Eric is coming home tomorrow, Friday.
Here's my response to the consultation over the proposed new set of rules for Liberal Democrat party committee elections: The original OMOV motion which was amended and then passed in September 2014 called for the election regulations to be changed "to require any online voting system to prompt voters to first view candidates' manifestos before being able to vote". I cannot see anything in the proposed changes to the rules which would put into force this decision taken by party conference. Given the problems with very low prominence for candidate manifestos in some past online voting situations, I very much ...
Encouraged by rosefox here and rmc28 here, I bit the bullet and forked out €15 (the first time I've bought a music album for myself for over a decade) for the Broadway cast recording of Hamilton, the musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton, based on the Ron Chernow biography which I read in 2006, and starring a mainly black cast. Gosh. It hooked me less than two minutes in:Well, the word got around, they said, "This kid is insane, man" Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland "Get your education, don't forget from whence you ...
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Josef Rez. To help, please contact Michael Taylor (07979 954349, mickft2008@gmail.com)
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Drew Durning. To help please contact Stockton Lib Dems (info@stocktonlibdems.org)
It's been a rather pleasant day, all in all. I don't, as a rule, have an awful lot of business in London these days, but the need to sort out our visitor cards for our upcoming holiday in Cuba required my personal attention, so I was up bright and relatively early to catch a train from Needham Market on an idyllic winter's morn for the journey to the big city. Abellio Greater Anglia having graciously supplied not one but two trains on time, I made it to High Holborn, where I was made to feel very welcome by the staff ...
To be a Liberal Democrat is to believe in freedom. Freedom grounded in real life, starting with people as they are. Not 'The People'. Not 'Our People'. Freedom based on the unique worth and potential of every individual person, and the understanding that the person who knows best how to live their life is themselves. [...]
Embed from Getty Images The great Shirley Williams, Labour MP, SDP founder and then Liberal Democrat peer, made her final speech in Parliament today as her political career of more than 60 years comes to a close. Whether or not you are familiar with the story of those years, for much of which she was one of the most high-profile politicians in Britain, Adrian Slade's interview with Shirley Williams is well worth a read. How they used to do party political broadcasts: the Lib Dems in 1988A blast from the past with one of the 1988 local election broadcasts from ...
Thu 28th
19:13
Shirley Williams retires from the Lords 62 years after fighting her first parliamentary election
Embed from Getty Images From BBC News: Baroness Williams has delivered her final speech to the House of Lords before retiring from the chamber. In her speech she talked of the UK's "special genius" for "great public sector imagination" and international leadership. The former education secretary said she hoped the UK would continue to play that leadership role by staying within the European Union.You can watch a video of the speech below. Above you can see a photo of her in 1954 when, as Shirley Catlin, she fought and lost a by-election in the Harwich constituency for Labour.
Met with the Bath Spa University debating society this afternoon and we have agreed on a Uni debate on the European referendum. It is important that we make sure that young people are fully engaged in this momentous referendum as it is they who will be most affected by the result for the longest. They were pleased that I was trying to make sure that young people are fully engaged in the debate and I expect a full house for it when we hold it in April sometime. Next week at BRSLI is also the launch of the #Stronger In ...
So far this week two days walking to work and two days on the buses. Wednesday the A4 from Bath City Centre to Hengrove and back. Very reliable service and easy to catch at the city centre. At the Hengrove end I got to the bus stop 10 minutes early but the bus came through on time. I should have looked at my bus checker app from the comfort of @CllrTimKent 's house where we had just finished a few hours of leafletting. Today with visits to Southdown and Bath Spa University Newton Park Campus I have caught the 18, ...
[IMG: A Merseyrail electric unit at Bootle New Strand Station] A Merseyrail electric unit at Bootle New Strand Station The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above
We all know that homosexuality was largely decriminalised in England and Wales by the Sexual Offences Act of 1967. (Scotland and Northern Ireland followed later.) But we know little about how it was criminalised in the first place. That episode is the subject of Scandal: How homosexuality became a crime, a new book by David Boyle. I recently spoke to David about the forgotten history he has uncovered. Your book shows that homosexuality was criminalised suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, in the summer of 1885. How did that come about? The story goes back to the Phoenix Park murders of 1882, ...
Dr Who has never been better than it is now. This is my second post this week about Steven Moffat's tenure as Dr Who showrunner and the controversy that surrounds it. The first dealt with the charge of sexism both in his writing and in his public comments and mounted a defence of him that conceded his critics were mostly [...]
Over the last year there has been a lot of talk about refugees in the UK, much of it based on the politics of fear. Newport, in particular, has seen is fair share of wolf whistle politics around the issue. "1 refugee for every 319 people" is the latest attention grabbing figures in the South Wales Argus. I don't blame the editor though, in fact his editorial on the issue, although not a position I fully agreed with, was at least honest and brought some humanity to the issue. What is often forgotten is that for years refugees weren't distributed ...
Evening Standard comment: The most unpopular rail services in Britain
Thu 28th
16:20
Tom Brake signs cross-party letter to Prime Minister asking him to drop the "rape clause"
Tom Brake is one of MPs from nine parties who has signed a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to withdraw the ill-thought out "rape clause" which was part of the measures brought in in the Budget. George Osborne capped tax credits and benefits at two children, a measure Liberal Democrats had blocked throughout the Coalition years. Within the detail, SNP MP Alison Thewliss discovered a clause which said that women who had had a third child as a result of being raped would be exempt. How do you actually prove that to a DWP official? It's such an ...
I really enjoyed this spoken word/performance piece on Labels and how we always choose to define ourselves in ways that set us apart... it is a very powerful piece and I thought it was worth sharing...
Here is the Welsh version of the new Community party political broadcast. It has Kirsty Williams instead of Tim Farron, talking about the warmth and vitality of Welsh communities and how everyone wants good health services and for kids to have great schools to go to. Welsh Liberal Democrats care about their communities – that's why so many of them are effective community champions. Watch this video to find out why. Posted by Welsh Liberal Democrats on Wednesday, 27 January 2016 And the cute cat still has a starring role.
A man has been ordered to pay £1,240 in fines and costs after admitting fly tipping waste in Besom Lane, Westerleigh. The man from Staple Hill appeared before North Avon Magistrates' Court and was fined £400 with costs of £800 and a £40 victim surcharge. The court heard that a Yate resident had been in contact with Burnell who agreed to remove some cardboard and packaging waste for the resident for £40. The waste was subsequently found dumped in a lay-by on Besom Lane. Burnell had claimed that he was driving along Besom Lane a few days after collecting the ...
Trade Unions Trade Unions are backing an IN vote reports the International Business Times. The TUC's assessment is that if Britain was to leave the EU there would be really big risk to rights that matter to people's real lives, from paid holidays to parental leave, health and safety at work, these are the sorts of rights that people depend on week by week," O'Grady said, referring to a possible British exit. "If you take that floor away, workers will be worse off. It's a hell of a gamble for those who want to leave Europe, to depend on particularly ...
(Proper post later... I'm embarrassed to be posting this one at all, but...) Before I start this, I just want to say there is no pressure, implied or otherwise, to support my Patreon, intended in this post. I only support ... Continue reading →
Tim talks to a room of students - and energises the #LibDemFightback in Newcastle By Stephen Howse | Wed 27th January 2016 - 10:25 am extract from Libdemvoice [IMG: Students at NUSU Tim Talks] Of all the drops in the Liberal Democrat vote in May, the drop in the 18-24 vote was harshest. From 30% of the total vote of this age group in 2010, our vote collapsed to just 5% in May. Hope springs eternal in Newcastle, though - and we were delighted to welcome our leader, Tim Farron, in hosting a 'Talk to Tim' event at the Newcastle ...
We have yet to see the full text of all the motions to be debated at Spring Conference in York, but it appears that this motion on economic policy has been selected. There is much in the motion I agree with, and some places where I think it is lacking, but it was this line in particular that caught my attention, in the "conference notes..." section: growing inequalities in wealth and income, coupled with unfair and regressive action against the poorest people in the country, now exacerbated by the assault on welfare spending. It struck me because the most recent ...
One would think that protecting the weak and the vulnerable would be a major priority for Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, however that does not appear to be the case when it really matters, in winnable votes in the House of Lords. As Liberal Democrat Voice report, there was a real chance that a Liberal Democrat motion to get rid of the cuts to Universal Credit from April 2017 could be voted through if all the opposition turned up. These are exactly the same cuts that were going to happen to tax credits: Speaking after the defeat of the Lib Dem ...
Thanks to a nomination from a reader, the Independent wins Headline of the Day.
I recall having a new electricity meter installed about 5 years ago (as the old one started to go backwards when we had solar panels installed) and the installer told me we would all be on smart meters by 2015. Well that did not happen, did it. Then out of the blue last week my 'Research Assistant' flagged up a rather odd if not ridiculous situation that those who have a smart meter are likely to encounter if they choose to switch supplier, which of course government keeps encouraging us to do. If you switch supplier then it is highly ...
As a doctor, every day I see the enduring effects of short-term political spin on my patients. Hospitals bursting at the seams, short-staffed and lacking beds, are told desperately needed nurses will only be available if there is 'surplus winter funding'. Patients ready to leave hospital wait weeks for 'exceptional funds' to secure specialist accommodation, while we face a 12% rise in delayed hospital stays. The Commonwealth Fund rightfully praised the NHS's quality. Yet BMA Chair Dr Mark Porter warned we mustn't be complacent over the perils of short-term partisan meddling. 'A combination of rising patient demand, staff shortages and ...
The Council has launched a Masterplan for a new Stockport Station. The proposed scheme would see two modern station halls build – one on each side of the railway – with a new glass bridge across the top connecting to the platforms. It has space for the proposed tram/train Metrolink line to connect in from the new Transport Interchange, for more shops in the station and for more development around it. [IMG: Selection_272] The aim is for the existing underpass to become a public passageway. Access to the station would be from the top of the Edgeley side and from ...
The conventional wisdom amongst "moderate" members of the Labour party and their supporters in the press, is that although Labour has made a big mistake in choosing Jeremy Corbyn as leader and although the political pendulum has (quite gently) swung to the Tories, in the end a new leader and the inevitable Conservative failures will one day bring the return of a Labour government. The problem is that Labour's problem extends well beyond the short term and the tactical. As we have noted before, their very ideology is not merely irrelevant, it is intellectually bankrupt. This bankruptcy can be seen ...
Grea Mulholland has won a road safety award for his campaign to get a better deal for families of people killed in car accidents. He won named Parliamentarian of the Month by the road safety charity Brake. From the Bradford Telegraph: Mr Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West) presented his Criminal Driving (Justice for Victims) Private Members' Bill in the House of Commons on January 12. It was backed by 31 MPs and will next be heard on March 11. The MP was spurred into action by the cases of two families in his constituency and dozens more across the ...
[IMG: Man working on a tablet] Self-employment brings many benefits, especially to people who have a liberal-like desire to have more control over their own lives. Yet it also comes with its burdens, which is where the RSA's Charter for the Self-Employed and its eight proposals to improve self-employment come in: The following ideas are intended to address the disadvantages facing the self-employed. They are aimed variously at the government, financial institutions, mortgage providers and public bodies. Establish automated saving schemes for the self-employed on low incomes To improve saving rates, banks should create a 'Save When Paid' initiative for ...
There was a story in the Times this morning regarding Bernard Jenkins, a board member of Vote Leave, trying to oust its two main employees, Matthew Elliot and Dominic Cummings. This is pretty nuclear stuff given these are the two guys who have essentially run the campaign since its inception, and the man trying to do the ousting is a well known Eurosceptic Tory MP. What Jenkins was basically trying to do, if the Times story (The Telegraph have covered it as well) can be taken at face value, was to rewind the clock to zero and start the campaign ...
Thu 28th
09:12Farron: David Cameron "heartless and stupid" to ignore plight of child refugees in Europe
Tim Farron has been doing the rounds on the media this morning to talk about the Government's announcement that it will allow some child refugees into the UK. However, there are no plans to take unaccompanied children who are already in Europe. Tim has been arguing since the Summer for the Government to do more to help these children and was the first party leader to back Save the Children's campaign for 3000 refugee children to be given sanctuary in this country so that they didn't have to spend their lives in refugee camps, or vulnerable to exploitation. He has ...
[IMG: 1 penny coin. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons] If you ask a Liberal Democrat member who has been around in the party for at least 24 years what they think the party's best policy has been, the chances are they will sweep you back to Paddy Ashdown's day with 'a penny on income tax for education'. Back then raising the standard rate of income tax by one pence to fund more spending was a radical and distinctive policy, both in its tax-raising element and in its direct hypothecation of the money for education. It helped carve out a strong point ...
Last night, I also attended the second informal meeting to discuss the creation of a new committee to take forward adult learning/evening classes from when Harris Academy returns to Perth Road. Prior to the school decant to Lawton Road to enable the school rebuilding in Perth Road, there was an active Harris Education and Recreation Association that successfully provided a programme of evening classes over many years. At the time of the decant, the previous committee retired after many years' service to the community. Getting a new group together to take evening classes and adult education at the Harris is ...
One of the presentations at the drop-in event yesterday Last night, I attended a very useful drop in event on the future of the Blackness General Economic Development Area that took place at Verdant Works. The consultation took place because city planners are now preparing the next Local Development Plan for Dundee. The first stage in the process was to produce a Main Issues Report that discusses key planning issues and informs the preparation of the next Local Development Plan by considering which areas of the City are suitable and unsuitable for development and discussing the way land should be ...
A Map of Every City Yep. (tags: maps ) Man saves money on train fare by flying from Sheffield to Stansted via Berlin @telegraph clickbait but interesting. (tags: travel ) Look Homeward, Democracy Promoter Tom Carothers casts a cold eye. (tags: uspolitics elections democratization ) Denmark has voted to confiscate valuables; here are all the other ways Europe has dehumanised refugees in the past year Disgusting. (tags: migration eu denmark ) How I lost my zero hours job UK Govt war on vulnerable continues. (tags: ukpolitics disability )
I posted my recipes for Scottish things to Weekly Food Challenge Chris Chibnall is in charge of 'Doctor Who,' and it's British TV's fault Should the school starting age be raised to seven? - #QTWTAIY One in four private tenants have been kicked out of their home by a landlord for no reason Peter Black: Are the Tories credible on social justice? - #QTWTAIN Lego unveils first ever wheelchair-user minifig - not, as some are headlining it, 1st disabled minifig Apart from anything else there's all those pirate figures with wooden legs and eye patches. Michael Rosen: People run - ...
Really busy today so here is the latest Liberal Democrat party political broadcast to keep you ticking over:
