Back in March last year I wrote Constituency expense limits are dying off in the UK, but neither politicians nor the regulator will act, pointing out that: In April 2005 thousands of voters living in marginal seats around the UK found letters about the political situation in their constituency from then Conservative Party leader Michael Howard hitting their doormats. To the untrained eye, these were just another round of standard political direct mailshots. But they also signaled an important step in the death of constituency expense limits in the UK, a death triggered by mistake after Parliament changed the law ...
[IMG: Lib Dem website front page] Want to read the latest news stories from the Liberal Democrat federal website but want the stories to come to you rather than have to remember to go and check the website regularly for new content? As a bonus, you also get the main Scottish and Welsh Liberal Democrat news wrapped in too. Just sign up here and pick the option "Official Lib Dem news stories from party's website (including Scotland and Wales)". Email* Name First Last What would you like to receive?* Liberal Democrat Newswire: monthly newsletter Official Lib Dem news stories from ...
The first novel published by the famous writer priest, which takes the Grail legend and recasts it in the setting of late pagan / early Christian Ireland; it was an early entry on my (now out of date) list. The love between a mature king and a young slave-girl (yeah, really) is a central plot strand. I've enjoyed several of Greeley's later books, but I'm afraid this one was rather boring when it wasn't being skeevy, and the odd spelling variants in Irish names and words grated as well ("Podraig", "Tanaise", "Agadhoe"). I was musing the other day (in a ...
When the Government published its draft Investigatory Powers Bill, it provided a nearly useful PDF copy. "Nearly", because the formatting is chaotic (eg, sometimes you can select a section title with its number, and sometimes you can't). So, I used the very good (nearly excellent PDF Outliner) to create a table of contents. Unfortunately, its automatic outliner didn't work (because of the
Embed from Getty Images This morning's Mirror takes up the Channel 4 News investigation of alleged Conservative overspending at the last general election. Its report says: A Mirror investigation today reveals how 24 Tory MPs failed to declare thousands of pounds spent on their election campaigns in marginal seats. None of the MPs we name below declared the party's controversial RoadTrip battlebuses in local budgets, with Tory HQ picking up the tab instead. If the estimated £2,000 cost of the bus had been included locally, some of the MPs could have breached strict spending limits. Five Tory RoadTrip battlebuses crossed ...
From ITV News: An investigation into the alleged involvement of the former leader of the Liberal Party in a plot to kill is to be reopened. Avon and Somerset Police has passed the files from the original investigation about Jeremy Thorpe, former MP for North Devon, to colleagues in Wales. The alleged hit man Dennis Meighan told The Mail on Sunday that he met representatives of Thorpe in 1975. He claims they wanted Norman Scott, said to have been the MP's gay lover, silenced. However a few days later Mr Meighan says he backed out of the plot and told ...
There was only one blog added to the LibDemBlogs aggregator in February. But that was one better than the total for January. Nevertheless, I shall keep this feature going. Surely a Liberal Democrat revival or a blogging revival will turn up soon? The new blog is written by Mark Argent. Talking about the Cambridge for Europe group he says: People talk of the "Cambridge phenomenon" - the boom in businesses, especially high-tech, in and around Cambridge. But this local success relies on a much larger international framework the European single market. From Cambridge, our businesses can easily reach out far ...
The housing crisis is going from bad to worse in many parts of the country. Action is desperately needed to make housing more affordable for people. We need to ensure we have enough homes in the right places, and that homes are sustainable and decent quality for people to live in. [IMG: Terraced housing] I am leading a large team of Lib Dem peers who are fighting hard to amend the Housing and Planning Bill. We have serious concerns that the Bill will make things worse for people in need of affordable housing, will lead to an increase in homelessness, ...
Last Autumn, after a long campaign against Police cuts supported by the Lib Dems and many local residents, Chancellor George Osborne made a surprising U-turn, declaring that Police funding wouldn't be cut after all. Of course, we all know these days that such pronouncements from the Chancellor can't be trusted until the small print has been thoroughly checked, and already two major problems have emerged. First, the Chancellor hasn't really allocated more money for the Police. Instead, he's told police forces to raise tax so local people pay more. Seems odd from someone who claims to be a low tax ...
Two months gone, and despite a food poisoning related glitch which lost me three days, I'm still going strong with the ten thousand steps and nearly two litres of water. Indeed, the steps are averaging over twelve thousand per day. Naturally, losing the will to eat for a week has helped... And, actually, I'm beginning to enjoy the new regime. I even sneak out into the darkness for an extra two thousand steps or so just because. The diet isn't too stressful, as the extra weight I carry about means that I'm burning more calories - this perhaps explains why ...
One or two very welcome guests below the line at Liberal Democrat Voice have challenged us to talk more about immigration in the context of the EU referendum. Because people want the UK to "take back control of our borders". So here we are. Of course we do have control of our borders. We are not part of Schengen, and there is nothing they could do to make us join. We have our own immigration policy, subject, as with all policy, to treaty obligations. The specific treaty obligation of interest here is the provision in the Treaty of Rome to ...
... so today you're getting it manual The way Mothra is treated in the Godzillaverse illustrates what it's like to be a woman in a male dominated profession Freedom Of Information Act To Remain: Here Are Eight Things We Wouldn't Have Known Without It 10 LGBT superheroes we'd like to see get movies Batwoman, Batwoman, Batwoman, Batwoman, Batwoman, Batwoman, Batwoman, Batwoman, Batwoman, and Batwoman Secret plan to axe 90 per cent of Tory associations which would smooth George Osborne's coronation as leader - Telegraph Watch Jennifer D's Vine "I got attacked by a shark and it ...
[IMG: Dog in a Lido. CC0 Public Domain] Four-fifths of Labour's 1937 local elections slogan seem to have aged pretty well. But whatever happened to lidos? Better Homes. Good Schools. Health Care. Play Fields. Lidos.
Part 1 – Thursday 18th February Part 2 – Friday 19th February Friday began with a short taxi journey to the headquarters of Islamic Relief, the charity who would be showing us around. [IMG: Tim Farron and Catherine Bearder] Over breakfast, Islamic Relief discussed their work in helping refugees who had arrived in the area, especially in the provision of sanitary kits as well as a series of 'shops' that allowed refugees to come and select items that they needed at no cost- basic essentials in the main but being in a manner aimed at preserving choice and dignity for ...
This is a sad story covered by the Liverpool Echo – see link above Whilst we all, I suppose, expect all police officers to law abiding, fine upstanding members of the community the reality must be that there must be as many wrong'uns as in any other line of work?
This was when I found out I was both still alive and relatively healthy for a man of my advanced years! Sometimes going to a conference can be really useful and I was very much both challenged and excited by ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Michael_R_Bloomberg] So, it's Super Tuesday in the US, and thoughts turn to just how this Presidential race might turn out. It's looking increasingly likely that tonight will put the two leading candidates for their parties into near-locks on their nominations, so how does a Clinton vs Trump race play out. One choice both candidates will have to make is a Vice-Presidential running mate. Trying to guess what Trump would do here seems like a fool's errand, as conventional political wisdom doesn't apply to his candidacy and the prospect of him whittling through randomly chosen candidates in an Apprentice-style format ...
[IMG: rare-disease-day-logo] Yesterday was Rare Disease Day, although I missed the opportunity to write about it here. It does happen every year, in spite of it being on Leap Day this time. But the report today that linked the Zika virus to an increased risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome has brought rare diseases back into the limelight. Rare diseases and disorders are defined as those which affect fewer than 1 in 2000 people, and there are over 6000 conditions that qualify. And, counter-intuitively, a lot of people do suffer from rare diseases, just because there are so many of them. ...
How the Tories must regret not agreeing to Nick Clegg's plans to democratise the House of Lords. There would be no guarantee of course that they would be able to fare any better in getting their plans agreed by an elected second chamber, but the odds must better than those they face at present. This though is a good thing as it enables Liberal Democrat peers to work with other opposition parties and cross-benchers to frustrate some of the more extreme measures coming out of this Tory government. I am pleased that the latest example of this is over cuts ...
The Friends of Brimsham Park are applying to Tesco for a grant towards a big project: To re-establish a Wildlife Pool in the park, provide a pool liner, pollard the trees and clear the scrub to let in the light.Re-introduce frogs, toads, newts and small fish such as minnows and stickleback. Provide a Dipping Platform for small children and put the pool at the disposal of local infant schools. Plant the area with wildflowers to attract pollen gathering insects like bees and butterflies, along with waterborne insects that the pool will attract this should increase the wild bird population visiting ...
As a big fan of "Yes, Prime Minister", I find Sir Humphrey an endless source of funny quotes. But little did Humphrey know back in 1980, how topical his remarks would be in 2016: Sir Humphrey: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should ...
The recent talk and publicity in the Aintree & Maghull Champion made me think back to the many disappointments and frustrations we have had in trying to improve the NHS primary care facilities in Sefton's East Parishes. Sefton's eastern parishes cover Melling, Aintree Village, Maghull, Lydiate and part of Sefton Parish and in all my many years as a councillor rarely have there been many positives with regard enhancing local GP/primary care facilities/services. [IMG: nhs-logo] The one really big and bright exception was the building and opening of the new GP premises in Oriel Drive, Aintree Village in 2012 after ...
Cllrs Claire Young and Ruth Davis at Badminton Road. The site reserved for the Park and Ride is on the left. South Gloucestershire Council is looking to make more savings on office space. The Conservative administration's preferred option is to extend the offices (and parking) at Badminton Road, Nibley and move staff there, so they can close Kingswood Civic Centre. Councillor Claire Young has raised concerns about the impact extending the offices could have on traffic and parking in the local area. She also sought, and was given, reassurance that any plans would not affect the ability to deliver the ...
Residents are being asked for their views on how to make the St Albans District an even safer place to live and work A public consultation has started into looking at ways of reducing crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour. People are also being invited to say what the District's crime-fighting priorities should be. The survey [...]
South Glos Council is consulting about the future of our public libraries. Last week the council launched a consultation on cuts to libraries of £650,000. The ruling Conservatives' preferred option would involve closing the Mobile Library that serves our rural communities along with Chipping Sodbury Library and cutting smaller libraries like Winterbourne to two days a week opening funded by South Glos. Main libraries like Yate and Thornbury would have their hours cut by 8 hours per week on average. They would then look to local communities and volunteers make up some of the lost hours. They're not giving people ...
On Saturday I was in Bedford to speak and train at the Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats conference – a new and excellent idea which hopefully will become a regular fixture in the calendar. No surprises for guessing the topic of my talk to open the event: why the Liberal Democrats need to build a larger core vote and how to go about doing it. @markpack kicking off the Lib Dem Bedfordshire Conference!#LibDem #Bedford pic.twitter.com/wnIiMDzlun — Bedford Lib Dems (@BedfordLibDems) February 27, 2016 It is a subject I've also written about recently for ALDC. Here is that piece. We have more than ...
Corbyn is like the old buses showing up adage – he's quiet for ages and then a flurry of ill-advised activity is flung at us. So following his decision to hire a former Syriza politician as an adviser, Corbyn takes to ITV last night to tell us that despite sharing the same basic viewpoint as Cameron on Europe, he won't share a platform with the prime minister. Because they are on opposite sides of the argument, apparently. Huh? As usual, best leave it to Jeremy to explain himself in his own inimitable way: "We are not on the same side ...
Our second action day over the weekend was in 2 different wards: Dunston and Teams, then Lobley Hill and Bensham. We had focuses for each area to deliver. The Staiths area was delivered first and then we split into two teams, one heading to Dunston, the other (with me) to Lobley Hill. The two wards are strongly Labour but before the Coalition years, we came close to winning Lobley Hill and
I've been worried for weeks about how the vote would go on our crucial Diversity motion at Scottish conference on Saturday. I've spent the past 4 years as Convener of Scottish Women Liberal Democrats and Convener of Campaigns & Candidates (Scotland) driving forward all the measures we say as a party should ensure we get equal numbers of women elected to men: talent spotting, encouraging, running targeted training sessions, mentoring and supporting women across the party to get selected and elected. Just like at Westminster now, we had an opportunity 5 years ago when we lost 11 of our Scottish ...
The 'A leap of faith into the future' exhibition will run from today until this Saturday [5th March 2016] and can be viewed from 10am to 4pm daily. Last night, I attended the preview, which was excellent - see a photo from the exhibition below :The exhibition is a Futures Project run by Craigowl Communities. Futures Project works with people whose lives have been impacted on by homelessness and Roseangle Arts Café is a community café that supports people to progress into employment; both are Craigowl Communities projects. Jeannette Ginslov, the exhibition facilitor points out that "Art as therapy, movement ...
G20 countries say Brexit would be bad news for the world economy, says George Osborne in the Independent (video). A Cabinet Office report says it would take years, perhaps a decade, to replace trade agreements if the UK were to leave the EU. Gibraltar has passed its legislation to take part in the referendum. Gibraltar is part of the UK for purposes of EU membership so we remain or leave together, although like Scotland it may be that a UK exit would lead Gibraltar to review its relationship with the UK. Bank UBS are advising clients that the risk of ...
Yesterday saw the launch event for our work to improve the life chances of young people in and around Ludlow. Our first workshop with Locality went well with around 20 people working on mapping youth provision and needs for youth support. The second workshop on 14 March will turn towards what actions we can take... Continue reading First Locality workshop launches Ludlow's youth resilience project →
A couple of weeks ago we asked you for your views on removing railings on Scholes Field. The idea had come from a resident and we wanted to find out what people thought. You told us that you wanted the railings to stay – so they will. But the comments got us thinking about how we can improve Scholes Fields. The Council can put in small amounts of money but can't fund big improvements at the moment, so how can we do it? The answer, as is the case for many parks across the borough, is to set up a ...
A "Decade of Uncertainty" if Britain votes to leave? Yup. (tags: eu ukpolitics ) Pictures of women using boxy 1980s computers What it says on the tin. (tags: computers sexandgenderandsexuality ) Super Tuesday 2016: Donald Trump closes in on widespread victory Oh Gawd. (tags: uspolitics ) Parents on a date were asleep in car when cops arrived and killed them both #fb (tags: uspolitics guns )
The First Minister must engage more fully with farmers and rural communities across Wales in order to better understand the implications of 'Brexit.' The decision by the leader of the Tory Assembly group to oppose British membership of the European Union breaches the very consensus that has existed within this Chamber over the past 17 years. In that period, the Rural Development Plan over three consecutive periods has delivered over £100 million of investment into rural communities in Wales. In that context, and given the danger of other wild-eyed zealots heading for the cliffs, would it not be prudent for ...
The coverage of last Month's Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference may have been very different had a controversial clause on taxation policy not been withdrawn from the Assembly Election Manifesto Motion at the eleventh hour. With income tax powers due to be devolved to Wales in the near future, the Party hierarchy was determined to pursue a policy of cutting a penny off the basic rate of income tax at an approximate cost of £185 million per year. They had decided that the Welsh Conference's prior agreement to consider proposals for cutting taxes was the same as agreeing to it, which ...
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