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 apologise that there hasn't been a newsletter for the past couple of weeks and may I also thank everyone who sent goodwill messages during my wife's illness. Thankfully Gill is now out of hospital and in recovery. 1. Council Tax The Borough Council approved their budget on Wednesday which includes massive cuts and withdrawals from reserves. During the time that I was in a senior leadership position on the council I insisted that we maintain a ...
The Clayton West branch did well to survive until 1983. I was there on the day the it closed and was even allowed into the signal box.
News that Sefton Council is reviewing its Area Committee's, their usefulness and purpose is welcome news. Indeed, on a fleeting visit to the Bootle One Stop Shop last week I was personally surveyed by a young lady about my views on the matter. [IMG: This photo was taken at a meeting of the Sefton Central Area Committee in June 2013. It only shows two thirds of the participants!] This photo was taken at a meeting of the Sefton Central Area Committee in June 2013. It only shows about two thirds of the participants! Click on the photo to see a ...
A potential contentious planning application has been received in Unsworth ward, as detailed below: Application Number: 59780 Registration Date: 18/02/2016 Location: 247 Sunny Bank Road, Bury, BL9 8JU Proposal: Change of use from dwelling (Class C3) to dental surgery (Class D1) (relocation of existing dental practice from 57 Parr Lane); Single storey extension at front with new entrance, first floor extension at side, single storey extension at rear and gate to existing vehicular entrance Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with these. The details are on the Council's website here. Unsworth ...
On my last few visits to Maghull Town Hall I have noted that the display case erected a few years ago to display the excellent photos of Maghull Photography Club has been empty. I wonder why? [IMG: Missing Photos] It was always a joy to see their work and it certainly brightened up the Town Hall Foyer area. I do hope that it's just a temporary lull and not the end of the Club displaying their talents.
Embed from Getty Images Since she became Party President 14 months ago, Sal Brinton has clocked up thousands of miles travelling around the country going to various Liberal Democrat events and helping our candidates in election. I've been amazed at the number of times she's been in Scotland – at our conference, to our Executive twice, campaigning during the General Election. In fact, in the short campaign last Spring, she covered 4000 miles in just 6 weeks. In the aftermath, she had to comfort a shocked party and play a high profile role as de facto leader for two months. ...
"Why is it that when Conference supports the leadership it's binding and an act of disrespect to rebel, but when Conference disagrees with them its word is provisional, borderline advisory?" Graham Cowie on the Scottish Liberal Democrats' row over fracking. Richard Kemp proposes a radical shake up of the way Liverpool is run. Nick Clegg and the dogging site - a first post from Ben Rathe that went viral. Northern Soul presents a striking piece of local history: "In 1859 the body of a man by the name of Harry Stokes washed up in the River Irwell. Upon examination, it ...
In her speech to the DUP party conference today, First Minister Arlene Foster called attention to the narrowness of the margin between her party and Sinn Féin: A swing of only two votes in every hundred from the DUP to Féin would see Martin McGuinness become the next First Minister. In the last Assembly election in 2011, the DUP won 38 seats with 30.0% of first preferences, and Sinn Féin won 29 seats with 26.9%. At a first glance, that 3.1% margin between the two parties' vote shares is even closer than the First Minister claimed; a uniform swing of ...
Peter Skinner was a Labour MEP 1994-2014 for my region. He is now on trial at Southwark, England's specialist court for fraud cases, reports the Telegraph. [Skinner is] accused of using his expenses to pay £10,000 to his ex-wife. Skinner, 56, is also alleged to have used some of the cash to repair the gearbox on his ex-wife Julie Skinner's Land Rover Discovery and funded hotel stays, restaurants and jewellery by claiming a maximum £480,000 for support staff over five years. One member of staff, Karen Forbes, was said to have invoiced the former MEP for the South East of ...
You may have already read in the Peterborough Telegraph, about the Tory controlled City Council's plan to rent out Bayard Place and parts of the Town Hall? It's long been known that certain leading Tories at the Town Hall have had their their eye on a fancy new set of offices at the Fletton Quays, [...]
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe:
I was already sitting there when my cousin Dixon came over to me. About half the Kneefolk had already arrived, and the others were coming in. I'm reviving my previous practice of posting the second paragraph from the third chapter of each book I read this month - odd snapshots of the text which give a suitably random flavour. I'm also going to try and add cover pictures to these reviews, not so much for Livejournal readers but so as to enliven my Twitter and Facebook feeds rather than just illustrate these posts with the rather dull standard Livejournal picture. ...
On Friday, we couldn't resist boosting the signal of Ben Rathe's hilarious post about how he ended up unknowingly arranging a visit at what by night is a notorious dogging site in Glasgow. A fair chunk of the country's press found Ben's article worth reproducing, from The Sun, to the Herald, to the Metro, the Huffington Post, the Spectator and the Daily Record. Some of the accompanying photos of Nick are hilarious. Again, there's more reason to love our press team: A spokesman for the Lib Dems said: "As media coverage of the event shows it was the perfect spot, ...
Do you use the Dodington Road bridge near Chipping Sodbury School? Do you realise that it will be closed for a couple of weeks later this year? At the Frome Vale Area Forum, Network Rail gave a brief update on their plans for increasing the height of the parapets on the railway bridge on Dodington Road, near Chipping Sodbury School. The bridge will be closed to vehicles from 23 May to 5 June 2016 to enable them to safely carry out the work. This will followed by a series of Saturday night closures, on 28th May, 4th, 11th, 18th and ...
Yesterday we published this post entitled: "Willie Rennie reaffirms Scottish Lib Dems' opposition to fracking - despite Conference vote". Beneath the article, Graeme Cowie posted a six part response. As per our comments policy, the length of comments is limited to encourage short and pithy debate. We do not allow multi-part comments. However, under the circumstances we decided to ask Graeme if he would like, instead, his comments to be published as a full article. Graeme assented, so here is his comment in full. Correcting the Record As the person who summated the amendment that received around 2/3 of the ...
I came across a tweet the other day that suggested the actor David Hemmings had lived briefly in Shrewsbury High Street. That is hard to reconcile with what I know of his life, but it did lead me to this record. The Stains were a Shrewsbury punk band whose original vocalist was Dom Estos. And Dom Estos was Dominic Hemmings, the adopted son of David Hemmings. His mother was Genista Ouvry, who acted under the name Jenny Lewes. Dominic had already been born when Hemmings met her during a two-week repertory engagement in Leicester in 1960 and they fell in ...
Sun 6th
10:25
Caroline Pidgeon interview: The "ordinary Londoner" aspiring to be the city's first female mayor.
Caroline Pidgeon has been talking to the Ham and High about the qualities she would bring to the office of Mayor. First and foremost, she uses local services so understands what they need: Ms Pidgeon believes it is her "ordinary" quality which means she is ideally placed to become the city's first female Mayor. "I'm just an ordinary Londoner, I'm the one rushing to catch the tube in the morning and hoping it's on time, and I'm the one taking my two-year-old to nursery," she said. She also highlights her long experience in London's politics: She said: "I'm a London-wide ...
The Tories don't understand fair tax contributions - perhaps they should google it.https://t.co/fS0mWts0UL— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) March 5, 2016
This article in yesterday's Times puts the decision by Welsh Conservative Leader, Andrew R.T. Davies to campaign to leave the European Union into context. For a party which has its eye on mid-Wales as a potential source of seat gains in May, this one decision leaves them with real problems. The paper reports on a letter from leading farmers and dairies, which suggests that leaving the EU will lead to a reduction in farming subsidies. But it is market-access where the loss will be most keenly felt. They say that Europe's single market accounts for 73 per cent of Britain's ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 05-03-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 05-03-2016 on #dreamwidth Twitter RT @LBC: Watch Lib-Dem mayoral candidate @CarolinePidgeon skewer the 'murky' #gardenbridge proposals Pidgeon Skewers 'Murky' Garden Bridge Plans | LBC RT @LBC: Watch Lib-Dem mayoral candidate @CarolinePidgeon skewer the 'murky' #gardenbridge proposals Twitter RT @Chappers2013: Another hero who wears fur. RIP K9 Jethro Shot & killed protecting officers from Canton PD, Ohio. @EMERGENCY_UNIT Watch Trailer for 'Tomb' - A Rare Sci-Fi Thriller Feature | Shadow and Act RT @pdjeliclark: Trailer for 'Tomb'- Afrofuturism From Trinidad & Tobago A Plagiarism Scandal ...
At the Spring conference we will debate a topic which has spanned my whole political lifetime. We will be debating a motion on increasing the diversity among our future MPs. In that election night in May 2015 we not only lost wonderful male MPs, we also lost all of our wonderful women MPs. One of the things we must do as we rebuild our Party is to ensure that we have a more diverse group of MPs. Like the other major parties in Britain. I joined the SDP, new to politics, back in 1981. I was excited by the new ...
"No government has been re-elected in the Eurozone other than Angela Merkel since 2008." Simply not true. (tags: eu ) A Psychologist's Open Letter to U.S. Voters Narcissism and leadership - widely applicable! (tags: uspolitics psychology ) Saving the Self in the Age of the Selfie What are we becoming? (tags: psychology internet ) How a detachment of U.S. Army soldiers smoked out the original Ku Klux Klan Fascinating. (tags: uspolitics history ) Can NATO and the EU survive Donald Trump, French nationalists, and a Brexit? Anne Applebaum is alarmed. (tags: uspolitics eu ukpolitics )
George Osborne wants to change Sunday trading laws to better reflect the 21st century society we live in. I guess by that last sentence it is pretty clear where I stand on that particular issue. However, lest anyone charge in to start calling me a Tory (not that I'm not already used to such things), the idea might fall early due to a large amount of resistance within George's own party. The Telegraph reports this morning that two cabinet members and around 50 Conservative MPs are set to rebel against the government on Sunday trading laws. I need to digress ...
