The July meeting of the Liberal Democrats' federal executive (FE) was put back a week to tonight so the new party leader could be present. As everyone now knows, that is Tim Farron, who certainly got lots of attention on the TV over the weekend. But with only eight MPs, can the Liberal Democrats maintain [...]
A talk from TED that summarises the argument of Ronson's recent book So You've Been Publicly Shamed.
Well, this is just the same. I thought it was a spoof at first. Surely this is the moment when a wheel came off the 24 hour news cavalcade.... [IMG: image] The BBC story is here.
I am not a radical. My best friends wouldn't call me a radical. But, for pity's sake, when a piece of legislation is up for debate which will make your supposedly core voters much worse off, people who are likely to have no financial resilience and won't easily be able to make up the proposed loss of income, it seems like a no-brainer to oppose it. So, what the hell are the Labour Party doing, proposing to offer up the gesture of an amendment which includes the phrase;a benefits cap and loans for mortgage interest support are necessary changes to ...
Jon Tolley explains how he held the Grove ward in Kingston for the Liberal Democrats with a thumping majority last week. Who bankrolled the campaigns of the two candidates for Lib Dem leader? Caron Lindsay has some surprising answers. "We have a culture like a rummage sale, like a white elephant stall, hideously divided and bizarrely coherent - and, over the last century or so, obscured by an even more varied invention known as 'Britishness'." David Boyle introduces his new book How to be English. "The walks on these pages feature a bit of everything like the splendid baronial castle ...
In a recent interview, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said that he now wants doctors to work seven days a week. Even though they already do. But the question that strikes me about this man is. Does Jeremy Hunt really understand how the NHS works? Back in 1948 when Beaven founded the NHS, I'm sure [...]
Even when you start with a more specific query, Google's knowledge of what people have been looking for and at makes it reckon you're really after something very basic: [IMG: Google autocomplete for Tim Farron]
Three Lib Dem gains in council by-elections coinciding with Tim Farron's election as leader are great news. They invite the language of a gradual comeback to a much improved result in 2020. But is the next General Election five years away? In the normal course of events the Conservative majority of 15 would be vulnerable to defections and losses through by-elections. In the last parliament, there were two defections from the Tories to UKIP and 21 by-elections. It is entirely possible that they would seek form a minority government, but the Tories would lose their overall majority of just eight ...
The Financial Times reports that a cross-party group is setting up a company with the aim of co-ordinating the Yes to Europe campaign. It is being funded by Lord Sainsbury amongst others. It seems that Will Straw is expected to take on the role of executive director. He stood as a Labour candidate in May, and is better known as the founder of the political blog Left Foot Forward. He is also the son of Jack Straw. Will will – I always like sentences that begin like that – be joined by Ryan Coetzee from the Liberal Democrats, in what ...
Jim Pickard and Sarah Gordon report in the Financial Times that three "senior figures" from the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats" are angling, with the help of some Sainsbury money, to lead the pro-EU campaign in the forthcoming referendum. Who are these titans? Will Straw, an associate director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, is expected to lead the group as executive director. Mr Straw stood unsuccessfully as Labour candidate in the Rossendale and Darwen constituency in May's general election. He has joined forces with Ryan Coetzee, a South African who was strategy director for the Lib Dems ...
Two articles about education have caught my eye recently both in the Independent. One, in today's paper led with a story about OFSTED Inspectors coaching schools so that they could fiddle OFSTED INSPECTIONS! Well to be frank I've never been ... Continue reading →
There's a new kid on the block, and it's called WHIP (website, Twitter, facebook). First watch this video: WHIP appears to be occupying a similar space to the long established They Work For You, in that it lets you keep track of your MP's work in Parliament, but there are some crucial differences. Firstly, WHIP provides services for MPs as well as for constituents. They aim to provide ... Three defined services for the public: Understand the Bills going through Westminster. Easily tell your MP how to vote on those Bills. See how your MP voted and if they are ...
What will Greater Manchester look like in 25 years time? What should it look like? What sort of transport infrastructure will we need to make that happen? Roads, rail, air, walking, cycling, buses, trains and trams – how should they connect us to the rest of the world, to the UK and to each other within Greater Manchester? TfGM have launched a consultation, to run for the next three months, on their 2040 strategy. It doesn't look at specific schemes but it does look at the challenges we face and what success in 2040 would look like. The Lib Dems ...
A major upgrade is now under way to Dodington Parish Council's changing rooms at the QE2 Playing Fields, Kelston Close. The £84,000 project has been helped considerably by a £25,000 grant from community programme Barclays Spaces for Sports, partnered with sports charity The Football Foundation. A further £7,000 contribution is coming from South Gloucestershire Council's New Homes Bonus scheme, and Dodington Parish Council is funding the balance of £52,000. The new funding for the QEII Playing Field follows previous grants totalling £68,000 from Barclays and the Football Foundation since 2006. These grants were used to pay for a multi-use games ...
Greater Manchester Liberal Democrats are demanding that secret information on how taxpayer-funded bus companies are performing is made public. Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money goes to bus companies each year to run buses on less popular routes, school bus services and Ring-and-Ride. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) collects a whole range of data on how well all the bus companies - more than 15 in total - perform. It includes information on reliability, punctuality and vehicle maintenance. This is kept strictly secret - no-one outside TfGM is allowed to see it. The Liberal Democrats are demanding bus users be ...
[IMG: ALDC's Kickstart is the party's premier local training event] The draft agenda for September's Kickstart training weekend has been released. Download September's agenda here. Kickstart is the best value training event in the Lib Dem calendar, with over thirty hours' of training, additional group time with expert mentors, and two nights' accommodation and food, all from as little as £80. As always the agenda [...]
After a lot of nagging, Highways England (the new name for the Highways Agency) finally cut some of the overgrown grass on the M60 J3 off-slip where it meets the South Park Road Estate. However, other grass was left that makes visibility leaving the estate poor. Additionally, Keep Clear markings on the road that we were told had been agreed and should be done in early May have still not gone down. This all means that exiting the South Park Road Estate onto the slip road is a lot more dangerous and difficult than it should be. We will continue ...
The Lib Dems took swift action over the weekend when we were told about a void under the pavement outside 12 Silverdale Road, Gatley. We contacted the Council's out-of-hours service who came out to take a look, initially putting down cones until a proper repair can be undertaken. This is more than just a hole in the pavement – there appears to be just a thin crust on top of a large void and a dip in the road next to it may well be connected. These issues can often be a larger problem, such as a sewer collapse, and ...
[IMG: Screen Shot 2015-07-17 at 16.25.58] I've always been a massive fan of Tim Farron. Like many, it started off watching his 2014 Conference Speech as Lib Dem President and only grew as I saw him being awarded Lib Dem MP of the year by the PatchWork foundationand fighting along side Caroline Lucas to improve mandatory PSHE in Schools over that year. It's for that reason that, when I saw all these articles titling Tim as the 'Bookies Favourite of next LD Leader', I knew I would support his leadership campaign, whenever it may be, wholeheartedly. It was a small ...
Best of Enemies is a behind-the-scenes account of the explosive televised debates between the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr., during the 1968 Democratic and Republican national conventions. Live and unscripted, they kept viewers riveted with their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex. Ratings for ABC News sky-rocketed; and a new era in public discourse was born. Best of Enemies is in cinemas and available on demand on July 24th.
At the Anthony Nolan reception last wee. Thy are trying to recruit stem cell donors, particularly among young people
Last week I was on the train heading up to Guildford for a special opportunity to meet Tim Farron, potential leader of the Lib Dems. As I travelled I was nervous as any young party member would be. I was about to meet my first real big name in politics, someone who had taken his place in Parliament, someone who had sat on BBC Question Time, someone who had played the political game against numerous reds and blues. But what I did not expect was the passion I was going to feel after this meeting. Tim spoke as he did ...
This morning I joined fellow Cornwall Councillor Jade Farrington and town councillor Dave Gordon to see the work of one of Cornwall's highways inspectors. The inspector was going round the centre of the town looking for problems with pavements and roads and marking them for repair. This is an exercise that is undertaken every eight weeks in Launceston and, during the two hours we spent in the town centre, we found 25 defects which have been marked for repair. To be considered a defect, a hole needs to be 20mm deep if it is on the pavement or 40mm deep ...
The internal wrangling within the Labour Party is starting to turn into a crisis with today's Independent reporting that acting Labour leader Harriet Harman faces a revolt from her own MPs over the party's response to the government's welfare reforms. The paper says that only five MPs have backed her by signing up to Labour's official amendment to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which opposes the abolition of child poverty targets and changes to Employment and Support Allowance but supports a lowering of the benefit cap. They add that the motion makes no mention of the government's controversial move ...
There is an episode of the American Presidential drama, The West Wing, called "In God We Trust". It follows the challenges of Arnold Vinick, a liberal Republican, who finds himself in hot water with the religious right of his party, particularly on the question of his stance on abortion. Arnie's religiosity had very noticeably faded with the passing years, but just as in the real world of American politics, the role religion had in public life remained every bit as potent. It emerges, when Reverend Butler, one of his Republican primary candidates invites him to come to his church to ...
This kind of follows on my previous comments on the basics about Liberalism (hence the title), with particular reference to the questioning of new Lib Dem leader Tim Farron commitment to Liberalism and Gay Rights issues following the questioning of his private religious beliefs with regard to whether homosexuality is a 'sin' Much has been made of Tim 'not answering the question', but in my opinion he has answered it, and answered it very well. He has made it clear that he is not a religious leader qualified/employed to make such public pronouncements on matters of 'sin', that as a ...
Nicholas Winterton, Cyril Smith (1928-2010) and Jack Straw, Members of Parliament for the textile towns Macclesfield, Rochdale and Blackburn respectively, stand outside 10 Downing Street in London on 10th June 1980. Over the weekend the Cabinet Office announced a review of the Freedom of Information Act. Now it is always sensible to check any act that promotes civil liberties against actual practice. But alarm bells started ringing when the members of the review panel were revealed. Chief among them is Jack Straw, who brought in the Act in 2000 as Home Secretary. But he is now saying that "inquiries about ...
I've been pretty lax about going to the cinema of late, so I missed this when it was on at the local Cineworld. Happily, I have access to Hebden Bridge, and it is showing at the Picture House there (still on tonight, if you want to go) which is a place I've been meaning to visit for a while, albeit that I'm more of an Elland Rex girl when it comes to small independent cinemas. So, firstly, the actual cinema: is gorgeous. It has absolutely loads of legs room in all the seats, more than in any other cinema I ...
[IMG: image] (for the sake of clarity, the originally posted thing above relates to the funny gif, not the post below) I know it would be best not to dwell on Tim Farron's non-answer on whether homosexual sex is a sin. What is (almost) said cannot be (almost) unsaid and it's probably best we all move on. However, I feel that there is a misunderstanding in the party as to how much this has angered people like me. Or you might say, I'm not angry, I'm intensely disappointed. I've written previously that one of the reasons I was motivated to ...
I bumped into Ed Miliband in Parliament the other day. He greeted me with a warm hello and we stopped to chat for a while about recent events. We've always got on, and it was good to see him looking very well. I said so, and he admitted that there had been many changes in [...]
New figures out from the Electoral Commission show that at least 24 Returning Officers failed to meet the standards necessary for a "well-run election". Errors made include: Print errors with election material, Ballot papers issued to those not entitled to receive them, and Incorrect declaration of results A report details what went wrong in each of the 24 cases, but this may not be the final tally as it excludes areas where election petitions are underway or where evaluation of the Returning Officer's performance is still underway. 6 Returning Officers fall into one or other of these categories. Once those ...
"I don't think I can fight this anymore. I'm listening with one foot out the door." I'm on the train, as I usually am since I work 2 hours from where I live. I originally wanted to write this for the libdemvoice but since I've only got access to my WordPress app this will need [...]
[IMG: The Annihilation Score (Laundry Files, #6)] The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross My rating: 5 of 5 stars I loved this. It was very refreshing seeing things from Mo's point of view rather than Bob's; her voice is different from his but no less compelling. She's less jaded, even though she's older and more senior. She's got a vibrancy, and her humour is similar to but not the same as Bob's. She's also authentically a woman; the stuff she worries about is stuff I worry about. The impostor syndrome, the becoming invisible, the dress codes (yes, those who know ...
Back in 2011-12, we had prolonged discussions about the knock-on effects for Northern Ireland of the previous government's proposals to cut the number of MPs in the House of Commons down to 600, which in Northern Ireland's case would have meant a decrease from 18 MPs to 16. That didn't happen in the end, as the Liberal Democrats withdrew their support for the proposed changes, but the legislation remains on the statute book, and unless it is changed (and signals are that it won't be) the process will kick off again shortly, with new constituencies being designed to be as ...
Mon 20th
09:49
On Corbyn: It seems the right-wing press have learned nothing from what happened with the SNP
You can't move these days for articles in the right wing press, and even in some Labour outlets, declaring how Labour will never get back in unless they stop demonising the right; I'd like to posit an equivalent theory: that right-wingers, especially those in charge of certain national newspapers, as well as those who have been in charge of the Labour party for the last 20 years or so, don't understand what motivates lefty voters. Look at what happened with the SNP last general election. The more the rightwing press fulminated about what a disaster it would be if the ...
Mon 20th
09:37
Opinion: Three small ways in which a British Bill of Rights could improve on the Human Rights Act 19...
[IMG: Every_Canadian_Needs_A_Copy] The title of this piece is fairly self-explanatory. As such, I shall get straight into the substance of my proposals: 1) Whereas any interference with a person's human rights must be "necessary in a democratic society" according to the Human Rights Act 1998, let's replace this test with "necessary in a free and democratic society" in the forthcoming British Bill of Rights In recent years, it has become apparent that many in political life, as well as in our judiciary, would benefit from a liberal nudge when it comes to deciding cases involving our civil liberties. For the ...
Mon 20th
09:21Pale ale: one of my bigger bugbears as a beer drinker is people calling things pale ale that aren't.
On Saturday night I went out for a couple of beers. Of the five beers I tried, all of which were labelled as Pale Ale, in three different pubs, only one was actually pale. I blame Greene King for this. Their shitey, piss weak, nasty-tasting "IPA" which is neither the strength an IPA should be (5.5 or above), nor the colour a pale ale should be, is none the less cheap, therefore lots of outlets sell it, lots of idiots drink it, and the brewers have thought well if they can call THAT an IPA and get away with it... ...
Yesterday, England capitulated in rather embarrassing fashion to the Aussies at the home of cricket. Facing a nominal 509 to win, which really meant having to bat out five full sessions to earn a draw, England fell for 103 all out having made it through only one. Some will now be speculating that the Australians have the upper hand and will roll onto a 4-1 series victory from here. But I'm not so sure. If you will recall 2005, when the Australians won the match at Lord's (although by not quite not so heavy a margin, admittedly) before the two ...
Diamond have been awarded a new contract to continue running the 2L service between Ludlow and Kidderminster. It is good news that the service is continuing. This is a vital service for people who live on Clee Hill to get into Ludlow for shopping, hospital appointments and education. Many people use the 2L to go [...]
Tim Farron's voting record on same-sex marriage has often been talked about in the last few days (and the weeks prior to that) but rarely talked about in much detail. So I thought I'd check the full details, as documented by the independent and very helpful Public Whip website – and it's rather different from what you might have thought from the coverage: [IMG: Tim Farron's voting record on same-sex marriage] You can see the full details of how that "voted strongly for the policy" verdict was calculated here. That voting record is therefore quite in line with his more ...
"Dinner was announced soon after our arrival, which consisted of the following things," writes the Rev James Woodforde describing his meal on 20 April 1796, in a diary which - in a very English way - lists the food in great detail but barely mentions God at all. Then he takes a deep breath and sets out the table before him: "Salmon boiled & Shrimp Sauce, some White Soup, Saddle of Mutton rosted &c; Cucumber &c., Lambs Fry, Tongue, Breast of Veal ragoued, rice Pudding the best part of a Rump of Beef stewed immediately after the Salmon was removed. ...
Earlier this month, the new 'Good to Go' service replaced the Friendly Bus sheltered shopping service that has been operated by Stagecoach for a number of years. I advised at that time that there would be alterations to the timetable compared to the former the West End Friendly Bus timetable (although the day for the West End remains unchanged - Tuesday) . 'Good to Go' has now advised me that the pick-up revised times are now : Tullideph - 12.30pm Morven Terrace - 12.35pmLogie Gardens/Logie Avenue/Scott Street - 12.45pmMuirlands (Seafield Lane) - 1.05pm Patons Lane - 1.15pm Richmond Court - ...
Danger Mouse is back! Hurrah! (tags: tv ) Livejournal Survey Worth doing if you care about LJ. (tags: livejournal ) The ambassador's tale When what happens in Belgium gets warped by the U.S. political scene. (tags: uspolitics belgium ) 'The North Korean posters that got me arrested for espionage' Dedication. (tags: northkorea art )
The curious truth about belly button fluff - I did wonder why I never get it [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
A new planning applications has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58928 Registration Date: 02/07/2015 Location: 4 Lime Grove, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 3DX Proposal: Two storey extension at side; Single storey extension at rear; Dormer at rear; Canopy at front 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
A new planning applications has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 58920 Registration Date: 30/06/2015 Location: 29 Mount Pleasant, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2SD Proposal: Dormers at front and rear; Single storey extension at rear 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
Britain long ago ceased to be a regular superpower but no other country has more 'soft power'. The small mindedness of the present government is putting that at risk. When we talk about the power a nation wields, we normally mean its military or economic strength. But as well as being able to force other nations [...]
Here are the podcasts for this week's posts: California Dreaming: Lady-O California Dreaming: Doggone Hugo Blogging: Best Novel Remember, these podcasts are because of the people who support my writing through my Patreon.
Hundreds of local people backed a Liberal Democrat campaign to save the Human Rights Act, when Forest Hill Lib Dems held a street stall as part of a national action day on June 27th. South London Lib Dem MP Tom Brake, one of the leaders of the campaign nationally. explained: "By drawing up plans to [...]
The dissolution peers list has not been published despite an extended period since the election. Rumours have, however, circulated in the press as to who the new peers are likely to be. The delay may be related to the need to consult the new Lib Dem leader. On 15th May the Sunday Times reported that [...]
