Northern Ireland's parliamentary map is about to be redrawn again, with the number of seats cut from 18 to 17. This is likely to result in Belfast being reduced from four seats to three, two of which (on recent form) look like decent prospects for Sinn Féin. The former SDLP leader's seat of South Belfast is unlikely to survive, and the new boundaries of the South Antrim seat held by the UUP's Danny Kennedy are likely to favour the DUP, who he narrowly beat in 2015. The coming Assembly election will be the last time that the current 18 constituencies ...
Last summer I found the Leicester Electricity Sports Cricket Club ground off Aylestone Road where Leicestershire played their county games between 1901 and 1939. Grace, Bradman, Hammond and Hutton all played there, and so did Mike Brearley in the last first class game it hosted. Yesterday the Leicester Mercury reported that funding has been secured for the first stage in a rennovation programme from the pavilion.
You'll have to hurry to catch it, because it closes on 12 March, but I can thoroughly recommend the Albany Theatre Company's Round The Horne: 50th Anniversary Tour at the London Comedy Museum. In the 1960s the radio comedy Round the Horne was extraordinarily popular and this production puts you in the place of the audience at the recording of a couple of episodes of the show. Much of the script was filth (if only in the listener's mind) but the writers Barry Took and Marty Feldman got away with it because the show was centred on the urbane, establishment ...
It's time that the nonsensical separation between local health boards and social care provision in Wales ends. It leads to duplication, inefficiency, bed blocking and, above all else, a poor experience for those patients who are simply passed around different services. It requires a bold response. My personal preference would be to integrate health, social care and public health services. The responsibility for planning, securing and delivering all three should lie with new local health and social care authorities, which should sit as part of a revitalised local government structure in Wales. To that end the current focus on local ...
It will be a number of weeks before Ludford Bridge is reopened. It was struck by a reversing HGV, the driver of which had driven up Lower Broad Street unaware of that he would not get through the Broadgate. This might have been a Satnav error. But regardless of why the driver was attempting the... Continue reading After the recent damage, should Ludford Bridge be closed to HGVs? Vote now →
Wed 9th
19:36
The Diversity Motion - a spring board to bring greater fairness, diversity and openness to our party
The Diversity Motion being put forward this weekend at the Spring Conference in York, is an important, necessary and long overdue motion, one that Liberal Democrats need to unanimously support. As a party we have always been committed to eliminating all types of prejudice, discrimination, inequality and privilege, and must continue to do so when it comes to the country's elected bodies and party structures. For the myriad voices present in our society to be heard and valued, our political system must reflect the diversity that exists, not just a narrow section. This unfortunately is not case, and also is ...
Never has the gulf between those who support the idea of free and open trade been so obvious and so misunderstood. Most of all, by the government, which seems to have been pretty roundly defeated in its attempt to let local councils decide if supermarkets should be allowed to open all day on Sundays. I'm a localist and I like the idea of local self-determination, but I'm not sure councils were in any position to resist the power of the big supermarkets. They would have succumbed. It would have been central administrative control replaced by central corporate control. Thanks to ...
If you can't make it to York for the Liberal Democrat conference, you will still be able to watch it online. Or indeed, if you are in York but would prefer to watch conference in bed at 9am on Sunday morning (think of it as the political geek equivalent of breakfast in bed) then you can do so. The spring federal Lib Dem conference will be live streamed at www.libdems.org.uk/conference-live. You can find out more about York conference by watching back the 'introduction to conference' webinar held earlier this week with Federal Conference Committee chair Andrew Wiseman, party president Sal ...
The Liberal Democrats, and before that the Alliance, has repeated suffered from the problem of having a much smaller core vote than the other parties, meaning the party has to work even harder just to stand still, as this extract from Britain at the Polls 1983, edited by Austin Ranney, shows: [IMG: Britain at the Polls 1983 - softness of the Alliance vote] Hence the importance of the Liberal Democrats finally shaking off this problem of too small a core vote.
EURef Talking Points is a new series of articles about words that work in everyday conversation,public debates or in writing when you make the case to remain in Europe. Having spoken at hundreds of meetings on Europe, my personal view is that to make a winning case for IN you need to make 3 points and rebut 2. The 3 points are Peace, Prosperity, and [advantages for] People. The 2 to rebut are sovereignty and cost, which are the two Leave arguments that have traction with many people but can both be answered. In this article, I shall deal with ...
The Conference App is now available, and it can be downloaded free from the App Store or at Google Play. If you want a version for Blackberry or Windows you can find it here. PS. Is this the shortest post ever on Lib Dem Voice? * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
Chris Christie's wordless screaming – "I believe that Donald Trump was talking, tonight, and that he, in fact, held an entire press conference. But it was impossible to hear him over Chris Christie's eyes." How the Bush Dynasty Almost Wasn't – An interesting bit of American political history: how Ronald Reagan pulled out of a potential deal with Gerald Ford and made George Bush his Vice-President instead. Ok BBC, so what SHOULD we spend defending criminals? – The Secret Barrister explains just why defending a major criminal case costs money. Towards a taxonomy of cliches in Space Opera – Charles ...
The House of Lords has been unable to stop a planned £30-a-week cut to disability benefits forced through by Government MPs, including Cheadle MP Mary Robinson and William Wragg in Hazel Grove. Charities have warned that the cut to the Employment and Support Allowance Work Related Activity Group (ESA WRAG) would make it more difficult for disabled people to find work and that many struggled to afford food on the benefit at its current level. The Government argues that cutting the money disabled people have to live on will make it more likely they will find work. Mary Robinson and ...
[IMG: Florida] ORLANDO, Florida. A state with a rich political history, of hanging chads and contested election results back in 2000. A vital state in the primary calendar for the American Presidential election, given its winner takes all rules for delegates. The perfect place to campaign for Hillary on International Women's Day. The Democratic race is fairly straightforward here. Hillary is going to beat Bernie in Florida, and Bernie knows it. However, perception is everything in the US media, and so Bernie is campaigning to close the gap. The Democratic debate here is on Wednesday 9th March. Barring a mishap, ...
Things have been quiet for some time around the splits in the Parliamentary Labour Party as everybody concentrates instead on the near-civil war that has erupted amongst the Conservatives over Europe. However, just when you thought they had got away with it, Jeremy Corbyn's rather paranoid supporters bring us back to the issue nobody in the Labour Party wants to talk about, a possible coup against the leader. The Times reports that the Labour leader's allies are seeking to force through a rule change at Labour's conference to ensure that he could stand if he were challenged for the leadership. ...
Sorry its dollars I couldn't find a Sterling sink hole!! Today a national survey was published which recorded how councils use gagging orders in relation to staff being paid off for whatever reason. I would like to tell you how ... Continue reading →
There's a startling gap between the English and French media on the agreement yesterday (8 March 2016) on migrants from Turkey which has worrying implications for the EU referendum debate. [IMG: Le Monde, 8 March 2016] Le Monde, 8 March 2016 In the afternoon I spoke with two friends who are usually well-informed, and who expressed concern at the deal being done with Turkey over migrants. I went into "euromyths" mode, wondering what the kernel(s) of truth in the story might be. I then caught a radio news bulletin which seemed to confirm what they had said — that a ...
The Lib Dem members of Sutton council are very concerned about the potential impacts of the Housing and Planning Bill on our residents. As chair of the council committee with responsibility for housing I submitted an amendment to the budget at the council meeting on Monday, highlighting the devastation it could wreak on our finances. [...]
We all know that Greater Manchester is growing. We want more jobs, better shops and facilities and all the rest that comes with a thriving area. But we know that to achieve that we need more offices, more homes and better infrastructure (roads, trains, trams, schools, medical centres and so on). So we need to plan. We need to figure out where we want the new houses and offices to go, and how we're going to make sure we can cope with the extra people and traffic. After all, if we don't decide then someone else will, and we might ...
[IMG: Lord Oates] I was delighted to welcome Lord Jonny Oates to York last month for a visit to our annual Pudding Club - one of the highlights of our local parties social calendar! Lord Oates, who was recently made a life peer after serving as a councillor in Kingston Upon Thames and later as Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg, highlighted his concerns about proposed cuts to Universal Credit to local party members in York. As readers will know, last year George Osborne was forced to re-think cuts to working tax credits after a local and national campaign by ...
[IMG: Polling station with sign] The first two months of the year have seen an impressive series of Lib Dem LOCAL by election performances. We have made a number of gains, held seats with over 60% of the vote and seen our vote increase in most contests. The Lib Dem team in Stratford upon Avon won a seat in which [...]
[IMG: British Liberal Leaders] Traditional Mothers' Day treats do not really appeal to me. My gift on Sunday was the new(ish) book British Liberal Leaders (Brack, Ingham, Little et al) and the free time to finish reading it. I love tales of Lloyd George's derring-do and of Steel's "going back to your constituencies" as much as the next Liberal. All human life is there in the chapters on each party leader: Asquith's failings, Ashdown's verve, Clegg's self-pity. Well I say all human life is there but is it? In many ways it is an admirable book, John Campbell's chapter on ...
Wed 9th
12:18
LGA Lib Dems Update: Spring Conference, LGA Inform, CAMRA Cllrs Page, and Councillors for Europe
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] LGA Lib Dems and ALDC at the York Lib Dem Spring Conference If you are at conference this weekend, please see the attached flyer for more information on our events and come and see us at stands 2 and 3 in the exhibition area! Also note that for Lib Dem Councillors wanting to speak with [...]
This was the scene in Scotland Road an hour ago. The police have now closed the road near its junction with Northampton Road. This is because of submerged roadworks as well as the floods. If anything the waters have gone down since I took the photo. Meanwhile, the temporarily traffic lights, set up for those works, continue their work dutifully.
[IMG: Winning Here] Chadsmead includes a substantial part of Lichfield District's most deprived areas combined with some solidly middle class housing. It is a two-member ward. Labour held Chadsmead until a 2005 by-election was won by the Conservatives. In 2007 Marion Bland won her seat and our second candidate lost by only 14 votes. In 2011 Marion narrowly lost [...]
[IMG: Hazel Wright] Last May Stratford upon Avon had all up elections on new boundaries in conjunction with the General Election. One of the new seats won by the Conservatives then was Studley with Sambourne, which included a significant portion of seat we had held. In the event it was a close run thing with the Conservatives having [...]
Ted Cruz, improved:
[IMG: Watford march action day] After many months up in Hull, where I'm currently at University, I jumped at the chance to get back to my home turf of Watford for an action weekend, and what a weekend it was. First things first, much of the credit has to go to Nassar who managed to get such a great turn out, including a large number of fellow Liberal Youth members, as well as an appearance by Mike Thornton, Jo Swinson, Duncan Hames and Norman Lamb. It was a fantastic weekend and if I heard correctly we managed to knock on ...
Goths lose their shit after scientists discover colour darker than black The Peeple app is back. FFS Please, tell me again about how the patriarchy doesn't manifest in the workplace They're closing down the BBC shop. There are some absolute bargains Get em while you can. Cannabis legalisation in UK 'would raise £1bn a year in taxes' Would also save a shitload in prison spending The UK has an invisible (digital) skills gap This video perfectly parodies all those 'empowering' ads aimed at women "Women built this castle": An in-depth look at sexism in YA. - YA Interrobang RT @RaymeCVinson: ...
A resident complained about the dark patches between lights in the wet along Station Road, Yate. Result! there's a simple fix. South Glos engineers have visited the location and reckon the area would benefit from an increased lighting level. They have re-assessed the design calculations and can increase the light output with a simple LED board change (60 to 72 LEDs). The change is in hand.
Embed from Getty Images In whatever field you care to mention – whether it is education, services or business – employers and organisations are checking up on us as never before. Recently my car broke down in Glastonbury, so I called the AA. Out came the AA repair person, who did a great job, but he then asked me to rate the service he had provided on a tablet, by clicking on a happy face, sad face, or categories in between. Not only that, I got a follow up phone call asking me whether he had done a good job. ...
[IMG: Your Liberal Britain banner] As I covered in Liberal Democrat Newswire #74, a group of Liberal Democrat members is pioneering a new way of engaging with members and supporters about what the party believes and why. Here one of their number, new member Jim Williams, provides an update on their project is going: We often hear people tell us that we already live in a liberal country. Liberalism is mainstream, we're told, across our communities and our political parties. In fact, the argument goes, we live in one of the most liberal societies in the world. This kind of ...
David Amess, the Tory MP, has come up with another reason the UK should leave the EU. Apparently the country is being overrun by foreign dogs. Really, I'm not making this one up – I know Amess got done over by Chris Morris years ago on the infamous "Brass Eye" drugs episode, all on the dangers of "cake", so you may think I'm trying to prolong the man's misery with a piss-taking article, but please see for yourself: "Now I don't want to start a row about the membership of the EU, but the import of puppies from Europe to ...
Some weeks ago, I updated residents about the proposed demolition of the now-empty Glenagnes Street lock-ups - scheduled at that point for towards the end of January. This has been delayed due to the demolition contractor running behind with other projects across Dundee and I asked the City Council for an update on the position. An officer in the Housing Quality and Performance Unit has now advised : "Unfortunately we have not had the response from the demolition contractor that I would have liked regarding the programme for demolition of lock up garages. Whilst they are doing an excellent job ...
We knew it would come sooner or later, of course — he was ninety years old, and given the horrible tendency of those associated with the Beatles to die prematurely we were *very* lucky he was with us for as ... Continue reading →
Dead could outnumber the living on Facebook by 2098 Ridiculous. I doubt that Facebook will last till 2028, never mind 2098! (tags: facebook ) EU ignoring human rights in Azerbaijan Energy trumps dignity. #fb (tags: eu azerbaijan )
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have delivered more for communities than the other opposition parties put together. The final vote on the Welsh Government's Annual Budget took place this yesterday. The Welsh Liberal Democrats abstained, allowing the budget to pass, in exchange for securing backing for a number of policies. These include: the Pupil Premium which means every school receives £1,150 per pupil on free school meals, a Young Persons' Bus Pass, and 5,000 new apprenticeships. The Welsh Liberal Democrats have delivered more for our communities than all of the other opposition parties put together: apprenticeships, extra funding for schools, more ...
Following hard on the heels of the damage to Ludford Bridge, which is set to keep it closed for weeks, yesterday a truck damaged the riverside wall on Temeside. Engineers will be on site to schedule repairs on Thursday. It is already clear that the wall will need to be taken down and rebuilt over... Continue reading More truck damage to Ludlow's riverside heritage →
I spent Tuesday in London and met some Liberator friends at the Comedy Museum where we saw the Round the Horne show. While it was bona to vada their dolly old eeks, I learnt the sad news that another of our number, Ralph Bancroft, has died. There are tributes to him by Gareth Epps on Liberator's blog and by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice. When I first joined the Liberator collective Ralph was central to the magazine and was responsible for its finest hour. That was the Runners and Riders article that led the BBC News one evening in ...
