Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and Jo Barton are holding their next advice centre in Churchtown. We will be at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) from 10:30 to 11:30 am on Thursday 25th June. 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 Crossens, at St John's School, Rufford Road, Crossens every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month from 11:00 am ...
There's been another controversy in the SF community, around the Hugo awards, today. And for once it's not the Puppyfascists doing things like celebrating the death of the people at Charleston, but to do with actual books. There's a proposal, which will come up in the Worldcon business meeting this year, to change the Hugo [...]
The reason I joined the Lib Dems was so that I could help build them back up after they get annihilated after the next election. — Michael Brown (@michlbrwn) December 9, 2010 I recently discovered this tweet of mine from 2010. Initially I found it difficult to believe that back then the fate of the [...]
Each summer there is one afternoon I hope the weather stays sunny and somehow each year it tends to be pretty much perfect. On Saturday 20th June, there was the Annual Summer Party, where some of the local residents meet and chat whilst enjoying barbecued food, Pimms, local baked cakes and the children can have their faces painted, The event is organised by the wonderfully active Southfield Park Triangle Residents' Association who combine the raising of important local matters with the Council and local Councillors, as well as ensuring social events take place - helping local residents to have fun ...
[IMG: TYF.jpg] Yesterday was my first Lib Dem action day since the General Election - and it was a very gentle step back into campaigning, after a very deliberate break. Four rounds of Lynne's 'thank you' focus delivered by me (dozens more by the rest of the team!) - but all at a very leisurely pace while catching up with friends who were delivering the same roads.
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. May I also wish all Dad's a happy Fathers Day. 1. HS2 This week Derby City Council changed their previous position and are now backing Toton as the best location for the HS2 station in the East Midlands. As they were the only local authority who were still arguing against the Toton location until now this means that it is now extremely likely ...
Thanks to Dangerous Minds for posting this film by the surrealists of the 1960s music scene, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. I don't know quite how lost The Adventures of the Son of Exploding Sausage was. Dangerous Minds says: This little vintage piece of Bonzology turns up now and again like some long lost friend, but usually disappears with the speed of a unauthorized clip of Prince getting his groove on.He found it on the Vimeo account of Garrett Gilchrist, where you will find other good things from the Bonzos and the Muppets.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pln1WnHLNNE [IMG: Liver Clock r] A short video from YouTube that is well worth looking at – see link above. A unusual view of Liverpool's Liver Birds atop the Liver Building, made to celebrate their designer, Carl Bernard Bartels, being made a Citizen Of Honour in 2011 – the centenary of his creations. The ending is really spot on. The photo is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
I've been involved in a lot of selection contests over the years - for Westminster and European Parliamentary seats - and even the odd internal party contest - the 2008 Party Presidential contest comes to mind for some reason. For the most part though, leadership contests have passed me by. In 2006, as a Local Party Chair in South London, I was somewhat surprised to see how long it took any of the campaigns to contact me to seek my support - after all, I might have, theoretically, been influential in my own patch, or had the means to contact ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 420th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (14 – 20 June, 2015), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Day 5281: Tim Farron or ...
Below is the text of the speech by Shaan Taseer at a Press Conference in Committe Room G, House of Lords, chaired by Baroness Berridge, on June 28. Shaan Taseer is the son of the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who was assassinated b his police bodygaurd Mumtaz Qadri on January 4, 2015, as the Governor was about the get into his car in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan. Qadri was sentenced to death at a court held in the high-security Adiyala prison in Rawalpindi. The murderer's family said they were very happy that he had committed this crime, and dozens ...
With Labour already seeking to go it alone in fighting the European Referendum campaign those wanting us to stay in the EU are facing a major uphill struggle. Just how steep that hill will be was evident from this article in today's Independent in which they report that a campaign to pull us out of Europe to be funded by some of the wealthiest people in Britain is to launch in September. They say that organisers, which include business people and entrepreneurs, are said to be in talks with sports stars and other celebrities to act as ambassadors for the ...
This piece from the party website on a topic very much flavour of the month in Lib Dem policy debates is worth a wider airing too. It's by Keith House, leader of Eastleigh Council. [IMG: Keith House (left) and Natalie Elphicke with representatives from Keepmoat and Barratt at new homes in Newcastle, July 2014] Britain needs to build more than 200,000 new homes each year. We've all said it so many times before. Yet we are falling short of this target. That's why the Housing Finance Institute (HFI) is being launched. To help to get the money to build the ...
Friday: The story so far... At the Leadership hustings on Wednesday, Mr Tim the Tim Lord challenged us not to let the Party of Grimond, Penhaligon and Kennedy die on our watch*. And Mr Norman "Conquest" Lamb impressed me with his radical proposals on prison and drugs policies. And I described the Home Office as our "natural enemies". In reply to a comment, I said I would defend this idea. The Home Office want increased security. It's their job. But mostly they do this by reducing liberty. Defending liberty is OUR job. This very naturally puts us on opposite sides. ...
This might a peculiar question coming from a Lib Dem at the moment. Down to 8 MPs with a leadership furore of our own. However, I don't believe that there is anywhere else for a strong core of liberals to ... Continue reading →
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 12500 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... David Laws joins CentreForum (85 comments) by The Voice Labour leadership: who should Liberal Democrats be cheering on? (82 comments) by Joe Otten Cllr Fran Obosrki MBE writes...Why I rejoined the Liberal Democrats (90 comments) by Fran Oborski Opinion; Let's write our new leader a 2 year contract and get rid of him if it doesn't work out (78 comments) by David Faggiani Congratulations to Liberal Democrats on the Queen's Birthday Honours List (18 comments) by ...
Sun 21st
12:52
There's a new game at Lib Dem leadership hustings: guess the implausibly shoe-horned answer
Another hustings navigated; another event passed which doesn't upset Tim Farron's role as front runner in the Liberal Democrat leadership race. That was the main message from Saturday's hustings at the Local Government Conference with the slightly over-running Tim Farron opening speech and very over-running Norman Lamb one: The volume and rapidity of hustings meetings means that, by necessity, both Tim Farron and Norman Lamb are sticking to pretty much the same stock script. That makes comparing their performances between different hustings a little like Kremlinology of old. What significance to read into the fact that in London Lamb was ...
This was a UK hit in the summer of 1973, which explains why it reminds me of listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes. A synthesiser solo was novel then, and I prefer Tina Turner here to the bloated production she was given a decade later.
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 ...
The new issue of Liberator questions the two candidates for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. You can download the whole article as a PDF, but here is a sample: Question 1 The general election has exposed the Liberal Democrat core vote at only 7.9% of the electorate. Should the party continue to maintain it can 'win everywhere', should it or build a core vote, and if so from where should a core vote be built? TIM FARRONIn past elections the party has been good at mobilising the protest vote - and, as Jo Grimond said, there's a lot to ...
Here I am, trying, and failing, to look as though I'm not reading my speech... Yesterday saw the Suffolk Liberal Democrats mini-conference in Ipswich, and I was asked to speak for four minutes on the behind the scenes stuff that happens in our Party. Here's what I said; So, you've become a Liberal Democrat or, for some of you, been one for many years. It's all about campaigning for liberal democracy, right?Well, yes. But you need to be organised, because it's not quite as simple as going out and knocking on doors, or calling people on the phone, or using ...
Sun 21st
11:00
LibLink: Cllr Keith House: The New Housing Finance Institute can help Councils build homes
Eastleigh Council leader Keith House has written on the party website about the potential of the new Housing Finance Institute to ensure that we build the houses we need to tackle the housing crisis we face in this country: The aims of the HFI are to increase housing supply across all tenures; to unlock opportunities for the public sector and to help business to deliver and finance housing. The HFI was a key recommendation of the Government-commissioned Elphicke-House Report 2015. Over the course of a year-long review, Natalie Elphicke and I listened to more than 400 organisations from across the ...
With just over 60,000 voters scattered across the UK (and even a few around the globe) and only limited media coverage, the Liberal Democrat leadership contest is almost perfectly suited for digital campaigning. Postage is very expensive, phone calls are very time consuming and local party events effective but limited in their reach. Even the hustings due to be held in London, which is all set to be the largest in the party's history by quite some margin, will still reach less than 1 in 5 members in the area. And so, enter stage left: digital campaigning as Tim Farron ...
"Of course we need to win back Labour supporters who voted Tory in May , but if we are to win we also have to understand why so many Labour supporters voted Ukip," Tom Watson told the assorted faithful at a deputy leadership event held in Dagenham very recently. Only calling them the faithful seems like wishful thinking from a Labour perspective. "Labour is anti-English," came one response from the crowd. "We are forced into being racist." Putting aside the question of how anyone can actually be coerced into genuinely holding unpalatable views short of Ministry of Love style tactics, ...
Issue 372 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers and takes a hard look at the lessons to be learnt from the fiasco of 7 May. For the free sample content for this issue we've done something different from normal and posted Tim Farron's and Norman Lamb's answers to the questionnaire we sent them. You can see their answers here. We aimed to try to get responses that shed some light on where they think the party stands now and what sort of party they want to lead, rather than opinions on specific policy issues. Both were given the ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : The D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum is open for the summer season and will be open every Friday afternoon (2pm to 4.30pm) until 4th September. Come along to see D'Arcy Thompson's amazing collection of animals from around the world along with models, charts and stunning artworks inspired by D'Arcy's ideas and collections. Some unusual specimens have been added to the displays this year, including a Tayra and a Rat-Kangaroo. We've also recently acquired a beautiful etching by D'Arcy Thompson's daughter Molly (who became an artist and author), which will ...
[IMG: IMG] I went to the formal opening of this interesting and important exhibition together with Jen Robertson last Thursday evening where the Mexican Ambassador to the UK was the guest of honour. This exhibition will be seen nowhere else in the UK. Please click on any of the images and photos to enlarge them. [IMG: IMG] Here are a couple of photos I took at the event:- [IMG: IMG_4899] [IMG: IMG_4908] The first photo above is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
A new planning applications has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58766 Registration Date: 10/06/2015 Location: 23 Tamworth Avenue, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6UH Proposal: Single storey extension at front and side Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
Two new planning applications have been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58801 Registration Date: 09/06/2015 Location: 8 Glebelands Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1NE Proposal: Change of use from 2 no. flats to 1 no. dwelling; Single storey extension at side/rear with first floor balcony; New first floor window at front, first floor french doors, juliet balcony and second floor window at rear; Render to front/side elevations Application Number: 58689 Registration Date: 27/05/2015 Location: 5 Glebelands Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1NE Proposal: Replacement of timber windows with new UPVC windows to existing conservatory Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information ...
I recently found this clip from Five Clues to Fortune, a 1957 film produced by the Children's Film Foundation. It features three very Fifties children, one of whom is played by the young David Hemmings. In his memoirs Blow-Up and Other Exaggerations, Hemmings remembers making it: This gave me the opportunity to get to know the technicians behind the making of films and I soon established a strong rapport with them. It seemed to me that they went out of their way to be kind to me, letting me sit in the pub in Woburn village with them at lunchtime, ...
