Denis Healey was the first Chancellor of the Exchequer that I can ever remember. The 1970s when I was growing up seemed like very scary times and he seemed to be a wise and calm presence in all of that. It was only later that I truly understood the pressure he must have been under, even greater than Alistair Darling faced in 2008. Balancing the competing requirements of the International Monetary Fund and the trade unions and labour movement was not an easy job. I remember that epic political battle between him and Tony Benn for the Deputy Leadership of ...
W.G. Grace died at Mottingham in Kent in 1915. Two years later Denis Healey was born there. Healey was one of the giants of politics in the early 1970s when I started to take an interest in it. The best tribute and analysis of his career I have seen today is that by Michael White in the Guardian: By 1945, Healey had already packed in a lifetime of experiences denied to future generations. A beach master in charge of logistics (US actor Lee Marvin was another) at the bloody Anglo-American Anzio landings in Italy (1944), Maj Healey would turn down ...
Pete Callis, Liberal Democrat councillor for Market Harborough's Logan ward on Harborough District Council has died. He has been one of the members for the ward since 1991 and sat for the town's old West ward between 1979 and 1983. Pete was also one of the town's county councillors between 1993 and 2009. My old friend Phil Knowles, leader of our group on Harborough DC, has paid tribute to him: "Many people in Market Harborough will be deeply shocked by the news of Pete Callis's death. "He has been a very long serving and well loved member of the district ...
Cambridge Liberal Democrat Councillor Amanda Taylor has raised safety fears over a major county council-run project in the city will is running months behind schedule. The 37-week scheme to build new cycle lanes in Cambridge's Hills Road, due to be completed in October is not even half finished. But Cllr Taylor claims that ironically a project launched to improve safety has had the opposite effect putting cyclists at risk - as well as causing danger to other road users. She is demanding answers from Cambridgeshire County Council which launched the project to improve safety on the road for cyclists and ...
When we visited New York City a couple of years ago, I was taken by the voice of the guy saying: Stand clear of the closing doors please! ...as we left every station. I omitted to record the announcement, but resolved that I would look it up on the web. I thought the voice sounded great. Really New Yorky. And it suggested that the speaker was about to say "Yee-haa!" like a cowboy at the end. My resolve has taken a couple of years to come to fruition. I just remembered the announcement and looked it up on Google. Lo ...
[IMG: Stephen Tall tempted to run naked by £5000] Finally* Stephen Tall is closing in on keeping his pledge to run naked down Whitehall. Sticking to his free market instincts, clothing will only be shed and running will only commence if enough money is involved. So donate to charity here and get Stephen headed to Whitehall.** * Or, regrettably. ** Thankfully at a time when I will be nowhere near it. You may wish to copy my diary planning.
It was a little weird leaving Bournemouth a week past on Wednesday to think that the Greens would be moving into the same space a couple of days later. The Liberal Democrat Conference had a super atmosphere and was always very busy. I couldn't believe the number of people who attended those 9am sessions to do such things as scrutinise the financial accounts and most times when I went into the hall for speeches or policy debates the only seats left were in the gods. All the fringe meetings were packed to capacity as the Conference was the biggest we'd ...
There has been some interesting fall out (excuse the pun) from my last blogpost about the suggestion by English Democrat candidate for the Crime Commissioner post Steve Uncles that the Western powers should threaten Daesh (ISIL) with a Nuclear strike on Mecca the next time there is a terror attack in the West. In the follow up of the debate on Twitter there were questions about my ancestor's political affiliations and what I would do with Cyril Smith... The most disturbing seems to be Collective punishment. A simplistic way of putting it is what happened to my Grandfather at school ...
There will be a meeting to discuss the future of the library services, including Forest Hill, on Monday October 19 at 7.30pm in the Sydenham School in Dartmouth Road.
This weekend sees the last chance to apply for paid internship positions with ALDC. The deadline is tomorrow, 4th October. Previous ALDC interns have gone on to work in politics or for other campaigning organisations. Ellie Hudspith, one of last year's interns, now works for CAMRA, the campaign for Real Ale. She said: My internship at ALDC was a fantastic opportunity to work with other Liberal Democrats, and gain skills from experienced campaigners. It's a unique chance to work outside of London but still be involved with the party nationally. Getting to attend party conferences and training events allows you ...
Saturday: Did everyone else get the same reaction to the recently announced latest spin-off from "Doctor Who": disappointment, regretfully, that it's not the "Missy and Clara Show"? (Or "Dammit, Missy!" as the Verity podcasters hilariously dubbed this sadly-not-yet-to-be project - and can I also add that their "replace Clara and Michelle Gomez' Missy with Jo and Delgado's Master" game works so perfectly!) Has there ever been a sci-fi psychodrama sit-com before? What a wasted opportunity if there hasn't. Because judging by this week's episode, it would be genius. Because this week is all about the Time Lady and the Puppy. ...
Nick Tyrone has left the CentreForum think tank, where he was Executive Director, to become Chief Executive of British Influence. His old job has been split in two. Anthony Rowlands will continue as Executive Director, Head of Resource and Operations while Natalie Perera, who previously worked in both the Department for Education and the Cabinet Office, joins the think tank as Executive Director, Head of Research. This is welcome, but the organisation still has a long way to go in getting anything like decent gender balance. Four out of its five trustees are men and its advisory board has 21 ...
"Skin", by Rae Morris, is a gorgeous, weary coo; a song that murmurs and flows like a river carving its way through soft sedimentary rock. It's the first track on the 23 year old's debut album, Unguarded, released earlier this year; it's also comfortably the best song on the record, which is something of a [...]
[IMG: indycover] We probably shouldn't be surprised at the news that the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office has declared that the 'prosperity agenda' is now more important than human rights in British foreign policy. We're the country that hosts DSEI every year, after all, where it's the weight of your wallet rather than your conscience that gets you attendance. Meanwhile, selling weapons to one of the world's most repressive theocracies – a country actively encouraging wars in the Middle East – is worth more than a billion pounds a year, so we're all somewhat aware that our supposedly ethical ...
Willie Rennie thought he was just going to speak at an Aberdeenshire dinner last Friday night and then nip home on the Saturday morning. One of the dinner guests had other plans and, as Willie said, "dragooned" him into taking part in the Banchory Beast 10km obstacle race the next day, where he actually finished fifth. You can see some of the obstacles he tackled here. The Deeside Piper has the story and reports a surprising confession: I was dragooned into running it by Bert McIntosh who owns the land," explained Rennie. "We were guests at a dinner the week ...
CentreForum today announces that Nick Tyrone, current Executive Director of CentreForum, will be leaving the think tank to become the Chief Executive of British Influence. Anthony Rowlands will continue as Executive Director, Head of Resource and Operations while Natalie Perera, who previously worked in both the Department for Education and the Cabinet Office, joins the think tank as Executive Director, Head of Research. David Laws remains the Executive Chairman, overseeing an extensive programme of work on education, mental health and justice reform. David Laws said: "We are sad to see Nick go, but CentreForum wishes him all the best in ...
On the subject of women in politics, which I am, there's a Lib Dem who seems to be making very good sense – see link below to Lib Dem Voice:- www.libdemvoice.org/its-the-tories-stoopid-47434.html I read a few of her other blogs and she seems to have a better head on her shoulders than many far more well known politicians. "When we disagree, and there's plenty of potential for that when it comes to the economy and foreign affairs particularly, we should do so by highlighting our liberal values rather than demonising Corbyn. The SNP needs to do more than get the popcorn ...
Is our Health Serice Sustainable? In yesterday's edition of the Independent they published two interesting stories about health which could not have been more contradictory. In the first they quoted a junior doctor as saying, "We won't let you starve ... Continue reading →
Sat 3rd
09:55
Don't look Ethel - this is for @stephentall - and please support his naked run down Whitehall for ch...
This (below) is a corny tune but it actually made number one in the UK charts in 1974. It's Ray Stevens' "The Streak". You hardly ever hear it on the radio these days, so Stephen Tall has provided a good excuse to wheel it out here. In the next fortnight, at an unspecified time known only to a BBC film crew and the duty sergeant at Westminster nick, Stephen will be running naked down Whitehall as he promised to do some years ago if the Lib Dems were reduced to 24 seats in the Commons. We were reduced to eight ...
Now there is a headline I did not think I would be typing. However, in fairness to the singer and reborn political activist her appearance on Question Time on Thursday demonstrated just how unsuited television is to complex and unfashionable arguments. First, a refresher: according to today's Western Mail Charlotte Church is sticking to her guns: Church drew what a number of commentators described as "stunned silence" at All Nations Church in Cardiff after claiming that drought in Syria had contributed to social unrest in the war-torn country. She told the audience: "There is evidence to suggest that climate change ...
Meet One Of The Thousands Of Couples Torn Apart By UK Immigration Laws - BuzzFeed News And people still say we're a soft touch. Jesus. Beyond the Fashion Binary - I like "In space no-one can hear you insist there are only two genders" Police Shootings Won't Stop Unless We Also Stop Shaking Down Black People Sheffield City Region: Elected mayor in 2017 after devolution deal signed - :*( Calderdale campaigners want rail electrification and improvement promises kept Gender Bias at Work Turns Up in Feedback - interesting set of studies here An odd "exclusive" - the Home Office has ...
Sat 3rd
08:31
The Tories have had the easiest summer imaginable - their conference in Manchester will be more of t...
Looking ahead to Conservative Party conference, which begins tomorrow, I find it impossible to imagine a situation in which Cameron and his party don't come through the whole thing with flying colours. Some Tories I know, ground down by years of this sort of stuff being fluffed, are certain that someone will defect to UKIP or be involved in some sort of lurid scandal during the week ahead. But somehow, I don't think so. After the bust up over Trident in Brighton, the Tories divisions on Europe seem if not small at least manageable (for now, I'd like to stress). ...
New Doctor Who BBC Three Spin-Off Series - Class Hooray! (tags: doctorwho ) Cameron's 'renegotiations' (or Russian roulette) with the EU "Brussels seems manageable, but the UK wild cards remain or are getting wilder" - Michael Emerson, my former boss. (tags: eu ukpolitics ) Ten commandments for Brussels conferences Not just Brussels. (tags: eu ) Ted Cruz is toast: It's not just that he won't be president — his days in the Senate are numbered, too Becoming a celebrity. (tags: uspolitics )
Congratulations to Paul Revell, whose Sock Monsters (392 points) have taken over the lead in the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 7, just ahead of Lee Medlicott's Disco's Doughnuts (375) and Simon Stokes' Back of the Net (363). But let's also hear it for three players outside the top 10: Ed Stradling's Unbelievable Jeff! had the best week's performance, with 81 points. Honourable mentions go to Andrew Tennant (Back From The Dead) and Ben Rathe (Rathe Rovers), with 77 and 71 points respectively. [IMG: LDV wk 7] There are 217 players in total and you can still join the ...
A year after they were submitted, council planners have rejected plans for five houses, four for open market sale and one affordable, on a greenfield site south of Burway Lane on the outskirts of Ludlow (14/04215/OUT). This is very much the right decision as only affordable housing for identified needs should be built outside the [...]
