A second trip to Scotland. Other videos are available: Devon, Bedfordshire, North Lincolnshire, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, Rutland. Northumberland, Shropshire, Suffolk, East Riding of Yorkshire, Norfolk, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Durham, Glasgow, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our on-time 437th 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 (25-31 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. Ex Lib Dem MP Alan Reid ...
The writer and comedy promoter John Fleming has blogged about meeting Norman Baker, the former Liberal Democrat minister and MP for Lewes. Here is part of that post: "You seem to be a terribly principled man," I said. "Don't you compromise your principles by talking to and doing deals with shits?""Well, otherwise," he replied, "they run the show themselves. People asked why didn't I resign, why didn't the LibDems resign from the government? The answer is because all the people you don't like would be left there and we'd be gone. Do you really want to hand the government over ...
[IMG: Laptop, smartphone and notepad CC0 Public Domain] Email isn't new. It has been around for only one year less than me but is still only patchily used by local parties even though more than four in five voters use email. That is more people with emails than with reachable individual letterboxes in many urban areas, for a start. How to make use of this opportunity? Here are the key points Rob Blackie and Iain Roberts ran through during ALDC's email campaigning session at the autumn federal conference: Collect more email addresses - the best wards have got to having ...
Sun 1st
17:54
Theresa May does a Paul Daniels on internet surveillance - but the devil is in the detail
Theresa May has pulled off quite a trick in the last couple of weeks. She built up the impression that the government would store the entire nation's internet browsing history (which must have had computer storage salespeople salivating heavily) and ban encryption (effectively banning WhatsApp and Snapchat). But now she's spun the upturned eggcups around the table and revealed that she won't be doing that after all, so isn't she soooo reasonable? That leaves what she was intending to propose all along in the draft white paper (Investigatory Powers Bill) to be published this week. It's classic Home Office smoke ...
[IMG: Trans-Siberian railway by Pixabay Free for commercial use no attribution required] I'm a bit addicted to travelogue programmes. I could very happily watch "Coast" 24×7. "Great Railway Journeys" has me hooked. And, recently, there has been a splurge of excellent travelgouey shows, particularly looking at the northern parts of our blessed globe. Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands is brilliant. Paul Murton visits a string of the Scottish islands. I've just watched the one where he visited Skye and the inspiration for "Skyfall" – Ian Fleming's father's house, Arnisdale House at Loch Hourn. Alexander Armstrong in the Land of ...
Following on from my previous post, and using the methodology explained here, I've read through the fiction output of Tor.com, Clarkesworld, Asimov's and Strange Horizons for the second quarter of this year in quest of stories to nominate for next year's Hugos. (I am also in principle reading Subterranean Press's output, but they don't seem to have published original fiction in those three months.) I wasn't as blown away in general by what I read in this round. Perhaps I was just in a bad mood, but two Tor.com stories in particular which have had a lot of love elsewhere, ...
[IMG: Sunseat on the North Sea] Several years after The Riddle of the Sands was first published and became a bestseller, one of the first British spy cases came before the German courts - the so-called Brandon-Trench affair, named after the two Britons (correctly) convicted of spying. During the court case one of the lawyers held up a copy of The Riddle of the Sands and asked the accused spies if they had read it, for they were accused of being bungling gentleman spies sniffing around the very locations such as Nodeney and Wangerooge that feature heavily in The Riddle ...
Sun 1st
16:05
Theresa May does a Paul Daniels on internet surveillance - but the devil is in the detail
Theresa May has pulled off quite a trick in the last couple of weeks. She built up the impression that the government would store the entire nation's internet browsing history (which must have had computer storage salespeople salivating heavily) and ban encryption (effectively banning WhatsApp and Snapchat). But now she's spun the upturned eggcups around the table and revealed that she won't be doing that after all, so isn't she soooo reasonable? That leaves what she was intending to propose all along in the draft white paper (Investigatory Powers Bill) to be published this week. It's classic Home Office smoke ...
Did you see the BBC report the other day about how antiretrovirals normally used to treat HIV had enabled a woman with Multiple Sclerosis to walk. The drugs had a dramatic effect: Shana Pezaro, 36, from Hove, East Sussex, was given antiretroviral drugs after fearing she may have contracted HIV. Within days, Miss Pezaro noticed an easing of her MS symptoms. When a doctor saw her walking up stairs after years of using a wheelchair he set up a clinical trial. Multiple sclerosis is an incurable condition that can lead to sight loss, pain, fatigue and disability. It affects around ...
For the past few months, whenever the subject of votes for sixteen-year-olds has come up, I've been one of the people turned to. I'm seventeen, so I couldn't vote in the General Election, but I was sixteen at the time of the Referendum so did vote then. If I hadn't had the opportunity to vote, I don't know if I'd have become interested enough in politics during the GE to join in May. I have told Tim Farron this, and he has repeated my words almost exactly in the Q&A at Federal Conference. I am satisfied that there will not ...
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 12000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... "Missing the Lib Dems" (29 comments) by Paul Walter A Labour leopard doesn't change its spots (44 comments) by Sarah Noble "Stuff the convention", says Farron, "Lib Dems will block "cruel, heartless, mean-spirited and misjudged" tax credit cuts" (19 comments) by Caron Lindsay Politics, everyday sexism and why I won't be smiling politely any more (7 comments) by Fiona Milne Mixed local election results for Liberal Democrats – joy in Wealden, disappointment in Brentwood (16 comments) ...
Eric Heath is a Shropshire-based multi-instrumentalist. Born in Athens, Georgia, he was brought up in London and moved to Shropshire at the age of 6. Snailbeach Mines Trust is the first of several albums released by Wayside and Woodland. Their website tells us: The Snailbeach Lead Mine, in its heyday, was the largest lead mine in England. Though mining took place from Roman times right up until about 1950, the 1800s saw a massive expansion in mining in the area. Using guitar, organ, keyboard, field recordings, martenot, piano and voice as the starting point for each of these pieces, Eric ...
Firstly, on looking back at the Rugby World cup, I have to give hearty congratulations to hosts England, and to everybody who was involved in putting on what was, in general, a fantastic tournament. What most characterised its success for me was the success of the 'smaller' rugby nations in improving their competitiveness across the board. Japan, Namibia, Georgia, etc. should be congratulated on their hard work, as indeed should everyone in World Rugby for the efforts that have clearly been put in to spreading and improving the game outside of the traditional heartland nations. On the strength of this ...
Three new blogs appeared on the LibDemBlogs aggregator in October. Thanks to Ryan Cullen for sending me the details. Lanarkshire Liberal is written by Joanne Ferguson. She has written on New Order and the Klux Klan, but proved she understands Liberal Democrat blogging by writing about Doctor Who: If the Doctor becomes a woman and the first few minutes tank, it will be very difficult to repair the disappointment that personal attachment to such a famous fictional character will result in. And I just don't know if I have confidence in Steven Moffat enough to trust him with such a ...
Well, not the actual Tories, but their representatives in the blogosphere. Conservative Home runs a regular feature where they highlight public appointments being made and invites their appropriately qualified readers to apply. ConHome uses the Cabinet Office's Public Appointments page as a reference point. It's currently advertising 48 vacancies from members of independent monitoring boards in prisons, to Cotswolds and Chilterns members of the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty conservation boards, members of the Commission on Human Medicine (with backgrounds in geriatric medicine, toxicology and nursing), gambling commissioners and a non executive director of the Health and Safety Executive. You ...
The Sunday Times reports that 13 former ambassadors have warned that billions of pounds in trade deals and millions of jobs are at risk if Britain leaves the EU. The paper says that in a letter to The Sunday Times, the ambassadors claim that those who want to leave have "no credibility" and are "naive" if they think Britain will be able to quickly strike a better free trade deal with the EU or new ones with countries such as America and China. "Neither argument holds water," they say: The letter was arranged by Lord Hannay of Chiswick, Britain's former ...
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. For me, being a Liberal Democrat today implies sympathy with and a willingness to work for the following beliefs. LIBERTY comes at the top of the list, with the John Stuart Mill constraint that we are free only to do what doesn't harm others. This means that we ...
We held the latest of our Gateshead action days in Whickham North yesterday. A group of people descended on the home of Cllr Sonya Hawkins to help deliver 1000 leaflets, call at 300 doors and help run 3 street surgeries. Providing lunch is always a requirement for wards hosting action days in Gateshead. Some of the members who were back early for lunch, including (back row) Cllr Sonya
Wales-on-line have published the 267 powers that Tory UK Government want to keep reserved, and away from the hands of politicians in Cardiff Bay. These include: Hovercraft Knives, including knife blades and razor blades, axes and swords Xenotransplantation (the transplantation of non-human tissue into humans) Activities connected with outer space Pedlars and street trading Activities connected with Antarctica Control of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction Protection of the public from radiation Human genetics, human fertilisation, human embryology, surrogacy arrangements Defence of the realm The naval military or air forces of the Crown, including reserve ...
Since launching our new email newsletter for Lib Dem members in Gateshead in June, we've produced 5 editions. You can read the latest edition on this link.
John Lennon's 1971 album, Imagine, is for most people the ultimate in hippy laidback aural wallpaper. High on vibes and life. Imagine all the people, sharing all the world. That's why the 1988 documentary film, Imagine: John Lennon, is such an interesting document. The recording sessions for the album in question seem to mostly have been a series of moments involving Lennon losing his rag with Phil Spector, the producer of the album, after some minor thing spins out of the former Beatle's control. Particularly revealing as a testament to the album recording's febrile atmosphere is the bit where Lennon ...
While most of the unusual attention paid to the House of Lords this week focused on for the important tax-credit debates on Monday - in which Labour failed to support us in killing off Osborne's cuts - there was another 'fatal motion' in my name the following day. With support from Tom Brake, Chris Rennard, William Wallace and Tony Greaves, I moved to stop the Conservatives deleting 1.9 million entries from the electoral register, against the express advice of the Electoral Commission [pdf]. The Government is dead set on ending the transitionary period - carefully negotiated in the Coalition - ...
Ken Neil Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Friends of Balgay AGM and Autumn Meeting at the Mills Observatory. The guest speaker was Ken Neil, Red Squirrel Officer for Tayside and Ken gave an informative and interesting talk about red squirrel conservation and his work in the Tayside area in that regard. You can read more about the project here. At the AGM, the committee was re-elected although Hamish Mackay stood down as Secretary, after years of dedicated service to Friends of Balgay. Hamish was presented with a gift in recognition of his great contribution to the work ...
A translation of one of the classic Arabian Nights manuscripts, with some familiar stories absent (Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves) but lots more, all giving a very vivid picture of a time and a number of places in a world stretching from Egypt to India as a single cultural unit, but centred on Baghdad and Persia. There's a lot of fairly intricate nesting of stories within stories - I think it was four layers deep at one point - but all rather entertaining, with of course some stories displaying the prejudices of the day, but others giving ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34276868 [IMG: An Intercity HST from BR days around 1990 just coming off Brunel's famous bridge over the Tamar.] An Intercity HST from BR days (around 1990) just coming off Brunel's famous Royal Albert Bridge Bridge over the Tamar. Click on the shot to enlarge it. Back to Railtrack! Oh no, we have been shunted into that siding before. Network Rail clearly has its faults and its problems and its failures but what it needs is good management not another trip down a rundown branch line in a Pacer. Government needs to find the best way to run our railways ...
Sun 1st
07:51
Maghull – Why has the Town Council not been cutting its hedges and a littering of other sins
The lack of hedge cutting around Maghull's parks has of course been raised before on this blog site. My previous post refers at:- But look at this, an advert for hiring out the Town Council's Grounds Maintenance staff, seen on the Town Hall internal notice board on 22nd October:- [IMG: WP_20151022_19_34_24_Pro] Click on the photo to enlarge it. When Labour took control of the Town Council in 2011 they said they were reducing what they called the 'Rolls Royce' standard of maintenance that the Lib Dems had promoted for Maghull's parks, gardens and playing fields. Little did we know ...
Sci-Fi's Hugo Awards and the Battle for Pop Culture's Soul Wired updates its coverage. (tags: sf sadpuppies ) All hail the commodification of Halloween How business created an American "tradition". (tags: history ) How the Failure of Reconstruction Destroyed Progress in America History being made. (tags: uspolitics history ) Ancillary Stapler Beautifully done. (tags: sf )
