Here's the full report of the opinion polling industry's post-mortem into its own mistakes at the 2015 general election. Three points are particularly of note. First, the pollsters were by no means the only industry to get the election badly wrong. The media might blame the pollsters for misleading them, but it's striking how willing the polling industry has been to examine its mistakes compared to the relative absence of media post-mortems. Second, the report contains an important set of recommendations to improve the already good transparency of the political polling industry provided by the British Polling Council. Compared to, ...
A slow month again - I really got a bit burnt out by Hugo reading frenzy, and will pace myself better another year. Non-fiction: 2 (YTD 11) The Road to Ruin: how Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin destroyed their own government, by Niki Savva Easter 1916: selected archive pieces from the New Statesman Fiction (non-sf): 0 (YTD 3) SF (non-Who): 8 (YTD 25) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll Mother of Eden, by Chris Beckett Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll Wings of Sorrow and of Bone, by Beth Cato Witches of Lychford, by Paul Cornell Binti, by ...
Chris Lewis was one of many players christened "the next Ian Botham" to play for England in his era. Unlike most of them, he was an extremely talented cricketer. That he played 32 tests and 53 one-day internationals and still left behind the feeling that he had not made the most of his talents is a tribute to just how apparent those talents were. He was a lively opening bowler and a late order batsman who was good enough to score a test century. The video here shows him hitting his first test fifty. In 2009 he was jailed for ...
England is a palimpsest of Medieval churches, abandoned mineral railways, ruinous Gothic institutions and follies built by mad aristocrats. But you won't find them on your satnav.So I wrote for the New Statesman website in the days when I wrote for the New Statesman website. Today comes news (via the Telegraph) that a paper in Nature has backed up my anti-satnav prejudice: Satellite communication consultant Roger McKinlay, former president of the Royal Institute of Navigation, believes the world is losing its way due to over-reliance on navigation aids. Writing in the journal Nature, he argues navigation and map reading should ...
Has there ever been lovelier or funnier campaign photo than these? [IMG: Willie Rennie and therapet] [IMG: Willie walks dogs] Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie today set out plans to transform the treatment of mental health in primary care. He produced new independent analysis which shows 643,000 working days were lost in Scotland as a result of Depression in 2014/15. The analysis commissioned from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) by the Liberal Democrats estimated that the total cost to the economy of the 643,000 working days lost due to depression was £54.6 million. SPICe used the Labour Force ...
Another dispatch from Lord Bonkers recent visit to the United States. The New Rutland Primaries By now you will have heard the results of the New Rutland primaries, but I placed my bets as follows. In the Republican contest I put my money on a fellow who rejoiced in the name of 'Trump'. He goes around in a Boris Johnson fright wig and is the sort of Fascist who would long ago have been debagged and thrown in a stream in the original Rutland, but he is all the rage with the Republicans over here. My choice on the Democrat ...
It's a year ago that I blogged about 3 pubs along a mile of road in Litherland/Netherton closing and now news reaches me of the seeming demise of the Weld Blundell Pub next to Lydiate's Village Green. [IMG: The Weld Blundell in happier times - 2008] The Weld Blundell in happier times – 2008 I don't know what the issues are with the Welly, so you never know it may reopen but it looks rather sad at present all boarded up . My posting of March last year on closing pubs is available via this link:- Let's hope the ...
Today, Kirsty Williams launched the Welsh Liberal Democrat campaign for the Assembly elections on 5th May. The theme is A Wales that works for you." .@Kirsty_Williams "The Labour Government still fails to even get the basics right" pic.twitter.com/VC4C0TyjkM — Welsh Lib Dems (@WelshLibDems) March 31, 2016 She unveiled three key priorities: More Nurses - extending the More Nurses Bill to include mental health wards, maternity wards and community nurses Smaller class sizes - establishing an Infant Class Size Reduction Grant, with funding prioritised towards the largest classes Opportunity Economy - promoting a package supporting people's aspirations by increasing the number ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: 'My father was a soldier in the war, a hero,' a young recruit was saying eagerly. He was seated at the far end of the trestle where the lunch was being laid waste by himself and his twenty-four troopmates. Probably more a reflection of my state of mind than the quality of the writing, but I've given up on this not quite half way through when I realised I had completely lost track of the characters and their motivations. Some excellent sex (in the book! in the book!) kept my attention for slightly longer than ...
The People's Health Trust's Active Communities funding programme is open to people in Stockport. They want great ideas which make neighbourhoods even better places to grow, live, work and age. Projects need to: •Be designed and led by local people •Create stronger connections between people •Be seeking funding of between £5,000 and £25,000 a year •Last for between twelve months and two years •Be small and local, for example, a few streets, a small village or be a community of interest, experiencing social and economic disadvantage Closing date 13th April!! For more information and to apply, see here.
I was appalled today to hear of the death from a heart attack of the architect Zaha Hadid, who has been responsible for some of the most remarkable and mellifluous buildings of our age. An exact contemporary of mine, she was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and like many talented young Arabs went to study at [...]
Sal Brinton has travelled thousands of miles as our party President. She puts so much effort into supporting local party events and campaigns the length and breadth of the UK. At the moment, she's spending a few days in Scotland, for which we are very grateful. I think I will just miss her. I head to the Highlands on Saturday for a week as she heads from there to Aberdeen. This is far from Sal's first visit to Scotland. She has been multiple times, including spending a few days campaigning for us during the referendum. She's listened closely to the ...
I've just finished and published our latest email newsletter for the Birtley and Lamesley wards of Gateshead. You can read it on this link.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson had a really bad interview on Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland today. She struggled on her plans to re-introduce prescription charges, to abolish free university tuition (which was secured by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in coalition with Labour back in 2001) and over free schools. She didn't get grilled enough for our liking on her plans to do all that while cutting taxes for the richest, but you can't have everything. At around 2 hours 18 minutes in, the subject turned to cuts to disability benefits. Ruth says she opposed them before Iain Duncan Smith ...
Crossens Saturday, 9th April, St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens, between 11am and 12 noon. Churchtown Thursday, 28th April, at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) Churchtown, between 10:30 am and 11:30 am.
Tim Farron is today kick starting the party's local election campaign, with a two day tour of key battlegrounds. He will be campaigning with activists in Sheffield, Hull, Newcastle, Southport and Liverpool over the next 48 hours. In just five weeks' time Liberal Democrat campaigners will be defending 351 council seats across much of England, and campaigning for gains in many areas. Local elections are, of course, about local issues. What matters to local people and what we campaign on can be different from ward to ward, never mind in different parts of the country. But there are some key ...
Poor old Knowsley Borough continues to have big educational troubles, this time the only school with a sixth form is to close that provision. The school is Halewood Academy and the Liverpool Echo article by Tom Berger (see link above) is fascinating and worrying because it shows how difficult it can be to hold an academy to account. I wonder what Tony Blair is thinking now having invented academy schools as a New Labour policy? Of course they have been developed much further by the Tories but he started the process. What the Tories have wrong here is that ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35894922 The BBC has the story – see link above [IMG: _88936728_smartmeter2] I have posted previously on the saga of smart or not so smart utility meters and the investigations into them via my good friend and story spotter Roy Connell. You may recall that it led to John Pugh, MP for Southport, asking a question about them in Parliament. Here's the latest from the BBC Radio 4 Money Box programme via the BBC web site. The fact that the ultra efficient Germans have rejected them may say a lot here. With thanks to Roy Connell again for the lead ...
[IMG: Selection_036] We're sure residents will join us in extending a warm welcome to the newest addition to our local policing team. PCSO Kirsty Cuerden comes to Cheadle from Edgeley, Adswood & Bridgehall – do say hello when you see her around.
10 Lines You Can Use to Defend Rape Culture In which Dave is entirely right about the reasons people join - and leave - political parties "people join political parties to achieve things for the causes they care about, not to act as footsoldiers for an unaccountable clique" - Dave has quite a pithy turn of phrase, doesn't he? This also got featured on my instagram First Vaginal Beer: Bottled Instinct Look, I know Stavvers' C**t Bread made waves, but this is ridiculous Another one where you need to read the whole thread for the payoff Basic Income Basics - ...
[IMG: Greek Statue of Liberty] Last week, I was in Lesvos for a fieldclass. The module was ostensibly meant to focus on island economies, what issues does Lesvos' economy face by virtue of being an island. On the second day of the class, it became clear that the real focus had to be about refugees not as statistics on a page. But as people. We arrived in Lesvos on 19th March, the day the EU-Turkey deal came into effect. The next day, we went on a walk around Mitilini (the capital of Lesvos) when I took this photograph. It was ...
I thought my dreams of changing my name one day to "Surname Forename" would provide endless bureaucratic fun. But now I realise I'm a mere amateur at this lark: Jennifer Null's husband had warned her before they got married that taking his name could lead to occasional frustrations in everyday life. She knew the sort of thing to expect - his family joked about it now and again, after all. And sure enough, right after the wedding, problems began. "We moved almost immediately after we got married so it came up practically as soon as I changed my name, buying ...
Local Police Inspector Neil Cook has said that extra patrols, backed up by a dispersal order in Gatley village over the Easter weekend were successful in putting a stop to the anti-social behaviour that's been plaguing residents in recent weeks. "We had one report of ASB over the 4 day bank holiday weekend, and that was at the train station at 11:30pm and we attended and handed over to British Transport Police." said Inspector Cook. Neil told us that all the groups spoken to by the patrols seemed to be aware of the order through the news, this website and ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie today set out plans to transform the treatment of mental health in primary care. He produced new independent analysis which shows 643,000 working days were lost in Scotland as a result of depression in 2014/15. The analysis commissioned from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) by the Liberal Democrats estimated that the [...]
Earlier this morning, I was delighted to take part in an event at Dundee Museum of Transport where the great news of an £80 000 grant for the museum, kindly donated by the Mathew Trust, was announced. This will allow the museum to employ a new Museum Director and a consultancy post over the next two years to carry the museum project forward. Its great news for the museum and a result of the hard work put in by all the volunteers that have made the museum such a success. Here's museum Chair Jimmy McDonell (below left) making the announcement ...
Image courtesy of Cheadle Civic Society Everyone is invited to the Open Day at Cheadle Village Hall on Saturday 23rd April from 11am to 3pm. There's a complementary pig road and lots of activities that take place at the hall being demonstrated including judo and kettle drums. The hall's recently had major improvements so come along and take a look. For those who don't know, it's on Brook Road, behind St. Mary's Church.
The UK Statistics Authority have written a letter to the Office for National Statistics calling for clarity on immigration numbers, citing a "speculation about the quality" of the migration figures the ONS is pumping out. Other than painting an amusing picture of statisticians having a punch up, this story adds another angle to the whole Brexit debate. There is the subtext in the Telegraph article breaking the tale that the ONS and other official bodies may be trying to downplay immigration numbers. The British public deserves to hear the whole truth regarding immigration into this country. That would include transparency ...
[IMG: Your Liberal Britain] As a dyslexic, I am probably not the best person to write anything as others are often much more gifted and fluent with the written word than me. As someone educated at a comprehensive school, I've enjoyed the benefits of a fairly well rounded education. As a survivor of child sexual abuse, I have gone through some struggles, and I know I am not the only one who has had to overcome impediments in order to cope with life. I really appreciate those who, for whatever reason, have had barriers (that I know in a truly ...
An unusual GOTV tactic although certainly a smart PR one judging by the media coverage it has already secured: The US-based brand has teamed up with civil rights campaign group Hope Not Hate to get capital-dwellers voting in the upcoming London Mayoral Election. Ben & Jerry's will change the name on selective pots of its Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavour to Give a Fudge as part of a new initiative dubbed 'Don't Get Frozen Out'. The campaign aims to reach out to those not registered to vote by hosting a sampling tour across the city in April. Free scoops of Give ...
The Scottish Children's Services Coalition (SCSC) yesterday launched their manifesto for the 2016 Scottish Parliamentary elections. The SCSC is an alliance of leading independent and third sector providers, campaigning to improve services for children and young people.Their vision is for Scotland to be one of the best places in the world for vulnerable children and [...]
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called for an additional TV leaders' debate ahead of polling day in the Scottish Parliament elections. Mr Rennie was speaking the morning after the second debate within a week of the start of the campaign. At present, there are no plans for a leaders' TV debate in [...]
I have received concerns about the amount of rubbish floating in Invergowrie Bay - shopping trolleys, tyres, traffic cones and other items forming part of the shared habitat with the local bird life, a real concern. Please see photos below (with thanks to my colleague and local resident Denis Taylor) : I am advised that this part of the bay - right on the boundary between the Dundee and Perth & Kinross council areas - is on tidal land owned by the Crown Estates who have been contacted by Dundee City Council regarding the need for a clean-up of the ...
The Independent reports that those who thought a vote to leave the EU in a few months time will lead to instant liberation, are deluding themselves. In fact our economy is so closely integrated with Europe that not only will leaving cause short term devastation, but the process of negotiating an exit will be protracted. Quite how long those negotiations will be has been the subject of comments by former Cabinet Secretary, Gus O'Donnell. The former head of the civil service believes that negotiations for Britain to leave the European Union could last a whole decade. He argued that it ...
Thu 31st
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EURef Roundup: Criminals, Pensioners, Ex-Pats' Exodus, BoE Warning, Nicky Morgan's fight for the you...
InFacts dismantles Leave's claims that leaving Europe would make us safer from incoming criminals. After leaving the EU, the only significant way to make UK border security tighter than it is now would be to introduce pre-travel controls, such as visas, for travellers from other EU countries. But disruptions to business travel and tourism would make this option highly unappealing. Brexit wouldn't give Britain any additional control over its borders, but it could potentially jeopardise the UK's continued membership of data-sharing programmes. ECRIS, for example, is a database set up in 2012 to exchange criminal records information between member states, ...
Unexpected changes of bright spots on Ceres discovered Interesting! (tags: astronomy asteroids ) Don't bemoan the Remain campaign; find advocates instead! @jonworth pushes back. (tags: ukpolitics eu ) Nintendo Employee Fired After Smear Campaign, Company Denies Harassment Was Factor Oh yeah? (tags: games internet sexandgenderandsexuality )
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams have said the Government must be the 'investor of last resort' to the Tata Steelworks in Port Talbot. The Liberal Democrat leader said that the Westminster Government should be prepared to step in and act as a temporary buyer for the plant if required, and also offer financial support to ensure key staff are retained during any sales process. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "The Conservative Government in Westminster has let down Port Talbot, not least because of Sajid Javid's disgraceful veto of measures at an EU ...
Today, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron will kick start the party's local election campaign with a two-day tour of key council battlegrounds. Starting in Sheffield on Thursday, he will also campaign in Hull, Newcastle, Southport and Liverpool over the next 48 hours. Tim will be visiting areas where the Liberal Democrats are fighting [...]
