So just over 24 hours ago, I was sitting in a packed room with hundreds of Liberal Democrats from all over the North East Region. We had all been treated to an excellent two hours of debate between leadership candidates Tim Farron and Norman Lamb. They had each shown the best of themselves. Norman's thoughtful, intelligent analysis and ideas, his determination to give a voice to the voiceless, Tim's tub-thumping, barnstorming adrenaline rush of a speech underpinned with good ideas and things that would make Quentin Letts from the Daily Mail hyperventilate. It was great. We truly do have two ...
This is what a leading UK software company looked like 30 years ago. After thinking I'd lost this brochure for good, it eventually turned up at my late parent's house while I was sorting through the last of bookshelves this afternoon. All six pages are available for download here (pdf). The photograph is from the back page and was taken ...
My last posting from the Southport Liberal Party newsletter of the 1960s made it to second place in LibDemVoice Golden Dozen of most read blog entries. This extract is by far the most interesting. Pacts in the north in the 1950's and 1960's were not unheard of-Arthur Holt in Bolton West and Donald Wade in Huddersfield West are the two best known. But there was another one in the north, in Southport and it was with Labour not the Tories. This developed into a strict pact which extended to helping in each others by elections. It is also interesting to ...
Jen Robertson, Andrew Blackburn and I went to Manchester this afternoon to take part one of the hustings events as Tim Farron and Norman Lamb battle it out to win member's votes in the race to become the new Lib Dem Leader. [IMG: Leaders Hustings 20 06 15 - Manchester r] It was a good meeting and both candidates made excellent Liberal speeches and answered many questions. [IMG: Norman lamb & Tim Farron 20 06 2015 - Manchester Hustings r] I must admit to attending with my mind already made up as a Tim Farron supporter but must admit that ...
We probably all have a piece of law which we believe to be stupid, or unnecessary, or both. And then there are laws which serve no useful purpose except to cause trouble for someone, some time, some place. Enter George Osborne, who has the idea that you can have legislation which limits the freedom of not only himself, but any future occupant of his current position, to act as they see fit, applying the philosophy that they have a mandate for. He doesn't want to raise taxes, so he proposes to pass legislation preventing certain taxes or levies to be ...
Earlier this week, Norman Lamb wrote for the Huffington Post outlining a strong, liberal case for putting fewer people in prison. It's powerful stuff: There can be no other area of public policy, with the exception of the related issue of drugs reform, where establishment politicians so readily bang the drum for the exact opposite of any evidence-based solution. Our prisons clearly fail to rehabilitate: half of those released reoffend within a year, including six in ten of those on sentences of less than twelve months. Liberal Democrats must lead the call for drastic and urgent action to reduce crime, ...
Australia vs England (50 overs), Melbourne, 8 December 1979 England vs New Zealand (50 overs), Chester-le-Street, 20 June 2015 If you really mean it, it all comes round again.
Just out from Norman Lamb: I was made aware yesterday of a potential breach of data protection by volunteers in my campaign team. I take this issue very seriously. I will not tolerate breaches such as this on my campaign. My campaign manager immediately reported the issue to the Acting Returning Officer, Tim Gordon. I took immediate action to suspend the two individuals from further involvement in the campaign. I am proud that until now this has been a positive campaign. I believe it is essential to get back to debating the future and my vision for the party. My ...
From the Telegraph website this evening: Liberal Democrat leadership hopeful Norman Lamb is at the centre of a 'dirty tricks' row after party memberships lists were used to conduct negative polling about his arch rival Tim Farron, The Telegraph can disclose. The Information Commissioner, the information watchdog, is set to be asked to investigate whether there was a breach of data laws in a move which could land the party with heavy fines. Mr Lamb told The Telegraph on Saturday that he had suspended the individuals behind the polling from his campaign. A LibDem spokesman said that the party had ...
Aye, I can remember the good old days for the Liberal Democrats. Eighteen percent popular vote share, twenty members of Parliament including one in Liverpool. Aye, golden days indeed. When you are the baby of your local community council and eligible for the long service award at the annual membership awards at the age of 40, it can make you wonder if it's time for me to rest on my laurels and let the fightback be done by these new 16,000 members. If that is the case, then I am sorry but that is not how we work because (and ...
In a Team of Rivals, the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin quotes Lincoln's Secretary of State William H Seward predicting that: "when the stars and stripes wave over [the confederate capitol of] Richmond...you will have to look mighty hard to a find a man who was a secessionist, or an aider of the rebellion" Indeed such a [...]
Look what arrived today @LibDems !!! #LibDemFightback pic.twitter.com/ECXZOJVDoj — Richie Edwards (@Richie_LD) June 19, 2015 I've always had an interest in politics. I've never obsessed about it, like I've obsessed about football, but I've always read and followed political stories and I've certainly always voted. My vote hasn't always been heard, but that's another issue. I feel strongly about environmental issues. We must take more action, and soon, to tackle climate change. We, as a family of four, only fill our black landfill bin to less than a quarter full once a fortnight, but our blue recycling bin is always ...
I watched the Tower Hamlets Leadership Hustings video last night and it compelled me to reflect on my more than 40 years' experience of studying leadership. By studying I mean both academically and through observation, and then using this knowledge when teaching leadership in numerous public and private sector organisations throughout the UK and Europe, as well as in many well-known Business Schools, and also acting as leadership coach to countless senior managers. I am not bragging but simply 'setting out my stall' before making the following comments about leadership in relation to Tim Farron. Great leaders understand, and make ...
With the economy consistently the top issue for voters, I thought it's time to turn to a close examination of the economic policies being set out by Lib Dem leadership candidates Tim Farron and Norman Lamb. Here they are:
This week I've changed my car: traded in the Renault that has served me well for twelve years in favour of a younger model ( though different marque, since Renault no longer makes the model I prefer.) This nerve-racking experience ( if you only change your car once every ten years or so you don't get much practice) has been made worse by the following irritations: the initial salesman, mature and presumably experienced, advised me that the model I was interested in did not have reversing sensors, but they could be "factory fitted" for an extra £232. It turned out ...
It is odd, is it not, that I've been a member of a political party for more than thirty years, and yet in all of that time, the number of organised political discussions I've taken part in at Local Party level can be counted on the fingers of one hand. There might almost be a sense that policy is for conferences, specific setpiece affairs with a structure and a process, much of which excludes most activists. And yet, we now have thousands of new members who have joined because they believe in something, in the idea of liberalism and its ...
[IMG: A few wind turbines] We know that during the coalition years the Liberal Democrats ensured subsidies for onshore wind. The Guardian managed to give precisely 2 and a bit lines at the bottom of their report to Ed Davey. He was the Energy and Climate Change Secretary who fought tooth and nail to protect renewables, but there's no mention of that. Ed is quoted as saying: Anti-wind power Tories will put up electricity bills, cut green jobs and reduce investment. Alistair Carmichael also took the Tories to task for what he called a "lamentable sop to the Tory right." ...
The Guardian reports: A Labour amendment to the European Union referendum bill, which would have lowered the voting age to 16 in David Cameron's promised poll on Britain's membership of the EU, was voted down in the Commons by 310 votes to 265 on Thursday... [However] the Lib Dems have 101 members in the Lords. The Conservative party has 228 members, Labour has 212 and there are 178 cross benchers. Speaking ahead of the Commons vote, the Lib Dem chief whip and one of the party's eight surviving MPs, Tom Brake, said lowering the voting age could be a "crunch ...
[IMG: 11141157_10153389484258398_5966266824352339491_n] Click on the photo to enlarge it A great piece of conservation work. Must get to Crich for ride on it one day when all the work is complete. And of course there is another Liverpool tram that has recently been restored over in Birkenhead.
It was Newcastle's turn last night to host the leadership hustings debate. Over 200 members gathered at the Royal Station Hotel. I was there as well, complete with cameras. I'll edit the video I filmed shortly but the photos are now on flickr and can be viewed on this link. Both candidates spoke well but I am still torn between Tim and Norman. I know both. I know each is more than
Any passenger on Liverpool's Merseyrail trains can't have failed to have noticed that the train company rightly takes a very dim view of people putting their feet on the seats, indeed there are stickers like this in every carriage:- [IMG: No feet on the seats r] But hang on a minute on Moorfields underground station there is this poster:- [IMG: Feet on the seats r] Does this not clearly indicate that if you are a chimp or a penguin that feet on the seats is actually OK?!
[IMG: IMG_4848r] My previous post of a few days ago refers:- And this is what the Canal and River Trust had to say about it on 16th June. 'the canal banking has partially fallen away at this location. For safety reasons, we have closed access to the towpath so that we can make the area safe. Our teams will be taking steps to secure the site in the next few weeks so that the towpath can re-open. This will be a short term measure. Long term repairs will require more resource and we currently do not have this available.' ...
Last month Pitcairn Island legalised same-sex marriage. One small little British outpost (of 56 people) in the Pacific Ocean managed to be more liberal in a shorter space of time than Northern Ireland which is part of western Europe. Come on Northern Ireland (and the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey etc.). If the Seventh-day Adventist Pitcairn Islanders can do it, you can too!!! Also they managed to do it in a gender-neutral, and vastly superior way, when compared with England and Wales' attempt. Not that this is the first time the Pitcairn Islanders have been ahead of the curve... I've ...
Last night, BBC News led their 10 PM news programme with a story about how nine Brits have gone to Syria recently, presumably to fight in the civil war there, although that wasn't 100% clear. Nine people. How many folk in this country believe that Elvis is still alive? I'm willing to place a bet that, nationwide, it's more than nine. How many people's sexuality revolves solely around root vegetables? Again, it's probably in the same ballpark. Yet this was presented on the BBC, which we're constantly hearing has a grave liberal bias, as if everyone with a non-Anglo-Saxon surname ...
Yesterday's Guardian contained an interesting article on the way that the political consensus around fracking has begun to breakdown since the General Election. They say that up the the May poll the UK's political parties have been unusually united in their support for hydraulic fracturing at a national level. However, both of the likely next leaders of the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats support a ban on fracking. That leaves just Ukip and the Conservatives, who are "going all out for shale", as the only parties in the UK strongly in favour: "Where is the evidence that it is ...
Glamis Drive I have again raised with the City Council - at the request of constituents - the poor pavement condition in Glamis Drive between the junction with Hazel Drive and Glamis Road. I specifically asked, given its deteriorated state, if it can be considered for a future year's resurfacing programme. I have received the following response from the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership : "Glamis Drive footways are not included in the provisional three year footway resurfacing list . However, they have been identified for inclusion in future programmes of work subject to funding and other priorities identified at ...
Around 55% of all lymphomas are found in men. The Lymphoma Association have published this helpful infographic as part of this year's Mens Health Week, describing the main symptoms. There's more information about these symptoms available here. If you're at all concerned, go and see your GP now – don't wait! I'm glad that I didn't put off going when ...
The women whom science forgot MPs slam plans to axe guards and conductors from North East trains Cue a massive increase in fare-dodging. Archaeologists Have Made An Incredible Discovery At Stonehenge Charleston shooting: Black and Muslim killers are 'terrorists' and 'thugs'. Why are white shooters called 'mentally ill'? Woman raises $30,000 to 'gay up' her house after complaints over gay garden Heinz QR porn code too saucy for ketchup customer - haahahahahahahaa 'Being in a straight marriage made me depressed' - *sounds the bi erasure klaxon* [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The week-long Gatley Festival starts in just a few days on Saturday 27th June, with the Fun Day and parade on Sunday 5th July – we'll see you there! [IMG: gatley festival]
Keith Holloway has welcomed the council publishing the Compulsory Purchase Order notice for the Gatley's Tatton Cinema. Keith said "The Lib Dem plan to sort the Tatton and replace the current eyesore with something that benefits the village is moving ahead. The owners of the Tatton tell us they're submitting a planning application to develop the site, and in case that doesn't work out for any reason we've also made sure the Council continues to push ahead with the Compulsory Purchase Order." [IMG: The Lib Dem team at Gatley's Tatton cinema site] The Lib Dem team are working to get ...
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the formation of the Friends of Brooklyn Crescent Park from 11am to 2pm on Saturday 4th July 2015. Bring your blanket and picnic. [IMG: FoBCP_Picnic_in_the_Park]
Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty must assess the impact on childcare in rural areas of Wales following reports that the UK Government is considering reductions to working tax credits. Rural childcare in Wales is not readily available nor is it affordable to families living there as evidenced in a number of reports.'' 'Costs are already higher in these rural areas and many families rely on help with childcare costs through working tax credits. Even then the maximum amount they can claim does not even cover part-time childcare costs. There is a real danger that if reports stating that the ...
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