Dear friends, I have to write very briefly about the best evening of entertainment I've had in my life so far. Completely by chance, and I am afraid to say, news of the fire in Holborn, I found out about the performance of 'Letters Live' in Freemasons Hall. I saw Benedict Cumberbatch, Louise Brealey, Tom [...]
So the Hugo nominees have been announced... I didn't actually manage to get my own nominations in this year, sadly — I couldn't get the website to work properly, but it wouldn't have mattered because everything I nominated was small press stuff that only I would have nominated. The "Sad Puppies" did, however, manage to [...]
From Londonist: We recently got to see the parts of the station that passengers and shoppers never get to, taking a tour of the roof, back rooms and clock tower. Along the way, we met Sam Lane, one of the few people lucky enough to live in the apartments overlooking the concourse.
Great independent endorsement for one of our key policies: It's true that the Lib Dems would spend more on the NHS than Labour or the Tories: http://t.co/8yr9GltYrY #leadersdebate — C4 News FactCheck (@FactCheck) April 2, 2015
"It is as if UK politicians regard their failure to propose anything new as a demonstration of their fitness for office. It makes them safer from Paxman of course, but also perhaps insulates them from each other. They are dull enough to be safe. It is the besetting sin of the British political elite." David Boyle explains why Paxo's encounters with Cameron and Miliband were so dull. Smart meters are a government IT disasters waiting to happen, warns the Institute of Directors. Dorothy King shows that "Early depictions of the Passion of Christ tended to omit the crucifixion, and there ...
Our Pledges to the people of Liverpool The nominations are now open for Liverpool City Council as they are for the General Election. Every vote cast for a Liberal Democrat Candidate and every Liberal Democrat Councillor elected is a fight ... Continue reading →
One of the threads of the General Election debate both in Yardley and nationally is what is happening to the more vulnerable people in society. All the vaguely rational parties (and I include part of the Labour Party in this) accept that we need to get government finances under control. The government has income (from taxes and levies etc) and spends money on services (the NHS, police etc).
[IMG: Except for viewers in Scotland] Except for viewers in Scotland This was meant to be a relatively quiet period in the campaign, wasn't it? Thanks to Nicola Sturgeon doing moderately well in the leaders' debate on Thursday, it seems the right-wing press have gone back to their 2010 election manuals and begun monstering her the same way they did with Nick Clegg. This time around, it seems that the whole thing hasn't yet launched #nicolasturgeonsfault into the forefront of Twitter's global trending topics, but the advances in social media have meant that a whole story was rebutted and the ...
It's fair to say that this is not a headline I ever thought I'd be writing, but there you go. The Guardian decided that it might be a good idea to take ten politicians and send them on a "blind date" with someone from a different party. They didn't exactly push the boat out with this. The MPs met in the cafe in Portcullis House which is ok, but I prefer the public one off Westminster Hall. It's always a joy to see what food combinations they come up with. They had an Earl Grey cheesecake one time I was ...
[IMG: Sony Xperia being held in front of someone] Pro-tip: email works best when you turn the device on. A simple little efficiency tip: the autocorrect feature that comes with most smartphones and email programs is designed to turn a mistake such as teh into the. But it can do so much more. You needn't only use it to save you from the most likely spelling mistakes. I often walk past graffiti on Stroud Green Road and so grf autocorrects to graffiti, whilst sgr autocorrects to Stroud Green Road. Small things, but when you report as much graffiti as I ...
Last month, Scotland's four main party leaders debated each other for Glasgow University's Politics Society. Willie Rennie, Jim Murphy, Ruth Davidson and Nicola Sturgeon spent an hour and a half discussing everything from austerity to Trident to drugs policy. They did it with loads of thoughtfulness and bags of humour. It makes me very optimistic about the tv debate between these four and the Greens' Patrick Harvie on Tuesday night. It's actually a very good watch and relevant to people across the whole UK. Willie Rennie was very strong on the economy, highlighting how France had tried the sort of ...
Lib Dems Believe Wordle 16
The Liberal Democrats stand for increasing people's freedom to enjoy their own potential, helping everybody to get on in life. We believe in meaningful representative democracy to balance people's conflicting priorities, and in ensuring protection for the individual from the State and other powerful organisations. We believe that nobody should be constrained by lack of opportunity, particularly by the circumstances of their birth. We believe that Government should set the rules by which society operates, so people are rewarded for hard work and innovation, but not for exploitation or pollution. We believe that people should be respected as individuals regardless ...
The Guardian has a report today on Nicola Sturgeon's visit to the SNP office in Edinburgh West – which just happens to be right next door to the Liberal Democrat campaign office on one of the busiest roads in Edinburgh. SNP supporters from the city and beyond had come to greet Nicola after her excellent performance in the leaders' debate on Thursday. Severin Carrell, the journalist who wrote the article, alluded to the contrast with the quietness of Mike Crockart's campaign office where only four people were to be found and made a number of very flawed conclusions about the ...
I had hoped that there would be a video recording of the Hustings at South Yardley Library, but sadly although there were people who said they wanted to do it. It did not happen. However, there was a video recording of the short presentation of the four candidates who went to the Birmingham Mail Twitter Hustings. I have extracted those comments for the four candidates. Jess Phillips Teval
[IMG: rsz_no_shooting] The Liverpool Echo has the story. Sadly, this is a regular theme of mine and I only wish it were not. What does it take to get guns off our streets. Nice to see the Police making some inroads here but my feeling is that this is a deep rooted problem where they are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
Well, you can guess my answer, but if you're making up your mind (and this and this haven't decided it for you), then there is Who Gets My Vote? It's (another) site which helps you work out which party's policies are closest to your own views (which should be an important but not the only factor in voting), as well as gathering in some useful data for future political science research: Your browser does not support iframes.
Sat 4th
12:15
Are you feeling like you need some good old fashioned civil liberties talk in this election?
You need look no further than Ben Mathis, Lib Dem candidate for Hackney South who looks at the constituency's liberal values and wonders why it "settles for social conservatism in a red bow." Enjoy. This is the sort of thing that motivates us to get out on the streets. Imagine how bleak the outlook for civil liberties under either Labour or the Conservatives. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Sat 4th
11:55
Watch and laugh: Clarke and Dawe - Stand back. New project. Reforming the budget process. Urgent.
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
Writing and reviewing journal articles is part of the core business of a scientist. But it's not an efficient way to communicate research results. Researchers are estimated to waste 15 million person-hours a year on unpublished submissions to scientific journals. How can we make scientific communication more efficient? This was one of the questions raised at a recent debate at a conference celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Philosophical Transactions, the world's oldest scientific journal, published by the Royal Society. I am in the team of historians from the University of St Andrews who ran the conference, and writing a ...
Sat 4th
10:39Nicola Sturgeon faces similar press trashing to Clegg in 2010 - but with added misogyny
I might have some fairly fundamental disagreements with Nicola Sturgeon on the best future for Scotland, but I have a great deal of time for her as a human being and as a politician. She is a much cleverer tactician than Alex Salmond ever was. I am perfectly happy to argue with people on their political outlook, but I'm not struck on the sort of nasty personal mudslinging that we see at PMQs, or in Labour's deeply misleading personal attack on Nick Clegg last year and I sure as hell am not going to make up my mind how to ...
Most of the political debate around the NHS, certainly in the Leaders' Debate on Thursday night, has focused on who should deliver NHS services. In particular, the anti-austerity parties, as well as the Labour Party, are extremely sceptical about what they call "privatisation" – the provision of NHS services by private companies. This is ironic, as [...]
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above. [IMG: hqdefault] This has to be good news. The Leeds Liverpool Canal tow path through Melling, Aintree, Maghull and Lydiate suffers from this menace as does the Cheshire Lines Path, Jubilee Wood and the other woodland areas around Lunt and Sefton Villages. I know the residents of Lunt Village are dreading another summer of these bikes being used around where they live. The noise and danger to pedestrians is obvious so great news that Merseyside Police are hitting those responsible hard.
I'm happy to announce here the results of my latest in-depth research into a troubled group within our population. It's been a long and detailed investigation, taking me all of several minutes to carry out, but it's shown that this group have terrible problems with an addiction that they just can't control. It seems that for this group the addiction is almost impossible to control, let alone kick. Every time they see something troublesome it triggers an automatic response to plunge back into an addictive response to an extent it's almost instinctive rather than conscious, and my research shows that ...
The achievements of Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats in government have been remarkable. In the face of an economic crisis where many commentators were predicting the economic collapse of the UK, the coalition has taken decisions which have left the country in far better shape than they found it. Britain has performed better than almost all its peers, and there is little doubt, that in raising the tax threshold and defeating the SNP referendum to break up the UK, it has been Liberal Democrats who have been the first out of the trenches. Liberal Democrat ministers, from Ed Davey ...
Sat 4th
09:20
I've begun to think that Nigel Farage doesn't actually want to win Thanet South anymore
The Guardian did a piece on Nigel Farage a few weeks back. It was the sort of typical, "on the campaign trail with politician x" article you get round this sort of period just before a general election. There was one quote from Farage that has stuck with me since I first read it. When asked what the best outcome for him come May 7th would be, Farage said: "To lose, get out of politics completely, go back to business and get very rich." Obviously it was a joke - but I've started to wonder a little how much that ...
Possibly not if you are going canvassing though. You can just imagine knocking an a door and then an image of Sky News' mash up of Clegg, Miliband, Cameron and Farage singing Boyzone's I Swear pops into your mind unbidden. By the time the voter opens the door, you are giggling, and possibly drooling. Not the best way to win votes. The thing about this is that after Thursday night, it seems so dated with just the four of them. It might not be as good as Eurovision's Greatest Hits last night, but we hope it made you smile.
Thanks to the Tandridge District Council web-site for the following: Election Date: 1/4/2015Election Type: District CouncilElectorate: 2991Whyteleafe Result: David Lee, Liberal Democrats - Elected (393 votes) (Gain) Turnout: 26.4%CandidatePartyNumber of votes Spoilt 5 Martin Ferguson United Kingdom Independence Party 119 David Lee Liberal Democrats 393 Peter Sweeney Conservative Party 274 David Lee will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for the East Surrey constituency, of which Whyteleafe is part. David was the challenger to Conservative Sam Gyimah in 2010, 9,000 votes ahead of Labour in third place. Congratulations also to Sam Bennett, chair of IR Cymru/Welsh Liberal Democrat Youth, on winning ...
The Macmillan supported Walking Groups advise : Our walks on Mondays from Roseangle Arts Café at 11.30am and Wednesdays from Maggies at 1pm aim to support anyone affected by cancer (including people living with and beyond cancer, family, friends and/or carers) to become more active by walking. The local, short walks are led by trained volunteers and are suitable for those of any walking ability. The walks provide a supportive and friendly environment for people to become more active. We know that physical activity is beneficial to people living with or beyond cancer and can help to reduce the negative ...
Don't get excited by big movements in the opinion polls: it's the trends that matter – and the same applies to your digital listening Sunday 29 March 2015 was heaven for political geeks with a love of logical puzzles. It was also a salutary warning for anyone who set great store on digital listening statistics that give percentage changes on the previous day or week. Two opinion polls came out, the first carried out since the election 'debate' the previous Thursday when Cameron and Miliband appeared in back-to-back interviews and Q&A sessions on TV. One showed that Labour were four ...
Making is political. What happens when city authorities get involved? In February 2015, city authorities in São Paulo announced plans to open a network of 12 public FabLabs. Following in the wake of an earlier 'telecentro' initiative that opened up internet access and digital media to citizens, the FabLabs are meant to bring the tools of digital fabrication to the people, equipping them for a fuller role in what FabLab founder Neil Gershenfeld forsees as a revolution in the decentralisation and democratisation of production and consumption. São Paulo's authorities join a range of civic bodies casting an eye over the ...
Big headlines today for allegations in the Daily Telegraph that a leaked diplomatic memo revealed that Nicola Sturgeon had confessed to the French ambassador that she would prefer that David Cameron "remains" Prime Minister. It adds that Ms. Sturgeon thinks Ed Miliband is too incompetent. The New Statesman says that the leaked transcript, a UK government memo says:- "Just had a telephone conversation with Pierre-Alain Coffinier, the French CG [consul-general]. He was keen to fill me in on some of the conversations his Ambassador had during her visit to Scotland last week. All of this was given on a confidential ...
Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 30, and appear to be (like Chelsea) destined for ultimate victory. George is now 70 points clear of second-placed Mark Widdop's inaccurately-named Midtable Obscurity, with just eight weeks of the season remaining. But let's also hear it for a couple of players outside the top 10: Lucy Keating's Athletico Spizz 14 had the best week's performance, with 93 points. An honourable mention goes to James Borg's Borgy Boys, who scored 92. [IMG: LDV FANTASY FOOTBALL 30] There are 161 players in total and you can ...
Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 30, and appear to be (like Chelsea) destined for ultimate victory. George is now 70 points clear of second-placed Mark Widdop's inaccurately-named Midtable Obscurity, with just eight weeks of the season remaining. But let's also hear it for a couple of players outside the top 10: Lucy Keating's Athletico Spizz 14 had the best week's performance, with 93 points. An honourable mention goes to James Borg's Borgy Boys, who scored 92. [IMG: LDV FANTASY FOOTBALL 30] There are 161 players in total and you can ...
The coalition's joint record to balance the books and support business has put the economy on the road to recovery, created 2 million more jobs, and delivered the fastest growing major economy in the world. The Conservatives are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the British public by saying they will stay the course. The Tory plans drastically depart from the course set out by the coalition government. They have set out new plans to cut further and for longer than necessary, and are refusing to get the wealthiest in society to pay their fair share. Only ...
Gateshead Council had a scrutiny meeting recently to consider the issue of landfill in the west of the borough. There was a major incident last month in which high winds had blown a huge amount of rubbish from one site in particular, Blaydon Quarry, into neighbouring communities. At the meeting, the Environment Agency was questioned their response to Blaydon Quarry. One member, Paul Foy,
