a weird corner on the whole SNP coalition question
I awoke to Chris Leslie on the Today programme yesterday morning. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury had come on to discuss why he thinks Labour spending plans are superior to Tory ones. However, he didn't get to chat about this without first facing a barrage of questions regarding whether or not Labour were going to form a government with the SNP after the election, and what that might mean for the country as a whole. Leslie batted it all away with assured defensive strokes - the idea was not to say anything quote worthy at all on the ...
GamerGate would rather destroy the playground than let girls/LGBT+ folks/non-white folks in (tags: ) Farage Fails To Foil FUKP (tags: ) This iPhone app could help solve a real problem for transgender people (tags: ) Universal Credit 'adviser' told not to tell claimants about cash fund for clothes and bus fares (tags: ) Horror Channel Coming To Freeview Friday March 13th! Hurrah! (tags: ) Electrification of the Calder Valley is 'top priority' says Rail Minister - w nice quote from @A_C_McGregor (tags: ) Can anyone identify this (possibly) Stanislaw Lem story? (tags: ) But when is International MEN'S Ghostbusters Day? ...
Further to my latest update about the changes to general waste and recycling arrangements in a large part (but not all) of the West End, the council has arranged roadshows for residents (and for those in parts of Broughty Ferry similarly affected). There will be two events at Blackness Primary School - details below - all residents welcome :
I have today launched my March 2015 Update to West End Community Council. Subjects covered include: • Thomson Street temporary road closure • 20mph consultation agreed • Seymour Street road repairs The Community Council meets tonight at Logie St John's (Cross) Church Hall at 7pm - all residents welcome. You can download my Update here.
[IMG: digitaldemocracy] This morning, there'll be a Parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall on the report of the Speaker's Commission on Digital Democracy. Overall, it's a good report which you can see here. It proposes some interesting and useful new ideas for opening up Parliament and giving people new channels to get involved and be informed, while generally not running away with itself and succumbing to the techno-evangelism that has people proclaiming that the internet will solve all our problems. However – you knew there'd be a however, didn't you? – it drops the ball when it comes to online voting. ...
Tue 10th
08:25Exclusive: new poll shows Featherstone in dead heat with Labour in Hornsey & Wood Green
[IMG: Lynne Featherstone, Monia Whyte, Richard Wilson, Craig Brown and team] A new constituency poll shows local MP Lynne Featherstone in a statistical dead-heat with Labour in her north London constituency of Hornsey & Wood Green. This new poll puts Lynne Featherstone on 36%, just 1% behind Labour on 37%, with the Conservatives back on 15%, Greens 7% and Ukip 4%. That 1% is comfortably within the poll's margin of error. [IMG: Hornsey and Wood Green constituency poll 2015] It named the candidates and shows a much closer fight than the last public constituency poll, carried out by Lord Ashcroft ...
I have to admit that I am sceptical about the idea that plain packaging will do much to reduce smoking. Given that my father is in advertising, he may well disagree with me, but as a non-smoker, I am slightly bemused by the idea that pretty packaging lulls otherwise sensible people into believing that cigarettes are anything other than bad for them. Frankly, if big signs on the packets that say things like, "Smoking Kills!" don't stop people, taking the colour of the packets is hardly likely to have a significant impact. However, I bow to the knowledge of those ...
The NHS has a very special place in my heart and the nation's heart and rightly so. It is the envy of the world. But by no means is it perfect and there needs to be improvements in certain areas. The nursing staff and the doctors do a tremendous job under difficult circumstances and with lots of pressure. We need to look at redirecting resources from middle management salaries towards extra front-line staff within the NHS to allow nursing staff to give the best care they can to every patient. We also need to look at the Accident and Emergency ...
Most of our tabloid newspapers have now been delivered in the Whickham North and the Dunston Hill and Whickham East wards. Delivery in my ward will be on going over the next three days. So far it's been getting a positive response. Labour are currently putting out "newsletters" in WN and DHWE. They claim they are "regular" - what they don't explain is that their regularity is once a year in
It's funny how these stories (and therefore posts) come in waves. Last week, both the new post on Patreon and the older post on Mindless Ones dealt with dull stories about which there was nothing much to say. This time, though, I'm dealing with two really good ones. So on Patreon, paying customers get to [...]
(Photo above - Pinkie, my pregnant golden guernsey goat is houses in conditions that conform to CIWF views.) I've been getting lots of emails recently as Blaydon candidate about lots of issues but one in particular caught my attention. It was from supporters of Compassion in World Farming which draws attention to the need to improve animal welfare and to reduce the amount of meat in our diets
