As with the Liberal Democrats, there's plenty of controversy in Labour over the right campaigning lessons to learn from the 2015 general election. That makes the views of any one key high profile individual only part of the full story, but even so there are two immediate thoughts that struck me from Arnie Graf's remarkable story for LabourList about how Labour struggled to find anyone on the minimum wage to talk to Ed Miliband: "How could it be that the Labour Party, supposedly the Party of working people, was not in relationship with a single minimum wage worker?" First, it's ...
For Tim Farron, the situation in Calais has always been primarily a humanitarian one. He was furious last week when David Cameron described the desperately vulnerable people there as a "swarm." Most recently he asked Cameron to make sure that we were doing our fair share to end the "immeasurable suffering" of the people in Calais. He wrote: I am sure you agree that it is heartbreaking to see hundreds of desperate people subsisting in makeshift camps night after night, willing to risk life and limb in the hope of a better future while many in Kent and across the ...
The appealingly named Black Dog Halt was originally a private station provided for the Marquess of Landsdowne. More Wiltshire railway goodness on this blog: The last train from Swindon to Swindon Town. Earlier videos in this series: Devon, Bedfordshire, North Lincolnshire, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, Rutland. Northumberland, Shropshire, Suffolk, East Riding of Yorkshire and Norfolk.
Back in 2011, when I was a very young supporter of the Liberal Democrats. I knew back then that I certainly had a passion for one thing as well as mental health. Our environment. So you would not have believed how delighted I was when I watched former MP for Eastleigh and Secretary of Energy [...]
Robert Conquest, who did much to make the West grasp the scale of Stalin's terror, has died at the age of 98. I am pleased that his Telegraph obituary finds room for his brilliant rendering of Shakespeare's seven ages of man as a limerick. Here it is without the coy asterisks: First you get puking and mewling, Then very pissed off with your schooling, Then fucks and then fights, Then judging chaps' rights, Then sitting in slippers, then drooling.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has announced its investigation into the derailment at Chilham* last Sunday: Our investigation will examine the sequence of events before, during and after the incident, in particular:the fencing at this location the railway's response to reports of cows being on the line the behaviour of the train after it struck the cows It will also examine any relevant management issues.Having been aboard the train, I look forward to this report. * The Branch refers to it as the "Deraliment at Godmersham", which is indeed the nearest village to the accident site, but all the reports ...
The Pentabus Rural Theatre Company production The Lone Pine Club, based on the books by Malcolm Saville, is reviewed for the Guardian today by Lyn Gardner: The children make dens, swear oaths of loyalty, travel widely across the UK on their own, make up secret signals, solve mysteries, uncover spies and generally get the better of the baddie, Miss Ballinger, a woman whose generosity with chocolate fudge cake is never to be trusted. ,,,If the lack of a focus on a single adventure can make it feel a bit episodic and lacking in real tension, the show is fast paced ...
Okay so here is the rub (possibly more than one): I massively feel sorry for friends, colleagues, opponents in the Labour Party who are faced with the very real election of Jeremy Corbyn. I genuinely believe that his election and his pitch would be a retrograde step for any party. An equivalent would be Nigel Farage tipped to win Leader of the Conservatives... which in the current climate Farage might want to think about. But one of the jibes I hear most from Labour folk, and it is Labour folk, is that Liberals (and they can't get the name right ...
I was very sad to see this announcement from Simon Drage, London Lib Dems' Liaison Officer, on Facebook today. It's reproduced with his permission: Very sadly David MacDonald who until recently was Constituency Manager for Paul Burstow and Organiser for Sutton and Cheam, as well as a Vauxhall Member, died following an epileptic seizure on Saturday. David was an energetic campaigner and a generous friend. He went out of his way to help his colleagues across London and beyond and as well as his duties in Sutton took on being the parliamentary candidate for his home town of Burton this ...
Community concern over NHS hospital bosses' suspensions in Southport Community representatives have expressed deep concern over the revelations of four senior NHS Trust managers being suspended at the Southport & Ormskirk NHS Trust. The suspensions have been linked by the NHS Trust Chair Sue Mussom to 'whistleblowing' within the hospitals. [IMG: nhs-logo] Southport councillors' health spokesperson, local Lib Dem Councillor Tony Dawson said: "Suspensions to this extent in any part of the NHS are thankfully rare. They normally follow serious allegations which the Trust concerned has to deal with through proper procedures while those involved are kept out of the ...
Lib Dem candidates were fielded in all five principal council by-elections held last Thursday. The two contests in Aberdeen (UA) in Kincorth/Nigg/Cove and Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill wards, both caused by the resignation of the new MPs for Aberdeen North and South, resulted in two comfortable SNP holds. Lib Dem candidates Ken McLeod and Jonathan Waddell polled 6.5% and 4.1% of the first preference votes respectively, a slight decrease in the Lib Dem vote share from 2012 on both counts. The result of both by-elections was sealed after the first round, with the respective SNP candidates receiving over 50% of the first preference ...
[IMG: peak corbyn] Just when I think we've reached Peak Corbyn, the summer madness ratchets up another notch. Last night, we reached Peek Corbyn, as crowds of Jezzabeaux and Jezzabelles descended on Camden to hear the Sage of Islington spake. The New Statesman's Stephen Bush, the must-follow commentator on the Labour leadership (along with LabourList's Conor Pope), has long predicted Jeremy Corbyn will win, weeks before it was fashionable. In a sense, we shouldn't be surprised: he is by some distance (as I noted in June) the most articulate and sure-footed of the four candidates, and offers an infectious hope ...
Please click on the link above to the Huffington Post web site and read the views and facts as put before us by Robin Lustig. Our sensationalist press play up to the UKIP/Tory agenda and we don't really see what is actually going on or why. Now do you see things in a different light and feel better informed?
Thumbing through a July 2015 copy of this magazine in a local coffee shop I came across a really positive spin article about the new river berth dock at Seaforth and the extra freight traffic that will go through it from later this year. [IMG: The present Seaforth Docks and hinterland] The present Seaforth Docks and hinterland This is a subject I have comment on before but this article really brought home to me how out of sync Sefton Council, the Highways Agency and Network Rail are with the project. The obvious question is why have these public sector agencies ...
I thought that I would do a little bit of number crunching on the asylum seeker figures for 2014. I have given the link below. It needs a little bit of expertise to wade through the data, but I would be more than happy to help out if someone is interested. Firstly, let's be clear about the overall numbers. In 2014 just under 25 thousand people claimed asylum in the UK. In context this represents about 4% of people coming to our country. But actually the real number that should be used is the number of people who are granted ...
[IMG: gatley train path] Lib Dem action – nettles cut back on the path at the back of Gatley Station car park. The Lib Dem team try to get out in the ward as much as we can. This week's work includes: walking and cycling round Gatley and Cheadle looking out for potholes, graffiti and other issues. We covered about half the ward and are putting the reports into the council for action. cutting back nettles growing across the path at the back of the station car park cutting back vegetation growing across the unadopted path by the Tatton cinema ...
Monday: The Conservatories seem to have discovered a previously-buried passion for democratic "fairness". They say something like this: "The Lib Dems only got 8 MPs, but they have 101 Lords, that's so unfair." And of course they are RIGHT. We believe in Proportional Representation. There are 1432 Westminster Parliamentarians, and so to represent the 7.9% of the electorate who voted for us on May 7, we should have 113. So we are owed 4 Peers. I look forward to Mr Balloon firing 29 of his more egregiously stupid followers so they can achieve the "fairness" that they say they want. ...
In October of 2010, the coalition government published its Strategic Defence Review into the future of the UK's armed forces. It spoke of the need to counter the threat from an enemy which fought an asymmetric campaign, citing the growth of Al Qaeda and the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In doing so it ignored the writings of David Kilcullen, perhaps the foremost expert in asymmetric warfare and the hard won experience of our Armed Forces fighting a 30 year conflict in Northern Ireland. Instead it advocated reducing its greatest asset for fighting an asymmetric war, the army, down ...
[IMG: 'Friend' in multiple word clouds] In writing last week about the need to stand as many Liberal Democrat candidates as possible in elections (short version: if we want a larger core vote of people who regularly support us, it's counter-productive to force even the most loyal of loyal would-be supporters to vote for someone else by not having a Lib Dem candidate), I touched on one of the ideas in the pamphlet I wrote with David Howarth on rebuilding the party: building up a network of "Friends of the Liberal Democrats". It's a spin-off of the old idea of ...
What if your boss could check your internet browsing history? What if you became a criminal just because you attended a rock concert? And what if a supermarket knew you were pregnant before you did (actually a true story)? And they could sell that information on? Most people don't know that all three things are entirely possible thanks to the Conservative's Snoopers Charter, the SNP's use of facial recognition software and the power of supermarkets to track your changing shopping habits against your personal data. Next May, the Police & Crime Commissioner elections will take place in England & Wales, ...
The centrepiece of the Tatar Sabuntuy Celebrations in Kazan I spent two days at the weekend in Kazan which is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, which in turn is part of the Russian Federation. This does not make ... Continue reading →
We were lucky to have the Lib Dem MP, Norman Lamb, drop my recently. We were knocking on doors asking residents in Chiswick about their views on some national matters including Heathrow, the Human Rights Act and Europe. Norman Lamb in Southfield Of course people were still raising the issue of the impending wheelie bins which we are still fighting to stop. Such a waste of money that could be spent on vital services. Labour seem happy to close our day centres whilst the fail to keep our streets clean. Norman Lamb MP has a great history in government and ...
British political journalism continues to plumb the depths. The latest case in point is their reporting of the contest for the Labour leadership. This applies both to the factual coverage and analysis. Nobody seems to have thought through the implications of the party's electoral system, know as the Alternative Vote (AV). This system was put to referendum in 2011 for parliamentary elections, but alas the argument that referendums promote education and understanding falls short here. Last week news was made by the leaked results of a private poll. This showed that left-wing candidate Jeremy Corbyn might just squeak home to ...
All but the most left of commentators have declared that if Jeremy Corbyn wins the Labour leadership contest, the effect on that particular party will be deleterious. Some of the stuff written about Corbyn, particularly from a centre-left perspective, has been verging on hysterical. I myself have joined in, remarking on many on occasion just how damaging I think a spell of Jeremy's magic would be for the Labour Party. But today, I want to try and be objective: would it really be that bad for Labour if Jeremy won the thing? The guy does seem to really reach people, ...
The Liberal Democrat membership system, especially the Salesforce platform, comes in for some understandable criticisms and moans at times, but it also comes in for some unreasonable ones too – which is why it's always useful to remember that which is so commonplace as to be forgotten. Simply having a central membership list to which people have online access to from all around the country is a major benefit, but was controversial in its day. Look at the complaints about the Conservative membership system to see how good the Liberal Democrat situation is by contrast: In a rash of enthusiasm ...
I was looking back at the introduction I wrote to The Human Element, eventually published in 2011 but inspired by the dysfunctional approach to public services by the Blair-Brown regime (the real New Labour 'virus'). This is what I wrote about the prevailing fear of human error: "We live in a world which believes two contradictory things at the same time: we must set people free to innovate to make things work, but we must control them tightly to make sure they don't make a hash of it. We believe both these even though we can see the consequences all ...
George Dobell reports for Cricinfo: The future of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club looks uncertain after a request to the ECB for emergency financial help and an examination of the benefits of selling their ground and moving to an out-of-town location. The club, who have already borrowed several hundred thousand pounds from a group of directors earlier this year, have been instructed by the ECB to undergo an independent financial review to ascertain whether they fill the criteria for borrowing. It is believed they require around £500,000 to meet urgent financial obligations. The ECB has assisted counties in the past but ...
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 carriageway patching works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Hunter Street (closed to southbound traffic at its junction with Hawkhill), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 10 August 2015 for 2 working days. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available via Hawkhill / Perth Road / Nethergate / South Tay Street. For further information contact ...
Drinking Games Manipulating Moldova through wine. (tags: moldova russia ) Assyrian Christian woman shares story of captivity by Islamic State As interviewed by @gajap. (tags: syria ) How many beers can you buy with the monthly minimum wage? Belgium wins! Belgium wins! (tags: maps eu )
In which @jenyockney shares the text of her speech at Leeds Pride pictures of the smoking room on the Hindenburg. Cameron's asylum policy turns us all into pound shop Gestapos Jeremy Corbyn's voting record - there's a lot of this I don't have much of a problem with How Sexism Affects Women's Health Every Day Is It Time for Some Facts About Those Migrants? Robin Lustig nails it [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
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