A large chunk of the left/right political debate comes down to a single question: why are the poor, poor? The right-wing narrative locates the causes in the behaviour of those who fall into poverty. They allegedly prefer welfare to work, lack self-restraint, disdain stable families and expect others to fix their problems. The left's alternative explanation [...]
Embed from Getty Images This poster dates from 1946 and the artist is Frank Newbould.
TWO SEATS. LD seats. Cause: Resignation. Candidates TBC. To help, please contact Theo Whitaker (01935425025, organiser@yeovil-libdems.org.uk).
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. Candidates TBC. To help, please contact Theo Whitaker (01935425025, organiser@yeovil-libdems.org.uk).
A cat yesterday We had a phone call at work today about a worrying case of the Croydon Cat Killer. What would make a person do something so terrible? Googling the case I came across the excellent organisation South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (SNARL), which is leading a campaign to catch a suspected attacker, and its organiser Boudicca Rising. She wins our coveted Name of the Day Award.
If we want the forces of light to win the referendum on British membership of the European Union then we have to get away that it is a project of the elites. Which may be a problem. While professionals arrange the harmonisation of qualifications across the continent to make it easy for them to take up agreeable employment abroad, the rest of us are faced with an influx of people who will work harder and expect lower wages. That, incidentally, why it is bizarre that David Cameron's demands centre on benefits for people from Poland. It is the Poles in ...
B&NES Liberal Democrats For immediate release: Tuesday, 16 February 2016 Budget vote will mean residents pay more and get less B&NES Councillors met this evening to discuss the Council budget for the 2016-17 financial year. The budget includes £12M of spending reductions as well as a 3.25% hike in the level of Council Tax residents will be expected to pay. This comes on top of already
Last night The Times broke the news that Tom O'Carroll, the public face of the Paedophile Information Exchange around 1980, had joined the Labour Party. To Labour's credit, he was suspended today. But his brief presence was in line with the Corbynistas' attempt to return Labour to the early 1980s. When I worked in Birmingham in 1981 and 1982 it was possible to find literature from the PIE among that from other municipally approved good causes in the city's central library. The idea that the professional left was the scourge of child abusers did not arise until some years later. ...
Embed from Getty Images When I blogged about the Liberal flyer from the first 1910 general election I bought on Sunday, I said Charles Sydney Buxton and Eric Avebury were kinsmen. A little research shows that they were cousins - or half-cousins, if there is such a relationship - as they had the same grandfather. That grandfather was John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, who had 11 children from two marriages. Charles was the son of his eldest child Constance Mary Lubbock. She was the daughter of John Lubbock's first wife Ellen Frances Hordern. Eric Avebury was the son of his ...
Watch the launch of the Liberal Democrat campaign to keep Britain in Europe, which took place at the home of ping pong: You can sign up to back the Liberal Democrat In campaign here, and the official Remain (In) Campaign is here. If you'd like to know more about the wider topic, see my other European referendum posts, and in particular Nick Clegg's demolition of the anti-EU case.
What's below started out as a comment on yet another blog post I ran across, supporting Peter Tatchell and (unsurprisingly) based entirely on a Tatchell-centric view of the world. It got long, so I thought it would be worth putting it up as it's own post here. Those interested in reading up on the background of Peter's repeated uninvited meddling can also find more at the following sites: (This is far from an exhaustive list) African LGBTI activists ask Tatchell to stop interfering: "Stay out of African LGBTI issues. You have proven that you have no respect for conveying the ...
My Facebook timeline has, for weeks, been furious at Jeremy Hunt. All this might tell you is that I am friends with the type of people who feel comfortable expressing extreme anger – sometimes hatred – towards politicians. They are mostly middle class, soft left voters, many of whom work in the public sector or have relatives [...]
I hugely enjoyed Europe in Autumn, which we shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award last year and which also got onto the BSFA shortlist. Here Dave Hutchinson returns to his future world of a fragmented Europe, but from a very different angle: rather than exploring the new frontiers that have been erected in our world, his spy hero finds himself exploring also parallel maps to societies which are liminally linked to us, there and yet not there. It's a book with One Big Idea, explored at leisure and in a way that made me care very much about the ...
The timing of Spring Conference's return to York is particularly significant for the city. [IMG: York Members and supporters 2015] As many will know, widespread flooding hit parts of the city over Christmas as residents and businesses were evacuated from their homes in the worst flooding seen since 1982. The TV cameras and politicians who descended on York soon left, but the long hard clean-up operation has taken many weeks and for some will take many more. The way local residents (as well as groups from all over the country) have rallied round has been tremendous. Nevertheless, the challenges have ...
A few weeks ago a local resident contacted us and suggested the railings along the path in Scholes Fields should be all or partly removed. We wanted to know what other residents thought of the idea and so we asked here and on Facebook. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. You made it clear that you are opposed to the idea, which is what we needed to find out. Therefore, we will feed back the views of the majority to the resident who raised the suggestion and take it no further.
In many ways it is bizarrely anachronistic that voters cannot go to a website, input their address and find out where their local polling station is. Postcode lookup followed by a handy map and relevant transport information is the norm across even small scale websites put together by a few hobbyists, yet isn't available for such a basic feature of how our elections are run. The reason is, in part, due to the complexity of the data required behind the scenes as there is no one database of polling stations. Attempting to get accurate and timely information out of every ...
Parliament is in recess, an opportunity to reflect on the first stages in the Lords of the Immigration Bill. Brian Paddick and I tabled the majority of amendments from opponents of the Bill which most of us would frankly just like to see thrown out. It doesn't need legislation for the Government to agree to give refuge to 3000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have fled conflict and made it to Europe - obviously. Equally obviously, if Parliament is considering legislation on immigration, Parliamentarians will use the opportunity to put pressure on the Government. So it was last week in the ...
Recently divisions have reawakened between the two economic wings of the Liberal Democrats. The more right-wing economic liberals and the more left-wing social liberals. Boiled down as far as possible they disagree on one thing - The degree to which state intervention in economics is primarily a source of reduction of (economic liberals) or promotion [...]
Tue 16th
14:49
Southport – Wigan – Manchester Trains. Are services to Piccadilly and Manchester Airport...
[IMG: Departure board at Southport Station.] Departure board at Southport Station. Below is the text of a leaflet/poster that is presently being distributed to travellers on Southport – Manchester trains by OPSTA (Ormskirk, Preston & Southport Travellers Association) ans SRTF (Southport Rail Transport Forum) members. [IMG: 10987391_514611765381456_4156173185824351302_n] It's at this time of the year that you don't want to be hanging around a platform waiting to change trains but that's exactly what commuters travelling to Deansgate, Oxford Road or Manchester Piccadilly will face after December 2017 if we let rail planners have their own way. [IMG: OPSTA logo] OPSTA logo ...
[IMG: A Merseyrail electric unit ] A Merseyrail electric unit Yesterday's Merseyrail problems were covered by the Liverpool Echo – see link above Jen and I found ourselves in the middle of the later crisis when we attempted to get the 21:10 Ormskirk train home to Maghull from Liverpool Central. The journey took an hour and most of it was via a rail replacement bus service as we could only get as far as Sandhills by train. The first we knew of the problem was a white board which seemed to have been hastily written on Central Station's concourse. ...
Mental Health Report Liberal Democrats welcome the Mental Health Taskforce Report which looks to revolutionise our mental health services and bring an end to discrimination. Critically, it endorses the plan to introduce comprehensive maximum waiting time standards in mental health. Mental health was left out of maximum waiting time standards when they were introduced by Labour over a decade ago. The Liberal Democrats introduced the first ever waiting time standards in mental health - but until there are comprehensive rights to get treatment on time, discrimination against those with mental illness will continue. It is excellent news that the Taskforce ...
[IMG: Bench (needing repair) Wilberforce Road, Sandgate] There was once a bench in a little village called Sandgate. It was quite old, and had seen better days, and was pretty hidden up a short steep, side street in the village but, no matter, there the bench was. No-one was really sure when the bench had been put there, or why. What they were sure of was that it had a plaque on it in memory of Dora Hamilton (1905-1989) who had spent her childhood in Sandgate. It had clearly been placed with thought and love. As the bench got older ...
Guy Verhofstadt MEP, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe has commented on the ongoing negotations between the UK and other EU heads of government over the terms of a reform deal to keep the UK in the EU. My press point on the ongoing negotiations on the UK's position in the EU #EUref Posted by Guy Verhofstadt on Tuesday, 16 February 2016 Here are some of the points made It is in the interests of Britain and of the EU that Britain stays in. The only 2 men to gain from Brexit are Mr Farage and ...
Embed from Getty Images I suspect if Peter Tatchell and I ever sat down to talk about the economy we'd be poles apart. He's a far-lefty, I'm not. But he happens also to be one of my political heroes, a fearless champion of equality, whose bravery in standing up for the human rights of the oppressed around the world is an inspiration. He was my 50th Liberal Hero in my series for CentreForum for supporting free speech and its positive use. To the NUS's Fran Cowling, though, he's a racist and a transphobe (or at the very least an ally ...
[IMG: keith massie street car park 300w] Keith Holloway writes: Thank you to everyone who came to last week's meeting about parking in Cheadle. Estimates vary, but we think over a hundred people attended. The interest and passion at the meeting were very clear. My priority from the meeting was to get some changes in place as quickly as possible to make it easier for people to park in the car parks. I'm glad to say that, having pressed the council for quick action, we've been able to find a way to speed things up. We are proposing to revert ...
Here's my very belated report on the last English Lib Dems' Executive (ECE) meeting. After my previous post gaining praise from Mark Pack on his own website: "Anders Hanson is one of the stars of the English Party because he does report back publicly on key parts of what the English Party is doing. He's [...]
Why, when someone leaves the Lib Dems, is there often some sort of obligatory group cheering ? Kavya Kaushik, who I like and worked with as part of Liberal Reform, a group I no longer belong to, has left the party and outlined her reasons here and some other background is here. Whilst I was in Liberal Reform, I was very keen on promoting the panel that Kavya mentioned because I thought she made an excellent point that diversity shouldn't just be the preserve of the left wing of politics. Kav leaving depresses me and the reaction to Kavya leaving ...
Posted by Liberal Democrat Federal Executive member Antony Hook on Liberal Democrat Voice: An excellent new resource has been launched that will help with [effective factual information for the EU debate]. Infacts.org is a well presented website that contains briefings on key factual questions relevant to the referendum and rebuttals to the misrepresentations of the Quitters. It is set up and run by a group of journalists, listed on the website and many of their names you will recognise from the quality press.If I have one constructive criticism it is that the bulk of their briefings are responses to claims ...
A lot of party members tell me they feel a need for more factual information to help us win the EU Ref debate. Within the party we have brilliant writers of leaflets and local press releases who, if supplied the information, can turn it into effective communication. An excellent new resource has been launched that will help with this. Infacts.org is a well presented website that contains briefings on key factual questions relevant to the referendum and rebuttals to the misrepresentations of the Quitters. It is set up and run by a group of journalists, listed on the website and ...
Poe's Law in action Poe's Law in action via @delicious I no longer understand my PhD dissertation (and what this means for Mathematics Education) I no longer understand my PhD dissertation (and what this means for Mathematics Education) via @delicious German poll finds one in three firms would leave UK after Brexit German poll finds one in three firms would leave UK after Brexit via @delicious OMG redditors on the carrier bag charge and it's results. This is the funniest thread I have read all week (Yes, I am aware it's only Monday at the time of typing) In which ...
In most corporations these days there is considerable emphasis on "diversity training". Most people look on it as a box ticking exercise, like fire alarms or health and safety briefings: a necessary bureaucracy by which the organisation demonstrates compliance with the law. Yet, as with so many box ticking exercises, there is a core of essential and necessary work at the heart of the exercise. Organisations, like any group of human beings, can create cliques and foster a culture which fails to use each member of the group to their full potential. In short, respect for diversity is necessary if ...
So today I discovered that, having been going downhill as a service for a while, Delicious have started to add adverts into RSS feeds. Like the lovely Mr Ducker, I consider this a dealbreaker, and have therefore moved over to pinboard and deleted my Delicious account. There may be a couple of feed burps and some formatting problems and such as a result of this over the next few days. Andrew's wonderful "feed links to your blog and autopost them" app works with pinboard as well as Delicious, so links should still come through, but I don't know if they ...
Tue 16th
10:25
Lord Avebury was a giant in the struggle to outlaw Caste-based discrimination in the UK
This article is rather longer than usual but offers a different perspective on Eric Avebury and his commitment to international human rights. The author is Vice Chair of the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA), and the President of the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK (FABO UK). [IMG: Eric-Avebury-March-2013] Lord Eric Avebury at an Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance-led protest outside Parliament on 4 March 2013 supporting legislation to outlaw Caste-based discrimination in the UK I first met Lord Eric Avebury on 11 November 2009 at the official launch of the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA)'s report Hidden Apartheid - ...
[IMG: List of Liberal Democrat peers on Twitter] Newly updated with Liberal Democrat mental health spokesperson Claire Tyler, here's a reminder of the Twitter list for all the Liberal Democrat peers who have taken to the social network which has over 15 million active users* in the UK: https://twitter.com/markpack/lists/libdem-peers As ever, do let me know if you spot any additions or corrections to what is now a list of 51 Lib Dem peers – thank you. You can also sign up for the weekly email newsletter from the Lib Dem peers. * Twitter = 15m active users. Lib Dem general ...
Some years ago London's Metropolitan Police were accused of being "institutionally racist" by a learned judge. Recently I was talking to an experienced police officer (not from the Met, as it happens), who took great exception to this accusation. Now I have no strong evidence that the original accusation was fair (nor that it wasn't), and neither do I feel able to comment on how things stand now on that matter. But it goes with the territory that institutional failings are often invisible to the institution's members. This came to mind in the latest kerfuffle over the police's investigation of ...
So we've reached crunch time on Cameron's EU renegotiation project. It appears that a full deal, whatever that entails, will be announced this Friday, along with the final date of the referendum itself (which looks more and more likely to be June 23rd). There's always room for it to go pear-shaped, but that seems unlikely. There's too much at stake for everyone at the Brussels summit at the end of this week. Cameron has said he'll hold a cabinet meeting on Friday to announce the final details to the members (I'm assuming before he tells the nation), with the close ...
Palin's Late Style: He Knows the Main Thing – An analysis of the latest piece by radical performance poet Sarah Palin. Horizontal History – An interesting perspective on births, deaths, famous lives and how they overlap. The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia – A mission that would have pushed NASA and the astronauts to the limit might have saved the seven astronauts on Columbia, if the damage to it had been spotted before re-entry. How Not To Deal With Activists, Courtesy the Britain Stronger in Europe Campaign – Andrew Hickey writes a post I was ...
A few weeks ago I visited the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais to see first-hand the tragic situation right on our doorstep. Television cannot capture the full desperation of the Calais camp. My visit met my worst fears: 5,500 people; 60% of them young men, and many children too, are living in miserable conditions in shanty towns resembling some of the worst parts of the Nairobi slums I visited last year; the difference being that in the 'Jungle' we were less than 2 hours from Central London. We were spared from the deep mud that is commonplace at the camp, ...
The Telegraph reports that middle-class savers will be "actively discouraged" from putting money in their pensions if George Osborne pushes ahead with plans to cut tax relief for high earners. They say that the Chancellor is considering plans to scrap higher rate tax relief on pensions and move towards a "flat rate", which could be as low as 25 per cent: An analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that if he goes ahead with the plans in his Budget next month tens of thousands of higher-rate taxpayers will be better off investing in Isas or larger homes. It ...
From Scottish Hydro Electric (SHE) Transmission : Cllr Fraser MacphersonDundee City CouncilCity Chambers Dundee City Transmission Cable Replacement I am writing to advise you of engineering works that Scottish Hydro Electric (SHE) Transmission are required to undertake to replace a high voltage underground cable. I have included a map which highlights the route of the cable that will be replaced. The existing cable was installed in 1965 and has been essential in supplying power to local residents and businesses. SHE Transmission engineers have maintained the 51 year old 132kV circuit however a decision has been made to invest £3m and ...
Embed from Getty Images During the 1983 general election, the Conservatives pulled of a successful media stunt by purchasing several thousand copies of Labour's general election manifesto and distributing them to Conservative Party candidates and party workers. (This was the Labour manifesto that was so left wing it got known as 'the longest suicide note in history' thanks to Labour MP Gerald Kaufman).
Someone in the occupational psychology course team clearly has a sense of humour. Having finally squeaked my way around the ethical approval process a couple of weeks ago and having recovered from the scars inflicted by the online submission process (cake is still on offer by the way) I've been working on my final module assignment. It's on ... stress. ... The post Stress and procrastination appeared first on ten pence piece.
Trump Is Making Up His Opposition to Iraq War Those damn facts again. (tags: uspolitics waronterror )
Trump Is Making Up His Opposition to Iraq War Those damn facts again. (tags: uspolitics waronterror )
I loved the first season of Daredevil – the Marvel/Netflix team up about Matt Murdoch, the blind lawyer who becomes a costumed hero defending his New York neighbourhood. When I reviewed it, I said: A show that's nastier, more demanding and frankly rather brutal winds up being just about the most satisfying thing Marvel has done... So I'm excited [...]
