I came, I saw, I was a bit bemused. But what did I learn? Firstly, it is remarkably easy to drive an economy off of a cliff, especially if you're socialist and a bit paranoid. There is no doubt that it takes some flair to create such an economic mess when you have the highest level of untapped oil reserves of any country on Earth. However, in fairness to Hugo Chavez and his followers, they meant well, and given the alternative when he came to power, a corrupt administration which failed to invest in its people and oversaw huge levels ...
Embed from Getty Images Lord Bonkers has his Home for Well-Behave Orphans, but then it seems at one time every self-respecting Liberal politician had his own orphanage. Caroline's Miscellany writes of William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine: As a regular visitor to the London Hospital, Whitechapel, Catherine saw at first hand the effects of the 1860s cholera epidemics on the East End poor. She founded an orphanage for the children of cholera victims, in a large house in Clapton. It also took in convalescent patients, and the convalescent home later moved to Woodford Hall, Essex, in 1866. Adults and ...
I had grown vaguely fond of Caracas, developing a grudging admiration for the ability of people to carry on despite all of the obstacles put in their way. Because, in all fairness, Venezuela is quite a progressive place. For example, using cable cars as a means of public transport is an imaginative solution to the issue caused by housing developments on steeply-sloped hillsides. And the grandfather of such infrastructure lies in the northern suburbs, the teleferico. Built as part of a gondola lift system designed to carry people from the coastal town of La Guiara into Caracas and vice versa ...
I guest at least the chauffeur is going to cover more than one role: Brent Council is recruiting a Mayor's chauffeur. Job desc includes polishing the silver. WTF is this, Downton Abbey? pic.twitter.com/2gRv8e8jAM — Pukkah Punjabi (@PukkahPunjabi) December 17, 2015
On the BBC's flagship film critic show this afternoon, the latest Star Wars film - The Force Awakens was reviewed. A lot of the discussion was about the suitability of the bbfc (British Board of Film Classification) rating of 12A - children of 12 and under to be accompanied by an adult. Mark Kermode considered this correct while Simon Mayo opined that a PG would suffice. I think that both the bbfc and Dr. Kermode has the right of it. The bbfc ruling can be read here: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/star-wars-force-awakens-2015 My own opinion is that not only is there brutality, which actually ...
Well done to the County Times for winning our Headline of the Day Award. The poet A.E. Housman adds: And lads knew lizards at Knighton When I was a Knighton lad.
The Conservative pursuit of Fracking at the same time as its savaging of the renewable industry makes no sense at all. Fracking produces a fuel source that contributes to global warming. Renewable energy gives us enrgy time and time and time again without creating green house gas. On 16 Dec Parliament considered That the draft onshore hydraulic fracturing (protected areas) regulations 2015 which were laid before this house on 16 July be approved. The vote was Ayes 298 Noes 261 The Ayes included Jacob Rees-Moggs and Ben Howlett the two Conservative MPs representing Bath and North East Somerset residents. The ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above Can this Liverpool City Region nightmare get any worse? First we are told by a Tory Government that we can only have devolved powers if we accept a Metro Mayor to lord it over all of Merseyside. I personally know of only one person who wants a Metro Mayor for Merseyside. Then we find out that our 6 Labour Council Leaders are negotiating a deal which clearly includes us having Metro Mayor. We end up with a third rate devolution deal (no control over the NHS or Police) and ...
Exciting news from the Harborough Mail: The annual Celebration of Christmas concert will be held on Saturday (December 19) at the parish church of St Dionysius, Market Harborough ...The reader this year is Carole Boyd, Lynda Snell from 'The Archers' (and all the female voices in Postman Pat among many other credits!). The concert starts at 7.30pm and the doors open at 6.45pm. Tickets are available from Tim Blades 07976 757352 or MH Music in Market Harborough. There will also be some tickets available on the door but organisers recommend that people get there early for them.
Twice in the last 8 days a former Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister has headed to the Palace to kneel before Prince Charles to formally receive their knighthood. Last week it was the turn of Sir Danny Alexander, who said: It was a great honour and a wonderful ceremony and it's all rather humbling. It was something I didn't expect but it is a real honour to have the recognition for the work I did in the coalition government – turning the economy around and getting the country on the right track. Today, Sir Vince Cable had his big day. The ...
There were two second place finishes for Liberal Democrat candidates in this week's six principal council by-elections. In Brent (LB), Sarah Dickson recorded an 8.7% vote share increase for the Lib Dems in Kensal Green as the party polled 23.9%, with Labour holding the seat with 53.4% of the vote. There was another second place [...]
News that Shirley Williams is to retire from politics after many years in the public eye brings back memories of her for me. I first met Shirley in the famous Crosby By-election when as a young Liberal I was working to help get her elected as the SDP/Liberal Alliance candidate. She came across as a down to earth friendly person who really cared about people and this proved to be the case over the many years I have known and met her. Here are some photos of Shirley with me and others:- [IMG: 1983 General Election campaigning in Southport with ...
If you're one of the many local parties who have grown in membership, you will have benefitted from vastly increased service fees since the introduction of the Membership Incentive Scheme in 2013. This scheme gives local parties 20% of all subscriptions if their membership grows at all in a quarter. For those which grow by more than 10 members, that jumps to 40%. From the beginning of next year, the amount you get will reduce slightly. From an email sent by Sal Brinton to local parties this week: Local parties with net growth of between 1 and 10 members during ...
Each week I review the five best and two worst things happening in and around the party over the past seven days. The verdicts are, of course, only my personal opinion: GOOD SHIRLEY SHE'S NOT GOING: I'm afraid she is. Shirley Williams is retiring after 51 years. This one is really both a GOOD and a BAD but we had to... More 5 Good 2 Bad: My Review of the Lib dem Week
Fri 18th
14:45
Fighting for liberalism at home and abroad: Liberal Democrat International Office's highlights of 20...
[IMG: International Office_with text] With the current turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa and the rise of nationalism across Europe, the need for a liberal voice in politics has never been greater. It is the goal of the Liberal Democrat International Office to support liberal parties to champion liberalism in their home countries and strengthen our relationships with the party's international partners. Our work ensures the Liberal Democrats remain at the forefront of the battle for liberalism both at home and abroad. [IMG: ALDE group photo] The International Office team (left to right: Harriet Shone, Isabelle Pucher, Nick ...
Many thanks to the residents who have raised concerns over the state of leaves on Langley Gardens and Langley Avenue, which has got progressively worse over recent months. The issue relates to trees which overhang the pavement from the Allotments, which is causing a significant build up of leaves on the pavement, as well as causing a general nuisance due to their size. The trees are scheduled to be looked at by the Council in February, but in the meantime staff from the Council have very kindly responded to our request to clear up the area which was on Thursday. ...
With the traditional end-of-year reflective period back again, it is time to put together some thoughts about hopes for 2016. To start off, take The Liberal Democrats – who I've not been very happy with. It seems only fair to take one of the party's less successful campaigning badges of recent years – the one used to highlight local gripes at council level without any underpinning narrative of why the party should be supported – as the model for that. So here are my 'Six to Fix' for the Lib Dems and Tim Farron in 2016. Define what the party ...
Many thanks to residents on Barnard Avenue who brought to our attention this week the large amount of litter and rubbish on Warwick Close (the road that goes alongside the motorway between Barnard and Kenilworth). Thankfully Council staff have been able to attend and clear up the rubbish this week, so the street is now looks great. A huge thank you to the Council team for doing this so promptly. Tim [IMG: IMG_0450]
Some interesting results in by-elections last night. It's not unusual for the voters of Ryedale to elect Liberal Party councillors as opposed to Liberal Democrats. The party stormed to victory in Derwent ward in a result which saw Conservative, Lib Dem and independent votes all fall. Derwent (Ryedale) result last night: Liberal GAIN from Conservative. pic.twitter.com/LVlTy1hwqa — Britain Elects (@britainelects) December 18, 2015 Britain Elects got a bit above themselves and put out a tweet mocking the #libdemfightback and had to apologise for it. The offending tweet was deleted. Previous tweet referring to a campaign slogan was meant in jest and ...
Since the publication of the Boyle Review by the Cabinet Office early in January 2013, I've been blogging pretty intensively - inspired originally by the great Roy Lilley at nhsmanagers.net. I've enjoyed it enormously and felt I was playing a useful role - talking about public services from a human point of view, and economics from a Liberal point of view, in the days when Liberals preferred not to think of anything quite so grubby. It has been pretty intense. I've settled down to posting about four times a week, week in week out, except for a period in the ...
When Chris Maines ran (successfully) to be chair of London Liberal Democrats, I mentioned how spot on his plans were to organise more London-wide events for party members. Good then to see the first fruits of that with a January quiz night: [IMG: London Liberal Democrats quiz]
Following the publication of the Strathclyde Review, the Tories' revenge attack on the House of Lords, Jim Wallace has written for Politics Home to say that we need a strong second chamber to keep the Government under control. He looks back at the Tax Credits issue and criticises the Government's strategy of trying to limit the debate in the Lords: The Government proposed this change in an SI, for which the scrutiny process is considerably weaker. Each House would only have a single debate on an issue, with the Commons' time severely limited. It could, of course, have brought the ...
The photo shows Cllr Dodd and Bill Welsh by one of the CCTV's. Local Lib Dems Cllrs John Dodd, Dan Lewis & Marianne Welsh plus the Friends of Meols Cop Station have scored a massive victory in getting Northern Rail to change its mind over installing CCTV at this station. Cllr John Dodd, who is the Liberal Democrat representative on Merseytravel said "For years Northern Rail refused to put CCTV in but due to the increase in high levels of vandalism & the continued persistence by those of us who have campaigned to get this decision changed they have finally ...
From the New Zealand Book Council comes this very clever movie: A reminder of why I love books.
Fri 18th
10:25Postcard from Barcelona: Election debate shows digital disconnect of main party leaders
If the number of times I was the subject of some elaborate pick-pocketing scam whilst in Barcelona is any indication of the financial hardship that is faced by the local population then the situation there, despite increases in employment and GDP growth since 2013, remains desperate. Whether walking down Las Ramblas - "the wide central artery of the town" as George Orwell put it - or enjoying breakfast just off Carrer de Balmes, I was put on constant alert; expectantly awaiting the next attempt by one of the chancers to relieve me of my valuables. What these individuals lacked in ...
This week on the Friday 50 we look at 50 things the Liberal Democrats need to do to turn the party's fortunes around internally and externally by 2020. The items listed are in no particular order: Ensure mandatory gender balance in the Leader/Deputy Leader roles. Start to actively engage with ethnic minorities rather than just paying... More The Friday 50 – What We Need To Do To Win
Keith, Graham, Iain and the whole of the Lib Dem team would like to wish all our friends and neighbours across Cheadle and Gatley a very Merry Christmas and Happy and Prosperous New Year. [IMG: graphics-christmas-cards-688385]
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... Charities cash in on relatives of the dead | The Times Utterly bizarre non-story in Times as front page lead: charities ensure legal bequests upheld (shock horror) http://thetim.es/1RsG3OA Jeremy Corbyn has become the Left's Enoch Powell – Telegraph Dan Hodges quits Labour. Again. Snark aside, feel sorry for those Lab folk left without a party they can support http://bit.ly/1Rm6N3d New report on self-regulation and social competence – Daniel Willingham Useful summary via @DTWillingham on import of non-cognitive skills, aka character/resilience http://bit.ly/1P4AK6o ...
The Telegraph, which admittedly is not the greatest place to gather news on what's happening inside the Labour Party most of the time, has told us that the plan of the Labour moderates is to sit back until early 2017 and then try and reclaim some territory. This actually does chime with people I know on that side of Labour and what they are saying; essentially, Corbyn and the Left are too strong at the moment and early 2017 is the earliest any move against Corbyn could proceed. What they plan to do in a little over a year's time ...
In recent days it has been revealed that Prince Charles and Prince William have access to UK official secrets. Charles "routinely receives" secret documents including Cabinet papers. It is not clear whether access stops at the two of them. This is entirely inappropriate and should cease. In a democracy, control of the state rests, or should rest, with the elected government. A monarch's role is purely ceremonial and should entail no real control over any part of the state. The Queen (or William, Charles, George or another person who may succeed her) is unqualified to exercise power, has not been ...
Despite resistance from MPs, the evidence is that the nature of the Labour Party is changing dramatically under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. It is not just the new members who have been attracted to the party by Corbyn, or even the growth of Momentum and the threat of deselection for dissident MPs, but also, as this article relates, the exit of tens of thousands of long-standing members, disillusioned at the direction the party has set for itself. The article says that Lord Peter Mandelson told a meeting of Labour peers: "30,000 long term members have left the Labour party, ...
Unusual news from Yorkshire: Derwent (Ryedale) result last night: Liberal GAIN from Conservative. pic.twitter.com/LVlTy1hwqa — Britain Elects (@britainelects) December 18, 2015 Moving up clearly ahead of rivals for the Liberal Democrats previous role as the third party in British politics is an important step in the party's recovery, and results such as these show that is very do-able. One step on the road, but a step very much in the right direction.
If you click here, you can download the list of winners in the West End Christmas Fortnight shoppers' prize draw. We had a huge volume of entries this year and we are very grateful to the many West End shops who participated by donating prize draw gifts.
British Prime Minister David Cameron sat down to a dinner of venison with other EU heads of government in Brussels last night, though for him the main item on the menu was his list of four demands for reform of the European Union. He had originally hoped to have had a satisfactory response from them [...]
Benefits man sanctioned by DWP for not looking for work while waiting to start work at.. the DWP Attacking your own footsoldiers?? (tags: ukpolitics ) The Shortest SF Story Ever, by Seth Chambers Ow. (tags: sf ) First glimpse of lost library of Elizabethan polymath John Dee Nice pictures. (tags: historyofscience ) So you'd like to get into highbrow comics. Here's where to start: The Guardian recommends. (tags: comics ) New Schuman station opening postponed Bah. (tags: belgium rail ) New DUP chief Arlene Foster seeks 'more harmonious' society Quotes CS Lewis and S Heaney. (tags: northernireland )
Horrific treatment of another trans woman in prison (massive content warnings) Full Line-Up of Free Comic Book Day 2016 Titles Announced Can Jeremy Corbyn beat Brian Blessed for Organic Santa 2015? - hope not. VOTE @BRIANBLESSED Stumbling and Mumbling on Workplace coercion 11 Reasons Why 2015 Was a Great Year For Humanity — actually quite convincing ones Dog DNA study reveals the incredible journey of man's best friend UK's unaccountable crowdsourced blacklist to be crosslinked to facial recognition system 250 children's toy adverts on British TV analysed - it's worse than we thought Deliveroo and its ilk are serving up ...
I reported last month that the party's disciplinary process had decided to end Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera's membership of the Liberal Democrats. He has since appealed, and the ruling went in his favour. His membership of the Liberal Democrats has now been restored and he says, I am happy to be back, and will be seeking to aid the party to overhaul the appalling processes, procedures and practices that I have sadly been witness to.
Figures published today reveal that not a single health board met their target for patients diagnosed with cancer to be seen within 62 days. The Welsh Government's target is for at least 95% of patients diagnosed with cancer via the urgent route to start their definitive treatment within 62 days of their referral. Yet in Wales only 81% of patients were seen within that time in October, down from 85.6% the previous month. Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board continues to have the worst figures, with just 62.9% of urgent route patients being seen within 62 days. The target ...
