Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders – who most certainly is going canvassing during this election – spotted this from his local Conservatives: [IMG: Why we're not canvassing anyone - Torbay Conservatives leaflet]
Sad that there's only one of these left now. He really is a class act and he knows how to laugh at himself. Enjoy. My favourite was the one about his friend who used to make millions of dollars and is know living out of a van in Iowa. If you don't have time to sit through the whole 20 minutes, here are some highlights: * Newshound in training. I'm sweet and full of mischief, just like my stories.
New biological techniques create the potential for catastrophe. The self-control of scientists is not enough to protect us, or to secure public trust. National governments must step in. Filippa Lentzos, Koos van der Bruggen and Kathryn Nixdorff argue that the US should lead the way. There is a growing convergence of concern about new technologies in the life sciences that are raising significant societal, ethical, environmental and security risks. Global public engagement must be a priority for deliberation about these technologies and for developing a set of common red lines. The genome-editing technique CRISPR-Cas9 is the latest in a series ...
It's difficult to see in its natural environment and it is extremely rare. This is one of the three that I have seen in Southport. Yes it's a rare Blue Backed Conservative poster board. Otherwise known as a Rare Southport Poster Board, or RSPB for short. Much more common are the popular Orange Backed Lib Dem poster boards with sightings all over Southport and into Ainsdale. Experts now believe that the Orange Backed Lib Dems are settled and multiplying in local gardens. [IMG: "The rare Blue Backed Conservative"] Add caption [IMG: "The common Orange Backed Lib Dem"] Like · Comment ...
Lib Dems Believe Wordle 38 Freedom from Conformity
If you vote for a Liberal Democrat, what do you get? You get someone who's going to fight for civil liberties and for freedom, you're going to get someone who's going to fight for fairness, for the NHS, you're going to get someone who cares about the planet, you're going to get the sort of party that you would want to stand up for those who need to be fought for. The Lib Dems have taken lowest-paid out of tax, we've given pensioners a rise - that's probably not your end of the market, but at my end of the ...
[IMG: Income tax cuts for over 26 million people] For more, see the full infographic: What have the Liberal Democrats achieved in government? [IMG: Share on Facebook] [IMG: Share on Twitter] Show support for Lib Dems on social media The Liberal Democrats have achieved so much in the last five years. Now help the party achieve even more in the next five years: Sign up to this Thunderclap to share a message on the eve of poll about voting Liberal Democrat Sign up to this Facebook event to show that you're voting Liberal Democrat
Today saw the marvelous Maghull Wind Orchestra perform at the Palm House in Liverpool's Sefton Park, a repeat of their performance there almost exactly a year ago. [IMG: Maghull Wind Orchestra in the wonderful setting of Sefton Park Palm House] Maghull Wind Orchestra in the wonderful setting of Sefton Park Palm House This 74 piece band (of today) which has the ability to have over 100 members playing at any one time is a delight and I say that not just because Jen Robertson is a member. It is a unique community band which takes anyone who can play a ...
The Spectator's Isabel Hardman went up to East Dunbartonshire to go campaigning with Jo Swinson recently. Her piece is pretty balanced and fair and gives quite an insight into Jo on the campaign trail Now, I know what a whirlwind Jo is and how much work she gets through and how many doors she knocks on. I went across to help many times during the 2005 campaign. She was so disciplined and even if she met her own high targets, she wasn't happy unless she'd done even more. Her campaigning experience comes across in Hardman's profile as does her name ...
Election Sundays are notable for two things – a slight scaling down of the activity carried out on the ground by the parties, coupled with a ratcheting up of the ridiculousness of the rhetoric by the Sunday papers. Today, of course, we had the spectacle of the Mail telling us that an arrangement between Labour and the SNP would be the biggest crisis in British politics since the Abdication in 1936. It's an odd point to use, even if you're looking for purely constitutional crises, as the Abdication was something that was seen as completely unthinkable before it happened but ...
Sun 26th
17:21
Sefton's £4,500 a year "pay for no work" deal with Labour's Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson comes...
The deal in which Liverpool Labour boss Joe Anderson was paid £4,500 a year by a Sefton school for doing no work came under attack from Lib Dem councillors at Thursday's meeting of Sefton Council. When the school, Chesterfield High School in Crosby, ended the arrangement, Mayor Joe Anderson took the case to an Employment Tribunal. When he lost there he appealed and lost again, with the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal being widely reported last week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-32317297 At the Council meeting in Southport Town Hall, Birkdale Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw led calls for an Inquiry into ...
Sun 26th
17:21Sefton Labour Leader blocksLib Dem bid for Inquiry into Sefton's conduct over Mayor Anderson
Question submitted by Councillor Shaw to the Leader of the Council (Councillor P Dowd) As the Leader is no doubt aware, judgement was handed down last week by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in the case of Mayor Joe Anderson v Chesterfield High School. Chesterfield High School was, until recently, a school maintained by Sefton Council. In view of the serious public disquiet over this issue, and having regard to Judge Serota's judgement at the EAT that the Claimant (Mayor Joe Anderson) was "party to a misuse of public funds" and that "this arrangement may strike members of the public as ...
[IMG: Campaigning in Watford with Robbie Laird] [IMG: Great poster display for Dorothy Thornhill in Watford] [IMG: Dorothy Thornhill's campaign office, Watford] [IMG: Great chocolate cake as reward for campaigning in Watford]
[IMG: Deadline warning] 5pm Tuesday 28 April: that's the deadline for new proxy vote applications (though it's now too late to get a postal proxy or a straightforward postal vote). Application forms for the many different varieties of proxy votes are available here. There's still time in the event of a medical emergency for an emergency proxy, by the way. That's 5pm on polling day itself.
As Nick Clegg had the good grace to say in his email to members yesterday, that the decision about whether the Liberal Democrats go into coalition or not if in a position to do so is not in his gift. We're a democratic party. In the end, the decision to form a coalition rests not with the leader but with the party. That is kind of true. I thought it would be worth taking you through what will happen should Liberal Democrats be involved in coalition negotiations after the election. The process is different from last time. Then all the ...
Sun 26th
14:55
Two Lib Dems standing down: Ming on competitiveness, Iraq and backing Clegg, Teather on "political s...
The Observer is interviewing some MPs who have stood down from Parliament. Ming Campbell and Sarah Teather are featured today. Ming says his proudest moment in his 28 years in Parliament was deciding not to support the war in Iraq: The second Gulf war, that's the most significant political thing I've been engaged with. We took the decision - not an easy decision - that we were going to thoroughly oppose it, and there were some sleepless nights for me and for [Liberal Democrat leader] Charles [Kennedy]. All it needed was a company of American marines to discover two tanks ...
The new Sergeant's Farm Bridge opened yesterday evening, and people seem to like it. There's a motorbike barrier and a kissing gate, which can be opened fully to let wheelchairs through if you have a RADAR key. The slope looks manageable for anyone pushing a wheelchair or a buggy. The span of the temporary bridge across the railway was removed overnight. Well done to Network Rail's contractors Murphy, and also to all involved from Dodington Parish Council and South Glos Council's Public Rights of Way section.
A quick video insight into Nick Clegg's visit to Gordon to support Christine Jardine:
It is difficult to stop caring coming, as I do, from generations of politically active Liberals and having taken up the baton myself back in 1983. In 1997, I was handed the reins of the Scottish Lib Dem website which meant I was in sole charge of the content and design of the site. I ran it until 2008 when I resigned in disgust at the changes, and censorship, mooted by a newly-formed website committee. Since then, I have allowed my membership to lapse but, until now, have always voted Lib Dem. Being in a coalition took Westminster Lib Dems ...
Sun 26th
12:15Sarah Smith, a brave and committed Liberal Democrat candidate fighting the election while undergoing...
There's a really moving profile of Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Smith in today's Observer magazine. Written by her stepsister Catherine Mayer, it tells of how she is combining fighting the election with a gruelling course of Chemotherapy after being diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer just after party conference in October last year. Sarah is not the only candidate fighting the election with such a diagnosis. I know of two others who have had Cancer diagnoses in recent months and are continuing with their duties. The way that they have handled it has been a real example to us all. ...
This morning I joined journalists and TV crews from around the world at Astana's People's Palace (a name so redolent of the former Soviet Union!) to watch voting in today's presidential elections, for which voters of all ages were indeed streaming into the polls. In keeping with the holiday mood in Kazakhstan's capital loud dance [...]
[IMG: Not a Ukip ukulele] When a journalist says the following to you, it's just possible you may not have said the wisest thing: Yes, I've just been speaking to a woman with a Ukip ukulele who said the same thing. Am now waiting nervously for the story...
Rod Edwards and Roger Hand were originally leaders of a band called Piccadilly Line, releasing in 1967 an album with a very 1967 title The Huge World of Emily Small. In 1969, after the band had broken up, they released a first and eponymous LP as a duo. Reminding us of how fast music moved in those days, Bad Cat Records says of it: Powered by the pair's strong vocal harmonies, comparisons to early Bee Gees, or The Hollies during their psychedelic phase were quite apt. That gave the album a somewhat dated sound - way more 1967 than 1969. ...
Twenty figures from the renewable energy industry have written to the Independent on Sunday to say that they want Liberal Democrats to be involved in the next Government because of our record, in adverse circumstances, in this one. They said: When the Coalition took office, both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pledged to make it the 'greenest government ever'. Liberal Democrats kept to that pledge. Under the leadership of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey, they have consistently acted to make this country cleaner, greener and more open to investment in renewables. Some £37 billion has ...
According to this morning's Sunday Times, Labour have announced a plan to slap a cap on rents, banning private landlords from increasing their costs by more than the rate of inflation. Under their proposals, landlords and letting agencies will have to disclose the rent paid by the previous occupants in a bid to deter new rent rises. Future rent rises will be pegged to rising consumer price. They also propose to make the default tenancy a three-year agreement, rather than the usual six to 12 months so as to give people more certainty over what they will have to pay. ...
As I write, my friend and LDHQ Members and Supporters Manager Austin Rathe is heading off on a 26 mile run around London. It sounds so easy to write it like that, but it will be about 4.5 hours of real pain. As I said when I first wrote about his plan to run the marathon, we must be working him too hard if he thinks that a 26 mile run is something to do for a rest. Let's just remind ourselves why he's doing it – for a very worthy cause: Austin will be running to raise funds for ...
Girl, 8, strikes blow for equality over 'boys only' books (tags: ) oh dear. Election leaflet cockups. Some of which are hilarious. (tags: ) How Katie Hopkins Became A Media Monster - because we pay attention, basically. (tags: ) Going Back to San Quentin Without My Penis - I like the term "gender confirmation surgery" (tags: ) Guy Shouldn't Have Asked The Internet to Help Him Photoshop an Image (tags: ) Disney criticised after Avengers: Age of Ultron merchandise does not include Black Widow (tags: ) Recipes for home made dog treats - @caronmlindsay @thalestral @caldersidecook @BelindaBG (tags: ) Curious ...
The Big Pull is run by South Glos council, as part of the Wild4life project, and the Avon Invasive Weeds Forum. Himalayan Balsam is a plant which is rapidly spreading across the UK invading the banks of our rivers and streams, smothering our native plants and causing flooding. Pulling it up is the easiest way to control it. Last years campaign was very successful, with 106 volunteers - including many local people - helping to clear a 675m stretch along the River Frome. Here's what some pullers had to say about it: 'Great morning - something very therapeutic about pulling ...
Sun 26th
09:02
If Cameron is so worried about the SNP having power in Westminster, why doesn't he do the following?
David Cameron and the Tories continue to "bang on" about the Scottish National Party. Just this past week alone, we've had an England only manifesto, in which English Votes for English Laws, or the humorously acronymed EVEL, featured prominently. We had more from Dave and Boris about a "looming constitutional crisis" should the SNP be involved in the next government, with much hay attempted to be made around the whole "I'm writing the Labour Party budget" routine of Salmond's. I can understand Cameron's concerns in many respects. I too would prefer our next government to be free of nationalists, be ...
There has been much revolution and intertwinement of under-garments over Nick Clegg's statement about the SNP yesterday. In its refined form he talked about "not entering into a post-election coalition that relies on life support from the SNP or UKIP". Earlier he talked about no entering into "arrangements" which involved the SNP. This is all a bit of a non-event or non-story. The poll numbers suggest Labour wouldn't need us anyway. At the moment they have enough with their MPs plus SNP, SDLP, Green and Plaid to easily survive a confidence vote. 323 seats in the House of Commons are ...
Following my raising residents' complaints about the poor road condition in City Road towards its south end (near Blyth Street), the City Council has advised me as follows : "... the Roads Maintenance Partnership inspector for the area has arranged for the potholes on City Road towards its south end (near Blyth Street) to be repaired. Permanent patching repairs are also planned for this area although there is no timescale available for this at present but they will be done as soon as resources are available and earlier priorities have been dealt with." I queried the timescale for the permanent ...
Here are the latest national voting intention figures from each of the main pollsters. Five put Tories ahead. Six put Labour ahead. Otherwise known as close. To put the numbers into longer context, take a look at my database of polling figures going back to 1945, which is updated quarterly and remember the warning about individual polls. Polling company Con Lab LibDem UKIP Green Con lead Fieldwork Method ComRes 33% 35% 7% 16% 4% -2% 11-13/3 Online ComRes 36% 32% 8% 10% 5% 4% 21-22/4 Phone ICM 34% 32% 10% 11% 5% 2% 17-19/4 Phone Ashcroft 34% 30% 10% 13% ...
Responding to Labour's announcement on private provision in hospitals, Liberal Democrat General Election campaign spokesman Brian Paddick said: "This is rank hypocrisy from a Labour party totally beholden to the private sector when in government. "Under Labour, private providers were paid 11 per cent more than NHS providers for the same treatment and their PFI deals are still costing the taxpayer £1bn a year in repayments. "The Liberal Democrats put an end to these sweetheart deals, blocked PFI contracts, prevented privatisation of the NHS through the back door and increased NHS funding each year. "Now we are the only party ...
* Balance the budget fairly through a mixture of cuts and taxes on higher earners * Increase tax-free allowance to £12,500 * Guarantee education funding from nursery to 19 with an extra £2.5bn and qualified teachers in every class * Invest £8bn in the NHS. Equal care for mental & physical health * Five new laws to protect nature and fight climate change Looks like something I could vote for, how about you?
Dear Readers, School is out next week as Vietnam celebrates the Hung Kings, the dynasty regarded as the ancestral founders of the nation. And by a fortuitous quirk of scheduling the following week I don't have any classes till Thursday. I'm using the time off to visit Cambodia and Laos. My laptop, however, is staying in [...]
Back in 1967 the Post Office Tower was a great symbol of British modernity. They put it on stamps and the revolving restaurant at the top was the coolest in London. Thanks to Dirty Modern Scoundrel for posting this film of it from that year.
