If you look way back to the archives of this blog, you'll see that it started in Burundi, that I spent a few months there and fell in love with the country, as most people who go there do. Now, the country that enchanted me is in the news again - and French-speaking countries in Africa are never in the British news for good reasons. This isn't an analysis of what's happening. There are better writers than me out there who know the context better. I only studied it for a few short years, and only spent a few months ...
Lib Dem leadership contender Norman Lamb has made the first out-of-the-ordinary proposal of the 2015 leadership contest, calling for the party's Deputy Leader no longer to be elected by MPs from the ranks of MPs. His particular reason is that the current rules mean both leader and Deputy Leader (technically Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons) will be a man for the foreseeable future. As Norman Lamb has written for Lib Dem Voice: We have danced around gender imbalance at the highest levels for too long ..... and I am not prepared to wait a ...
There are loads of good talks on the TED site. This one by Amanda Burden is introduced there like this: More than 8 million people are crowded together to live in New York City. What makes it possible? In part, it's the city's great public spaces — from tiny pocket parks to long waterfront promenades — where people can stroll and play. Amanda Burden helped plan some of the city's newest public spaces, drawing on her experience as, surprisingly, an animal behaviorist. She shares the unexpected challenges of planning parks people love — and why it's important.
It provided one of the humorous moments of the election night coverage, a glib Alex Salmond is asked by Jeremy Continue reading →
Fri 15th
19:15
Norman Lamb MP writes...We can't wait another 5 years to have a woman in the party leadership
The campaign for the leadership of our party is now underway and I am excited by the prospect and humbled by the many messages of support and encouragement I have received. However as a party we need to look at how we operate and what we look like to the outside world. One issue, in particular, now has an urgency to it which we can't ignore. We have danced around gender imbalance at the highest levels for too long ..... and I am not prepared to wait a further five years before women are able to feature at the leadership ...
The Guardian reports: Four senior Liberal Democrat politicians defeated in the general election, including former business secretary Vince Cable, have turned down offers of a peerage from Nick Clegg in the dissolution honours list. It is understood that David Laws, the former education minister, Simon Hughes, the former justice minister, and former Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander have also decided to reject a chance to sit in the House of Lords... Norman Baker, the former MP for Lewes and another former minister, has also let it be known that he is not interested in a peerage. As to why this ...
The Guardian reports that a number of senior Liberal Democrat MPs who were defeated at the election have turned down peerages: Four senior Liberal Democrat politicians defeated in the general election, including former business secretary Vince Cable, have turned down the offer of a peerage from Nick Clegg in the dissolution honours list. It is understood that David Laws, the former education minister, Simon Hughes, the former justice minister, and former Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander have also decided to reject a chance to sit in the House of lords.Norman Baker has also let it be known that he is ...
I see from today's paper that David Cameron has appointed an economist called Jim O'Neill, famous for coining the term BRICs to describe the large and increasingly influential economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, to be Commercial Secretary at the Treasury. I suspect a few of the 330 Conservative MPs, some of whom will have toiled hard and long to retain or win their seats, or get selected for a safe seat, will be a bit miffed and feel that they could do the job just as well. I feel some sympathy with them. But personally I am made ...
We all know that a when gentleman who is married gets elevated, his wife becomes a Lady, but when a lady who is married gets elevated her husband gets precisely knack all - this is, of course, why the beloved Hon Lady Mark is known as such. Now we have same sex marriage, what happens to the wife of a baroness or the husband of a Lord? [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Conservative 4,832 [42.1%; -6.1%] UKIP 2,750 [24%; -2%] Labour 2,373 [20.7%; +0.2%] Green 891 [7.8%; +7.8%] Majority: 2,082 Conservative Hold Percentage change since 2014 (This contest ran simultaneously with a regular election in this ward)
Who are the Left? – With demonisation of 'the Left' ready to take on again, here's a handy guide to working out which type of Leftie you are. What Kind of Leader Do the Lib Dems need? – Tom King looks over the history of Nick Clegg's leadership before revealing his choice for the future. Norman Baker looks back over his political career and says farewell after losing his seat last week. British bill of all kinds of wrong – Alex Marsh on the Tory attitude to human rights. "How many lives in the UK will be improved by the ...
I've been in Whickham's Chase Park this morning to help set up the May Fayre tomorrow. I was late as I am also nursing a very ill goat. Pinkie, my Golden Guernsey, had to have am emergency caesarean on Wednesday evening and she is still not out of the danger zone. Sadly, we lost both the kids. The fayre opens at midday tomorrow. There will be live music, entertainment, participation events,
With a leadership contest now underway we may want to ask ourselves what it is that we are looking for in a leader for us to be able to decide who to vote for. We cannot underestimate how important the next leader is for the development of the party and the defence and promotion of liberal values. We may have all joined the party at different times for different reasons but there are many things which bind us as a social group - we all have a common identity as members of the party. This identity is crucial for both ...
Labour 2,951 [47%; +7.6%] LD William Hougbo 1,532 [24,4%; -8.1%] Conservative 994 [15.8%; +6.5%] Green 564 [9%; -7%] UKIP 240 [+3.8%; +3.8%] Independent 67 [1.1%; -1.7%] All People's Party 25 [0.4%; +0.4%] Majority: 1,419 Labour Hold Percentage change since 2014
[IMG: Shingle beach and sea] The Environment Agency has launched a new website giving detailed information on its water quality testing at beaches around the UK. Sandgate Beach is shown to have had excellent water quality for the last three years, with the first results of testing this year showing that trend continuing. In Shepway, both Hythe and Dymchurch beaches are also showing as "Projected Excellent" water quality, with Folkestone and St Mary's Bay one grade lower on "Projected Good". Littlestone is currently showing as "Projected Sufficient". Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 3BYPrinted ...
The post-election membership surge is an opportunity to renew and refocus our party. We can show off its core values, which have been seen recently only through the distorting glass of coalition policy. The Tories have held us back in the environmental arena more than others, so I want to make my pitch for all members, new and existing, to also consider joining the Green Liberal Democrats The Green Liberal Democrats is the Associated Organisation I have been privileged to chair for the past couple of years.We exist to: Ensure that the Liberal Democrats' proud record of environmental leadership at ...
Conservative 4,218 [49.9%; +10.3%] Labour 3,079 [36.4%; +2.1%] Green 514 [6.1%; -7%] LD 367 [4.3%; -2%] UKIP 274 [3.2%; -3.4%] Majority: 1,139 Conservative Hold Percentage change since 2014
Acocks Green's claimant unemployment level rose by 8 last month to stand at 677. This is 253 lower than a year ago and is a claimant rate of 5.2%. Long term unemployment fell 5 to 245 and youth unemployment rose by 10 to 130. For Birmingham as a whole the claimant unemployment level fell by 556 to stand at 30,759, which represents a rate of 6.1%
We're incredibly lucky in the Lib Dems that even when we have just 8 MPs, we still end up with 2 fantastic leadership candidates like Tim and Norman. Pity the poor Labour members, who are struggling to find any enthusiasm for the names currently appearing. Norman would be a wonderful leader for the party - intelligent, well informed, incredibly hard working, terrific experience, steeped in liberalism and I hugely admire his work on mental health. If he wins, I will gladly follow him. But I am supporting Tim Farron for the leadership. There are 3 broad reasons. 1. Tim represents ...
Fri 15th
13:45Opinion: Devolution to cities with elected mayors is not as good an idea as George Osborne thinks
Yesterday's news that George Osborne is to offer devolution to cities with elected mayors is worrying. Although he is right to say that "The old model of trying to run everything in our country from the centre of London is broken. It's led to an unbalanced economy. It's made people feel remote from the decisions that affect their lives. It's not good for our prosperity or our democracy." He is wrong to tell the cities: "It is time for you to take control of your own affairs." The reason is that cities do not exist in isolation. Firstly they depend ...
Following Chuka Ummuna's departure from the battle to be the next leader of the Labour Party, how this is all going to play out comes into sharp focus. Only three days after launching his campaign to become Labour leader, Chuka's resignation statement was odd to say the least. He talked about himself and his family coming under scrutiny (what did he think would happen?), which has inevitably led to all sorts of rumours flying about, the likes of which I won't get into. To give you some idea of the level of disruption this has caused to certain people within ...
Fri 15th
12:55
Watch and laugh: Clarke and Dawe - 'Election' on p.13 of the budget papers should read 'Projected Su...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the General Election results. Some 1065 party members responded – thank you – and we're publishing the full results. Members expected us to do better Before 10pm on the 7th of May how many seats did you think the Liberal Democrats would win? Unlike previous surveys where we grouped the number of seats in blocks of 10, and only went as low as "Fewer than 30 MPs", this time we had an open text field. The mean average was 27.13 seats, the mode was ...
[IMG: johnsmith] With many parties in flux right now, it's a prime time for everyone to offer them advice, especially those outside the party with little to now knowledge of it, yet are absolutely sure they know what the party ought to be doing next. So, Labour people should feel free to completely ignore this on the grounds that I likely don't know what I'm talking about. The Labour Party leadership election appears to be taking place under a giant Tony Blair-shaped shadow, with much of the debate seeming to float around which of the candidates is the most Blairite, ...
The Shropshire Star reports the contribution of Owen Patterson, Conservative MP for North Shropshire and former cabinet minister, to a television discussion. In between sensible points on the effect of health decisions by the Welsh National Assembly on neighbouring parts of England and the likely effect of full fiscal autonomy on Scottish politics, he had this to say: "The Scots can run around promising free healthcare, free holidays to Lanzarote and expect the English to pay."You can see why the Conservatives have done so badly in Scotland for so long. Would the Tories be happy to see Scotland leave the ...
[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] Firstly, welcome to the Liberal Democrats! We're really pleased you've taken the first step and joined the party fighting for a fairer, open and more liberal society. Many people when they take their first steps in politics, give some thought as to how they would like to be more actively involved. Joining ALDC is a great way to get started in your local area, and also to begin to make connections with other members in different parts of the country. For every new member serious about getting active in their local area, campaigning in ...
Guess who is back? Back again. It's me! After the election campaign, I wanted to put my thoughts to paper or maybe film but finally decided on paper. Film might come later. In case you missed the election last week, the Tories were elected to parliament with a majority, the Liberal Democrats collapsed and the [...]
Tories accidentally ban themselves under new anti-extremism laws (tags: ) Seal befriends woman sitting on the beach - Video (tags: ) Fifteen years ago my friend's dad spent a million dollars making a movie starting Adam West. He finished it but never released it because it was terrible - we finally convinced him to upload it to YouTube (tags: ) *popcorn time* (tags: ) Here are some inconvenient truths about the new Cabinet's voting record (tags: ) Love and Liberty: Post-Election Post - in which Alex makes me cry by being all lovely (tags: ) The SNP's MPs Are Having ...
I got another nice email from Paddy Ashdown yesterday, which I thought I'd share with you despite its horrendous apostrophe fail. I was vaguely annoyed with this assertion, though: I believe that you, the campaigners, candidates and staff of our party could not have done more, or done it better than you did. Our staff and on the ground campaigners are fabulous. They all worked with absolute commitment. But no campaign ever gets it all right. We do need to look at the effectiveness of what we did. You have to do this even if you win! Are your campaign ...
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention this week... Join us Looks like LibDems will exceed 12,000 new members since polling day today http://bit.ly/1HhfWCT There was no rise in Scottish nationalism: Understanding the SNP victory | British Politics and Policy at LSE Understanding the SNP victory: "There has been no rise in nationalistic sentiment in Scotland" http://bit.ly/1IBmCyT Meet the new Cabinet minister who could change England forever – Telegraph No LibDem cabinet ministers any more: Greg Clark may be the closest we come for a long while http://bit.ly/1e450PA by @jameskirkup Reflections on a Campaign "Voter after voter ...
Less than a week into the new government and we are already beginning to see the signs of a Conservative party moving sharply to the right now that the Lib Dem shackles are off. Announcing proposals for counter-extremism legislation yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May said that she would implement 'banning orders for groups' who are 'actively trying to promote hatred ' and 'undermine British values'. Prime Minister David Cameron added that we have been a 'passively tolerant society for too long'. A similar piece of legislation was proposed 3 times during the coalition but was rejected every time. Lib Dem ...
[IMG: This deadly killer needs to be stopped.] This deadly killer needs to be stopped. Imagine you've just joined the Anti-Cat League because you're horrified at the carnage caused to Britain's bird population by those cute felines whose pictures get everywhere online. Those blasted cats may have the internet on their side, but the poor, threatened birds need some plucky supporter to help them survive. You join online, you get a welcome email and then you get an invitation to "come campaigning" next weekend. What on earth does that mean? Will you be indoors, sat down and quiet – perhaps ...
Yesterday was a busy day with my chairing a well-attended morning meeting with residents from the Tullideph area at which we discussed numerous local issues including home energy efficiency improvements, grass maintenance, dumped items and other matters. At lunchtime, I attended a City Council briefing on community asset transfer and I thereafter chaired a meeting with residents from the Ancrum Place and Morven Terrace sheltered housing, where issues discussed included bin collections, pothole repairs and graffiti removal. I am grateful to officers from the City Council's Environment Department who attended both the Tullideph and Ancrum/Morven meetings to discuss garden and ...
Yesterday, UKIP went into a meltdown that has no precedent in British politics. Usually when something as epic as what has just occurred takes place, it involves people slagging each other off to journalists behind a shroud - the "senior source" of political journalism infamy. This grinds down morale and public trust in a party over a number of months as everyone piles in. Finally someone goes above ground and tells the press, on the record for the first time, that so and so must go. He/she is a great person and has done a great job, don't get me ...
To be honest I really didn't want to write about UKIP for some time but it is unavoidable. We are all being drawn into watching the very public car crash that Nigel Farage's leadership is becoming. Today's Times reports that the UKIP leader is now falling back on claims that he has "an astonishing level of support in the party" despite a plea from one of the party's biggest donors for him to resign. The paper says that Farage had earlier performed a rare climbdown, relinquishing two of his right-hand men in a day of turmoil after his campaign director ...
The BBC reported today on a boat filled with desperate people in the Andaman Sea. Apparently ten people on the boat have already died from starvation or dehydration, while others are resorting to drinking urine. 350 Rohingya people, from Myanmar, are said to be aboard, drifting, having been refused entry to Thailand. This is just [...]
Fri 15th
06:56
Shropshire Council in democratic failure after illegal confiscation of cameras at council meeting
In a move worthy of a totalitarian state, yesterday Shropshire Council confiscated cameras from members of the public attending its council meeting. It also prevented recording of the meeting. In doing so, it was in breach of national statutes which clearly state that recording should of meetings should be allowed without hindrance. I find it [...]
[IMG: Los Lydiate not Los Angeles r] Click on the photo to enlarge it Seen in Lydiate's Marshalls Close. The photo is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
[IMG: 250px-David_Steel,_October_2007] The Guardian newspaper has the story – see link above. There are clearly going to be many people giving their opinions on what went wrong for the Lib Dems and indeed Labour in the recent General Election but I quite like this piece from David Steel who was the Liberal Leader when I first joined the Party in 1980. With thanks to Roy Connell for leading me to the article.
The Welsh Labour Government's Environment (Wales) Bill shows that they lack ambition to protect our environment. They need to show greater commitment to tackling climate change and protecting biodiversity in Wales. The targets in this Bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions are unambitious and simply don't go far enough. The Welsh Liberal Democrats support a new legally-binding target for the UK to be zero carbon by 2050 and the Welsh Government should match this ambition, so that Wales can play its part in helping to safeguard our environment. Protection of biodiversity is vital not only to tackling climate change, but ...
Here is the full text of the open letter I submitted to the new Sutton and Cheam Conservative MP in the Sutton Guardian this week: Dear Paul Scully MP I believe that I have the right to liberty; the right not to be tortured; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right [...]
