A distinctly underwhelming crowd of Vote Leave supporters gathered in Manchester today to hear some of the campaign's supposedly leading lights, including Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Having kept people guessing for months about which side of the argument he would come down on (typically contradicting himself in the process), Boris finally decided that it [...]
This video of a gorilla at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire apparently dancing has been very popular on Youtube. Here, exclusively for Liberal England, Lord Bonkers explains what lies behind it: There is nothing the older residents of the Bonkers Estate enjoy more than the tea dances I host at the village hall. However, we have a problem. The toll taken by the local industries of Stilton mining and pork pie production mean that many more ladies than gentlemen survive to enjoy an active retirement. A couple of years ago the ladies prevailed upon me to provide them with more dancing ...
Photo © Dave Pickersgill Thanks to A Portfolio Life for posting this passage from Coe's novel The Rain Before it Falls: Places like this are important to me - to all of us - because they exist outside the normal timespan. You can stand on the backbone of the Long Mynd and not know if you are in the 1940s, the 2000s, the tenth or eleventh century....It is all immaterial, all irrelevant...You cannot put a price on the sense of freedom and timelessness that is granted you there.Coe is right and there is something of this quality to much of ...
I was rather pleased with my post "Why Twitter doesn't work, Labour won't win and the Lib Dems are irrationally cheerful." But I was aware there was what looked like a weak point in its argument: [Brooks] goes on to say we should "scale back the culture of autonomy," which makes my liberal hackles rise and suggests Brooks too is in danger of wanting the state to eclipse every other social authority. As a liberal I believe in individuality, and we express our individuality through the groups we choose to join. There must be a liberal route to the revival ...
Watch the latest video from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign: (For sceptics of internal polling results, it's worth noting that public polling results are consistent with what Will Straw says in this video.) If you'd like to know more about the wider topic, see my other European referendum posts, and in particular Nick Clegg's demolition of the anti-EU case.
Earlier today, I had the pleasure of visiting the new Harris Academy building on Perth Road. Robertson Construction has recently handed the building across to the City Council and the fitting out of the completed building is underway, in advance of the school opening. There will be opportunities for pupils, parents and the wider community to see round the building in the coming weeks (many staff have already been in to see it). It is simply superb and will be an excellent teaching environment for our community for many years to come. Some photos below - I have a photo ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above and text below 'Eleven people are due in court today after being charged following raids as part of a 12-month investigation into serious and organised crime. Police swooped on properties in Southport, Formby, Birkdale, Litherland , Bootle and Seaforth on Thursday. The dawn raids targeted Sefton homes suspected of serious and organised crime that causes misery to local communities. An imitation pistol was also seized by officers at an address in Birkdale.'
Fri 15th
19:37
Shropshire Council apologises and thinks again after Ludlow residents woken by 3am roadworks
Shropshire Council has recently been awarded a cool £1 million from the government's Pothole Action Fund. Just maybe this has gone to the council's head. One million pounds will pay for the elimination of 19,500 potholes from our county's highways at fifty quid a time. Hurrah! But not at 3.30am in the morning. Last night,... Continue reading Shropshire Council apologises and thinks again after Ludlow residents woken by 3am roadworks →
Embed from Getty Images Congratulations to Mark Finney, whose Aston Villarreal (1,925 points) are doing a whole lot better than their real-life near-namesakes, and are leading the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 33. It's tight, though, with just 21 points separating the top 3. And of course Week 34 could be decisive, with so many teams playing twice. I forgot, by the way, to congratulate our Managers of the Month for March: Scott Goodbrand's Grass Bandits (278), Rob Lynch's Disco Badgers (275) and Andrew Sherwood's Anecdotally Good (272). And since you ask, I was in fourth spot. [IMG: LDV ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: Benny was baffled. These were not academics; there were no tweed jackets with leather patches on the arms, all beards were neatly trimmed and the conversation was bawdily macho rather than shriekingly bitchy. As she waded into the decrepit melee, she looked around her for a flash of corduroy, a hint of brogue in the elderly throng. The hotel bar was large but low slung, with the precise shabbiness that comes of trying to deliberately give your hostelry a 'lived in' feeling. I really liked this, and I write as one who has often bounced ...
Another Friday, another day Willie Rennie wins the internet. I don't think there has ever been such fun at a manifesto launch ever. The Scottish Liberal Democrats' manifesto is centred around opportunity in so many ways. Children are at the very heart of it, so it seemed appropriate that the event took place in a soft play event in Edinburgh. And if you are going to go there, you need to get into the spirit of the place. You can't afford to look too stiff and sober. And Willie didn't. The team got three specific things right. First a bit ...
Local people have waited too long for a decision. Is it being kept back until after the local elections? I have today issued a !"move on or move out" challenge to Redrow Homes over their proposed development of the Sefton ... Continue reading →
Fri 15th
15:23
Theatre Review: @BrighouseTheatr production of Little Shop of Horrors at Brighouse Civic Hall
So last night [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgb and I took Hol to see Little Shop of Horrors. She was totally unfamiliar with the story, although she'd heard me singing the odd song from it, and we've always called carnivourous plants Audreys in this house. She loved it. She really loved it. She loved it so much she spent the interval doing this, which to say it was done with a finger on an iPhone I think is pretty impressive. The lady who played Audrey was awesome, better than Ellen Greene in the 86 film, I'd say. She had the ...
In the wake of the electoral wipe out of the Liberal Democrats in May 2015 I was thoroughly disappointed. Disappointed by a national election campaign that was lacklustre and had lost the pulse of the British public. Disappointed by the voters so easily caught up in the scaremongering of a Labour/SNP alliance. Disappointed at those who ran to the Conservatives in blind hope of a stable economy that had been achieved not through Tory cuts but Liberal Democrat moderation. In all honestly I lost faith in the ability of the Liberal Democrats to deliver the liberal Britain we need. The ...
[IMG: pothole] Liberal Democrat HQ have released a press release for localisation about the the state of the roads. LDHQ have done some analysis and shown that pothole funding is down by 27% To get the total figure you need to use the Highways Maintenance formula allocation (£) 2015/16 as the baseline then take away the Highways Maintenance formula allocation [...]
The Huffington Post reports a rise in the number of deaths in which hunger is a factor in the UK. It's up from 255 in 2005 to 375 in 2014. In 2013, that figure was even higher at 392. Tim Farron was horrified to hear this, saying: This shouldn't be happening in 21st century Britain and the Government's response is hopelessly complacent. We seem to be creating 'Breadline Britain' for some of the most vulnerable people in society. People are living under greater pressure and hearing thousands of people have died, in part, due to malnutrition is a national scandal. ...
Thank you for your email and for drawing my attention to the MS Society Scotland manifesto for May's elections. As you rightly pointed out, MS is an unpredictable condition that affects people differently. As is the case with other conditions, and in fact the entire range of health and social care services, Scottish Liberal Democrats believe that care must be planned and delivered in a person-centred way. Support for community resources is something that we have long advocated for; my colleague Jim Hume MSP has repeatedly challenged the Scottish Government on this at Parliament. This is a topic that has ...
Fri 15th
11:59
Baroness Emma Nicholson writes...We must maintain momentum to end sexual violence in conflict
On a ferociously hot day in Baghdad a few months ago, I listened as a young Yazidi girl slowly and carefully told me her horrific story. Captured by the monstrous Daesh when her village in Northern Iraq was overrun, Nadia had been sold to the highest bidder, an elderly thug called Selman, who proceeded to rape this poor girl on a daily basis. Any resistance was met with fists and boots. As we finally abandoned the sweltering heat of the garden for the cool of the hotel lobby, Nadia burst into floods of tears as she told me about one ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35915168 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above 'Merseyside Police said 73 children were arrested between 2013 and 2015. Fourteen boys were charged with crimes involving firearms including robbery, possession of a firearm, possession of an air weapon in a public place, sending threats, wounding and false imprisonment.' This is quite chilling really; makes you wonder how far we are along the road to an American gun culture.
Fri 15th
11:57
Greenpeace – Air pollution is responsible for cutting short 40,000 lives in the UK every year.
[IMG: pollution] Please consider supporting the Greenpeace petition available via the link above Air pollution is responsible for cutting short 40,000 lives in the UK every year. It's time for this government to take robust and steadfast action to address this national health emergency. Please create a bold action plan that cleans our air, reduces pollution and saves lives I have raised concerns like this before on this very blog site in relation to HGV's accessing the Port of Liverpool. Bootle in particular is a concern for air pollution locally but we are kidding ourselves if we think that ...
You can read the Scottish Liberal Democrats 2016 Holyrood election Manifesto here:- Dawud Islam is the editor of libdemhame.org
Muslims are well-integrated in Britain - but no one seems to believe it | Leon Moosavi | Opinion | The Guardian AKA screw you Trevor Phillips There Is a Moderate Republican in this Race, but She's Running as a Democrat — Medium RT @andrewducker: There Is a Moderate Republican in this Race, but She's Running as a Democrat RT @BBCBenWright: Cross-party phone-bashing at the Remain call centre. There were lots of photos of this going around yesterday, but this was the best. Bless Neil Kinnock doing his best to concentrate on his phone call while Paddy and Cameron fight over ...
Fri 15th
10:25
Say hello to the Act that successfully set rules 1,050 years into the future - Calendar (New Style) ...
[IMG: Calendar. CC0 1.0] The Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 deserves a double presence in contemporary knowledge. First, its authors deserve credit for what must be the most successful piece of future proofing legislation. Second, for the myth which illustrates how the powerful can ridicule the powerless. Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 was the legislation that moved Britain, and British dominions, over to the Gregorian calendar, which was several days different from the previously used Julian calendar. It includes a set of rules for which years should be leap years, complete with special provisions which come in every hundredth year ...
[IMG: Tim Farron in Cologne] Last month I accompanied Tim Farron on a visit to a British Red Cross centre in Gravesend, Kent to learn about the projects they run for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASCs). Home to the British end of the Channel Tunnel, Kent has always had a high proportion of UASCs, but 2015 brought an unprecedented number, with over 1000 new children entering into the care of the Local Authority. During our visit we met young people from Sudan and Eritrea who spoke about their experiences both in transit and since they've arrived in the UK. In ...
Spot the mistake in this Labour leaflet, delivered commercially yesterday in Whickham North ward of Gateshead with all the pizza leaflets! Alas, encouraging people to go to vote 2 days after the polls have closed is arguably not the best route to winning elections. This is the main leaflet for Labour in the ward (Lib Dem held and formerly a top target for Labour during the Coalition years
For some time now, I have noted with interest what happens when politicians who are on the economic right within British politics and who also happen to favour Brexit find those two things clashing with one another. Without exception, the desire for Brexit wins. A great example was during the Greek debt crisis of 2015, when politicians such as Douglas Carswell suddenly started sticking up for Syriza – the argument for fiscal prudence, so strong in any other circumstance, fell by the wayside when the chance to blame everything on the European Union presented itself. This week, we've had the ...
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... Sponsored: 64% off Code Black Drone with HD Camera Our #1 Best-Selling Drone–Meet the Dark Night of the Sky! Research Briefings – Canada 2016 Prefect bedside reading for liberals: Canada 2016 (HoC research briefing) http://bit.ly/23zxGHS AWAY WITH THE GATEKEEPERS! | Pandaemonium Kenan Malik brilliant on cultural appropriation; it "is about policing manners rather than transforming society" http://bit.ly/1NaDsby Whittingdale story destroys the last vestiges of Hacked Off's credibility Ian Dunt is hacked off with Hacked Off's descent into the gutter. Scorching conclusion ...
It was a great night for the Liberal Democrats in Somerset & Cornwall yesterday (Thursday) as the party gained a seat in Wadebridge West from the Conservatives, enjoyed a comfortable hold in Taunton Deane and just missed out on a second gain in Menheniot, where the Tories held on by just 60 votes. In Wadebridge [...]
This morning in Edinburgh Scottish Liberal Democrats Leader Willie Rennie will launch the party's manifesto for the 2016 Holyrood elections. Mr Rennie will be joined by some of the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidates standing for election in May as he sets out ambitious proposals for a transformational investment in education, a step-change in mental health [...]
Yesterday I covered the appearance of Caroline Pidgeon's London Mayor election address. It is from the booklet being distributed to all five million plus London voters, which also contains information about the London Assembly election. Except, alas, this is the triumph of dullness that passes for presenting information on who the London Assembly list candidates are: [IMG: 2016 GLA election booklet - the dull pages] Could you deliberately have set out to make this page duller and less interesting? Well yes, if you had tried really hard. And at least it doesn't use Comic Sans. But really, as an example ...
And so, it can, apparently, be told. A schedule for the selection of our European Parliament regional candidates lists for 2019 has been agreed, and Returning Officers are being appointed. There will be those of you who might think that this is all a bit premature, especially given the small detail of the referendum on 23 June, and you may well be right. However, any advert isn't due to be published until after that, so in the event that there is a vote to leave the European Union, not so much effort is wasted. It is, I think, probably better ...
I have long campaigned for the poor conditioned pavement on the north side of Perth Road, east of the junction with Glamis Road, to be upgraded. Its therefore good to report that work is now well advanced with the resurfacing - see below :
Fri 15th
08:10Scottish Liberal Democrats to launch manifesto - a plan to make Scotland the best again
Willie Rennie will today unveil the party's "bold, positive and progressive plans to make Scotland the best again" as he launches the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto. He will set out ambitious proposals for a transformational investment in education, a step-change in mental health services, the protection of our environment and guaranteeing Scots' civil liberties. Speaking ahead of the launch, Willie said: Scottish Liberal Democrats offer an ambitious, positive and uplifting programme for Scotland. The Liberal Democrats are back to our best. Scotland should be the best again too. Our programme for Scotland is ambitious and progressive. We are offering the ...
The Independent reports that the Bank of England has issued its starkest warning yet over the consequences of Brexit for the British economy, stating that the country would be likely to face a long period of uncertainty if it left the EU, that would dampen demand and impact on UK assets. They say that minutes from the latest meeting of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee also state that the looming referendum is already having a dampening effect on the economy, noting that many major capital spending decisions and property transactions were being delayed, pending the outcome of the vote: In ...
Protesters ransack Macedonia president's office as crisis deepens Crumbs. (tags: macedonia ) Blake's 7 star Gareth Thomas dies at age 71 Sad news. (tags: sf deaths ) America Hasn't Gone Crazy. It's Just More Like Europe Ivan Krastev's take. (tags: uspolitics ) Man accidentally 'deletes his entire company' with one line of bad code The code was good; the user incompetent! (tags: work computers ) Ivanov Has Spat in Macedonia's Face Yep. (tags: macedonia )
