Embed from Getty Images Dean Atcheson famously said that Britain had lost an empire and not yet found a role. The same problem seems to be afflicting Nick Clegg. Earlier this week the Telegraph reported: Nick Clegg has the worst voting record in the House of Commons, according to new parliamentary analysis looking at MP turnout since the general election. The former deputy prime minister has failed to cast a vote in almost 90 per cent of all divisions called in the Commons since May 7.The case for the defence, as made by "Mr Clegg's spokesman, runs "Nick Clegg has ...
Labour seat. Cause: Death. No LD candidate.
[IMG: emergency] Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign for an emergency cross party commission to solve the crisis in NHS and social care. The funding crisis in social care means more patients than ever before are stuck in hospital beds longer than they need to be, adding pressure to local hospitals. Bed blocking figures show in Lancashire there were 115 people stuck in hospital beds, despite being well enough to be discharged or transferred to social care. The shocking figures for Lancashire reveal that the number of hospital beds out-of-action because of bed blocking is equivalent to 546 people staying ...
These are two short charity anthologies of short stories published last year, doing more or less exactly what their titles promise. They caught my eye in particular because of the co-editors - I've enjoyed Tidhar's alternate history treatments of Osama Bin Laden and Adolf Hitler, and Levene has been a friend of mine since 1987 - though as it turns out neither of them has contributed fiction to either volume. Both books, of course, are filled with Hugo-eligible stories. Jews vs Zombies is the easier concept to grasp (there are fewer varieties of zombie than of alien). It struck me ...
Proper post tomorrow. For now, I'm closing some tabs... The science fiction writer's hierarchy of doubt Scott Alexander, who does Slate Star Codex, has started a new longform serialised fiction project. I find Alexander's non-fiction blogs alternate between incredibly insightful ... Continue reading →
The Lib Dem team work on a lot of issues, and this week we had a meeting with the council's transportation team on a number of issues that people have raised with us. Parking on Milton Crescent. We've asked the council to look at where yellow lines could help make sure that traffic can get along the road and people can get in and out of driveways. Yellow line on the inside of the bend on South Park Road – we've had some requests for this and we've asked the council to come up with a proposal for residents to ...
Cllr Iain Roberts has said it is unacceptable that a local takeaway served uncooked chicken. The incident, where the Spicy Kitchen takeaway on Stonepail Road, Gatley served chicken that was charred on the outside but raw in the middle, was reported in the Manchester Evening News. "We always encourage takeaways and restaurants to display their food hygiene ratings and to work to improve their rating where needed. It's important that we're all able to trust in the food we buy. Spicy Kitchen needs to investigate this incident properly and improve quickly. Their food hygiene rating is just 3 – most ...
[IMG: Apple opposes plans to weaken encryption] Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter have made a joint submission on the UK's draft Investigatory Powers Bill that urges the government to guarantee encryption in law... "We reject any proposals that would require companies to deliberately weaken the security of their products via backdoors, forced decryption, or any other means. We therefore have concerns that the Bill includes "obligations relating to the removal of electronic protection applied by a relevant operator to any communication or data" and that these are explicitly intended to apply extraterritorially with limited protections for overseas providers... [We] suggest ...
Cllr Keith Holloway is calling for a study looking at transport on and around the A34 to come up with options for improving traffic, especially at the Kingsway/Gatley Road junction. "We should have had a study over the summer – that's what Highways England promised our former MP, Mark Hunter." said Keith. "Unfortunately, our new MP, Mary Robinson, failed to hold them to their promise after May and the study never happened." A study is essential to identify schemes that can ease the traffic problems – both road schemes or public transport. None of the schemes are likely to be ...
Thu 7th
18:00
Welsh Liberal Democrats slam Cardiff Central Labour MP's hypocrisy over new front bench role
The farce surrounding Jeremy Corbyn's reshuffle continues. It's not just that it took him 34 hours to shift 3 ministers, or that there have been as many resignations in protest as there were front bench displacements, or that even after four days (after two weeks of press briefings) it's still not over, or that the people who were sacked have led the story. Truly, it is the reshuffle that ate itself. A few of us were joking on Twitter this morning about when we were going to get offered jobs. There are still several hundred thousand Labour members to get ...
A Lib Dem press release brings the news: The Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to reverse their decision to restrict 16 year olds from voting in local elections. Liberal Democrat peer John Shipley has tabled a motion in the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill that will be debated on Tuesday as the Bill begins ping pong between the Commons and the Lords. The motion will be called to a vote as the Lib Dems continue to fight the Tories on the issue following a series of Government defeats in recent months. Ahead of the vote Paul Tyler, ...
The course map of the delightful Woolton Golf Club which is threatened by development Yesterday I received a copy of a letter which has been given to all members of the Woolton Golf Club inviting them to a General Meeting ... Continue reading →
The Lib Dem team are consulting on putting up long-stay parking charges in Cheadle village as one way of increasing the number of short-stay places and boosting trade for local shops. As you know, parking in Cheadle village is not easy. Many local traders firmly believe that the problem is too many people parking all day, and that unless we increase long-stay charges to discourage all-day parking, some of the village shops may not survive for much longer. Currently parking is a flat 20p an hour. The proposal would be to keep that for short-stay but increase the charge to ...
Embed from Getty Images Tim Farron has reacted to the needless controversy surrounding the decision by exam boards to move certain popular exams so that they take place before Ramadan with a perfectly sensible, liberal statement: The idea that this is an attack on British values is ridiculous and depressing. Rather than seeking to divide people by their faith, we should see this sensible move as an opportunity for inclusion and understanding. This is a simple rescheduling of some school exams, recognising that a number of students will be observing Ramadan. As a person of faith myself I think it ...
I've just finished the first edition of my self-sufficiency email newsletter of 2016 which you can read on this link. It goes to those who follow my battle to be self-sufficient and the circulation list includes a large number of people outside the UK. This edition outlines our plans for 2016 and looks at how we prepared our self-sufficient Christmas dinner.
This year's in/out Euro referendum (it almost certainly will be this year) poses an interesting dilemma for the Lib Dems. Not which side the party backs — the overwhelming majority are pro-EU, though by no means as uncritically as we sometimes appear. But we do need to think through if our role is to mobilise Lib Dem voters to turn out by running a campaign that appeals to pro-EU liberals; or whether we think our role is to reach out beyond our comfort zone to the persuadables, the floating voters, who have yet to decide how to cast their vote ...
Thu 7th
15:59
New Shropshire Council Cabinet announced today - it has just weeks to prove its merit as new cuts sw...
Shropshire Council's cabinet has been almost totally rebuilt. It is more moderate and more focused on getting the job done. But it has only weeks to prove itself as the next waves of cuts sweep our county. Malcolm Pate, as leader, will oversee the council's strategy and business planning. He'll have two deputy portfolio holders.... Continue reading New Shropshire Council Cabinet announced today - it has just weeks to prove its merit as new cuts sweep in →
Thu 7th
15:55Two Liberal Democrat interventions on Freedom of Information (and what Tim said about Alex Carlile)
Embed from Getty Images Leading Liberal Democrats have made two recent interventions on freedom of information legislation. Today, Alistair Carmichael called for all private contractors doing public work to also be subject to FOI requests and promised strong opposition to any attempts from the Conservatives to water down the FOI system. The call comes amidst reports that ministers may extend FOI requests to charities. From the Press Gazette: The Government is considering strengthening the ministerial veto on Freedom of Information disclosures but dropping other proposed changes to the act, according to a report in The Times. It is also considering ...
Thu 7th
14:41LibLink: Nick Clegg: My birthday wish is that we win the argument for staying in the EU
Embed from Getty Images Nick Clegg's first Standard column of the New Year is published on his birthday. Twitter was not exactly heaving with birthday wishes as midnight passed, but there were some: Natal felithitathionth to the previouth gloriouth leader [IMG: :)] https://t.co/mXsrEf5N77 — LiberalDemocrat Igor (@LibDemIgor) January 7, 2016 Anyway, when he blows out the 49 candles on his birthday cake today, he'll be wishing that we stay in the EU. I thought they weren't supposed to come true if you told them, but there is some relevance to the paragraph he spends going on about the misery of ...
From Govia: Engineering work on Sunday 10th and Sunday 31st January means no Gatwick Express and revised Southern and Thameslink services. Passengers are being urged to check before travelling this Sunday 10 and Sunday 31 January as engineering work by Network Rail between East Croydon and Redhill means that there will be no Gatwick Express [...]
After being unwell for several days at home, yesterday Eric was admitted to a King's College Hospital renal ward. It appears that one of his renal arteries has narrowed and that he may be needing another renal angioplasty to open it up and restore a good blood flow to his kidneys. The platelets in his blood are also very low and should be restored before this procedure, which may take place tomorrow. We hope that he may only be in hospital for a few days. Lindsay Avebury
Jeremy Corbyn is Vice President of CND yet he asked his MP's to abstain in a House of Commons vote to get rid of Trident. [IMG: 12063755_1023428287688247_7866176800359802984_n] Labour said they wanted to stop the Chancellor's tax Credit cuts yet they would only vote for the cuts to be deferred in the House of Lords. Labour sat on their hands and abstained over the Tories Welfare Bill in the House of Commons. All of this happened in 2015. Of course you have to put all this context because 90% of Corbyn's MP's don't support him, want him out and are trying ...
The closing date for submitting applications for infant and primary school admissions in South Glos is Friday 15 January 2016. To find out more about primary, infant and junior school admissions visit the South Glos school admissions web page.
Embed from Getty Images Liberal Democrat peer Derek Ezra died on 22 December 2015 at the age of 96. Celia Thomas remembers him. Liberal Peers were absolutely delighted when Derek Ezra took the Liberal whip on becoming a Peer in 1983. He was one of the best known men in public life at the time, having been a well-respected Chairman of the Coal Board from 1972 to 1982. He had been a Liberal since university days, he told us, where he joined the Cambridge University Liberal Club in 1936. There he was a friend of Richard Wainwright, who was later ...
Yate Town Council has completed the purchase of the land in front of the shops at the Abbotswood Shopping Centre. They plan to look after it properly, doing things like repairing the broken and dangerous paving slabs. They will be working with local people and with Abbotswood Action Group to decide on priorities and how the area will be managed and improved. Many congratulations to Yate Town Council - they've been working on this for a long time, and they've had to overcome many legal and practical problems to achieve this. More details will follow, but if you're on Facebook ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] New research published today reveals there are a record 475,647 homes in England which have been given planning permission but have yet to be built. The study, commissioned by the Local Government Association and carried out by industry experts Glenigan, shows this bumper backlog has grown at a rapid pace over the past few years. [...]
It's no secret that I really, really like Joss Whedon and his work. And like most of his fans I've been a little worried about him recently. On the interview circuit for Avengers: Age of Ultron he seemed burned out by five years of intense work at Marvel and then beaten down by the lukewarm reaction to [...]
Embed from Getty Images Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today – do election posters work? Thanks to Tim Bale, here are the research findings from a test in the US where election posters placed outside properties or along the verges or roads are called 'lawn signs': Although lawn signs rank among the most widely used campaign tactics, little scholarly attention has been paid to the question of whether they actually generate votes. Working in collaboration with a congressional candidate, a mayoral candidate, an independent expenditure campaign directed against a gubernatorial candidate, ...
[IMG: International Office_with text] I am thrilled to announce that I have been appointed to manage our Party's EU Referendum campaign! With Britain's future in Europe hanging in the balance, 2016 is a watershed year for this country. For Britain to remain an outward-looking, progressive and prosperous nation at the heart of the international community, we need to secure our future in Europe. The Liberal Democrats are unique in being the only national party in the UK who are unequivocally in favour of remaining in Europe and have a long history of committed internationalism. This referendum is a challenge but ...
Here - a nation's exhales.
A dark mood is overtaking those who contemplate the world economy. Today Britain's Chancellor George Osborne will join a growing chorus of worry. Weak outlook in emerging economies is undermining efforts to revive developed ones like Britain's. So far the prognosis is stagnation rather than economic disaster – a mood caught by the FT's Martin Wolf, who tells us not to be too pessimistic. But these are dark clouds and policymakers would do well to prepare for rough waters. Mr Wolf bases his relative optimism on the fact that world economy has being growing steadily for some two centuries, and ...
Today's Times returns to one of my obsessions, the need to cut the amount of sugar in our diet. I write in this context as somebody who is addicted to the stuff so anything that helps is welcome. The paper says that tax on sugary drinks is being reconsidered by ministers after evidence showed that the measure will help to tackle the obesity crisis: In a softening of a previous stance that firmly ruled out any form of sugar tax, government sources now suggest that senior ministers are studying the option closely. They have been struck by mounting evidence that ...
I have tried to fill this with as few spoilers as humanly possible I finally saw it the new Star Wars movie, after a couple of weeks of deliberation. As some of you will know, I was no great fan of the prequels (this is putting it extremely mildly). But the trailer to The Force Awakens promised a lot. Old characters, stuff clearly shot on location as opposed to a green screen stage, just the basic fact that it all looked and felt like a Star Wars movie. The reviews seem to augur well too – even George Lucas' swipe ...
With the school holidays at an end and schools returning today, my weekly ward surgeries for the West End recommence later today. Here's the details :
Yesterday evening I was taking a walk with Mrs. Veart along the Silverknowes prominade. As we approached Crammond, we came across this sad sight. I think it was a BMW One Series and it is a bad end for such a fine car. Since there were no Police Aware stickers or tape, I reported the wreck to Edinburgh Police, just in case no one else has reported it. The car must have been passed hundreds of times during the day, so I sincerely hope I am not the first to call it in. If you do come across such incidents ...
