Embed from Getty Images Good sense from the former England hooker Brian Moore: Jones should end the cult of the captain that has bedevilled too many England teams in too many sports; it is a relic of the public school/officer class/born-to-lead era and the sooner it goes the better. Appoint on a game-by-game or tournament-by-tournament basis and that will avoid trouble later on.
Reports are coming in from Rutland of an unfortunate development... lord bonkers is a pie— Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers) January 10, 2016
Nibley Lane between Badminton Road and Westerleigh Road is expected to close for cleaning 9.30am until 2.30pm on Tuesday 12th January.
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week and may I wish everybody a happy New Year. 1. Council Funding just before Christmas the government informed local authorities about the money that they will be getting next year. Notts County Council have had their grant cut from £194 million-£163 million. Broxtowe Borough Council have had their grant cut from £4.8 million to £4.1 million. These figures are not unexpected although they ...
Yesterday I was in my own ward delivering 500 focuses. Today I was joined by our campaign organiser Michael Cotterill to deliver 650 leaflets in Whickham East. I now feel totally knackered but think of all those Christmas calories I've burnt off.
Reports of crimes and sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve have now topped 500. Tim Farron has said that this incident should not lead to us pulling up the drawbridge. It's hard to see, though, how much further we could pull up our drawbridge. It's practically wedged shut already. Tim said: I condemn in the strongest possible terms the sex attacks in Cologne on New Year's Eve. But we also must not pander to those who say pull up the drawbridge to some of the most desperate people in the world. The values that cause us to embrace ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 445th 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 (3-9 January, 2016), 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. Good news from a key Liberal Democrat ...
Luck plays a big part in politics. Harold Wilson was unlucky in that, a few days before the 1970 election, international trade figures were published with showed a large (for those days) deficit. The reason was that we'd just paid the bill for a Jumbo Jet bought from the US but that part of the news was successfully smothered by the Tory PR machine and Labour lost the election. Then, when Labour returned to office in 1974, poor Denis Healey, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, inherited both the consequences of the Barber Boom and the massive hike in oil prices ...
Reading Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien, eds. Janet Brennan Croft and Leslie A. Donovan, I came across this fascinating snippet in John D. Rateliffe's essay, "The Missing Women: J. R. R. Tolkien's Lifelong Support for Women's Higher Education": The exact quote is that Renault's card was "perhaps the piece of 'Fan-mail' that gives me most pleasure". Considering how much fa mail he must have had, that is a very strong statement indeed.
Just before Christmas, I was contacted by some local residents who live in and around Ainsdale Drive (Werrington) about the state of the footpath that runs along the back, through to Foxcovert Road. The pathway had become trodden with leafs, mud and general winter residue, making it slippery underfoot and dangerous, especially for older residents. With [...]
I first read both of these two years ago, before publication, and am duly acknowledged in the afterwords; I have read them both again, now that they are eligible for this year's Hugos (and The Just City is also on the BSFA long list). I had been wondering whether the two might together be a single nomination, as with the Connie Willis Blackout / All Clear duo which won both Hugo and Nebula. But on reflection, I don't think they are; The Philosopher Kings is set twenty years after The Just City, with a slightly different set of characters and ...
Hb improved from 70-85, creatinine reduced from 174-164, platelets 22, not improving, but doctors say further transfusion not needed. I was hoping to spend a few hours at home but I have a slight fever so they decided to not let me out, but hopefully they will soon.
Party leader Tim Farron has called on universities to include a separate category for victims of sexual assaults in their 'extenuating circumstances'... At the moment, many UK universities don't include a separate category for victims of sex assaults in their 'extenuating circumstances'. But experts believe traumas like rape come with extra psychological and physical problems and need their own category to ensure victims are treated fairly. They say problems can include depression; the stress of medical tests; the legal process following an attack; potential pregnancy; and night terrors and students suffering need to be handled differently, Now Lib Dem leader ...
[IMG: Honour guard of Russian soldiers. CC0 Public Domain] Interesting polling results from YouGov: [IMG: Enemy or ally - YouGov polling of British views] The results broken down by voting intention add in the twist that, even allowing for the margins of error on sub-breaks, the overall pattern is that Ukip supporters are less likely to say that a country is an ally than the rest of the population, with the exceptions of Israel, Russia and China.
Embed from Getty Images New chair of LGBT+, Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett has set out 4 priorities for the organisation in the coming year in his New Year message. They are: Mental health We know that suicides amongst LGBT+ people are at their highest, and that bullying and harassment leads to a myriad issues, from drug, sex and alcohol addiction, chemsex, lack of happiness, isolation and body image expectations. Where there are potential solutions like the use of PReP, or new Hep C drugs available, especially when HIV diagnoses are increasing, we need to lobby governments to tell pharmaceutical companies to make ...
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 13,400 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Tim Farron on Labour's meltdown (46 comments) by Mary Reid It's time to move party HQ out of London (36 comments) by Simon McGrath Blue foxes, red greens and a gold star (14 comments) by Phil Aisthorpe Lembit on life after defeat (20 comments) by Caron Lindsay Welsh Liberal Democrats slam Cardiff Central Labour MP's hypocrisy over new front bench role (15 comments) by Caron Lindsay The EU Referendum: a great opportunity for the Lib Dems (20 comments) ...
Sun 10th
13:53
Tim Farron calls on universities to provide better support for victims of rape and sexual assault
If you suffer some severe personal trauma which affects your academic performance, you can ask the university to take those "extenuating circumstances" into account. This publication from the Univesrity of Bristol explains more about what that means: Generally, extenuating circumstances are circumstances which are unforeseen, unpreventable, and have a serious impact on a students' academic performance. It is not possible to compile a complete list of circumstances, as each case will be considered on its own merit, but two common examples that can be regarded as extenuating circumstances are: • Serious personal illness: For example, an illness requiring hospitalisation, such ...
Labour can ever have an alliance of the centre-left alliance with the Lib Dems or an alliance of the hard left with the Greens and Nationalists. It can't have both. A couple of weeks back I wrote a post highlighting why I thought an alliance between the Lib Dems and Labour was unlikely. James King, a fellow [...]
Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder has said that Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers should resign if she wants to campaign for Britain to leave the EU. She joined Northern Irish politicians who argued that the effect of leaving the EU would be acutely felt in Northern Ireland and the peace process could be at risk. Catherine said: Given the disastrous impact Brexit could have on the Northern Ireland peace process, it would be highly inappropriate for Theresa Villiers to remain in her post while campaigning to leave the EU. Leaving Europe would risk stoking sectarian tensions and undoing years of ...
Sun 10th
12:19
ALDE Party delegation - squeezing fifteen into six is just as difficult as it looks...
Following our not so glorious General Election result (think Charge of the Light Brigade but without the same level of survivors...), the Party has had to do a lot of thinking about what next and how. This, naturally, is way above my pay grade as a Local Party Treasurer. However, it has had effects that most members wouldn't see, and just as many probably won't care much about. As a member of the International Relations Committee though, I am suddenly confronted with one of them. You see, our right to delegates on the ALDE Party Council and to its Congress ...
James Davidson is 89 today - thanks to Mr Memory from telling me. He gained Aberdeenshire West (roughly equivalent to the modern Kincardine & Deeside seat) for the Liberal Party. Wikipedia says of him: During the 1966 general election campaign one of Davidson's main policy points was the establishment of a development authority for the North East of Scotland (on the lines of the Highlands and Islands Development Board) and he was a strong advocate on behalf of small farmers and of improving communications in remote areas like the Highlands by improving road links to the major cities. He also ...
I love blue-eyed soul, but you have to admit there is something silly about it. Steve Winwood has said in interviews that when he was making his wonderful covers of Black American records as a teenager with the Spencer Davis Group he did not always understand the words he was singing. This record from Paul Young, a cover of a Marvin Gaye song, turns the silliness up to 11. Far from being the sort you cannot rely on to be there when you get home, he is such a sweet boy that he will have put the hoover round and ...
We're catching up this week on Lib Dem Lords' maiden speeches. Here is Shas Sheehan speaking in the debate after the conclusion of the Paris climate talks. My Lords, it is indeed a great honour and privilege to be asked to serve in your Lordships' House. It is a task that I do not undertake lightly and is one that I intend to fulfil with diligence to the best of my ability. Special thanks are due to my noble friends Lady Barker and Lady Kramer for their welcome support on the day of my introduction to this place. Perhaps I ...
Thanks to the new two-round system of nominations for the British Science Fiction Association's awards, we have a long list of 30 pieces of art from which we can nominate up to four to create the eventual shortlist of five. There were a couple that didn't really seem to me to belong - there isn't a BSFA award for graphic stories, and not much point in pretending that there is - but the others all seemed legitimate and attractive to me. With some difficulty, and my usual doubt in my own taste, I've drilled down to my personal shortlist of ...
On first reading the pledge by the UK Conservative Government to put £140m into redeveloping nearly a hundred of the 'UK's worst sink estates' seems like a laudable plan. And indeed, if Cameron is true to his word and is seeking to occupy the political middle ground through a blitz on poverty then it is worth backing the project. However, the devil is in the detail and my first reaction was that £140m was not enough money to achieve the Government's aims, not unless they are planning to use it to lever in private money by redeveloping what could be ...
[IMG: David Cameron] "Parents should take lessons in how to control children – PM" – runs the main headline in the Observer this morning. Expansion of parenting classes is certainly something to be welcomed. When I was first a parent, I thought it was very strange that parents were offered classes on breathing techniques during pregnancy and pelvic floor exercises, plus inspection of changing areas and bottle procedures after birth, but not a word of guidance after that, until primary school "parent/school agreements". I am not comfortable with the word "control" in the Observer headline. David Cameron uses the word ...
Britain has some of the strongest product placement rules in the world – and it means YouTube vloggers have to declare their advertising before you click on the video:
Eurosceptic ministers are being put off joining the campaign for Britain to leave the EU by the "angry, unintelligent, divided mob" leading it, a member of the Cabinet has revealed... The remarks are likely to be seen as a warning that the campaign for British exit from Europe is dominated by divisive figures such as Ukip leader Nigel Farage and veteran Tory Eurosceptics Bernard Jenkin, John Redwood and Owen Paterson. It comes amid claims that senior Tory donors have become disillusioned with the tactics of the leading anti-EU campaign group Vote Leave, after activists gatecrashed a speech by the Prime ...
Did you read on the Peterborough Telegraph website about plans to discuss the possibility of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Peterborough becoming a single Council? Apparently, the talks are "...expected to begin soon." Gillian Beasley, CEO of PCC, has already started her job share role with Cambs County Council and from the offset, my colleague Cllr Nick [...]
[IMG: Ed Stewart] I was saddened by the news of the death of Ed Stewart and express my sympathy and sincere thoughts to his family and friends upon their loss. "Stewpot" cheered up many a weekend morning as I was growing up. His cheery, cheeky bonhomie and his wonderful old favourite records were a very regular backdrop to our lives. Please do listen to his last "Junior Choice", broadcast just a fortnight ago on Christmas Day. It has all the usual banter and records, including the marvellous "Sparky's magic piano". A great broadcaster. The world will be a little poorer ...
Over the Christmas holidays, Kate Parminter wrote for Politics Home about why she is trying to stop the Government from taking the study of feminism out of the A level Politics syllabus. They are also planning on only including one woman in the sixteen thinkers studied. It is vital that young people have the opportunity to understand the political thinking and movements that have generated progress to date, and the ongoing barriers to women's equality. Discussion at the sixth form level is a crucial part of achieving that. This is facilitated in the current A Level Politics syllabus by the ...
Later this week, the University of Dundee is inviting local residents to listen to the university's newest professors and award-winning teachers and communicators, as they share the ideas that inspire them. Everyone is welcome including school pupils, members of the public and university staff and students. Discovery Days 2016 will take place on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th January at the Main Lecture Theatre, Dalhousie Building on Old Hawkhill - see poster below - and free tickets are available to book online via Eventbrite, on collection at the Tower or Dalhousie Building receptions at the University of Dundee, or by ...
'Would he disapprove of my single heathen lifestyle?': me and my Syrian refugee lodger by @helenpidd Even if you could get an agreement (unlikely) would a progressive alliance actually work? Muslim woman escorted out of Donald Trump campaign rally after silent protest Sheffield United bans fans for 'town full of Isis' chant at Bradford City supporters [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
