Another of my relatively infrequent visits to that London, for a night at the theatre this evening with Ros and my parents. And, as it was my choice, one that my parents would enjoy, no lesbian opera (you mock, but 'The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant' was interesting in its own way) but instead one of the classic musicals, 'Gypsy', at the Savoy Theatre. I have concluded, after many years of general uselessness, that the best thing to give my parents is not stuff, but time. So, last year, we had a day at the races at Newmarket, as ...
We had a Gateshead Lib Dem get together for new members last night at the Gloucester pub, next to Gateshead Civic Centre. A useful social event and the chance to speak to some of those who had joined the Lib Dems since the disaster of the general election. We have a couple of other events for new members in the weeks ahead. The next is a buffet at Marley Hill Community Centre.
I've regarded myself as being Liberal since I was 16 and, with the exception of 2 years during the last Parliament, I've carried a Liberal Democrat membership card ever since. I've been fool enough to stand for election to local government, Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales; worked for a pittance for Lib Dem Assembly Members; took a poorly paid job with the Welsh Party; and, latterly, volunteered to give up some precious family time on the occasional Saturday to serve on the Welsh Party's Policy Committee and attend Welsh Conference. To paraphrase the man who I hope will ...
Liberal Democrats HOLD Wallington South (Sutton). — Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 11, 2015 Congratulations Steve Cook and the Sutton team. UPDATED: Lib Dem: 1,251 (44%, +7%) Conservative 936 (33%, +14%) Labour 181 (6%, -2%) Independent 180 (6%) UKIP 164 (6%, -11%) Green 122 (4%, -3%)
I snapped this photo this morning whilst feeding the livestock. Aircraft contrails over Sunniside. Or a gigantic vote. I could have done with it on polling day in Blaydon constituency!
[IMG: Affordable housing concept.] Tightening the Overall Benefit Cap. It's going to cause chaos. Why isn't more fuss being made about it by Opposition politicians? I know why, of course. But, I mean, y'know, why? Last night I met another member of the housing policy and politics blogging community for one of our occasional curries. We were putting the world to rights, as you do on such occasions. Or, perhaps more accurately, contemplating where the heck it had all gone so dismally wrong. During the course of the evening we touched on the Labour leadership contest. My dinner companion noted ...
I sometimes wonder if my distrust of public institutions comes from reading Oliver Twist at too early an age. My great aunt and uncle in Wealdstone had a complete set of Dickens. When we visited them after I had seen Oliver! at the cinema, I asked if I could borrow the book. Whether because of the film or the book, the story has been part of my mental furniture ever since. I am not alone of this. Oliver Twist and its characters are so powerful that the story has become part of our folklore. This is not to say that ...
Today's Southwark News carries a depressing story where Labour GLA Assembly Member Val Shawcross states about the Bakerloo line having two seperate routes from Elephant&Castle "Realistically, only one option will be taken forward." Up until the general election one month ago Simon Hughes had been campaigning for the Bakerloo Line to be extended and Lib Dems suggested two separate routes. Labour told everyone it was there idea. Now the election has gone they say two routes was never feasible. And we wonder why people are cynical about politicians. Come on Labour if two routes for the Bakerloo line was good ...
As part of the road improvements in Gatley, the section of Gatley Road from Cambridge to Springfield will be resurfaced. The work will include the ends of Cambridge, Springfield and Oakwood – the last in desperate need of resurfacing. To do the work at busy junctions isn't easy so it will be done overnight across three nights – next Friday, Saturday and Sunday (19th, 20th and 21st June 2015). There will be road closures with diversions in place, but only for the hours overnight when the work's being done. The plan is: Night 1 – approx 6 hrs - to ...
"They are not campaigning against tuition fees - they are campaigning for the Labour Party." Jan Nedvidek criticises the National Union of Students' £40,000 campaign against the Liberal Democrats. Harry Lambert meets the mighty John Curtice - the only man to forecast the general election result correctly. Arthur C. Brooks anatomises political hating, Natural capital is everything nature provides us for free. Dieter Helm explains its importance. "So we labour, driven by the whip of necessity, an army of slaves. If we do not our work, the whip descends upon us; only the pain we feel in our stomach instead ...
Occasionally, it does us townies good to have a little exposure to farming in the UK. Here's a great infographic with a novel twist. When you go onto the web page it starts a couple of dozen counters going, telling you how much farming activity there has been since you came on to the web page. So, I've been on the page about ten minutes and it tells me that 358,000 eggs have been laid. 27,000 chickens have been consumed. And 68,000 kilograms of manure have been produced – in that ten minutes. It's worth a go here.
Brian Wilson, the former Labour MP, writes in the West Highland Free Press - the excellent newspaper he founded: A few months ago, I wrote here about the launch of a Twitter account under the name Where's Charlie? by Ian Blackford. It seemed to me then (and now) a clear attempt to personalise the contest on grounds which were undesirable and unnecessary. Mr Kennedy's fragility was scarcely a state secret. On top that, he was coping with a string of tragedies and losses. Mr Blackford protested that he was merely raising a legitimate political question. Yet within days, one of ...
One of the many encouraging things about England's one-day victory over New Zealand was the all-round performance of Adil Rashid. But it has taken him an awful long time to become an overnight sensation at the age of 27. Rashid first came to the attention of this blog in July 2006 when he played his first game for Yorkshire and took 6-67. "Won't it be nice if yesterday turns out to have been an historic day in English cricket?" I asked. The following month he played for England Under-19, when he "followed his first-innings hundred with a devastating 8 for ...
Last week, Historic England and Shropshire Council's historic environment team criticised the heritage environment assessment for proposed the Henley Hall solar farm (15/01472/FUL). They said the report is not thorough enough to allow them to examine the effect the scheme will have on heritage assets such as Henley Hall. Now the authors of that report [...]
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and Jo Barton are holding their next advice centre on Saturday 13th June, from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We also hold a monthly advice centre in Churchtown, at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) on the fourth Thursday of every month (except December) from 10:30 - 11:30 am.
Artist's impression of the completed new school plaza This morning, I participated in the latest Harris Academy Project Board meeting. The Board oversees the strategic aspects of the new school building project and we had a very positive update about construction progress (which I saw for myself last Monday). I spoke about two important aspects - getting organised for the provision of community use after the new school building opens in August 2016 and ensuring transport (and drop-off/pick up) arrangements are well organised. It was an extremely productive meeting with the project going well.
The suggestion that George Osborne is thinking about cutting £5 billion from the social welfare bill by reducing tax credits to their 2003/4 level (in real terms) is an unexpected turn in some ways. That's partly because there will be many who wouldn't have suspected that they had risen by more than the rate of inflation in the first place, but also because everyone has been going on about 'hard working families' and how important it is to provide an incentive to work. There is no doubt that the growth of tax credits as a way of 'making work pay' ...
It's quite hard to find a pithy way to sum up the late great Christopher Lee. Such a long and busy life resists being boiled down to a few words. What expression sums up a man who was variously a thespian, musician working in a number of genres including heavy metal, soldier, national treasure, spy, [...]
[IMG: Liberal Democrat Newswire logo] The next edition of Liberal Democrat Newswire will include an exclusive survey on the Liberal Democrat leadership contest. Lib Dem Voice has good a long pedigree now of surveying voting intention for internal party contests (which I used to be involved in), but I'd like to dig more into the how and why of people deciding who to back in the leadership race. So if you're a party member and aren't yet signed up to receive Liberal Democrat Newswire, sign up for it here and make sure you don't miss out.
[IMG: Liberal Democrat Conference 2011] Long ago, I stood at the podium of party assembly in Blackpool and asked our parliamentary spokesman on economic affairs, then Richard Wainwright, what he and his colleagues were doing to advance the party's policy of zero economic growth. (Yes, we had such a policy once.) I learned two things from that. One, ask my own darned questions not ones the organisation I represented (what was then the Union of Liberal Students) thought to ask. Two, try not to create an opportunity for deserved ridicule. This was 1981, and the next day The Guardian's sketch ...
10.00-12.00 IT drop-in Take better picture on your smartphone or tablet and learn how to edit them No need to book 10.00-12.30 Job Skills drop-in Advice on CVs, applications and interviews No need to book 12.45-1.45 Games and puzzles Fun maths Phone to book a place, or take your chance on the day 1.45-2.45 Creative Writing Put your imagination to work on stories and poems Phone to book a place, or take your chance on the day Contact details for booking and to find out more: Telephone 01454 864613Email community.learning@southglos.gov.uk Plus Info Stand all day: Information about free courses in ...
I am not one for blindly doing what senior Liberal Democrats tell me, but on this occasion, we could all do well to listen to Party President Sal Brinton. She has emailed members to encourage everyone to head to Bournemouth for our Autumn Conference from 19-23 September. With over 17000 new members, Conference could be bigger and more fun than ever this year. I can't wait – partly because I have never ever been to Bournemouth and partly because Conference will be the first time for us to get together as a Lib Dem family since the elections and all ...
This: "...But briefly, it should be obvious that we have to approach politics in a very different way in this Parliament from what we've been used to. We need to become a movement, not another managerial Westminster party. We've fallen into a style of fighting elections which relied on identifying ourselves as the main challenger to whoever held the seat, and then mobilising local grievances to convince the voters that we were on their side, whatever they thought and whether or not they were remotely Liberal in their beliefs. What we actually stood for and believed was almost irrelevant, except ...
I hoped I wouldn't have to write this so soon. But then whenever it was it would be too soon. This is one I never could have been prepared for, even knowing how frail he's been the last few years. We'll not get a new Christmas metal track this year, but at least he got his wish of living to see all of the Hobbit films come out, and if there's an afterlife at least he'll get to see his best friend again now. I'm going to be a bit delicate for a few days, guys. The grumpy old Tory ...
There are still four days until the close of nominations for the new Labour leader and already the successful candidate, whoever that will be, is under pressure. Today's Times reports on a threat by Labour-guru and former Blair spin-doctor, Alastair Campbell that he will "happily lead the charge" to oust the next Labour leader should they fail to make an impact. Campbell has signed up to moves to put a break-clause into the new leadership so that party members are able to participate in a confidence vote before 2020 so as to show whether the successful candidate still has the ...
[IMG: Screen Shot 2015-06-11 at 11.01.01] So, here we go again! Another bid to introduce the Nordic Model of criminalising the clients of sex workers has been launched this week in Scotland. This time it comes from a group called End Prostitution Now; a campaigning organisation made up of some very familiar faces and backed by Rhoda Grant MSP whose last attempt to introduce this legislation failed in 2012. Advocating for sex workers' rights in Scotland can sometimes feel like playing Whack-a-Mole; every time we successfully argue against one campaign to make sex work more dangerous, another pops up almost ...
Many people saying that the Liberal Democrats were fools for agreeing to go into a coalition government with the Conservatives. Do I agreeing that going into a coalition government with the Conservatives was a mistake? No, not at all! The Liberal Democrats during the coalition government faced many challenges such as the resignation of their [...]
Thu 11th
10:57
Bearder: Liberals must save the EU-US trade agreement, but we must ditch ISDS to do so
Writing for politics.co.uk, Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder writes a strong defence of the proposed free trade agreement between the US and EU, but takes the view that the now much-maligned Investor State Dispute Settlement proposal (which in any event has been temporarily abandoned) must be replaced with a much more accountable form of dispute resolution: A trade deal with the US has the potential to bring major benefits to the UK economy. Currently the US is the biggest export destination for UK small businesses, with over half of all small exporting firms doing business there. But barriers to trade ...
[IMG: Tim Farron back coalition] The usual dynamic in contests to secure a party post or candidature is that candidates tack away from the political centre and head towards the wings, looking to appeal to their party's activists and members. Then, if they win, they tack back towards the political centre. Tim Farron's bid for the Liberal Democrat leadership is, however, reversing this usual process. He's been very strident about his support for the Liberal Democrats entering coalition in 2010 and even set down the circumstances in which he'd lead the party into another coalition. (The key condition is PR. ...
LD seat, cause- death. LD Candidate- Steve Cook. Contact details: Alex-Vicente Machado- 020 82558155, candwlibdems@gmail.com
Updated Details: Former Mayor- Independent. LD Candidate- Elaine Bagshaw Contact Details: Chris Walts (chris.walts@libdems.org.uk)
Updated Details Independent seat. LD Candidate- Will Dyer. Contact Details (chriswalts@libdems.org.uk)
[IMG: Human Rights Act Demo] Saturday 30th May was one of the best political days I've had in years. Not only was I demonstrating in support of the Human Rights Act but I was doing so with hundreds of other Liberal Democrats. Too much of our protesting in recent years has been behind the scenes. I wasn't a member of the party when Charles Kennedy was proudly leading Liberal Democrats in opposition to the Iraq war, but it meant a lot to me and stuck with me. I think it's time to get out there again – make sure our ...
One answer to that questions is to be found, of course, in my poster... and another rather more substantive answer is to be found in It's About Freedom from 2002. That is, however, now many years old and so the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee (FPC) is kicking off a series of consultations in the party, which will include a consultation paper and a series of sessions at the party's autumn conference. The FPC's two vice chairs, Julie Smith and Duncan Brack, have written more about this over on Lib Dem Voice. Unfortunately, at time of writing the comments thread ...
Following concerns expressed by residents about the damage to the safety barrier outside Blackness Primary School's Pennycook Lane entrance (see photo right), I raised this with the City Council. I have been advised in response : "I can advise that an Inspector has been on site ... and advised that the location is safe (no sharp edges etc) and that he will raise and order to get the barrier replaced."
"Nick Clegg changes his tune on House of Lords" the headline read. When I first saw it, I was stunned: had Nick really given himself a peerage? Given he had said he wouldn't, I suppose I could see why the Mail would feel entitled to have a go. But alas, the content of the story was this: the Lib Dems are getting a few peerages in the dissolution honours. If you're puzzled as to why something everyone knew was going to happen qualified as news, or indeed what the "changing of the tune" was in substance it came down to ...
I would far rather have people like @applewriter at Pride than UKIP. That's what it boils down to, for me Is the Home Office attempting to 'body-swerve' official drugs advisers? Leadership candidates respond on the big question: Cat person or dog person? One of those "restores one's dwindling faith in humanity" stories Cliffs AND ledges. The Lib Dem polling plunge, 2010-15, explained Interesting splits by all sorts of demographics as to how people voted in GE2015 A typeface based on designs lost (and found) in the Thames - I really like it too [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: Shredded, Hardback book] I was a little surprised about the decision to flog Royal Bank of Scotland, but you'll have to bear with me while I explain why. It seems to me inconceiveable that the Treasury or the Bank of England haven't conducted a recent review into the solvency of RBS. If it had been solvent under the coalition, they would have tried to sell it. They didn't. Ergo: it isn't. My understanding from those who know about such things is that the bank was so dysfunctional, only a few years ago, that there was no discernable 'good bank' ...
I don't know about you but I get so frustrated when the press concentrate on the headline of a story and often fails to give much significant detail. This is a case in point as the latest stage of the proposed project to bring a railway back to Skelmersdale has not brought with it the required detail into the public domain. [IMG: The old Skelmersdale Station - now long gone in the name of progress!] The old Skelmersdale Station – now long gone in the name of progress! So care of Bob a friend and informed railway watcher here is ...
