[IMG: Legislation Definition] The Chancellor's defeat in the House of Lords on Monday over cuts to tax credits has, rightly, generated acres of commentary. I don't propose to review the debate in detail here, other than to observe, as a number of commentators and bloggers have already noted, that on this occasion George Osborne is largely responsible for boxing himself into a corner. It is the nonsense of his fiscal charter, coupled with ringfencing of some budgets and already eye-watering cuts to unprotected services that has left him with limited room for manoeuvre. The Government's proposals were obviously going to ...
"Well, punk was really a reaction against people like me, wasn't it?" as Steve Winwood once said. So there is a delicious irony to the fact that John Lydon's Public Image Ltd now record their albums at his Cotswold studio. See them there in this video, and read a little more about that irony in John Lydon, Steve Winwood and the taming of punk. The fact that punk was happily absorbed into the opening ceremony for the London Olympics a few months after I wrote that post suggests I was on to something.
[IMG: nhs-logo] Oh dear this really is not good enough. Like schools all GP practices have to be at best good and all striving to be excellent.
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD Candidate- Alison Fulcher. To help please contact John Newberry (01277 210675), or email Karen Chilvers (katzatbrackens@gmail.com). Pre Polling VPB 75C451O-1984.
In desperation, around lunchtime yesterday, I turned to Twitter to get through to Barclay's Bank, where - to my great shame - I still have a business account. This is what I wrote: @BarclaysUKHelp twice now hung on for 10 mins and then phone put down by your useless call centre. And all I want is a statement for sept. It took them a couple of hours to respond, by which time - on my third attempt - I had finally managed to sort the problem. I was quite surprised to get a reply at all because Barclay's seems to ...
A second class TGV carriage. nice, eh? A badge of honour. Yes, I've been blocked by @LibDemsforLeave... No sooner do I question whether trying to persuade non-Lib Dems to follow a pro-Brexit Twitter account to boost its credibility is such a good idea, then I am blocked by it. So, that leaves me with a problem. Do I block it, or allow it to see how I ridicule it? Of course, as they're too scared to publicise their identities, their credibility lies in ruins anyway. Hell, if they're half as stupid as they take us to be, their chances of ...
The Ludlow & Tenbury Wells Advertiser reports on the marking on the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Bishop's Castle Railway: Bishop's Castle Railway Society marked the anniversary by erecting two commemorative plaques at each end of the route. One was placed near the site of the station in Bishop's Castle and the other at Craven Arms station from where trains to Bishop's Castle departed.The Bishop's Castle Railway Society website points us to a description of the celebrations in the town when the line opened: On the arrival of the train at Bishop's Castle, the Shrewsbury sax-horn band struck ...
It has been an awfully long time since I've written anything personal here. I just haven't felt the desire nor the need. Yet a few weeks ago someone surprisingly turned up in my dreams and then on Sunday I was laying in bed scrolling through Facebook on the iPad and I saw a link that my friend Anna had shared. It was entitled, They Wrote Down Their Confessions To 'The One That Got Away,' But Then These YouTube Comments Almost Top Them. The title of the story is pretty self-explanatory. The YouTube video is embedded below: I watched this and ...
I have, accidentally, found something that I'm not really supposed to have, i.e. a Latin spirit. Yes, I have a Hispanic surname (another accident of history), but I'm an Indian Catholic, and we have no rhythm (we are musical, but dancing isn't really high on the skill set). There I was, checking a YouTube video of an early music group that I've become rather find of, when I discover that they made an album of Latin American music. Well, one thing led to another, and there I am, listening to Venezuelan folk songs. And you know something, they're really catchy. ...
Nick Clegg has an article in the Independent today: The Outers want us to believe we can have our cake and eat it, effortlessly freeing ourselves from the shackles of Brussels while continuing to trade on equal terms with our neighbours across the Channel. They argue that Britain can simultaneously abandon the EU, end free movement of people, end all EU budget contributions, repatriate control over employment regulations and retain full access to the European single market. It sounds lovely, but it's a deception. And that last point is the most deceptive of all. There is no access to the ...
Current Family Britain, 1951-1957, by David Kynaston The Dark Tower and Other Stories, by C.S. Lewis Last books finished Walking to Babylon by Kate Orman A Star Chamber Court in Ireland: The Court of Castle Chamber, 1571-1641, by Jon G. Crawford Last week's audios [Sixth Doctor] The Brink of Death, by Nicholas Briggs Welcome to Night Vale eps 69-74 Next books Axis, by Robert Charles Wilson Too Much Happiness, by Alice Munro The Quantum Archangel, by Craig Hinton Books acquired in last week Slan, by A.E. van Vogt
Daniel Zeichner MP attended a cross-party event at the House of Commons, organised by Pancreatic Cancer UK, to help spread the word about pancreatic cancer ahead of pancreatic cancer awareness month. There were nearly 8,800 new cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed across the UK in 2013, 959 of whom live in the East of England. Tragically, only four per cent of patients live for five years or more after diagnosis. In addition to learning about these dreadful survival rates, Daniel heard about the need for earlier diagnosis, more research funding and better access to new treatments for the disease, as ...
Thu 29th
16:40
LibLink: Nick Clegg: When it comes to the EU, we shouldn't kid ourselves. All forms of "Out" are as ...
Nick Clegg is doing a lot of writing at the moment. Today, he has an article in the Independent busting the myths put about by Leave the EU campaigners that it would all be fine if we left as we could just be like Iceland or Norway and enjoy the benefits of the single market. Errr, no, actually, we couldn't says Nick. The Outers want us to believe we can have our cake and eat it, effortlessly freeing ourselves from the shackles of Brussels while continuing to trade on equal terms with our neighbours across the Channel. They argue that ...
[IMG: eyelords] That image is from the latest Private Eye, but it's echoing something that's been all over the right wing of the internet in the last few days, as a harrumph of commentators and keyboard warriors have declared themselves to be shocked beyond all measure that members of the House of Lords have voted against the Government. Suddenly, people who not so long ago were defending the hereditary principle in Lords appointments are now solemnly proclaiming that members of the Lords daring to have opinions is the gravest of constitutional crises. Peak silliness comes in this article by William ...
Peter Thornton is the Liberal Democrat leader of South Lakeland Council. Their area includes Tim Farron's Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency. Housing has long been one of the priorities of the Liberal Democrat administration. Peter writes for the Huffington Post comparing the current Conservative thinking on housing to that of their predecessors in the 1950s and 1960s. Harold Macmillan built his family home, he said, on the instructions of Winston Churchill: This was a generation who knew that setting targets and making speeches was not enough to make things happen. Production, supply lines, labour forces, these were also needed to win ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-34641805 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above Industrial relations at Ashworth have been much calmer in recent times but go back not that far and you will find what used to be a very troubled hospital indeed. My posting of 22nd August refers when the Liverpool Echo first picked on the present unrest:-
Thu 29th
13:56
Lydiate's Neighbourhood Plan – An opportunity for community involvement! What just like the la...
My letter to the Champion newspaper to try to balance up their article of 21st October. Dear Sir, I read with interest the article about the proposed Neighbourhood Plan for Lydiate. The Plan is of course being proposed by Lydiate Labour to mitigate the worst effects of Labour-run Sefton Council's Local Plan which is to dump hundreds of houses on Lydiate's high grade agricultural land which also happens to be Green Belt. Lydiate people wrote many letters and signed petitions opposing what Sefton Council has been proposing for their community. On that basis it's a bit rich for those in ...
One of the highlights of Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference last Saturday was seeing new member Wendy Chamberlain introduce Willie Rennie for his keynote speech. New member Wendy Chamberlain introduces @willie_rennie pic.twitter.com/4vmfLWl3vh — Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) October 24, 2015 This is what she said: Firstly, may I offer my thanks to Sheila Thomson and the Conference Committee for asking me as a new party member to speak and introduce Willie to you to deliver his leader's speech. My name is Wendy Chamberlain and I joined the party earlier this year, like many others, just after the May General Election. Although I ...
Thu 29th
12:10Lord Tony Greaves writes...Raising awareness of Lyme Disease. Do you know how to deal with tick bite...
[IMG: Ticks courtesy of Lyme Disease Action 1] Lyme disease is something rather nasty that you can get from being bittenby a tick. Both Lyme and ticks have had quite a good press of late (or perhaps a bad one) due to a number of "celebrities" getting infected -people such as John Caudwell (founder of Phones 4U) and Bella Hadid, daughter of Yolanda Foster - with long articles in the Mail, Evening Standard and on the BBC website. Not so well promoted, but I hope important, was a short debate I secured and led on Lyme Disease and other tick-related ...
You've no doubt heard that Peterborough City Council faces some big budget deficits over the coming years? To be fair to the Tory controlled City Council, it's not all due to millions of £'s wasted on consultants or solar panel schemes, it's mainly due to Tory government cutting its grant to the Council by nearly [...]
Some of the UK's most high profile digital entrepreneurs have warned the Prime Minister that cracking down on skilled immigration could put Britain's digital economy at risk. Over 230 startup founders and investors, including Martha Lane Fox and the founders of Citymapper, DeepMind, SwiftKey and Unruly signed an open letter, organised by Coadec, calling for a rethink of government proposals to further restrict visas for skilled workers. The letter comes as the Government's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) considers proposals that would make hiring skilled workers from outside Europe significantly more difficult. The letter argues: "The UK has become a global ...
Given the recent events in the House of Lords regarding 'fatal motions' and delays over tax credits, and so on, I though now was as good a time as any to build a little on my previous post 'Time For a Coherent Constitution', and flesh out some of the details of what I would like to see a Second Chamber look like. Obviously this fits in with the overall vision of a fully Federal UK with regional/national parliaments, as outlined in the aforementioned previous blog post (indeed, the kind of system I am describing here could not possibly exist without ...
Local Liberal Democrats have condemned Anne Main's explanation of why she voted with the Government against an opposition motion to seek to scrap VAT on women's sanitary products. Chris White, Liberal Democrat leader on St Albans District Council, said: 'Right-thinking people all know that it is wrong to tax these items as if they were [...]
East Dulwich Road will be resurfaced 3->5 November each night between 8pm and 5am between Grove Vale and Crystal Palace Road. This assumes no surprises or bad weather. Noisy work will be, as much as possible, contained 8pm to midnight each evening. I've asked what the diversions for bus route 37 & 484 will be and other traffic. I've also had an extended dialogue with council officials over the summer about taking this closure as an opportunity to renew all the road marking and zebra crossings at Goose Green roundabout. Fingers crossed this all goes to plan as well. Importantly ...
There is continuing controversy in the Welsh Assembly over the process for accepting and rejecting urgent questions. Essentially, nobody knows what criteria is applied and reasons are never given by the Presiding Officer for her decision. All four political parties have concerns about this process and I think I am safe in saying that the vast majority of AMs, as well as most of the media and third sector who inhabit the Cardiff Bay bubble, believe that at the very least the Assembly should publish and keep up to date a list of both accepted and rejected urgent questions with ...
I welcome Vince Cable's article in the London Evening Standard yesterday on the need for more ethnic diversity in Britain's FTSE-100 boardrooms. This is long overdue. British businesses are missing out on diverse talent that could take their companies, and the economy, forward. In an increasingly competitive global economy we cannot afford to waste the talent that exists in BAME communities. In the article Vince, and Labour's former shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, state: The ethnic diversity of our boards has gone into reverse. The latest survey by executive recruiter Green Park of 10,000 top business leaders shows the number ...
I am not normally somebody who seeks to stereotype people around a particular issue but frankly, the recent vote in the House of Commons seeking to zero rate tampons for VAT just lends itself to such a treatment. The Western Mail reports that the eleven Welsh MPs who voted against this proposal were male and Conservative. The lack of empathy is shocking. It cannot be right that condoms do not attract VAT but women's sanitary products do. Surely, zero rating for tampons should be one of David Cameron's key asks when renegotiating the terms of Britain's membership of the EU. ...
This week Britain's House of Lords voted to delay the reduction of tax credits for Britain's poorest working families. Parliamentarians from the ruling Conservative Party are apoplectic at what they say is constitutional outrage – an unelected chamber challenging an elected one. There is an important constitutional issue here, but as usual the Conservatives are pointing to the trees so that we miss the wood. The key issue is not whether the upper chamber is elected; it is how the executive power of the British government should be held accountable, and prevented from excess. Britain does not have a written ...
UPDATED DETAILS. Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Malcolm Pollack.
UPDATED DETAILS. Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD Candidate- David White. To help, please contact David White (01435 813171, Grovebridgefarm@btinternet.com)
Conservative seat. Cause: Death. Prospective candidate: Dennis Murphy Contact for helpers: Ray Atkins 07836 373500 rayatkins.atkins@gmail.com
UPDATED DETAILS. Labour seat. Cause: Disqualification. No LD candidate.
UPDATED DETAILS. Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. No LD Candidate.
If you go anywhere near a social media account north of the border you'll never be more than 60 seconds away from a post about independence. The phrase 'Neverendum' really does describe the atmosphere right now with talk of 'indyref2' dominating the political landscape. This is of course exactly how Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP... More Why The SNP Doesn't Want Independence Any Time Soon
Let's be honest, the thought that someone should fly back from New York, first class no less, to vote in support of slashing tax credits for the poorest working households is pretty reprehensible. And so, unsurprisingly, Andrew Lloyd Webber has taken more than a little flak. Dear @OfficialALW (Lloyd-Webber), did you really just charge the UK tax payer to fly you back from New York just to vote against #taxcredits— Samuel Rushworth (@SamJRushworth) October 26, 2015Now, young Sam isn't just any random voice on the internet, he was the Labour candidate for Blackpool North earlier this year. You'd think that ...
[IMG: Libby - Some rghts reserved by David Spender] Editor's Note: The party is currently running an essay competition for members of the Liberal Democrats, to submit 1000 words on the theme "What it means to be a Liberal Democrat today." The deadline for contributions is 2nd November. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to voice@libdemvoice.org.uk. To be a Liberal Democrat today is a bit like being part of an endangered species. We no longer appear in the media, opinion poll ratings are still low, and we are treated as a former political party. It ...
As I said yesterday, the Tories have suddenly turned on the House of Lords. Everyone from Boris to the Chancellor have now come out with the line that the Upper Chamber should not stand in the way of the now to be stressed "elected chamber's" wishes. But what the last week has really done, more than anything else, is to remind us all of just how razor thin the Tory majority actually is. I talk often myself about an age of Tory hegemony we are just seeing the early stages of, all of it resting on the assumption that a ...
Tim Farron has intervened in the case of Tara Hudson, the transgender woman from Bath who has been sent to serve a 12 week prison sentence at an all male prison because, basically, of some paperwork. She's never applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate, but she has lived as a woman for all of her adult life. Tim expressed his fears for Tara's safety to Pink News. He said: The Liberal Democrats will raise this case in Parliament. There is a clear need for a policy change in this area. It looks like the Ministry of Justice needs be dragged ...
Here's how things are looking for future hung Parliaments after the 2015 general election: [IMG: Analysis of 2015 election results shows future hung Parliaments are very likely] From Britain Votes 2015, edited by Andrew Geddes and Jonathan Tonge.
Talking about our "liveblogging for money" plan for Thought Bubble
Visitors to the University of Dundee this autumn are being invited to enter the fantastical world of the scientific imagination. The University of Dundee Museum Collections contain many hundreds of scientific instruments and related equipment, as well as charts, models and other teaching aids. These are normally shown in a conventional fashion in exhibitions and other displays around campus. However, a rummage through the collections by guest curator and author Reif Larsen has uncovered an alternative history and, in particular, the astonishing tale of explorer, inventor, cosmologist, professor, tenor, liar and rogue scholar Sir Gavin Hawkly-Longfarthing. This fantastical history can ...
It's that time of year again, kids. Just as we get ready for the latest tranche of Facebook posts about towns and cities in the UK banning Christmas trees because they supposedly offend non-Christians, our bullshit meters are tested by the natural pre-emptive - defiant posts about how people are wearing a poppy in remembrance regardless of whether it's racist. Let me say one thing. Wearing a poppy isn't racist. It's a personal choice that lots of people make to remember those lost in War. When it comes to questions in this area, there are a few we need to ...
Thu 29th
07:47
If at first you don't succeed try and fail again - Elm Lodge housing rejected for a second time
Plans for around twenty secure over-55s bungalows at Elm Lodge off Fishmore Road have been rejected for a second time. The decision is correct in planning terms but once again points out that local planning in this town is potentially on the brink of descending into anarchy. Shropshire's chief planner Ian Kilby refused the plans [...]
Copenhagen the main routes in and out of the centre have traffic lights working to encourage cyclists to go at a consistent 20km/h or 13mph. They do this by all the lights going green in a coordinated wave. Too slow and you keep missing green lights. Too fast and you keep coming up to red lights. Some lights have count down green LED's in the road for cyclists to encourage them to catch the green light. They do this partly to support people cycling. But partly to make cyclists more predictable for other road users. Transport for London say they ...
Would you survive a horror film? - I got 6/7 but then they insulted me by calling me Captain Sensible The inside story of the fight for a Greater Yorkshire - Peter Box is fast rising up my list of most hated In which @nickjbarlow catches his "Independent-minded" Tory MP behaving suspiciously like Lobby Fodder (again) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
How to Defeat Religious Violence Jonathan Sacks reflects. (tags: religion waronterror ) We pay, but have no say: Norway and the EU Former foreign minister @EspenBarthEide explains. (tags: eu ukpolitics switzerland norway ) Naked Prose, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood Writng about sex. (tags: sexandgenderandsexuality ) Roger Stone, Political Animal Extraordinary piece (from 2007) about an extraordinary operator. (tags: uspolitics ) Azerbaijan: rigged elections next Sunday Great piece by @CommissionerHR, mentions my ex-colleague Ilgar Mammadov. (tags: azerbaijan humanrights ) Ilgar Mammadov severely beaten in prison Aliyev's goons in typical form. (tags: azerbaijan )
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have launched their campaign to slash VAT for tourist attractions in both the National Assembly and House of Commons by jointly publishing Statement of Opinions calling on cross-party support. The Liberal Democrats believe that VAT should be reduced from 20 per cent to 5 per cent on small hotels and holiday attractions to boost the tourism industry. This is part of a Liberal Democrat plan to make Wales and the UK more attractive as a holiday destination and to create a jobs revolution in the sector. It means the UK would follow the lead of 25 ...
