Includes a rare photo of the Southern Railway's Dungeness station. Dungeness, as Lord Bonkers often reminds me, is home to the Jack Straw Memorial Reform School. If you enjoyed this slide show, there's also Devon, Bedfordshire, North Lincolnshire, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Cumbria and Cambridgeshire.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Tomorrow's Observer quotes the Liberal Democrat peer William Wallace's allegations that Conservative ministers and their advisers tried to rig the findings of a government report into the powers of the European Union: In a devastating intervention, the respected Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, revealed to the Observer that Tory cabinet ministers and their aides had attempted to impose a "Eurosceptic spin" on the Balance of Competences review because most of the evidence submitted by businesses, foreign governments and other interested parties portrayed the EU as a force for good, which was not what they wanted to ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The news that Jack Monroe has quit Twitter due to homophobic abuse is just another depressing event in what has felt like a descent into a world where too many of the voices you hear are unpleasant ones. And no, I don't want to suggest that people who disagree with me are unpleasant. Yes, some of them are, but they can't be categorised as simply political opponents. But, below the line in virtually every newspaper, there seems to be a never ending stream of vile abuse towards anyone and everyone who dares to put their head above the parapet to ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Dorothy Thorhill's great campaign launch video is also still well worth a watch:

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

"My friends just won't leave me alone" The North Norfolk coast has long been a favourite stamping ground of mine. I often bring the Great Seal of Rutland to Blakeney Point for a holiday, and as a young man I would go to Cromer to catch the crabs. I was summoned here yesterday by a tearful telephone call: "The road has been jam-packed with traffic for weeks. We can't get in our out of the house. My children are hungry. Please, you must do something." When I heard the address of my caller, my ears pricked up: it was the ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Voting in the UK has been fought for (sometimes quite literally) over the past 150 years and beyond. It is an entitlement that should not be taken lightly but used wisely. It was only 87 years ago that everyone over ... Continue reading →

Posted by robstick on Rob's View (from the sidelines)

It's been a gorgeous day – and Liberal Democrats have been out and about campaigning across the country. Here are some of their tweets: Support for @SimonHughes on Jamaica road! Keep Simon fighting for us, request your poster: https://t.co/BAxkGBzrN0 pic.twitter.com/wiV2N23lWj — Southwark Lib Dems (@swklibdems) April 18, 2015 * Newshound in training. I'm sweet and full of mischief, just like my stories.

Posted by Newspuppy on Liberal Democrat Voice

Watch the new video from Amnesty International UK:

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Midnight has passed, and we're on the run in to election day, with more than half of the campaign done. There's probably someone out there wishing the campaign was longer, but I suspect we're all glad that the end is starting to come into sight, aren't we? I'm beginning to understand that one of the appeals of the postal vote is being able to cast your vote early and see it all over and done with, and not feel the need to pay any more attention. But I've done this for twenty days now, and I'm going to see it ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

We all make mistakes. It's part of being human. What's important is that you learn from them. And when political opponents make mistakes, there are times when you need to show a bit of understanding and "there but for the grace of God go I" attitude. Election campaigns are fraught and exhausting and those working on them make massive sacrifices. The chances of mistakes being made through sheer fatigue are quite high. There are times, though, when a campaign doesn't learn from its mistakes and it's legitimate to point that out. Alex Sobel, the Labour candidate in Leeds North West, ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

And one I've seen again today: "the wife of $male rock star is a controlling harpy bitch and is wrecking his music. She just doesn't understand him like I do! *sniff*" Yoko Ono is obviously the most prominent example of this, but it happens *all the time*. Just off the top of my head: Brian [...]

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

My spoiler-light review of Marvel and Netflix's reinterpretation of Daredevil. The Avengers does not exactly lack for great lines of dialogue. However, my favourite comes after Thor has plucked the recently captured Loki from the Avengers' custody. As Captain America puts on a parachute to pursue them, Black Widow warns him "I'd sit this one out: [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

Over at the Staggers blog, Kevin Maguire recounts an encounter between Paddy Ashdown and a hen party on a London bound train after the first leaders' debate: ...the former Royal Marine met his match on a train to London after the 2 April TV debate. Outgunned and outnumbered, the Lib Dem peer was forced to surrender to a Yorkshire hen party in fancy dress. On this occasion, a radar-lugged snout was settling down to hear Ashdown discussing campaign strategy on his phone when the carriage filled up with shrieking lasses. Captain Paddy hastily terminated the call with a giggly: "Save ...

Posted by Newsmoggie on Liberal Democrat Voice

Lib Dems Believe Wordle 30 Freedom from ignorance

Sat 18th
14:36

Taking office

Yesterday, my first term started as the Debian Project Leader. There's been a large number of emails congratulating me, and thanks to everyone who sent those. I'd also like to thank Mehdi Dogguy and Gergely Nagy for running, and of course Lucas Nussbaum for his service over the past two years. Lucas also did a great handover, and so (I hope!) I'm aware of most of the issues that are ongoing. As started previously, I'll keep my daily log of activities in /srv/leader/news/ on master.debian.org.

Posted by Neil McGovern on Liberal Murmurs

Sir Malcolm Bruce was on the Today programme this morning, making a robust case for voting Liberal Democrat, showing what we can bring to a coalition – stable government, with Liberal Democrat policies being implemented. We can anchor UK to centre ground, not go off on a spending spree before we balance the books or go off on a right wing frolic where we punish people quite unnecessarily with cuts to service and benefits in order to fund tax cuts for the rich We can break both Tories and Labour and hold the centre ground. He said that coalition was ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

For those who want to know what the Lib Dem manifesto has to say about young people Improving support for young adults We want young people to face the future with optimism and confidence. The education leaving age has now risen to 18, but as children grow, their independence grows too, and the support that education and youth services provide to them and their families needs to adapt. Whether it is supporting people with the costs of travel to college or apprenticeships, or promoting positive images of young people by celebrating their successes: Liberal Democrats are on the side of ...

Posted by Maelo Manning on libdemchild, aged 15

For those who want to know what the Lib Dems are saying about apprenticeships and Further Education: Expanding and improving apprenticeships and further education More people have started an apprenticeship in this Parliament than ever before. As we grow our economy, we must protect and enhance adult skills training and our further education colleges. We need to grow our skill base, especially in the technologies and industries that are most important to our economic future. We want it to become the norm for businesses to take on and train up young people as apprentices in every sector of our economy, ...

Posted by Maelo Manning on libdemchild, aged 15

This is the third in a series of posts attempting to answer questions and comments put to me by family and friends around the General Election. This time round, the issue is tactical voting. The specific question put to me was as follows: What's your view on tactical voting? (e.g. a relatively safe Labour seat, where [...]

Posted by Tom King on Never Cruel Nor Cowardly

The old Liberals used the natural discontent of the people with the poverty and precariousness of the means of subsistence as a motive power to win for them a better, more influential, and more honourable status is the citizenship of their native land. The new Liberalism, while pursuing this great political ideal with unflinching energy, devotes a part of its endeavour also to the removing of the immediate causes of discontent. It is true that man cannot live by bread alone. It is equally true that a man cannot live without bread. I hate fences. I always feel like knocking ...

eUKhost

Yesterday's Ashcroft Poll for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk showed Mike Moore to be in a very tough three way fight with both the Tories and the SNP. It should be pointed out that the poll did not mention his name. If it had, the likelihood is that it would have boosted Mike's rating significantly. However, Willie Rennie has changed his plans for today and headed for Galashiels to give Mike some additional support The thought of a House of Commons without Mike Moore in it upsets me greatly. This is the guy who negotiated the Edinburgh Agreement with Nicola Sturgeon ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Further to my meltdown on Tuesday, I find a section in the Tory Manifesto worrying: though it has been rumoured for a long time. "People who might benefit from treatmentshould get the medical help they need so they can returnto work. If they refuse a recommended treatment, we willreview whether their benefits should be reduced. We willalso provide significant new support for mental health,benefiting thousands of people claiming out-of-workbenefits or being supported by Fit for Work."Page 28The morality and ethics of this is so open to abuse it buggers belief. For those with specific mental health / illness issues, when ...

Posted by Raging Reg on Raging Reg

There's an article Thursday's Guardian which compares the level of campaigning activity in two seats, one with the lowest turnout in the country, Manchester Central, and one with a high turnout, Tim Farron's Westmorland and Lonsdale. The report argues that the poorest and most vulnerable feel that voting is pointless as nobody will do anything to serve their interests, while in more affluent areas, people are more inclined to vote, creating a major democratic deficit. I feel I have been forcibly excluded from participating in politics and the issues that are of interest to me and my children," said Ray ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

The Brighton & Hove News site reports: A row has broken out over student votes after a Green campaign group started handing out proxy voting forms on Falmer campus. The Students for Caroline campaign for the party's Brighton Pavilion candidate Caroline Lucas is offering University of Sussex students the chance to sign proxy voting forms already filled in with the details of Green Party supporters. The supporters would then be able to vote on students' behalf in the national and local elections on May 7, when most will be back at home... But the move was slammed by the local ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

You can tell that I live in the country, as my Twitter feed is filled with candidates telling me about their campaigning in small villages across Suffolk (well, except here in Creeting St Peter, of course). Labour candidates have been particularly active - after all, they aren't going to win in places like South Suffolk or Suffolk Coastal. At least, were they to do so, we'd be looking at a landslide that would make 1906 look close. More practically though, one might assume that if Labour were such credible contenders, there would be an upsurge in the number of Labour ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

Part of the story isn't being told. As we move towards the General Election strands of news and snippets of information have emerged which circle around the issues but there is a gap in the middle where the story could - and should - be. I'm thinking here of housing-related aspects of the party manifestos: cuts in inheritance tax on property versus mansion taxes. I'm thinking of the observation that buy-to-let lending was the only component of mortgage lending not to stall in February. I'm thinking of Hannah Fearn's argument that removal of the obligation to invest pension pots in ...

Posted by admin on Alex's Archives

As Scottish voters start to receive their postal votes in the next few days, they will have much to contemplate. To what extent will those who oppose independence be prepared to vote tactically to keep the SNP from winning Westminster seats. Their decision may well be informed by yesterday's Ashcroft polls which show potential SNP gains in all but one of the constituencies in question. Unfortunately, four of them were seats currently held by the Liberal Democrats. I found the SNP fifteen points ahead in Charles Kennedy's seat of Ross, Skye & Lochaber, up from five points in February. I ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

BPS Research Digest: The psychology of voting, digested (tags: ) Labour candidate apologises for joking about threesome with Ed Miliband and a goat (tags: ) Two New Ann Leckie Novels Coming from Orbit - *happy dance* (tags: ) Poll: which Party will be the most Beard Friendly on May 7th? - my fellow LDs - we can't let the kippers beat us in THIS one (tags: ) The poisonous climate of racism/xenophobia UKIP rhetoric creates (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

More and more people are choosing to report problems to the council online rather than by phoning up. Not only does it take less time, but the response is quicker too. [IMG: Selection_333] When you call or email the Council, someone has to type all your information into the computer system, adding an extra delay. If you fill in the form online, the information goes straight to the person who needs to sort it out. Whether it's a missed bin collection, faulty streetlight, pothole or any one of the many other issues the council deals with, it's quicker to do ...

In the wake of the seven way leaders debate a couple of weeks ago, many a left-winger took to social media to ask "Can I vote for the SNP if I live in England?" The answer is, of course, no and more pertinently, will never be yes. The SNP are specifically a party relevant to Scotland; this is the reason for their success, impending and historic, and is coincidentally key to their ability to breakthrough and become a major player in the Westminster system, which they look poised to do after this general election. The reason for this is the ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 often gets an outing around this time of year as someone gets in trouble for publicising figures from a postal vote opening. By now, that's a fairly familiar story – although the ability of new people to make the same mistakes as others have already made in the glare of publicity is such an inherent part of human nature I wouldn't bet on it not happening again. But there's also a new mistake people may make, especially those armed with social media monitoring tools, for Section 66a includes a ban ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: Poverty lane M58 barriers] Work to install new barriers to protect the M58 motorway from vehicles 'leaving' Maghull's Poverty Lane is presently taking place. Makes you wonder how fast a vehicle would need to be travelling to end up on the M58!

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

Back again to that old Ordnance Survey map of Liverpool that I picked up not so long ago from a second hand bookshop on Bewdley Station – Severn Valley Railway. This latest posting about the map concerns the area of West Lancashire around Ormskirk, Skelmersdale and Burscough. Let's have a look at it:- [IMG: Ormskirk & Skem' 1958] Click on the map to enlarge it. The two notable issues are the north and south Burscough curves that once connected the Southport – Wigan & Ormskirk – Preston lines and the branch line from Ormskirk to Skelmersdale and off the map ...

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

[IMG: Prime Minister meets with controversial hate preacher] Prime Minister meets with controversial hate preacher I'm not a Sun reader. You're not shocked to discover that if you've ever had any dealings with me before, of course. Usually, I'm happy to let it carry on doing whatever it wants to do and let us coexist in our separate spheres, but sometimes it crosses a line. This time, though, it's published something that even by its normal standards is absolutely horrific: Hate giving awful Katie Hopkins attention but her article in The Sun uses neo-nazi type language. Sun shld be ashamed ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With

As reported in yesterday's Courier and Evening Telegraph, after a protracted period of complaining of behalf of constituents about faults to the front entrance doors at the City Council Headquarters, I have received an assurance from the council's Director of City Development that the council is considering replacing the doors that have been out of action on numerous occasions since the council headquarters in North Lindsay Street opened. Following the most recent closure in March of some of the doors due to a fault, I wrote to the council's Director of City Development : "I have probably contacted you half ...

[IMG: LDdiamond1] In summary: Harborough looks like being a race between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories. Labour have no councillors in Harbororough, Oadby and Wigston and are contesting fewer than half the local elections. They have finished 3rd here at every election since 1979. After the Conservatives split in Oadby and Wigston, they are fielding a record low number of local election candidates. More Liberal Democrat candidates across Harborough, Oadby and Wigston than for any other party. Lib Dems look to build on a winning record locally, holding 33 out of 53 councillors in the constituency, The nominations for ...

Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks again top the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 32, with 1,925 points. Meanwhile, Jon Featonby (1,856), Mark Widdop (1,829), Sam Bowman (1,827) and Edward Douglas (1,826) vie for the number two slot. But let's also hear it for the two who achieved the best week's performances: Kye Dorricott's Chip Bang Utd (84 points) and Jamie Saddler's Scotland In Disguise (81). Here's the top 10: [IMG: ldv fantasy week 31] There are 163 players in total and you can still join the league by clicking here.

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks again top the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 32, with 1,925 points. Meanwhile, Jon Featonby (1,856), Mark Widdop (1,829), Sam Bowman (1,827) and Edward Douglas (1,826) vie for the number two slot. But let's also hear it for the two who achieved the best week's performances: Kye Dorricott's Chip Bang Utd (84 points) and Jamie Saddler's Scotland In Disguise (81). Here's the top 10: [IMG: ldv fantasy week 31] There are 163 players in total and you can still join the league by clicking here. * Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

Bosnia Herzegovina is struggling to come to terms with its past. When the war ended almost 20 years ago now, there were 40,000 missing persons in the former Yugoslavia. The scars of a long and bloody conflict run deep. Men await trial for genocide even now, whilst many families do not know the final fate of their loved ones. The political settlement that ended the conflict left unresolved divisions. There are now three Presidents, a Bosniak, a Serb and a Croat, children are educated in separate schools and taught three separate versions of history, the country itself is effectively divided ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black