Embed from Getty Images By Lib Dem standards, I'm something of a Eurosceptic. That is, I accept the EU is less than perfect. A lot less than perfect. I'm not alone. When I polled party members for LibDemVoice a couple of years ago, I was surprised to discover less than half wanted Britain to integrate further. Indeed, an estimated one-in-six Lib Dem voters will choose Leave on 23 June. In reality, Lib Dem policy is a lot less starry-eyed than some activists. For example, the party has been campaigning for years to bring an end to the European Parliament's monthly ...
[IMG: IMAG1437.jpg] Yesterday a team of volunteers (including me!) took to the streets of Muswell Hill to support the Stronger In campaign.
It's on. The date of the referendum has been announced: June 23rd. Between now and then, we've got a huge amount to do to secure Britain's place in Europe. Will you help? Donate £10 or more today to support the crucial campaign to keep Britain in Europe: For over two decades, the British public has only heard one side of the argument: UKIP's. Now we've got to do everything we can to get our message out there: that being in Europe means more security and more opportunities for people across Britain. It means more jobs, lower prices for families, more ...
I have been, as those of you who are Facebook friends may be aware, on holiday in Cuba, a trip which has, from a personal perspective, not gone as smoothly as might have been hoped. Personal misadventure leading to a badly gashed elbow and a jarred shoulder, followed by three days interrupted by (presumed) food poisoning, rather cut into the trip. Nonetheless, the weather was good, the wildlife friendly and the resort... well, not as good as perhaps it should have been, would be fair. Ros is at least well-rested for the campaigning ahead, which is probably the most important ...
Douglas Slocombe - Behind the Camera from BSC on Vimeo. The great British cinematographer Douglas Slocombe died this morning at the age of 103. As this tribute shows, he photographed the classic Ealing films, the Indiana Jones trilogy and many outstanding films in between.
The Shropshire Star reports on Lembit Opik's appearance on This Morning talking about the surgery on his jaw, which was broken in a paragliding accident 18 years ago. (Lord Bonkers visited him in hospital, according to his Diary at the time.) He told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: "It's given me space to think. I'm 50 now, I feel like I've been given a second life, perhaps because I feel so confident about being symmetrical."My title is, of course, a reference to a 1968 Spencer Davis Group LP.
Gatley Village Partnership is organising a Clean for the Queen event. Meet outside the Tatton cinema at 1.30pm on Saturday 5th March for an hour litter-picking in the village. More information here.
This is Vostok 6, the space capsule in which the first woman in space, 26-year-old Valentina Tereshkova, travelled out and safely returned to Earth in June 1963. This is Voskhod 1, the first spacecraft to take more than one person into space, Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov being the three-man crew on its brief mission in October 1964. It looks to my eye even smaller than the Vostok capsule in the next case. There was not enough room for spacesuits. This is Soyuz TM-14, the first Russian (as opposed to Soviet) space flight, launched in March 1993 with ...
Mon 22nd
19:31
EU Ref Roundup: Sterling threat, Friends of the Earth for IN, Encouraging new polls, North West and ...
More economic news supporting IN The possibility of Brexit, and Boris Johnson's self-serving jump to OUT, has led the pound to a 6 year low against the dollar. FTSE 100 company leaders have signed a letter in support of IN, reports The Independent. Bosses at more than a third of the companies in the FTSE 100 have signed a letter declaring that Britain is better in the European Union, saying a Brexit would threaten investment in the UK and lead to potential job losses. The letter is being co-ordinated by 10 Downing Street and is expected to be released on ...
Mon 22nd
18:13
The Legends of Ashildr, by James Goss, David Llewellyn, Jenny T. Colgan & Justin Richards
Maisie Williams' Ashildr didn't turn out to be Susan as I had once hoped; she did turn out to be a very interesting character in her own right, whose future and past histories are now open to all kinds of speculation. I had high hopes for this collection of novellas, since James Goss and Justin Richards, on form, are the best regular Who writers for print, and Jenny Colgan (here adopting a Banksian middle initial as Jenny T. Colgan) is one of the most visible of the big name writers who have been brought in of late - a generally ...
From 6th April, all dogs must be microchipped – it's the law. The Dogs Trust and Stockport Council are working together to offer FREE microchipping at Reddish Vale Visitors Centre on Monday 7th March 2016 from 11am to 3pm. [IMG: free microchipping]
Monday: Once Upon A Time... "I assume also that no great power would shrink from its responsibilities ... if that country from a perverse interpretation of its insular geographical position, turns an indifferent ear to the feelings and fortunes of continental Europe, such a course would, I believe, only end in it becoming an object of general plunder. "So long as the power and advice of England are felt in the Councils of Europe, peace I believe will be maintained, and maintained for a long period." Margaret Thatcher, quoting Disraeli, last time we had a referendum on Britain in Europe. ...
Embed from Getty Images When I mention to friends that I have recently visited a Jobcentre, Citizens Advice Bureau, and interviewed the homeless it tends to raise a few eyebrows. However, all these visits and interviews have been fieldwork for the Liberal Democrat Working-age Social Security Working Group which recently published its consultation paper. Chaired by Jenny Willott, and comprised of a cross-section of LD members, our FPC remit has been clear: 'The group will take evidence and consult widely from both within and outside the party'. Fieldwork has proven enormously helpful to us in terms of understanding the nuances ...
... researching Doxxing, the various forms it takes, and what can be done about it in various jurisdictions. In many it turns out the answer is "not very much, and what CAN be done is expensive". I now feel unclean. Why are people such arseholes? [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Parliament is a bit like a football game: It's Government versus Opposition, but obviously the Opposition team always has to play with 10 while the Government team plays with 11 - they always have the upper hand. Currently, in the opposition team, the SNP, Lib Dems, Plaid, Greens, etc. collectively make up 3 of the 10 players. With the game in full flow, they are playing against the Government team as best they can. All of the other 7 members of the Opposition team have spent the whole game so far in a huddle in the corner, arguing amongst themselves ...
[IMG: Amnesty International Obstacle Course] Amnesty International has published a report today with the lengthy title "Obstacle Course: How the UK's National Contact Point handles human rights complaints under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises". It claims that some UK companies may be getting away with human rights abuses in other countries, and it suggests that G4S and BT may be implicated amongst others. The problem lies with the UK's National Contact Point, based in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which is supposed to hold companies to account on a range of matters including human rights, the environment ...
[IMG: The British General Election of 2015 by Philip Cowley and Dennis Kavanagh - book cover] With the huge volume of coverage of general elections now available online – including not only the brief and superficial but the long, the detailed and the statistical – the role for a book such as Philip Cowley and Dennis Kavanagh's The British General Election of 2015 is rather different from what it was when such books provided nearly the only in-depth explanation and analysis available to anyone who does not frequent academic journals. As a result, although the book is packed fully of ...
Embed from Getty Images The EU is in the news and is likely to stay there for many months to come. My relationship with Europe as a political issue started way back when I was 11 years old. It was 1975 and my school organised a debate on the referendum to decide the future of Britain's membership of what was then called the Common Market. I spoke for the NO campaign. After reading my carefully prepared speech, my Father said he would turn me into a politician. I supposed he succeeded. More than 40 years later we approach another referendum ...
Mon 22nd
11:49
Lancashire Enterprise Partnership – The Lancashire Strategic Transport Prospectus – Post...
My first posting on this prospectus of a few days ago is available via this link:- Moving on page 19 of this weighty document is a map of Lancashire and some of its surrounding areas and Sefton gets a mention. Well a mention is putting it a bit strongly – the word Sefton is on the map and it is right where you would expect to see the name Southport! Having said that even within West Lancashire Ormskirk and Burscough are not named on this map, although Skelmersdale is. Oh and the title of the map ' Lancashire's arc ...
As noted in an earlier post, the trouble with referendums is that people tend to vote on something other than the question on the ballot paper - as often as not to give the authorities a kick in the teeth whatever the actual issue at stake. Boris Johnson's carefully choreographed announcement that he is to vote for "OUT" illustrates that this dubiously legitimate use of referendums applies to leading campaigners as well we humble voters. If Johnson has, as he claims, agonised for weeks if not longer as to which side to come down on, then he must be able ...
[IMG: 12715310_1086020751429000_641637293157837829_n] So what happened between 7th February and yesterday? Ah, could it be that being in the 'ruin the country camp' will get more votes when the Tory Leadership becomes vacant?
Embed from Getty Images One point of agreement between the more radical of Post Keynesian economic thought and the mainstream is that there should be little or no intervention in the exchange rate and that the pound should be allowed to float freely. However, whilst many Post Keynesian economists would argue this way, they would also not be in favour of being quite so concerned about the budget deficit which is behind the austerity drive favoured by the mainstream. An exchange rate policy need not be in the form of an old fashioned peg between the pound and the dollar, ...
Six Lies Told By Nigel Farage About The EU Only six? (tags: eu ukpolitics ) This can't be left to the Tory party - it's everyone's country at stake Andrew Rawnsley nails it. (tags: eu ukpolitics ) How the Euro Crisis was successfully resolved Important to counter the narrative that the Euro as such "failed". (tags: eu euro greece ) Peak paper Also Peak Oil, Peak Coal, Peak Steel and maybe Peak People? (tags: economics technology )
As somebody who is aging rapidly, I may soon get to that stage where I mutter under my breath about the youth of today. However, judging by this article in the Independent, when my generation get to that stage and bemoan the fact that young people are not as they were in our day, it will be expressing astonishment at their virtue rather than their debauched lifestyle. They say that new research from YouthSight and the National Union of Students (NUS) has found that student unions are no longer sticky bars filled with beer-swilling students avoiding their lectures. They say ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 21-02-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 21-02-2016 on #dreamwidth Instagram Been stopping at a friend's house in London. She has the best dog. Instagram Attention Londonny types: I am here. I will be here for a few hours. If you'd like to join me... Instagram Have had a lovely afternoon in the pub with Mike but have to go home to Yorkshire now :( Jennie Rigg (Brighouse, WYorks, The United Kingdom)'s review of The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School 5 of 5 stars to The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School ...
Watching the strange Saturday news coverage of the government dividing before our very eyes was a strange, phantasmagorical experience. The so-called reforms seem to amount to little. The whole affair is deeply theatrical. It is as if the whole dreadful performance is being enacted because the Conservative Party happens to be divided in its traditional way - between the nationalists and free traders. In fact, the oddest part of all is being played by Gove and Johnson. Gove looks increasingly uncomfortable, and I find myself wondering - rather as the Daily Mail implies - whether what we are actually seeing ...
Embed from Getty Images In May last year I stood before a busy church hall in Lytham St Annes and stated my support for fracking. I was the Lib Dem candidate for Fylde, a constituency on the fracking front line. It was a lonely position to take, but I felt I'd struck the right balance between the need for secure domestic energy, and the need to protect the natural environment. Only the incumbent Tory MP agreed with me. However, my support for fracking was conditional. On that day, I promised voters, that if elected, I would fight for regulation with ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
So Boris has gone for Leave; but as he gave the media advance warning on that score, we all knew it was coming. He held the media scrum outside his front door, keeping them waiting for his big out of the closet speech on the EU. Only it wasn't much of a speech in the end. Rather brief and lacking in oomph. Boris is a guy who can deliver on this front too – there is a reason that you have to queue for ages and sit through some terrible Tory conference agenda bit in order to see Boris speak ...
I have, in recent weeks, received residents' concerns about the bin collection in Step Row taking place late due to difficulties getting access for the bin lorry. I raised this matter with both environment management and City Development. The Director of City Development has advised : "A site inspection has been carried out in Step Row and it was observed that where the lower narrow section is, the existing lighting column is placed just behind the kerb line at the front of the footway and this is causing a pinchpoint which could be the reason why bin lorries are unable ...
With the announcement that the UK is to hold a referendum all the political parties are drawing up lines. The Liberal Democrats are united as part of the IN choice and will be joined (eclipsed) by elements from the Tories and Labour against UKIP, George Galloway and elements of Labour and the Tories. For me it is a no brainer and the EU membership offers vast opportunities if we led and tried to reform it rather than follow the UKIP line of voting "No" to everything if they turn up at all. Also with my belief structure a united Europe ...
Update Shropshire Council has issued an update. It seems that Ludford Bridge will be closed for up to three weeks. Main post Last night (Sunday) a vehicle smashed into Ludford Bridge. I don't know the circumstances (but thanks to town councillor Tim Gill for alerting me). The bridge has been closed to vehicles by Shropshire... Continue reading Ludlow's historic Ludford Bridge closed after vehicle damage →
After the Democrat Nevada caucuses and the Republican South Carolina primary, have we reached a tipping point in the nomination process? And can the GOP get out of the bind it has placed itself in over the Supreme Court?
