The dissolution honours list has been delayed for many weeks. The reasons for this are unclear. The power to create new peers is held by the Prime Minister and under normal circumstances a list would have been issued in the aftermath of the General Election. The new list may have been delayed to take into [...]
Tracey Huffer, councillor for Ludlow South, has updated me on this morning's Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee meeting at Shirehall. None of us knew before the weekend that Ludlow's Stretton Ward is to close at the end of this week. Tracey asked an urgent question at the meeting about what was happening and [...]
[IMG: A slightly blurry Keith and Iain by Styal Prison] A slightly blurry Keith and Iain by Styal Prison 80 people braved the rain to take part in the Gatley Fun walk – with some running or cycling – to raise money for St Ann's Hospice last Sunday. The Lib Dem team came out to do our bit, with Keith and Iain completing the walk – ten miles from the Horse and Farrier in Gatley through Heald Green and down to Styal Prison, then back again. But we still need more money for the cause. The target is £5,000 and ...
New members often ask how to find out what current policy is, on a wide range of topics, how to influence or 'input' on policy, and indeed what the party does with its policy once it is established. Normally I explain that in policy Conference is supreme, at least in theory. I talk a bit about Policy Working Groups (PWGs), initiated by the Federal Policy Committee, FPC. I also explain that there is a review of policymaking underway, to be discussed at Autumn Conference. In this context, new members may appreciate a quick summary of my personal views of some ...
A 1989 book about the size and shape of a Doctor Who annual, about everyone's favourite 17-episode cult TV show (apart of course from Here Come The Double Deckers). It's a bit of a missed opportunity. The front few pages have some interesting detail about the making of the show, including differing narratives on some of the key moments, but also demonstrating the extraordinary extent to which McGoohan was show-runner; did even Roddenberry have the same level of control over the original Star Trek? But abut 90% of the book is simply a retelling in tedious and slightly disjointed detail ...
At the Social Liberal Forum conference session on equality, one of the points raised by Julian Huppert (pictured alongside chair Mark Blackburn and the other speaker Kelly-Marie Blundell) was that of philosopher John Rawls' idea of the Veil of Ignorance. [IMG: Huppert Blackburn Blundell] The Veil of Ignorance challenges us to find fairer solutions to policy questions: it asks us to consider what policies we would support if we were ignorant of our place in society, including of what skills and attributes we might have. This might not be possible: this is a challenge not a recipe. Rawls goes on ...
Curves on railways – in reality pieces of hardly or never used track/trackbed that folks are campaigning to have reinstated so that better services can be delivered. I can think of 3 of them in the north west of England:- The Burscough Curves – They should connect the Ormskirk – Preston and Southport – Wigan lines but were taken out of use in the 1960's. OPSTA, John Pugh (MP for Southport) and others across the political spectrum have be fighting for years to get the curves brought back because Southport – Preston trains would be a possibility and indeed Ormskirk ...
News from the Electoral Commission: Claire Bassett, Chief Executive of the Parole Board for England and Wales since April 2012, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission. Prior to the Parole Board, for two and a half years, Claire was Chief Executive Officer of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which is the body responsible for investigating miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. She will take up her post at the Commission in the autumn, and replaces Peter Wardle who is leaving the Commission at the end of this month. Interested in more ...
[IMG: Human Rights Act] After the 2015 general election, David Cameron announced that during his time in government he will try and scrap the Human Rights Act of 1998 and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. After this statement only one thought sprung to mind: has David Cameron officially lost it? However with David Cameron's small majority, I hardly think this motion will be accepted among the MPs of the House of Commons, let alone the great British public. I personally think that the Labour Party will seek to distance themselves from the SNP more and more and ...
After pressure on Sefton Council from Meols ward councillors, travellers finally leave Preston New Road. Caravans and motorhomes depart site where they set up last Thursday.
An as-yet-unannounced review of Business, Innovation and Skills-funded bodies raises a potential threat to the future of research funding. We need an intelligent, evidence-informed debate about the costs and benefits of assessment In academic circles, it's become fashionable to denounce the Research Excellence Framework (REF) as the sector's very own spawn of satan. The REF, a six-yearly assessment of the qualities and impacts of UK research, is used to allocate around £1.6 billion of public funding on an annual basis. In these austere times, you might think that would be enough to win it a few friends. Instead, the critics ...
The House of Lords is in the news, with much lamenting about the size of the House and the impending arrival of new entrants. Yet since the House remains unreformed, of course we need new blood. Otherwise we will simplify fossilise. The only democratic way to shed numbers must be for the electorate to decide who is in and who is out. The country cannot rely on the political party whips to do so fairly, and it would be ludicrous to expel effective Peers just because they had reached a particular age. The Coalition Government's Reform Bill was given a ...
Volumes have been written on this site and elsewhere about the political, moral and social impacts of the coalition government increasing tuition fees in the last parliament. I do not propose to rekindle that debate, but rather to examine the emerging, and potentially very long-term economic consequences of tuition fees. Whilst the UK economic recovery started to gain a genuine depth, public policy makers and private sector market participants alike commented on both the narrowness of the recovery (the rate of growth being pedestrian for an economy exiting recession), the lack of wage growth, the subdued level of capital investment ...
The rise of Jeremy Corbyn in the "polls" for the leadership of the Labour Party is, well, absurd. He is practically the textbook example of the unreconstructed Marxist hard left. A product of the sixties North London Poly, and a long time columnist for the Morning Star, which for younger readers is a comic inspired by Leninism. For goodness sake, even his parents met as peace campaigners during the romantic Socialist defeat of the Spanish Civil War! Yet the fact is that this totally unreconstructed dinosaur, a stalwart of mistaken and lost causes throughout his entire political career still looks ...
The Politicos series of guides is a newer – and cheaper – series than the venerables Times guides which come out after each general election. Those latter books justly have a very strong reputation for comprehensive factual coverage of the constituency results and MP biographies. Wisely, the Politicos series does not compete head on and instead – in addition to leaving more money in your wallet after purchase – has a greater emphasis on analysis by a range of authors. [IMG: The Politicos Guide to the 2015 House of Commons] Hence this 2015 guide does not give a complete set ...
People have complained that there isn't enough bin space at Gatley skate park in the Rec ground so litter ends up on the floor that could go in the bin. To help, Keith has secured a smart new double bin to replace one of the older single bins. Hopefully this will improve the litter situation. [IMG: rec bin]
I spent yesterday with Liberator's Stewart Rayment and family at Hastings Pirate Day. (Arrr!") I took the train back through Rye to Ashford and then caught another one to Canterbury. Somewhere between Wye and Chilham there was a loud bang and the train began to judder. It soon became obvious that the coaches (I am not sure if there was one or two of them) in front of mine had become derailed, but we came safely to a stop. No one was hurt - even the single passenger in the coach you can see in my photo. The train crew ...
To follow Cape Cod Girls by Baby Gramps, here is another track from Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys.
In the world of football, all is not good. FIFA is undergoing the trials and tribulations of reform, whilst acting like some sort of pseudo- authoritarian state, corrupt to the very core. The FA is blind to the locking out of many fans and seemingly unable to push real reform. The Premier League can't hear complaints over the cash pile that they find themselves eternally drenched in. This matters, to a lot of people. In the UK, 32% of the adult population is engaged with the Premier League. This is before we address the Championship, where historically popular teams such ...
[IMG: police_elections] If it was up to me, we wouldn't be having Police and Crime Commissioner elections next year. They're a pointless position, and in most cases appear to have become nothing more than a highly paid spokesperson for the police than providing scrutiny and challenge to them. I don't get to make those decisions, and as the Government's now made up of the only party that appear to think they're still a good idea, we can expect to have another two sets of PCC elections before we get the chance to replace them with a system that might actually ...
The bizarre news stories yesterday morning about entryism into the Labour Party to support Jeremy Corbyn as leader convinces me of at least three things. First, the Labour Party doesn't trust its own members. Second, the disappearance of their ideological foundations and purpose - some decades ago now - could mean that Labour might go in almost any direction. Third, we are in one of those peculiar periods when party positions are seriously in flux. We have Ukip and the Greens - sleeping at the moment - but poised to divide Labour support between them once they come back to ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] Our colleagues at the LGA have announced the line up of this year's LGA group: LGA Liberal Democrat Group 2015-16 Leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson Portsmouth Deputy Leaders Dorothy Thornhill Watford Chris White St Albans & Herts Chair Ruth Dombey Sutton Whip Howard Sykes Oldham Children & Young People Liz Green [...]
After many years on the cusp of joining the party, I finally made the decision to join the Lib Dems immediately after that fateful day in May. My motivations, I am sure, were much the same as those of many other waverers - despite having a stubborn, independent streak that made me loath to join a party (any party), and hesitation over the policies of the Coalition, I could no longer stand by and expect others to shoulder the burden of protecting liberal values and defending individual rights. I can safely say that I haven't regretted my decision for a ...
If you're claiming Single Person Discount on your Council Tax but your circumstances have changed, you have until Saturday 1st August to take advantage of a short amnesty to tell the council. Maybe you are a single parent and one of your children has turned 18 or you've started renting a spare room out to a lodger. If you tell the council about this before Saturday 1st August the change will not be backdated to 1 April 2015. If you don't, action will be taken on any discount incorrectly claimed. If you think this might apply to you - or ...
It is fair to say that many within the Labour Party are a tad stressed this summer. Given they might be on the verge of being led by an unelectable (other than by the Labour membership and assorted hanger-ons, some of whom may or may not be Tories, that is) far-leftist, that's understandable. This has led many of the shadow cabinet, under the cloak of remaining off the record, to tell various newspapers that should Jezza triumph come September, a coup would have to be arranged in fairly short order. "If he wins, we will be in massive danger of ...
And I think the reaction of some of the animals is just what you'd expect from trying to get a group of Liberal Democrats all to do the same thing....
For those who read my views on the UK Government's badger cull, this particular conundrum is of a totally different order. The Times reports that a group of MPs and peers have set up an inquiry into reducing the size of the House of Lords amid fears that the upper chamber is too big. They say that a cross-party panel will report later this year and could recommend cutting the numbers or introducing compulsory retirement: David Cameron has faced warnings that the Lords could swell to more than 1,000. He is expected to ennoble a number of new Tories in ...
Grand Theft Moldova More on the epic money laundering scandal. (tags: moldova russia crime ) Britons "not prejudiced, just thick" Close to the bone! (tags: ukpolitics ) The key lesson from Syriza's defeat? A different Europe requires both ideology *and* competence A leftist critique. (tags: eu greece ) Africa in Data - The Data-Visualization-Presentation on How Africa is Changing Generally good news. (tags: africa ) Oliver Sacks: My Periodic Table On his life and impending death. (tags: death )
Local GPs are fearing for the future of Ludlow hospital after health chiefs decided to shut Stretton Ward at seven days' notice. This will reduce patient's privacy, block plans to create a dementia friendly bay, and end proposals to provide blood transfusions and intravenous antibiotics in Ludlow. The GPs are also worried that the move [...]
Merseyside Police: Meols Ward July - September Newsletter covering Crossens, Churchtown & Marshside.
The Liberal Democrat Federal Conference committee isn't really democratic as only twelve of the twenty members are elected directly by Conference Representatives, who are a small minority of members. The remaining eight are appointed by senior party bodies like the FE and FPC, neither of which is directly elected by the membership. It's also shrouded in secrecy - members are forbidden from discussing the content of meetings, even when the results of their decisions are announced. Recently, a number of Conference reps and the local party of Hackney submitted a conference motion on legalising cannabis. The motion had other elements ...
This year, I had the great honour of meeting a man who made a journey that inspired millions across the world. He and his 11 colleagues proved what happens when vision, courageous and determination are focussed on a single goal. The man I met is called Gene Cernan - an astronaut. He was the last human to leave [...]
