I got to know Francis Hamit last year, when he was one of the regulars in the Loncon 3 press office, and wrote some very nice things about us afterwards. The Tragedy of the Goats is a short ebook in which the narrator is head of security at a science fiction convention, and has to deal with drink, drugs, a seedy guest of honour, evangelical hotel guests, hostile hotel management, and the public disintegration of the marriage of two key team members. It's affectionate, and a little old-fashioned, and there's a mostly happy ending; and anyone who's been anywhere near ...
[IMG: WO_campaign.jpg] It's been a fantastic weekend campaigning in Haringey. The reception on the doors has been great, and I've been joined by campaigners from across London - Kingston, Ealing, Camden, Islington, Richmond, Havering, and more!
Copyright © Dennis Calow Charnwood Street, Leicester, is gone but not forgotten. There is a blog devoted to preserving memories of what was once an important shopping street: Charnwood Street in Leicester - popularly known as 'Charny' - was built in the early 1870s and demolished in 1970 when the area was redeveloped. It ran from Kent Street to Spinney Hill Road to the east of the city centre, parallel with Humberstone Road. ...There were around 100 small shops in the street, including butchers, bakers, grocers and sweetshops, those selling new or second hand clothes, bicycles, prams, wool, radios (and ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 427th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (9-15 August, 2015), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. On Free Speech, Tony Greaves and Lib ...
We had a nice excursion yesterday to Slieve Gullion, the mountain in South Armagh, including the Ballyward Dolmen on its western flank: [IMG: The Ballyward dolmen, on the slopes of Slieve Gullion.] My icon for this post is a picture of a favourite County Down attraction, the Legananny Dolmen, taken nine years ago (it's a lovely place and I went there last summer too): A sign at Ballyward, just in front of an area of tumbled stones beside the dolmen, solemnly puts forth the view that dolmens were originally part of a larger structure, and were covered wth earth which ...
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Liberal Democrat Voice editor replies to Lord Greaves (166 comments) by The Voice. David Laws peerage "blocked" - plus new Liberal Democrat House of Lords members speculation (37 comments) by Paul Walter Daily Mail exposes scandal that isn't (26 comments) by Stuart Bonar Shirley Williams predicts Labour MPs could come together with Lib Dems if Corbyn wins (65 comments) by Paul Walter ++Lib Dems GAIN former council ward of Brecon and Radnor's Conservative MP (18 comments) by ...
The increase in fighting in Eastern Ukraine is reaching levels not seen for some time. The pressure on the Putin regime is now significant. Essentially even a frozen conflict outcome will look like a defeat for the Kremlin, so the heat is on to find a solution that puts more of the region under Russian control and allows the illegal statelets that Russia has created a more sustainable future. To that end, the Russian state authorities are cracking down on their local satraps and imposing increasingly direct rule from Moscow- de facto annexation. However, in an attempt to create either ...
Last night, during a Facebook messenger conversation with a friend, I got called a Tory. Twice. I don't think that I've been called a Tory since the 20th May 2014 when a Guardian reading, small-l "liberal", semi-detached Victorian Townhouse dwelling man declined my canvass approach and told me to "stick it up your Tory arse." Charming. What a command of the language. Anyway, as someone who is categorically not a Tory, I took offence at my friends suggestion. Well, you would, wouldn't you? It was OK, though... because what my friend meant was "not a Tory in the political sense". ...
Sun 16th
15:00
The stars and stripes flying in Havana top a list of significant achievements by Barack Obama
I was toddling around in nappies when the US flag was taken down in Havana in January 1961. The decision to break off diplomatic relations between the USA and Cuba was taken a day earlier by President Eisenhower. So started a period of frozen relationships between the two neighbours which included years of trade embargoes. It is a very significant act of statesmanship that Barack Obama and Raúl Castro have now restored diplomatic relations. It is without doubt a good thing – the people of Cuba have suffered for long enough. This event, to me, answers the question: "What is ...
Sun 16th
13:00LibLink: Julian Huppert on 1984, the Telecommunications Act and the crucial need for scrutiny of its...
[IMG: GCHQ Bude by Paul Walter] Over on Open Democracy, our old friend Julian Huppert writes an excellent piece on his work as an MP looking at the scrutiny of UK state surveillance. He points to the 1984 (yes really) Telecommunications Act and the little debated clause 94 which gives the relevant Secretary of State virtually limitless powers to order telecoms companies to do anything without any parliamentary scrutiny. Julian describes his trail of investigation to shed some light on what is and has been done under clause 94: I kept pushing, and eventually the prime minister asked one of ...
Sun 16th
12:36
If you're wondering who snarled up Hipperholme traffic lights this morning, it was me.
Well, a car I was in and another car. We were involved in a slow speed collision. Dad was driving - we were on our way to climb Ingleborough. None of the occupants of our car (me, dad, Hol, 2 dogs) was injured in the slightest. The guy in the other car got taken to hospital for checks; his family told us it wasn't life threatening. I'm a bit shook up, but other than that just disappointed to not be up a mountain. I really think they only needed one ambulance and one copper, and three coppers, two fire engines ...
As the Proms - at the least the televised Proms - no longer provide much 19th-century Romanticism, I thought I would step in with a bit of Schubert. This second movement is more associated with The Hunger these days, but here the stills come from Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975). Look closely and you will see Leonard Rossiter fighting a duel with Ryan O'Neal. The film was an adaptation of Thackeray's The Luck of Barry Lyndon. It is a minor work, but it has something of the wit and life of Vanity Fair in a way that his better regarded ...
Via Business Insider comes this advice on how to get people to do things: Use nouns instead of verbs to get people to change their behavior. In one study, people were asked two versions of the same question: "How important is it to you to vote in tomorrow's election?" and "How important is it to you to be a voter in tomorrow's election?" Results showed that participants in the "voter" condition were more likely to cast their ballots the next day. That's likely because people are driven by the need to belong, and using a noun reinforces their identity as ...
Jenni Hollis explains why she is standing for the Liberal Democrats in a Haringey byelection. "Voting for Corbyn is gesture politics. It makes many on the left feel good about themselves and avoids the painful task of re-thinking policies and reconnecting beyond the base to the rest of the electorate", argues John Van Reenen. Janet Biehl says Murray Bookchin warned about many of the environmental threats we now face back in 1962. Nicholas Boys Smith on the gulf between the buildings that win architecture awards and those that the public prefers. "In its fantasy of escaping the rat race, it ...
I haven't blogged politics since the election and for obvious reasons: it was a terrible, awful night for the Liberal Democrats. This was not a personal shock: my aim in the election was to save the party's deposit for Edinburgh North and Leith and in this, I too failed. It was therefore back to the day job on the Monday, but not before congratulating Deirdre Brock, the winning candidate from the SNP, on her victory. Among the candidates ourselves in the constituency, there was little or no viciousness on a personal level. While mine was indeed an uphill fight, I ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have launched their campaign promoting the benefits of the Human Rights Act in advancing LGBT+ rights. At yesterday's Pride Cymru, Wales' biggest LGBT pride event, the party campaigned against plans by the Conservatives to scrap the Human Rights Act - plans which were blocked by the Liberal Democrats as part of the Coalition Government. The Human Rights Act has forced the UK Government to introduce the Gender Recognition Act, found the unequal age of consent for same-sex relationships to be illegal in 1997, and forced the Government to allow LGBT+ people to serve openly in the ...
The blogpost after two weeks away is always a difficult one to write, but an event that occurred whilst I was away offers a good starting point. That is the passing of the first 100 days of David Cameron's new administration. As this article makes it clear, the absence of the Liberal Democrats from government has released the Conservative Party from some significant restraints and that is not a good thing for the people of Britain. Tim Farron writes that week after week, we have seen the Tories roll back a whole raft of policies that the Liberal Democrats blocked ...
The full conference agenda for Bournemouth is now available online here. As we mentioned before, members will be debating a wide variety of topics, but now you can read the substance of the motions. This is the time for members and local parties to go through the motions and decide whether to submit an amendment or two, or whether to put forward an emergency motion or a topical issue for debate. Full details on how to do that are to be found on page 9 of the agenda, but, in brief, the deadline for submitting amendments, emergency motions and topical ...
The new Dundee City Council adult learning newsletter is now available and you can download it here. The following courses are available in the West End :
Sun 16th
08:17
After 100 days, the penny is well and truly dropping on how hard Lib Dems fought in government
I found this an interesting comment to read: Michael BG 16th Aug '15 – 1:41am @ Mike S "2. A comment on here last week which I was surprised no one took on - said simply, that "you can have a Welfare State or you can have open borders, but you can't have both." ... More After 100 days, the penny is well and truly dropping on how hard Lib Dems fought in government
Worldcon: Winning and Losing GRRM comments in advance: watch for the Campbell result! (tags: sf sadpuppies ) In 1975, this Kodak employee invented the digital camera. His bosses made him hide it. Progress. (tags: photos technology ) Why Western Sahara matters, by Jeremy Corbyn I deeply respect JC as the most engaged UK politician on this issue. (tags: ukpolitics westernsahara ) What Would Happen If the U.S. Congress Killed the Iran Deal? Bad for the U.S. and for international order. (tags: uspolitics iran ) Sad Puppies, Rabid Chauvinists: Will Raging White Guys Succeed in Hijacking Sci-Fi's Biggest Awards? A good ...
"The best news of all? A Corbyn win will be the death of the Green Party. Hooray." – Nigel Farage This slice of wisdom, the born again UKIP leader delivered unto the readers of Breibart this week. The article was the usual Farage gumbo of liberal baiting and anti-EU polemics but I have to admit, he did make me think about the Greens a bit. Could a Corbyn led Labour Party really mean the end of the Greens? I'll start by saying, not literally. There will always be a Green Party in Britain because in some ways, the smaller the ...
