Radicalisation isn't a new phenomenon. Recruitment is a crucial part of any functional extremist or terrorist group - particularly groups that regularly lose personnel as a result of their violent actions, or those that take part in civil wars. Naturally, the people at the top of the organisational structure seek to radicalise in order to recruit more people to their cause. Radicalisation is much easier when the potential recruits are vulnerable, disenfranchised, oppressed, or simply have little to lose. ISIS is a violent organisation, that recruits and trains people to commit violence and put their lives on the line. In ...
Back in February I blogged a couple of times (here and here) about Pentabus Rural Theatre Company and its plans to perform Alice Birch's play The Lone Pine Club at various National Trust locations this summer. There is now more about the project, including this video, on the Pentabus website.
The second Marston Trussell Beer Festival takes place this weekend (19-21 June). I visited the first one last year. But my reason for writing about the village this time is that I have just come across an account of an archaeological dig that took place there last summer: The village is first mentioned in the Domesday Book (AD 1086) as Mersitone, meaning marsh settlement; the Trussell family presumably adding their name to the village after they became lords of the manor in the 13th century. Today, the village is much reduced but its original extent ... is clearly visible in ...
Readers of a certain age will remember the 1984 murder in Shrewsbury of the rose grower and environmental campaigner Hilda Murrell. I reviewed A Thorn in Their Side, a book on the case by her nephew Robert Green, here last year. The Shropshire Star brings the welcome news that a road in the town has now been named after her. It also brings the less welcome news that they have spelt her name incorrectly.
It seems spirits were running high at the Solemn Choral Evensong held at York Minster on the day Richard III was laid to rest in Leicester. As the Leicester Mercury tells it: A disgruntled pensioner who told the former Dean of Leicester she would burn in hell as she led a cathedral service in York has earned himself a criminal record. Retired accountant David John Smith, 66, admitted having a drink before going to York Minster and confronting the Very Rev Vivienne Faull - now Dean of York - and telling her, "God will not forgive you for what you ...
Come along to North Meols Civic Day in North Meols civic garden, (Little) Cambridge Road, Churchtown, Southport, this Saturday, 11am - 2pm.
One of the Lib Dem leadership hustings is now up on YouTube to watch in full (2 hours!). Watch some, most or all of it here: Keep up with news on the Lib Dem leadership race Sign up for Liberal Democrat Newswire here, and Sign up for the Facebook event for the contest (where Norman Lamb and Tim Farron are regularly answering questions from members).
Tue 16th
17:03
Government Minister urges Cornwall Council to grant planning permission to supermarket which will fu...
A senior government minister has taken the extraordinary step of writing to the leader of Cornwall Council urging the authority to pass the planning application for a supermarket at Langarth that will fund the Stadium for Cornwall. John Whittingdale is the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and his letter is reproduced below: During the general election campaign, PM David Cameron gave his support to the stadium and said that there would be government money to help pay for it. No details of any funding have been forthcoming despite a follow up request by Truro MP Sarah Newton. ...
News via ALDC... Each year, ALDC recognises the outstanding work of local Focus teams through our Campaigner Awards. Nominations for this year's Awards are now open. The Campaigner Awards are presented at the ALDC AGM at Federal Conference by a special guest. Winners in each category and our Overall Winner will receive cash prizes and a signed and framed certificate for their office! This year, our categories are: Best Member engagement campaign We are looking for local parties who have successfully engaged with old and new members alike. This could include both recruitment and retention activity as well initiatives to ...
[IMG: Terraced housing] Housing is Londoners' top priority according to the polls. Not surprising - with problems ranging from the cost, to shortage and too often to the quality too. Yet the Conservatives' lead housing policy - to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants - will solve none of these London housing problems: we should make attacking it a Lib Dem campaign priority for next year's GLA elections. It's not that right to buy is inherently wrong: the original policy back in the 1970s and 1980s helped some council tenants escape some shockingly bad local authority landlords. ...
On Saturday, I visited the Central Nursery on Whickham Highway. It was temporarily leased by Gateshead Council to Groundwork for five years. The charity runs a number of activities from the nursery and on Saturday it was the host for a sale of plants and timber furniture made from recycled wood. The event was run by Butterwick Trees, a community interest company. We restocked our supply of
Tue 16th
15:52
Scale of proposed Tory welfare cuts show value of Lib Dem restraint in last Parliament
The Times reports on claims that Iain Duncan Smith has been asked to see if he can find £15 billion of welfare cuts, a third more than promised during the election campaign. They say that Treasury officials have asked the Department for Work and Pensions to examine child tax credits and working tax credits as possible sources for the savings. Another option being considered is the lowering of the welfare cap below the £23,000 given in the Tory manifesto to £20,000. These sorts of cuts were vigorously resisted by the Liberal Democrats in the last government. Such a squeeze on ...
Nominations have closed in the Labour leadership contest, and for £3 (probably in breach of our rules and theirs) you might even have a vote. The options are, Jeremy Corbyn, a socialist from another era, Andy Burnham, a good looking Ed Miliband, Yvette Cooper, an experienced minister of 11 years, and Liz Kendall, the Blairite. I'm writing this post to give space for a debate on who we Liberal Democrats should be cheering on in this contest. Who, for £3 paid to the enemy, might it even be worth supporting? (No, I haven't read the rules; this does not constitute ...
I am very pleased by this decision, it is essential that the Government has listened to legitimate concerns from across the political spectrum on this issue. Indeed, the Early Day Motion I tabled on the issue received cross party support, as did the motion tabled by my Welsh Liberal Democrat colleagues in the Assembly. The primacy of the Assembly elections should stand, and two key elections on the same day would have diluted the importance of each, particularly Wales' own General Election. It was important that the Westminster Government respected this.
No this is not another rehearsal of the wrongs of fracking which worry us all but more the planning process that goes on within Councils over highly controversial issues like this. Let's start with the news that Lancashire Planning Officers have made a recommendation that will see fracking start in Fylde Borough if councillors vote to accept their report next week – see link below to the BBC news item:- www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-33132569 Planning Officers always try to teach, or is that indoctrinate, councillors that planning is simply a matter of interpreting planning law, guidance and policy to define whether a proposed ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
It is now clearly public knowledge that I have left my position as CEO of CentreForum, a job that I have undertaken these past three years with a great sense of privilege, pride and I hope some sense of humility. We had planned before the general election for a downturn in our fortunes, planning that itself necessitated hard decisions, decisions that impacted on my staff, decisions that I did not take lightly. Like others, I did not foresee the magnitude of the Lib Dem reversal on May 7th. Its impact was both immediate and potentially transformational for CentreForum. In trying ...
Charles Kennedy's tragic death occurred while I was on holiday. [IMG: Charles_Kennedy_2009] That was reason enough for my silence on this blog. But also, I wanted to pen a more critical appraisal of his time as leader of the Liberal Democrats. Such was the esteem in which he was held, and such the shock of his death, that any hint of criticism, especially from within the Lib Dem family, would not have gone down the right way. I hope that things are now a bit more settled. But first I must pay my own tribute to Charles Kennedy. What impresses ...
[IMG: Graffiti] Graffiti at the junction of Grace Hill / Shellons Street, Folkestone I wonder when Shepway Council are planning to clear up the grafitti at the junction of Grace Hill / Shellons Street in Central Folkestone that makes one of the key entrances to the town look just so lovely? Clearly, tagging like this is not acceptable, and the people responsible need to stop. I think some graffiti is really impressive - there is much awesome street art in Bristol for example, and many of us still mourn the loss of the Folkestone Banksy (Dear Godden estate, can we ...
[IMG: Many residents said how much they valued the casework Lib Dem MPs did for them - but then voted for someone else. Why?] Many residents said how much they valued the casework Lib Dem MPs did for them – but then voted for someone else. Why? In my piece What went wrong with the Liberal Democrat polling and key seat intelligence? (now slightly updated) I said: I suspect ... that the Lib Dem polls accurately caught how people would have voted had the election result been clear in advance (as with 1997, 2001 and 2005) and had voters marked ...
It's that time of the year again, and Chipping Sodbury Festival is in full swing. Here are just a few of the highlights: This evening (Tue) - Music in the StreetWed - Forever, the Abba tributeThu - Tessitoura performing Cosi Fan TuttiFri - The Fabulous Baker BrothersSat - Carnival and Street FayreSun - Festival Songs of Praise and Cycle RidesFor full details of all the events and ticket details, check out the Chipping Sodbury Festival website.
Last week Tom Papworth and I interviewed the two leadership candidates, Tim Farron, and Norman Lamb on behalf of Liberal Reform supporters who submitted questions. To give you a flavour, here are the wordles. Can you tell which is which? [IMG: Norman wordle] [IMG: Tim wordle] I am very glad to have had this opportunity, and was impressed by both candidates. Here are a few snippets – see if you can tell which is who. 1. I don't think it's a healthy society when you have an ever-growing gulf between the super-rich and everybody else, and between the super-rich and ...
Englishness has always been a kind of rag and bone shop of the heart, a subject I'll be returning to when my book How to be English comes out next month. You only have to look through the gamut of English peculiarities to find it - umbrellas and queues (French), marmalade (Spanish), tea (Chinese) and so on. None of this is said in any way to belittle the English, and at least half my genes are English too - so why would I - but it does mean that when people claim that Englishness is something exclusive, isolated, unique and ...
The Harris Academy Parent Teacher Pupil Association is holding a Strawberry Fayre at the school in Lawton Road this Saturday (20th June) between 10am at 12 noon. There will be coffee and home baking and pupils from the music department will be performing throughout the morning. There will also be prize bingo at 10.30am. All welcome!
Asghar Bukhari of the Muslim Public Affairs Council thinks that Zionist conspirators broke into his house to steal a single shoe of his. Seriously. "ARE ZIONISTS TRYING TO INTIMIDATE ME?" read his rather bonkers Facebook post on the subject. I start my article on growing Lib Dem factionalism with this snippet to demonstrate clearly the madness that partisanship can lead to. And because elements of Mr Bukhari's explanation for losing a shoe down the back of one of his sofas remind me, sadly, of some of what we see happening within the Liberal Democrats at present. Basically, you have the ...
When is a Migrant an Expatriate? When he or she is a Brit abroad, obviously. Inspired by the twin concepts of emigration and immigration, Prof Caroline Knowles posed this question at the launch of her research and report last week, supported by the Runnymede Trust and Goldsmiths College and hosted by Baroness Hussein-Ece at the House of Lords. The first of a series of 3 studies, Caroline looked into the motivations and aspirations of young (aged 23-39) Chinese migrants to London from Hongkong and Beijing. However were they from the UK moving to live and work in Beijing or Hongkong ...
Roll of shame: MPs who back homeopathy fan David Tredinnick for chair of Commons Health Committee No surprise to see Peter Bone on there There is no real case for a snooper's charter - but that won't stop it Breakfast of bullshit: Futurephobia, the Hugos and the invention of SF's past The meaning of Magna Carta Elite firms 'exclude bright working class' Recognising the best Lib Dem performances in 2015 - fascinating post What Political Campaigners Can Learn From The Sad & Rabid Puppies This is just adorable DOH! LastPass just got hacked: Time to change master passwords Sandi Toksvig: ...
