Copyright © Dennis Calow This is the original Vaughan College, which was either on Great Central Street or Holy Bones depending on which source you believe. The two streets may well have met in those days. It began as a 'Working Men's College' and was later absorbed into the University of Leicester as part of its Adult Education department. This building was swept away in the construction on Vaughan Way shortly after the photograph was taken in 1962. It was replaced by a new building next to the Jewry Wall site. That too is to be closed as the university's ...
For a while now both Facebook and Twitter have offered the ability to upload a list of email addresses and then run ads on their networks targeted just at those people. The social networks look to see who has used on their profile an email address in your upload, and shows ads just to those who have. It's a very handy way of targeting the voters you really want, especially in areas with significant email lists. Now Google has joined in, letting ads be targeted in a similar way for uploads of at least 1,000 email addresses. You can have ...
Tue 3rd
21:08
Remembering Charles Kennedy's character, wit, ascent and triumphs: a report from today's London serv...
This was no wake, this was a celebratory thanksgiving to the Charles Kennedy we knew and loved. Held, not in Westminster, but in Charles' own London parish church - the Catholic Cathedral of St George, Southwark. As one Liberal Democrat peer wisely observed after the service - Charles would have liked that the residents of the Village of Westminster had had to come down to his manor here in Southwark. So often with memorial services of people whom we have lost untimely there is a sense of what might have been. Instead this celebration marvelled at just how much Charles ...
Rather belated repost today, the Uni of York Lib Dems are one of a number of societies which will now be running a regular online column with Nouse, one of our student newspapers. This will cycle between three of us from the society. I kicked it off with an article about the fiscal charter and [...]
Darryl Chamberlain mourns the passing of Tom Barry, co-author of the Boris Watch blog and @BorisWatch on Twitter, at the age of 41: I last saw him in March, at some drinks for his birthday. He was in his element — in The Ship in Wandsworth, surrounded by friends, beer and obscure books about long-gone transport schemes. I still can't believe we'll never get to do that again.It is a horribly early age at which to die and a corner of Twitter and the blogosphere which we took for granted has suddenly gone from us. But then bloggers do disappear like that. ...
[IMG: European Union flags - Some rights reserved by tristam sparks] Without knowing where the finish line will be, the race to the EU referendum has already begun. Despite the fracturing of the Leave campaign and the lack-lustre beginning from the Stay In groups, the pop-up Facebook pages have begun to appear and Twitter users are attempting to condense a range of complex social, political and economic arguments into 140 character barrages. Along with the social-media frenzy both sides have produced posters to be included as arguments to back their cause and throw scorn on the other, readily prepared for ...
Or very nearly. Kent Online reports: French energy company EDF Energy has bought the UK's only desert... in Kent. It has exchanged contracts on the Dungeness Estate after it went on sale for £1.5 million in August. The 468-acre estate is designated as a National Nature Reserve, a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.And EDF energy, of course, is largely owned by the French government. (It's only the British government that cannot own British utilities.) Still it may not be bad news. A trustee of the Dungeness Estate is quoted as saying: "After the decision ...
From the Guardian website this afternoon: Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation who this week mounted a spirited defence of the intelligence services, has received £400,000 from a private consultancy he co-owns with a former head of MI6. SC Strategy Ltd, the company that Carlile established with Sir John Scarlett, who ran MI6 from 2004 to 2009, is described as offering clients strategic advice on UK policy and regulation and has paid out dividends to the pair totalling £800,000 over the past three years, according to accounts filed with Companies House. On Monday, Carlile made a pointed ...
This was the very first Bernice Summerfield novel I read, long long ago, and then a few years back I then really enjoyed the Big Finish audio adaptation guest-starring Elisabeth Sladen as a Babylonian priestess. I realise now that it's also partly a homage to Iain M. Banks: the story is about a far-future civilisation, the People (a pretty direct copy of the Culture), two of whom take it into their heads to go to ancient Babylon, with potentially catastrophic results. An archeologist from 1901 gets swept up into Benny's mission with unexpected consequences. I really enjoyed it when I ...
We covered Tim Farron's visit to Lesvos last week and his raising of the situation at PMQs. Now Tim writes of the experience for politics.co.uk. At one centre I spoke to Armet from Iraq, who was staying in a UNHCR provided metal shelter for the night with his family. Armet told me that as he got off the boat in Lesvos his seven-year-old son asked him "Is ISIS here too?" That little boy demonstrates the reality of this crisis. The right-wing press and lazy politicians would like us to believe these are people either coming to Europe for "the good ...
In Nelson's day, it was relatively simple. Once a fleet was at sea, it was effectively under local command. The Admiralty could judge the qualities of the admiral when they appointed him, give him a framework to work in and that was that. They had to leave him to it, for better or for worse. The problem was similar before the First World War. Once the flagship had cast off the telephone line to London and put out to sea, the decisions would be his. Wireless changed everything. In fact, it was just one of a number of innovations which ...
If you want to work for the Liberal Democrats, there are plenty opportunities at the moment. Let's start with opportunities outside the party which may interest Liberal Democrats, though. Are you a campaigner with a passion for Europe? Then Britain Stronger in Europe needs you. They have no fewer than 13 jobs going at the moment: Field Operations Executive This is a hands-on position with the Field Operations Executive providing support to staff and volunteer teams throughout the UK. Essential Experience • Supporting the delivery of plans designed to identify, recruit and activate volunteers in a campaigning environment, especially young ...
Tue 3rd
15:51
Come and watch the Labour Party congratulating themselves on the destruction of our green spaces!
A view of the Japanese Garden in Calderstones Park As regular readers of my blog know I am highly sceptical of the value of council meetings where rational debates are few and far between and we spend a lot of ... Continue reading →
The provisions of the so-called 'snoopers charter' have been much debated, with Tory Ministers arguing that it is necessary to combat terrorism. That is open to debate and, indeed I have challenged it on a number of occasions on this blog. However, as the Independent points out the upcoming investigatory powers bill goes much further than that. They say that the bill could give wide-ranging new powers 38 different authorities in the UK, including normal public bodies, as well as the police and spy agencies. These authorities will be able to request information about what websites people have visited and ...
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 was yesterday. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to voice@libdemvoice.org.uk. I'm not going to tell you what it means to be a Liberal Democrat. I'm going to tell you what it means to be a Liberal. Party fortunes come and go, but the Liberal Project is proud list of social achievements which have improved the lives of of millions ...
This post was first published on Lib Dem Voice here. The party has held an essay competition as part of it's Agenda 2020 review of our beliefs, values and approach. Members were invited to submit essays of up to 1,000 words on "what we mean when we say 'I am a Liberal Democrat' - what we believe, what we think is important, and what underlies our support of or opposition to specific policies." I deliberately avoided reading other entrants to the competition (you can see some here) and to focus on what I mean when I say I'm a Liberal ...
Ahead of the publication of the latest incarnation of the Communications Data Bill, due out tomorrow, I thought I'd take another look at how the UK compares with other countries when it comes to the number of requests for user data. There are many articles that quote the raw numbers and the US invariably comes out top in those terms – with a population of well over three hundred million people, that's hardly surprising. Instead, I look at the number of requests per million population – i.e, as a citizen how likely is it that someone such as the courts ...
Tim Farron condemned the Conservative government's Housing and Planning Bill yesterday for an all-out assault on social and affordable housing, at a time when they are most needed. Access to housing is fundamental to our liberties, our opportunities, and our hopes for the future; that applies to every person here. We therefore need a positive vision for housing that meets existing needs and gives security to the most vulnerable. We need more homes of all tenures—affordable homes that must live up to their name and be genuinely affordable. We need an ambitious plan that increases home-building to 300,000 properties a ...
[IMG: Calendar image for Website] Many Liberal Democrats send Christmas cards to every house in their ward. These are a good opportunity to remind people that you are there all year round, without a heavy political message. People usually add these cards to the rest they receive and so unlike Focus leaflets they tend to be held on to for [...]
Saturday: I wanted to call this "outstanding and delivering", but in fairness, it wasn't quite as amazing as part one. The plot was more... generic: Leo the Lion and his "surprise" invasion twist, leaning heavily on 2005's "The Unquiet Dead", which also features a rift opened by death. But that wasn't the point. This was all about why Maisie Williams was essential to the role of Ashildr/Lady Me. You might have thought that that Viking maid was familiar from "Game of Thrones"; but here we see the range of her talent as she evolves from Arya Stark to Cersei Lannister. ...
Saturday: We loved this. "Doctor Who" doing all the things right I thought the previous story got wrong: seizing on a "big" idea - here the meaning and consequences of immortality - and exploring it while telling a tale with humour and excitement. It's the entire Tenth Doctor era in a single episode: from the hubris when the Doctor and companion think they're invincible; to the aching regret for "losing"; to the flashback of Donna reminding the Doctor to save people; to the Doctor's "Time Lord Victorious" moment of defiant anger against "the rules"; to the buyer's regret that followed. ...
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 was yesterday. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to voice@libdemvoice.org.uk. We live in exciting times. After years of apparent inertia a new wave of interest in and engagement with politics is sweeping across Europe. Movements like Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain have shown that the people are tired of the old neoliberal consensus and are searching for ...
[IMG: Global inequality - World Economic Forum infographic] From the World Economic Forum website by a deputy director at the IMF, no less: Over the long haul, countries that have managed to limit excessive inequality are countries that enjoy both faster growth and more sustainable growth. The latter is particularly important: what enables poorer countries to close the frontier with industrialized nations is not the ability to initiate growth, but rather the ability to sustain reasonably high growth over periods of many years, or even decades. Many things can help here - openness to trade, openness to foreign direct investment, ...
The term 'governance review' is designed to chill even the most ardent activist. It's something other than campaigning for election. It seems to have little to do with fighting the Government over tax credits, surveillance or indeed anything else. It's frankly a bit dull. But it does matter that we have a Party which works, which costs as little as possible to work and which is accountable to its members. In 1988 the newly merged 'Social and Liberal Democrats' had many more members than we have today. Its institutions were suitable to a wider spread of membership and nodded strongly ...
The decision by Scottish Labour to pass a motion opposing Trident at their Conference last weekend was a brave one and, in my opinion, the correct one. However the fallout from the vote has been almost as toxic as from the said weapons they wish to abolish. On the one hand you have the Scottish... More Labour's Trident Problems Will Lead To Mutually Assured Destruction Next May
Yesterday, Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Norman Lamb MP launched a cross-party campaign for improved funding for mental health services. He was joined by Alistair Campbell and Andrew Mitchell MP, as well a significant number of other r politicians, professionals, celebrities, mental health charities and community leaders. Norman Lamb said people with mental ill health "don't get the same right to access treatment on a timely basis that everyone else gets". He called it a "historic injustice." One of the many celebrity backers is Ruby Wax Ruby Wax who said: "It's unbelievable that it's 2015 and there isn't parity between mental ...
Yesterdays' Guardian carried an article entitled Apocalypse now: has the next giant financial crash already begun? by Paul Mason, who is Channel 4's economics editor. The same paper carried an article last week by David Graeber: Britain is heading for another 2008 crash: here's why. So it's clearly becoming fashionable for left wing types to start spreading stories of doom. Could they be right? Mr Graeber is not a professional economist (neither am I, I should make clear); he's an anthropologist, in fact. He has written engagingly on financial matters though, notably his book Debt: the First 5,000 years. His ...
Last month was the regular meeting of Bury Council's Health Scrutiny Panel. Here is my report on the meeting which looked at the I Will if You Will project, Deferred Payments for Social Care, Lifestyle Change proposal from the NHS and Gluten Free Prescribing. I Will If You Will The Committee received an update report on the I Will If You Will Project. This is a Government/Sport England funded project to increase the amount of women and girls taking up physical exercise across the whole of Bury. We received an update not he programme which reported that10,723 unique individuals who ...
Tue 3rd
09:01
Pretty much everything you need to know about Corbyn's new old Labour party in 2 tweets
This is just gobsmacking: Labour to consult Stop the War on Syria policy; an org which essentially supports Assad. https://t.co/MhN3NtNDCa — Rob Marchant (@rob_marchant) November 3, 2015
A couple of weeks ago I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time. Oh, I'd seen something that was called 2001: A Space Odyssey before. I'd seen something called that on an old-style square TV and thought it wasn't all that good. I'd seen what seemed to be a different film on a [...]
Tory caught on camera daubing obscene graffiti on Lib Dem rival's shop front Karin Graham, 50, wrote 'w****r' and 'C***sucker' on the property of a Lib Dem councillor in the middle of the night – but was caught on CCTV ... She was targeting a gift shop owned by Lib Dem Gavin Jones, in what has been described as a bitter and long-running Tory 'dirty tricks' campaign in the town. In a scene reminiscent of a Carry On film, Graham is seen with an unknown male approaching the shop front with her lip gloss at the ready to write the ...
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 was yesterday. If you would like us to publish your submission, send it to voice@libdemvoice.org.uk. To be a Liberal Democrat is to believe in freedom. Freedom grounded in real life, starting with people as they are. Not 'The People'. Not 'Our People'. Freedom based on the unique worth and potential of every individual person, and the understanding that the person who knows best how ...
Tue 3rd
08:31
I have no idea if there really is a financial crash imminent, but if it happens it will help the Tor...
Over the weekend, I read a fascinating article from Paul Mason about how not only is another financial crash a la 2008 just around the corner – it may already have begun. It was the usual Mason shtick: moments of genuine insight accompanied by gaping holes in logic. Let's dissect Mason's argument: the whole reason the crash is already in motion comes down to the fact that everyone is indebted to the hilt, which wouldn't be quite so bad if this were accompanied by genuine economic growth. But it isn't, as Mason points out, and we know this because most ...
As a member of the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, I am delighted to see today's launch of the new bridge Twitter account which will give bridge users useful travel information, including regular and accurate information about the bridge status such as weather restrictions to bridge access, etc. Earlier this year, the Board discussed having a social media presence as a useful service to the public and I am pleased that the Bridge Manager and his staff have moved this forward. The new Twitter account - @tay_road_bridge - is live as of today and the bridge website has also been ...
Tue 3rd
08:29
Liverpool City Region – Was that submission for devolved powers from government deliberately p...
The fact that it was poor now seems to be a fact not just my opinion – see my previous posting at:- But the more I have thought about it the more I have come to the conclusion that the 6 Council Leaders must surely have known what a poor effort it was. That then leads you to consider why it was poor? * Simply done too late and therefore rushed and ill-considered? * Bearing in mind the now legendary bickering that has gone on between our esteemed Council Leaders on Merseyside could they not agree a more radical/credible ...
The Financial Times Partners With Google To Guide Readers Through Europe's "Hidden Cities" Starting with Brussels. (tags: maps belgium ) Juncker's kisses Greetings from the President of the European Commission! (tags: eu ) The rating game When the customer becomes the boss. (tags: work ) The Game is Rigged It's not enough to be consensual; it ought to be *good* as well. (tags: sexandgenderandsexuality ) Obituary: Professor John Bossy An old friend, lost on 23 October. (tags: death history ) DUP uses veto to scupper same sex marriage vote 53 for, 52 against, Unionist veto wielded. (tags: sexandgenderandsexuality northernireland ) ...
City's influence over Conservatives laid bare by research into donations How to check if your Batman is awesome enough Comment: The prisons minister must take the blame for the failure to protect Tara Hudson [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
London Overground has been a huge success. Real investment in new trains, upgraded staffed stations, increased train frequency of trains and really easy frequent timetabling has unsurprisingly caused this success. Whereas, the train services serving East Dulwich station are desperately over crowded and offer a very poor service compared to the London Overground. So I entirely support TfL's suggestion they take over this and other railway lines. We need a significant upgrade to our train services and TfL appear the only route to obtain this.
Being in Mexico for the Day of the Dead has long been something on my bucket list, but it was by fortuitous coincidence that the 60th Liberal International Congress, which finished in Mexico City on Saturday night, meant that I have been able to enjoy this extraordinary celebration this year. Last night I was in [...]
