Copyright © Dennis Calow Humberstone Road was the first station north of Leicester London Road on the Midland main line. It closed in 1968, but for many years afterwards you could see this ticket office standing empty at street level below the embankment where the platforms had been. Eventually it was taken down brick by brick and rebuilt at Shenton station on the preserved Battlefield Line in the west of the county. There it serves as a station building for the line's southern terminus and an information point for the nearby Bosworth battlefield.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I haven't linked to this Article by Ricardo Hausmann about Greece on my blog. I have referred to it on twitter, but I wish to have a record on the blog. With things getting much worse in Greece (unsurprisingly) the government there still seem to be unconcerned about reality. If the Greeks vote no then many of their banks will probably be insolvent in Euros as they will hold Greek Government

Posted by John Hemming on John Hemming's Web Log

Last week on Lib DemVoice I remarked that when great social reforms had been enacted liberals had the support of many Christians. I was thinking of Roy Jenkin's Homosexual Law reform,when Michael Ramsay was in the front line of supporters and David Steel's Abortion Act passed at a time when he was regularly introducing Songs of Praise. This was not just a phenomenon of the 1960's you could go back to Josephine Butler's work on the Contagious Diseases Act. My point was that such Christians who are today working to celebrate same sex marriages in churches and for women to ...

Posted on birkdale focus

Photo by Sunil060902 Last night Geraldine Locke gained the Hampton Wick ward of Richmond upon Thames Borough Council for the Liberal Democrats. Until last night, I believe, it was the safest Conservative ward in the Twickenham constituency. The result in full; Liberal Democrats 1189 (42.96%) Conservative 1081 (39.05%) Green Party 237 (8.56%) Labour Party 185 (6.68%) UKIP 69 (2.49%) Independent 7 (0.25%) The ALDC website tells us all about Geraldine. It says that though "the vision and values of the Lib Dems has always been close to her heart, it was the loss of Vince Cable at the recent election ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Following in the footsteps of New Statseman, The Independent and the Evening Standard comes The Guardian: The Guardian view on a new Lib Dem leader: he must be hi-vis. That means Tim Farron... Mr Farron's strength is his non-religious evangelical capability - a readiness to champion unfashionable causes with infectious zeal: civil liberties, migrant rights, the EU and social housing. Support for that agenda exists in other parties but often diluted or dispensable... It is Mr Farron who seems likelier to cut through to a wider audience and hold its attention. That may be the clinching qualification to lead a ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

 

Posted by Eric Avebury on Eric Avebury

Lib Dem Future page for this council LD Geraldine Locke 1,189 [43.0%; +25.0%] Conservative 1,081 [39.1%; -10.6%] Green 237 [8.6%; -9.9%] Labour 185 [6.7%; -7.2%] UKIP 69 [2.5%; +2.5%] Independent 7 [0.3%; +0.3%] Majority: 108 Turnout: 34.9% Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative Percentage change since 2014 This was a very strong result for the Lib [...]

Posted by libdemviewseditor on libdemfuture

Over the course of the General Election campaign in Llanelli (where I was the Lib Dem candidate), I was asked about the issue and challenge of the Town Centre. This was, I'm sure, partly related to stories like this one suggesting that Llanelli was the 'second worst' town centre in the UK. Now that is certainly more than a little bit on the harsh side, I think, but but Llanelli, like other towns in South Wales and across the UK as a whole, definitely has some challenges to come to terms with in the modern world. I did make some ...

Posted by Cen Phillips on Liberal Thoughts

Crossens Saturday, 11th July, St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens, between 11am and 12 noon. Churchtown Thursday, 23rd July, at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) Churchtown, between 10:30 am and 11:30 am.

Posted by John Dodd on Meols Lib Dems
Fri 3rd
18:30

Friday favourite 140

Stumbled across this the other night. And what's not to like a Quebecois rockabilly cover version of Blondies' Call Me...

Posted by Dan Falchikov on Living on words alone
YouGov

This week saw three by-elections in principal councils. In all three cases the Conservatives were defending. The result in Richmond was very strong with the defeat of the incumbent Conservatives. In one of the other seats we scored 10 votes and the third had no candidate. Following on from other recent results a pattern in [...]

Posted by libdemviewseditor on libdemfuture

Lib Dem Future page related to this council Conservative 561 [40.5%; -12.5%] Plaid Cymru 543 [39.2%; +26.7%] Labour 234 [16.9%; -13.4%] Independent 24 [1.7%; +1.7%] Green 22 [1.6%; -1.3%] LD Cadan ap Tomos 10 [0.7%; -0.9%] Majority: 18 Turnout: 49.9% Conservative Hold The party put up a candidate in this by election but scored [...]

Posted by libdemviewseditor on libdemfuture

Lib Dem Future page related to this council Conservative 579 [49.5%; +11.7%] Labour 257 [22.0%; -8.0%] UKIP 179 [15.3%; +15.3%] Lincolnshire Independent 155 [13.2%; -19.0%] Majority: 322 Turnout: 17.8% Conservative hold Percentage change is since 2013 There was no Lib Dem candidate in this by election. This was a poor result for Labour with [...]

Posted by libdemviewseditor on libdemfuture

So from Thursday through to Saturday the Tesco Neighbourhood Food Collection is taking place, in association with the Trussell Trust and Fareshare UK. These events are taking place in Tesco stores up and down the country and I put myself forward to volunteer for two stints, in two different stores, one for the Trussell Trust and one for Fairshare UK and I had two very different experiences. We'll start with the bad. On Thursday I was down to volunteer for Fareshare and I went to that store. First things first, when I turned up they had pretty much got nothing ...

Posted by neilmonnery on The Rambles of Neil Monnery

Yesterday was Lib Dem Opposition Day in the Lords and we chose two subjects very close to our heart. We've already covered the debate led by Paddy on foreign affairs. Jim Wallace led one on human rights and civil liberties. He outlined how he frustrated he felt as a minister on the wrong side of a human rights judgement but that made him no less committed to the principles of the Act. Here's his speech in full. My Lords, for decades, as a Liberal and Liberal Democrat candidate and MP, I supported campaigns to incorporate the European Convention on Human ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Earlier this week I wrote about the proposed cuts to tax credits. This news article suggests that Employment Support Allowance - which is given to people not currently able to work (because of ill health or a disability) - will be next.

[IMG: Short answer? Away. Far, far, away.] Short answer? Away. Far, far, away. Seth Thevoz and Lewis Baston have a very interesting new post on the Social Liberal Forum website, looking in detail at the 57 seats the Liberal Democrats defended at this year's general election. It's worth reading the whole thing because, as Jonathan Calder points out, it helps to explode the myth that so many seats were lost because the Tories persuaded huge numbers of Lib Dem voters to switch. In a similar vein, it's worth looking at this diagram of voter movements from Martin Baxter of Electoral ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With
Fri 3rd
16:02

Procedure

I was discharged from hospital at lunchtime today after a stay of less than 48 hours! The surgeon Dr Jason Wilkins, cleared the obstruction of the artery, which extended all the way from groin to knee, using catheters with balloons on the end to push the walls of the artery open, Several of the balloons burst, because the calcium deposits in the artery which let to its occlusion have jagged edges. I wonder if I should be taking calcium tablets, which are intended to remedy falling bone density, but haven't achieved that purpose. The procedure took 90 minutes, and I ...

Posted by Eric Avebury on Eric Avebury

Remarkably, we've seen a consensus between our two leadership candidates that some for of action such as all women shortlists or zipping in list contests, is necessary to do something about the party's shockingly poor record on diversity. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, as reported in the International Business Times, has called for quotas on company boards: I am a reluctant supporter of temporary [boardroom] quotas. Intervention, on a temporary basis, is probably the only solution to make a big change. It irritates my legal mind because obviously discrimination cannot be sorted with another discrimination, but I've come to the conclusion that ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Are you over 50, and interested in getting back into learning, and maybe progressing on to further study? This innovative taster programme run by South Gloucestershire and Stroud College may be for you. There are two courses: Monday 13th July - Wednesday 15th July and Wednesday 15th July - Friday 17th July. Each day will start at 9.30 and finish no later than 4pm. Both sessions will take place at SGS's state of the art WISE campus, New Road, Stoke Gifford. Bristol, BS34 8LP (plenty of free parking available) Click here for details of the programmes Free Lunch each day ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington
eUKhost

In the comments to an earlier post, Bill Le Breton mentioned a speech by Paddy Ashdown in the Lords yesterday. We had a look and thought it deserved to be reproduced in full. In it, he outlines the threats we face, the changes to the balance of power across the world and how we need to change our attitudes and foreign policy to meet these new realities. Enjoy. A little over 100 years ago, in the midst of the last conflict in which a collection of military primitives in a faraway mountainous country defeated the most powerful military force on ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

We all love our car and given the huge number of them on the roads and growing it is little wonder that the government is trying to keep motorists sweet. However, we cannot just keep building new roads to tackle congestion as these fill up very quickly and we are back to square one. It makes sense therefore to take a carrot and stick approach, improving public transport so that it is at least as convenient as driving whilst making the car-option less convenient. The UK Government's aspiration to improve our rail network is at least a step in the ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

The Frome Vale Area Forum (which covers Yate, Dodington and Chipping Sodbury) takes place on Thursday 9th July at 7pm at Shireway Community Association, Yate. As well as the usual open session where you can have your say on local issues, the agenda includes the allocation of community grants, presentations about food/waste recycling plus a presentation from BT about broadband.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

[IMG: A Merseyrail train at Bootle Oriel Road Station] A Merseyrail train at Bootle Oriel Road Station I have a lot of respect for Liam Robinson (the Chair of Merseytravel – our local public transport body on Merseyside) despite the fact that he is not of my political party, partly because he is a reasonable chap and partly because of his professional background in the railway industry. This does not mean I agree with all he says in a Liverpool Echo follow-up article (see link above) to the recent call in the paper for trains to run latter at ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus » Sefton Focus

A few people on a Faction Paradox group on Facebook have said nice things — and the Faction Paradox fans have all picked up on the ending (which I hope works for non-FP fans but will mean more for those who know the background), so I'm interested in seeing what people who don't know Faction [...]

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

On Wedensday, 1st July, Noman Lamb gave a brilliant speech at the IPPR on his vision for the future of our party, read it below: I want to thank the IPPR for inviting me to speak here today. The IPPR has been a leading progressive think-tank since I have been active in politics. Under the [...]

Posted by nicholasdacosta on Nicholas da Costa

Love this idea from Lisbon:

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The leadership candidates have sent their third official emails. You can read the first three here, here and here. First of all, the Returning Officer's information including what to do if you haven't received your ballot: Below are the top lines and links in the fourth 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 have already been dispatched so you should receive ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

OK, let's be honest here. For most of us who are 'of a certain age', we grew up in an era when the laws on underage drinking were not enforced with the rigour that they are today. Although going to a pub and drinking was not allowed for anyone under 18, the reality was that if you looked about 18-ish-or-so you were probably going to get served in many places without question. Indeed, we knew the kind of places where we were most likely to be checked or refused - town centres, night clubs and so on. In the 'local' ...

Posted by Cen Phillips on Liberal Thoughts

Geraldine became engaged in Liberal Democrat politics recently; although the vision and values of the Lib Dems has always been close to her heart, it was the loss of Vince Cable at the recent election that galvanised her into joining the party. Geraldine Locke is the Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Hampton Wick by-election. Geraldine [...]

Alistair Carmichael had a right old go at Leader of the House Chris Grayling over English Votes for English Laws. The Conservatives have chosen to take the easy route and merely amend Commons Standing Orders rather than have the House of Lords, where they don't have a majority, scrutinise it. Questioning Mr Grayling in the House of Commons, Mr Carmichael said: If there are not to be two tiers of MPs in this House after these changes, what on earth does it mean to have a double majority at Report stage? I have to say I think it is an ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

A great result in Richmond-upon-Thames last night: ICYMI: The Liberal Democrats last night gained Hampton Wick (Richmond upon Thames) from the Conservatives. pic.twitter.com/HkaIT5mWA9 — Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 3, 2015 The by-election was caused by the new Conservative MP for Twickenham, wo defeated Vince Cable, standing down from the council.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The Times brings the news: [IMG: Lamb cooperation] 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).

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

There was an ICM voting intention poll released on June 16th. Not many people noticed it; the polling companies aren't shouting from the rooftops about their work at the moment, for obvious reasons. Mostly, they keep doing them so that there aren't historical gaps in polling data (thus ensuring that graphing trends over time is possible into the future). However, the June 16th one was interesting when you dug into the crosstabs and got to the meat of the data. Top line is that the Tories are on 37% and Labour on 31% – a 6 point lead. No real ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

I recently raised with the City Council residents' concerns at uneven paths in Saggar Street - see an example - right : The area's Housing Officer has now advised me : "I visited addresses ... and will instruct slabs to be uplifted and levelled off."

Just under two months ago, Liberal Democrats in South West London suffered the shock loss of Vince Cable in Twickenham. It would be understandable if they had just curled up in a ball and sulked. They didn't get the chance to do that. The new Tory MP, Tania Mathias, resigned her Council seat so they had to get back out on the streets campaigning. The Hampton Wick ward was a massively safe Tory seat. Last year, the Liberal Democrats polled about half as well as the Tory candidates. Well, our fabulous team in Twickenham and Richmond managed to pull off ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Greater Manchester Liberal Democrats are giving their support to the Manchester Evening News' #NorthernPowercut campaign, calling for the government to prioritise funding the electrification of the Manchester to Leeds railway line ahead of putting more money into London with Crossrail 2. Cllr Sue Derbyshire, Lib Dem leader of Stockport Council, said "With the Lib Dems in the previous government, ministers decided it was the right thing to invest in these major, and much needed, infrastructure projects. As soon as the Lib Dems are gone, Osborne has started back-peddling and it's the schemes in the North that are being scrapped." [IMG: ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith, Graham and Iain

On Discrimination and Borders [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

Stockport's Full Council meeting on 2nd July was treated to lectures from Conservative councillors Syd Lloyd and Oliver Johnstone on why the government is completely right to be cutting £200 million from health spending this year. The explanations were met with incredulity from the Lib Dem and Labour benches, and with good reason. Speaker after speaker from the Lib Dems and Labour, some with decades of professional medical experience, pointed out how the Tories simply didn't seem to understand not only how healthcare works but also how council finances work. If current levels of spending continue (rising in line with ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith, Graham and Iain

If you think Stockport Council should be having a proper debate about how best to deal with the problem of legal highs, please support our campaign and sign our petition. Stockport Lib Dems went into the Full Council meeting on 2nd July looking forward to a proper debate on how best to tackle the problem of legal highs. All parties agree is a real issue in the borough, ruining lives and needing quick action. But the Lib Dems were frustrated when, on this important issue, Labour and the Conservatives ganged up together to block debate after less than 20 minutes, ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith, Graham and Iain

The failure of the Welsh Labour Government to tackle the root causes of poverty in Wales is depriving children of a decent childhood. A report released today by the UK's Children's Commissioners to a United Nations Committee has outlined that Wales has the highest levels of child poverty of any UK nation. Last month, a report by the Assembly's Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee laid bare Labour's failings and the "lack of progress in reducing poverty, particularly given its long-term commitment and investment in the issue." The evidence is stacking up and is plain to see: Labour have simply ...

Posted by Aled Roberts on Freedom Central
Fri 3rd
05:08

The art of silliness

The Minions demonstrates the intelligence and hard work required to make an apparently stupid film. I spend rather more time thinking about the Minions than a grown man really ought to. Despite this I'm not really sure about the exact alchemy that makes them so appealing. They somehow manage the peculiar feat of combining the normally [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

You may have noticed something about this book. There are very few women mentioned. And this is even after I have made a conscious effort to redress the balance, because I wanted to recognise the efforts of as many women in this book as possible. The problem is, though, that the LA music scene of [...]

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!