This week I was in That London to attend (Lord) John Roper's funeral. For one reason and another I never got to meet him (though I was a handy route for someone we both knew to come out to him - through the phrase "I'm dating Jen Yockney, Chair of DELGA*") but he had a splendid and vibrant political activist's life spanning five decades. Failing health meant taking his leave of the Lords last summer, and he died ten days or so ago. At the service (Lord) Dick Newby spoke about John's vital work in the 70s during the EEC ...
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. 1. By Elections Thursday of this week will see two by-elections in Broxtowe, one in Greasley and the other in Toton and Chilwell Meadows. Our candidate in Greasley is Keith Longdon, the popular mayor of Eastwood, and our candidate in Toton is local resident Graham Heal. The outgoing councillor for Toton, Conservative Natalie Harvey, has announced this week that she is not supporting ...
It would appear that my father had a mild obsession with Spondon Garage in the 1950s. I've found a few more photographs that may be of interest to those who remember the place before it was demolished to make way for housing. The first I can date very precisely, as there was an index card with the negative. It was ... The post More photographs of Spondon Garage in the 1950s appeared first on ten pence piece.
I went to the antiques market in Market Harborough this morning. The best thing there was a table of ephemera. On it I found this little peace of Liberal Party history, which obviously dated from one of the 1910 general elections. Charles Sydney Buxton, it turned out, fought Woodbridge at the January 1910 election. It had been gained from the Conservatives in the landslide of 1906 by Robert Everett (a veteran fighter for farmers' interests against the landlords). Charles proved unable to hold it and the Woodbridge division remained Conservative until it was abolished after the 1945 election. The prominent ...
And he did it in 1934. Debates about Britain and Europe are not new. Indeed, they long predate the creation of the EU. In many ways – almost all of them depressing – Europe in 1934 resembles Europe now. There were severe economic problems brought on by a misguided attempt to maintain a transnational currency. And this was [...]
Hastings & Rye Liberal Democrats hold their main fundraiser lunch at the Royal Victoria Hotel, St Leonards, this year. The guest speaker will be former Government minister the Rt Hon Sir Simon Hughes. Simon Hughes last visited the town in March 1986 - three years after his Bermondsey by-election win - and in May that [...]
Facebook reminded me today that it's four years since the big Valentine's Day march for equal marriage in Scotland. I was there, along with many from the excellent Liberal Youth Scotland, whose motion was the first Liberal Democrat motion backing equal marriage to pass at a Conference. Liberal Youth London spent today in a similar spirit. They went on an "embassy crawl", bringing a pro-equality message to embassies of countries with an atrocious record on LGBT+ rights. It was big and bright and fun. Here are some of their tweets from the day: #TeamLibDem demanding equal rights for all today. ...
I heard Holly Macve on Radio 3's Late Junction the other evening. They thought she comes from Liverpool, but the Bella Union site tells a different story: Bella Union have recently signed the exciting talent of Holly Macve. Boss Simon Raymonde says "Little is known of Holly other than she is a 20 year old from Yorkshire who appeared out of nowhere in Brighton late last year. I had a tip-off to go to a basement bar where she was playing. In a room full of beery boys chatting across all the music beforehand, the minute Holly opened her mouth ...
Lord Avebury, who died earlier today at the age of 87, was better known to many in politics by the name he had before inheriting a peerage: Eric Lubbock. In 1962, Eric won for the Liberal Party one of the most famous by-elections of modern times in the suburban seat of Orpington, just down the [...]
Eric Avebury, the Liberal Democrat peer and Liberal victor in the famous Orpington by-election, has died. Lib Dem Voice has an interview about his life that he gave to his son John and Seth Thevoz last year. Emran Mian says we should not harangue Google for paying so little tax in Britain but globalise taxation. "At Petworth we can walk through the realised dreams of the landlords: a glorious country estate that projects the power, prestige, even the seeming naturalness, of the aristocracy. The history of our more humble ancestors ... are smoothed over, buried, obscured." Mark Hailwood goes for ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our xxxth 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 (-, 2015), 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. Stonkingly good Liberal Democrat hold in Eastleigh and ...
[IMG: SI_9.jpg] Yesterday I joined other volunteers at the first Britain Stronger in Europe street stall on Crouch End Broadway. In some very fetching 'Stronger In' t-shirts - we began handing out leaflets to passers-by and asking them to sign up to the campaign.
[IMG: 100% of LD MPs are white men] There's been a lot of discussion online about the Electing Diverse MPs motion that's coming to Federal Conference in just four weeks' time. A lot of the discussion has centred on All Women Shortlists – but the motion is about so much more than that. Its supporters have set up a Facebook page to answer any questions people have about the proposal in the motion and to make the case for its acceptance. Already over 200 people are taking part. Here's a flavour of the issues being discussed: WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS ...
More educative entertainment from Tom Scott: Time is complicated. World records are complicated. Put the two together, and you've got a fight about large clocks between Düsseldorf's Rheinturm, the Mecca Clock Tower, and a laser sculpture from Burning Man.
Earlier today, we heard the sad new that Liberal Democrat peer Eric Avebury had died. In January last year, he sat down at the National Liberal Club to talk about his life with his son John and liberal historian Seth Thevoz: A Liberal Life: Eric Lubbock at the National Liberal Club from John Lubbock on Vimeo. He talks about his political life, starting from when he joined the Liberal Party in 1960. In the Commons, he worked on domestic affairs because that was what his constituents were interested in. It was only in later life that he was able to ...
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 11,400 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Baroness Sal Brinton writes...Electing diverse MPs (106 comments) by Sal Brinton Do you agree with Kirsty and Tim about banning Delilah? (42 comments) by Caron Lindsay Is there a chance that the new Top Gear will be very entertaining but not (borderline) offensive? (40 comments) by Paul Walter A practical suggestion to improve the UK's influence within the EU (27 comments) by Robert Boyle "Shoot refugees" extremism from Conservatives in the European Parliament (29 comments) by Antony Hook ...
The fourth of the Big Finish Short Trips anthologies, and the third edited by Jac Rayner, published in 2003. At that stage we had eight canonical Doctors, so it seems in retrospect a fairly obvious idea to compile a collection of nine stories, each featuring one of them, with one more featuring them all. And while there are many cultural uses of the number nine, the Muses make a pleasing link with ancient culture. I liked most of these stories, three in particular: (Terpsichore) "Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing", by Robert Shearman, an unusually good Sixth Doctor story; (Thalia) "The Brain ...
Embed from Getty Images It has seemed from Eric Avebury's blog recently that he has been nearing the end of his life. His openness over the past few years in speaking about his terminal Leukaemia in the years since it was first diagnosed has been so helpful to many. His family announced earlier that Eric died this morning. The sympathy of everyone at LDV goes to his wife Lindsay and his family. Until December, he had attended the House of Lords every day that it had sat, bar a few days in June last year: With the exception of a ...
Two of the four pieces that I voted for were among the three shortlisted candidates in this category. The third was Sarah Anne Langton's cover of Jews Versus Zombies, and though I do like its geometry, it doesn't seem to me to be saying much about science fiction, or anything else, so I will rank it last on my ballot once the form is up and running. It's a very tough decision between the other two, though. In the end, I'm putting Jim Burns' cover of Pelquin's Comet second. It's an arresting composition, but perhaps just a little less adventurous ...
Embed from Getty Images A great campaigner, a great friend and a true champion of the Liberal cause- @timfarron pays tribute to Eric Avebury pic.twitter.com/d4chPqvAq6 — Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) February 14, 2016 You can read Adrian Slade's interview with Eric Lubbock here. It begins: For a few astonishing days in March 1962, the Liberal Party led the Conservative and Labour parties in the opinion polls, the only time it had ever done so since polls were invented. Just a few months later Prime Minister Harold Macmillan sacked half his cabinet in his Night of the Long Knives, prompting Jeremy Thorpe's ...
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced another major policy. A few weeks go, they announced their penny on income tax to raise £475 million for investment in education. Today, Justice spokesperson Alison McInnes has announced that the party will oppose prison sentences of less than a year. From the BBC: As part of their 2016 election manifesto, the Scottish Liberal Democrats are to formally back doubling that, by extending the presumption to 12 months. Justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said prison sentences for more serious offenders should be complemented by "tough" community service programmes. "One of the main priorities for Scottish ...
[IMG: London panorama. CC0 Public Domain] Looking at all the news stories from January on the Guardian website tagged as 'local government', the majority of them are about London alone. All the rest of the country's local government added together gets fewer stories. Even to this Londoner the message seems quite clear: could you spend a little more time outside the capital? Yours etc.
As predicted, the BNP's disappearance from the official register of political parties has proved to be only temporary: The British National Party (BNP) is back on the Electoral Commission register after technically being a "dead" party for over a month. The BNP was stripped of its status as a political party on 8 January when it failed to hand over up-to-date records and pay a £25 registration fee, both legal requirements... In a statement released on 11 February, the far-right party said: "The BNP is now fully re-registered with the Electoral Commission" [International Business Times] Interested in more stories about ...
The death was announced this morning (14.2.2016) of Eric Reginald Lubbock, Lord Avebury, peacefully, at his home in Camberwell, south London, at the age of 87. He was attended by his wife, Lindsay, and other family members.The text below is intended as an aide-memoire to tribute writers who would like to remember Eric as a man of many parts. ____________________________________________ Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, (born London 29 September 1928) was a British politician. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Orpington from 1962 to 1970, and served in the House of Lords, having inherited the title ...
The controversial Trade Union Bill has hit the headlines again today for reasons that rank and file Tories might be rather uneasy about. The Independent on Sunday reports that the minister steering this bill through the House of Lords has admitted she has only just read the document that set the framework for organised labour and political funding for the past three decades. The paper says that peers were stunned when Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a business minister and former Tesco director, said the first time she had seen a crucial exchange of papers between Lord Tom King and the late Lord ...
February is LGBT History Month so I thought it might be a good idea to talk about our LGBT heroes. Let us know in the comments who you admire and why. Here are three of mine to start us off. First of all, Dr Meg John Barker, who is an academic specialising in gender identity, sexuality and relationships. From their Open University profile: Meg John is a senior lecturer in psychology at the Open University and has published many academic books and papers on topics including non-monogamous relationships, sadomasochism, counselling, and mindfulness, as well as co-editing the journal Psychology & ...
There's more democracy involved than you might expect in the appointment of Iran's dictatorial Supreme Leader: Iran is about to hold a national election that could shape the country's future for a generation — potentially even more so than the presidential elections in 2009, when "green movement" protests signaled public outrage with the regime, and in 2013, when voters elevated the moderate Hassan Rouhani on a promise of economic and diplomatic opening. On February 26, Iranians will vote for candidates for their parliament and for a body called the Assembly of Experts — which, though few outside Iran have heard ...
A random selection of photos taken along the Liverpool – Southport Line:- Please click on the photos to enlarge them [IMG: Looking towards Bank Hall Station which is just beyond the road over-bridge.] Looking towards Bank Hall Station which is just beyond the road over-bridge. [IMG: This former railway tunnel once took a railway line under the Liverpool - Southport line at Bootle Strand Station. It is now a pedestrian walkway with the Strand Shopping Centre car park visible through it.] This former railway tunnel once took a railway line under the Liverpool – Southport line at Bootle Strand Station. ...
Well it is Valentine's Day once more, it takes me back to a thought I had back during the 2015 General Election. In the run up or aftermath of the 2005 and 2010 elections a long term relationship I had enjoyed came to an end because of my incessant campaigning, that wasn't the case leading up to 2015. The reason was because for the first election cycle in a while (especially when I was a candidate) there was no long term relationship. Of course as many people are aware since 2010 I have been working hard on letting everybody marry ...
Have we reached the point when it is right to move from fightback to something more positive? Talking of fightback made sense for a while after the election, when we bruised after an almighty pounding but were also experiencing a membership surge. Even recently I have seen talk of fightback on web sites and in emails to activists in different parts of the country and even in literature going out to the public. I am thinking in terms of things inviting people to be part of the fightback, or proclaiming that the fightback is on, or linking fightback to having ...
An article in the Telegraph today, "Revealed: The radical hard-left Momentum activists mounting a ruthless purge of Labour", paints a shocking picture of the pressure group Momentum. I was going to put "Labour" into the description of the organisation, but several of the members of Momentum's steering committee have spent some time in the past bashing Labour, so it seems unfair to the party. Yes, it was a Telegraph piece, thus designed with harming Labour and the Left in general firmly in mind. Problem is, it was also all true. In amongst a steering committee of eight we have people ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD FOR WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2016 Perth Road (West Park Road to Grosvenor Road) - 2 temporary pedestrian crossing points for up to 3 weeks for footway construction works. Balgay Road - off-peak temporary traffic lights from Wednesday 17 to Friday 19 February for Virgin Media duct laying. You can read the weekly road report for the whole of the city here.
Chestnut blight I hadn't heard of this before reading Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. (tags: biology ) Antonin Scalia's death was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News. Here's how the newspaper got the scoop. (tags: uspolitics media ) Best Graphic Story Ballot for the #RetroHugos1941 Some recommendations and links. (tags: sf hugos )
Peter Black: Following the money Geek male roles are just as hyper-masculine as jock roles Film writers were gender balanced in the olden days Slack sent four black female engineers to accept an award and make a statement on diversity this is what happens if you are a woman with an opinion on anything online [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that The Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed Powys has the worst record for rising crime statistics in Wales. The Taxpayers Alliance have also revealed that he is one of the top six most expensive Commissioners in the UK. Commenting on these disappointing statistics, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Dyfed Powys Police & Crime Commissioner Richard Church said: "With the Police & Crime Commissioner elections coming up this May the appalling record of our Police and Crime Commissioner is plain for all to see. Dyfed Powys has traditionally had a low ...
Liberal International celebrates 100 days of the Trudeau-led Liberal government in Canada. It seems that it has not run out of energy and continues to serve as an inspiration for Liberal parties round the world. Those who have written off Liberal Democrat chances of being in power in this country again should also take note. With numerous progressive, liberal values implemented in the Trudeau government's first 100 days - here is just a small selection. Gender-balanced CabinetProviding safe haven for refugeesUnmuzzling government scientists The Canadian Liberals won a huge victory in the October 2015 parliamentary elections, ending almost 10 years ...
