Crosby, Stills, and Nash had not originally intended to form a band at all. Crosby and Stills had both been at loose ends after leaving their respective bands, and were looking for something else to do, and had been jamming together a little and writing the odd song. Graham Nash had left his own band, [...]

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

What happened to the train derailed at Chilham after the passengers were rescued? I hear you ask. This video explains: Surely working of the year! On Sunday 375703 and 375612 were working a late evening Charing Cross - Ramsgate service when on the approach to Chilham, 375703 hit 5 Cows and Derailed, the Breakdown Crane came from Bescot to re rail the unit, and 66723 dragged them from Chilham - Canterbury west on Monday the 28th. Then in the small hours of this morning [30 July] Thumper Power cars from Hastings Diesels unit 1001 were dispatched to collect the damaged ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Those who knew Ayesha, who had been touched by her life, and those who did not. People of all faiths and of none. As the light of the day drained away, we gathered together to mourn the loss of a 19 year old woman taken from us when her whole life lay ahead of her. Ayesha Rahman was killed when she was hit by a car less than two weeks ago. The driver has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Many members of Ayesha's family joined us. Prayers were said and a two minute silence ...

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith, Graham and Iain

The Guardian reports: A police investigation into claims that former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith was released by officers after being found in possession of child abuse images has closed due to a lack of evidence. Simon Danczuk, the current Rochdale MP, made a series of claims about the late Smith's sexual activities, including that Smith was stopped by police who discovered he had child abuse images while travelling on the motorway through Northamptonshire. But Northamptonshire police said they could find no records or witnesses to corroborate the allegations, made by the Labour MP.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Thu 30th
21:17

Why #PartTimeMatters

A copy of the 2015 edition of the Open University's magazine "OpenMinds – for enquiring alumni" was waiting for me when I arrived home this evening. There's some great content in it – for example, articles on the Philae Lander, driverless cars and research into social exclusion, all of which OU academics and alumni have contributed significantly to. All this ...

Thu 30th
21:16

Six of the Best 527

Adam Ludlow analyses Labour's pensioner problem. "In the 1930s many British aristos found themselves unable to keep their right arm vertical. Like their fellow nobs in France, Prussia and Spain, they clung to fascism as an antidote to democracy and in the hope of keeping their loot." Glen Newey puts that photo of a young Princess Elizabeth giving a Nazi salute into historical context. Jenny Uglow goes round the Eric Ravilious exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and finds the artist modern, English and strange. Mrs Slocombe in space? Surely nothing could go wrong. Well, to judge by Come Back ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Thu 30th
20:35

Thursday reading

Current Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) Lord Valentine's Castle, by Robert Silverberg Divorcing Jack, by Colin Bateman Last books finished Gulp, by Mary Roach The King's Speech, by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi Doctor Who - The Drosten's Curse, by A.L. Kennedy Next books Building Confidence in Peace, by Erol Kaymak, Alexandros Lordos and Nathalie Tocci A Visitor's Companion to Tudor England, by Suzannah Lipscomb Mission: Impractical, by David A. McIntee Books acquired in last week Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Short Trips: Zodiac, edited by Jacqueline Rayner

Oh the Independent, why do you have to be so foolish? The Indy is renowned for being a pretty good newspaper that doesn't let personal opinions get in the way of a story. Well today after it was announced that Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May would be taking their talents to Amazon Prime on a three-series contract, the aforementioned newspaper decided that the appropriate story to cover such an event was entitled, How to cancel Amazon Prime: after Top Gear hiring, how to leave premium service – the piece was penned (well typed) by their technology reporter Andrew ...

Posted by neilmonnery on The Rambles of Neil Monnery

Sheila and I went along to the excellent end of judging party of the Maghull in Bloom and Maghull Station Volunteers this afternoon. [IMG: Beautiful barrier baskets on Westway.] Beautiful barrier baskets on Westway. No one but the North West in Bloom judges know how well Maghull performed this year, as the results will not be published until the autumn, but there is no doubt that the growing band of 'bloomers' have been pulling out all the stops they can to improve Maghull and its railway station. [IMG: A blooming Maghull Station] A blooming Maghull Station Having spent many years ...

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

So I'm registering on a website (I'm not going to tell you which one) and it asks me to pick a question for security for in case I forget my password. And all the usual ones are either public knowledge and therefore googlealbe, or debatable and therefore I would forget which answer I had put. But I don't have to pick from the usual ones. I can make up my own. Problem is, all that's coming into my head is "What was your mother's maiden name?" which EVERYONE knows (or can easily find out) or "what was your first pet's ...

YouGov

Ever since Jeremy Hunt spoke to the King's Fund and Radio 4, when he stated doctors had a "Monday to Friday mentality" and needed "to return to a sense of vocation", there has been an all-out war between doctors and the health secretary being played out on social media. His point was that doctors were a roadblock to his plan of 7-day services and they needed to be dealt with; this would save 6000 lives. The backlash began with #iminworkjeremy campaign, where people took selfies of themselves proving to the health secretary that they were already at work. This has ...

Posted by Christopher Kane on Liberal Democrat Voice

It was the morning of 9 May 1941 south of Iceland. The commander of U110, Fritz-Julius Lemp had fired four torpedoes into the convoy in quick succession. There had been an audible explosion in the distance echoing through the icy sea, but there was also an immediate problem. The fourth torpedo had failed to leave the tube. Sea water had been pumped into the tube ready to fire, but it had failed to shoot out again with a burst of compressed air as it should have done. Consequently the submarine was now too heavy at the bows and Lemp began ...

Posted by David Boyle on The Real Blog

All the unpleasantness of the last few days' reaction to the ongoing Calais crisis is perhaps just a taste of the difficult challenge it will be for Liberals to uphold decency in the coming years. In my view, the best way to form a powerfully Liberal stance on this issue is to reinforce to the public that the solution to this crisis, as well as others (Islamic extremism, the environment etc.) lies in a field of policy often neglected by mainstream debate: International Development. But for us to form that policy, we must face some difficult home truths. Every ideology ...

Posted by Guy Russo on Liberal Democrat Voice

Lincoln by-election contested by Lib Dems In the run up to the by-election being held today (30th July, 2015) in the ward of North Kesteven in Lincoln, I decided to visit and help out with canvassing. Former MP Lembit Öpik joined me on the trip, which involved a 4 hour journey from Central London to [...]

Posted by libdemviewseditor on libdemfuture

tl;dr version: all the puppy stuff went below no award, as did some of the non-puppy stuff. Things I particularly hated that were non-puppy included The Day The World Turned Upside Down by Thomas Olde Heuvelt and Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky. If I could have given like an overall Hugo for the best thing of all on the ballot, it would have gone to Ms Marvel, no question, that was fantastic. If you want more detail than that, ( you'll find it below the cut... ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments ...

[IMG: Libby - Some rghts reserved by David Spender] Liberal Democrat Voice has a fantastic archive of posts going back to our establishment in 2006. Here's an interesting article from our founding editor, Rob Fenwick, which was published in September 2006. You can read the post in its original form, with comments, here: Iain Dale has seen the Tory logo future, and it's... scribbled. Some months ago I was sat in a pub in Bath, with a friend who was hovering on the brink of becoming a Liberal Democrat party member. He's on board with our policies, believes in personal ...

Posted by the founding editor on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: alan johnson book] Please Mister Postman by Alan Johnson is a great book to take on holiday with you, if you haven't already read it. It's now available in paperback, published by Corgi Books for a cover price of £8.99, although you can get it for less. There are two types of memoirs by politicians: boring self-justification and interesting, good reads. Johnson's writings are firmly in the second category, along there with Alan Clark, Chris Mullin and Paddy Ashdown ("A Fortunate Life"). Very often the early days of a politician are the most interesting – as was the case ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice

In any party, or indeed any organisation, a strategy will struggle if it's seen as something for other people to do. Successful strategies are embraced throughout the organisation, and that's all the more true in organisations heavily dependent on volunteers, let along those, like the Liberal Democrats, which also believe in grassroots power. Building a core vote for the Lib Dems: the 20% strategyA strategy for rebuilding the Liberal Demcorats more So although much of the 20% core vote strategy David Howarth and I set out is about what the party 'centrally' or 'nationally' should do, to succeed as a ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

UKIP seat. Cause: Disqualified. LD candidate: Ronan West

Posted by Anders Hanson on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Biteback publishing have announced that David Laws will be writing a book for them on the inside story of the coalition: Iain Dale, MD of Biteback Publishing, has acquired world rights to Coalition, the inside story of the Cameron-Clegg Coalition by David Laws, the former senior Liberal Democrat MP, and author of the bestselling 22 Days in May: The Birth of the Lib Dem-Conservative Coalition (Biteback, 2010). David Laws is well placed to provide a real insider's account, shedding light on much that has not yet made it into the public domain. He took part in the key Coalition negotiations ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice
eUKhost

Here are some things that are facts:Most people either don't care about or actively despise most politicians Everyone in the Westminster bubble - politicians, journos, everyone* - is completely out of touch with actual public opinion, which is both more right wing** and more left wing*** than the Westminster consensus. The intellectual incoherence of the average voter's views and the fact that they can be both horrifically right wing and horrifically left wing at the same time has, since the early eighties, mostly benefited the right wing of the Westminster bubble. There is absolutely no guarantee that this is a ...

I've seen some Lib Dems pointing out that if Jeremy Corbyn wins the Labour Party leadership contest, then Labour progressives (chuckles) may well jump ship for our Party. I've also seen the point raised that said progressives will not be Social Liberals, though they may well be Economic Liberals. I've also seen it mooted that Corbyn is in no way a Liberal, and that he lacks in the area of creating a Stronger Economy. When Tim Farron was elected leader, I had the possibly naive view that the Party might be swinging back towards me, but perhaps there's further to ...

Posted by Gary Fuller on Gary's Garbled Gabblings!

Lincolnshire Independent Res. LD Candidate- Diana Catton.

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Conservative Seat. Cause:Death. LD candidate- Rory Roberson Contact: Rory Roberson (01905 756944, 07453 980186, rroberson@live.co.uk) Margaret Rowley (01905 345307, 07899 053700, amargaretrowley@aol.com)

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

UPDATED DETAILS SNP seat. Cause:Resignation. LD Candidate Ken McLeod Contact: Ian Yuill (ian@ianyuill.org.uk)

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of light-hearted pieces that we will publish over the summer. Please do nominate further entries in the comments. It is fair to say that the brutal, feudal polity of Westeros, featured in Game of Thrones and the A Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R. R. Martin, beset as it is by civil war, turmoil and hardship, is not generally a hotbed of liberal thought and action. In fact, it's hard to think of a less likely environment in which the tradition of Mill, Gladstone and ...

Posted by David Faggiani on Liberal Democrat Voice

Labour seat. Cause:Death LD Candidate- Andy McGregor Contact: Andy McGregor (07968 309279, amcg1958@gmail.com)

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

UPDATED DETAILS: SNP seat. Cause:Resignation LD candidate Jonathan Waddell

Posted by Michael Powell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

I spoke yesterday at a meeting of the Birmingham UNA about The Magna Carta and the British Constitution. We attempted a livestreaming of this, the bandwidth was too low. Hence I have uploaded the recordings. There were two short recordings of 1 and 4 seconds that I have removed, but there are two recordings of a quarter of a minute and then a recording of 1 hour 17 minutes. These are here:

Posted by John Hemming on John Hemming's Web Log

There is no surer sign of a paranoid leader, uncomfortable with her role and not in control of her own party than one who pursues gagging orders against her own colleagues, especially one who only a few years ago was a rival for the leadership. In fact there are many examples of this sort of behaviour, most of them in non-democratic countries. I have said many times that Plaid Cymru are not a liberal party and earlier this week they proved it by getting Dafydd Elis-Thomas' local party to prevent him speaking out-of-turn on issues he feels strongly about. The ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

The parallels between this summer's Labour leadership contest meltdown and the battle for the party's soul in the early 1980s are too close to swat away as ahistorical journalese. Here, for example, is an excerpt from Graham Stewart's terrific book, 'Bang! A History of Britain in the 1980s'. Swap 1979 for 2010/2015 and Thatcher for Cameron/Osborne, and you have a replica explanation for the Jeremy Corbyn surge: [IMG: labour 1979-2015] As for the Blairites' current woes, this is also an eerily accurate foreshadowing: [IMG: labour 1979-2015 - 2] It comes back to the old issue: what is the left for ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

This Sunday 2nd August sees the Sandgate Rec Family Fun Day from 11am - 5pm: come along! Mums and dads bring a picnic and relax to the fabulous Electric Tortoise 60's R&R band and DJ music throughout the day whilst the kids enjoy the Bouncy Castles, Folkestone Owls, Circus Skills Demo & free Circus Skills sessions, Party Mascots, Bouncy Assault Courses, Pillow Bash, Fun Dog Competition, Ice Creams and Refreshments, Candy Floss, Tug O War for mums and dads, Street Dancer Demos, Boules Competition, Bungy Run, Clown Slide... Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 ...

Posted on Tim Prater

There is only one meeting on the August Calendar for August Planning and Development Committee, Thursday August 13th, 6:30 pm at Arms Evertyne House The Events Committee postponed from this week should be re-organised for August, but as yet no date as been set.

Posted by Alisdair Gibbs-Barton on Alisdair Gibbs-Barton

Take a look at the bottom right. I guess Paul Nuttall just didn't have enough books, and Ukip just didn't have someone with any subtlety at the controls of Photoshop... [IMG: Ukip 2015 manifesto page 28] Hat-tip: Owen Bennett's very funny and insightful Following Farage.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

I can already see the reaction from Labour readers – are you kicking the dead man again? This isn't a vendetta I've got against Ed Miliband – he was always too weird to even dislike, thinking back on it – but rather that a). I find what I'm about to write about interesting in a sort of political geek sort of a way and b). I think there may be valuable lessons for the Labour Party to extract once they've had their Corbyn-flavoured meltdown and are ready to enter the land of the grownups once again. Worst element of Ed ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Big Lunch event being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Arnhall Gardens, Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Saturday 1 August 2015 for one day. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. No alternative routes are available however access to residents will be maintained. For further information contact 433168. Director of City DevelopmentDundee City Council

At the request of the sheltered tenants at the Ancrum Place/Morven Terrace, I asked the Environment Department of the City Council if new benches could be provided as the existing outdoor seating was in a poor state of repair. With grateful thanks to the department, new seats are now in place - one is pictured (right) :

[IMG: Logging in to online banking. Photo used under CC0 creative commons license] Quite a contrast with the Conservative Party's hostility to encryption in the UK: Fears over encryption overblown, say American security chiefs Mike McConnel, former director of the NSA, Michael Chertoff, former homeland security secretary and William Lynn, former deputy defence secretary, have backed ubiquitous encryption and said it would be a mistake to weaken it (The Washington Post). "We believe that the greater public good is a secure communications infrastructure protected by ubiquitous encryption at the device, server and enterprise level without building in means for government ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

There is a lizard sex satellite floating in space and Russia no longer has it under control - The Washington Post Actually they do. (tags: space biology ) The secret lives of the priests in Father Ted You needed to know this. (tags: ireland funny tv ) Married at First Sight My cousin Kate tells all. (tags: tv marriage ) Catalans Spur the Remaking of Spain With Battle for Independence All kicking off. (tags: catalonia spain ) The Greek Crisis: What's Germany up to? Merkel and Schäuble, without caricatures. (tags: eu greece germany )

Provocative new study finds bullies have highest self esteem, social status, lowest rates of depression Will Windows 10 prove a winner for Microsoft? As long as shouting "Fuck OFF Cortana!" turns it off I suspect the UK market will accept it. Microsods did think of that, right...? *remembers how little effect shouting fuck off had on Clippy* *worries* Scientists have synthesized a new compound that 'mimics' exercise. Could a workout pill be far behind? The true cost of a vegan burger - an insight into street food pricing. Having worked in the food industry, I can tell you that a ...

The mist has not cleared and the fog thickens by the day! Lydiate resident and environmental campaigner Peter Greener writes:- I don't know if the DCLG [Department for Communities & Local Government] have issued their more detailed stuff yet [for Sefton Borough] but I'd be interested to know how many single households there are for a start and sizes of younger families in greater detail. For example, the DCLG talk about increased numbers of older people living by themselves. But where these people come from is of interest. And why do they now require housing? If they come from larger ...

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