Well the title pretty much sums up what I am about to write, and please let me make something absolutely clear for the beginning! I am acutely aware that should someone be hell bent and determined to obtain a gun in the UK, and they are prepared to break the law to get it then ... Continue reading Gun Control in the USA →
England have gone out of the World Cup. But we can take comfort in the discovery that the haka originated, not among the Maoris of New Zealand, but in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
As deputy chairman of the Sunniside History Society, I helped organise today's visit by 85 people to the Tanfield Railway. It started with a bus ride in a classic London Routemaster from Sunniside Club to Tanfield though I took my car so seats were available on the bus. I was also staying there after the bus was due to come back. We also got to see inside the workshops. The £5 price
This week has not been a good one for Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson. For the third week running, the Sunday Times has reported on property transactions which are now being investigated by the Police. The solicitor who acted for Michelle Thomson's company in many of these transactions was struck off last year. You can read the whole judgement in that matter here. It is also worth reading Labour blogger and solicitor Ian Smart's commentary on the allegations contained within it. Today's paper highlights (£) a couple who had to sell their house after the husband was diagnosed with a ...
The Independent wins our coveted Headline of the Day Award.
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. It's been a very sad week in the Watts household after our cat was hit by a car and killed on Monday night. At the moment motorists are not obliged to report accidents involving cats to the police, but there is a petition on the Petitions website at the moment calling for this to be changed. If you would like to sign this you can do so here: 1. East Midlands Main Line It was pleasing to ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 433rd 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 (27 September -3 October, 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. The significance of Charlotte Church ...
Liberal Democrats have responded fiercely to the prospect of beat patrol cuts as a result of potential further reduction in government cash to Merseyside police. Lib Dems have already put onto the streets of central Southport a 'FOCUS petition' on this issue. This was written before the latest statement of concern from local police chiefs." "George Osborne seems impervious to the effect which further police cutbacks may have upon the safety of our local communities. I hope that local people will tell him that "enough is enough." "We can argue as to whether existing cutbacks have already been too severe: ...
This event takes place on Saturday 7 November at Derby Moor Community Sports College. Moorway Lane, Littleover, Derby DE23 2FS. The keynote speakers will be party President Sal Brinton and the blogosphere's own Mark Pack. Full details and booking information on the East Midland Lib Dems site.
[IMG: Parliament Acts by -JvL- FLickr CCL] Tim Farron tweeted on Friday: It's 15 years since the Human Rights Act became law. The @Libdems will fight tooth and nail to protect this landmark piece of legislation. — Tim Farron (@timfarron) October 2, 2015 This follows the overwhelming passing of the following motion, extolling the Human Rights Act and reaffirming our whole-hearted support for it, at the Bournemouth conference: F34 Policy motion: Human Rights Passed (Amendment One passed with lines 9-10 deleted) Conference believes that: I. Human rights and civil liberties are fundamental to a fair, free and open society. They are vital ...
When I woke up to the news on Friday morning that Sheffield City Region was to get a devolution deal with the government with an elected mayor, I was excited and disappointed all at the same time. Excited that Sheffield had got its act together and jumped the queue but disappointed about the mayor. Largely [...]
Voters are at risk of being left off the electoral register ahead of next year's [Welsh] assembly election, the Electoral Commission has warned. The UK government has brought forward a deadline to complete the move to a new voter registration system from December 2016 to this December... Speaking to BBC Wales' Sunday Politics programme, Phil Thompson, head of research at the Electoral Commission, said: "Our view was this is a risk – you're taking people off the register in December who are still eligible to vote and if you take them off you're putting the onus on them to re-register ...
We previously carried the full text of Nick Clegg's speech to the Bournemouth conference. Here below is the video of the speech, courtesy of the party's conference YouTube channel. I wasn't in the hall for the speech. I have now had a chance to watch it back. It is an excellent speech, full of passion and realism. I particularly liked the passages when Nick refers to real people, such as the nurse now facing a £2,000 income cut from George Osborne's recent budget. The May result was shattering for us all, but Nick offers a credible message of passion and ...
I bet you thought the traffic issues at the Queensgate roundabout had ended, right? #Wrong Head of Peterborough Highway Services for Peterborough City Council, has announced that the Crescent Bridge lane (A1179) leading out of the city centre will have a width restriction in place from Monday 19 October, but will remain open to traffic. [...]
One of the joys about living in deepest rural Suffolk is that we're a bit out of the way. The downside of that is that getting speakers to come to your Annual Dinner is more of a challenge. And so, we were rather pleased when Ros managed to lure a former Cabinet Minister to do the Mid Suffolk Liberal Democrats Annual Dinner this year, in the shape of Ed Davey. Our Annual Dinners are usually pretty good, especially as our Social Secretary, Sheila Norris, has an incredible ability to find interesting venues with high quality food, and this year was ...
[IMG: Adrian Sanders] Torbay's former Lib Dem MP, Adrian Sanders, has received a special award for his outstanding service to animal welfare. Mr Sanders, a local MP from 1997 to 2015, was presented with the Lord Houghton trophy by the League Against Cruel Sports. A former vice president of the animal charity, Mr Sanders was a strong advocate for animal welfare throughout his time in Parliament, where he opposing hunting and other cruel sports, and broke with government policy by opposing the badger cull. Adrian Sanders, who won the league's Politician of the Year Award inn 2010, said: "There are ...
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 11,800 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... We're all "Preamble Lib Dems" (90 comments) by Paul Walter Corbyn: No horses were scared during a speech filled with Liberal Democrat policies (47 comments) by Caron Lindsay Jeremy Corbyn's kinder, more caring politics in action #§: Tom Watson (44 comments) by Caron Lindsay TTIP update: a liberal in charge and a new investor dispute proposal (39 comments) by Nick Thornsby Susan Kramer responds to John McDonnell speech (60 comments) by Joe Otten Alistair Carmichael election ...
Come for the mouthwatering history. Stay for the meditation on how Britain and India have changed each other. I've made a habit of reading for about twenty minutes before I go to bed. That made Lizzie Collingham's 'biography' of Curry problematic for me. Her descriptions of sauces, samosas and other treats left me trying to sleep [...]
One of the many campaigns I'm signed up to (www.20splenty.org), recently sent out a press release entitled 20MPH LIMITS OFFER A TOXIC DIESEL FUME REDUCTION EQUIVALENT TO TAKING HALF OF ALL PETROL CARS AWAY, which claimed, as the title suggests that: "As 20mph limits reduce the most toxic diesel fumes, setting a wide 20mph limit is [...]
Siobhan Mathers, Scottish Liberal Democrat activist, former (and, I hope, future) parliamentary candidate and policy convener argues in today's Sunday Times (£) that it's time that Scotland got a full home rule settlement. She sets out what she means by that: I will use the fiscal definition that Scotland under home rule should raise what it spends — self-sufficiency — and the sovereignty-focused philosophical definition of Steel: "The principle of home rule is different from devolution. Under home rule, sovereignty lies with the Scottish people and we decide when it is sensible to give powers to the centre on issues ...
Last week, when I chose Rooftop Singing by New World, I quoted a site that said: The pop group New World were tried at the Old Bailey for trying to fix the outcome of the show on which they appeared.It seems there was rather more to it than that. In 2012, as news of Jimmy Savile's crimes gripped the nation, Andrew O'Hagan published an extraordinary article on the BBC and child abuse in the London Review of Books. At one point he said: Until now, no one thought to examine Children's Hour and the world around it, much less the ...
I wrote a few weeks back of my determination to be a good Hugo nominator next year, and in particular to read the entire 2015 output of those sources which have given me most of my personal first choices in recent years - Tor.com, Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Subterranean Press - plus also Strange Horizons as I'm a long-term supporter. Once I've established a baseline from those five sources, I'll look around what other people are recommending as well; there should be time enough for that. The process so far hasn't been quite as straightforward as I would have liked. I ...
Sun 4th
10:25
Clarke and Dawe - All three portfolios are united in a single $50b infrastructure project
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
[IMG: 20th Sep 2015 conference LDV fringe] One of the highlights of Conference for me was the Liberal Democrat Voice fringe meeting. We wanted to do something a bit more serious this year and, as foreign policy is a key interest of several of our team members, we decided to discuss how we forged a liberal foreign policy in these challenging times. What is liberal interventionism all about. We are extremely grateful to our four speakers. Baroness Julie Smith stepped in at the very last minute so we especially appreciate her thoughtful contribution. We also heard from Lord William Wallace, ...
This is a follow up to my recent postings about hedge cutting (or the lack of it) in Maghull by its Town Council. [IMG: Half cut hedge at Whinney Brook Field, Maghull.] Half cut hedge at Whinney Brook Field, Maghull. You see Maghull Council tax payers actually pay to have the hedges in and around their parks cut twice and I don't mean twice per year, I mean they pay Maghull Town Council (who have been doing the cutting) and Sefton Council who have never done the cutting). Yes, you do not misunderstand me the bill is paid twice but ...
It is not just Jeremy Corbyn who faces an on-going revolt from his front-benchers, the Tories are up in arms as well. According to the Times, there is fury that the Tory conference will be arranged to further Osborne's interests, so much so that at least 18 ministers and former ministers are now actively discussing standing against the chancellor: Senior Tories claimed last week that the prime minister would announce he is standing down in the spring of 2019, with the plan to install Osborne as leader at the party conference in October that year. One cabinet minister, however, told ...
My letter to the Champion newspaper Dear Sir, So Bill Esterson MP has a new job working for Jeremy Corbyn as his small business shadow minister. Is this the same Bill Esterson who on the 6th September 2015 said via Twitter "Only Andy [Burnham] can unite our party and win in 2020" and does Jeremy Corbyn know this? Your sincerely Tony Robertson The Champion had not used this letter by the rime I published it on this blog site.
The most successful parties in the UK at the moment are the Conservatives and the SNP, parties which are supposedly totally opposed in terms of values but who seem to be fuelling each others' gains. We know that Alex Salmond helped give oxygen to the Tories' increasingly incredible and hyperbolic claims during the general election by hinting at demands he'd make of Ed Miliband. We know that the Tories spent a small fortune in seats they couldn't win in Scotland in a strategy that could only have had the effect of ensuring that the SNP won. There is a school ...
I've found the recent Russian intervention in Syria so depressing, I've had to stop reading about further developments on it. I just think about the death toll; all those people in Syria who have fought against the Assad regime in the hopes of a democratic future for their country; those who thought the US would never just simply abandoned them; many of them now getting destroyed by Russian bombs. All because Putin's regime will seemingly do anything to keep Assad in post, a position that can only continue so long as Syria is in a perpetual state of war – ...
This is terribly sad: tory activist kills himself :( Look after yourselves & each other, my fellow politicos Simon Jenkins is wrong about everything: some angry notes on the housing crisis Sometimes I feel like such a calm, non-ranty person An Oregon teacher's letter to lawmakers: We don't need your prayers, we need your courage Government to introduce rules to stop 'political' boycotts - shows how much devolution actually means [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
At meetings of Bury's 'Full Council' the Liberal Democrat group of councillors normally only get one question answered by the the Council Leader at each meeting. Two weeks ago the Lib Dem group asked our one question about the role Bury can play in the current refugee crisis in Europe and in Syria. It has been impossible for anyone to ignore the crisis in recent weeks and months. Obviously there are no easy answers, but we felt that it is important that Bury can play its part. In response to our question the Council Leader confirmed: "Bury has a proud ...
Bury Council at it's last full meeting agreed changes to the three bus lanes that operate around Bury Town Centre, following serious concerns about the flow of traffic and congestion causes in some places. Three major changes are to take place as a result of the review: BOLTON ROAD In light of the current Lidl proposal to realign Bolton Road and Victoria Street that the sections of bus lane on Bolton Road are left in situ. The bus lane at Victoria Street will be realigned and the new layout should make the bus lane easier to negotiate by drivers. It ...
