[IMG: Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett] I am feeling incredibly emotional this evening. What I'm feeling ranges from intense pride in a friend whose courage in telling his story will help others, to equally intense, ice-cold rage at what he has had to endure over the years. Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Vauxhall. He is a former chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems. Tonight, he has spoken to Buzzfeed about the bullying he suffered at school, how this led him to contemplate suicide at the age of just 14 and how his mental health deteriorated during his early adult life. He ...
[IMG: Adrian Trett photo - Matthew Tucker Buzzfeed] Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett is well known to fellow Liberal Democrat activists as Adrian Trett, having changed his name just a couple of days ago following his lovely wedding at the weekend. (Just in time to get his new married name on his election posters and nomination form as he pointed out to me!) What's much less well known is the huge emotional rollercoaster of his earlier life and his amazing perseverance in the face of adversity, as he's explained in a very moving interview with Buzzfeed. You really have to read the whole ...
I am pleased to publish below a guest contribution for my blog from Stacey Corkhill, a local Digital Communications Assistant and a recent Interior and Environmental Design Graduate from the University of Dundee. Stacey's contribution is about tackling graffiti : Improving the West End: and booting out the vandals There's no doubt about it - the West End of Dundee has become a heartland for design, architecture and the prosperity of the city. UNESCO awarded us City of Design status; the upcoming V&A museum will see tourist numbers soar; the overhaul of the waterfront will inject millions into the local ...
If you've walked along the path beside the Tatton site recently you might have noticed that the owners have cleared the back – cutting down all the trees and bushes that were growing there. Dickens, who own the Tatton site, are in discussion with the Council about a proposed new planning application they hope to bring forward in the next couple of months. In the meantime, the Lib Dems are continuing with the Compulsory Purchase Order. [IMG: tatton_rear] "This private site has been an eyesore in the centre of Gatley for far too long." said Graham Greenhalgh. "One way or ...
From BritishRailway.tv: Between 1964 and 1967 Geoffrey Whitwam systematically filmed the last days of steam in the Colne Valley - between Huddersfield and Marsden in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His personal record of Black Fives. Jubilees, 8Fs, Britannias, Standard Fives, 9Fs, and Stanier and Fairburn Tanks has been collected together on a video for the first time. What has more than 20 years done to the line? Using brief modern footage to contrast the archive film, Pennine Steam paints a unique picture not just of blackened workhorses, but of a stretch of line where progress will never erase the ...
Lib Dem local election candidate Graham Greenhalgh was out to support the Gatley Village Partnership litter pick last Sunday. The litter pickers braved the rain to clear Old Hall Road and the path alongside the Tatton site before working up Church Road and round the car park by the Co-op. [IMG: litter pick] "I'd like to thank Gatley Village Partnership for organising this litter pick." Graham said. "It makes a real difference to the appearance of the village. Hopefully the next one will be a little drier."
There has to be a better way of preparing the Welsh Liberal Democrats' General Election Manifesto than the one I've recently experienced. I found myself sitting up into the small hours a little over a week ago ploughing through the document, having been given no more than a weekend to comment ahead of a hastily convened Welsh Party Policy Committee on the Monday evening. Work commitments meant I couldn't make the meeting, so I've still no idea if my comments were taken on board. We had, in fairness, been warned that this would be the case. The Welsh manifesto is ...
In the photo above, Nick Clegg leaves Number Ten Downing Street this morning for an audience with the Queen upon the dissolution of Parliament. We've had many debates on this website about the record of the Lib Dems in government. Nick Clegg has received shedloads of stinging criticism. Channel 4's Coalition docu-drama last weekend, though needing to be taken with a pinch of salt, reminded us of the events of 2010 and the formation of the government. Many critics didn't expect the government to last for more than a few months. We used to run a question on our monthly ...
Very clever idea, easily adaptable to many political quizzes or surveys. Click on the image below to view the tweet on Twitter to see what I mean... (one slight technical gremlin is that embedding it in a website like this one doesn't quite work correctly). [IMG: Clever BBC quiz tweet -
[IMG: The Liberal Democrat battle bus takes to the road in Oxford] A smorgasbord of stories you may have missed in amongst the headlines and the fox, cat and duck in Downing Street: Ibrahim Taguri pulls out in Brent Central Wisely, former Liberal Democrat candidate for Brent Central Ibrahim Taguri, has now announced he is not going to stand as an independent. He withdrew as the Liberal Democrat candidate after allegations about his fundraising tactics – allegations that he has strenuously denied but which are unlikely to be ruled on before polling day. Welcome advice from Electoral Commission to Returning ...
The voting registration system has changed and the head of the household can no longer register other members. That's likely to mean that a number of teenage first time voters will have failed to register. You can check whether you're registered to vote by calling Shropshire Council on 0345 678 9015 or by emailing elections@shropshire.gov.uk. [...]
Liberalism is the belief in freedom and, by extension, opportunity. The freedom to be who you are; the opportunity to be who you could be. It is the ideology of personal liberation from authoritarianism, suppression, coercion, conformity and ignorance. The questions then are: 'Freedom from whom?; 'Freedom for whom?; and 'Freedom to do what?' - and it is worth examining each of these in turn. At the heart of liberalism is the individual. Liberals start with the recognition that every person is born free; the task is to protect him or her from the excessive or arbitrary use of power ...
Labour seem to be concentrating on issues relating to parliamentary expenses from 2005-2010. I am not really surprised that they are trying to mislead constituents about what happened. At the moment Jess Phillips is avoiding questions as to what she is alleging. It remains that an inquiry was done into those expenses for all MPs. I copy the response letter from the enquiry below:
Ah Pompey South. My old stomping grounds. Yes I know I never lived in the constituency but anyone who was brought up a liberal in the area would always gaze wistfully at the seat. Being brought up in the Havant constituency, you knew David Willetts was waltzing in without too much drama. Mike Hancock, old scuffball himself, has held on by his fingernails in this seat for a generation. Still his time is up and whilst he is standing as an independent, his odds of being sensationally returned to the seat as the MP are long, real long. They are ...
In the photo above, Nick Clegg leaves Number Ten Downing Street this morning for an audience with the Queen upon the dissolution of Parliament. We've had many debates on this website about the record of the Lib Dems in government. Nick Clegg has received shedloads of stinging criticism. Channel 4's Coalition docu-drama last weekend, though needing to be taken with a pinch of salt, reminded us of the events of 2010 and the formation of the government. Many critics didn't expect the government to last for more than a few months. We used to run a question on our monthly ...
The South Shropshire Journal has not updated its website since September 2013, thanks to this photo sent in by a reader in Bishop's Castle it has won our Headline of the Day Award. Read more about the House on Crutches Museum in the town.
The dates for this years Folkestone Harbour Festival have been confirmed as the 15th and 16th August. There will be free live music all weekend, a fun fair, raft race, a variety of food and drink and culminates with a spectacular firework display Saturday evening. This year will see the introduction of the UIM European Powerboat Championships after Folkestone successfully out bid Sweden and Norway. This will be the only international off-shore race to be held in Great Britain this year. Regular updates will appear on the Festival website as bands and events are confirmed. Published and promoted by Tim ...
[IMG: Sal Brinton addresses the rally Liverpool Spring conference 2015 Phoito by LIberal Democrats] Yesterday Party President Sal Brinton was interviewed by Dermot Murnaghan for Sky News. You can read the full transcript of the interview here, but here are some snippets: DM: ... you are in touch with the Lib Dem grassroots as President and we heard from Lord Steel, the former leader, saying there is no appetite amongst Lib Dems for another coalition. SAL BRINTON: That's not the grassroots that I've been talking to. DM: Now tell me about the polling, we can't ignore that, 8% in the ...
It's finally come: the official end of the 2010 Parliament, and the official start of the campaign ("Not 'til now?" said Tegan, dismayed). And though you might think Doctor Who is all about the Liberal philosophy and not pounding the streets with Focus leaflets, I've found evidence of one of the Doctor's companions standing for election is just the way Lib Dems do. By chance, the Doctor Who story starting today on the Horror Channel is Snakedance. And there's a photo-op from that story that shows exactly what I'm talking about. The Doctor tends to be a bit rough and ...
I normally have a great respect for the opinions our former leader David Steel but was rather surprised to hear him reported last week as suggesting that in the event of another balanced parliament, if the party is in a position to make a choice we should opt for offering "confidence and supply" to a minority government rather than enter another coalition. Surely, as the party which believes that the main function of parliament is to represent the varied opinions of the people as broadly as practicable through proportional representation by STV we accept that, when parliament exercises its other ...
In amongst the different online initiatives to improve our democracy for the 2015 general election is the Democracy Club CVs website, which quite simply asks each candidate to add their CV and then makes them easily available via a postcode search. Francis Irving has blogged about the origins of Democracy Club CVs here, and what I particularly like about the CV initiative is that it doesn't try to force one way of looking at politics on either candidates or users. Some zealots for improving politics via the internet end up trying to force one particular viewpoint on everyone – as ...
At Conference Nick Clegg mentioned that the only European powers with any worthwhile military capability are Britain and France. Apart from the fact that we are just one more round of defence cuts away from that not being true in Britain's case, it is also a very WESTERN European world-view. It is true that so far as expeditionary warfare is concerned, only Britain and France have any great capability to send troops to the far corners of the globe, but it is not just expeditionary warfare that matters in this world. The House of Commons Defence Committee published its 10th ...
During Nick Clegg's Q&A session at the Spring Conference in Liverpool there were three questions that in their different ways touched on Liberalism in the international environment. Ones on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), NATO spending and Hong Kong. Nick's replies were I reminder of why Liberalism is best placed to shape the 21st Century. With much of the Middle East in turmoil and Russia busy advancing into Ukraine, it is perhaps superfluous to point out that Liberalism is not yet a universal creed - and there is also China. Home to a millennia old Legalist tradition, which ...
Recently, we have seen widespread appeals for non-SNP supporters to unite behind the party best placed to defeat them in the forthcoming General Election. There are online campaigns, instructing people in various seats how best to use their vote to thwart the SNP. On twitter, there is a politically illiterate movement, using the hashtag #SNPout (quite odd, as they're not actually "in" government in Westminster), suggesting we vote for either the Lib Dems, Labour or the Conservatives to keep the dreadful nationalists out. I'm not sure I could countenance a tactical vote for the Tories simply to keep out a ...
ALDC are currently running a great membership deal – join by April 7th and get a free copy of our Election Law Handbook (RRP £12), written by Mark Pack. In addition to this, membership is currently half price for the first year for anyone who pays by direct debit (available yearly, quarterly or monthly)- that's [...]
I'm not going to lie, when we went into coalition with the Tories, I did not feel comfortable with it. Working with the party who had destroyed the country I grew up during the 80s in was never going to ... Continue reading →
Ever since Ed Miliband was elected as Labour leader in 2010 all the talk has been about how he is taking Labour back to the left, but the truth is very different. The problem is he has gone along with this narrative and now runs a deeply divided party, saying one thing, but doing another. The first big tell-tale signs that Ed Miliband wasn't moving Labour to the left were promises from his Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rachel Reeves, to be "Tougher than the Tories" on benefits. This might have been a momentary blip, until she ...
Sometimes a single sourced exclusive story is so important, and the truth so hard to dig out, that it's a justified journalistic gamble. Only sometimes, however, which is why the norm is to work hard to find other sources, and certainly to wheel in corroborating evidence. Yet when it comes to reporting changes of support in national voting intention polls, especially when it's a media outlet reporting on polling it has paid for itself, the more outlandish the poll results are compared to others, the bigger the splash it gets. All those caveats about random fluctuations, it only being one ...
@rosschawkins was it a lame duck ? — Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) March 30, 2015 BBC journo Sean Clare captured this video of the fox before it spotted the duck. * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
I watched the so-called debate that wasn't a debate with rising incredulity that any two men aspiring to the highest office in the last should be quite so dull and predictable. The only element that was less predictable was Ed Miliband's unexpectedly human smile. I don't know if it was authentic or not, but it came across as such - and I'm sure it lies behind his sudden rise in the polls. But let's face it - it wasn't much. I've been thinking about the political offering for next month's election and it really is staggeringly uninspiring. Then I read ...
Our good friends Candy Piercy and Mark Pack have put together an Election Agents Manual, which ALDC members can download from our File Library here. This is in addition to our Election Law Handbook (co-authored with Mark), which is available to ALDC members online as part of our Ask ALDC FAQ advice service and, until [...]
Let's assume, as I did in previous pieces here and here, that no party will win a majority on May 7th, and that all the post-election pressure will be for a minority government with an arrangement with one or more other parties that falls short of coalition. On current polls the Liberal Democrats will not get enough seats for it to be practicable for us to enter coalition, and the third largest party will be the SNP who have made it clear they will not enter any coalition but will seek a looser agreement with Labour. None of this may ...
Larry the cat confronts a sniffer dog and a fox runs down Downing Street. Battle lines have been drawn on Downing Street... It's Larry the cat versus police sniffer dog Bailey #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/Qnew9Cil6X — BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) March 30, 2015 The fox out and about in Downing Street > haha https://t.co/tG6EFPVBX2 — Catalans with #the45 (@CataloniaYes) March 30, 2015
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is investigating Labour MP David Lammy over allegations that he broke the rules over Parliamentary correspondence in order to help Labour's campaign in the neighbouring constituency of Hornsey & Wood Green, held by Lib Dem Lynne Featherstone MP. David Lammy is, by the way, the same Labour MP who also attacked Labour's Hornsey & Wood Green leaflets (some copies of which also went out in his constituency) for "pandering to Ukip". I guess this time he kept editorial control over what was said.
We have The Courier to thank for this story: Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown is quite the character. Aside from his rather acerbic literary take on Alex Salmond's referendum diaries, his loose cannon nature proves both entertaining and stressful for party staffers. However, as campaign coordinator, he still knows how to turn on the charm. During a door-knocking session in North East Fife, he was invited into a woman's Newport home after being told she had a house guest who was a fan of his. It turns out the person was Chinese and he ended up having a full-blown ...
LOCAL LIB DEMS WELCOME CLAMPDOWN OVER PAYDAY LOAN SHOPS AND U TURN OVER OFFICE CONVERSION Gerald Vernon Jackson, Leader of the LGA Liberal Democrats, has welcomed a new announcement that will enable councils to keep a lid on the numbers of payday loan companies or betting shops allowed to open. Cllr Vernon Jackson said: "Councils [...]
At midnight last night Parliament was dissolved. Members of Parliament are expected to clear their desks and retreat to their constituencies, if they are re-standing, or to go and help new candidates. But the country is not without Government. Ministers will continue to hold their posts right until a new Government is formed after the election, so we have the unusual sight, for Lib Dems, of some of our own remaining in power throughout the short election campaign. The Prime Minister will visit the Queen this morning to mark the end of this Parliament. Nick Clegg will also go to ...
Temporary Closing and Temporary Waiting Restrictions in Various Roads in St Albans, Sandridge, Bricket Wood, Redbourn and Harpenden (Extract) NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council intend to make an Order under Section 14[1] of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, to prohibit all traffic from using the following lengths of roads, except for access [...]
Why a Coalition containing Lib Dems Is Essential to the Success of British Business (tags: ) Somewhat misleading headline, here, Indy. Still; a brave decision from the Clegg camp. Brave in the Yes Minister sense (tags: ) Vince Cable hits out at Home Office decision to deport government adviser (tags: ) What would slogan mugs look like, if they came from a decent party (tags: ) Who is basic income most popular with in the UK? - unsurprisingly poor people & younger people (tags: ) Whoops: Indiana's anti-gay 'Religious Freedom' act opens the door for the First Church of Cannabis ...
Local MP Steve Webb has welcomed the announcement in the Budget of plans to cut tolls when the Severn Bridge returns to public ownership in 2018. But he has said that his 'no more tolls' campaign will continue until the whole charge is scrapped. You can read more on Steve's website and sign the petition at www.stevewebb.org.uk/nomoretolls
Whether at the ballot box or the supermarket aisle, campaign success requires proper management and integration of data Over the last few months, dozens of British parliamentarians have been quietly sacked. For the moment, they still have MP after their name and they still have their salary payments coming through. However, party bosses - with varying degrees of regret or barely suppressed pleasure - have donned the mantle of The Apprentice's Sir Alan Sugar and said: "You're fired". The firing has been triggered not by policy differences but by a hard-headed decision by party bosses to cut loose some MPs ...
This weekend, there was a Telegraph View article entitled "We will rue the day Clegg ratted on his deal". It postulates a couple of different theories. One is that had Clegg not vetoed the change in boundaries back in 2012, the Tories would be on course for victory. The other, which is far stranger, is that the Lib Dems low polling figures are mostly down to this veto of boundary changes. The second one is too ridiculous to be taken seriously, but the former is worth discussing. The boundaries as they are constructed do give Labour an in-built advantage. Would ...
Some of you will have received a letter from me expressing concern about the long-term future of the St Albans Hospital site once the current review of West Hertfordshire health services is completed after the General Election. I met with the Chief Executive of the Trust earlier this week. We talked about the future of [...]
I have been working with Mike Thornton on the issue of ensuring that the government's commitment to firefighters in terms of their pension (in the case of natural unfitness) is adhered to. He has put a statement on his website (see above for link) which confirms that we continue to press for a letter of comfort for firefighters.
Now that about half Brian's new album has become available to listen to in one form or another, my very preliminary thoughts on what we've heard. Note that my opinions on Brian Wilson tracks change a LOT in the first year or so after I hear them, and also that this is based on lossy [...]
There are no MPs for the next thirty-eight days. Parliament was dissolved in the middle of the night, so if you see someone using the title MP you can let loose your inner pedant and correct them. Or report them to the proper authorities if that's your preference. Yes, after an extended build up that's put Hollywood's current trend of teaser trailers for trailers for blockbusters to shame, we're finally into the full 2015 General Election campaign. I was looking back over my blogging from the last election yesterday and noticed that from dissolution to election day was only 31 ...
I woke this morning to see that the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hull North was assaulted in the street on Saturday. I know Miss Davison personally, so my reaction has been somewhat more intense for that reason. Yet the attack has taken me back to earlier thoughts I had been ruminating on about the tone and tenor of British politics. I have inveighed here frequently against the Conservative and Labour parties; one does not need to go far in the archive to see that. I hope in my doing so I have always been political, rather than personal. I know ...
Lib Dem Voice has received this article from Matrix Chambers, a law firm that specialises in election law. It offers the opportunity to sign up for weekly briefings during the election period. It's trite to say, but we are just weeks away from the most important General Election in a generation - especially for those interested in election law. The culture of fighting elections - and the public's role within that - has changed in recent years owing to new technology. There is now also new (and untested) legislation restricting the actions of professional third party campaigners. Historically, the regulation ...
The We are Stockport campaign launched last week, aiming to showcase what makes us proud about our borough: the people, attractions, landmarks, shops, restaurants, businesses, sports, green spaces and more. It's a campaign for the whole borough, not just the town. As the campaign leader Rachel Wallace says: We need you. We need content to set this campaign on fire. We need your stories, news of your events, news that we should be sharing because it highlights how great your business, activity or organisation is. News that will interest the wider community because it's unusual, ground-breaking, successful....news that helps promote ...
The news this morning is full of discussion of polling statistics following the dissolution of Parliament at midnight. One commentator suggested that polls are inherently unpredictable, drawing on the recent election in Israel – read on after the jump to find ... Continue reading →
From Blether Tay-Gither : Tomorrow, Tuesday 31st March at 7pm. Madigan's Tea Room and Bookshop - 25 Castle Street. Blether Tay-Gither will be celebrating its 8th birthday with the theme: '8 or Ate.' Come along and tell a tale or just sit back & listen.
Labour plans to run the economy have come under scrutiny today with the revelation by the neutral Institute for Fiscal Studies that the party could still be borrowing £30 billion a year at the end of the next parliament if they were to form the next Government. According to the Times, Paul Johnson, who is the director of the IFS, has said that Labour's plans could mean they would still be borrowing as much as £30 billion a year by 2020: Ed Balls has vowed to stop borrowing to finance day-to-day spending, but would continue to borrow for infrastructure and ...
Last Thursday Cllr. Fred Weavers and I went to observe a meeting of Sefton Council's Cabinet at Bootle Town Hall, known to some as the 'Bootle Bunker'. The meeting lasted all of 27 minutes by my watch but some important issues were on the table before the 7 person Cabinet (all Labour, all representing Bootle Constituency), which for the record is made up of 6 middle aged men and one young woman. I mention gender balance as I understand that Labour has previously had a pop at Aintree Village Parish Council for a perceived gender imbalance. Those who live in ...
Campaigning, of course, has been going on for some while. But just after midnight last night parliament was prorogued and with that we are into the general election campaign proper. I'm backing my excellent fellow councillor Charlotte Barnes who is standing for the Lib Dems in the Ludlow constituency. You can find out more about [...]
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