Here is the full list of all the candidates standing in the 21 wards for the elections to Stockport Council on May 5th 2016.
UPDATED DETAILS. Independent seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate- George Hayton. To help, please contact Willie Robertson on 07909 884042.
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Mathew Kidner.
Conservative seat. Cause: Death. No LD candidate.
George Villiers, later the Duke of Buckingham and a favourite of James I, was educated in Billesdon between 1602 and 1605. (He was born in 1592.) Most authorities dismiss the tradition that George Fox, a found of the Quakers, was educated there some years later. (He was born in 1624.) The Old School in the village does not date back quite that far. It was put up by William Sharpe of Rolleston in 1650. Nineteenth-century antiquarians feared its loss, but - no doubt much restored over the centuries - it still stands today.
The planning application by the Seashell Trust to build a new school at their current site, and to fund the cost by selling land they own to the north of the site for housing, has been submitted. The application (60928) is now live on the Council website and you can view it here. The Seashell Trust have sent out an executive summary for the application which you can see below. As we local councillors may well be called to consider this planning application, we want to understand people's views and concerns. This is a difficult application: we all value the ...
[IMG: Tomorrow's Independent digital front page, courtesy of @Hendopolis] Tomorrow's Independent digital front page, courtesy of @Hendopolis And for the sake of what? The fact he owned shares in his father's company but sold them before he became Prime Minister is itself hardly earth shattering, or particularly damaging. If the PM had admitted it on day one, I doubt we'd even be talking about it today. Alot of very talented people work in Downing Street. But tonight, they were outsmarted by an 8 year old.
Dear members of the Federal Executive of the Liberal Democrats, I first wrote to you on the 12th of November last year expressing our concern regarding the current structure of the party's Federal committees and the changes Liberal Youth believes are necessary. It has become increasingly clear to members of Liberal Youth that the party [...]
Like all sports, chess has a way of mirroring the conflicts in wider society. The Fischer vs Spassky match of 1972 was a wonderful metaphor for the Cold War, even if the gentlemanly, quietly dissident Boris Spassky was never a cypher for the Soviet Union. In the 1980s the volatile Garry Kasparov was a perfect symbol of glasnost and perestroika against the model Soviet citizen Anatoly Karpov. "We already have a world champion: we don't need another one," the young Kasparov was once told by the authorities. Now Segey Karjakin's qualification to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the world title brings ...
Now that's an impressive write-up for London Lib Dem Mayor candidate Caroline Pidgeon in the Evening Standard: If the mayoral election was decided on a candidate's grasp of policy, there's a good chance Caroline Pidgeon would win it. The Lib-Dem hopeful — who has eight years on the London Assembly under her belt — has impressed even her better-known rivals with her inside knowledge of the City Hall empire. Zac Goldsmith tells me "she's great", before glancing at his media adviser and asking, "Am I allowed to say that?" Sadiq Khan agrees that her handle on London policy is impressive... ...
Full details on Badger Action News.
There is no sense me writing much about The Streisand Effect. It suffices to read the wikipedia article I have linked to and note that as with Ryan Giggs taken legal action to prevent something being publicised can actually draw attention to it. We have that now with an injunction that has been sustained by the Court of Appeal on privacy. It always seems a bit odd that such relatively
The Harborough Mail has an interview with Dr Sarah Hill, who will be the Liberal Democrat candidate in next month's police and crime commissioner here in Leicesterhire: Market Harborough resident Dr Sarah Hill, the only woman in the contest, said: "The last (Conservative) Police Commissioner spent over £1 million per year on their office. "By minimising the costs of the central office, I want to spend more money on operations, putting more resources into the frontline where the public needs them." Dr Hill, a former Robert Smyth pupil and current Harborough District and Leicestershire County councillor, said the last Police ...
[IMG: Thank You chocolate. Image courtesy of http://www.krausescandy.com] Rushing round collecting signatures on election nomination papers is one of the most important (no signature = no candidate) and least glamorous (rain plus dog plus puddle plus cold plus broken pen) parts of politics. It's also the sort of task which usually only gets noticed when it goes wrong. So in as much as a virtual thank you from someone you've never met* means anything – thank you. Running more local election candidates is an important part of the Liberal Democrat rebuilding. Without the hard work gathering nomination signatures, it can't ...
Just published, our latest edition of our eFocus for the western part of Gateshead. The main towns included in the circulation are Ryton, Blaydon, Winlaton, Chopwell, Rowlands Gill and Crawcrook. You can read eFocus on this link.
Second paragraph of third story ("The Northern Heights", by Mark Stevens): As you approach the watchman's gate, you feel your muscles tense.This is one of those moments where they often try to reach out to you, probing at your foremost thoughts, trying to rearrange them into some sort of suggestion to which they hope you'll adhere. Sometimes they'll try to talk you into turning away, hoping you'll forget you were ever an employee of the King and Empire Railway Company. Sometimes they'll beckon you, attempting to lure you away from whatever it is you're doing, trying to guide you into ...
Some of our team for May "As the nominations closed today I am pleased to announce the biggest and most experienced team of candidates that we have fielded in the city since 2010. In addition to myself as the Mayoral ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Tim Pickstone] Nominations have just closed for the elections on 5th May. Every part of the UK has at least one election: parliamentary, assembly, mayoral, police commissioner and local. Can I start by saying a big thank you to everyone who is a Liberal Democrat candidate this year, at every level. Thanks to you tens of millions of people with have an opportunity to vote Liberal Democrat and in many places up and down the country the chance of getting a Lib Dem elected. We mustn't forget the teams behind the candidates: volunteer activists, paid organisers, agents, deliverers and ...
The City Council has announced free Wi-Fi connectivity across all of the city's 11 libraries run by Vivacity. The plan is for visitors to be able to connect to the internet via their own tablets, laptops and mobiles, making the libraries an ideal place for quiet work or study. The technology has been funded by [...]
[IMG: John Danzig] Picked this rather good graphic up from John Danzig on Facebook. It sums up well the futility and huge unknowns of leaving the EU to me.
Given this week's coverage of the so-called Panama Papers — the cache of 11.5m confidential files from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca — this week, it was interesting to come across this account in David Laws's book, Coalition, from a meeting in 2013: An interesting nugget from David Laws's book in the light of the #panamapapers pic.twitter.com/D8WtrKiz74 — Nick Thornsby (@NickThornsby) April 6, 2016 * Nick Thornsby is a day editor at Lib Dem Voice.
Thu 7th
12:38
Guards on Merseyrail Trains – Pressure mounting on Labour-run Merseytravel to keep them for pa...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above This one has been doing the rounds for a few months now and Merseytravel the Labour-run public body responsible to the Liverpool City Region Leaders for passenger transport is trying to say nothing. When you hear 'no decisions' have been made yet it must mean they are seriously considering removing the guards, otherwise surely they would have killed the issue off ages ago by clearly stating they would not be doing so. [IMG: Merseytravel logo] My last posting on the issue is available below:- Obviously the RMT union ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie today said that the First Minister should shred the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with a Chinese business at the heart of a corruption row until proper due diligence on the signatories to the deal is undertaken. Mr Rennie was speaking after Nicola Sturgeon confirmed due diligence was not [...]
Time and time again people have questioned Shakespeare's ethics, religion, sexuality and politics. Nothing can really be deduced about the man from his works. It is considered a dangerous trap when we start to assume that the words of Shylock or Romeo are conduits for Shakespeare's personal feelings. However, he writes powerful arguments that chime with Liberal ideology. Do I have bias and wish for Shakespeare to be a liberal? Or is it my love for Shakespeare both as a theatre-goer and as an actor that turned me to liberal politics at a young age? I believe so. Shakespeare had ...
In this together: how the Lib Dems battled to restrain the Tory monster Can You Boost Your Memory? - The Naked Scientists RT @garwboy: Can You Boost Your Memory? #science from @NakedScientists I'm in this, but you should still listen to it. It's good The Panama Papers: public interest disclosure v the right to private legal advice Gwyneth Paltrow's bee sting beauty treatment just won't fly The latest Jesus and Mo is scarily on point New York taxi drivers to be banned from flirting with or ejaculating on passengers Young women are more likely than men to perform oral sex ...
Here is what David Laws has to say in his new book, Coalition, about how same sex marriage was legalised: [IMG: Extract from Coaliton by David Laws on same sex marriage] You can buy Coalition: The inside story of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government by David Laws here and of course there's also Lynne Featherstone's own book about the battle to legalise same sex marriage.
Thu 7th
09:24
First Scotland, now the EU: how did young English progressives end up fighting to save the status qu...
"I believe that the way things are is not the way things have to be". The first line of Nick Clegg's opening statement in ITV's 'First Ever TV Election Debate' was my political awakening. It unlocked my passion for politics and it made me not only want to change the world, but it made me believe the world could be changed. I followed that passion pretty religiously- I signed up to the Liberal Democrats, volunteered everywhere from my local party in Hertfordshire to Edinburgh for the Scottish Referendum. I even ended up working for Nick in Westminster, first as an ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie will be speaking this evening (Thursday) at a hustings organised by NFU Scotland and Scottish Land & Estates to focus on the issues critical to rural Scotland. The event is being held at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh, EH28 8NB and runs from 7-9 pm. Tickets are FREE [...]
The latest local elections prediction from respected analysts Thresher & Railings shows the Liberal Democrats on course for a 16% vote share and over 40 net gains in the forthcoming local elections across England and Wales. The figures are compiled based on local by-election trends over the previous 12 months. If the figures prove accurate [...]
In the first round of Police and Crime Commissioner elections, the Liberal Democrats contested 59% of the seats (24 out of 41). For the May 2016 round, it looks like there will be Liberal Democrat Police and Crime Commissioner candidates for 75% of the seats (30 out of 40*). That's a very welcome increase because standing candidates benefits both liberalism and the Liberal Democrats. It benefits liberalism because it gives people a chance to vote for a liberal approach to policing, and gives publicity opportunities such as local media interviews, to present the liberal case on issues such as the ...
Yesterday, I met with the Managing Director of Xplore Dundee and two of her colleagues about local bus services in the West End. The good news is that, from 24th April, Xplore Dundee is issuing revised timetables for the 9/10 service which, with additional resource being added into the service, aims to tackle reliability issues and will hopefully ensure the service runs to timetable at all times. The new timetable for the 9/10 will be a combined timetable with the 5 service which, given the partially shared route, will be of assistance to passengers. We also had a useful discussion ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie called on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) yesterday to step in over a potential breach of data protection related to Kezia Dugdale's previous employment history. Media reports said the Scottish Labour leader applied to work for the Scottish National Party over ten years ago as she was finishing university. [...]
I was delighted to attend yesterday's unveiling of Discovery Walk at Slessor Gardens in the Waterfront and the evening reception for the families of those honoured in the walk. Having served on the Discovery Walk Committee, it was tremendous to see just how fabulous the walk is - a great addition to the waterfront - and thanks go to all my colleagues on the committee, all others who have supported the project but in particular to Kelly Marr, who has been the driving force in moving the project to such a successful fruition, and to Suzanne Scott, whose design skills ...
As a wish list Plaid Cymru's Assembly manifesto is a glossy attempt at radically changing the direction of Welsh Government policy. However, it sits firmly within the mainstream of Welsh political thinking and for all the fanfare on their part, the most radical thing about the document is its rather sketchy attempt to fund the party's promises. Plaid has made much of the fact that they have costed their policies and had that work verified by independent academics. However, I have not been able to find the detailed workings such an exercise implies on their website, and from media reports ...
Thu 7th
08:20
Here's a situation that could even be worse for America than Trump as the Republican presidential no...
Cruz beat Trump in Wisconsin this week, halting the runaway momentum of The Donald, at least for now. Trump is still reasonably ahead in terms of delegates – the question that looms into view now is what happens if he is unable to wrap up the nomination prior to the Republican Convention in July. If Trump gets over the line, then this worry becomes academic – Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate for the presidency in the election. However, the numbers are worth a look. Trump needs 1,237 delegates in total and he currently has 740 to Cruz's 514. ...
Mummy genomes reveal just how catastrophic European contact was for New World Horrifying. (tags: biology archaeology ) Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong. Indeed. (tags: uspolitics history ) Europe's Last Dictator Comes in From the Cold Lukashenko's geopolitical success. (tags: belarus ) What exactly is going on in Iceland? Good question! (tags: iceland ) Paralympics hopeful Carly Tait: 'My lifeline is being taken away' Britain's war on its own disabled citizens continues, despite Duncan-Smith's departure. (tags: ukpolitics disability )
Thanks to crowd-funding from supporters, London Liberal Democrats have for the first time been able to put together a party political broadcast for the London mayoral election. That goes out today (Thursday), though party members who are well plugged into social media were able to get a sneak preview yesterday. The film rightly focuses on [...]
