Today's Wales Online reports that the Welsh Liberal Democrats' prospective Assembly candidate for the Rhondda has stepped down citing the local party's inability to compete financially with Labour and Plaid Cymru. Whilst it is the sad reality for those of us who have put ourselves forward to contest seats similar to the Rhondda, we go into it with our eyes wide open and we know what we are letting ourselves in for. This leads me to think that there must be more to this story than meets the eye. In previous years the Welsh Party had agreed to underwrite candidate ...
The Liberal Democrats' Spring conference in York got off to a rousing start this evening with a rally underscoring the Party's almost unanimous support for Britain to remain in the EU. The sole remaining LibDem MEP, Catherine Bearder, highlighted how her brand of patriotism involves Brutain at the heart of Europe, but some of the [...]
[IMG: Chair2] Today I visited the former North site of Consett Academy (aka Blackfyne). A local sports club had asked if they could look round and salvage anything of use to them, and I invited myself along to see if I could see anything that would be of use to local community groups. A bit too late as it turned out – on arrival we were told that today was the last day anyone would be allowed into the building before it goes into lockdown ready for demolition, and everything left would simply be skipped and destroyed. A lot of ...
It's good to see that the paving slab repairs are well under way at Abbotswood Shopping Centre. The takeover of the outside area by Yate Town Council is showing benefits already. The many cracked slabs are being replaced, and lots more wobbly ones are being reseated to make them safe.
[IMG: Tim Farron, Lib Dem leader, being interviewed] British politics will undergo a "significant realignment" after the EU referendum which could see the Liberal Democrats follow the example of their Canadian cousins to mount a serious challenge to be the main party of government within the next decade, the party leader, Tim Farron, has said. As he hailed the "quiet rise" of the Lib Dems after their devastating losses in last year's general election when they won only eight seats, Farron said his party could become a major force at the 2025 general election as a "meeting place" for pro-EU ...
[IMG: Proposed new development on the Travis Perkins site, Cheadle] Proposed new development on the Travis Perkins site, Cheadle We've known for a while that Travis Perkins are going to vacate their site off Lime Grove, Cheadle. Now we know one option that's being looked at for the site: 56 "apartments with care" for elderly people. You can find out more about the scheme, and feed back to Adlington, from their website. At the moment we know no more about the proposals than what's on the website – hopefully we'll find out more soon.
[IMG: car park blog] Why would the car park of a closed Swimming Baths be chock full on a normal weekday afternoon? Anyone who lives near Consett Schools will know the answer. It's because the traffic chaos long predicted before the new Academy was opened is well known to us all, and the old Swimming Baths car park is a vital element in preventing total gridlock. The 80 or so cars that it takes just about leaves room on Ashdale for the traffic not to grind to a total halt. And that's why I, Alex Watson and the police called ...
Fri 11th
17:49
Update on repairs to Ludford Bridge - the bridge is likely to be closed until the end of April
It looks like Ludford Bridge, the main route into Ludlow from the south, will be closed until the end of April. Tonight's update is based on information provided this afternoon by Shropshire Council's consulting engineers, Mouchel. Bill Klemperer, principal inspector of ancient monuments at Historic England, has validated the application for scheduled ancient monument consent... Continue reading Update on repairs to Ludford Bridge - the bridge is likely to be closed until the end of April →
Shoppers and regular visitors to Stockport Town Centre are being invited to take part in an interesting new consumer behaviour study using Smartphone technology. Stockport Council, Vision Stockport and Business in the Community are working with GeoTask to launch the study which measures the behaviour patterns of local people as they walk around the town centre, visiting shops, cafes, offices and attractions. Anyone can join the Stockport panel by downloading the free GeoTask App via the Android Play Store or iPhone App store or by visiting www.geotask.co.uk. The App records the phone movements of the user through anonymised GPS location ...
It's now possible to buy Metrolink tram tickets for individual journeys on your Android or Apple smartphone using the Get Me There app. That means no messing about with money or cards and no queueing at ticket machines. It's especially handy right now – the ticket machines at East Didsbury Metrolink were vandalised recently and so are currently out of action. We've trialled the system for standard return tickets into Manchester and we can report it works. It takes a few minutes to set up for the first time (you have to enter your credit/debit card details, of course) but ...
Last night I submitted the final module assignment for my MSc occupational psychology qualification at the University of Leicester – hurrah! It's now just the small matter of restarting the dissertation process (which I'm ashamed to admit that I almost entirely neglected during February), working out the questions I need to ask my participants when I interview them, having them ... The post MSc occupational psychology modules review appeared first on ten pence piece.
This weekend we have an opportunity to change our position on fracking. I believe we should take it.Since becoming party spokesperson for energy and climate change, I have spent many hours listening to party activists, experts and public reaction. It is clear to me that it is time for change. We need energy security. We need sustainable energy. We need to meet our legally binding targets. Fracking will not deliver any of these. But it will deliver greenhouse gases. It is not logical or sensible to develop fracking at the very moment we have signed up to the Paris agreement ...
I've just arrived at York and got to my tiny guesthouse (Gregory's Hotel) about 45 minutes ago. I never see the point of staying in conference hotels as they charge silly prices. I spent the journey on the Cross Country train crammed into a small space reading the latest copy of the Smallholder magazine. And I spent a nearly fruitless half hour after getting to the Gregory trying to connect to
You don't need to be a church going person to learn and practice positive faith values in the society. The separation of church and state is a phrase that's often used in reference to politics in the context of religious faith. In the US, the distinction between religion and politics is often blurred - you only have to listen to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio addressing party loyalists to see just how intertwined the two are. But here in the UK there's something of a taboo about conflating the two. In fact faith values in politics can be ...
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I spent the morning in one of the most farcical council meetings I've ever attended. Bristol Council's Audit Committee is the closest thing the city has to the Public Accounts Committee, Parliament's spending watchdog. The meeting was supposed to consider Bristol's year as European Green Capital. But at 9.30am as the meeting started the chair [...]
And if you really, really want more: Wait, you want even more?
Well, let's begin with this, it won't be heaven on earth, but it certainly wouldn't be hell on earth either. Liberalism is not in my view, utopian, it is pragmatic and ethical, stemming from a set of principles for governance that tend towards the capacity for any society to thrive. Britain is class ridden, and economically and socially divided, naturally these groups collude and come into conflict, a Liberal Britain would prevent these special interest groups from overpowering the rights and responsibilities of each and every citizen in law and opportunity. Harnessing to the greater good, the productive capacity of ...
Fri 11th
12:01
Me – Guilty as charged for wanting to save the Green Belt and reduce the number of Sefton Coun...
Below is my response to what I can only say was a most odd attack on me from a Labour Councillor which was published in the Aintree & Maghull Champion on 24th February. ***** Dear Sir Councillor John Sayers (Labour – Park Ward) seems to be criticising me for things I am very much guilty of. Yes I have campaigned for the number of Sefton Councillors to be reduced from 3 to 2 per ward to save the public purse money and no I did not succeeded in that aim because Labour Sefton councillors refused to support that campaign. Yes ...
This week we marked International Women's Day, the theme of which was 'Pledge for Parity,' borne of the latest prediction from the World Economic Forum that we won't achieve global gender parity until 2133. This date is further in the future than the previous prediction, reflecting the fact that progress internationally, is slowing down, not speeding up. We must take action to tackle it, here and abroad. Although we have made great strides here in the UK, there is still much to do. The gender pay gap is still real; women make up just 29% of House of Commons, we ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have uncovered shocking figures showing that Abertawe Bro Morgannwg UHB is routinely failing breast cancer patients. There is Welsh Government guidance that a person suspected of having cancer should receive their first outpatient appointment within 10 working days of their initial referral. However, an FOI request response from the health board shows that since 2013 5,176 patients have not received an appointment within 10 working days. The total number of referred patients was 7,194. The longest a patient has had to wait until their first appointment was 207 working days, which was in 2013. The figures ...
There were by-election victories for Liberal Democrats in principal and town councils in this week's round of local by-elections. In Cumbria (CC), the local Lib Dems held a seat in Kendal, Strickland and Fell division with 59.9% of the vote. Peter Thornton won the contest with a majority of 760, whilst the party's vote share increased [...]
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Steve Riley.
Embed from Getty Images A frisson of expectation sweeps the crowd as the tannoy crackles to life and the announcer declares "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States." The honour guard comes to attention, the band strikes up Hail to the Chief and the most powerful leader in the world emerges. And when moments later, a black SUV sweeps round the drive and stops in front of the White House to deposit Justin Trudeau, the new Canadian Prime Minister... well, perhaps only a visit from the Queen herself would top Washington DC's current level of excitement. This was ...
From Taegan Goodard: At this point, if Trump doesn't talk about his penis he sounds presidential. Share
This morning's Western Mail reports that predictions by the First Minister about the cost of the M4 relief road around Newport have been proved wide of the mark, just months after he made them. In November, when it was suggested to him that the by-pass would cost over a billion pounds, the Welsh Labour leader said it would be "way below that". However, a Welsh Government report has now put the cost of the project, excluding VAT and inflation, at £1.093bn: According to the report, 35 new bridges would be required along the length of the scheme. This would include ...
Austin Rathe, formerly Head of Membership at LDHQ, posted this as his Facebook status on Tuesday, International Women's Day. I thought it was worth reposting here, with his permission of course. . So, guys, I've seen a couple of you post today asking why there isn't an International Men's Day*. OK, I get it, it's supposed to be about equality right? So why do we have something for women we don't have for men? I'll explain why, but before we begin I'd like you to stop, look up from your desk (or other place of work) towards a female college. ...
With 100 days or so left until the EU referendum, it is clear that David Cameron is getting a good air war. The "leave" campaign is a shambles, and through a mixture of incompetence (Boris Johnson) and his own ruthlessness (Michael Gove), the Prime Minister is seeing off his political enemies. The betting is all one way, and perhaps the PM will maintain his position as one of the luckier and more astute political figures of the past decade. However, post referendum, the clouds are already beginning to darken for both the Prime Minister and his party. Mr. Cameron has ...
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... Sponsored: Furniture You Can Afford FurnitureYouCanAfford.com has low prices, free shipping(in the continental U.S.), and a large selection of awesome furniture. Careers education: Making your mind up | News | Education Endowment Foundation Day-job blogging: "Careers education: Making your mind up" | via @EducEndowFoundn: http://bit.ly/1TRhOLU Tim Farron Predicts Tories Brexit Split Will Be Permanent, Decries 'Small-Minded' Jeremy Corbyn Will the Tories split over Europe? Interesting perspective from Tim Farron interview http://huff.to/1LTU7PV Speeches & Articles – Labour: The Party of Work (Demos ...
Cracking result in Tim Farron's constituency last night: Kendal Strickland & Fell (Cumbria) result: LDEM: 59.9% (+7.8) LAB: 17.2% (-9.7) CON: 9.7% (-0.5) GRN: 7.2% (+7.2) UKIP: 6.0% (-3.9) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 10, 2016
Yesterday, Labour MP Dan Jarvis gave a speech at the Demos think tank that had some of the political press in a tizzy. "Dan Jarvis sets out his vision for Labour as leadership talk mounts," announced a Guardian headline. "Labour backbencher Dan Jarvis is to fuel rumours over his leadership ambitions by setting out his vision for winning back the electorate," read the Daily Mail. It would seem to the casual reader that some purge against the current Labour leadership is now in motion. Is it? Let's look at what Jarvis actually said yesterday first. "It's a false choice to ...
Fri 11th
08:55
How political leaflets used to look: the 1918 leaflet attacking an MP for giving to charity
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series on leaflets from past elections. This time it is the turn of North Norfolk in 1918 – and a rather unsavoury anti-German message from a Conservative turned 'independent' Douglas King berating his opponent Noel Buxton, the Liberal incumbent, for having donated to charity to help orphaned children. Although King unseated Buxton this time round, Buxton won the seat back in 1922 by which time Buxton was a Labour member. On his elevation to the House of Lords in 1930, his wife successfully won the seat in the by-election. (Click on the images ...
Fri 11th
08:55
The Party President, the Federal Conference Committee Chair and a new member discuss Conference
This is the audio feed of a pre-Conference webinar held on Monday night where Party President Sal Brinton, new member Emily Barrass and Federal Conference Committee Chair Andrew Wiseman discuss Conference. Hear them talk about their funniest Conference memories (Mr Wiseman's is particularly tame. He's going to have to do better over the weekend, so he'd better have a good story lined up), the Glee Club, and speaking at Conference (Sal has some really good tips on that). Emily came to Conference in Bournemouth and has seriously caught the bug. They strongly recommended chatting to anyone you meet. All our ...
Fri 11th
08:33Data: If we'd won more seats in 2015, our Commons team would still have been over-whelmingly white a...
If you don't already get Mark Pack's Liberal Democrat Newswire, it's worth signing up to it. I've also heard he's co-written a book on how to win elections. In this month's Liberal Democrat Newswire, which is number 77, Mark presents some very clear statistics on a key point which has come up in the diversity debate: One comment often made is that the party's current all male, all white line-up in the House of Commons is due to the party having only 8 MPs – and that if they party had done better at the last election, it would have ...
Last night, I attended a further very positive meeting at Blackness Library to progress the development of evening classes once the school returns to the Perth Road site to what will be fabulous state of the art facilities in its new building later this year. We are making good progress to achieve quality evening classes and community learning at Harris Academy and if you are interested in finding out more, please e-mail me at harris@frasermacpherson.org.uk and I will pass on your note of interest to our Communities Officer.
[IMG: Pier-to-pier-website-banner] On April 17th, I'm going to be taking part in St Helena Hospice's Pier to Pier walk, going from Walton Pier to Clacton Pier and back again. I'm doing this to help raise money for the hospice in memory of my friend and colleague Martin Hunt, who spent time at the hospice before his death last year. If you want to sponsor me, I've set up a Justgiving page where you can do it directly online, or if you can't use Justgiving, then please get in touch with me and we'll arrange some other method. It should be ...
At conference, this Saturday, Vince Cable and Roger Liddle will respond to the question, "where now for the centre-left?" It is a good question. Around the September conference of last year, Vince Cable wrote "progressive centre-left politicians from Labour and the Liberal Democrats need to 'come together' to stop the Conservatives monopolising power in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn's victory." That sounds to me like a repeat of the 1980s, with either an Alliance, or a new merged party. Shortly after, Tim Farron pointed to a possible future where disaffected Labour MPs would switch directly to our party. He made ...
How Trump Could Be Blocked at a Contested Republican Convention Not pretty. Could it work? #fb (tags: uspolitics ) The Paradox Of European Defence Strategy Talking the talk without walking the walk. #fb (tags: eu ) Openness can pay off: the economic impact of migrants Actual facts. #fb (tags: eu migration ) Mapped: The world's nuclear power plants Interesting! #fb (tags: maps nuclearpower ) Welcome to the 'Debt Star' The EU's Star Wars parody. #fb (tags: eu sf funny ) EU referendum: Stephen Hawking and 150 Royal Society fellows warn Brexit would be 'disaster for UK science' The genius vote. ...
The last few weeks for me have been absolutely hectic, and not in a particularly good way. So it's only this evening that I've cracked open the agenda for Spring Conference and had a skim-read. As I've said before, there is loads to do at a party conference, and that's just the formally scheduled activities; the seeing [...]
