[IMG: Norman lamb farborough] My two girls were out tonight so I took the opportunity to go to Farnborough with Judith Bunting and another Newbury Lib Dem. We attended a Norman Lamb evening at Farnborough Air Sciences Trust hosted by Rushmoor local party. And a very nice evening it was too. Norman was very impressive. He started by outlining his passionate beliefs about mental health. He then talked about a campaign for freedom of information he pursued early in his parliamentary career. This was to obtain, ultimately successfully, details of who Tony Blair, as PM, was meeting at Chequers. Norman ...
Something amazing happened today - Liberal Democrat membership is now a third higher than it was on election day, three weeks ago. We're on course to reach 60,000 members by the 3rd June, which is the deadline for new members to be able to vote in the coming Leadership election. It's important for us to be realistic, though. Yes membership's up significantly but we're on life support as a party. Since 2008 we've seen half our local government base go - net losses of councillors every year - a total of over 2,000 councillors, most of whom were incredibly hard ...
It didn't take long for a photo of a very New Romantic Tim Farron and his two band-mates to appear on the internet. Within hours of Jonathan Calder revealing the name of our leadership hopeful's band this morning, he was sent a photo, from around about 1987, of a teenage Tim Farron in his band, Fred the Girl, previously known as The Voyeurs until they realised what exactly that meant. I have spent many fruitless hours trawling You Tube to see if I could find some footage. I suspect if it's there, it's unlisted so nobody will be able to ...
With Council Leader Peter Dowd becoming MP for Bootle in the recent General Election he stepped down from the Leader's role on Sefton Council and as a Cabinet member, although he remains a member of the Council . [IMG: Would this be an end to Dowd family having a senior role in local government on Merseyside though? Well no it would not as another Dowd stepped up to the enlarged Cabinet in the form of Cllr. Marion Atkinson niece of Peter and daughter of former Merseytravel Chairman Mark, who is also a Sefton Councillor. There's no Dowd about it, ...
Sat 30th
18:15
LibLink: Norman Lamb: We can build a new progressive, liberal movement of change across the country
Yes, I know, lots of leadership stuff today – but then, there's a lot out there and it is a Very Big Thing for the party at the [IMG: Norman Lamb badges] moment. Norman Lamb has outlined his vision for Politics Home. Trust the people, he says: As liberals, we fundamentally believe that government can't pick and choose which human rights are important, or who should have them. We believe that powerful organisations – both public and private – must be open and accountable. And we believe that, when people use the internet, they don't surrender the right to privacy ...
A thousand thanks to the reader who sent me this. His email was headed "Tim Farron's band from 1987," and that is indeed what it appears to be. Read more about Tim Farron's music career.
Registration is now open for the Liberal Democrat federal conference coming up in September in Bournemouth. Register here by 19 June to get the specially discounted Early Bird prices (£43 for voting reps for the full conference if you also went to the spring conference – a discount will be applied as you step through the process). Other key dates for the Bournemouth conference are: Drafting advice (motions): 13:00, 17 Jun Motions deadline: 13:00, 1 Jul Drafting advice (amendments and emergency motions): 13:00, 25 Aug Amendments/emergency motions/questions deadline: 13:00, 7 Sep Conference: 19-23 Sep You can keep up with news ...
Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Tim Farron has released his first campaign video and he's devoted it to housing:
Housing Policy is a disaster for Cornwall and the Country. At a time when the Housing crisis is constantly in the news because people can neither afford to buy nor rent decent homes in their own communities, extending the right to buy to Housing Association tenants is nonsensical! This combined with the dotty decision to say that developers seeking planning permission for 10 or less homes should not be required to contribute to affordable housing provision, for local people, will make it impossible to meet local housing needs. But this is the priority of our new Conservative majority Government. Anyone ...
If you are a new member reading this, you might like to think about joining ALDC – you seriously should never fight an election without their excellent campaigning resources. If you are looking for a job in campaigning, you have until noon on Monday to apply for this vacancy with ALDC. Full time fixed contract for one year, with the potential for extension This is a new post created to help us boost the support we can provide to our members through the provision of campaign packs, materials and ideas, and templates for literature and campaigning - both paper and ...
As far as I am aware, the following are the scheduled meetings for June Allotments Committee, Tuesday June 2nd Assets Committee, Thursday June 4th Planning & Development Committee , Thursday June 11th Events Committee, Tuesday June 23rd Staff Committee Thursday June 25th This is likely to be a closed meeting due to the nature of the discussions Planning & Development Committee , Tuesday June 30th All meetings are due to start at 6:30 pm , at Arms Evertyne House As ever, these are subject to change , check with the council ( 01670 361668 beforehand )
We thought we'd take an occasional look through the Twitter feeds of leadership hopefuls Norman Lamb and Tim Farron. Today they are united, marching for human rights. Delighted to be marching & speaking up for the Lib Dems on the Human Rights Act today. These rights are integral for a free & fair society — Tim Farron (@timfarron) May 30, 2015 We'll be keeping an eye on their social media over the next six weeks. Watch this space.
Last Thursday we held an event in Liverpool that I have never attended the likes of before. It was a new members event and we held it because so many people have joined our Party in Liverpool at the same ... Continue reading →
Two recent articles from the Huffington Post speak out in favour of each candidate for the Liberal Democrats. First, Jack Davies tells why he is supporting Tim Farron: It was a cold afternoon in November when, huddled before my computer screen, I typed out a message to Tim Farron, the then party president of the Liberal Democrats. The message was a call for help. I was hoping to stand for election as the Liberal Democrat PPC in New Forest West and I needed assistance in applying. I didn't expect Tim to reply, but to my surprise, he did. His reply ...
The first post-election meeting of the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee (FPC) agreed to look at reforming the party's policy making process and in particular, I'm glad to say, a large number of us spoke up in favour of having a faster moving policy process in future. As I wrote before, my concern about the existing process is that: We have loads of new members, and indeed many old members, who want to get involved in party policy making - and we certainly need to get our policies right even if they're not the number one solution to our predicament. ...
[IMG: lucas honourable] Earlier this week Caroline Lucas visited Bristol to speak at the Festival of Ideas on the key themes of her recent book Honourable Friends? Parliament and the fight for change. As well as being a hugely impressive Parliamentarian, Lucas is an extremely engaging speaker. The response from the audience of around four hundred was very positive. It was patently clear – from the spontaneous round of applause during the introductory comments onwards – that Lucas was among friends. It was also evident that the audience largely shared the frustrations and anger at the failings of the Westminster ...
The Huffington Post reported Norman Lamb's remarks at a new members' event in London this week. Lamb told the activists: "There are remarkable things happening these days, just look at the rise and fall of corporations. The big companies that are household names one day and disappear the next. The startups that suddenly catch fire and become enormous new organisations. "The same is happening in politics. Look at what happened with the SNP, look at what happened indeed with a different force, one we reject entirely. Nigel Farage communicated a view to people in a way that got people listening," ...
I was very amused by this tweet from former Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber Edward McMillan-Scott. I'm banned from #Russia again – first time since 1972! #45 on the hit list http://t.co/JF02rAkumF — Ed McMillan-Scott (@emcmillanscott) May 29, 2015 If you look at the list, you'll see that Edward, who was a powerful voice for human rights in the European Parliament, is viewed as more dangerous than Sir Malcolm Rifkind who was chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee. Edward is at 45 and Rifkind is 16 places further down at 61. It shows off your values ...
Negative campaigning was not invented by Lynton Crosby, here is a prize specimen from the Southport Vister of January 1910. Ten reason electors should vote against Baron de Forest (the Liberal Candidate.) The Tory candidate was one Major White. And yes the Tories played the race card. This poster was put up in Birkdale Electors of BirkdaleFrom all Radical LiesFraudulent Misrepresentations and otherLow Electioneering Methods Deliver UsFrom Austro-Germanic Invasions"Political Earthquakes" and Local HooliganismDeliver Us By voting for Major White You can find out more here
The government has gone full cockwomble on the Psychoactive Substances Bill, argues The Domestic Extremist. "Do you know the first point I remember our values being defended, espoused, passionately and movingly during this campaign? Nick's resignation speech." Kevin McNamara, who fought Ealing North, dissects the Liberal Democrat general election campaign, Dominic Collard is one of the twelfty million who have joined the Lib Dems since the general election. "Sub-national government in the form of combined urban authorities and county regions headed by DEEMs will be more easily manipulated by central government than would be a system of local government." George ...
Excellent Ukip trolling by the BBC (tags: ) How to bust the biggest myths about the circular economy (tags: ) Banning legal highs: the biggest obstacle is the human brain (tags: ) YouGov | We got it wrong. Why? - v interesting, particularly on "shy tories" (tags: ) Strictly Come Dancing judge confirms same-sex pairings - hurrah! (tags: ) Work is work and should be compensated with money. (tags: ) Liberal Democrats not Supporting Labour or Conservative Council Leadership Bids | Calderdale Liberal Democrats (tags: ) My problem with Lamb (by a Lamb supporter) (tags: ) 'Notorious bum drillers' at ...
Manchester Airport have informed us that routine maintenance on Runway 1 means Runway 2 will be used between 10pm and 6am on several dates in 2015. Manchester Airport – runway 1 to be closed for overnight maintenance The dates are: June 2nd, 3rd and 4th July 7th and 8th August 4th and 5th September 1st and 2nd October 6th and 7th November 3rd and 4th December 1st and 2nd More information here.
I'm sure we're all aware that the older you are, the more likely you are to vote, with the effect that politicians often ignore the needs of the young in favour of the old. After all, you're always going to be more interested in the views of the people who can put you in power rather than the ones who won't. This gives us an odd situation where not only are one group's views and interests favoured over others, that group is the one who'll experience the least of any consequences from the decisions made by government. Your average first ...
The Tories have blinked on the Human Rights Act but the fight is not yet won. They are still going to make 'proposals' this year, with still the threat of a bill next year. The Human Rights Act is a favourite target of the right wing press. They hate it because it is 'European' (even though the European Convention on Human Rights springs not from the EU but from the quite different Council of Europe – and anyway, what's wrong with being European?). They hate it because it contains a right to private and family life and so it interferes ...
Whilst the Liberal Democrats are quietly getting on with our own leadership contest (and no I have no idea who I will be supporting yet), all the attention is being directed to Labour's own fight to elect a leader of the opposition. Watching the Labour leadership candidates set out their stall I am increasingly getting the impression that I have entered an alternative universe. Candidates appear to have abandoned the battle for the heart and soul of the Labour party in favour of an unprecedented identity quest. Some of the pitches are so unorthodox that it is difficult to know ...
[Later. A reader has sent me a picture of Tim and his band.] Matt Dathan, the Independent's online poliitlcal reporter, tells us Tim Farron is the leading contender to replace Nick Clegg as the new front of the Liberal Democrats but yesterday he revealed he fronted a rock band in the 1980s. It could have been a very different rise to fame for one of the few remaining Lib Dem MPs if his three-piece had not been written off "as a fourth rate New Order" three decades ago. And he has left would-be fans in the dark over the true ...
Sat 30th
08:51
I'm worried the entire genuine political dialogue of the nation is going to take place within the Co...
In the run up to the Queen's Speech, we saw what amounted to an extraordinary political discussion. Politicians came out of the woodwork on the subject of the Human Rights Act, both for and against the government's stated aim of repealing the piece of legislation, some with wonderful arguments. A few of them have surprised me, and I would not have thought the authors of the quotes would have held such viewpoints beforehand: "I have clear views about the importance of international justice, which we need to expand, and Britain pulling out of the European Court will send all the ...
Well just a short length of it from near the Jospice/Long Lane junction in Southport Road, Thornton to the new traffic island on the extension of Quarry Road. When I had a look last week both southbound and northbound traffic was using it. The photo below reflects the the moody weather of the day:- [IMG: Link Road - Thornton end 19 05 2015] Click on the photo to enlarge it. The photo looks south towards the new traffic island which meets the extended Quarry Road in Thornton.
Today marks the traditional climax to the English football season, the FA Cup Final. It also brings to a close this season's LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League. Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks have taken the trophy, accumulating an impressive 2,242 points, enough to place him in 3,763rd place in the global league of more than 3.5 million players. Kudos. Runners-up were two Sams: Massingham's Handforth Orient FC (2,175) and Bowman's Sterlingization (2,161). You can see the full Top 10 below. Congratulations, too, to Kye Dorricott, whose Chip Bang Utd topped the league in the first and final quarters of the ...
Today marks the traditional climax to the English football season, the FA Cup Final. It also brings to a close this season's LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League. Congratulations to George Murray, whose Marauding Fullbacks have taken the trophy, accumulating an impressive 2,242 points, enough to place him in 3,763rd place in the global league of more than 3.5 million players. Kudos. Runners-up were two Sams: Massingham's Handforth Orient FC (2,175) and Bowman's Sterlingization (2,161). You can see the full Top 10 below. Congratulations, too, to Kye Dorricott, whose Chip Bang Utd topped the league in the first and final quarters of the ...
Lib Dem leadership contender Tim Farron has just published a manifesto setting out his political credo. Titled My Values – My Liberalism, it sets out what liberalism means to him and his priorities for the party's ideological development. The document sets out a strong and positive case for liberalism, the Liberal Democrats and Tim Farron as leader. It also serves a more defensive purpose, because one of the criticisms made of Tim Farron previously is that some said he was a bit of a policy lightweight. Tim Farron has been working to banish such views, as with his William Beveridge ...
