Headline of the Day goes to the Leicester Mercury.
Just two blogs joined the LibDemBlogs aggregator in July, but they were both good ones. Many thanks to Ryan Cullen for sending me the list. My Liberal Expressions is written by Mavarine du-Marie, who describes herself as a Liberal Democrat, I-feminist (individualistic feminist) and holistic in approach. She writes on the fall of Lord Sewel: I dislike the fact that sex (normally private and consented) is used to bring about someone's downfall, that is, where none other could be found in their professional life. So if those who want reform in the second chamber, you are going to have to ...
Churchtown Thursday, 27th August, 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.
(My Liberal Democrat Membership No: 1150091790) I chose the William E. Gladstone card image because of this quote that I find profound and motivational: "Never forget that the purpose for which a man lives is the improvement of the man himself, so that he may go out of this world having, in his great... More William Gladstone – My Libdem Membership Card Image
As Liberal Democrats, we all have one thing in common. We care about the mental health of others. During the coalition government, between 2010 and 2015. Two million people were treated for mental health problems as a result of access to talking therapies being improved. That in my opinion is a coalition positive! As the [...]
This is a beautiful song from a great songwriter. It stands the test of time. I don't understand what it means. But I think that is the point.
Nigel Griffiths. Tim Yeo. Mark Oaten. Paddy Ashdown. Ron Davies. Ian Harvey. David Blunkett. John Prescott. Cecil Parkinson. David Mellor ("toe job to no job" – replace orange bra with alleged Chelsea FC strip). Robin Cook. Harvey Proctor. All those men were MPs who featured in tabloid sex scandals over the last few decades. None involved expenses abuses or other impropriety that I can recall or find in the archives. The Lord Sewel episode admittedly involves an alleged breach of drugs laws (legislation which liberals have campaigned to reform) and the use of a publicly supported flat. Of course, the ...
[IMG: times falconer] Women 'are not tough enough to lead Labour' Such was the headline in the Times last Friday, above an article by Lord Falconer. You would be forgiven for tinking that Lord Falconer actually said that women "are not tough enough to lead Labour". But what he actually wrote was: Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper are both very talented politicians. Both have a big future in our party. But neither Yvette nor Liz can steer the Labour party through the challenging few years ahead of us when we need a leader who can reach out to all wings ...
[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 ...
Yesterday was a good opportunity for someone leading the EU referendum "No" campaign to make a mark. You know the sort of thing, a bit of EU bashing and announcing a countrywide campaign. A bit of "no brainer". Incredibly, Nigel Farage decided to take a really peculiar tack on Today and other outlets: He talked down the "No" campaign, saying that it was behind in the campaign and letting the "Yes" campaign rule the airwaves. I mean. Blimey. Why use a precious media slot to do your enemies' work for them? He drew attention to splits in the "No" campaign, ...
"Evangelicals have written the story of liberalism and that story, reluctantly but seemingly irresistibly, has been absorbed by liberals themselves. That story is that liberals have surrendered key theological beliefs and their churches are in rapid changes to keep up with society and the former led to the latter. Oddly, though liberalism has been for more than... More Ten Elements of Liberal Orthodoxy
Non-fiction: 4 (YTD 27) Splintered Light: Tolkien's World, by Verlyn Flieger The Prisoner, by Dave Rogers Gulp, by Mary Roach The King's Speech, by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi [IMG: Splintered Light] [IMG: The Prisoner] [IMG: Gulp] [IMG: The Kings Speech] Fiction (non-sf): 4 (YTD 22) The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton The True Deceiver, by Tove Jansson Ulysses, by James Joyce The Sorrows of an American, by Siri Hustvedt [IMG: The Luminaries] [IMG: The True Deceiver] [IMG: Ulysses] [IMG: Sorrows of an American] SF (non-Who): 3 (YTD 77) City at the End of Time, by Greg Bear (did not finish, ...
This summer I've become gripped by a new TV drama. A TV drama being played out in front of the nation's media with episodes of this drama shown on almost every edition of the nightly news. But sadly unlike most TV dramas this isn't a work of fiction, it's the Labour Leadership Contest. The Labour Leadership Contest has turning into a massive duel between the two great traditions of Labour politics. On the one side you have the New Labour establishment represented by Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. On the other side you have the Old Labour socialist ...
Happiness or subjective well-being (SWB), defined as "people's cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives" (Diener, Diener, & Diener, 1995, p. 851) has long been of interest to scholars and philosophers across various disciplines. Within the political science literature, the idea that governments should promote well-being dates back centuries to Adam Smith, Jeremy... More Liberalism and Well-being
Sat 1st
15:35
Tim Farron's message for Brighton Pride - and a better way to start these sorts of talking head vide...
Watch what happened when Helen sat down with Tim. Find out what VDV means:
The issue of hopeful asylum seekers and migrants at Calais has brought out the worst in Britain's right-wing politicians, popular press and probably more than a few others as well. A few days ago Nigel Farage, still UKIP leader, noted on the radio that nine asylum seekers had already died in attempts to get into the UK (one young man only that morning) and demanded that "something should be done" or it wouldn't be long before a British citizen was killed. This is a nasty throwback to the gung-ho Boys' Own Paper attitude of my childhood, in which one Briton ...
[IMG: Liberal Democrat HQ - Great George Street - preamble to party constitution] Closing date: 17.00, Wednesday 12 August 2015 We are looking for a highly motivated individual to join the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Adviser Unit (PAU). The PAU is a dynamic, exciting and fast paced team working to support and promote the efforts of Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians in both the House of Commons and House of Lords. The Parliamentary Adviser will specialise in one of six key policy areas, supporting all Parliamentarians in carrying out their duties. We are currently advertising for three of these policy areas. Working with ...
This week, a number of stories have broken in the local press about Haringey Council's expenditure. Here are some of the headlines...
In case anyone hasn't noticed Labour is in a spot of bother over its leadership election. Jeremy Corbyn looks relatively comfortable in his position as favourite to win and the other candidates seem to be busy bickering over who is best to challenge him for the position of Labour leader. I've seen it thrown around that if Corbyn wins there'll be a mass migration from Labour, or even that no matter who they elect they've got themselves into a flat spin and aren't likely to recover. I've also seen it thrown around that if that happens we'll be the ones ...
The Independent reports: An attempt to unseat the Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has been thrown out by the High Court after two judges ruled that legal documents informing her of the action were sent to the wrong address. Lawyers acting for Ms Dorries, who was re-elected as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire at the general election, successfully argued at a hearing in London that the election petition sent to her constituency's Conservative Association last month was invalid and should be struck out. The legal action was lodged by Tim Ireland, a political blogger who stood against Ms Dorries as an ...
These photos are from my archives and I found them when getting rid of some old floppy discs. They were taken in the late 1990s. I thought they were an interesting historical record, however, so have uploaded them to flickr. I asked a question of the Prime Minister (when it was Gordon Brown) about bus regulation. I think the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is getting the powers to do
It's not only the Tory crackdown on tax credits for families that will hit the working poor: it's the Conservatives' multiple mistakes on social housing that will do the most damage to our society. The problem is, these are less well-understood. Yet added together, they are set to cause a social housing sector crash almost comparable to the banking crash. This is probably unintended - not least because there's not one single policy that's driving this. It's the combination of a series of separate decisions that are coming together to fatally undermine the finances of many social housing providers, especially ...
Note the farewell speech from Nick Clegg and also the speech from the leader of D66, Tim Farron's favourite example of a sister party hammered in coalition which then bounced back spectacularly. Download this document
[IMG: LDV FANTASY FOOTBALL] The English Premier League kicks off a week today, on Saturday 8th August, and LibDemVoice has revived its Fantasy Football League to mark the occasion. So if you fancy pitting your soccer selection skills against fellow party members — and try and knock the 2014/15 champion George Murray off his perch — then here's your chance. To enter all you have to do is click on this link. Simply register your details, pick your team, and away you go. If you need the joining code at any point, it's 271576-231936. And for those who don't feel ...
Yesterday, I had a very interesting and useful visit to the new offices of Starter Packs, who recently moved from Perth Road to Forest Park Road. Starter Packs Dundee is a voluntary charity, initiated by Scottish Churches Housing Action in 2000, and provides vital home 'starter packs' for resettling homeless and needy individuals and families in the Dundee area. The team are always looking for donations of good, unwanted basic household goods, bed linen and curtains. These are then re-cycled and made up into 'starter packs' by a team of volunteers working on a rota basis. Last year Starter Packs ...
Sat 1st
08:39
Is Nicola Sturgeon correct in saying that "no politician" has the right to stand in the way of a sec...
After David Cameron ruled out another plebiscite on whether or not Scotland should secede from the United Kingdom before 2020 (which is a pretty reasonably time scale), Nicola Sturgeon predictably went on the offensive. "Two questions I get asked often these days - will there be another independence referendum and, if so, when? My answer is simple. It will be if and when the Scottish people decide and not a moment before. No politician can impose a referendum on Scotland, no matter how much some of us would like Scotland to be independent. And it's worth pointing out that the ...
The latest 2015 Sunday Bandstand Concert on the Magdalen Green Bandstand takes place tomorrow, Sunday, at 2pm. The Arbroath Instrumental Band will be playing - more details here.
Blog comment of the week from @lauralorgy here (see what you've done, @charlottegore? LOL) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Andy Burnham is the latest politician to flounder in a live webchat with Mumsnet, responding to the famous biscuit question by saying he prefers beer, chips and gravy. What sort of answer is that? Over at the Telegraph, they have listed all the answers given by politicians to the query as to what is their favourite biscuit. It has featured in 28 of 76 such encounters. Margaret Thatcher famously struggled with a member of the public demanding details about the sinking of the Belgrano. For Gordon Brown, it was the biscuit question that sank his campaign. As for the rest: ...
"Locke's discussion of liberty as a process pertinent to self-reflective creatures buttressed his account of the relationship between selfhood and consciousness, as well as extending it into more obviously political questions about money and appropriation in the Second Treatise. Ownership is once again the 'Rule of propriety'; because the regulation of civil life in a... More Liberty and Personal Identity
