There were not only more attendees at this year's federal conference in Bournemouth, but there were more new members than ever for an autumn conference. Members were roused by Tim Farron's speech at tonight's rally. The full text is here.
After being derailed at Chilham I decided to regain my confidence with railways by riding on the narrow gauge Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch. As Ben Goldacre (somewhat unexpectedly) says in the guidebook they sell you, this is a line built for pleasure. Many other heritage lines were built to serve back-breaking industries, but the RH&DR was built by two millionaires to show off their miniature locomotives. That book also confirms that an armoured train operated on the line during the Second World War. But the clearance was so restricted that the gun had to be taken down each time it ...
Record level of registrations at #ldconf – and number of first time registrations has tripled (h/t @gdspayne) — Mark Pack (@markpack) September 19, 2015 Last Wednesday, was the 29th anniversary of me joining the party when I was 16. I never ever thought I would end up leading that party. It is an extraordinary honour. Thank you, thank you so much. Like many of us I often find myself harking back to that time – my formative, teenage years. It was the 1980s: The Smiths and The Clash, The Young Ones - and, of course, Margaret Thatcher. I'd been brought ...
Sat 19th
19:30
IN FULL: Tim Farron's conference rally speech - 'Labour aren't interested in standing up to the Tori...
Here is the speech Tim is about to deliver at tonight's conference rally: Last Wednesday, was the 29th anniversary of me joining the party when I was 16. I never ever thought I'd end up leading that party. Its an extraordinary honour. Thank you, thank you so much. Like many of us I often find myself harking back to that time – my formative, teenage years. It was the 1980s: The Smiths and The Clash, The Young Ones - and, of course, Margaret Thatcher. I'd been brought up on Blue Peter appeals which – while good and worthy – attached ...
Windows 10 irritation #1: Every time I open Chrome after restarting, it tells me Chrome is not the default web browser and asks if I want it to be. I say yes every time. And then it happens again. Windows 10 irritation #2: iTunes has disappeared from the apps menu and the icon has disappeared from the desktop. I can still open it by finding a file associated with it and opening that. But that is not exactly efficient.
Sat 19th
18:42
Merseyside Tramway Preservation Trust – That newly relaunched Liverpool Baby Grand Tram
Old mate Keith and I together with Jen went to have a look at the new refurbished tram today and great it looks too. It's seen below in green and white next to a much older Liverpool tram. [IMG: IMG_6174] Click on the photo to enlarge it. Trouble was it was not running and I got the impression that there were a fair number of us disappointed visitors who had all turned up today at the Trust's Taylor Street Depot in Birkenhead just to see it running. Turns out that the volunteer run Trust only have two trained drivers who ...
At their federal conference in Bournemouth today, Liberal Democrats resolved, incorporating amendments, as follows: Suzanne Fletcher (Stockton) moving a successful amendment Creating Safe and Legal Routes for Refugees Conference notes that: I. There are currently almost 20 million refugees worldwide, who have fled war and persecution, including nearly four million refugees who have fled the ongoing conflict in Syria. II. The vast majority of refugees are hosted by developing countries; for example, only six percent of Syrian refugees have sought safety in Europe. III. Increasing numbers of people are attempting extremely dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean, with over 100,000 arriving ...
Former North Devon MP Nick Harvey writes for the Mirror that the Liberal Democrats have a great opportunity in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn's election and sets out what we must do to take advantage of it: Socially, we must fight unfair benefit cuts which hit the weakest and undermine the working poor. We must expose the chicanery of a "living wage" which will barely match the existing "minimum wage" if inflated in line with past trends. Economically, we campaign unequivocally for Britain's membership of the world's largest market, the European Union, and for global efforts to liberalise trade fairly. ...
Well, here I am, back in Bournemouth for Lib Dem autumn conference. I was last in Bournemouth over 6 years ago when I was working for the party and I was last at autumn conference in 2012. So for me it's a bit of catch up. With our newly diminished, non-government status, we no longer have a small crowd of protesters to serenade us as we go into the conference centre. No more ear bashing from
The late great Richard Wainwright, doyen of Yorkshire Liberalism and Liberal MP for the Colne Valley 1966-70 and 1974 - 1987, compared politics to sailing. You could be in the Doldrums for ages, seeming to be getting nowhere, but when "the wind" came along, you needed to be alert to catch it and forge ahead. Jeremy Corbyn has released a wind for change and, rather than catching it, our Liberal Democrat leaders seem poised to miss it. An article in today's Guardian headlined "Cable: Lib Dems and moderate Labour can take centre ground" reports Vince Cable himself, and fellow ex-coalition ...
Next spring, Parliament will debate and vote on whether to replace the UK's ageing Trident submarines at a cost of approximately £30bn, in the so-called Main Gate investment decision. Operating the submarines and Trident through to the late 2050s will bring the total cost to more than £100bn. I have consistently opposed the renewal of Trident, and was very disappointed with the current fudge we adopted in 2013. Indeed, at the time, I wondered whether it was the most strategically incoherent policy ever adopted? Today, I continue to oppose Trident renewal for four reasons: First, I favour progressive multilateral nuclear ...
Second paragraph of third essay: I'm going to look at Barbara and Ian not only as televisual companions to the Doctor, but as icons within the wider worlds of Doctor Who. Who were they, why were they key to the success of the series, and why do we still keep returning to them over 50 years after Ian was the first person to say "but it was just a police box"? This is the sixth of the Geek Girl Chronicles, and the third of them to collect essays by women about Doctor Who (following on from Chicks Dig Time Lords ...
The fallacies of multi-taskers, Republican voters and Francis Fukuyama. Multi-tasking: how to survive in the 21st century by Tim Harford There is ample evidence in favour of the proposition that we should focus on one thing at a time. Consider a study led by David Strayer, a psychologist at the University of Utah. In 2006, Strayer and [...]
"The Tories need to be opposed in ways that are credible" says the headline to Tim Farron's first pre-conference interview in yesterday's Evening Standard. Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader, argues Tim, leaves a big space in British politics for a responsible opposition party to hold the government to account: Tomorrow morning he will start the #LibDemfightback, as they are hashtagging it, when he rallies the Lib- Dem faithful in Bournemouth at his first party conference as leader. "The Tories desperately need to be opposed in ways that are credible," he told the Evening Standard in his first pre-conference interview. ...
Sat 19th
12:30Andrew George writes...After Coalition with the Conservative...participation in 'Progressive Allianc...
Should we be 'once bitten twice shy'? After suffering the disastrous electoral consequences of Coalition with the Conservatives, should the Liberal Democrats avoid the risks of participation in any form of 'Progressive Alliance' with parties of the centre/left? This year's General Election was a triumph of strategy for the Conservatives. With accusations sticking, Labour was unable to throw off the encumbrance of perceived incompetence, crucially of economic incompetence. Arguably bedazzled by high office, the Liberal Democrats were perceived to be naïve; not so much falling for the logic of Coalition Government, but appearing to compromise too much in what appeared ...
At a time when the future of Britain's nuclear weapons system is under intense scrutiny - not least due to the anti-Trident position of Labour's new leader - it is good to see Lib Dem Conference once again at the cutting edge of debate on this crucial issue. In government, the Lib Dems did much to challenge the pro-Trident consensus of the main parties. It may not have been the full anti-Trident position that many of us would like, but the 'no-like-for like' position certainly helped open up the debate. Now it's time to move onto the next stage. It's ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34301870 Maghull was of course the home of Frank Hornby for many years of his life as he developed Meccano into the iconic engineering toy that it still is. [IMG: This is me donating my old maccano set to the Trust. I am pictured with Trust Chairman Les French, former Trustee John Keogh and Cllr. Geoff Howe - then Mayor of Maghull] This is me donating my old maccano set to the Trust. I am pictured with Trust Chairman Les French, former Trustee John Keogh and Cllr. Geoff Howe – then Mayor of Maghull Here the BBC – see link ...
News came through via Gareth Epps at the morning consultation session that the number of member registrations at this Bournemouth conference have now passed the previous record for the party. So this is now the biggest Liberal Democrat party conference EVER! The party said: More Liberal Democrat members than ever before will be attending conference this weekend, as leader Tim Farron leads the party's fightback. At 11am this morning 2,388 members had registered in Bournemouth with hundreds more expected to turn up over the next five days. Around 50 per cent more members will take part debates and fringes than ...
I consider Matthew Parris to be the finest columnist in the UK, and today's article on Labour is one of his best. He suggests that Jeremy Corbyn's victory is an opportunity – rather than a defeat – for the centre left: a "gift". He paints a painfully accurate picture of what is likely to happen [...]
Take the following quotes: "[The Conservative general election campaign] was utterly ruthless, a black widow operation." "It could have been even worse [if the Tories had also targeted seats like Tom Brake's]." "The key question is why no one saw the Tory attack on us [in the general election] coming. Everyone is pointing the finger at someone else." The quotes themselves are all fairly unexceptional and reflect views widely held and expressed in the party. But what's odd about them is that when they appeared in The Independent yesterday, they were all given anonymously. There are occasions when the choice ...
We hope you've spotted the open thread on the action taking place in the main auditorium today. In comparison, this thread is for you to talk about fringe meetings, the exhibition and all the other things going on around the main business. Today's highlights Tim Farron's first appearance on the Conference stage is this evening at the Members' rally. Expect an unashamed pitch to the moderate voters, put off by the lurches to ideological extremes, to join us in credible opposition to the Tories. There was talk of occupying the hall afterwards and forcing them to let us watch Doctor ...
The BBC's Brian Wheeler has an excellent round up of the issues for Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth. The whole piece is well worth a read, and as a taster here are a few extracts: The party is talking up the fact that it has gained 20,000 members since May's general election – and about 2,500 of them are going to be in Bournemouth. This is a record, according to party sources, surpassing the number of party members at the 2010 post-election gathering. "It's going to be a busy, buzzy conference," says Lib Dem activist Mark Pack. But it will ...
Sat 19th
10:04
Corbyn has created an opportunity for the Liberal Democrats to be a serious opposition to the Tories
In today's Western Mail, Kirsty Williams argues that Jeremy Corbyn's election means Lib Dems can be the 'serious opposition' to the Tories. She said: "I don't believe that Mr Corbyn is a danger to Britain. What I don't believe Mr Corbyn is is the answer to the problems that our society faces." Ms Williams argues that Labour's record in Wales shows that Mr Corbyn would not take Britain forward. She said: "We spend more per head of population on our health service yet we get worse results for it. We've fallen behind on education. "We haven't got enough houses... Those ...
Saturday Did you see some fool suggesting that there should be a mandatory retirement age for peers? The very idea! Fortunately, my own peerage is one of the Rutland variety, which is governed by quite different rules - not least because I chair the committee that looks after such matters. However, it cannot be denied that there is a problem with overcrowding in the Upper House: it is hard to get table for tea these days and the I was obliged to give my last speech on the Consolidate Fund Bill while sitting on the lap of the Bishop of ...
The Independent has the story – see link above. [IMG: 21-Ordsall-Bridge] That the Ordsall Chord is required to relieve the railway bottleneck that is Manchester is a given but to do so at the expense of the historic Liverpool Road site of the Liverpool Manchester Railway is nuts! I hope this last gasp campaign to save the site from unnecessary destruction will be a success.
Sat 19th
09:33Labour – I know a person who voted in their leadership election who is a member of another par...
No it was not me and no it was not another Lib Dem member but it is as far as I am aware a true story. You see this person got a ballot paper and voted but they did not vote for Corbyn. Ah I hear you say, that's alright then as the Labour Big Wigs were only trying to disallow votes for Corbyn. Well yes, that's right so we must assume that either those doing the sifting of the votes did not twig that the person was a member of another party or that they did twig but having ...
[IMG: Team Barwell] Since May tens of thousands of words have been written here on Lib Dem Voice and other Social Media about the Lib Dem Fightback. Since last Saturday tens of thousands more have been written about whether we should or should not welcome Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader. However, we should not repeat the mistake of the Coalition years and define ourselves only in relation to others. We are not Conservative or Labour Lite, we are Liberal Democrats, otherwise surely we should just join one of the other Parties in the first place? Proclaiming in 2010 that ...
GCHQ's new advice on password security is rather good, and it's especially helpful to have a source such as GCHQ point out how little extra security is provided by IT rules about passwords having to comprise at least 12 characters, one of which must be a number, two of which must be characters that did not exist on keyboards before 1973 and three of which must be vowels that did not feature in the penultimate round of the highest-ever scoring episode of Countdown. GCHQ's motivation may be mainly about making life harder for Chinese hackers and the like, but its ...
I have never liked horse-racing and had only the vaguest idea about the Palio races that take place in the main square of the Italian city of Siena each summer, but last night at the Italian Cultural Institute in London I was enchanted by a film that is all about the jockeys that take part [...]
Whether you are physically in Bournemouth or are following what is happening from home, this is your place to talk about the public face of the Conference – in other words, all the debates and speeches that are going on in the main auditorium. Please use the comments below to add your reports on policy and constitutional debates or to draw readers' attention to ones in the pipeline. We will be running a similar thread each day, so please confine your comments today to what is actually happening today. Tomorrow's instalment will appear at 8.30am tomorrow morning. We will also ...
The photograph below shows a section of Dundee's Perth Road's north side, looking to the west, with a no longer extant road at the righthand side. The taller block is Hermonhill (numbered 21-27 Perth Road), the smaller one Hermonhill Terrace (1-6, disregarding continuous numbering of Perth Road). George H. Gibb, the town postmaster, lived at No. 21, Hermonhill House. In 1895, the residents of the terrace included Mrs J. McCheyne (widow of the Rev. J. M. McCheyne, the prominent Dundonian preacher), George A. Harris, an architect, and the undertaker William Scarlett, who had offices in Ann Street and Logie Street. ...
I knew Corbyn's first week as leader of the opposition would be tricky, but at times I'm not sure Jeremy himself saw it all coming. To go from having to shout to be heard even a little bit on anything to suddenly having your every single word and facial gesture endlessly poured over must be an incredibly difficult adjustment to have to make. I know I wouldn't want the gig myself. But the thing I worry most for Corbyn is the concept of "compromise" and how a lot of his supporters see it. When I wrote this week about the ...
[IMG: image] Conference kicks off with an important consultative session on party policy making this morning at 10am in the Marriott Hotel. The main conference centre opens at 12.30 for members. I took this photo of Bournemouth pier at 8am today. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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Jeremy Corbyn right to hate the media as this video him being assaulted by reporters shows Journos would do well to remember that their profession is as hated reviled and mistrusted as politicians What happens if you menstruate in space? Ed Miliband did not lose election because he was too left wing - study 10 year old commedian Saffron Herndon - my God some of these lines are close to the bone Peter Black: Liberal Democrats post-mortem written by usual suspects and misses the point Tim Farron: Forget a Northern Powerhouse, let's have a Yorkshire Powerhouse - Yorkshire Post Hurrah! ...
Sat 19th
07:51
"If you consider yourself to be a liberal person then there is only one party in Britain left for yo...
Nick Clegg's former speech writer Phil Reilly writes for The Independent: As we waited for the Sheffield Hallam result, all of a sudden a huge roar went round the room. The BBC had just confirmed one of the big scalps of the night - Vince Cable had been defeated in Twickenham. But he hadn't been beaten by the Labour candidate. These Labour footsoldiers were cheering like a football crowd at the most left-wing member of the government, a man who fought the Conservatives every day in coalition, losing his seat to a Conservative. They were cheering a result which signalled ...
