Kent Online reports: For sale: a spacious seaside property. The Dungeness Estate - which has been described as the UK's only desert - is up for sale and yours for £1.5 million. Owen Leyshon, of the estate's managers Romney Marsh Country Partnership, said: "This is the sale of an incredibly unique landscape and a very popular tourist destination. "We are expecting a massive scrum of people making offers." The 468 acres of private land has been owned by the Paine family trust since 1964. But now it is in the open market in a unique sale is being handled by ...
[IMG: 6605979025_d5b50310c2_z] At the end of last week there was a bit of a furore generated by a blogpost published by the Adam Smith Institute. A young man called Theo Clifford argued that the solution to the British housing crisis lies in deregulation. That in itself is not, perhaps, an earth-shattering observation to find emerging from a libertarian think tank. Clifford, though, takes the argument a stage further than we usually see. He argues that Britain's housing problem is an absence of slums. Social welfare would be improved if we were to deregulate so that housing consumers can "choose" poor ...
Tuesday Mind you, Farron can be Rather Hard Work. This morning, when I pass by St Asquith's to make sure that no more gargoyles have fallen, he stops me to ask why I insist the choirboys have rifle practice every week. What a question! He wouldn't be asking it if a snap by-election were called. I cast a soulful look towards the country west of Marston Trussell, where the Revd Hughes is probably even now simmering gently, surrounded by onions and bouquet garni. Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West 1906-10. Previously in Lord Bonkers' Diary... Armed to ...
Tue 11th
21:39
Henley Hall solar farm on Ludlow outskirts thrown out by planning committee - we got this right
The application from Kronos Solar to build a solar farm off Squirrel at Little Ledwyche was today rejected by Shropshire Council's South Planning Committee by a majority vote after a short debate. Planning meetings begin with formalities, including disclosure of pecuniary interests. If a member has such an interest, for example, a financial stake in [...]
A relatively quick Cheadle Area Committee for August – the meeting lasted just over an hour. We were told the law around fly-tipping has now been changed so the council can issue fixed penalty notices rather than having to take people to the magistrates court. We were told that in Cheadle, council officers seized a TV from a property after persistent complaints that the volume was on far too loud and the owners failing to respond to requests to turn it down. We received a petition from residents of Carlton Avenue who want to have speed humps put in when ...
Norman Baker has an article in today's Independent: It seems extraordinary, just after a general election that produced only a narrow majority for the Conservatives, to countenance a one-party state, but that is what we are now facing. The warning signs are flashing, clearly and urgently. In the Commons, the opposition is cowed and aimless. After a terrible result in May, especially north of the border, a future Labour majority now looks like a pipe dream. ... The Lib Dems may well have an energetic new leader in Tim Farron, but they were reduced to a pile of rubble at ...
I am still in the process of formulating a comprehensive answer. So this post will get added to, so you will see its development in time....but herewith my immediate thoughts: Liberal Democrats are guardians of British Liberalism. And it is this guardianship which makes the Liberal Democrats distinctive and different, in that they integrate aspects of disparities that can... More What makes Liberal Democrats distinctive?
Gosh, I'm way behind on book-blogging - about a dozen books read in the last couple of weeks which I want to tell you all about... The first of these is Mary Roach's new book about the human digestive system, Gulp. It is generally entertaining rather than enlightening, a decent addition to her previous work on sex and space. Indeed, the latter of those two had quite a lot to say about zero-gravity poo; Gulp has even more to say about poo, in more familiar circumstances. But she starts further up the alimentary canal, with explorations of taste and nutrition. ...
Anti-immigrant feeling is one of the oldest prejudices in the book. We have rightly come to expect to hear it with wearying regularity from the right-wing press and certain parts of the Conservative party. But there is something different about the latest round of comments and policy proposals from Theresa May and co – something darker and altogether more troubling. Until now, even the Conservatives, who have attacked 'economic' migrants (including students) with every kind of financial and regulatory penalty imaginable since 2010, have maintained an attitude of respect towards asylum seekers and refugees. 'Britain has a proud and historic ...
[IMG: Cllr Iain Roberts (left) on the importance of reaching out to your local voters] Stockport councillor Iain Roberts has written a guest piece for ALDC members on why (and how!) we should be doing more to reach out to our local voters where they are: Imagine your awesome election leaflets are just back from the printers. Do you a) get them out to deliverers and push them through letterboxes [...]
As it's had a bit of discussion recently elsewhere, such as in Liberator, here is the Liberal Democrat policy on accepting donations. The requirements set down are in addition to the requirements which the law sets down for donations, such as over who is able legally to make a donation. Those legal checks are made by party staff and signed off by the Registered Party Treasurer*. The process talks about "accepting" a donation which is different from receiving one. For example, if a donation is made via credit card on the party's website, then it will have been received by ...
St George's Hall – A planning success from the 19th Century Does anyone now remember the monstrous buildings which for 5.5 decades obscured the magnificent frontage of Lime Street station? 6 big shops and a tower block, Concourse House, which ... Continue reading →
A campaign to save a Southport bank swung into action within hours of NatWest's shock announcement that their Churchtown branch faces closure. Lib Dem Councillors Pat Keith and John Dodd visited the bank, spoke to several dismayed customers and revealed they are organising a petition in a bid to keep the bank open. NatWest announced that the bank will close on November 17 and Councillor Keith declared: " It's outrageous and is a clear case of putting profit before people. There is a determination by all banks to force people away from branches and to online activity. "What the banks ...
Cllr Jayne McCoy chairs the London Borough of Sutton's Housing, Economy and Business Committee. She has written for the Local Government Association's First magazine about how Sutton Council have set up a development company to build the right sorts of houses at the prices key workers can afford: In Sutton we have seen numerous private developments of one bedroom flats, however what we need are two and three bedroom family homes. We also see both the private for sale and private rented sector out of the price range of most of our residents. In response we have sought to take ...
Stockport Magistrates Court The Lib Dems have attacked Conservative plans to close courts across the country, including Stockport Magistrates Court – the second-most used in Greater Manchester. The Stockport court has Adult, Family, Youth, Tribunals and problem solving courts – all of which would be lost under the proposals. The Police, already under huge pressure, would have to spend more of their time ferrying defendants around Greater Manchester – that's time they can't spend stopping crime. People who need to access the family and problem solving courts (both of which work very well) will need to spend more money and ...
Like many others, I'm sure, I have become increasingly disturbed by the kind of language being used with regard to the debate on immigration and the refugees in Calais. At first, I guess, David Cameron's use of the word 'swarm' could perhaps be forgiven as a momentary slip. A bad one, but not a deliberate one. There can be no such excuse for Philip Hammond's description of migrants 'marauding', though - after the complaints about Cameron's use of language, he can only have been absolutely deliberate in the terms he chose to use. Indeed, it seems like, far from apologising, ...
The Conservative government have today announced a £13 billion investment in road and rail transport across the North of England. It's not new (all the schemes have been around for a while and most have already been formerly announced) but in a quiet August it's a repackaging that should generate a few headlines and, ministers will hope, head off "Northern Powercut" talk. [IMG: Selection_089] The Northern Powerhouse idea, let's remember, is about linking together our northern cities to make one bigger virtual city where someone can, for example, sensibly live in Liverpool and work in Leeds. That size is needed ...
Like many of you, I knew the late Susan Sheridan as Trillian on the original radio version of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - though I also enjoyed her in a Big Finish audio a while back. Her website links to the above video of her work on animated films - spefically, the Moomins, Disney's The Black Cauldron and Noddy. The Black Cauldron looks particularly good, and I'll try to find an opportunity to watch it.
The Scotsman reports: Scotland's only Chinese SNP councillor has quit the party amid claims of being subjected to a "racist attack" and "bullying". Yen Hongmei Jin, 29, says she was forced to resign after the party's top brass failed to protect her against "discrimination" from local party members... Ms Jin, who was elected in 2012, stepped down from the party last month citing "irreconcilable differences". But she said her decision came as a result of the party's failure to deal with the matter. Ms Jin, who was born in China's Zheijang province but moved to Scotland in 2003, will now ...
Notwithstanding my article last week, it looks as if Jeremy Corbyn really is the front runner to win Labour's leadership contest, after a YouGov poll published this morning. Also this week Conservative government ministers have been ramping up intemperate rhetoric on immigration and proposing foolish policies to curb it – in what looks like a calculated attempt to hold the far-right Ukip in check. Nobody seems interested in wooing Britain's centre ground voters. That YouGov poll, incidentally, is a proper public one, with open methodology. It shows that Mr Corbyn has 53% of the vote, enough to win on the ...
The upcoming referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union is both an opportunity and a threat for the Liberal Democrats. The party has an opportunity to define itself clearly as the most forward-thinking, internationalist force in British politics. However, if it fails to do this then it risks looking like an irrelevant, also-ran defender of the status quo. The 2014 European election campaign shows the threat that the party faces. It was insufficient to simply argue that the European Union must be retained because it preserves jobs and helps our on-going effort to prevent climate change. If we want ...
Performance of the Thameslink rail service has improved since the end of last year, St Albans City and District Council's Local Services Scrutiny Committee has heard. At its last meeting, Councillors questioned senior management from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Network Rail on the performance of the service. They heard that, while the service had [...]
Bring Moldova Back From the Brink A call from the Council of Europe. (tags: moldova ) A Statement about Lou Antonelli, Lakeside Circus, Harassment and Safety This is what the #sadpuppies campaign has enabled. (tags: sadpuppies ) Europe's migration crisis: how well do you know the facts? 8/10. (tags: eu ukpolitics migration ) Pattern Matching: Lou Antonelli and the Sad Puppies What @eilatan thinks is going on. (tags: sadpuppies sf ) A Brief History of Time Great piece by @gerrylynch! (tags: historyofscience )
The Reports to Conference for the party's autumn conference and the consultation document on party governance are now all out. You can read them in full below, but first a few highlights including on the state of the party's finances: The excellent and long-serving Ben Williams has finally departed the Whips Office after 17 years working for the party. Thanks for all you did Ben. The governance review publishes (for the first time, I think) diversity figures for conference reps – both federal and regional – and for local party officers: [IMG: Lib Dem diversity figures 2015] The governance review ...
It must be said that the race towards the Labour Party's new big cheese being in situ has been anything but predictable. I thought back in May that it would be a limp coronation of Andy Burnham, with Kendall being deemed too right-wing and Yvette too wooden and bereft of ideas to even beat out ol' Eyelashes for the grand prize. Perhaps it would look like a contest for a bit until Burnham pulled definitively ahead, to have happened by this stage, and be looking like the clear winner. Instead, I'd go as far as to take Burnham pretty much ...
Four years ago, I highlighted complaints from constituents about the state of the ground on Dundee's Technology Park at the entrance to the city, having received many concerns about the untidy state of the ground running along Riverside Avenue, just east of the Swallow Roundabout. As I said at the time, it is important that it is tidied as it is a prominent entrance to Dundee. At the time, with assistance from City Council officers, the area was tidied. Unfortunately, it was recently looking unsightly again - see photos from last week below :The area above is not within the ...
On the Stonewall Movie What Is The European Convention On Human Rights And Why Does It Matter? Tax credit plan 'could hit thousands of young Britons' Kids Company: the sad truth about why charities suddenly collapse Latest YouGov poll has Corbyn extending his lead for Labour leadership [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
"In the early 1900s, as the women's suffrage movement picked up steam, a political cartoon ran in the Milwaukee Free Press and then a national anti-suffrage magazine because it captured the essence of the national debate. It featured a woman juggling four objects: a frying pan, a broom, a baby and a ballot. And it included a... More The politics of periods
Please take a look at the latest newsletter from The Library In The Gardens, (Botanic Gardens), which is full of fantastic news of their progress.
