Part 2 will be along soon.
Went for a run & came back to a VM from Lib Dem HQ about campaigning + induction. They're taking #LibDemFightback very seriously! Impressed. — Sean O'Brien (@seaneobrien) May 13, 2015
How many Scottish Labour MPs does it take to change a light bulb? All of them. [This joke works equally well for Scottish Conservative and Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs.] How many Scottish National Party MPs does it take to change a light bulb? They don't change it. They just sit in the dark and blame the English.
This sad story on BBC News Holiday firm Thomas Cook "breached its duty of care" in the case of two children who died from carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday in Corfu, an inquest jury has concluded. Jurors returned a verdict of unlawful killing of Bobby and Christi Shepherd, who were aged six and seven. The children had been overcome by fumes from a faulty hot water boiler at their hotel in October 2006. Their mother said she would always blame the company for their deaths.reminds me of one of my explorations of Leicester. The photograph above shows Thomas Cook's ...
[IMG: Elaine & Anna campaign in Tower Hamlets] Originally from Russia (actually born in the last years of theSoviet Union), since moving to the UK I for long time didn't join any political party. The concept of joining a party in my mind wasn't a voluntary thing, as it was compulsory in my parents' day in the USSR and there was only one party one could join. However while finding out more and more about different parties in the UK the shock of actually being able to choose who to join brought me to realising what it is I care ...
Like many of my generation I have always been liberal, but it wasn't until I first heard Nick Clegg talk about liberal values, that I began to suspect that I was a Liberal Democrat. Although I have always been interested and indirectly involved in politics I could never commit myself to any party. Through my professional career, I almost (accidentally) became a Conservative, co-authoring a policy paper for the oldest conservative think-tank, attending party conferences, but never feeling at home or at ease with the polarity of a party that houses rabid eurosceptics, social conservatives, libertarians and economic free-marketeers. The ...
As the polls closed and the ghastly General election results rolled in people began to realise that liberalism is still a cause worth fighting for. The national total of new members is rising all the time. It's around 11,000 as I write and many of these are under 30. The running total is here. We are welcoming hundreds of new members across Suffolk and here's a response from one of them: I think I grew up thinking that Liberalism seemed a sensible way of going about things, even though my father is a lifelong Tory. I was drawn, to some ...
User Actions Follow Skint London@SkintLondonHow people chuckled when Nick Clegg said the Lib Dems had reined in the Tories #britishvalues At this rate he'll be getting the last laugh.ReplyRetweetFavoriteFollowMoreRETWEETS11FAVORITES16 [IMG: Natalie Simpson] [IMG: British Committee] [IMG: Carl Quilliam] [IMG: Helen Duffett] [IMG: Jane Wynn] [IMG: Mark Oakley] [IMG: Ashlie] [IMG: Miss Volcano] [IMG: alice rose] 10:12 AM - 13 May 2015 Tweet text
[IMG: Tower Hamlets] The #libdemfightback is in full swing in Tower Hamlets. Already over 100 people have joined Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats in less than a week, and the team has been back on the doorsteps talking to people and drumming up support for the Mayoral and Stepney Green by-elections on June 11th following Lutfur Rahman being stripped of office for election offences. The real work starts on Saturday 15th however, when the party officially launches Elaine Bagshaw's Mayoral bid, and they'd love it if you could come down and support us. Set right around the corner from the Limehouse ...
The weekend after the election I surveyed my generous Surrey garden that I have acquired despite my Georgist Liberal views and decided that, partly in the spirit of national austerity, and mostly as the previous gardener had given up this commission, I would mow the lawn myself. I started in the middle and mowed longitudinal strips up and down the lawn. After the first few lengths of concentrated mowing I took a step back to admire my progress and was shocked to find the expected pleasing straight lines were in fact ugly wavy wobbles. Of course many of you will ...
I was going to write a long article about the results in Scotland, but I think that only a short post is really needed. The Scottish electorate voted all SNP and elected all but 3 of Scots MPs . But my very simple view is what did they get ...? Nothing. The SNP are not in coalition with Labour, as was predicted, and now their demands can be ignored, or at least watered down by the Conservative government. Despite the much larger number than the Lib Dems in the UK Parliament, ( and the other parties as well of course) ...
Wed 13th
17:55
Opinion: If cockroaches can survive a nuclear bomb, Liberal Democrats can survive the election #NewM...
Clegg and Cameron standing next to each other in the Downing Street Rose Garden felt like a new era in British politics. I joined soon afterwards, excited at the prospect of an economic and socially liberal government for the first time in decades. Despite the abuse it got me, I was happy to constantly defend the government, fully believing (which I still do) that the Lib Dems were reining in the worst of the Tories. Around mid-2014, my own views started to shift from classical liberal to, as Clegg has called it, the "radical centre", as well as a move ...
So Sefton has a new Leader (Cllr. Ian Maher) and surprise, surprise it's another Labour Councillor from Bootle and his Deputy will be, yes you have guessed it, another Labour Councillor from Bootle (Cllr. John Fairclough). The Bootle Labour Party has dominated Sefton politics for some years now with Bill Esterson's Sefton Central Labour tribe being kept firmly away from power even though they are the voting fodder that enables the Bootle Labour Bucks to dominate us all in the Borough. Peter Dowd was a Leader of some ability and I say that as someone who opposed him over ...
Here are some more new members who responded to our request on Twitter to tell us why they are one of the 10,000 people who have joined the Liberal Democrats in the past few days. Here's what Thomas Liebers told us: I was already politically minded but the Lib Dems best represent my views on equality and rights,healthcare, business, relationship with the EU and constiutional challenges in present day UK; I'm a professional with experience in healthcare, science and business and I believe that i can contribute my skills and knowledge to the Lib Dems policy discussions; I want to ...
We can offer ALDC members the following prices negotiated with Bishops Printers. You would have to deal with them directly and provide them with artwork in an agreed format. New A3 and A4 "Thank You" templates are available in our file library. More advice on Thank You focuses is available here Our contact is Joe [...]
Since polls closed last week, 10,000 new members have joined the Liberal Democrats. What's so fantastic about this is that we're recruiting all kinds of people. Our new members are from all over the country and from all sorts of backgrounds. Most of this recruitment has been online via social media and emails. Here's some [...]
Welcome to the thousands of people who have joined the Liberal Democrats since the polls closed last week. We have already heard from some of you about what inspired them to sign up and we will have more such posts throughout the day. I thought it might be useful to tell you a little bit about how it works and give you a bit of an idea of the opportunities open to you. What do we believe? Before we get into the nitty gritty of organisation, the best statement of who we are and what we're about can be found ...
Third Sector reports: The Charity Commission will contact the National Council of Hindu Temples about concerns that the charity has urged Hindus and others to vote Conservative in the general election. The NCHT, which registered with the commission in 1980, published a letter on its website, dated 3 May, [which] says: "On the basis of a sequence of acts of religious persecution of British Hindus, detailed below, by the parliamentary Labour Party, we confirm that we wholly understand and agree with the sentiment recently expressed by one of our younger volunteers, who stated that 'British Hindus, Sikhs and Jains voting ...
This year's local elections saw the following results in the councils that held local elections. A summary of the results by type of council and Lib Dem region can be found at the bottom of each page.
Some more new members respond to our tweet and tell us why they are part of the many thousands who have joined the party in the last few days. We asked people on Twitter to tell us why they had joined. Here are some of the responses: Lee Wright: In 2010 I voted for the Liberal Democrats. I believed and bought into Nick Clegg and his party's vision. When the party became the third-largest in the House of Commons and entered the coalition I was hugely disappointed that is was the Tories they would be working with. However, I paid ...
Often debated here and elsewhere have been attempts to distill the nature of being a Liberal Democrat down into something simple and easy to understand. A couple of years ago, Alex Wilcock asked for suggestions to get it down to 150 words, but even that generated lots of different visions and visions. Today, however, I think Jennie Rigg has solved it in a couple of sentences of her post on Lib Dem Voice suggesting a reading list for new members. It's buried right down in the footnotes, but I think it's a perfect insight into the party's culture: If you ...
I am British. The things I value are mostly: My wife Lie-ins Beach Boys records People not bothering me Getting a double seat on the bus so I don't have to sit next to anyone Old episodes of Doctor Who with William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton in Peter Cook Peter Sellers Coffee P. G. Wodehouse [...]
Now the dust has settled it's time for a bit of a post-mortem. What's abundantly clear to me now is that basically every major party got its messaging wrong, particularly its attack lines. Let's start with Labour and the bit they got right - they didn't attack us for being too liberal like they normally do, they attacked us for not being liberal enough. They were able to point to the flurry of compromises we'd made in Government and the numerous illiberal things our MPs were compelled to vote for and persuaded the public that we were no longer a ...
I, famously, don't write for Lib Dem Voice. But on a day like today, how could I not? Apparently, there are like ten thousand of you guys now. Welcome! Genuinely, really, welcome. In order to help you acclimatise to the culture of the party there's a few things you ought to be reading. A version of this was originally posted on my blog, and this one has been amended to reflect the comments there as well as my original post. YAY crowdsourcing! The back of your membership card* is the first and most important thing for you to read as ...
I am always astonished at how quickly we settle back into familiar political patterns of behaviour once a General Election is out of the way. This is especially true of UKIP who apparently cannot help themselves. The Times reports that a furious row has broken out at UKIP over the party's plans for millions of pounds of public money secured after its record election result. They say that Douglas Carswell, the party's only MP, has said that UKIP should not take the full £650,000-a-year windfall that it is entitled to after winning 3.9 million votes: Party officials, however, argue that ...
[IMG: daily politics pledge] A little over 18 months ago, I made a pledge on the BBC's Daily Politics (based on this post) to run naked down Whitehall if the Lib Dems were reduced to only 24 seats, as one poll had just predicted. Today I was invited back on, alongside fellow naked Whitehall dash pledgee Dan Hodges, to come clean about it. See what I said here: Rash promises from @DPJHodges and @stephentall about #ge2015 result? @afneil asks if they really will run naked? https://t.co/ggX8wdb8XE — DailySunday Politics (@daily_politics) May 13, 2015
Wed 13th
13:25#NewMembersDay New member Anna out on the Tower Hamlets campaign trail already - and how you can hel...
[IMG: Elaine & Anna campaign in Tower Hamlets] The #libdemfightback has been incredible since last Thursday. As well as being astounded at over 100 people joining Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats in less than a week, we've been straight back out on the doorsteps talking to people as part of my campaign to become Mayor on 11 June. We're finding that we're getting a great reception, as Thursday's result has driven people to realise that we share so many of our core values. Our new members are joining us at each event as well – full of enthusiasm, energy, and new ...
Blog Categories: Oxford Political Comment Vote: -1 vote + Vote up! - Vote down! Last night I attended a debate on Green Belt policy here at Brookes, organised by the Royal Town Planning Institute and mainly, it appears, based on last autumn's Adam Smith Institute's research paper "The Green Noose" by Tom Papworth, who was there to defend his work in front of what at times was a hostile audience. The main opposing speaker was, I suppose, a chap from the Committee for the Pilfering of Rent in England, and, whilst we were told the choice of Oxford as a ...
A small piece of fact checking for the records: if you were watching the general election results as they came in you may remember the apparently utterly calamitous result in Castle Point where the Lib Dems polled just 80 votes. Or rather, that's what the Returning Officer announced and what social media mocked. But in fact he got it wrong. The correct result was a merely dismal 801 votes. As some of the wiser heads pointed out at the time, the fact that Sereena Davey, the Lib Dem candidate, started talking to the Returning Officer straight away gave a hint ...
This time a selection of new members tell us their reason for joining after we asked them on Twitter. First up, Dagmar Mackett from Bewdley in the West Midlands I joined because I felt the LibDems received no credit for its record in Government. Yes, mistakes had been made, but punishing the party in such a way means putting liberal Britain as a whole in jeopardy. Voters will realise this once they understand the full extent of what the Tory government will push through in forthcoming months, and a new strong LibDem "movement" will be required to try to counter ...
Liberal Democrat HQ has informed us: Following the agreement of the Federal Executive and the party's returning officer I am pleased to be able to confirm to you the timetable for the election of a new party leader. Opening of nominations 13th of May 2015 Close of nominations 3rd of June 2015 Dispatch of ballot papers 24th of June 2015 Deadline for ballot papers to be returned 15th of July 2015 Count and declaration of the winner 16th of July 2015 Any member who joins the party before the close of nominations is able to vote in the election, so ...
My first few elections were easy - I knew I liked the LibDems, and they were the only ones who stood a chance of beating the Tories in my hometown. A no-brainer, you might say. It wasn't until I moved to Scotland that I had to wrestle with tactical voting. SNP v Labour, and not a LibDem in sight. I talked it over with my partner at the time, and we both decided to vote LibDem regardless. But lo, suddenly I found myself in the polling booth, ticking a Labour box in a moment of blind, tactical terror. It is ...
After praising Nick Clegg for his "dedication and skill" in keeping the coalition intact for the whole term of the parliament, when many pundits confidently predicted it could not possibly last, our former leader David Steel, in an article yesterday, goes on to make six criticisms of Clegg's leadership. In my view he misses out Clegg's two most crucial errors, but first let's examine the Steel Six. 1. Clegg promised that, in the event that no party had a majority he would talk first to the largest minority. I don't see this as an error but think this was and ...
[IMG: Liberal Democrat Newswire logo] Liberal Democrat Newswire #65 came out at the weekend, taking a first look at lessons from the general election (which I've since supplemented with my post on the strategy that went wrong). You can also read it below, but if you'd like the convenience of getting it direct by email in future, just sign up here. It's free! Welcome to the 65th edition of Liberal Democrat Newswire, which takes a first look at the key issues the Liberal Democrats need to get right after the general election calamity.There's nothing politically quite as stark as the ...
Wed 13th
10:55The vintage image on one of those new photo membership cards - Churchill and Lloyd George as Liberal...
There has been considerable interest in the series of new photo party membership cards. When you sign up these days, you can choose from a range of around a dozen cards featuring photos of Liberal and Liberal Democrat heroines and heroes, past and present. One of the images is a cropped version of the photo above, taken on Budget Day, April 27th 1910 and in Getty Images library. The caption reads: Winston Churchill listens attentively to David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, while walking in Central London with him, his wife and his parliamentary aide on Budget Day. Left ...
Wed 13th
10:55
My one on ones with Ed Miliband: the gossipy stuff I've kept back for just such an occasion
Now that Ed Miliband has disappeared from front line politics, almost certainly for good (unless the Labour Party has really lost its mind), I thought I'd divulge the few times I ever met the man face to face. The first thing to say as a preface is that he is kind of weird. I know to the vast majority of you reading this, that statement will come across as massively redundant, a case of stating the bleeding obvious if ever there was one. Somewhat like asserting that Tokyo is quite a large town or that John Barrowman kind of lacks ...
[IMG: Empty Ex Dressing Up Box shop in Sandgate High Street] Browsing Twitter this morning, I passed a message from the very useful www.twitter.com/shepwayplanning (useful, if you like that kind of thing). Y15/0457/SH : 96 Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 3BY: Change of use from shop, (Use Cla... http://t.co/6SFxailA9Q - Shepway DC (@shepwayplanning) May 13, 2015 Now, I see lots of planning notices: I'm that sort of person. Yesterday, I was even re-elected to the Sandgate Parish Council Planning Committee. This one did cause more than some interest though: It's in Sandgate It's for a new pub It's ...
Just a note to thank residents once again for their support in the local elections last Thursday. [IMG: Screen Shot 2015-05-13 at 10.20.55] Thanks to your support Mary D'Albert was elected as your Councillor here in Holyrood Ward. You now have two Lib Dem councillors to stand up for the local area (myself and Mary). Liberal Democrat (Mary D'Albert) 2,112 (36%) Labour 2,066 (35%) Conservative 784 (13%) Ukip 623 (11%) Green 340 (6%) The result in the General Election was that Labour's Ivan Lewis was re-elected as our MP. Labour (Ivan Lewis MP) 21,272 (45%) ELECTED Conservative 16,350 (35%) Ukip ...
Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield Scouts are seeking a new District Commissioner. They are keen search as wide as possible in the local community to find the best person for this role. The District Commissioner role is crucial for the development of the District and the the Scouts' ability to deliver more and better Scouting to more young people and adult volunteers. Being much more of a "people management" role, Scouting history or experience is not strictly necessary as full training and induction is provided, so people outside of Scouting might be good in the role. All nominations will in the ...
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to say this today. I think it's the most depressing thing I have ever heard a leader of this country say. "For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone". Words fail me.
Thank you to the various residents who have let us know about the barrier on the Longfield car park being 'out of action' (Normally the car-park is locked until 9.30am weekdays.) This has been causing problems to residents, businesses and services who make use of the car part at present. This has been reported to the Council and repair work on the gate was scheduled to start on Monday just gone (though we have to say it doesn't seem done yet!) We will keep you updated if there is any further delay.
Residents of Baguley Crescent will have been very pleased to see crews on site last week to clear away the appalling amount of fly-tipping which had accumulated in the garages area on the western side of the Crescent. It is great that the Council has finally taken action on this after many months of lobbying by local residents and by all of your councillors. The bay has now been fitted with locked bollards, to which garage owners are being given a key, in an attempt to stop further incidences of fly-tipping. Mary and I are very keen that we act ...
Hello sailor! Swedish peace group trolls Russian submarines signaling "this way if you're gay" (tags: ) P.C. Hipsta - *dies laughing* (tags: ) Interesting little titbit from Private Eye about the Torygraph's vote match website (tags: ) Please Take A Moment To Enjoy This Vine Of Michael Gove Falling Over (tags: ) Disney Just Mocking Us At This Point; Replaces Black Widow with Cap in Toy Based on Black Widow Scene (tags: ) And then sometimes you think "maybe there IS hope..." (tags: ) That British Bill of Rights in full (tags: ) The Tory majority depended on the votes ...
Different people adjust to adversity in different ways. Some were unwittingly preparing for 8 May for months. Some didn't see it coming. Others may only be starting to sense it now. All three groups were represented at the informal catch-up I had in Yorkshire last Friday, and all were present at Liberator magazine's post-election drink last night. The welcome set of thank-you receptions and new members' parties will provide the opportunity for catharsis and preparing this fightback. And it really is a positive thing. For whatever reason, we have an unprecedented and totally welcome surge in membership. Some relishing a ...
Brian Wilson and Friends is the latest live DVD/Blu-Ray (both come in the same case) from Brian Wilson. Recorded late last year to promote his new album No Pier Pressure, it features the band he will be touring with for the next few months — his standard touring band (the best band I've ever seen [...]
There is a well-known story about George Bernard Shaw and Ellen Terry, which her biographers have dismissed as apocryphal. But then Shaw was always complaining about being importuned by women, so who knows. "We should have a baby," she is supposed to have told him. "Then it could have my looks and your brains." Ah yes, said Shaw - "but what if it had my looks and your brains?" I was reminded of this in the last few days of the general election campaign, with the Lib Dems producing tweets with characters from the Wizard of Oz, offering to be ...
Wed 13th
08:55
Grassroots call for Nick Clegg's parting days as leader to show real support for diversity
Here's a public post on Facebook from long-standing party activist and former Parliamentary candidate Ed Fordham: Please please do not let the Liberal Democrat dissolution honours be about the men of the past – please consider nominating faces who have a long working future ahead of them, who look like modern Britain and are not rewarded for losing. The Upper House must be used a functional based for liberalism and we need young women and men who can lead with energy, not relax into retirement after 10, 20,30 years of being an MP. Please share if you agree and if ...
Wed 13th
08:55Opinion: Human Rights Reform - where the nuance could be more dangerous than the headline
The Conservative Majority government has recently announced the Michael Gove is to be our new justice secretary, and that part of his agenda is the Conservative manifesto promise to scrap the Human Rights Act. The Conservatives claims this would Break the formal link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights in order to [l]imit the use of human rights laws to the most serious cases, a promise that turns the stomach of most Liberal Democrats I know committed to universal rights. Perhaps if the plans did not, as former Attorney General Dominic Grieve described, contain "a number ...
In the run up to the 2015 general election, it was interesting to note that the Independent, the Economist and the Financial Times all made the same endorsement. It was not for a single party, but rather for the continuation of what was then the current two-party coalition government. What these publications were pining for was the perceived fiscal competence of the Tories combined with the social liberalism and internationalism (into that pro-Europeanism) of the Liberal Democrats. Unfortunately, a continuation of that coalition wasn't something that anyone could actually vote for directly. In the face of fear of Miliband and ...
Those souls unfortunate enough to follow my Twitter feed (@richardmorrisuk , go on you know you want to) know that I was live tweeting from the News UK building yesterday, where 4 Times columnists - Tim Montgomerie (chairing), Lord Finkelstein, Jenni Russell and David Aaronovitch were debating the election. It was grand in every sense But there were 2 fundamental areas in which I disagreed with certain members of the august panel. And these were: 1.There is no future for the Lib Dems Which I will spend the next 5 years debunking so no point going on about it it ...
The County of Merseyside and its County Council were created as a consequence of the Conservative's hugely controversial local government reorganisation of 1974. It took many communities out of Lancashire and into this newly invented beast and it has probably been the most unpopular act associated with local governance of living memory. Unloved and often hated from the start (I mean the County of Merseyside but you can read into this sentence another connotation!) Margaret Thatcher then killed off or put down Merseyside County Council in the 1980's. But on an isolated lane in Melling on the border with West ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-32706669 [IMG: nhs-logo] Southport and Formby & District General Hospital and Ormskirk General Hospital were inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Staff skill levels in A&E at both sites fell below those needed to provide "a consistently safe service". And maternity services at Ormskirk were rated "inadequate" by the CQC. The North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, based at Southport, was also found to be inadequate, with staffing levels "significantly lower" than national guidelines recommend. There was a "lack of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the patients," the report said. However, the inspectors ...
Controversy over a new evaluation of glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide, lifts the lid on aspects of chemical safety regulation that often remain hidden from public view. Glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide, hit the headlines in March after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced that it is a "probable human carcinogen". The IARC, which is responsible for providing an evidence base for the cancer control policies of the World Health Organisation and its members, had completed a year long review of the scientific literature on the herbicide. It found "convincing evidence" that glyphosate ...
Since polls closed last Thursday, over 10,000 new members have joined the Liberal Democrats. [IMG: key_people] Nothing shows just how much Britain needs a strong, liberal party than the government's recent announcements about introducing the 'snoopers charter' and abolishing the Human Rights Act. Those of us who believe in the values of liberty, community and individual freedom must stand together and defend them. Please join us today and be part of our future. We're recruiting people who have never joined a party in the past but want to stand together against the things this Conservative government is already promising to ...
