We held another action day in Gateshead today, this time in Ryton ward. There are 2 Labour and one Lib Dem councillors in the ward and Labour's weakest councillor is the one up for election next year. The aim of the day was to deliver 4500 leaflets and, apart from a few patches being taken by a couple of members for delivery later this week, we achieved full coverage across the ward. I was sent
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. I'm sorry that there wasn't a newsletter last week and I'll try and pick up the most important stories from the past fortnight today. May I take a moment at the start of this newsletter to express my horror at the events in Paris on Friday night, and also those of other less well reported IS targets over the past few days. 1. Budget Consultation I mentioned in the last newsletter that the borough council have launched a ...
A precious find in the British Film Institute's Britain on Film collection. It is pinned to Melton Mowbray on their map, which is why I have only just found it. As the BFI's blurb for Second Thoughts says: Two teenagers are in a cafe in Market Harborough feeding the juke box with coins as the clientele dance energetically (it's a silent film so we'll have to imagine the music). Their funds run out, so they help themselves to the collection from a nearby church.Making their escape, they take refuge in the local Methodist youth club. Can these juvenile delinquents be ...
The Shropshire Star wins Headline of the Day. I can believe the dead drive cars around Ludlow, but the Devon and Cornwall Police were never going to buy this excuse.
I was going to write this for Liberal Democrat Voice but, to be honest, given what's going on over there, it hardly seems worth bothering. At least here, anyone who is interested can pick it up... A week ago, I wrote for Liberal Democrat Voice about the contest to replace Sir Graham Watson as President of the ALDE (Alliance of Liberal and Democrats in Europe) Party. I had meant to follow that up with a piece about the race to fill five, possible six, Vice-Presidential slots, but you know how things go, you get distracted, or busy, or both. However, ...
The Liberal Democrats are currently conducting a consultation on governance, the details of which can be found here. (PDF Link) As I bang on repeatedly about transparency and accountability in my response, it seems appropriate to make my response public – but be warned, at 3,800 words it's quite long! I have been a little tardy submitting this as the deadline for responses is noon tomorrow, but there is still time left to respond if you wish. You might also want to read the responses of Jennie Rigg and Andy Hinton. (If you know of any more public responses, please ...
I read this as a teenager, and was hugely impressed by it. Growing up in the calcified conservative culture of Catholic Ulster, I felt a lot of sympathy for Heinlein's unsophisticated hero who realises gradually that those who claim to speak for God may actually be speaking for themselves, that a political reality can be deliberately constructed, and that girls are human beings too. Since the 1940 original text is eligible for next year's Retro Hugo for 1941, I returned to it with interest and a little trepidation. I must have been 15 or 16 when I first read it, ...
Today we had lunch with Sue and Lyulph, and visited the family graveyard. Unsurprisingly, as its a small area within land owned by Bromley Council, it hasn't been looked after and is sadly unkempt. The memorial stones to my grandfather and some of his descendants were vandalised at some point in the past, and the ones that could be salvaged were moved into the church graveyard 100 m or so away. Now that I expect to be a new resident in the family patch within nine months or so, we thought it would be good to have it cleared, and ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 439th 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 (8 -,14 November 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.Getting the reaction to Chris Rennard's FE ...
Walking along the eastern shoreline of the Hamble estuary near Warsash today, we noticed an extraordinarily high number of cuttlebones. My photo below shows eleven which I collected over about 100 metres of tideline. I think I could have collected 50 at least during our 1-2 mile walk. So there seems to be an unusually high population of cuttlefish around the Solent. Or at least, at the moment, a large number of cuttlefish around there are dying and shedding their cuttlebones. Cuttlefish are extraordinarily-looking animals (see above). It is quite something to imagine all the cuttlefish which were the previous ...
There was a Commons debate this week on making the Houses of Parliament more family-friendly. We've already covered the breastfeeding angle but it's worth looking at some of the other issues raised. Jo Swinson, in an article for the New Statesman, talked about what she thought was necessary to make Parliament more accessible for parents. Lots of positive suggestions were put forward in the debate, including better scheduling of Parliamentary recesses to coincide with school holidays, more predictability of debates and votes, a drop-in crèche facility to complement the nursery, introducing maternity cover for MPs and compassionate carers' leave for ...
Sun 15th
18:18
Some background to the row over Chris Rennard, Liberal Democrat peers and the Federal Executive
I have to declare an interest, in that I have known Chris Rennard for more than 30 years, but I agree with Mark Pack's view that the last thing we should be doing is distancing Liberal Democrat peers from the rest of the party. I also believe it is a misbegotten idea to change the party constitution just because you don't like the successful candidate in a particular contest. But a post on this blog from February of last year may give some useful background to the current row. As the BBC documentary is still online I am reproducing it ...
Today is Petula Clark's birthday. Many happy returns. This gives me the excuse to repeat an anecdote that appeared on this blog in July 2008: It must have been about 10 years ago, when I was acting as press officer for the Malcolm Saville Society. The Society was planning a visit to West End Farm at Wheathampstead, because that was where the film Trouble at Townsend, based on a book by Saville and starring a very young Petula Clark, was made in 1946. Thanks to the Society, incidentally, you can now buy a DVD of the film. Anyway, before the ...
Unless you know what this is all about, the following 24 seconds from a press conference look remarkably tedious and the key moment of drama at 17 seconds in seems clothed in dullness. But in terms of global impact, it's hard to beat this brief press conference sequence: The person answering the questions on November 9, 1989 was Günter Schabowski who blundered his way into triggering the end of the Berlin Wall, the fall of the East German Community Party and a wave of further revolutions across Eastern Europe. Not bad for one dull press conference answer. Günter Schabowski died ...
[IMG: 7 ver 4 full] Many thanks to the 11,400 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Chris Rennard elected to the Federal Executive by Lib Dem peers (105 comments) by The Voice Alistair Carmichael case rumbles on (38 comments) by The Voice HS2: Who cares about an old pear tree standing in its way (71 comments) by John Whitehouse Three reasons why you should go to Oldham West for your own good (29 comments) by Caron Lindsay Former chair of Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats is expelled from the party (6 comments) by ...
The Tricolour is the flag for all of us today Yesterday I was proud but sad to attend a vigil for the dead of Paris outside Lime Street Station. The vigil had been called at very short notice by some ... Continue reading →
I'd be a useless Borg. And there's a scene in Spectre that had me running for the exits. View image | gettyimages.com I suspect that my phobia is reasonably common. I find anything that involves the piercing of my skin terrifying and would go to any lengths to avoid it happening – if it were possible. This phobia clearly rules ...
The following is a statement issued by the Greater Manchester Muslim community on Fridat evening as the extent of the terrorist attacks in Paris became apparent Paris is an attack on us all. This is an emergency statement in relation to the ongoing terror attacks in Paris The Greater Manchester Muslim community note with deep shock and sadness the fast developing terrorist attacks in Paris. Our thoughts are with the French people and authorities. We pray for the safety of all the hostages. We also pray for the relatives and friends of those who have lost their lives so ...
Speech prepared to propose the Better Deal for Renters motion at the Welsh Liberal Democrats' 2015 Autumn Conference. Conference, In his first conference speech as leader, Tim Farron said – "We have had enough empty rhetoric on housing. We need action now." The Private Rented Sector must form a central part of our response to [...]
The conference committee reported that more people had subscribed to the 2015 AGM and conference held in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea yesterday than at any time in the Welsh Liberal Democrats' history. There were lively debates on policies for next year's election on rented housing, agriculture, disability, mental health and economic policy, as well as inspiring speeches from federal president Sal Brinton, Westminster MP Mark Williams and Welsh party leader Kirsty Williams. Against a divided Labour party, a Conservative government which is revealing itself in its true colours and UKIP suffering a catastrophic loss of income there is ...
On Thursday, LDV reported that Chris Rennard was elected to represent the party's House of Lords group on the Federal Executive. Since then, a petition has been submitted to the party by the group 'Rock the Boat – Lib Dems against Sexual Harrassment'. The petition calls for a Special Party Conference to debate a Constitutional amendment to remove the seat on Federal Executive reserved for a nominee from the Lords group. The petition has been declared valid as it includes over 200 signatures of members from at least 20 different local parties. On Friday Rock the Boat issued a press ...
Sun 15th
12:46
On this Stop all immigration and close the UK borders until ISIS is defeated petition bollocks...
Oh people. People of the UK. At times I know I sit on a different side of the fence to the majority. That is fine. I'm used to it. Yet last night when I saw an e-petition get shared on social media entitled, Stop all immigration and close the UK borders until ISIS is defeated then I started to get angry. Not because this e-petition exists, as I'm not surprised some people would think like this but because over a quarter of a million people had signed it. Overnight another 50,000 people have seemingly signed it and I want to ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats met in Swansea for their Autumn Conference yesterday. Here are some of the highlights from Twitter. Like the Scottish Kickstart which also took place yesterday, the event opened with a minute's silence for the victims of the Paris atrocities. Conference began with a minute silence for the #ParisAttacks. Our thoughts are with all there #ViveLaFrance #wldconf pic.twitter.com/UvpEiLSRbB — Welsh Lib Dems (@WelshLibDems) November 14, 2015 Sal Brinton also mentioned the events in Paris in her speech: .@SalBrinton on #ParisAttacks: @LibDems know these people are extremists & don't represent the Middle East #wldconf pic.twitter.com/OnSYYZNCvH — Welsh Lib ...
We have just witnessed the most appalling atrocities in Paris, and my thoughts remain very much with all of those affected. It is an unimaginable nightmare situation for all of those caught up in it, and we must all do all that we can support them. The sad reality, though, is that for most of us there is unfortunately really very little that we can practically do other than show them that we are thinking of them at this dreadful time. What we must not do, though, is allow the terrorists to win. Some have, in the past, rightly pointed ...
In Against the Grain Norman Baker remembers an unsuccessful gig by his band The Reform Club: As well as members of the band, we had roped in Archy Kirkwood, the Lib Dem MP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, on guitar, and Chris Berry, our Eastbourne candidate, on keyboards. Archy was a competent rhythm guitarist and had been in a Scottish band in the 1960s, half of which went on to be the Average White Band, though not Archy's half.In 1974 the Average White Band reached no. 1 in America with this single. That was a rare feat for a British band ...
Sun 15th
11:13
LibLink: Vince Cable: Britain's economic recovery is precarious and an economic storm is coming
Vince Cable has form for predicting economic disaster, so you take notice when he says that there could be another one on the horizon, even if he qualifies it with an anecdote from his professional life: I use the word "could". I am always mindful of the day 20 years ago when I was greeted in my role as chief economist at Shell with a plaque, in Arabic, which translated meant "Those who claim to be able to forecast the future are lying even if, by chance, they are later proved right". The reputation of economic forecasting as a science, ...
Congratulations Chris: New Lib Dem London chair is Chris Maines. 45% turnout. — Mark Pack (@markpack) November 14, 2015 He succeeds Mike Tuffrey, who was term limited and so is standing down from the post. Here's the manifesto Chris Maines stood on. Point 3 I think is spot on, and I'm looking forward to seeing this followed up: [IMG: Chris Maines London Region Chair manifesto]
In the Independent, Vince Cable is promoting his new book and is arguing that we are still living with the consequences of the banking crisis of 2008. He says that the damage to banks, government budgets, production and living standards has been enormous and we are far from a return to normality. He warns that there are some ugly black clouds gathering which could portend worse to come: My current sense of unease is sharpened by the big disparity between backward and forward-looking indicators. This week's employment figures continued the remarkable run of positive data which has had economic ministers, ...
[IMG: Kermit the Frog in a field of rape seed oil - CC0 Public Domain] Update: an excellent set of suggestions made over on Facebook (read here) and some highlights from Twitter below. @markpack planning permission for houses rejected as rare frog found in field — CarlMinns (@carlminns) November 15, 2015
Sun 15th
09:47Last chance to submit your thoughts to the Governance Review - deadline is noon tomorrow
The deadline for submissions to the party's Governance Review is noon tomorrow. If you have strong opinions on how the party is run, you need to get them in by then. The Federal Executive will be discussing them at an away day on 5th December and proposals will then be drawn up for consultation at Spring Conference and regional and state conferences. Here's what I wrote in September about why it's important to contribute: I often think that if any executive body wanted to do some real power grabs, it would circulate them in a document entitled "Governance review" in ...
After the horror of the Paris shootings, social media gave me some idea of people's initial reactions. There was a lot of Islamophobia as you might expect – and by that I don't mean Islamophobia in the way people on the Left often use the phrase and which annoys other people since it is supposedly evoking a phobia that isn't really a phobia, but I mean real Islamophobia: a deep terror of Islam. We've also had calls to close borders, here and abroad. Poland is trying to use the shootings as a pretence for getting out of taking Syrian refugees. ...
On Thursday, Liberal Democrat Voice reported that Chris Rennard was elected to represent the party's House of Lords group on the Federal Executive. Since then, there has been strong disquiet, to put it mildly, and efforts have been going on to collect the necessary number of signatures to call a special party conference. Mark Pack reported last night: More than the necessary 200 signatures have been gathered and the party's Federal Conference Committee (FCC) has started planning for holding the special conference. There is still an option to call it off, if matters are otherwise resolved first, such as if ...
Maghull's innovative Youth Coffee Bar in the Town Hall has now been closed again and for quite some weeks; since August I understand. What's going on? [IMG: Inside the Youth Coffee Bar after a refurb' a few years ago] Inside the Youth Coffee Bar after a refurb' a few years ago I have blogged before about Maghull Youth Coffee Bar as it was an important step forward in youth provision when it was launched all those years ago. It's aim was to put young people in control of their own facility and for that facility to be at the heart ...
A superb short documenting Food Train's inspiring story from it is humble beginnings in Dumfries & Galloway to an ever expanding charity dedicated to help support older people live independently at home across Scotland - including Dundee : Food Train Dundee has recently expanded to include our befriending service, Food Train Friends. Customers enjoyed their first outing to The Rep Theatre Dundee to watch The Beautiful People. The show was thoroughly enjoyed by all and customers had a blether afterwards in the cafe. There will soon be a Christmas lunch and shopping trip to Dobbies Garden Centre. It is great ...
[IMG: guernica] It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet?" (Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five)
London's garden bridge is turning into an epic failure 'Dear World': David Starkey does not speak for Cambridge University on Race or Gender [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
I went to see the movie "Steve Jobs" this evening. I didn't really like it. One does like to have a little bit of entertainment when one goes to the movies. Apart from the last two minutes, which provide a little emotional resolution, this is a rather unsettling film. Perhaps it should be, because of its subject. If your idea of fun is to watch the run-ups to several product launches, then this is the film for you. If you are suffering withdrawal symptoms, after the end of West Wing, and hanker after people walking through corridors talking quickly (Aaron ...
One of the tasks that has fallen to the Parliamentary Party in the Lords since the demise of so many of our MPs in May has been to pick up the slack in terms of providing speakers for Local Party events. Ever willing to do what she can, Ros had volunteered to travel to Saffron Walden this evening to be the guest speaker at the Local Party's Annual Dinner, and I tagged along to do some minimal navigating and keep her company on the hour-long drive in each direction. As she noted in her initial comments, there are two types ...
