A few weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast about robots and the fact that we are about 200 years from proper humanoid robots. Robots that can walk talk and generally be mistaken for humans. What does not seem to have been discussed is the other option and one that seems far more likely, the "Blade Runner" mutant. We are being told that to day the human genome has been mapped, you can have the whole of your personal genome analysed for £100.00 and fully mapped for about £20,000. Animals can be remapped, genes moved, genes taken away. Well ...
There was a time when I regularly watched all the soaps and lots of regular dramas. These days I just don't have time to watch them and my tastes have changed and so I tend to stick to good drama series and documentaries, along with a few guilty pleasures. I rarely watch them live and [...]
UPDATED DETAILS. Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Peter Matthews.
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Sara Parker.
Independent seat. Cause: Resignation. No LD Candidate
UPDATED DETAILS. Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Tim Huggan.
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Paul Ray. To help contact Keith LePla (07736 248846, keith@lichfieldlibdems.org.uk)
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Gordon Yearwood.
UPDATED DETAILS. Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Roy Heal. Contact Tim Hallam tim@timhallam.uk 07590 407336
Conservative seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate- Lorna Dupré. To help, please contact Lorna Dupré (lorna@lornadupre.org.uk) or Mark Inskip (mark@markinskip.co.uk).
UPDATED DETAILS. Conservative seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate- Keith Longden.
Photo: Andreas Trepte "This government is a bullying government. It preaches localism and practices centralism. As a localist I defend local decision making and local accountability." Richard Kemp on the government's intention to ban local councils from having ethical investment policies. Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds explains how he learnt to stop worrying and love Basic Income. John Field visits Osea Island, home to a government work camp and a retreat for wealthy addicts. "I've tried to imagine how the view towards the Minster might look from the A59 end of Water End, where the road crosses the railway. Somewhat blighted, ...
QI am normally cheerful as the days grow longer and the daffodils appear on Fortune Green, but this year does not hold out quite the same hope of better things. The world, London, Camden and West Hampstead all seem to be in a mess. In my own immediate neighbourhood, the removal of the recycling bins on Fortune Green Road have aroused some comment - mostly favourable because they had become a notorious fly-tipping spot, but it gives people who live over shops locally a problem with recycling. It's not the only problem I get reported to me all the time ...
First up, the Electoral Commission is now investigating the Conservatives over allegations the Tories fiddled their expense return in South Thanet by excluding hotel bills for staff and the like: The Electoral Commission has today (18 February) announced that it has opened an investigation into allegations regarding the Conservative Party spending return at the 2015 UK Parliamentary General Election (UKPGE). The allegations were first made by Channel 4 News on 20 January 2016. The Commission's announcement follows Kent Police's decision not to pursue an investigation into allegations regarding the Conservative Party candidate spending return in the South Thanet constituency at ...
Embed from Getty Images Is Ukraine lost? Again? Is the social contract between state and citizens fundamentally flawed? We are now well past the "honeymoon period" of the post-Maidan street protests that ultimately led to the rather fast departure of the then president Yanikovich, who fled to Russia in 2014. A spate of ministerial resignations at the start of 2016, an economy in dire straits and with a huge external debt overhang, having lost up to a third of its economic base from the loss of territories and ongoing conflict with Russia and being supported by western-supported international financial institution ...
Having had a go at Emma Thompson for her foolish remarks on the European referendum the other day ("cake-filled" ... "grey" ... you remember), it is only fair that I call out the ludicrous Godfrey Bloom. Here is his response to Emma Thompson: May I volunteer to be the first to spank her silly bottom? Something her mother should have done years ago. https://t.co/KuglESukcQ— Godfrey Bloom (@goddersbloom) February 16, 2016My first reaction is that I would like to see him try. Emma has always been a strapping girl and would, I imagine, be the bookies' favourite in a fight with ...
I've seen some rather negative reviews out there of this Bernice Summerfield novel, but I really enjoyed it: Benny gets caught up in acnient Templar-style conspiracy theories involving a sentient velociraptor and her own mummified finger, across several timelines. Sure, it veers in a somewhat different direction of future earth continuity and Benny's own marital life, but as I am reading these books in order I find it a refreshing difference. A bit bleak in tone, but that tends to be the case with Mortimore. Could be recommended to a tolerant potential convert to the Bennyverse. Nest up: Another Girl, ...
Embed from Getty Images Vince Cable spoke to Times Higher Education this week after taking up an honorary professorship at the University of Nottingham. Asked about the Coalition decision to increase tuition fees, he said: "It was politically very traumatic, but it was actually good policy. One of my colleagues, I think, came up with the phrase that we got 8 out of 10 for the policy but 2 out of 10 for the politics. "The problem was that we made this pledge about not increasing student tuition fees - it was disastrous, it was not deliverable. ... "We got ...
Embed from Getty Images A Lib Dem Parliamentary Question has unearthed the fact that the Government has spent nearly £5 million to advertise its 'National Living Wage' of £7.20 per hour. This figure includes £750k on posters, £250k on newspaper advertising, £350k on social media advertising, £1.7million on TV, £300k on radio plus over £500k on digital display advertising and pay per click. This huge amount of publicity is in spite of the fact that from April employers will be required by law to pay the new rate to people aged 25 and over. The money spent on promoting the ...
Thu 18th
17:00
Tim Farron in Brussels: "Britain is better in Europe, and Europe is better with Britain in it"
Embed from Getty Images Tim Farron has been over to Brussels today, meeting our partners in the European Parliament. He discussed Britain's place in Europe with them and with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). He tells us: I've had the opportunity today to talk to Liberal Democrat colleagues from across Europe. Seven of the twenty-eight Heads of Government are liberal democrats and it's been a privilege to have the opportunity to talk to them and encourage them to support the UK renegotiation so we can begin the campaign to keep Britain at the heart of the ...
Thu 18th
16:23
Starter Homes Will Be Out Of Reach For Majority Of Families In Need Of Affordable Homes In England
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] Discounted starter homes could be out of reach for the majority of families in need of an affordable home in many parts of the country, analysis released by the Local Government Association reveals today. First-time buyers will be able to buy 200,000 new starter homes over the next five years at a minimum discount of [...]
Steven Normansell from Borough Care (left) and Councillor Keith Holloway Borough Care plays a key role in the delivery of residential care in Stockport, providing over 400 beds, a fifth of the total. But most of Borough Care's homes are over 20 years old and are in need of investment for renovation and refurbishment. The council – which owns the buildings and leases them back to Borough Care – has agreed to invest around £20 million in the homes, to ensure that they will continue to meet residents' needs for many years to come. Borough Care is working with residents, ...
[IMG: Money] The government has proposed changes to the way local authorities in England and Wales invest their members' pension funds. Under the plans, central government would have the power to veto investment decisions made by democratically elected local authorities. This is an attack on local democracy. The amendments to the pension regulations are designed to prevent [...]
Thu 18th
15:34The counter bias proposed in the All Women Shortlist motion will not in itself be enough to achieve ...
[IMG: Spring Conference Agenda 2016] The membership of the Liberal Democrats is almost 50% male and 50% female (I say almost because we have a number of members who are non-binary (they do not define as male or female) and I will say up front that when I refer to "all women shortlists" this does not mean I am excluding these non-binary candidates, I want and would strongly encourage them to seek selection. The Liberal Democrats also instinctively seek parity between men and women (it is noticeable that not one man felt he could do a better job than the ...
"Use us or lose us." That was the cry of Leadgate's businesses at last night's meeting at Leadgate Working Men's Club. They are faced with damaging losses as a result of the absence of "passing trade" through the closure of Villa Real Bridge, and angry at the delays which have dogged the project. The meeting started with an explanation of the delays from Durham County Council Officers. The initial delays arose from difficulties in achieving agreement between the various land owners and arranging utilities' replacement of the pipes, cable and fibre connections previously carried in the "deck" of the bridge. ...
Embed from Getty Images A couple of days ago, I found myself in quite an unusual situation. As a candidate for May's local elections, I was campaigning in my ward's town centre when someone flung their arms around me and gave me a great hug. She told me she'd been watching me and was gobsmacked to see me doing what I was doing. As a visually impaired candidate, people are frequently a bit shocked to see me knocking on their doors. But this was different. She introduced me to her five-year-old daughter, who had just started learning how to use ...
Fingers crossed that David Cameron comes out with some sort of decision about Britain's demand for mini-changes in the way the European Union conducts itself, and we can (after a four month delay here in Britain while we argue about the dots on the "i"s and crosses on the "t"s) move on to wrestling with the reallu serious problems which confront our country, the EU and the world. If there is a decision, than there is no doubt that Cameron will use his PR skills to announce it as a great triumph. For once his undoubted skills will be on ...
A wonderful quote from a man who went to the moon that many of our politicians should ponder on:- 'You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.'
To me Europe is important, I don't feel threatened by it and I am certainly not a Little Englander wishing for past glories to return. Nor do I believe many of those daft press stories about the EU bossing us around. Such stories may well fill newspapers but that does not mean they are true. For me the peace and stability that the EU has helped to bring to a continent that had previously always been at war is worth a lot. Of course Europe is nowhere near perfect and of course it never will be. How can it be ...
Watching the IN campaign is increasingly like watching this scene from Zulu on a Daily basis. Instead of a drunk and raving Jack Hawkins we have Emma Thompson whittling on about how we'll all have to eat cake in the rain or some such. In addition. our beaches will be black with pollution, acid rain will be pouring down on our heads, cheap air travel will end, mobile phone charges and petrol will rise, terrorists will bomb us with impunity, UK criminals will be roaming free on the continent, petrol will rise and the Premier League will end up as ...
[IMG: 2005 Liberal Democrat general election manifesto cover] Liberal Democrat general election manifestos archive I've put together a new archive of Liberal Democrat general election manifestos. As with most archives, it is a work in progress. But it already has a complete covering of the basic documents from the 1992 general election to date. Why do it? Even in this internet-enabled world, it can be surprisingly hard to track down older documents. So it's partly for my convenience, and also the hope that others may find it useful too. Text-only versions of past manifestos are widely available online for all ...
Now for the second essay on economics that I wrote in 2008. The topic is trade, and it investigates the theory of trade between developed and developing nations. It turns out that standard trade theory, based on comparative advantage, works rather well here. But it contains a prediction that goes largely unremarked. Apart from Paul Samuelson (in 2004) I haven't seen anybody else raise the point. And yet it does much to explain what is going on in the world now, especially between Britain and China. The theory of comparative advantage is part of what Americans call "Economics 101": basic ...
The unlikely rise of Flat Earthism I understand not trusting the establishment, I really do. But this is just bonkers... Leading Android scientific calculator now requires Caller ID so it can serve you tailored ads I'm really, REALLY glad I haven't got this app installed miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 17-02-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 17-02-2016 on #dreamwidth Unseen JRR Tolkien poems found in school magazine Bosses Harness Big Data to Predict Which Workers Might Get Sick ... including whether or not they are taking birth control pills, or if they stop doing so. ...
A Cabinet Office proposal to ban organisations receiving government funding from using those funds to influence policy threatens to put the brakes on the research impact agenda. This week, thanks to a freedom of information request, we learned that the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was considering an increase in the weighting for impact in the next Research Excellence Framework (REF), from twenty to twenty-five per cent. HEFCE's consultation was pulled before publication by Jo Johnson, minister for universities and science, to make way for the broader questions posed by his November 2015 higher education green paper. More ...
Thu 18th
09:15
Ken Livingstone reveals the Corbynite bid to take the PLP out of the leadership equation
Ken Livingstone has popped up in the media again, acting as usual these days like the Corbynite's wandering Id. This time it's about how (he thinks anyhow) Corbyn and his acolytes plan to bypass the PLP and rule the party forever more. It involves removing the PLP from the nominations process altogether, via the National Executive Committee. "The idea of Labour MPs having a veto over who stands is nonsense. The Labour party before Blair was a genuinely open, democratic one. Jeremy's bringing that back. Exactly how isn't going to be resolved until the annual conference. But that's what we ...
When the histories of the coalition government come to be written, those chapters focussing on the role of Vince Cable will be some of the most fascinating. Vince's fierce intelligence combined with a (perhaps deliberate) flair for the enigmatic meant he was involved in some of the most interesting of the coalition's key moments. One area of particular significance is likely to be the analysis of his views on austerity. Throughout the coalition Vince was often portrayed in the media — and by some Liberal Democrats — as a brave warrior fighting an axe-wielding Tory-Lib-Dem cabal of ideological austerians. Yet ...
Like any community, a political party has its own culture distinctive from others, so it is always instructive to get an insight into how our opponents interact with each other. For Ken Livingstone, it seems his party has changed for the better. According to this interview reported by the Independent, the former London Mayor is far more comfortable under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership than he was in New Labour. Somehow, I already knew this. After all there were plenty of public spats between Ken Livingstone and New Labour. Nevertheless, it is instructive to read his insights, even if you do have ...
At the end of 2015, Liberal Democrat membership was 61,598, which was up another 1,000 or so from the membership at the time of the leadership contest. To see the party's membership growth sustained since then is great. The rate of growth is also a reminder of just how much more work there is to do to hit Tim Farron's stated aim of 100,000 party members, and all the more so given that half of the party's members have their membership come up for renewal on 1 July 2016.
[IMG: Mark Hunter MP] Former Cheadle MP Mark Hunter is standing for election to Stockport Council in May's local elections. Mark Hunter has been selected to fight the Cheadle Hulme South ward following the death of Councillor Lenny Grice. Mark, who was MP for Cheadle from 2005 to 2015, served as a Stockport councillor and Leader of the Council before being elected to Parliament. "For ten years I had the privilege of representing the people of Cheadle Hulme in Parliament. At a time when the Conservative government is cutting funding to local councils as never before, the need to have ...
Woman accidentaly cosplays hotel Hee! (tags: funny ) Where the EU got a frozen conflict right The case of Transdniestria. (tags: eu moldova transdniestria ) China uproots 9,000 people for huge telescope in search for aliens SETI disrupting lives. (tags: space astronomy China ) Every Galaxy Needs More Than Three People of Color Few are up to the mark. (tags: race sexandgenderandsexuality sf ) David Cameron's lost control @POLITICOEurope asks, shuttle diplomacy or scuttle diplomacy? (tags: ukpolitics eu ) Scientists discover new microbes that thrive deep in the earth Biding their time! (tags: science geology biology ) The Offer to ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling on the Welsh Government to make the Lloyd George Museum part of the National Museum of Wales to safeguard its future, following news that Gwynedd Council are deferring the decision whether to close it until 2017. The Plaid Cymru led Gwynedd Council had planned to withdraw funding for the museum in its 2016/17 budget, but announced yesterday that the decision would be deferred until 2017. However the Council leader Dyfed Edwards emphasised that the council could not continue to run the museum in the long term. This year is the 100th anniversary of Lloyd ...
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, is in Brussels today for the most important European Council meeting of his time in office. He has to persuade the other 27 EU Heads of Government that an acceptable compromise on his demands for EU reform has been reached, enabling him to return to London to campaign for [...]
I attended an enjoyable pizza and politics event hosted by Millfield ward Lib Dems in Sunderland last night. Speaker was John Shipley, former leader of Newcastle City Council and now a peer. Host Niall Hodson took the opportunity to show off some of his campaign publicity. I wasn't the only PCC candidate there. Craig Martin, Lib Dem for Durham, was also enjoying pizzas!
