Whenever I have got it into my head to visit the Great Central Railway I have caught the train to Loughborough. Until today, that is, because this time I wanted to see more of Leicester North station. A Leicester Mercury story from last month explains why: A £10 million grant has been approved for ambitious plans to open a major railway heritage museum in Leicester. The project has received the vital backing of the Heritage Lottery Fund bosses after narrowly missing out a year ago. The Great Central Railway (GCR), the National Railway Museum and Leicester City Council are behind ...
Kronos Solar has submitted plans for a 33-acre solar farm adjacent between Henley Hall and Ledwyche on the outskirts of Ludlow. Now heritage experts say the scheme should be rejected or deferred because the assessment of the impact of the development on heritage assets, especially Henley Hall park, is inadequate. Historic England says it is [...]
Parliament can be a very dry place indeed, lacking in humour or goodwill. However, the House of Lords isn't like the 'Other Place'. Sometimes, humour escapes into the chamber, as shown by this excerpt from the third day of the debate on the Queen's Speech on Monday... Lord Dubs (Lab): Before I get to the heart of what I want to say, I hope that I may be permitted to refer to a matter which is obliquely relevant to what we are about to discuss today. Five years ago the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, joined the House. That was a ...
Sat 6th
19:22
Leicester and England's Vardy once had to be subbed off to get home for his electronic tag curfew
The Hinckley Times wins our Headline of the Day Award, It's a funny old game.
We've already posted the video of the tributes to Charles Kennedy from the Commons on Wednesday and we've also posted Nick's in full. We thought it might be useful to put the text of all five of the Lib Dem tributes, including Nick's, in one post for ease of reference and posterity. They all did Charles proud. Greg and Mark talked about the way he really connected with ordinary people and about his concern for others. Norman spoke about his unfailing courtesy in his dealings with people, highlighting the need to tackle the stigma around mental ill health and emphasising ...
Having lived in a big city for many a year, and having spent all my money on beer (I like whisky but I'm not so fussed about it), my experience of morris dancing is, to be honest, a bit metropolitan. It's all very well, but just rather bucolic, and that word is used in an ironic sense in this instance. However, live in the country long enough (and I mean live in it rather than just visiting it at weekends), and you begin to appreciate it rather better. It isn't simply a bunch of men with beards who drink beer, ...
The post My Daily Rituals (2015 Edition) appeared first on James Taylor.
Planning decisions are a matter of balance, weighing up the positive benefits of a proposal against any negative consequences - called "the planning balance". Until a couple of years ago, there was a tendency to give insufficient weight to heritage and conservation assets in judging this balance. This was despite the Planning (Listed Buildings and [...]
For the Liberal Democrats the general election was the worst in terms of seats won since 1970. No one expected the Lib Dems to be reduced to just eight seats. This article will examine where the Lib Dems went wrong and what could account for such a dreadful result. Losing TrustThe Liberal Democrats were right to go into Coalition, but we made a few massive mistakes none bigger than the decision over tuition fees. For much of the last few decades the Lib Dems prided themselves on trust. In the 2010 general election hundreds of thousands of young voters voted ...
Here are the Liberal Democrat entries in the top 100 political blogs as ranked by Teads (previously Ebuzzing / Wikio). Two months ago I wrote, "Most unusually, no-one joins, no-one leaves. Doubt that will happen again anytime soon." So what happened last month? No joiners, no leavers. And this month? You can guess... (and then take a look at some of the new Lib Dem bloggers here). 1 (4) Liberal Democrat Voice Up 1 2 (7) Mark Pack Up 1 3 (16) Stephen Tall Up 6 4 (22) Nick Tyrone Down 1 5 (32) Caron Lindsay (Caron's Musings) Up 1 ...
UKIP's LGBT grouping has been banned from marching in Pride. I was wondering who else we might ban? Catholic gay groups? Labour Brownites (he was after all against same-sex marriage until it became cool)? I wonder if we might ban anyone who ever held an opinion that "progressive" lefties dislike? We might get one or two floats and a smattering of feminist queers for Pride if we adopted that policy though... Sigh.
You'll not often find me linking to the Daily Mail. It's even less likely that you'll find me praising anything on its pages. However, I have to make an exception for one article today. Guy Adams outlines in some detail the sort of abuse Charles Kennedy and his team were subjected to from supporters of the SNP, both online and in the street. He quotes Charles' campaign manager, Conn O'Neill at length. He described returning back to Charles' cottage the morning after the election: It was a Friday morning, when the rubbish gets taken out in and around Fort William,' ...
This morning, a great number of volunteers turned out to help rid Lochee Park and the Greater Balgay area of litter. The event was organised as part of the Dundee Festival of Volunteering and folk from Community Spirit Action Group, Bonnie Dundee, Tesco and local residents all helped. Many thanks also go to Community Payback. Here's a few photos from this morning's successful litter pick : Some of today's volunteers At the side of Balgay Hill With some of the rubbish collected this morning
From more that half a century ago comes news of membership surge. I know the world was different then. These were the days before lettraset and spray glue, well before DTP and yes it was an age when all the political parties had much greater memberships. The factors which caused that surge can be analysed and adapted to meet today's world. There was community campaigning but in addition there was an excitement over political ideas. Page 4 of this newsletter laid out the key Liberal messages. How often do we bemoan the lack of clear political identity that our party ...
I am in the middle of Wales at a Liberal Democrats fight back event so signal is variable and consequently this blog post will be short. Former Welsh First Minister, Rhodri Morgan has his own story about Charles Kennedy in his Western Mail column today in which he relates Charles' role in ensuring that Alun Michael quit as First Secretary of the Welsh Assembly in 2000. With Alun Michael facing a no confidence vote in the Assembly, Tony Blair summoned Charles Kennedy to number ten to ask that he persuade the Welsh Lib Dem group to withdraw their support for ...
Here are a few available clips of Charles Kennedy on Have I got news for you. Firstly, this was when he presented the show in 2002, courtesy of the Guardian: Here he is in 2011 when the team discussed Tony Blair's decision to go to war in Iraq: Discussing John Prescott's fish in 2001: Getting one over on Jeremy Clarkson in 2009: And finally here he is telling us about the Glaswegian German court translator in 2008: * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and ...
This is a song for those who feel fragile on a Saturday. Low are a band just weird enough never to be well-known, but accessible enough for anyone who really wants to listen. It's claimed that they are the leaders of what came to be known as a subgenre called "slowcore", although they hate that [...]
Friends at Launceston tennis club have asked me to publicise their event next Saturday. I'm more than happy to do so: On Saturday the 13th of June, Launceston Tennis Club will open their doors as the nation goes tennis crazy in the lead up to a fantastic summer of tennis The Great British Tennis Weekend is the UK's biggest ever public tennis event and offers free tennis for anyone, whether you've never picked up a racket or haven't played for a while and want to get involved. The campaign aims to inspire people to get on court and take part ...
Election finance reform may not be at the top of many people's Christmas list, but it is arguably a more important issue right now than even electoral reform. As Liberals we hold the fundamental values of fairness and equality as sacrosanct, while as democrats we believe that power and influence should be derived through the ballot box. The most grotesque feature of this election was the amount of money that the Conservative party spent. To be absolutely clear, until the Electoral Commission releases the spending stats, all we can work off is declared donation income, which reveals an eye watering ...
Two years since Edward Snowden revealed the scale of surveillance by governments, Amnesty International hosted a live Q&A, with questions from both Amnesty's experts and from Twitter.
I could hardly say that I knew Charles Kennedy well. I've wanted to wait a few days to let the sadness of his passing sink in, and to process just what it is that I loved about the man. In fact, we only met on a few occasions, and then only briefly, when I was [...]
Recently, the schools budget for disabled children was ring-fenced, so as to designate the funding in schools, colleges and academies. However, the pupil premium money (At present £935 Per 11+ student is free to be used by a school in any way they so choose. Today I had a conversation with the head teacher of my VI form (Who, for reasons clearly, shall remain un-named, as shall the VI Form) to discuss how the pupil premium money for the students at a disadvantage, was being used. I was horrified to be told that the money going into the school is ...
Technology is driving the European recovery, but if the EU is to remain globally competitive it needs to educate more of its labour force in relevant skills or allow in talent from elsewhere. A million jobs in Europe are unfilled because of a lack of people with the necessary IT skills, or so a seminar [...]
During the Khmer Rouge's nightmarish rule of Cambodia Thought Police, the abolition of the family and even a version of Newspeak were all instituted. Dystopias of fact and fiction Even amongst all the dystopias that have been conjured since there remains something uniquely horrible about George Orwell's. Somehow even the darkest vistas like children killing [...]
I mentioned the rather odd matter of the Champion newspaper reporting on the election of a new Lydiate Parish Chairman 6 days before it actually happened recently but here are some further impressions of Labour running a parish council. [IMG: cropped-Lydiate-Parish-Council-Logo-e1372273297819] Party political? Very much so and it led my colleague Cllr. Mark Courtney to point that out only a few minutes into the first meeting with Labour in charge. He had not seen the Council being used for party political advantage before and did not care for it. But what was Mark getting at? Well on arriving at Lydiate ...
Today the Independent have a comment piece about the reignited debate of a Labour/Lib Dem merger. But where is this debate/ Firstly as a party member for 27 years I am not aware there ever was a debate of a merger, there was talk of a centre left coalition with Labour ahead of 1997, but coalition is not merger, it is two parties with somewhat similar outlooks working together after contesting seats on their own accord to be an effective majority (like what ended up happening from 2010-15). Secondly as a someone active in quite a lot of internal forums ...
Person-centred liberalism is a tautology - there's no other form of liberalism. However, it might be useful to explore a little of what we mean when liberals talk about individualism, the freedom of everybody to be themselves and to make the best of their lives. "Isn't that the same as the Tories?" a lifelong Labour supporter once said to me. The idea is central to liberalism. It says that each, precious, separate person is more important than any group of which she or he may be part. Yes, we find and express ourselves in communities and other groups. But it's ...
Sat 6th
08:52
Jeremy Corbyn has no chance of becoming Labour leader. Here's why that's actually key to Labour's co...
Owen Jones wrote a piece in the Guardian late last week, the title of which made me laugh out loud the moment I read it. "Jeremy Corbyn is in the Labour leadership race. The real debate starts here." To be fair to Owen, I get what he was trying to say; it was only so funny because a). it kind of read like an Owen Jones parody article and b). as such, it was typical of the left of Labour's ideological and political naivety. Having said as much, I will now say I think it is actually very strange that ...
I am delighted to report that the Magdalen Green noticeboard on the green opposite the bottom of Windsor Street has finally returned! It blew down in early 2014 and I have raised with the City Council the need for its repair and return on numerous occasions since. The delay in achieving this was not helped by the sheer size of the board and transportation issues, but it is finally back in place :
I mentioned in my previous links post that I'm happy to take guest posts for Tim Farron here on the blog and Simon Banks was the first to respond. If you'd like to follow in his footsteps, then get in touch. About Simon: Simon joined the Liberal Party as a Cambridge History undergraduate in 1966 and the Liberal Democrats at their foundation. He's stood in four parliamentary elections and for twelve years was a Waltham Forest councillor representing Leyton wards: for five of these he was Group Leader and handled "balance of power" for four. He's worked in Kenya and ...
ICYMI: 'What crime have I committed to be held like this?': inside Yarl's Wood This is a bit of a blow for transparency Can You Guess The British Politician From A Pixelated Picture I was awful at this DWP's disability benefits delays ruled 'unlawful' and 'unacceptable' by High Court the statement from the DWP is just jawdroppingly awful. Disabled people having to wait "only" seven weeks for money they are entitled to its nothing to boast about you inhumane arsewranglers Nottingham dermatology privatisation 'unmitigated disaster' - at the QMC, too Cos it's not like when I did my postgrad in ...
Welsh Liberal Democrats want to create a Welsh Development Bank, specifically aimed at helping Welsh Businesses grow and succeed. We need to be ambitious if we are to boost the Welsh Economy and narrow the long standing productivity gap between Wales and England. A Welsh Development Bank would lever investment into the infrastructure projects Wales needs. The Welsh Liberal Democrats would then create a branch of that Welsh Development Bank dedicated to engagement outside Wales, to provide support with Welsh companies exporting, and engage with companies overseas and draw in inward investment. The Welsh Development Bank would cover both inward ...
