Wed 3rd
21:46

Murder cities

This chart on which cities around the world have the highest murder rates comes courtesy of the Economist. Two things seem to worth noting to me: How dominated this list is by the Americas. That the only cities from developed countries to feature are from the US. But remember folks 'the only thing that can [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

[IMG: Kirsty Williams addresses the Liverpool Spring conference rally March 2015 Photo by LIberal Democrats] Good news from Cardiff tonight as Kirsty Williams' Bill to ensure appropriate numbers of nurses in Welsh hospitals cleared its penultimate parliamentary hurdle. The Bill would see Wales become the first country in the UK with a legal duty to have safe nurse staffing levels on hospital wards. The final stage will take place next week. Kirsty can deliver her Leader's speech to Welsh Conference on Saturday knowing that she is only the second AM to have got a Private Bill to this stage. The ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
Wed 3rd
19:30

Six of the Best 571

Andrew Hickey is not impressed by the Stronger In campaign. "Orwell was far more interested, as Corbyn has been far more interested, in speaking truth to power than in holding office. His loyalty was to the movement, or at least the idea of the movement, not to MPs or the front bench, which he rarely mentioned." Robert Colls (who taught me on my Masters course many years ago) on what Jeremy Corbyn can learn from George Orwell. David Hencke explains how Chris Grayling's attempt to sell prison expertise to regimes with appalling judicial systems like Saudi Arabia and Oman cost ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Tim Farron has missed Cameron's "Deal or no deal" performance today as he's been away in Manchester and Edinburgh, but he's been keeping an eye on developments. This is what he had to say: The Prime Minister's draft deal means the first stage of the campaign to keep Britain at the heart of Europe and global affairs is complete. Now, the Liberal Democrats will play a leading role in working and campaigning to deliver a 'Remain' result that will safeguard our economy. Next Wednesday we will be launching our Liberal Democrat campaign to keep Britain in Europe. Our unity contrasts ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

I was pleased to see that a local campaign for an IN vote in the forthcoming EU Referendum has got off the ground in the London borough of Haringey and hope that other local authority areas across the country will follow suit. Though people who really care one way or the other about Britain's remaining [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

[IMG: "Lib Dems" spelled out in Scrabble pieces] David Howarth and I have updated our popular pamphlet from last year, setting out a new strategy for the Liberal Democrats. It's based on a close analysis of who shares our party's values, how to turn that into a larger core vote for the party, why that's a good objective and what that all means for how the Liberal Democrats are organised. Just a little brief there... Included in the updates are new and expanded data about the public and also more extended answers to some of the most common questions which ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Crossens Saturday, 13th February, St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens, between 11am and 12 noon. Churchtown Thursday, 25th February, at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) Churchtown, between 10:30 am and 11:30 am.

Posted by John Dodd on Meols Lib Dems

Above is a link to the blog site of my good friend Cllr. Iain Brodie Brown, please take a moment to click the link and read his posting. It is pure community politics to my mind. There can be little doubt that the towns/boroughs surrounding Liverpool have not benefited from being a part of the Liverpool City Region. Indeed, my own view is that centralising power in Liverpool as both Tories and Labour are planning for, with a Metro Mayor, could well be the road to ruin for places like Southport St. Helens, Birkenhead, Maghull, Formby, Prescot etc. Whilst ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Just a reminder that the public meeting we've organised so everyone can look at the issue of parking in Cheadle village centre and hopefully agree what we do next is this week. The meeting is on Wednesday 10th Feb 2016, 7pm to 8pm in the Upper Rooms (above Tesco) and all are welcome. It will be a workshop meeting where everyone works together to come up with proposals we can put into practice.

Posted by Iain Roberts on Keith, Graham and Iain

The demolition of the old Belle Vue Swim Centre is due to start in March and in order to secure the area during the removal of asbestos from the site it will be necessary to close the footpath through towards St Patrick's School. The traffic regulation order will start from March 21st for a maximum of 22 weeks. Your councillors have made strenuous representations for the period to be minimised because of the traffic issues around Belle Vue which will clearly be worsened by this closure. We have also pressed for a meeting to pursue the retention of the car ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple & Margaret Nealis
YouGov

David Tennant and Elisabeth Moss start filming Mad to be Normal, about Scottish psychiatrist R D Laing. From Screen Daily: Shooting has begun in the UK on the project which charts the story of world-renowned Scottish psychiatrist Laing and his acolytes at Kingsley Hall, East London, during the 1960s. Additional cast includes Michael Gambon (Gosford Park) and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects). The film will be produced by London-based Gizmo Films, in collaboration with GSP studios and Bad Penny Productions, the production company led by Phin Glynn (The Unbeatables). There's a Twitter account for the film, too. And, much as ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLRjiiAawGg Take a look at this you tube video – see link above, it's well worth watching all the way through. With thanks to Keith for the lead to this posting.

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

[IMG: Fracking has become a consistent topic for engagement with local communities] You may have been contacted by local groups opposing fracking asking for your support that such decisions should be made locally and for your support in writing to government ministers. A draft letter is attached that you may want to use to reply. Different Lib Dem councilllors may have differing views on what fracking would [...]

Posted by Craig Whittall on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

[IMG: gasmasksized] In his first blog as Development Officer for Scotland Cllr. Peter Barrett highlights the flying start to 2016 that campaigners in Edinburgh Western have made. January saw another milestone passed as Edinburgh Western's Scottish Liberal Democrat team build up more steam for the Scottish Parliament election in May and the Edinburgh Council elections in 2017. [...]

Posted by Peter Barrett on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Putting to one side for a moment the claim by the Secretary of State for Wales that Carwyn Jones has effectively abandoned the Union in arguing for changes to the draft Wales Bill, statements by Wales Office Ministers today have underlined the chasm that exists between them and the Assembly on the future of devolution. The Western Mail reports that Stephen Crabb has launched an attack on the "new consensus" he claims has taken root in Cardiff Bay, suggesting that AMs are demanding the "unfettered" freedom to make laws that will have an impact outside Wales. Nothing could be further ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Cameron's renegotiation package is clearly the current referendum news story. There will be much analysis over coming days and many people (particularly Conservative MPs) who have sat on the fence will have to make their minds up. The Liberal Democrat position is clear: We think being in Europe is good for Britain. We continue to think that after Cameron's proposed reforms. One of the proposals is a Red Card whereby 55% of member states' national parliaments (i.e. 15 out of 28) can block proposed EU law. This is a reform Liberal Democrats should welcome as supporters of parliamentary scrutiny. The ...

Posted by Antony Hook on Liberal Democrat Voice

Way back when I was first involved in politics, the ideas that everyone should have a basic income and that tax and national insurance should be integrated were mainstream SDP/Liberal Alliance ideas. The Greens have in recent years been the only party to advocate such a change but during the General Election, Natalie Bennett was unable to convince people that it was affordable. This week, think-tank Reform Scotland has come up with a costed scheme to give every adult a basic income of £100 per week and every child £50. The authors, Liberal Democrat Siobhan Mathers and Scottish Green candidate ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Some time back a posted articles on this blog site about regarding historic railway scenes across Merseyside from photos I had purchased copies of from the National Railway Museum in York. Here are the final 4 photos which all relate to the northern docks in Bootle:- [IMG: Goliath crane at Bankfield Goods yard @1910] Goliath crane at Bankfield Goods yard @1910 [IMG: Liverpool North Dock (LMS) 20th August 1926. A Simplex loco is on the left.] Liverpool North Dock (LMS) 20th August 1926. A Simplex loco is on the left. [IMG: Liverpool North Mersey Good Depot (Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway) ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Viewers of BBC's Winterwatch last week were treated to some wonderful coverage of the private lives of key Scottish Highland predator species such as the golden eagle, fox, and pine marten and a species of particular interest here, a non-predator, the mountain hare. Mountain hares as their name suggests live in upland areas and this includes grouse moors. A grouse moor is an odd environment that at first sight looks natural but is in fact intensively managed in favour of a single species, the red grouse. The perceived villains here are the predators such as the crow, fox and weasel ...

Posted by Phil Aisthorpe on Liberal Democrat Voice

I believe that in the forthcoming referendum, Britain is likely to leave the EU. I believed it as soon as the referendum was announced, but became convinced when the board of directors was announced, with its director of strategy being ... Continue reading →

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!
eUKhost

We're taught that in the Middle Ages scholars spent their time discussing abstruse topics such as "how many angels can dance on the point of a pin?" This was thought to be pretty pointless (pun accidental) at the best of times and particularly irrelevant at times of crisis such as when Constantinople was threatened by the invasion of barbarian (ouch) hordes. There seem to be to be serious similarities between this situation and Cameron's obsession with in-work benefits for EU nationals working in the UK. Last week I asked a friend who had served in the coalition as a junior ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal

[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] Responding to the Business Secretary's announcement today that Sunday trading laws will be devolved to councils, a spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: "It is right that councils, in consultation with their residents and local businesses, should be given the flexibility to decide how to drive growth and best attract business to their local [...]

It seems all those Labour tweeters were right to detect foul play behind the resignation of Stephen Doughty as shadow Foreign Office minister live on air. Andrew Neil's press gang To Westminster for a round of meetings. In the evening I repair to a quaint back-street hostelry with exposed beams, dimpled window glass and exposed, dimpled barmaids. The atmosphere is tense: word has got about that the press gang is on the prowl. Sure enough, the door bursts open and a group of men with lanterns and tricorn hats hurries in. The Shadow Minister for Fish cowers under the table, ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

At the end of last year I blogged about five news stories you don't get any more. One of them was ever younger children swimming the channel: Once skinny little figures shivering in goose grease appeared regularly in the news. Today you never see them. It turns out that the Channel Swimming Association imposed a minimum age of 16 years in 2000, which means that the record is likely to stay with Thomas Gregory, who made the crossing in 1988 aged 11 years and 336 days.The other day BBC News published a feature on Thomas Gregory and his feat. You ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Way back in September last year, Scottish Tory Leader Ruth Davidson made some positive noises on the idea that Britain should remain in the EU. She's been pretty quiet since, presumably not wanting to scare the many Eurosceptic horses in her own party. Her Twitter feed was silent on the issue yesterday as news broke of the draft deal Tim Farron is up in Edinburgh today (and so far the weather is very sunny for him) and, ahead of his visit, he challenged Ruth to take on those in her party who want to take Britain out of the EU. ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] Are your ward residents frustrated by a poor mobile phone signal? Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael has launched a bill to get a better deal for mobile phone users who repeatedly suffer from a poor signal - this especially affects people in rural areas. It would give those people so affected the right to cancel [...]

[IMG: Thunderclap global image] Thunderclap advertises itself as a tool which "amplifies your message with the power of the crowd". Or, in less dramatic language, it's a tool that lets you get supporters to sign up to all share a message on social media at the same time. The idea is that you set a date in the future on which you would like people to share an example message. Supporters sign up with whatever combination of Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter that they wish. Then at the pre-determined moment, Thunderlcap sends the message automatically from their signed-up accounts. The idea ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

This week is National Voter Registration Drive organised by 'Bite the Ballot' a campaign group that aims more sure as many people as possible are taking part in our democratic society. Up to a million people have recently fallen off the Electoral Register, with Individual Electoral Registration introduced in the last few years. A particular problem is students who are not registered where they are at college. Registering to vote is easy – you can do this online for anywhere in the country here. If you don't have a postal vote, but would like one, you can easily download a ...

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

"EU referendum: David Cameron wins Theresa May's backing" – reads the Guardian headline this morning. Hello? Theresa May is the Home Secretary! It is incredible that her backing for Cameron on this is presented as some sort of surprise. What the Prime Minister does should automatically have the backing of the whole cabinet. Are we saying that there are cabinet ministers who do not support the Prime Minister on his referendum stance? The cabinet's support for the PM on a crucial national matter appears to be in question. This is quite an extraordinary state of affairs. And it is also ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: website servivces image] We know that as a result of the Conservative Government's cuts to Local Authority budgets, more cuts are on their way. We've run campaigns to save libraries, improve parks, save a police station, get gating schemes for alleyways, and many more, all of which help improve our record of action. As Lib Dems, we believe [...]

Posted by Claire Halliwell on Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

There are a large number of events on National Libraries Day this Saturday (6 February 2016). At our very own Prestwich Library – local historian Craig Brisbane exhibits part of his collection (9.30am to 1pm, and also on Sunday from 10am to 2pm). Also - The Book Doctor is In! (9.30am to 1pm). Get ideas for what to read next; all welcome. [IMG: wxjrppg4bavzwtdunbdm] Other events in the Borough are: Brandlesholme Community Centre and Library – bookmark making craft session (11am to 1pm).Open to all ages. Bury Library – badge making and paper craft sessions (2-3.30pm), free for all the ...

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

Can't think what it was about Tim Montgomerie's tweet, below, which put me in mind of this quote* from George Orwell's Animal Farm: "The creatures outside looked from Brexiter to Cybernat, and from Corbynista to Brexiter, and from Brexiter to Cybernat again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." [IMG: tim tweet] As Bertrand Russell more or less said: "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." * ish.

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Yesterday, in a factory in Wiltshire, David Cameron announced that he had agreed a deal with Donald Tusk (that needs to be ratified at the Brussels summit February 18 and 19th I hasten to add) essentially laying out what the British public will be voting for if they mark "Remain" on their ballot papers come the referendum (which looks more likely than ever to be held in June). So what did he get? Admittedly less than he'd hoped on the four year in work benefits caps deal (but a four year benefits cap deal nonetheless); the interesting item for me ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

[IMG: The Casked Crusader] Remember back in 2014, Greg Mulholland and others secured a Government defeat to give tenant landlords the right to request a fair rent and end the beer tie? Unsurprisingly, the Government did what it could to put as many obstacles in the way of landlords seeking that fair rent as it could. Sure, they could have it, as long as the pubco could increase the rent at the end of the year. They've had to u-turn on that now. Pub champion Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland (known in some quarters as the Casked Crusader) has long ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

A new planning applications has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 59531 Registration Date: 15/01/2016 Location: 11 Sandgate Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6WG Proposal: Single storey extension at front and side Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with these. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim

Posted by prestwichfocus on Tim Pickstone

The next meeting of the Friends of Riverside Nature Park Committee will take place on Thursday 11th February at 6.30pm at the Mitchell Street Centre. Amongst other things, the group is looking to develop a programme of events and activities for 2016. The meetings are open to the public so all are very welcome.

Huge Lot of Extremely RARE Terry Pratchett Discworld Convention Memorabilia Etc ATTENTION LONDON TYPES: I need a place to crash The"Women in Tech" movement is full of victim blaming bullshit Why women's sport offers value for money to sponsors and fans alike Ginger Wildheart releases provocative 9-minute feminist video Via Minnsy, ten books every child should read before they leave school Family cleans house, finds pet tortoise missing since 1982 The case for women's Tests It's pretty damning that since 2005 when the ICC and the IWCC merged, women have been systematically (and I use that term advisedly) excluded from ...

Iowow! But what does it all mean, if anything? A look at the caucus results, with an eye toward New Hampshire.

Posted by Chris Connolly on A Yellow Guard