One of my favourite posts on this blog is one I wrote in June 2012. It ended: And, somewhere under the paving stones, the body of Richard III may well be close by.It did, and on 4 September 2012 they found it. Yet when I wrote those words I did not know that a dig was even planned. As that post explains, the site of the monastery where Richard was buried was later occupied by a house and garden belonging to one of Leicester's leading citizens, Robert Herrick. I have wondered ever since whether that Robert Herrick was related to ...
Found on the Facebook page of 'The Eye of Sour Ron'
Jim Wallace, Liberal Democrat Leader in the Lords, responded to the Queen's Speech with a gentle and highly noble jibe at Danny Finkelstein and was pretty robust in saying that if the Tories, elected on barely a third of the vote, tried to push through reactionary legislation, the Lords had every right to scrutinise it robustly. Here is his speech in full: My Lords, it is a pleasure to echo the Noble Baroness, Lady Royall, in her praise for the very able proposer of the Humble Address, the Noble Baroness, Lady Bottomley of Nettlestone. My Lords, the Baroness has had ...
Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams AM concentrated on human rights: Liberal Democrats blocked Tory plans to weaken our human rights obligations in Government and we will continue to fight to stop them in opposition. It would appear that David Cameron is waking up to the fact that this ridiculous policy is easier said than done. Not only will he struggle to cobble together a majority of votes to support it, but he clearly hasn't thought through the ramifications it will have on the devolution settlement. Europe's human rights laws were designed by British lawyers to reflect British ...
The Liberal Democrats worked hard to ensure that the coalition government's agenda had a clear thread of liberalism running through it - from the priority we gave to mental health and the green agenda, to creating the pupil premium and protecting our civil liberties. So it is dispiriting - if pretty unsurprising - to see how quickly, instead of building on those achievements, the new Conservative Government is turning its back on that liberal stance. The human rights we hold dear, our right to privacy in an online age, our future as an open-minded, outward-looking country, are all hanging in ...
Rail users are invited to give their views on the performance of the Thameslink service to St Albans City and District Council's Local Services Scrutiny Committee. The Committee will be questioning senior management from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Network Rail about the service at its next meeting on Thursday 4 June. The Committee registered [...]
Wed 27th
17:35
Flags lowered to half mast in memory of duck who lived for 25 years in Compton Martin pond
The Bristol Post waddles away with Headline of the Day.
Wed 27th
16:55
Rennie and Mark Williams and Kirsty Williams react to "unbridled Conservatism" of Queen's Speech
Scottish and Welsh Liberal Democrat leaders Willie Rennie and Kirsty Williams have reacted to this morning's Queen's Speech. Willie Rennie was unimpressed by the government's legislative programme. He accused the Conservatives of threatening the economy and punishing the poor. The UK Government's programme is unbridled conservatism in action. The Conservative agenda will undermine our rights, threaten our recovery and punish the poor and vulnerable. Today's Queen's speech demonstrates the need for a liberal voice at the heart of British politics. The Tories are continuing their campaign of fear with plans for a Snooper's Charter, threats to our human rights and ...
[IMG: Rough sleeper by Blodeuwedd] There occasionally comes a time when it is important to state an aspiration. To rise above the detail and say what a particular situation should be, then work out a roadmap to get there. To do so risks criticism for being simplistic and naïve - but so be it. That is where I find myself with people who are sleeping rough, including in tents. In a civilized society it is morally wrong that anyone sleeps rough, and we should all be ashamed until that travesty is completely eliminated in the UK. So, my proposal for ...
I've recently become increasingly aware of some of the comments passed by the Tories and UKIP regarding the minimum voting age on the upcoming EU Referendum, which seems likely to be set at 18. They're quite worrying to say the least. John Redwood, Conservative MP for Wokingham, accused 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds of not being interested in voting and critics of trying to hijack the referendum by suggesting that they should receive suffrage, whilst numerous UKIP politicians have argued that we have been close to "brainwashed" through the education system by the Liberal Democrats in particular. Speaking as a young person, ...
Cllr Erica Kemp CBE with someone even more famous!! Erica finishing her term of office will have two main effects for me. Firstly getting around the City and particularly Allerton Road will be a lot quicker and easier. Most of ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Susan Kramer with Elaine Bagshaw and team] Like most of you I don't "do miserable" and I've been itching to start the fight back. Local Government has always been Lib Dem territory because we believe in communities and remain aghast at how badly so many are served by their local governments. So when I got a chance to support Elaine Bagshaw in launching her campaign for Mayor of Tower Hamlets I jumped at it. Of all the places that need effective local Government focussed on people, listening to people and functioning with integrity, Tower Hamlets must be near the ...
Ah yes I'm sure you've watched or at least read about what the government are planning on doing via their official mouth voice – the Queen. Yet what if I was in charge? I'm sure that is something everyone has thought about in the past few days but don't you worry folks, no more lying in bed tossing and turning about what life would be like under me, I'll inform you all. So here is my Queen's Speech, it may not be as serious as the real thing in parts... My Lords and Members of the House of Commons, my ...
As part of the work being done in the Village, the Council are now proposing to make the experimental 2 way section of Station Road permanent. They also propose to allow right turns out of Station Road onto Warwick Road. There are a number of other proposals in this part of the Village. Summed up, the proposed changes which are subject to formal consultation starting mid June are: 1) Station Road to be made permanent two way order following initial trial during construction 2) No Right Turn Ban out of Station Road to be revoked to facilitate movements to/from public ...
The rules for the official hustings meetings for the 2015 Liberal Democrat leadership contest are prescriptive and traditional. It's understandable that the core set of official hustings should have fairly clear rules laid down for their operation, and the overall format of hustings events is - much like lectures at universities - deeply entrenched in habit and custom even though there is no matching pile of evidence that they are really the best way to do things. In fact, with university lectures the evidence is increasingly that they're not the best format, but old habits die hard. With hustings formats, ...
Tuesday: So Mr Balloon has promised that he'd make it the LAW that he won't let Gideon put up Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT. They'll change the law to stop them changing the law. And then Master Gideon announces an "emergency" budget. Yes, yes, a lot of people have made the joke that he needs to get in quick to start clearing up the horrible ghastly mess left by the previous government's budget in March. But really, WHAT emergency? MAYBE he has an EVEN MORE SLY purpose: get in quick BEFORE Mr Balloon's daft law gets on the books. ...
Wed 27th
11:59Norman Lamb MP writes: I want us to lead the way in Parliament to allow assisted dying
For many years, I opposed attempts to legalise assisted dying. I had concerns, shared by many, that the risk to the most vulnerable individuals outweighed the benefits. Equally, I respect those with deeply held religious concerns. But my views have been challenged in recent years. As an MP and in my role in the last Parliament as a health minister, I have spoken to many terminally ill patients, and the families of those who suffered slow deaths in great pain. So many of them were convinced, when someone is suffering intolerably, and when they are reaching the end of their ...
ALDC are looking to take on a keen and reliable Business Administration Apprentice to join the team at their office in Central Manchester. Duties to include: Membership administration including processing new members and assisting with retention and recruitment Finance administration on SageOne. Processing Data using Excel spreadsheets, Word and mailmerge e.g candidates, election results Event [...]
Blood results last 7 months 27.05 25.03 2.03 21.01 24.12 26.11 29.1 Normal Hb 96 98 98 101 104 109 100 130 - 180 WBC 2.91 3.15 3.36 3.52 4 3.02 3.1 4.5 - 10.0 Neutrophils 1.3 1.57 1.78 1.6 1.8 1.16 1.43 2.0 - 7.5 Plt 342 369 449 494 551 391 427 150 - 450 Note: Hb, WBC and Neutrophils are all at their lowest levels over this period. Hydroxycarbamide is reduced from 5 to 4 times a week until the next consultation in 8 weeks' time.
As mentioned when Tim Farron launched his aim of getting the Lib Dems to 100,000 members by the next general election (see Tim Farron wants 100,000 Lib Dem members by next general election. Is he wise?), he's intending to publish a more detailed plan for reviving the party's organisation. In a smart piece of media management, however, he's squeezed out another round of coverage for his overall intentions before actually publishing the details. This time it's an interview with The Independent: Front-runner to replace Nick Clegg as Lib Dem leader says party needs to return to grassroots ..."We ended in ...
[IMG: ALDES logo] New members have been asking about Lib Dem organisations that they can join. You are welcome to submit similar items on behalf of other organisations. Most politicians make positive noises about supporting science and engineering in the UK but, as far as we know, the Liberal Democrats are the only party that mentions it in their constitution. Paragraph 3 reads: "We will promote scientific research and innovation and will harness technological change to human advantage." The Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists (Aldes) is the group for party members who wish to debate, learn and campaign ...
Today in The Times (£), Daniel Finkelstein, former SDP member turned Tory, writes that it's all over for the Liberal Democrats. The best thing, he says, for those who wish to advance liberal ideas is to join whichever of the Tories and Labour they feel most comfortable with. I would be lying if similar thoughts hadn't crossed my mind, particularly after the 2015 general election. It's heart breaking to see the party you support make steady progress throughout your adult life, culminating in entry into government in 2010, only to be seemingly pushed back to square one. Do we need ...
It's Terrifying To Think That In 1,000 Years, All Of Us Will Be Forgotten Except For Me (tags: ) Why we need to make the case for liberalism as a whole, not just as a set of policies (tags: ) New Fave anecdote from the shoot of Mad Max Fury Road (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Before the election we were promised a review of how the party operates, and if the Federal Executive is doing its job properly then we should be hearing at some point in June how each of us can contribute to that process. Here is a little bit of my input as to where we can go from here.Firstly we need to commission the development of a registered voting system for the Conference app that can be used for all internal elections. The BBC and ITV have managed to develop such apps for voting in their competitions and shows and registering ...
[IMG: PayingGuests] The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters Sarah Waters is my favourite British novelist, even if (maybe because) she's never quite pulled off the trick of convincing the Lit-Crit Establishment that there's a whole lot more to her than accomplished Victorian (or in this case Edwardian) pastiche. Her books are compelling page-turners; not so much for the plot — which, despite its dramatic sensationalism, is almost besides the point in The Paying Guests — but for the detailed rendering of the inextricably intertwined character and place. Frances and her mother, Mrs Wray, are forced by their genteel penury to take ...
Following on from the decision by Dundee City Council in February to consult residents across Dundee about where people want 20 mph zones in residential areas, I have sought an update from the City Council's Head of Transportation about when the consultation I successfully sought will take place. The council's Head of Transportation has advised me as follows : "The issues are still being considered by the traffic engineers and this includes comparisons with other areas' policies and visiting other cities to compare some of the options available. We are projecting that we will commerce the community engagement, with a ...
The Norwegian Air Shuttle flight to Bergen leaves Gatwick at 10.50 a.m., which is all very well if you live in London, especially South London. It isn't so great if you live in Suffolk but, luckily, Ros's term-time flat in London was available to us, so an early, but bearably so, start as we headed back to Norway. I don't use Gatwick very much, but check-in and security were rather straightforward, and the South Terminal was crowded but not overly so. We grabbed breakfast and headed to the gate for our flight. Nice, eh? A bit strange, but very Scandinavian... ...
Yesterday, I gave a talk in Stockholm, where I am currently, at least until this evening, on the future of British politics. It was put on by the Ohlin Institute, for whom I offer thanks for inviting me to speak on the subject. I've put it out on the site to see what others, particularly a British audience, thinks of what I had to say to a room full of intellectual Swedes about the political future of our great nation. Here it is, in full: On Friday, May 8th, 2015, Britain awoke to a Tory majority government. It was not ...
Tone policing is when someone says "you would have a good point, if only you would sound less angry and more reasonable when you say it". It is generally used as a tactic to shut up people who are talking about how they are being oppressed or exploited by various systems, by those who support and benefit from those systems. Sometimes those who are (or claim to be) on the side of those who are oppressed and exploited by a system will use tone policing because they genuinely think that if only everyone was nice then the oppressors would listen. ...
The Aintree & Maghull Champion reported in its edition of 20th May on the election of a John Bailey as the new Chairman of Lydiate Parish Council. [IMG: cropped-Lydiate-Parish-Council-Logo-e1372273297819] All well and good but prior to last night (26th May) I had never met the chap. Yes, I am a member of the Parish Council but according to the papers I had been sent the AGM, where a new Parish Council Chairperson would be elected, was advertised to be on Tuesday 26th May so how did the Champion report on his election 6 days before it actually happened? My concern ...
It was hardy Sunny Southport yesterday morning indeed in was more like Shivering Southport! But the sun came out in the afternoon and a great day out was had despite the strong wind at Birkdale Cricket Ground. [IMG: IMG] [IMG: Lancashire's Glen Chappel training the next generation of the Red Rose.] Lancashire's Glen Chappel training the next generation of the Red Rose. Seeing Lancashire's South African batsman Ashwell Prince get his double hundred was something I had not previously witnessed on a cricket ground and it was well deserved. [IMG: Derbyshire batsmen Chesney Hughes & Benjamin Slater meet in the ...
Did you know that Freud, Trotsky, Hitler and many of the other big names of the twentieth century lived within a few streets of each other in Vienna in 1913? Well, they did. Now, imagine for a second that they met one snowy night in January, in Freud's favourite bar. And imagine, thanks to a bizarre bet which is slightly misunderstood, that Freud and Trotsky swap places for a day to understand each other's worlds. With me so far? Well, that is basically the plot of my musical Danube Blues. Since writing it, two rather good things have happened. The ...
Liberal Democrats are unlikely to find anything that makes them happy in today's Queen's Speech. In fact, many of the measures to be announced will make us cringe with horror. We thought we'd ask people to contribute their ideas for a Bill they would introduce with a sentence to explain why if they wanted. Do add your own in the comments. The Leadership candidates Tim Farron: I would like a new Great Reform Act – voting reform for the House of Commons, the House of Lords and local government. Norman Lamb: Assisted Dying Bill Once and for all we should ...
In the quarter up to March 2015, only 83.9% of Welsh patients diagnosed via the Urgent Suspected Cancer route began treatment within the target 62 days - down from 88.0% in the previous quarter. Cardiff and the Vale health board had the lowest percentage receiving timely treatment, with only 81.2% beginning treatment within 2 months. The target of 95% of urgent patients beginning treatment within 62 days has not been met since 2008, and was not met by a single health board in the last quarter. These statistics are incredibly worrying. We've seen a percentage decline in those starting treatment ...
The Independent reports on the view of the First Minister of Scotland that a vote to leave the European Union should only be valid if it is backed by each of the four nations which constitute the United Kingdom. Nicola Sturgeon suggests that the SNP will try to amend the EU Referendum Bill to that effect when it comes before Parliament. It is an interesting suggestion but difficult to justify under our current constitution. The UK may consist of four nations but politically it is one entity when it comes to matters of foreign policy and defence. I want to ...
Outgoing leader Nick Clegg will lead for the party in responding to the Queen's Speech. This must feel quite strange for him. It's the first Queen's Speech in 5 years that he hasn't had a hand in shaping. All the Tory policies he kicked into touch will be in there bringing every decent liberal out in hives. Even if they do end up delaying the repeal of the Human Rights Act, there are bound to be all manner of civil liberties infringements, future welfare reform and ineffective housing plans to deal with. Nick says: The Liberal Democrats worked hard to ...
