I once wrote of Boxmoor County Primary School: I was very happy at Boxmoor, though in one way adversity there helped make me a Liberal. The dinners were cooked elsewhere and brought to the school, and they were indescribably awful. (My mother let me come home for dinner after a while.) And if you didn't want custard with your pudding, you had to have a letter from home.I now regard this as an early introduction to the absurdities of socialism.That was the old Boxmoor County Primary in St John's Road, which was demolished long ago. We had our dinners in ...
Spotlight would deserve to be seen for its message alone. But it's also a fantastic piece of slowburn cinema. Spotlight is probably the most depressing film of the year. Which given that this is the year Room came out is saying something. It recounts the investigation by journalists at the Boston Globe which uncovered the prevalence of clerical sexual abuse in the [...]
Could it be that Lord Bonkers knew Malcolm Saville? Cooking hedgehogs for Nick Clegg One does not have memories of last year's general election campaign so much as flashbacks, but I do recall visiting a hedgehog sanctuary with poor Clegg and Paddy Ashplant. While Clegg was being shown how the inmates are cared for and educated, Ashplant took me to one side and confessed that he used to eat the creatures when he was in the Special Boat Service. Having invited Clegg to dinner this evening, I hit upon the happy idea of reminding him of those days by serving ...
Mark Pack and David Howarth have published a second edition of their 'The 20% Strategy: Building a core vote for the Liberal Democrats'. Michael Oakeshott is an important 20th-century British Conservative thinker. Aurelian Craiutu reviews his notebooks. Richard Gooding looks at the trashing of John McCain, which helped George W. Bush win the Republican nomination in 2000. Like Ray Gosling and Alan Moore, Jeremy Seabrook is a product of working-class Northampton. Here he writes of growing up gay in the town in the years after World War II. "Robert Mitchum considers The Night of the Hunter one of his most ...
Current Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver Last books finished No Official Umbrella, by Glyn Jones Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie On The Way To Diplomacy, by Costas Constantinou A People's Peace for Cyprus, by Alexander Lordos, Erol Kaymak and Nathalie Tocci Tik-Tok by John Sladek Short Trips: The Muses, ed. Jacqueline Rayner Europe at Midnight, by Dave Hutchinson Citadel of Dreams by Dave Stone Next books Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson The Magic Cup, by Andrew M. Greeley The Sword of Forever by Jim Mortimore Books acquired in last ...
Only a few months ago the press was finding conspiracies of powerful child abusers under every stone. Now, judging by the headlines about Lord Bramall and John Inman, the same papers are incensed if the rich and famous are even investigated. The truth, no doubt, is somewhere in between. So to remind ourselves that such people can be guilty of such offences, let's look at one of the witness statements alleging abuse by Greville Janner. It was reproduced in the Daily Mail and on The Needle in April 2015 and begins: From my earliest childhood I never knew my parents ...
Fri 5th
20:00
Shropshire Council is dangerously close to bringing the controversial Stone House development into d...
Please come to see the plans for 23 homes on the site of the former council offices. Next Tuesday, 9 February from 5pm to 7pm. The drop in session will be in the Feathers Hotel, in the room on the left inside the front door. I am more than a little annoyed by a press... Continue reading Shropshire Council is dangerously close to bringing the controversial Stone House development into disrepute →
Fri 5th
19:47
Welsh Assembly computer systems block Lib Dem website because of conference motion that uses the wor...
The Liberal Democrats' website has been blocked by computers at the National Assembly because it has "adult" content on it. Just hours before the rally to kick start their annual [Welsh] conference the party's website has been barred by the building's public wi-fi. It has been placed in the same category of proscribed sites along with hard core porn sites. But it has emerged the reason for the block is that the conference programme mentions the word "sex" or "sexual" 18 times. The policy motion - named "let's talk about sex" - includes calls for parents' legal right to remove ...
Fri 5th
18:30
Rimrose Valley – The road down the middle of it – The subject Labour has hoped would go ...
[IMG: Rimrose Valley Country Park - Picture c/o the Liverpool Echo] Rimrose Valley Country Park – Picture c/o the Liverpool Echo The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above I have posted about this many times before. My last posting is available below:- This has long been the subject that Labour-led Sefton Council has not wanted to discuss let alone vote upon. Their approach seems to have been one of the odd bit of hand wringing, the odd mutter along the lines of -don't talk about i – and a hope that the Highways Agency (now ...
[IMG: Lynne FEatherstone 2007 Brighton conference by Liberal Democrats] Responding to reports that a case of FGM is reported in England every 109 minutes, former Liberal Democrat DfID Minister Lynne Featherstone said: The Liberal Democrats in Coalition ensured the NHS must report cases of FGM , it is vital that we shine a light on this barbaric practice. It is shocking how many cases are now coming forward but we must see this as a positive. Without knowing the true extent of the problems we do not face a hope of stopping it. The rate in which cases are reported ...
I'm sitting in the lounge of the Holiday Inn in Cardiff with all a blogger really needs, wifi, coffee and Macbook. I arrived in Cardiff early this morning on a flight which contained a very joyful stag party. I'm sure their mothers would be very worried to see them consuming quite so much vodka at barely past the crack of dawn. This is only the second time I've been to Wales. The first visit was for a Doctor Who convention in 2012 and this one is to cover the Welsh Liberal Democrats' vital pre-election Spring Conference, so it's a place ...
A little of this stuff is great. Too much damages your health! On Wednesday it was a real privilege to be at, never mind chair, the annual public health conference for England. The meeting was composed of Directors of Public ... Continue reading →
[IMG: TeamLibDem - Sheffield] At 10pm, three months from today on 5th May 2016, it will all be over bar the counting. In this May's election as many people will have the chance to vote as in last year's General Election. Well over 300 Lib Dem elected representatives are defending their seats. The Liberal Democrat results in these elections will [...]
[IMG: CZP-Wn_WkAAKu6r] At 10pm, three months from today on 5th May 2016, it will all be over bar the counting. In this May's election as many people will have the chance to vote as in last year's General Election. Well over 300 Lib Dem elected representatives are defending their seats. The Liberal Democrat results in these elections will be largely up to us – Lib Dem activists and volunteers on the ground. Many thousands of us give our time and energy campaigning for our local communities and standing up for the important issues that make us Liberal Democrats. In my ...
Make a donation to Steve Middleton's local election fund and help elect another Liberal Democrat onto Bury Council in 2016. In order to fund my 2016 local election campaign, I am now accepting donations by Direct Debit. Click here to donate £5 a month to my 2016 local election campaign Click here to donate £10 a month to my 2016 local election campaign Click here to donate £20 a month to my 2016 local election campaign Click here to donate £35 a month to my 2016 local election campaign Click here to donate £50 a month to my 2016 local ...
While the campaign to get an orbital tram/train route through Cheadle and Gatley continues, TfGM say that a couple of issues with paying to travel on the existing Metrolink routes have been sorted out. First, there have been lots of complaints of ticket machines not taking credit/debit card payments. Apparently, this isn't a fault of any one machine and it isn't consistent as to which machines are affected. Rather, it's an issue in the back-office where the German contractors process card payments and it's led to up to 900 being declined on any one day. TfGM say this has now ...
Embed from Getty Images I couldn't believe the UKIP Party Political Broadcast (PPB) earlier this week. It really is a new low for a PPB to comprehensively denigrate an entire country and its people. Turkey first applied to join the EU 29 years ago. They are going through a process, which is subject to ebb and flow, to become an EU member country. Of 35 "chapters" which are needed to be prepared for entry to the EU, Turkey are currently red on four and amber on a large number. There are concerns over Cyprus and human rights. Surely, this long ...
It has been a good couple of months since I've even clicked on my blog link to write anything. I just haven't had the gumption as I remember no-one really gives two hoots about what I write and I've been busy being an NFL columnist elsewhere. Yet the one subject that has always threatened to drag me back kicking and screaming has been the internal debate on All Women Shortlists for the Lib Dems because the parliamentary party is too 'male and pale' (although AWS doesn't even attempt to fix the pale part but still). It looks likely (has it ...
[IMG: 2015 policy pitch autumn conference by Paul Walter] Conference has a buzz and many local parties have suggested that it could be a good way of encouraging someone who is supportive to drink in the magic conference potion and become a full member – or even better. But it hasn't been easy to do this under the existing conference registration rules. Until now. There is a new scheme designed to make it much simpler. You can find details here. * Chris White is a member of the Liberal Democrat Voice Editorial Team and is a Liberal Democrat Councillor from ...
[IMG: A Liverpool bound 507 EMU approaching the Crescent Road level crossing in Birkdale, Southport.] A Liverpool bound 507 EMU approaching the Crescent Road level crossing in Birkdale, Southport. The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above [IMG: Merseyrail's Kirkdale Motive Power Depot with Kirkdale Station in the background.] Merseyrail's Kirkdale Motive Power Depot with Kirkdale Station in the background. Folks I speak to want Merseyrail to retain guards on trains to aid safety. Women in particular are concerned about their removal. It seems many outside of the RMT union will be backing their campaign to keep ...
It's Sunday morning. I'm currently surrounded by books, academic papers, highlighter pens and lots of scrappy notes. I'm ploughing my way through the individual at work module in an attempt to start the last assignment of the course, excluding the dissertation. It's been hard to concentrate on this module during January, partly because of work commitments, partly because of a ... The post Falling off the ethical happy path appeared first on ten pence piece.
What do they do in Parliament all day and what exactly is the difference between Parliament and Government? A fun and speedy guide to how Parliament works from the Houses of Parliament authorities. Given the need for it to be studiously neutral there's lots of nits to pick over how elements of the process are described, but it's a pretty good stab at introducing the basics.
The famous Lawnmower Museum which gets post addressed to Stockport A rare thing happened last week, the town spoke with one voice. The packed town hall meeting agreed that in developing the town there were a number of key challenges: Rail links to the North and EastMaintaining the line to Manchester Piccadilly and AirportImproving roads to the North and EastPromoting the town's name and a commensurate dropping of the failed and hated 'Seftonisation' approachmake the most of the legacy : Lord St., The Pier, Botanic Gardens etcthe town is a place people want to live and commute from as with ...
Can anyone think of a worse time to deliberately put weaker candidates into our winnable parliamentary seats? I refer to the All Women Shortlists (AWS) proposal being put to the York conference. Now I can hear the howls of protest, "women are NOT weaker candidates". Indeed, that's why this measure is totally unnecessary. We all want to see more women in the parliamentary party and agree that there is a real problem. However AWS are only a solution if women are not being selected by Local Parties. So what's the evidence? Ten MPs stood down in 2015 (including nine men). ...
[IMG: Police helmet] As a Party we have never been fans. Some even suggested (mistakenly in my view) that the concept was so bad that we should boycott the elections in 2012. The idea that one person (usually a white man) should have such a significant say on such a sensitive area as policing – and often over an area covering several counties – was clearly absurd. It still is. The Government is already thinking of giving PCCs the control of fire authorities on the time-honoured principle of 'if it's not broke, then fix it anyway'. But yesterday's speech by ...
A useful afternoon on Sunday: I was door-knocking in my ward of Whickham South and Sunniside. We got a positive response on the doorsteps. Issues raised included the traffic lights at Sunniside, the recent rain, my goats and how my aunt in Canada is doing. Clearly we were calling at a patch where, not only was I well known, some people had known my family for decades! We will be doing another
Helen Korfanty, a local Solicitor, campaigner and advocate, has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the post as Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner. The elections take place on 5 May. Helen has lived in Suffolk for 33 years, was born in Yorkshire and qualified as a solicitor in 1982. She has worked for firms Ipswich, Sudbury, and Stowmarket and currently works for firms in Thetford and Newmarket. Her main areas of specialism are Criminal Law and Family Law and she is a trained Family Law Mediator. A first tier advocate, she serves as a Duty Solicitor at the ...
There was an item on the BBC News earlier this week about the EU referendum campaigns. They did a piece from the offices of Vote Leave and one thing stood out beyond anything else: everyone you saw, in every single shot, was a man. In fact, all the blokes seemed to fit a similar pattern as well: white and middle-aged. Then they had some talking heads from spokespeople, and you could add to that middle-class as well. What's really odd about this is that it doesn't have to be this way, and one wonders why the Leave campaign has managed ...
The UKIP candidate selection fiasco took a turn for the worse yesterday when a number of their leading candidates decided that it was all Nathan Gill's fault and called on him to quit as Welsh leader. The BBC say that Joe Smyth, who achieved UKIP's highest vote share in Wales in 2015, said Mr Gill showed "no leadership" during its turmoil over assembly poll selections. They add that another three general election candidates, two standing in May's poll, have also called for Mr Gill to go. UKIP are suffering the travails of being an English Party trying to make an ...
I have been a party member for two years now. One of the first things I learnt was that the online Lib Dem forums on Facebook were an odd mix of conversations. Some of which were useful and constructive, but then there were those posts which, when I read them, made me think of a saying we have here in Sheffield's local party, 'How is this making the boat go faster?'. I've recently seen another spate of these and it is that which prompts me to write this. Often these conversations are vitriolic (in my opinion) and only seem interested ...
As reported in today's Courier, I have slammed the council's SNP administration for its wholly inadequate and complacent attitude towards tackling parking problems in the West End. I recently called for a further consultation with residents over the area's parking problems and am hugely unimpressed with the council's 'do nothing' response to this. As residents know, plans were previously put forward back in 2012 for residents to consider a residents' parking scheme which would have given local residents priority for parking in the area of the West End south of Blackness Road and east of Windsor Street. However, with permits ...
The interim report from the Law Commissions into consolidating Britain's horribly fragmented and opaque election law is out, and generally it is a set of good proposals. It comes with plenty of well-aimed barbs at the current mess, such as: The scheme of the Act is not obvious even to lawyers. It is also peppered with sensible suggestions such as: We also recommend that returning officers should have standing to bring an election petition where there has been an admitted breach of electoral law in running the election; they should not have to wait for others to bring one. This ...
Vote Idris Elba U.K.'s Tax Deal With Google Wasn't Just About Offshore Havens but wages I can kind of confirm this from the other side - LOADS of guys comment (favourably) about my shortarseness If you've had enough of Prick Dawkins there are more interesting things happening in atheism This article illustrates the banal tedium of the terror meted out to women for hashing an opinion online BMI is bullshit. GCHQ's data-mining techniques revealed in new Snowden leak Epic 'Frinkiac' Search Engine Matches Any Simpsons Quote With Its Still The Guardian view on Britain's regional divide: the north needs deeds, ...
There are a large number of events on National Libraries Day this Saturday (6 February 2016). At our very own Unsworth Library on Sunny Bank Road we have the Library Wall of Love. Come and tell us what you love about your library. Leave a lovely message on our display telling everyone what it is about your library that makes you happy. Call Bury Libraries on 0161 253 7560 for more information. Event details Date and time: Date: Saturday February 6, 2016 Time: 9:30 am – 1:00 pm Location: Unsworth Library Sunny Bank Road . [IMG: wxjrppg4bavzwtdunbdm] Other events in ...
In the 'media quiet' days before Christmas, the Government awarded an additional set of Fracking licenses to private companies. Threes of these license blocks cover the Bury area, including one which covers parts of Whitefield. License areas 70, 80 and 81, which includes a part of Prestwich, Whitefield, Bury, Ramsbottom, Tottington and and then right across towards Bolton have been awarded to Hutton Energy Ltd for exploration. Fracking, or 'Hydraulic Fracturing' is where underground rock is fractured by the high pressure injection of 'fracking fluid' to create cracks underground where natural gas can be released. Residents will be aware of ...
I am please to report the potholes I highlighted on Monday last have finally been fixed. It's taken months of waiting for local residents, but for now, the holes have been filled in. A bigger problem is the leak under Randale Drive at the junction with Millom Drive. The biggest of the potholes was no doubt caused by this leak and despite reporting to United Utilities on a number of occasions, the leak continues. I have reported this again and will be taking this further should a resolution not be forthcoming. I fear the problem is a fractured pipe underneath ...
