Tonight at the Guildhall inspiring celebration of the work of DHI over the last year. A charity that challenges social exclusion by supporting people with dependency problems. Apart from hearing about the work by the charity and its social enterprise letting agency Home Turf we had an inspiring speech from Stepeh Robertson the Chief Exec of The Big Issue Foundation . We also heard about the challenges ahead as the Conservative Government reduces Council budgets and the social consequences of not providing this support to vulnerable adults. Wiltshire and Somerset – both Tory controlled have cut back. It will be ...
The SNP introduced a proposed amendment to the Scotland Bill. It would have made the subject matter of the Tax Credits Act 2002 an exception to the general reservation of Social Security schemes. To understand what this means, we need to look at the way the Scotland Act works. The Scotland Act £££££ Under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act, certain policy areas are designated as "reserved matters", which means Holyrood, in general, has no say over those issues, what the law is in relation to them, and how government agencies give effect to those schemes. In most instances, Westminster ...
Richard Branson has donated £20,000 towards Nick Clegg's research into reforming drugs policy around the world. The billionaire Virgin founder gave the money to Open Reason, a non-for-profit firm the former Liberal Democrat leader set up after leaving office. Both Mr Branson and Mr Clegg have both called for drugs such as cannabis to be decriminalised because the current laws have "failed"... Virgin Group Holdings gave £20,965 as a grant to support Open Reason's work on "international drug policy". [Daily Telegraph]
[IMG: Dine_Meadows_(Small)] Thank you for your email. We have all received over 200 emails against the proposed Park and Ride options and very few in favour. Some of our Liberal Democrat Councillors have replied individually but we thought it only right in view of the concerns expressed that we contact you with a fuller explanation of our position. Please be assured that the Liberal Democrat Councillors will NOT support any inappropriate schemes. The proof of this is in the consistency of our action over time. In March 2011 the Conservative administration had a scheme to tarmac the meadows and create ...
Part 3 takes us west from Camden through to Little Venice, and beyond. Part 1 and part 2 have already appeared on this blog.
As we approach the end of Armistice Day, it is, perhaps, appropriate to remember the tune most associated with military memorials, The Last Post. The BBC produce some superb radio documentaries. They have surpassed themselves with "The Last Post" presented by Alwyn W Turner. It tells the story of the tune and describes its extraordinarily wide use, often at national and international occasions and including at the funerals of Sir Winston Churchill and IRA man Bobby Sands. He also mentions the American equivalent, "Taps", which was played at the funeral of John F Kennedy. The BBC News website carries a ...
The Telegraph wins our Headline of the Day Award.
Those of us outside London have been viewing the rise of Uber with mounting indifference. But I gather this story in the Evening Standard may be significant: Lib-Dems are set to challenge key parts of Boris Johnson's plan to rein in Uber. The party will vote on a motion to oppose measures which include banning the minicab-hailing firm from showing the location of available cars in its app and making private-hire customers wait five minutes between booking a car and setting off. Caroline Pidgeon, the Lib-Dem candidate for mayor, said: "It makes no sense to make a passenger wait to ...
Hat-tip to Peter Black for inspiring the title Here below is some fascinating reading. First, a letter which David Cameron sent to the Conservative leader of Oxfordshire County Council (bearing in mind the PM's constituency of Witney is in Oxfordshire) and then the reply he got. Via, it seems, a somewhat incautious researcher or adviser, Mr Cameron reveals an extraordinary ignorance of local government finance, coupled with remarkable arrogance. Cameron's Letter Hudspeth's Letter to Cameron * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and blogs at ...
One month to go to the closing date (11 December 2015). -- -- -- -- -- Cambridgeshire County Council is looking for the views of local residents on proposals to save money on street lighting. Cambridgeshire residents are being urged to have their say to join more than 60 other councils and further dim or turn off some streetlights at certain times to meet tough saving targets. Cambridgeshire County Council is faced with finding £41 million in savings next year and more than £100 million over the next five years with less money from Government and more demand on services. ...
Wed 11th
18:25
Maghull – Former Library & Youth Centre Site – the final bit of the story and the ev...
My previous posting of yesterday refers – see link below [IMG: The former Stafford Moreton Youth Centre and old Maghull Library in the heart of Maghull's shopping area.] The former Stafford Moreton Youth Centre and old Maghull Library in the heart of Maghull's shopping area. Some of my readers may have been sceptical about my postings on this rather bizarre subject, frankly I was beginning to wonder myself! However, here is the evidence, in the form of a documented official minute from Sefton Council's Cabinet meeting of last Thursday 5th November:- 70. FORMER MAGHULL LIBRARY AND YOUTH CENTRE, LIVERPOOL ...
Wed 11th
18:04
LibLink: David Laws: George Osborne needs to prove his cuts won't stall improvement in education
As Schools Minister, David Laws introduced the Pupil Premium, extra money for disadvantaged kids in school to help close the attainment gap. He has written for the Independent to say that the Government needs to do more to ensure that people have a route out of poverty: The Government also needs a new drive to raise educational standards, and to keep the focus on improving attainment for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds - those who are much more likely to end up in poverty and on benefits. We are not going to address poverty and create opportunity while 60 per ...
I really loved Spin, to which this is a sequel; in fact, Spin was the first Hugo winner that I actually voted for. Axis is not as good a book, but it's still a good enough read; a complete change of central characters, pursuing a quest up the back country of an unknown parallel world, with a lot more emotional depth than you usually get in a two-fisted adventure tale. Took me ages to get around to reading it, but I am glad I finally did.
The Lib Dem team are pleased that an overgrown footpath we asked to be cleared has now been done by Community Payback. It took a while as not was the footpath very overgrown but a tree had fallen from a back garden across it. The path runs from Demmings Road behind the houses and comes out by the entrance to the industrial estate on Brookfield Road. [IMG: passageway]
Psychologists at the University of York have analysed the speeches that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney gave in the swing states during the last American Presidential campaign. A report of their findings on the British Psychological Society's Research Digest blog says, not surprisingly, that they found that Obama was the more effective speaker, winning enthusiastic responses from his audience more frequently. That report goes on to say: Can audience responses be used to predict the subsequent success of the candidates? ... Bull and Miskinis correlated the responses in each swing state with the vote received there, and found this to ...
I am standing for Chair of London region because after the European and local elections 2014 and GE 2015 election, Liberal Democrats need committed support and dedicated focus to rebuild local party capacity for important elections coming up in the next 3 years. The Chair will have a pivotal role, to build up local party teams for a series of campaigns, by providing them the resources and support needed to take their energy and turn it into election wins. I have served as Chair of my local party for 3 years, executive of London region for 3 years, stood in ...
The party has entered a new phase in our history, recovering from the electoral fallout of coalition, a new Leader, new members and a renewed determination to build a more tolerate and Liberal society. Our first test in London will be the high profile Mayoral and Assembly elections. We have probably our best ever team, led by the experienced and highly regarded Caroline Pidgeon. For the first time Caroline, as our Mayoral candidate tops a well-balanced regional list to ensure a campaign focused on improving our representation at City Hall. A London-wide election is always a challenge to the region; ...
[IMG: Any excuse to drag out an old favourite.] Any excuse to drag out an old favourite. George Monbiot in today's Guardian brings us the news that David Cameron has been writing to the leader of Oxfordshire County Council to complain about the council's reduction in services. Probably unsure if he had an actual letter from the Prime Minister or a very clever hoaxer, the leader replied with a careful explanation of how strapped for cash OCC is, as is much of local government thanks to the cumulative effect of funding changes since 2010. What strikes me most about Cameron's ...
Rail travellers who commute from Southport, Burscough, Parbold and other stations along the line through West Lancs are concerned about the proposal to push all Southport trains into Manchester Victoria as opposed to the present situation where some go through to Manchester Piccadilly. OPSTA [Ormskirk, Preston & Southport Travellers Association] have been lobbying over this for some time now and below is an update from their September Connexions Magazine. [IMG: Departure board at Southport Station.] Departure board at Southport Station. The campaign continues in concert with the Southport Rail Transport Forum to press for the best we can get with ...
Irrespective of the argument for and against austerity cuts to public services, I believe that it is reasonable that those taking decisions on these issues are aware of their implications. According to the Independent, David Cameron appears to have fallen down at the first hurdle on this particular test. They say that Ian Hudspeth, the Tory leader of Oxfordshire County Council, came to blows with the Prime Minister over cuts in a letter exchange leaked to local newspaper the Oxford Mail: The sometime political ally of Mr Cameron accused the Prime Minister of "inaccurate" comments about cuts after receiving a ...
I have posted a couple of times in the past about the historic Forge or Smithy that used to be operated by the Barnes family in Liverpool Road North, Maghull. [IMG: The Forge in its operating days] The Forge in its operating days Maghull Town Council, working with the present owners, the Olsen family, placed a plaque on the wall of the property in 2009 but strangely it has gone. Gone where I do not know. [IMG: The derelict Forge in 2002] The derelict Forge in 2002 I noticed it had gone following the receipt of a letter from of ...
[IMG: Hazel] Kate Parminter has written for Politics Home following her question on puppy farms in the House of Lords the other day. She asked: We need new legislation to tackle the appalling conditions that thousands of puppies suffer in the UK when they are bred for sale. Do the Government agree that no puppies should be sold under eight weeks and that all people selling puppies and dogs should have a licence, which will then give local authorities the resources to tackle puppy farming? The Minister gave a broadly sympathetic but vague response. Sue Miller followed up Kate's question ...
We took a couple of days off last week to go and explore Bruges (and saw I found this a tantalising pair of pictures. He looks, frankly, as if he's already had a brandy too many before lunch, staring out of the portrait at us; she looks like a very smart young woman, her gaze cast aside - towards him, if his portrait was hung to the right of hers? Or were the portraits meant to face each other, given that she has her back to the garden and he to an interior wall? If the latter, it seems odd ...
[IMG: distinction] It seems like ages ago that I finally handed in my dissertation but it's only been two months. Two months of regularly checking my University email account for notifications while second-guessing everything I wrote in it, until today the maring was done, the exam board had met, and I got my final grade: a distinction for the dissertation, which meant an overall distinction for my MA, so those two years of studying and several thousand pounds of fees weren't wasted in the end. Anyway, this is just to say thanks to those of you who read and commented ...
Teads (formerly Wikio/Ebuzzing) has been producing blog rankings for many years. Sadly, they've now decided to stop doing this as their business model has moved to focus purely on video advertising. The last blog rankings were compiled in September 2015, with this blog standing proudly at 98 in the 'Other' category (just 50 places behind a far more important and ...
Sir Simon Hughes' knighthood is official! Yesterday he went to Buckingham Palace to receive his insignia from the Queen. Congratulations to Rt Hon Sir Simon Hughes on his investiture today pic.twitter.com/YkHF6NHR2F — Southwark Lib-Dems (@swklibdems) November 10, 2015 The British Monarchy website describes the process: In a ceremony of knighting, the knight-elect kneels on a knighting-stool in front of The Queen, who then lays the sword blade on the knight's right and then left shoulder. After he has been dubbed, the new knight stands up, and The Queen invests the knight with the insignia of the Order to which he ...
We have full council in Gateshead on Thursday so I thought I would look back at the last council meeting on 24th September and report on some of the issues debated. There were 3 motions on the agenda, one from us, on public health spending, and the other two from Labour, one on the trade union reform bill, the other on Syrian refugees. Our motion was about in year cuts to the public health
LibDemHAME is the new Scottish political blog giving a Liberal Democrat perspective on contemporary affairs. We would be delighted to receive items for consideration for submission, on any topic, whether you are a Liberal Democrat member or not. The blog editor will make a decision on whether to include the piece or not but posts... More Write For LibDemHAME
There are many reasons why I should not be a front line Lib Dem spokesperson. Among them is my rather pragmatic stance on civil liberties. I fear that my attitude to the government's proposed law on surveillance is a case in point. Of course I think that individuals deserve proper legal protection, but I worry that the party, and the civil rights lobby generally, is expending too much energy on narrow legalisms, while missing what is happening in concrete reality. Civil liberties are a touchstone issue for Lib Dems. While most of the public are indifferent, the party's activists are ...
Upon moving to London my first 'culture-shock' moment - so much as an Aussie can have them - was discovering that many black cabs only take cash payment. In 2015 it is hard to imagine another industry where a regulator must step in to ensure more than half of all operators provide a facility as basic as card payment. This matters, as this weekend our London conference will debate a motion on Transport for London's (TfL) recently released proposals to regulate the private hire car market. While many of the proposals are sound, several will sabotage successful business models and ...
Yesterday's report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland (HMICS) is a damning indictment of the SNP's centralisation agenda. The inspectorate uncovered a whole raft of failures including lack of staff, no adequate oversight, poor staff morale and, farcically, staff recording calls on scribble pads. The report suggests that police chiefs took their eyes of the... More HMICS Report Makes Damning Reading For SNP
The cheapskates among you can read about the Joker and 1960s California politics at Mindless Ones, while those of you who love me can read about the Riddler, silent film, and legal rights over at Patreon
Wed 11th
09:03Lord Tony Greaves calls for action to register young people and ex-pats for the referendum
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tony Greaves used the committee stage of the European Union Referendum Bill to press the government to sort out the voting system for people living in other European countries who may be at risk of losing their chance to vote in the Referendum which is due before the end of 2017 and perhaps as early as June next year - together with some in the UK itself. Sounds simple enough, although in this year's general election the system had a shortfall of several million UK citizens living abroad who were eligible to vote but could not ...
I was listening to Women's Hour on the way back from the local dump yesterday morning and overheard an interesting item on Sweden - which could have been made exactly the same about the UK. Why - given that feminism is broadly triumphant in the way it has produced life chances for women - are women so stressed? It is a good question. The women's movement was supposed to be about liberation, and in so many ways it has been. And of course men don't always share the tasks that women were traditionally expected to do. That may explain the ...
[IMG: Catherine Bearder, Lib Dem MEP] The Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder is doing an 'ask me anything' (AMA) on Reddit on 4 December. Details are over on Reddit. A RETURN FOR MY OCCASIONAL TIME-SAVING SERVICE FOR COMMENTERS WITH A HANDY COPY-N-PASTE PRE-PREPARED COMMENT : "I have no idea what Reddit is. It's therefore obviously stupid and irrelevant. My ignorance makes me utterly sure of this – and it is appalling that people are wasting their time on it."
Wed 11th
08:31
On the two month anniversary of Corbyn winning the leadership, what does the future look like for La...
I take you all the way back to September 12th, 2015, and for those of us who followed the story closely, the inevitable became reality: Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party with 60% of the vote. In the build up to this, I thought Corbyn would experience a sort of honeymoon period once he became leader. A time early in his period as leader of the opposition when the Tories paused in their grinning at the Corbyn "gift" and began to fear, ever so slightly, that Jeremy's ideas were gaining some traction with the wider public through ...
As tomorrow (Thursday 12th November) is an in-service day at local schools, my usual ward surgery at Blackness Primary School does not take place but I can be contacted at any time at home on 459378 or by e-mail at surgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk. My surgeries resume again next week.
Students are meant to convulse - if one can not rebel during late adolescence, then pretty quickly you run out of time and the varied pressures of earning a living, maintaining a relationship and/or a family enforce a conformity of one sort or another. The inventive and occasionally wacky ways that students rebel stretch from placing traffic cones on the heads of statues, toga parties, to Trotskyism. Sometimes students get more serious and do things that require some kind of intervention, like an addiction to Class A drugs, attempted suicide and supporting Stalin (Yes, Seamus Milne, I am talking about ...
The Lib Dem team have long been working on what you would think would be an easy problem but has turned out to be anything but – keeping the grass cut at the junction of South Park Road with the M60 slip road so cars can get safely in and out with good sight lines. The problem's been that it's a small area of grass that's split between Highways England and Stockport Council. Over the last few years we've badgered both and had it cut back from time to time – and even done it ourselves! Now we seem to ...
David Cameron has today sent his letter to the President of the European Council with details of the demands which he says must be satisfied if he and his party are to campaign for the UK to remain in the EU. I certainly haven't read all the letter, and don't intend to, but from the BBC's summary of the contents, though embarrassingly mean and petty, they don't seem to amount to much. 1. Britain to "opt out" of "ever closer union." Britain seems to be the EU member specialising in opting out, but "ever closer union" us an aspiration from ...
The Historic China-Taiwan Meeting Will Not Serve Xi Less than the sum of its parts. (tags: China ) Living and Dying on Airbnb "The rental that killed my father." (tags: death ) Former British soldier arrested over 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings Never thought that would happen! (tags: northernireland ) Spain after Franco British diplomatic analysis from November 1975. Fascinating. (tags: spain ) Britons Perturbed by a Troubling Shortage of Curry Chefs Protecting the country from good food, er, migrants. (tags: ukpolitics migration )
A little Pratchett fic about Nobby that made me cry Elderly cartoon characters - Mickey Mouse looks like someone French, for some reason. Chirac? Death metal music attracts sharks in an environmentally friendly way \m/ \m/ Loooong tumblr discussion about sexism in TNG - the stuff about fencing is just unbelievable. David Mitchell: separating literary and genre fiction is act of 'self-mutilation' I posted a Quick Thought About Sexism in Star Trek Why tech companies are really worried about the new snooper's charter Boy arrested in TalkTalk probe sues three papers for breach of privacy - guess which ones? Jesus. ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats will vote against the proposed rise in Assembly Members' pay later today, Kirsty Williams AM has announced today. On Wednesday, Assembly Members will be asked to vote on the Assembly Commission's Budget which is set to rise by around £1.1m. This huge increase in the budget is required to pay for the salary hike proposed for AMs by the Remuneration Board. Assembly Members' £54,000 pay is proposed to increase to £64,000 in May 2016. This 18% rise will cost taxpayers around £700,000 more per year. Kirsty Williams AM is calling on all political parties in the ...
