Sun 22nd
20:56

Coming up this week

I am hurtling towards yet another busy week. As well as lots of election activities (I won't elaborate on them as I'm not going to give all those Labour gremlins who read my blog an advanced look at our plans, though we do have lots of letters to deliver in my ward), I have group on Monday (my second as leader), cabinet, Dunston Staiths renovation event and Marley Hill Community Centre management

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace
Sun 22nd
20:29

Six of the Best 500

Peter Oborne reviews Blair Inc. by Francis Beckett, David Hencke and Nick Kochan - an investigation of the former PM's business dealings since leaving office. "The authors reveal that Azerbaijan helps to fund Progress, the Blairite pressure group inside Labour." "The polling station is a kit of essential parts, like a field hospital, erected inside another building. Also like a field hospital, it is governed by very exact procedures, and is capable of coping with sudden rushes of people interspersed by longeurs." Election Aesthetics looks at an institution we politicos depend upon but take for granted. Nick Barlow is blogging ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The Independent wins Headline of the Day. Don't worry: the fire was in Chicago.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie gave an interview to Holyrood magazine ahead of the party's conference in Aberdeen. The first few paragraphs told us that he was talkative, he smiled a lot and that he was "near universally liked." We just wish that translated into poll ratings. Alistair Carmichael described him as a "force of nature" on Friday and anyone who has seen the energy with which he campaigns from Shetland to Galloway will agree. He doesn't get everything right as his baffling response to the question about the difference Nicola Sturgeon brings to the role of First Minister ...

Posted by Newsmoggie on Liberal Democrat Voice

Here are the latest national voting intention figures from each of the main pollsters. To put the numbers into longer context, take a look at my database of polling figures going back to 1945, which is updated quarterly. Polling company Con Lab LibDem UKIP Green Con lead Fieldwork Method ComRes 33% 35% 7% 16% 4% -2% 11-13/3 Online ComRes 34% 32% 8% 13% 6% 2% 22-23/2 Phone ICM 36% 35% 8% 9% 4% 1% 13-15/3 Phone Ashcroft 31% 29% 8% 15% 8% 2% 13-15/3P Phone MORI 33% 34% 8% 13% 6% -1% 8-11/3 Phone Opinium 36% 33% 7% 14% 6% ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: Sir Malcolm Bruce photo by LIberal Democrats] As well as being Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party in the Commons, Malcolm Bruce is also the President of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. His traditional close of conference speech is usually a cracker and this was no exception. It had some blistering attacks, mainly on the SNP and Conservatives, some personal reflections on his 32 years as Gordon's MPs and a passionate defence of the Liberal Democrat record in government and a strong statement of Liberal Democrat values of internationalism, openness and freedom. This is proper oratory. There are ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sun 22nd
15:14

This week

My review of the week. Here's some of the things I've been in to: A TV programme (and a book): Last night BBC2 had a one-off programme Murder on the Victorian Railway about the first railway murder when a Thomas Briggs was killed in a train carriage near Hackney. The programme comes shortly after I've read [...]

Posted by Anders Hanson on Anders Hanson

David Steel said the other day that there was no appetite in the party for a coalition with anybody after the election. He told the BBC: "the most" Lib Dems would accept in another hung parliament is a confidence and supply deal – where policies are agreed on a case-by-case basis, rather than a formal coalition. There was a "feeling" the party needed to "recharge our values", he said. Lord Steel added: "Association with another party is not the way to do it." He also said that the party wasn't making enough of the vast improvement in economic fortunes it ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sun 22nd
14:10

The Rats: A Drabble

(Chuck Wendig's flash fiction challenge this week is to write a drabble — a story in precisely 100 words. Here's mine, again written straight off the top of my head.) The rats are on the run again. It's the third time tonight. Each time they come closer, each time the screams are a little louder. [...]

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

Over the last ten months The British Youth Council have been developing, debating and voting to select the five issues described within this manifesto. Sadly, in Peterborough, there seems to be a high level of apathy amongst younger voters, despite the fact that if they went out and voted, their numbers are such that they [...]

Posted by Cllr Darren Fower on Cllr Darren Fower
YouGov

BBC news are reporting former leader (who is seldom consulted by Clegg) as handing out some rather good advice. He asserts that the party should be listened to after the election and that there is no appetite for another coalition and that ' the party needs to recharge its values' I agree with him both about the mood of the party and the need to recharge our values.. In an earlier interview on Radio 4 Steel hand branded this coalition as 'unnatural' Alan Beith reviewed the latest book on Steel in the Autumn 2014 edition of the Liberal History Journal ...

Posted on birkdale focus

[IMG: Austin Rathe] Austin Rathe is, as many of you will know, the Head of Member and Supporter Development at Lib Dem HQ. He has presided over an increase in membership over the last couple of years and is the architect of the incentive scheme which makes it worth local parties' while putting lots of effort into recruiting members. He is someone who works almost every hour imaginable and is often to be seen responding to queries raised by members not just through the usual channels but on social media, too. He's a very busy person and you can't really ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sun 22nd
12:03

The Blonde Obstacle

It was amazing how much my quest had turned into a real life version of "Code of the Clan". In the final ten minutes of the movie, Ling has to leave China to go into India for his final confrontation (just as I was about to leave Germany for Belgium). In India, he was to take on an unnamed demon, a force of evil, the force of evil that had infected the Clan and made them turn on Ling's father. Unfortunately, Ling is killed in India, defeated by the demon. But I was determined that my story was going to ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

Was the Liberal Democrat alternative budget a success? Who should you bet on to be the next Liberal Democrat leader? Why are Liberal Democrat MPs so cheerful? These were the main questions I addressed when on Radio 4's Week in Westminster, and I was followed by Ming Campbell talking about whether ex-leaders should stay on as MPs.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: The fate that awaits fridges without connectivity?] The fate that awaits fridges without connectivity? Budget 2015 wasn't just about money and "fixing the roof"; it had significant digital implications too Sometimes the impact of technological change comes with a big bang such as Steve Jobs striding on stage to unveil the first iPhone. But there was no similar moment for Tim Berners Lee and the birth of the worldwide web because more often it is the incremental, step-by-step indefatigable march that brings about the change even without the headline-grabbing moment. The worldwide web's tentacles spread far and wide before ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

What the Liberal Democrats Believe Infographic

"All POWER (be it government, business or other people) can both PROTECT and THREATEN LIBERTY. "Economic and Social Liberals put different emphasis on the BEST DEFENCES and the BIGGEST BULLIES." The essential Liberalism that unites social and economic Liberals (inspired by Conrad Russell). From Mark Pack's "What do the Liberal Democrats Believe?" Next, Mark's full Infographic.

[IMG: A rare shot of the Lords, featuring no one who acquired their seat in a dodgy way.] A rare shot of the Lords, featuring no one who acquired their seat in a dodgy way. Thanks to some fine academic work by Andrew Mell, Simon Radford and Seth Alexander Thevoz, we now have what comes as close as possible to proof that there's a link between donating large amounts of money to political parties and finding yourself with a seat in the House of Lords. I know that this is unsurprising news to many of you, on a par with ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

The Glastonbury Festival did not become a regular event until the 1980s, but it began to take a fixed shape in 1971 with the first appearance of the Pyramid Stage. And the festival was filmed, as Glastonbury Fayre, by Nicolas Roeg and David Putnam. Rob Young writes in his Electric Eden: Viewing the film Glastonbury Fayre, and photographs of what went on inside that enchanted boundary, is like seeing some superimposition of William Morris's Earthly Paradise, a sanctuary for post atomic-war refugees, and the Glastonbury Zodiac remade as a gigantic bed-sitting room. A transient city of tepees, cellophane sheets and ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Last week I was invited to Transition Town Tooting's Electing the Future event with other parliamentary candidates. A discussion based evening, rather than a hustings, there were some great ideas around improving community, controlling traffic & pollution, access to housing, green spaces, locally sourced food, better streets and independent retail environments. Locally the Lib Dems [...]

Posted by philling on Philip Ling
eUKhost

There's an interesting interview between Miranda Sawyer and Miriam Gonzalez Durantez in the Guardian this weekend. They meet at an Inspiring Women event on sport at the aquatics centre where the Olympics took place and, separately, in Miriam's office. Miriam talks about the attitudes in the Spanish village where she was brought up, where people pitied her working mother. Her mother was the object of some local sympathy. "People felt sorry for her because she had to work," González Durántez says, "but she wanted to. My mother has taught three generations in the village. I am never going to make ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: Old telephone] That's what I told CorpComms magazine for their feature on social media and politics: Social media is still a vital tool for politicians, one that is best integrated than left alone. 'It's not the magic solution,' reminds Mark Pack, associate director at Blue Rubicon. 'It's like saying you're not going to use the phone - you could get by but you are hobbling yourself. 'Even with turnout starting to rise again at general elections, more British voters will be using social networks in May than fill in a ballot paper. With social networking more popular than voting, ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

History lesson for all of the youngsters who have wandered over: the Rolling Stones were (or rather, are, excuse me) a rock n roll outfit who formed in London in 1962. Amazingly, they appear to still be together, at least from a legal entity perspective if little else. At their best, the fusion of Mick Jagger's pouty insouciance and Keith Richard's "throw every drug imaginable into my circulatory system" Dionysian charm created some of the greatest popular music of all time. Unfortunately, despite their longevity, their peak was only from about 1968 to 1972. Still, they recorded enough great tunes ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nAfWfF4TjM This sobering video is well worth looking at – click the link above. I have blogged so many times about the menace of guns on our streets and how we don't want to become a gun loving country like America. Who on earth would want a gun after watching this!

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus » Sefton Focus

A new premises license application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Café 7/11 470 Bury Old Road Manchester M25 1NL To allow late night refreshment for:- Monday - Sunday 16:00 - 00.00 (midnight) The application was received 16/03/2015 any representations must be in within 28 days. Please can you let me know if you would like to make comments on behalf of residents or neighbouring businesses? Thanks Tim

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

We are all used to the Labour mantra about the Tories being a party of the rich, for the rich, funded by the rich. It seems though that Ed Miliband's party is not much different. Appoarently, Martin Taylor, who is a multi-million pound hedge fund manager, has given Labour nearly £600,000 since 2012 and has had at least one meeting with leader Ed Miliband. So why has the Labour leader handed his opponents a free hit? The Independent has all the damning quotes: "This is the difference: this is a PM who won't tackle tax avoidance for the simple reason ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner Bill Longmore has suggested that more police stations should close. One suggestion is that the police should share premises with the fire and rescue service. Ludlow police station on Lower Galdeford is formally still open but the front counter service closed last autumn. Instead, visitors must press a button [...]

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

What is it about the Sefton Central Labour Party and its resigning councillors? 9 of them have now gone since late 2011. [IMG: 250-high-BESCL] To date all of them have been from the Maghull part of the constituency where 8 Labour Councillors have chucked the towel into the ring. Now a 9th Labour member has resigned, this time from Formby. What is it with Labour councillors resigning in Sefton Central Constituency? All political parties face the odd councillor resigning now and again for all sorts of reasons but 9 all from one party in one constituency in just over 3 ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus » Sefton Focus

The following update from Kath Torode, Community Champion at Tesco Riverside, will be of interest to local community groups : The Tesco Charity Trust Community Awards Scheme provides one off donations between £500 and £2,500 to charities, not for profit groups and schools. The Community Awards are now open for applications until 24th April. Please visit www.tescoplc.com/tescocharitytrust for details and to apply for a grant.

Sun 22nd
00:32

Gone with the wind

I headed to Blaydon on Saturday morning to meet up with Cllr Christine McHatton and Mark Groves from the local action group that tackles the on-going issue of the problem of landfill sites in the area. There has been a huge amount of windblown rubbish flying around local communities recently and people are quite rightly fed up with the problem. We had a look at 2 sites - Path Head and Blaydon

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace