Mon 24th
23:57

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Posted by Nick Radford on nickradford/blog

A little bit of Shropshire goodness for you to be going on with. Mind you, flying over the Stiperstones has its dangers: She followed his pointing finger and saw briefly in the moonlight a small aeroplane against a shifting background of cloud. It was swooping low in silence, but soon rose sharply as the engines roared again, and disappeared over the tree-tops in the direction of the mountain. "But he can't land on the Stiperstones," Peter said. "It's too rough up there. It would turn over at once." Malcolm Saville The Neglected Mountain (1953)

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

John Harris writes on the Guardian website (and presumably in tomorrow's paper, though the site no longer tells you that): Across the country, meanwhile, with George Osborne now planning November's spending review and looking at cuts in departmental budgets of up to 40%, the money channelled from local councils to public transport looks especially vulnerable. Already, bus transport is in the midst of a huge crisis, just as it is needed more than ever. Buses are a vital requirement for young people and most Britons on limited incomes. Around 40% of people over 60 use a bus at least once ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Listening to Iain Duncan-Smith can be enough to send anyone to sleep. He drones on and one can be lulled into thinking he is being quite reasonable. However, behind his warm words, there is a chilling attitude to disabilities and particularly to mental illness. He seems to be saying: There must be something you can do if you are suffering from depression. And: If we start cutting your benefits, that'll act as a little nudge to push you gently into work. Blimey. What planet does he live on? Having had a little experience of mental illness and those suffering from ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice

Having finished the second of Carey's Kushiel trilogies a few weeks ago, it's time to get started on the third. But we are a hundred years on now; everyone we knew from the previous six books has faded into history, and we have a new young female protagonist, drawing from the legacy of Kushiel's Justice as one of the old inhabitants of Alba (ie britain), following her destiny to Ch'in in the far East where she must liberate a princess who has been possessed by a dragon. It's unusually episodic for a Carey novel - there are three distinct parts, ...

Mon 24th
19:48

Six of the Best 533

Labour never decided whether its £3 supporters' rate was designed to turn its leadership election into an open primary or not, explains Nick Tyrone, and that is why it is in trouble now. Christopher Salmon, police and crime commissioner for Dyfed-Powys, has some trenchant views on policing: "investigating crime is the police's job, not a choice. That four out of five burglaries go unsolved suggests they need to up their game, not opt out of it". Remember when blogrolls were a thing? Fred Clark does. And he wants to revive them. Jordan Adcock looks at cinema's switch to digital projection. ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

This is the second of my articles on the more technical aspects of SAMDev, the plans that sets out development sites for Ludlow and the rest of the county. The first explained that a consultation has been held on the final draft of SAMDev. Among the responses to that consultation is an attack on planning [...]

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington
Mon 24th
19:45

And a note on podcasting

Just to say I'm aware that I'm very behind with the podcast versions of posts. The backlog will be cleared this week. I've just been ludicrously ill. I do apologise, though.

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

These are my reviews (from Goodreads) of the five stories that *would* have made the ballot had the Puppyfascists not broken this year's Hugos. In general, these are not particularly my kind of thing — too much atmosphere and character, and not enough plot or ideas, for my personal taste. But comparing them to Puppyshit [...]

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

After I got off my "EQUAL MARRIAGE NOW!!!" kick I got on to my "Ugh! New Purtians are the worst" kick. From the desperately rubbish lose the lad's mags campaign through to persecuting innocent young people off of university campuses, the new Puritans have been pushing further and further into our lives. Breitbart (yes I know) has a wonderful article today about the "Rise of the Cultural Libertarians". I have to say that, despite it being a little too fawning in its praise of the movement, I found myself nodding at every "belief" it described. Yes, many of the Cultural ...

YouGov

The Liverpool Echo has the story of a court appearance for the driver who caused the 7 car smash at the Alt in Maghull a couple of days ago whilst trying to evade Merseyside Police – see link above

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

[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] There were a couple of near misses last Thursday for Liberal Democrat candidates in principal council by-elections. Nathan Billings came agonisingly close to securing a gain in Camborne Pendarves ward in Cornwall (UA), finishing just 14 votes adrift of the Conservatives. In spite of not standing a candidate in the previous election in 2013, the Lib Dems polled 29% in finishing second place. With 30.3% of the vote, the Tories took the seat from UKIP, who saw their vote share plummet by 23.5% to finish a poor fourth. In West Oxfordshire (DC), there were ...

Posted by ALDC on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: Iain Duncan Smith] The Gainsborough Standard reports: Iain Duncan Smith has defended plans to get the sick and disabled back to work amid allegations that he is "punishing" society's most vulnerable. The Work and Pensions Secretary insisted being employed was like a "health treatment" and could help make people better. He also denied that he had a target of taking a million disabled people off benefits, arguing it was sensible to ask whether individuals could do some work rather than writing them off altogether. In an interview with the Press Association after delivering a speech in central London, Mr ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

National Eye Health Week runs from Monday 21 to Sunday 27th September and local organisations Sutton Vision, Thomas Pocklington Trust and the RNIB are putting on two events in Sutton to highlight that 'Vision Really Matters'. Both events take place on Wednesday 23rd September The first event is the chance to understand what the world is like if [...]

Posted by jaynemccoy on Diary of a Sutton Councillor

[IMG: People discussing plans around a computer] 1. Email comes first Email isn't anything new – it's been around only one year less than me. For a long time it was also the least fashionable digital campaigning medium, though Obama, amongst his other achievements, can also add making email fashionable with political campaigners to his list of achievements. Fashionable or not, it's the most important digital campaigning medium, so working on gathering more email addresses, using them regularly and using them wisely should be top of the list. 2. Email comes second, third and fourth too See above. It really ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Here's the third in our series of Tim Farron's TimTalks. In this one, he talks about how we rebuild the party. A festival of ideas, diversity, PAWAWI, being an accessible leader. "Under Tim Farron's leadership, there will be no cabal and no bunker."

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] Haringey Lib Dem Group have recently run a small campaign based on answers to their council's member enquiries around fly-tipping/litter complaints (see below). See here for the press release based the responses. Also, here are some fly-tipping stats with the last column showing the most recent annual change for each authority - (attached) to help [...]

Two spinoff series of books about Doctor Who companions have started this year - one is a secret history of the Brigadier between The Web of Fear and The Invasion, the other is a "What Happened Next" set of stories about audio companion Erimem, a young woman who was rescued from the fate of being a forgotten Egyptian pharaoh by the Fifth Doctor and Peri and stayed with them from 2001 until 2008 when she was married off to the new ruler of Peladon. Here she is brought back to adventure by her creators, Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett (with ...

Mon 24th
13:54

Let Palmyra Inspire Us

Yesterday news came through from Syria's Department of Antiquities that ISIS forces had blown up the Temple of Baalshamin, one of the jewels in the crown of Palmyra, the most spectacular of all Syrian pre-Islamic sites. Ever since Islamic State occupied the site and its neighbouring town there had been fears that these iconoclasts would [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

You may find this short film of interest:

Posted by chriswhite on Chris White » Chris White
eUKhost

A lot of fellow Liberals, and indeed those from right across the political spectrum, will share my view that the current Labour Party leadership election has descended into farce. The question is how and why did they come up with such a basket case of an electoral system. Why not use a simple one member one vote system? For the answer you have to go back more than thirty years to 1980 when the Labour leader was elected by the parliamentary party alone. Following the disastrous Callaghan administration, the big unions wanted their say in choosing the Labour leader. At ...

Posted by David Warren on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 24th
13:10

Tomato and tuna pilaf

Another recipe from Delicious magazine. Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1 medium red onion, cut into wedges 300g basmati rice Pinch of cayenne pepper 400g can tomatoes 400ml chicken or vegetable stock Knob of butter 200g green beans, trimmed and blanched 2 x 200g cans tuna in oil, drained Method Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heat the oil in a casserole on the hob and gently fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the rice and cayenne and stir to coat in the oil. Add the tomatoes and stock and season well. Cover and bake for 20 minutes, until the ...

The story so far. In the beginning, the Labour leadership election was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and been widely regarded as a bad move. Since the Labour B-Ark crashed completely, its principal survivors have emerged as the very talented and useful Blair-Tone Sanitiser (Third Class) Kendall, Security Guard Number 2 Cooper, Make-up Assistant (Trainee) Burnham and Hairdressers' Fire Development Sub-committee Chair Corbyn. There are many important and unpopular questions which must be asked about the crash of the Labour B-Ark and the new landscape in which they now find themselves. The four very talented ...

Posted by Alex Wilcock on Love and Liberty

The Telegraph says that patience has finally run out amongst MPs over the long-awaited Chilcott report into the Iraq war. This report was commissioned by Gordon Brown in 2009 and yet six months later there is no sight or sound of it. The paper says that MPs will discuss next week how best to exert pressure on the former civil servant before parliament returns two weeks today: One option would involve Sir John being summoned to give evidence to the Commons' foreign affairs committee, although Crispin Blunt, its chairman, has indicated that he would not support such a move. Critics ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

This was the headline in the Champion newspaper on 19th August and a sobering one it is too. How many times have I commented on the complete lack of foresight and preparation for the soon to be completed river berth at Seaforth Docks? I lose count I really do but to consider churning up a Country Park for a relief road beggars belief. My last posting is here:- Yes I know the Highways Agency (now Highways England) has been considering this option for years now, so long indeed that no one can quite recall when they first thought of ...

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

On Thursday the ASI published an article I wrote about the Labour leadership election and the concept of Expressive Voting. This theory, developed by Geoffrey Brennan and Loren Lomasky in their book Democracy and Decision: the pure theory of electoral preference, offers a new explanation for the "paradox of voting", the rationality-defying fact that people vote despite the improbability that their vote will make a difference. Brennan and Lomasky suggest that individuals do not vote primarily to affect the outcome (which they know they cannot) but to express a preference; indeed, to express themselves. Much as we might shout at ...

Posted by Tom Papworth on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 24th
11:56

Your Self-Worth

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine last night in which I had my own realisation. How you feel about yourself is infinitely more important than your parents opinion of you, or your partner's or potential partners, your friends and lastly, complete strangers. That's not to say that you should disregard the [...]

Posted by Becca Plenderleith on Some Ramblings.

We all know that the Council is hard up and must look for innovative solutions to raise more money and provider or maintain services right across the board. Our pars are no exception to these. But there are ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

Who Won Science Fiction's Hugo Awards, and Why It Matters | WIRED Tremendous. (tags: sf sadpuppies ) No 'Puppy' Love at Science Fiction's Hugo Awards - WSJ Shorter. (tags: sf sadpuppies ) Asking the Wrong Questions: The 2015 Hugo Awards: Thoughts On the Results Abigail's take. (tags: sf sadpuppies ) Black Gate » Dear Puppies: Your Taste Sucks Features some debate in comments. (tags: sf sadpuppies )

[IMG: Two women on a bench looking at phones. CC0 Public Domain] Wired reports: Every election season has its shiny new toy, and this year [in America], Snapchat is most definitely it... And yet, even as candidates and their young teams play with the platform, behind the scenes, many of the digital teams on presidential campaigns say it's far too early to dub 2016 the Snapchat election... The fact is, Snapchat's entire business model is built around keeping user data private ... But ... [such data is] particularly important in political advertising, where campaigns must connect ads to voters – ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

In the run-up to Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, we'll be looking ahead to examine the highlights in the debating hall, the fringe and training rooms. You can find the papers here. You can find all the posts in the series here. The first policy debate of tho year's Conference is on Creating safe and legal routes for refugees. It will be proposed by Suzanne Fletcher who is one of the founder members of Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary. The motion is unlikely to be controversial and is particularly relevant at the moment. It is very consistent with the sorts ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

According to a poll, 58% of Americans are against the nuclear deal with Iran. Given it was pretty much the only realistic option available to the American government, on the surface of it this majority opinion is rather odd. Let's run through the basics of the deal briefly: in 2002, the Americans obtained solid proof that Iran was developing its own nuclear weapons. The U.S. responded with heavy sanctions against the offending country – with no real give in Iran's nuclear ambitions for the next decade at all. In 2013, a break appeared that offered up the chance of new ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

[IMG: Willie Rennie. Photo courtesy of the Liberal Democrats (CC BY-ND 2.0] The Press and Journal reports: Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is to seek to change his party's rules to allow women-only shortlists for parliamentary selections. Mr Rennie said he had "lost patience" with the current system and would take steps to address the gender imbalance within his party at its spring conference. The party was criticised after its only female MSP, Alison McInnes, lost out to former MSP Mike Rumbles at the top of the party's north-east Scotland regional list for next year's Holyrood election... He has ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

We had a very productive Everyday Sexism Open Mic event in Edinburgh on Saturday. Most of the content, rightly, should not be discussed on here but I have Sal Brinton's permission to share with you something she told us about her efforts to make sure that female students were not harassed when construction work took place at Lucy Cavendish College in Cambridge where she was bursar. From her Facebook: Yesterday at the Scottish Lib Dem Women Anti Sexism Open Mike session I referred to having the first considerate behaviour contract with builders in 1994 when I was Bursar at Lucy ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Balgay Road On behalf of residents, I recently raised with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership road flooding concerns regarding Balgay Road. I have now received the following feedback : "Balgay Road has been checked and all the gullies are clean and clear although have been noted to be slow-running in times of very heavy rain. Previously, any particular issues with ponding water have been dealt with by the gully machine. There was no mud noted on the carriageway however it is possible this was run-off from Balgay Hill/ Park which has now been cleared or washed away." I have ...

As Inside Out is (finally!!!) out in Vietnam and I will (finally!!!) be going to see it this afternoon, I thought I'd share this: HT: Laughing SquidFiled under: Uncategorized

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

The war-hungry women written out of photographic history Crippling court costs force poverty-stricken people to plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit Hugo Awards full analysis by @nwbrux including who missed out on noms. @VerityPodcast & @seananmcguire :( Slavery: How women's key role in abolition has yet to receive the attention it deserves The eight-hours-a-week Tesco contract that wants you available every day of the year The British amateur who debunked the mathematics of happiness Project Harpoon - the latest attempt to shame women's bodies Tony Robinson says a revival of Blackadder is "on the cards", sort of, ish. Jeremy ...

Despite a freedom of information request, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills refuses to share details of the funding review it has commissioned from the consultancy McKinsey. Openness and transparency can save money, strengthen people's trust in government and encourage greater public participation in decision-making. Or so says the gov.uk website. But that doesn't seem to be the modus operandi in Sajid Javid's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Over the summer, rumours have been swirling (first published by the Guardian's Political Science blog) that the consultants McKinsey & Company have been called in by BIS to advise ...

Posted by Naomi Weir on Political science | The Guardian