The new Batpost is going up tomorrow, instead of today, because I can finally make an announcement. My first novel, Faction Paradox: Head of State is available for pre-order in dead-tree format. I don't have details about when the ebook will be available, yet. For those who don't know about the Faction Paradox series, it [...]
An impressive pavilion for the Leicester Electricity Sports Cricket Club, who were running up an impressive score against the Leicester Centurion club when I dropped in today, you may think. And there is a reason. This is the ground where, between 1901 and 1939, Leicestershire played their county games. According to the club's website, the great names who played hear include Grace, Bradman, Hammond and Hutton. It was known as the Aylestone Road ground. In those days Grace Road, where the county played in the 19th century and where it plays today, was thought too far out of the city. ...
I suppose if we're in a fightback we better get some tats...
Nick Tyrone asks how the right-wing press will react when David Cameron campaigns to stay in the EU. Nigel Farage and his senior adviser were caught up by the glamour of the Tea Party - to the fury of some in their own party, say Freddy Gray and Sebastian Payne. Dominic Minghella stands up for the BBC. I remember being one of many people who bought a parcel of land in the shadow of Heathrow to prevent the construction of another runway. Gwyn Topham reveals that Greenpeace has sold all that land without telling any of us. "One morning in ...
Another visit to Bonkers Hall draws to a close. How will the old monster get on with the locum vicar at St Asquith's? Time will tell. Unless it's Alan Beith, of course It is Farron. I find him in St Asquith's taking down the signed photograph of Leicestershire's 1975 County Championship winning team from behind the altar. "Let me make a few things clear from the start," I tell him. "We are not going to sing 'Shine, Jesus, Shine,' you are not removing the pews from the church and I am not going to kiss the person next to me ...
Sat 27th
20:04
Introducing the In and Out of Ludlow forum to improve transport and access to our town
We have set up a new forum to look at transport and access issues in and around Ludlow. It has already set in place reviews of the East Hamlet One Stop junction and wayfaring signs around the town centre. Simon Jones, Shropshire's lead councillor on transport, is looking at whether £1 parking on Sunday can [...]
[IMG: Cllr Keith Holloway hands in the petition to Barclays] Cllr Keith Holloway hands in the petition to Barclays This week Keith handed in the community petition against Barclays plan to close the last bank in Gatley. It had over a thousand signatures – a fantastic show of support and we would all like to thank everyone who has got involved. Barclays have agreed to meet Keith and they are agreeing a date to meet up in the next few weeks. Keith's aim is to get Barclays to reconsider closing the branch.
I tend to be rather sceptical about the value of organisational away-days, not least when it's a glorious summer's day outside and the London Pride street party with a million people enjoying themselves is going on just a couple of miles away. But today's LibDem Federal Executive gathering showed just how useful such events can [...]
This morning from 10am until noon, there was a leadership hustings at the Hilton Grovesnor hotel, Edinburgh. Here is a selection of tweets from the event, which I have attempted to make as even-handed as possible between the two candidates, in line with LDV's policy. .@Tim Farron speaking with passion & energy about tackling poverty, equality, the environment, being internationalist & 4 civil liberties — Gavin Hamilton (@GHmltn) June 27, 2015 * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Residents complain Mary Robinson doesn't reply to emails Since the election of Conservative MP Mary Robinson in Cheadle, the local Lib Dems have been receiving complaints that she is ignoring residents and not even bothering to reply when she's contacted. "I have sent four very politely worded emails now and still not had response." one resident told us. "I wonder if you would know how I would go about putting a complaint against Mrs Robinson, as I see no point in having an MP who is not going to do anything." another has asked. It's not just the Lib Dem ...
[IMG: farronforleader] Nigel Quinton was the Liberal Democrat candidate in South West Hertfordshire in 2015, and you can find out more about him on his own site. If you want to write a guest post about why you're supporting Tim for leader, please get in touch! It is difficult isn't it? Reduced to eight MPs after the worst election result since I don't know when, and now I have to choose between the two MP's I admire most (no offence Nick, Alistair, Tom, Greg, Mark and John). Tim and Norman are both exceptionally gifted campaigners, and both exceptional role models, ...
The Independent reports that several Liberal Democrats are due to be made peers in the forthcoming dissolution honours list. Compared to votes cast before and on May 7th, we have a disproportionate amount of peers. This opens up the question: Should we, the Liberal Democrats, voluntarily sack 60 peers to make our Lords contingent proportionate to our last general election share of the vote? That would certainly be a groundbreaking move, a bonfire of ermin has much attractive about it, but I don't advocate it. However, there is a serious debate to be had about the recall of peers. At ...
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, ...
During the Lib Dem leadership race, both Tim Farron and Norman Lamb have often paid tribute to Charles Kennedy. Given the recent and tragic nature of his death, it is not only understandable but also appropriate that those comments dwell on the good in the man and in his leadership. Both – especially Tim Farron – also point to Kennedy's leadership as something which the party can learn from, and that requires a more nuanced and franker understanding of how his leadership went than was appropriate in the immediate aftermath of his death. He was a good and kind man, ...
At the Glasgow conference in October 2014, there was something of an organisational snafu surrounding the BOTYs (Liberal Democrat Voice Blogs of the Year) awards ceremony. At the start of the session, the actual awards themselves, were not in the conference room where they needed to be. They were in a room upstairs in the hotel. The snag was that the room in question was locked. And the only person who we knew had a key was inside the room sleeping the sleep of the righteous – no doubt smilingly cuddling up to all our shiny BOTYs. Suffice it to ...
No this is not an attempt to persuade Labour members to elect a new Leader who will make Labour unelectable but more to make them think about why someone like Jeremy Corbin is right in what he identifies as problems but wrong in the way he and fellow socialists think the state, councils and big public institutions are the best way to address those problems. Corbin is what I would identify as a real socialist and there are few of them in the Labour Party these days. I have worked with true socialists for years in the trade union movement ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-33287336 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above The article brings back memories of a personal experience of mine from when I lived in Rochdale as a youngster between 1964 and 1968. One day a mate of mine (Nigel Collison) and I went off bike riding for the whole day (to Hollingworth Lake) although it seems we did not really tell anyone! It was the way things were in those days, kids would play out all day in the school holidays and come home for tea. On this occasion, I don't recall when in ...
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, it seems that the notion that the Liberal Democrats might pick up some new Peers through the Dissolution Honours list is upsetting some people. It is, they claim, causing increased disproportionality in the Upper Chamber. Well, yes, although nobody seemed to care very much when it worked the other way for so many years. And if proportionality is such a good thing, are all of these people manning the barricades in favour of proportional representation? Almost certainly not. The Dissolution Honours list is designed to reflect a desire to honour those perceived to have ...
The Guardian highlights a bit of Labour stirring in the House of Lords. Lord Campbell-Savours used a question on Lords reform to suggest that the Liberal Democrats had fallen back so far in the General Election that they shouldn't get new appointments. My Lords, just for the record, both Labour and the Conservatives increased their share of the poll at the last general election. How can we justify adding to the existing 101 Liberal Democrat Peers, who already form 21% of the whipped party-affiliated membership of this House, when their party secured only 7.9% of the poll, winning only eight ...
Like all the opposition parties, Plaid Cymru face some difficult decisions in the run-up to the May 2016 Assembly elections. Like all the other parties they have a manifesto to put together, containing distinctive policies that take account of the financial reality facing the Assembly over the next five years. But in addition they also need to set out their stall on what they will do if there is no overall majority for any party once all the votes have been counted. It is arguable that one of the reasons Plaid Cymru lost Llanelli last time was that they failed ...
[IMG: London Black Cab] There may not have been that many policy differences so far during the Liberal Democrat leadership race, but policy could play a big role in that to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. The issue can be summed up in just four letters: Uber. Although Caroline Pidgeon is very much the frontrunner in the field of six, she is also a firm favourite with the Black Cab taxi drivers. Usually being popular with a vocal and influential group of voters is a good thing. In this case, however, it comes with an edge – ...
From Blether Tay-Gither : Our June Blether will be on Tuesday 30th June at 7pm in Madigan's Food Emporium and Bookshop, Castle Street. The Theme this month is : "Stories from the North West of Scotland." This theme has been suggested by Wendy from Madigans as this is the part of the world she is from. She has given us a list of possible stories as follows : Stories of Loch Maree from Wendy at Madigan'sPrince Olaf / VikingsIsle of MareeSt MaelribhaWitchesDruid Circle/Bull sacrifices/PagansMoney Tree / Wishing treeHotel poisoning/botulismMuc-SheilcheGairloch/Poolewe/AltbeaGhillie DubhMacLeods & McKenzies of course these are only suggestions. All welcome! ...
I'll start off by saying I usually find most attacks on the right of centre press by the Left to be over the top and silly. The idea that they conspire in a room together about how to keep the "establishment" clutching the reigns of power; the fact that the word bias is thrown at the Telegraph, the Mail, et al, when the Guardian still employs commentators so far to the left they would have made Lenin feel slightly uncomfortable. But the right wing section of the press are now presented with a genuine dilemma. What do they do when ...
Last Saturday Tim Farron and Norman Lamb took part in a hustings at the ALDC Conference in Manchester. Here it is in full:
Tory supporting Yorkshire Post actually using the word "betrayal" to describe #NorthernPowerCut I see what's happening in Manchester. I do NOT want it for Yorkshire. Yorkshire parliament, please. The last article I am going to link to on the Tim Hunt thing. "[Boris Johnson et al] think the scientist should be put back in his old job because it's OK for him to declare publicly that he discriminates against an entire class of his colleagues, at a professional event being held in those colleagues' honor. But none of those colleagues should be allowed to make fun of him on the ...
Simon Danczuk - Labour MP for Rochdale - is a typical northern Labour tribalist who can see no good in his political opponents. However he has worked tirelessly to uncover allegations of child sexual abuse in high places - even though the alleged perpetrators are dead in the case of Cyril Smith or demented in the case of Greville Janner. But earlier this week he claimed that Janner had sexually assualted boys in the Palace of Westminster in the 1980s. Now whether this timing is deliberate or not, it does mean that Lib Dem Leadership candidate Norman Lamb will be ...
