First, congratulations to the US. Still a long way to go for full LGBT+ equality, but it's a major step. I've not posted for a couple of days because I've been working on exclusive material for the book version of California Dreaming, which should be out next month. On top of the songs discussed here [...]
On the 4th June 2015, former Secretary of Energy and Climate Change and Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh Chris Huhne made an appearance on BBC This Week to give his view on the future of the Liberal Democrats. In my opinion I think this was an excellent report, pin pointing why the Liberal Democrats will [...]
Poor man. The spam factory and the vast creamery at Minsterley were too much for him. He might have shown us the station master's house though. At least Six Bells Junction has a photo of the station in its final days. He is also mistaken about the junction with the Snailbeach mineral line at Pontesbury. It was a narrow-gauge railway, so there cannot have been a simple junction with the standard gauge Minsterely branch. In fact the lines met a little way to the south of Pontesbury station. The Snailbeach line came in at a higher level so that its ...
The post How To Give Feedback To Creative People appeared first on James Taylor.
Since the leadership election for the Liberal Democrats is in full swing with ballot papers being issued I feel this is a time to reflect on the amazing job our last leader did despite us losing 49 seats in the 2015 general election. It doesn't seem eight years ago since Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg [...]
Or at least I shall be if my ballot paper arrives. I have found this a difficult decision, but have decided to follow my usual practice of voting for the Pardoe rather than the Steel (though I note that David Steel is supporting Tim too).
From the Council: Further to the ongoing works to the pedestrian crossing beneath the rail bridge on Gatley Rd, proposals are now in place to remove the existing signal poles and erect a 4 pole Toucan Crossing. This work is scheduled for Wednesday 1 July and Thursday 2 July 2015. The majority of the re-cabling work and controller upgrading work will take place on the Wednesday and commissioning of the new crossing should happen on Thursday afternoon. As you will appreciate, the existing crossing is extremely well used throughout the day and we are therefore arranging for a temporary standalone ...
It's all change at St Asquith's. I was sure I had stolen the line about Tim Farron believing that every word of the Liberal Democrat manifesto is the literal truth from someone on Twitter, but I cannot find the tweet. "They'll eat you for breakfast!" The Reverend Hughes calls at the Hall with some disturbing news. He has decided to hand in the keys of St Asquith's for a while and go off on a Mission. "You 're not going to live with the headhunters of Borneo, are you?" I ask sternly, knowing what he was like when he got ...
We have our Headline of the Day. Well done to the Telegraph - and to West Mercia Police.
There were two by elections at a county or district level held this week.The first was held in Cambridge in the ward of Romsey. This was a Lib Dem seat that was lost to Labour. The actual result was reasonable in the context of other election in the ward, however the party saw their representation [...]
Lib Dem Future Page related to this county Labour Zoe Moghadas 829 [37.3%;+5.6%] LD Nichola Martin 782 [35.2%:-12.7%] Green 467 [21.0%; +15.1%] Conservative 100 [4.5%;+0.1%] UKIP 46 [2.1%;-3.0%] Majority 47 2.1% Turnout Lab gain from LD 2011 result in the town council Labour Zoe Moghadas 996 33.3 +11.4 Liberal Democrat Raj Shah 870 29.1 [...]
Lib Dem Future page on South Kesteven DC Independent 612 [36.6%;+1.8%] Elected Independent 609 Elected Conservative 605 [36.2%;-3.3%] Elected Independent 426 LD Adam Brookes 229 [13.7%:+13.7%] UKIP 224 [13.4%;+13.4%] UKIP 129 UKIP 113 Green 0 [0.0%; -25.6%] Turnout 23.1% Two Independent holds and a Con hold This was an election from 7th May 2015 [...]
[IMG: WR at ORG Scotland Launch] Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie and Greens' co-convener Patrick Harvie both attended the launch of Open Rights Group Scotland yesterday. Immediately after First Minister's Questions, they gathered in a smoke-filled Garden lobby (the cafe was having an indoor barbecue to celebrate the start of the Summer holidays) to talk to journalists and pose for photographs. As the SNP Government ramps up its plans for a National ID database that's more powerful and intrusive than anything Labour ever came up with, and as Edinburgh plans to integrate all its CCTV systems, there is a ...
A rather splendid accoustic version of the Guns n' Roses classic:
Thursday: I cannot emphasise the following enough: The Deficit is NOT the National Debt. The deficit ADDS TO our National Debt. I'm sure that Tim Lord Tim (@timfarron) and Mr Norman Conquest (@normanlamb) get this. But too many politicians clearly DON'T. So: Economics for Elephants 101... The Government raises about seven hundred billion quid in taxes. But they spend nearer to EIGHT hundred billion pounds on health, pensions, benefits, schools, guided missiles and Boris' hairdo and the rest. The difference, the amount extra needed for that spending, about a hundred billion pounds last year, is what is called the DEFICIT ...
The Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary (which you can join here) has put some detailed questions on asylum, immigration and humanitarian matters to the leadership candidates. Here are their answers. We appreciate that there are now far less parliamentarians, but will you ensure when organising teams that there is a spokesperson that covers asylum related issues? Norman's reply: Absolutely, yes. I want our party to rebuild the reputation we won under Paddy for speaking out clearly and consistently on the difficult international issues we face as a country. We must lead the way in challenging the appalling humanitarian disaster ...
The leadership candidates have sent their third official emails. You can read the first two here and here. First of all, the Returning Officer's information: Below are the top lines and links in the third of four emails from the candidates that I am distributing on their behalf. I do this in my role as the Acting Returning Officer for this election. Also please find below contact details for how you can find out more about each of the candidates. Ballot papers are being dispatched today so you should receive your ballot paper by post within the next week. With ...
Last weekend someone found one of those quizzes that often feature in magazines and on the internet. This one was asking people which of the 5 Labour leaders you are most like. Almost every member of the Liberal Democrat Twitterati ... Continue reading →
Jane Lay Lib Dem – 780 Elected David Major Lib Dem – 771 Elected Brenda Kersey Lib Dem – 744 Elected Jeam Bowman Lib Dem – 704 Elected John Wyatt Lib Dem – 703 Elected Conservative 359 Labour 229 Labour 217 Labour 204 Labour 199 Labour 191 Turnout 23.79% Percentages: Average vote: Lib Dem 56.6%, Con 27.5%, Lab: 15.9% Deferred Election
Three of my favourite photos courtesy of ALDC from last weekend's Local Government Conference: [IMG: Mark Pack training at the Lib Dem Local Government Conference 2015. Photo (c) ALDC.] [IMG: Mark Pack looking glum as Craig Whittall answers questions at the Lib Dem Local Government Conference 2015. Photo (c) ALDC] [IMG: Candy Piercy at the Lib Dem Local Government Conference 2015. Photo (c) ALDC.]
Fri 26th
13:46
Bid for solar farm outside Ludlow delayed yet again after Historic England renews its objection
Earlier this week, the second set of revised plans for proposed the Henley Hall solar farm were submitted by Kronos Solar. The changed layout was intended to assuage concerns expressed by Historic England and Shropshire Council's heritage team about the impact of the scheme on the setting of Henley Hall and its gardens. Historic England [...]
Latest figures from Durham County Council's neighbourhood protection team show that 73 fixed penalty notices were issued for littering. Three were given out for dog fouling, five for untidy yards and gardens and failing to comply with litter clearing notices and two to waste carriers who did not have the correct paperwork. Twenty-six Community Protection Warnings and nine Community Protection Notices were handed to the owners of properties with untidy gardens or yards. Wardens removed 127 stray dogs, serving as a reminder of how important it is to make sure dogs are microchipped so that they can be traced and ...
Politics is not a sterile intellectual exercise where the best policy wins and people applaud the cerebral magnificence of the victor. It is a messy dirty business, where people's lives are changed, hopefully for the better but far too often for the worse. My parents divorced while I was a teenager and I spent time being brought up by a single parent. I got lucky. I was never cold, I never went hungry and I always had a roof over my head but I do remember making sure to keep 50p coins so that we had some for Mum's electricity ...
We had a family and friends trip on the Pride of Sefton canal barge on Wednesday 24th June. [IMG: This is the Trust's 2nd canal boat.] This is the Trust's 2nd canal boat. I had been on it a couple of times before and Sheila had been on it once previously. We both fell in love with it and 4mph cruising on the lovely Leeds Liverpool Canal out in the West Lancashire countryside. It was time to do it again. The barge, which is very much disabled friendly, is run by a charitable trust and it takes bookings for groups ...
A few days after I published (see link below) on this very blog site issues of concern about the plodding nature of the process to identify and consult upon options to get traffic to and from this ever busier port the Champion newspaper carried the article below:- [IMG: IMG] It seems that the plodding nature of this process is set to continue as there is not going to be any public consultation for another 18 to 24 months. Makes you wonder what on earth the Highways Agency, Network Rail and Sefton Council have been doing about this matter for ...
Tim Farron's leadership campaign has been rather parsimonious with its money so far – both compared to Norman Lamb's campaign and to previous contests, and especially when it comes to premises and staff. Today shows in part why, because by saving in those areas the Farron campaign is able to afford a posted magazine to party members, landing on doormats just in time for weekend reading and the first ballot paper completions. I was amused to see it quoted both myself and Stephen Tall, which presumably makes one of us the Eddie Izzard of the Liberal Democrats... More substantively, note ...
[IMG: saving money piggy bank] The 2015-16 Shepway District Council Community Chest is now open for applications. The scheme will follow the same principles and processes of previous years. This year there is £120,000 available to support local community groups and charities delivering projects benefitting Shepway residents. Please send completed application forms to Policy@shepway.gov.uk or to the Community Development Team at Shepway District Council, Civic Centre, Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2QY. We are happy to accept forms completed electronically. The deadline for applications is 6pm 28 August 2015. If you have any questions please contact a member of ...
Liberalism. "You can't define it." "It's too wishy-washy. "Too centrist. "Too woolly." The words of my A level students when they begin their course on Political Ideologies each year. The good news here is that there is a definitive answer. One that students have to learn for their exams. Firstly, the common values to all sorts of Liberalism. Liberalism is a centrist ideology which is based on the twin values of individualism and a negative/selfish but rational view of human nature. All liberals also believe in democracy in some form, tolerance, some rights, freedom (see below), and limited government. Not ...
Yes as Liberal Democrats we now have a record in Government nationally. We have to admit there are some things that as the junior partner of that Government we were unable to prevent, but there were other things that without us would not have been achieved. However, that is our record in Government and enough people will have written or have yet to write about those achievements. What I want us as Liberal Democrats to focus on are the things from our 2010 manifesto that we were unable to achieve in Government because the conservatives would not want us to. ...
Before the election the Tories were promising to spread economic prosperity throughout the nation by the creation of a Northern Powerhouse. An essential feature of this was the upgrading of our Northern Rail Network. Now, just seven weeks after the election, we are told that the electrification of the Trans-Pennine route from Leeds to Manchester is to be "paused." It is difficult to express our indignation. The shameless manipulation of the news (that the programme was in difficulty was apparently known well before the election), the shameless abandonment of yet another promise, the shameless prioritising of London and the South ...
This is the video I made for members of the Newcastle hustings meeting last week. It includes interviews with Norman Lamb and Tim Farron and their speeches.
One of the themes which has recurred in the leadership election debates is the question of faith, which I have been hearing in terms of comments on Tim Farron's Christianity, whether this is a good or a bad thing, how Liberal it is to make an issue over that, and how that places him in relation to Norman Lamb describing himself as agnostic. This territory is very familiar. For some years I was Secretary of the East of England Faiths Council and very much involved in the engagement of faith and governance. But I have also spent some years doing ...
[IMG: orange book] Yes, you read that headline right. I've already said why I'm supporting Tim Farron as next Lib Dem leader. This is a brief coda addressed specifically to those party members, like me, who are quite happy still to be regarded by the divisive label "Orange Bookers" — which I've previously defined as being "at ease with the role of a competitive market and who believes also in social justice". Party members have a clear choice at this election as each candidate is from a defined wing of the party. Norman Lamb is a "Cleggite", Tim an "SLF-er". ...
Fri 26th
09:37
Updating the Have I Got News For You gender bias spreadsheet is still a depressing task
Since I first started doing my breakdown of HIGNFY guests by gender a few years ago, it's always been a quite depressing experience. Sure, there are occasional chinks of light – the BBC stopping all-male panels, and the first show for 17 years with all-female guests – but the general trend is still absolutely nothing to write home about, and the very first series of the show back in 1990 is still its second-best for representing women. It's been a couple of weeks since the 49th season ended, and while I've had other things to distract me, I partly resisted ...
If Tim Farron is elected leader on 16th July, it'll be a huge thing for me to deal with. A rite of passage, even. For the first time, a leader of the Liberal Democrats will be younger than me. I ... Continue reading →
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... YouGov | The great ketchup debate: to refrigerate or not to refrigerate? YouGov: 53% say keep ketchup in the fridge http://bit.ly/1FDoWOW (This, *this*, is what polling's for.) House of Lords to see increase in Liberal Democrats | Politics | The Guardian New LibDem peers to join Lords http://bit.ly/1JmkiwC Party will hv 12.5%. First time it's been over-represented in modem history. Sutton Trust – Oxbridge: Take the quiz! I got 9/10 on the @suttontrust "How much do you know about applying to ...
Focus Team councillors demanding better use of the MIU A letter from Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Health, has cast doubts on the effectiveness of Yate MIU in reducing the number of people going to casualty at Southmead Hospital. Although he hasn't shared his evidence, he's using that as an excuse to stop the project for another MIU at Cossham Hospital. But the health service locally is hindered by the lack of services being provided at the Yate MIU: It doesn't open on Saturday afternoons when lots of sporting and children's accidents happen It shuts its doors early ...
Yesterday, Patrick McLoughlin announced what many of us had feared but were hoping would never happen: electrification of the train line between Manchester and Leeds was to be postponed, and possibly cancelled. The lynchpin of the Northern Powerhouse was pulled out and the plan predictably fell apart at the seams. Three months ago, the Conservatives promised that £38 bn would be invested in the national rail network, mostly into electrifying the old diesel lines. This was so important to the Tories, we were told, that it was at the top of the manifesto. On page 11, the Tories outlined their ...
Earlier in the week I reported on the six Liberal Democrats vying to be the party's candidate for London Mayor. Now a seventh person wants to join them: Clearly my personal vote far exceeds Lib Dems' public vote in London. I ask you to enable me to apply – given what happened last time — Lembit Öpik (@lembitopik) June 24, 2015 But he won't be able to: because applications opened and were advertised, there was a decent period for applying and now the deadline has passed. Without an application from Lembit.
Having gone to the country with a firm pledge to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the European Union and then put the new settlement to the country, you would think that David Cameron would want to ensure that whatever package he succeeds in getting is watertight and binding before asking us to vote on it. Today's Independent though casts doubt on that assumption. They report that the Prime Minister has admitted that the referendum on whether Britain should stay in the European Union is likely to take place before the UK's new membership terms have been implemented in a fresh EU ...
Yesterday, I participated in the latest meeting of the School Parking and Pupil Safety Working Group at which a group of senior council officers, councillors, head teachers and parent council representatives discuss and tackle safety and parking issues at our schools across the city. We had a good discussion about a number of issues including risk assessments, safer routes to schools, issues at various schools and the safety planning for new schools projects including Harris Academy. Thereafter, I attended the latest meeting of the Discovery Walk committee that took place at the University of Dundee. I have previously mentioned the ...
The latest Sunday Bandstand Concert on the Magdalen Green Bandstand takes place this coming Sunday at 2pm. The Forfar Instrumental Band will again be playing - more details here.
I have been chastised by many a Liberal Democrat on social media platforms for writing about the race to be Labour leader so much. Why don't I talk about the Lib Dem contest half as much? First, why I enjoy writing about the quest for the Labour top job: from an objective political viewpoint, it's fun to watch. Also, as a non-Labourite, it's one of the few epic battles raging within British politics the result of which isn't life or death for me. Whomever Labour choose as their next leader, as a for instance, my European citizenship is in no ...
I'll not be buying the Furiosa Comic then In which @ggreig makes a very salient point about the blocks in the way of a Yorkshire parliament Nick Barlow does a roundup of the Bloggers supporting @timfarron for leader Richard Gadsden on the rail announcements made today Watch this starfish expel a microchip through the tip of its arm (Wired UK) Gove facing de-facto legal strike - you've got to be ab pretty talented Tory to make BARRISTERS strike IPPR speech from Tim Farron - The case for the Liberal Democrats (Tim Farron) Women's Cricket: Ancient Rivalries Threaten Super League Prospects ...
So, there are two leadership elections (that I'm aware of) happening at the moment. To be brutally honest I'm having trouble feeling any interest or excitement with either the Labour or Liberal Democrat leadership elections. Also, I think the idea that the party leader has to be an MP is outdated and artificially limits the...
