9 times out of 10, Corbyn would be doomed to failure, Labour will elect a new *moderate* leader in 12-18 months and everything reverts to normal service. However, what about the 1 in 10 chance....what if instead he ends up capturing a new Zeitgeist, where chronic insecurity about employment, the cuts to welfare state, dismantling of the BBC and NHS combine to swing enough people, behind some *socialist* policies. I guess the risk is that in capturing this new mood, Corbyn ends up presenting a genuine challenge to the establishment, whilst the Liberal Democrats can only carve a niche as ...
According to reports Tim Farron has been contacted by Labour MPs who are thinking of joining the Lib Dems. These Labour MPs are, apparently, "deeply distressed" by Corbyn's victory. The question for our party is do we want the Blairites to be joining us? We elected Tim Farron to position the party in the centre left, much away from where Nick Clegg had us. Many of Corbyn's policies align with those of the Lib Dems, such as Trident. Taking on Labour MPs who have ideologically shunned Corbyn's leadership would be contradictory and distort the new image that the party is ...
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation LD prospective candidate: Derin Adebiyi
Lab seat. Cause: Death LD prospective candidate: Jenni Hollis
Current Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Who's Next?, by Derrick Sherwin Last books finished The Ancient Languages of Europe, by Roger D. Woodard Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson Companion Piece, eds. L.M. Myles and Liz Barr Next books The Unlimited Dream Company, by J. G. Ballard Galactic North, by Alastair Reynolds Books acquired in last week The Apex Book of World SF 4, eds Lavie Tidhar and Mahvesh Murad Forsaken, by Kelley Armstrong Jacaranda, by Cherie Priest Luna: New Moon, by Ian McDonald
We've written here before about the Federal Policy Committee's 'Agenda 2020' exercise - a major consultation within the party on Liberal Democrats' basic beliefs, values and approaches. Our political philosophy is the backbone around which we build our policies on specific issues, and a vital part of our fightback. A short consultation paper, Agenda 2020, and an accompanying set of essays setting out the personal opinions of a range of individuals within the party are both available on the party website. The paper sets out a brief description of the Liberal Democrat philosophy and outlines the policy challenges the country, ...
Film shot on the last day of this line's operation, 6 March 1966. The two filming locations are the more westerly of the Windsor Hill Tunnels near Shepton Mallet and then Midford viaduct near Bath. The latter also features in the opening shots of the Titfield Thunderblot...
Today I met with a child refugee. John was just 7 years old when his parents entrusted the lives of him and his 12 year old brother to a ship they knew might never reach it's destination. It did not. He was one of a handful of survivors that did not include his brother. John is not from Syria though, he's from Southall in London and he's now in his mid-eighties. He was one of more than 2,000 British children evacuated overseas during World War Two under the CORB (Children's Overseas Reception Board) scheme. The idea behind the scheme was ...
Thursday We gather on the village green to pay our respects to the actor Stephen Lewis, who died a few days ago. His passing reminds me of the days when I would drop into the Servants' Hall to watch 'On the Buses' on their moving television. How we roared! What with that and the racing, I spent more time in the servants' quarters at the Hall than my own - but then I have always prided myself on being a Radical Liberal. I had already noticed the double-decker parked outside The Bonkers' Arms before the commencement of the minute's silence. ...
"It wasn't just in May 2015 that the Lib Dems were wiped out. That was simply the culmination of five years of humiliating defeats at every level of representative government. In the European parliament, 11 of our 12 MEPs were defeated. In Scotland, we lost 12 of the 17 seats we were defending. ... Our local government base was hacked down year after year, from 3,944 councillors in 2010 to just 1,801 in 2015." Stephen Tall asks if Liberal Democrat participation in the Coalition was worth the price. James Snell on the British left's alliance with deeply reactionary forces. In ...
I often think that if any executive body wanted to do some real power grabs, it would circulate them in a document entitled "Governance review" in the hope that nobody would actually read them and work out what they meant. Actually, you don't get away with that in this party where we have been known to have quite a bit of an obsession with constitutional geekery and process. I often feel that we get too tied up in the wording of tiny parts of the constitution and not enough in its practical application and the culture we need to foster ...
Politics Home tell us that Labour figures concerned by Jeremy Corbyn's leaderhip have been in communication with Tim Farron: The Liberal Democrat leader said the conversations "may or may not be conclusive" in terms of defections, but that many Labour members "feel deeply distressed" after the election of the left-wing Mr Corbyn. "I've had various unsolicited texts, some of them over the weekend, where I felt like I was being an agony aunt rather than anything else," Mr Farron told the Evening Standard. "People who have been members of the [Labour] party for as long as I've been a member ...
[IMG: Help ALDC give more young party members the chance to develop their campaigning and professional skills] ALDC - Liberal Democrat Campaigners and Councillors are asking for your help. We have launched a Crowdfunder campaign to help finance our Campaigns and Communications Internship programme that will allows young Liberal Democrats to gain campaigns training and professional experience at a national political organisation. Our intern(s) will also play a key role in on-the-ground [...]
I first realised that people from different ethnic groups could have very different attitudes to the same death, the same violent deaths- the same killings, when I went to see the film Gandhi for the third time in the cinema at the age of 14. It is something David Cameron would do well to remember. I first went to a glitzy showing of the film in Leicester Square, London with my whole family, including my aunt and uncle who had come over from India, where some of the people involved with the film had met them at their home in ...
theparentsunion.co.uk www.theparentsunion.co.uk theparentsunion.org.uk www.theparentsunion.org.uk Have now been started up. They are in fact all the same website, but this is to ensure that the Domain Name is linked in cyberspace.
[IMG: Conservative 2015 election poster - your worst nightmare] One point that no-one I heard speak directly made, but several implied, at this year's EPOP conference for political scientists* is the power of political messages which are repeated by different political parties. That was a significant part of the Conservative Party success at the May 2015 general election. Their message about hung Parliaments and the SNP was very similar to the SNP's own message about hung Parliaments and itself. It was in both of their self interests to talk up the likelihood of a hung Parliament in which the SNP ...
Thu 17th
14:32
William Wallace writes...The case has not been made for a like-for-like replacement of Trident
[IMG: 110301-N-7237C-009] Jeremy Corbyn's arrival as Labour leader will make it easier for the right-wing, in politics and media, to dismiss all criticism of the decision on replacing Trident that Parliament will make next year as wacky. Yet there are many, within the expert defence community as well as outside, who think that committing a third of the UK's defence procurement budget, over a decade, to the replacement of a system designed for a contingency that no longer exists, is unjustifiable. Liberal Democrats in the coalition examined the case for alternatives, against stubborn Conservative opposition. Next week the Liberal Democrat ...
I received a 'thank you' card the other day for helping a retired lady with a piece of casework she had brought to my attention. I fought with her to try to get the end result she and indeed I wanted but we were not successful. Yet she was grateful for my efforts and sent me a card to say so. You don't become a councillor for folks to thank you for what you have done for them but it is nice when they do. Having been a councillor now for 30 years those two words still mean a lot ...
Thu 17th
12:56
Joe Anderson – Latest on his £89,000 legal bill that was paid by Liverpool City Council
The echo has the latest in this saga – see link above. It's pushing it for Liverpool City Council to pay the bill for Joe's employment tribunal never mind asking national tax payers to chip in. This tribunal and the costs of it should have been shouldered by Joe and his trade union in my opinion.
[IMG: Glee Club 2014] The hundreds of new members making their way to Bournemouth might be forgiven for wondering about some of the exciting new events in store. One of those is a Conference tradition that definitely isn't unsung: the Glee Club. It predates the popular TV show by decades, having been founded when Liberals gathered informally in the hotel hosting the Liberal Assembly. In 1965, Michael Steed and Mary Green, both Young Liberals,produced the first Liberal Songsheet - a long-lost song from that document has been added to almost 100 other songs in the Liberator Songbook, the repository of ...
What was most apparent about the first prime minister's questions session with the new Labour leader was the sheer dullness of the man. I don't mean the unremarkable 'revolution in beige', and this is not intended as a criticism. Dullness us a huge political virtue in England. From Lord Hartington to Staley Baldwin, with his slogan 'safety first', dullness has propelled people to the very top. The English trust dull people, as long as they stay unremittingly dull. They know they are never doing to say anything clever, or flashy, never going to pull the wool over our eyes, or ...
[IMG: Liberal Reform advisory council] As part of the next stage of our development, Liberal Reform has set up an Advisory Council representing a broad group of campaigners and policy experts to advise the elected Board and help ensure our broad Liberal heritage is represented in the party. I'm delighted that the following prominent Liberal Democrats have agreed to join the Council, with more to follow: Norman Lamb MP, Baroness Jenny Randerson, David Laws, Miranda Green, Julian Astle and Baroness Kishwer Falkner. Since Liberal Reform was formed a few years ago it has become clear that there is a real ...
All I hear and read in the media recently is he actually did it! The sheer sound of disbelief that a rank outsider has risen to be the head of the official opposition seems to have amazed most commentators who never thought it would happen. After all the accusations that people were joining for £3 ... Continue reading Jeremy Corbyn Labour Leader →
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today – Justin Fisher's initial findings from survey of local campaign activity at the 2015 general election, presented at the 2015 EPOP conference. [IMG: Justin Fisher's paper on election agent survey and campaign impact in 2015 general election] This sits alongside the other EPOP research I covered earlier in the week, showing the impact of doorstep canvassing, especially personally by candidates. You can read the other posts in the What do the academics say? series here.
Today Paul Scriven has tabled a debate in the Lords on the treatment of LGBTI citizens around the World. The Lib Dems have a proud record on human rights, and support for those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) has always been extremely strong both in the UK and across the wider World. It was after all my Lib Dem colleague in the House of Lords, Anthony Lester who initiated civil partnerships with his private member's bill, and then persuaded the then Labour government to take his policy forward, leading to the Civil Partnership Act (2004). And ...
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD Candidate- Jenni Sawford. To help, please contact Mary Regnier-Wilson (07725 360862, regnierwilson@mac.com)
UPDATED DETAILS SNP seat. Cause: Resignation (now MP). No LD Candidate.
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. Prospective candidate: Philip Knowles Contact: Richard Good 01748 884353
The Lib Dem team would like to wish our Jewish friends a very happy Rosh Hashanah, an easy fast for Yom Kippur, and much joy in the year ahead.
Following a request from a local resident, the Lib Dem team have got the council to properly clear the plants around the old millstone on Broadway, Cheadle – it's looking much better now! Before: [IMG: millstone before] After: [IMG: millstone after]
What's your favorite "WTF" moment in Mario history? For @mariofannio. (tags: games ) Jenna Coleman 'quits Doctor Who' for new role as Queen Victoria Fair enough. (tags: doctorwho ) 20 Cognitive Biases That Affect Your Decision-Making Why we choose as we do. (tags: lifehacking psychology ) A Brief History of MidAmeriCon The 1976 Worldcon revisited. (tags: sf ) The End of War Why C.J. Chilvers is no longer a war correspondent. (tags: war journalism ) Malmström pitches new TTiP court Old ISDS system dumped. (tags: eu ttip )
You might not think it to listen to them, but few, if any, politicians like the political centre. It is defined by others and inhabited by voters whose loyalty to any particular party is weak. Much more fun to consort with true believers. This is as true of Britain's Liberal Democrats as it is of anybody else. And yet the party's fortunes depend on its appeal to centrist voters. Can the party pitch for the political centre, while developing a clear, principled core values? I think it can – but it won't be easy. Following the party's calamitous General Election ...
[IMG: Poor boy afraid] Social democrats know that to fight poverty you need a vibrant economy. It is the goose that lays the golden egg, and it flourishes with freedom, but it stagnates in a factory farm. Social democrats don't just do poverty reduction as a minor act of charity, it is central to what drives them. But a true social democrat won't just throw money at the problem, they will look for what works. For a short period, I worked in the field of international development. When listening to those who had worked in the field, I was struck ...
[IMG: Lib Dems voting at conference. Photo courtesy of the Liberal Democrats - https://twitter.com/LibDems/status/518768017409601536] A good test of a proposed new rule is to imagine: if it was already in place, would you be convinced by arguments to abolish it? So imagine with me that the Liberal Democrats had one-member, one-vote (OMOV) in place, instead of our conference representatives system, for electing our federal committees and for voting at party conference. A world with all party members able to vote in both. It would not be nirvana. You can imagine some being concerned about the time and cost involved in ...
[IMG: lib hist cover] The latest issue of the Journal of Liberal History is a special issue focusing on the Coalition, 2010-15. It includes an essay by me under the general heading, 'Why did it go wrong?', with my contribution titled 'Decline and Fall: how Coalition killed the Lib Dems (almost)', alongside those of Matthew Huntbach, Sir Nick Harvey, John Pugh and David Howarth. Here's an excerpt, where I ask the question "Was it worth it?", looking at the profit-and-loss account, the debits and credits of the Lib Dems' record in government: The Lib Dems were not short of achievements. ...
We saw the first instalment of Corbyn v Cameron in the Commons yesterday. The right-wing press likened Corbyn's "consensual" approach, crowd sourcing the questions, to reducing Prime Minister's Questions to a phone-in radio programme. A lot of the left-wing press engaged in the "oh didn't he do ever so well" thing so reminiscent of the Ed Miliband era; a sort of talking him up in a patronising tone vibe. So here's my verdict: no one came over terribly badly yesterday. Which, if that's what Corbyn was going for on his first time out, well done. There could have been worse ...
From Sheena Wellington : Saturday 19th September, Cappuccino Concert at the Wighton Heritage Centre in the Central Library Dr Karen McAulay - "What's in the Wighton?" Dr Karen McAulay, Scotland's music expert, Friend of Wighton member and harpsichord player, will explore the Jimmy Shand volumes in the context of the Wighton. A chance to learn more about our treasured music books and to hear some of the music they contain! Karen has been Music and Academic Services Librarian at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland since 1988. She previously completed a research Masters at the University of Exeter in 1981, and ...
St David's Church, Tay Street, was originally a "Tabernacle" church built by the Haldane Brothers in 1800. It was purchased by the Town Council in the early 19th century. Large scale alterations followed. The church was occupied until May 1947. It was purchased by J. M. Wallace who transformed it into a popular dance hall, the J M Ballroom, which first opened in 1954. It continued under various names until it burned down in October 1994.
Help Ahmed Make - concrete way to help the lad who got led away from his classroom in handcuffs for making a clock Bi Visibility Day Flashmob at #ldconf in Bournemouth. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: Caroline Pidgeon] The party has announced that London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon will stand for the Lib Dems in the London Mayoral election next year. Her campaign will focus on housing supply, childcare and air pollution. Caroline said: London is a great city, but the huge potential it offers is not available to everyone. We need to tackle the brain drain to London's economy caused by too many women not returning to work in part due to the high cost of childcare. We also need to end the scandal of too many young people struggling to rent, let alone ...
Jeremy Corbyn decision to raise the issue of housing at yesterday's Prime Minister's question time was welcome, but did he reflect the view of his own front bench in his questioning. The new Labour leader quoted a member of the public named "Stephen" who works for a housing association who apparently said the measure would lead to job losses, less funding for repairs and worse housing conditions. However, according to Inside Housing, a spokesperson for John Healey, who was appointed shadow housing minister on Monday, told them that the party would not seek to oppose the policy in parliament: Mr ...
Western media and politicians tend to view the rise of political Islam through a prism of binary opposites: moderate versus extremist, Sunni versus Shia and so forth. But in reality the situation is far more complex. There are as many types of Islamism - the belief that political systems and structures should be based on [...]
Thu 17th
00:01
Liberal Democrats announce candidate for London Mayor after selection ballot completed
[IMG: Caroline Pidgeon camapigning with London Lib Dems to welcome refugees] And the winner is (drum roll please....): Caroline Pidgeon. Not perhaps the biggest of surprises as she was up against herself, but excellent news nonetheless. The outcome of the selections for the party's list candidates will also be announced soon. The official announcement about Caroline Pidgeon's selection says: Caroline said: "London is a great city, but the huge potential it offers is not available to everyone. "We need to tackle the brain drain to London's economy caused by too many women not returning to work in part due to ...
