Why join the Lib Dems? Because we are the only party on God's Earth willing to stand up and fight for the freedom of the individual, against the tyranny of power however it manifests itself, for a better tomorrow for all.
It would take a pretty big leap of faith to give up a job so you could leave one political party and join another which you felt better reflected your values, but that is exactly what Cllr Amanda Broom from Yeovil has done. She worked as caseworker for Yeovil's new Conservative MP Marcus Fysh and was so upset by the Government's actions that she decided she could no longer remain a member of the Conservative Party. From the Yeovil Press: Cllr Broom has stressed that her decision to join to the LibDems was nothing to do with her working relationship ...
When I posted the video of disused stations in Essex, I was rather taken with Ashdon Halt. Its platform building, an old coach, was still in situ years after the last train called. The video above shows Ashdon Halt in 2011 1997 and whilst open. The station was on the old Great Eastern line between Audley End and Bartlow, It opened in 1911 and closed when the line was closed in 1964. You can read more about it on Disused Stations.
Good news from Yeovil: A caseworker for Yeovil's Conservative MP Marcus Fysh – herself a councillor at South Somerset District Council – has defected from the Tories and joined the Liberal Democrats. Cllr Amanda Broom has vowed that nothing will change in her determination to make a difference to her local community... She has also quit her post as a member of staff of Marcus Fysh's team - the Conservative MP for the Yeovil constituency... In a prepared statement Cllr Broom said: "I have been increasingly concerned over the current Government's direction of travel to the right and the potential ...
"Oakeshottian conservatives prefer the devil they know; idealists, rationalists and managerialists think they can improve upon it." Chris Dillow returns to one of his favourite themes: the trouble with the Conservatives is that they are no longer Conservative. Anoosh Chakelian meets Piers Corbyn, brother of the Labour leader. "Our National Parks are dominated by sheep farms and grouse or deer estates, leaving almost all our hills bare. Nature is protected in isolated reserves which provide important refuges for biodiversity. But these refuges are not joined up, and so are very fragile in the long-term." Helen Meech makes the case for ...
As ever, I've run this week's announcements through Goodreads and LibraryThing to count the number of owners and record the average ratings. 2016 Hugo finalists Goodreads LibraryThing owners av rating owners av rating Uprooted, by Naomi Novik 111,631 4.17 933 4.24 Seveneves, by Neil Stephenson 86,903 3.97 1,021 3.88 The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut's Windlass, by Jim Butcher 44,102 4.20 356 4.02 The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin 37,162 4.32 388 4.28 Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie 18,393 4.23 536 4.24 Two of these have clearly done much better than the other three in terms of market impact. Notable, however, ...
There has been another car accident outside the Co-op store on Parr Lane in Unsworth this evening. Details are thin in the ground at the moment, but I do hope everyone is OK. I'll be trying to find out some more detail tomorrow, but it does look like we have a serious safety issue at that particular location and urgent action is needed to protect lives.
Recently at my surgery I met a distressed young woman who came to see me with her mother. Repairs are outstanding on their rented property. The landlord is refusing to sort them out while at the same time putting pressure on them to leave their flat. She didn't know where to go or what to do. This is a familiar story and it is no exaggeration to say that we have a national emergency in housing. There are vast numbers of people living in fear and uncertainty and in 2016 that is simply unacceptable. We clearly have a rental sector ...
Running every Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday until 2 October, this service connects Church Stretton with the remote country around the Long Mynd and Stiperstones - and with some very good pubs too. A sad paragraph at the bottom of the Shropshire Hills Shuttle Buses page says: Unfortunately, Castle Connect, which ran between Ludlow, Knighton, Clun and Bishop's Castle will not be running in 2016. This route was set up three years ago as part of Shropshire's Sustainable Transport Project. Now that funding has ceased, the cost of running this service for another year was in danger of putting ...
No difficulty in choosing here: The Taming of the Shrew. The basic storyline is simply too unpleasant: Katherina, obviously a very unhappy person, is intimidated into submission by a bloke called Petruchio who appears out of nowhere and for no apparent reason decides to marry her. There is lots of beating of servants; how hilarious. It's not totally awful. The suitors trying to court Katherina's sister Bianca are moderately funny, and the Katherina / Petruchio relationship, though generally very dodgy, is almost sweet in the penultimate scene. But it's not really enough to mask the general nastiness of the plot. ...
Following recent concerns raised by local residents regarding the amount of dog dirt along Gunthorpe Ridings, I asked the City Council if they could introduce some of the dog dirt stencil sprays along the footpath there and I'm glad to say that this has now been done. That said, this should not be the end [...]
I am surprisingly impressed by the new LED energy saving lighting being installed in this area. Although the programme is less than half complete, and there have been problems, the County Council and their contractors estimate that they will be finished in the Blyth area by the end of May / beginning of June In the meantime, if you have a problem with, or a question about, the new lighting, a dedicated helpline has been set up by the contractor, Galliford Try. It is 01670 840475. Of course, you can still channel complaints or questions ( or even compliments?) through ...
You might not be aware of it, but Peterborough has received millions and millions of pounds from the EU, for various projects and schemes throughout the city. You might not be aware, simply because the Tory controlled City Council never want to mention it in their press releases that spring out from the Town Hall! [...]
There are some policies I really like the sound of. They are, you could say, almost too good to be true... Which is sadly what I expect we might find if we tried to implement them. Here are three I've supported in the past, but when pressed on how they'd work in practice, have been forced to conclude they probably couldn't (at least, not within a democracy by a party wanting to win elections): Unlimited (im)migration I like the European ideal of free movement of people, so much I'd like to extend it. We're citizens of the world, so why ...
Embed from Getty Images There is good news for smartphone users heading to the continent this bank holiday weekend. From tomorrow (April 30th), new EU rules will cap the cost of using your phone when abroad in Europe at 4p per minute, 2p per text and 4p per MB of data (excluding VAT), around four times cheaper than current limits. Three UK's rate is dropping from 16.6p per minute, 5.2p per text and 17.4p per MB to 4.3p per minute, 1.5p per text and 4.3p per MB. Tesco Mobile has announced it will drop roaming charges altogether in more than ...
Musicians wanted for the Tall Ships Regatta Organisers are calling for local musicians to pitch for a chance to play at one of the biggest events ever held in Northumberland. The North Sea Tall Ships Regatta Blyth 2016 is being held over the August Bank Holiday and will feature five zones of free family entertainment including music and theatre. Up for grabs are spaces on stages at venues including the beach amphitheatre and bandstand, and the Dun Cow Quay. There are also opportunities for buskers - solo artists and duos - to play up to 30-minute slots at designated spots ...
[IMG: Austria Hofer] Last Sunday, the post-war consensus in Austrian politics was swept away. Nobert Hofer, from the far right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), came top with 35% in the first round of the presidential elections and faces a run off Alexander van der Bellen, a former leader of and supported by the Greens, who received 21% and came first in most cities including Vienna. Turnout was a respectable 69%. The campaign for the second round ballot on May 22 is likely to be bruising and divisive. Forecasts suggest that Hofer will win. This was no earthquake as the FPÖ ...
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron today said that Scottish Liberal Democrats will grow at this election as he joined Willie Rennie on the election trail in Fife. Speaking following a visit to a nursery in Cowdenbeath and meeting voters in Dunfermline, Mr Farron said that the Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign is one that a liberal [...]
1. In your opinion, what is the most pressing environmental issue facing the Edinburgh Northern and Leith constituency? The two most pressing environmental issues facing the constituency is cleaner transport and warmer homes. Of these, the transport one is the easier to tackle. We can encourage cycle use by upgrading cycle lanes on streets, like Leith Walk and Lower Granton Road, wide enough to handle them. 26,000 people live with 800m of Leith Walk and in storage right now, there is enough materials to have the trams run to the Foot of the Walk. Let's get on with it. 2. ...
Watch the latest video from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign: Whether they want to grow up to be a fireman, a hairdresser, a doctor or a schoolteacher, our children's future is brighter if we stay IN Europe: an extra 790,000 jobs will be created by 2030. 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.
[IMG: Farron in Edinburgh] All Liberal Democrats will remember what it felt like on Friday 8th May last year, the morning after the terrible 2015 General Election results . This Thursday is our first big chance to build a more positive story about the progress we've made since, with voters going to the polls in one or more elections right across the UK. A lot has been said about the Lib Dem 'fightback', but in politics it is elections that matter and our opportunity to ensure the Party makes a massive step forwards from 2015. How well we perform next ...
Former Deputy First Minister and Liberal Democrat leader in the House of Lords Jim Wallace today said reports that Conservative Ministers hold voters in Scotland in disregard are no surprise. Lord Wallace was speaking after former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said in a newspaper article that the first instinct of David Cameron following the [...]
Having previously made the brilliant film Fog of War about Robert McNamara, American Defense Secretary during the Vietnam war, Errol Morris turned to another high profile controversial figure from the US, Donald Rumsfeld. This time Morris doesn't quite achieve the same heights as he did in Fog of War. That earlier film made you feel he got under the skin of his subject and offered insight about who he really was. This time, it feels more like shadow boxing all the way through without Rumsfeld ever taken beyond the answers he was happy to give. [IMG: The Unknown Known - ...
Norman Baker's band, The Reform Club has a new album, Never Yesterday, out. Today, they release a very professional looking video. Watch the hard-hitting song Give War a Chance which satirises the activities of a "peace envoy" and is published ahead of the Chilcott Report which we are sure will be published at some point this millennium. Norman plays the role of the envoy to absolute perfection. And there are tanks. Real tanks. Of the song, Norman says: A well-crafted three minute song can often say more than an hour-long speech, and I hope that is what we have put ...
To see senior Labour figures literally kicking verbal lumps out of each other may be entertaining to those of us who despise the authoritarian Labour Party but what is going on is more than a spat about racism vitally important though that is. For a party supposedly of the left to be openly at war over racism is bizarre in itself but I go back 30 years or more to one of the most telling things I was told as a young politician. It came from a young Labour Party member who quite openly said to me that there were ...
A 15 year campaign has come to fruition with the opening of Yate's very own multiplex cinema. Councillors and Liberal Democrat Focus Team members, led by former MP Steve Webb, campaigned for over 15 years to bring a cinema to Yate. Members of the Focus Team who fought so hard to get the Cinema at the launch event The developers say that we wouldn't have got the cinema if it wasn't for the massive support from local people and Yate Town Council. This shows what a community can achieve if it's determined enough for long enough. A big thank you ...
But we caught the Yorkshire Ripper, insist South Yorkshire police "South Yorkshire police force have urged everyone to remember the one famous case in which they probably didn't fabricate the evidence." These are Andrew Hickey's Hugo Win Conditions I agree with Andrew miss_s_b | Ian McKellen Richard III - a question In which I speculate as to whether or not my English teacher is/was/will be a time traveler Honor Blackman's self defence book OMG I want this Court Rules ACLU Lawsuit Against CIA Torture Psychologists Can Proceed | American Civil Liberties Union RT @CliveSSmith: Lawsuit goes forward against mental health ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams has set out the party's stall in an article for Wales Online. First of all, she says that devolution hasn't delivered what it should have done. She highlights the key problems: The Labour Welsh Government is the longest surviving government in Europe. It is bankrupt of ideas, tired and with flawed priorities - 17 years in power, yet no vision for Wales' future. One needn't look any further than Labour's crusade to ban the use of e-cigarettes, all while NHS waiting lists continue to grow and health services are failing. People, rightly, expect their ...
Lib Dem HQ have just produced the following template letters to coincide with another vote in parliament on the 3,000 unaccompanied children campaign. Here are the details: On Monday the 9th May we expect another vote on the 3,000 unaccompanied children campaign. In advance of that we have written these template letters, both long and [...]
We are now reaching the time when the people of Liverpool have to make the second most important decision of the year that is, of course, how they will vote in the local elections for who will be their Mayor, ... Continue reading →
So we have the first Monkees single in twenty-nine years, written by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer and produced by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne. I just wrote this on Tumblr and it's long enough that I thought it would ... Continue reading →
Fri 29th
09:13
Corbyn insisting that Labour has no problem with anti-semitism is making the problem worse
You know the old adage that says you've lost an argument the moment you bring up Adolf Hitler for any reason? Ken Livingstone proved that yesterday rather definitively. He also showed us conclusively that trying to explain something via the author of the Final Solution is a bad idea in politics, period. Particularly when you're trying to accuse the former German chancellor, rather unusually, of being a Zionist conspirator. Enough on Ken – it was a terrible mistake for Corbyn to have got him involved in the remaking of the Labour Party, and yesterday finally made him realise this fact ...
The Lib Dem's nine-year, £100m programme to repair all the bad roads and pavements across Stockport is working its way around the borough. As part of the programme, Stockport Council will be carrying out carriageway resurfacing on Manchester Road from Newlands Road to Mill Lane. This work will be carried out by the council's Alliance Partner Tarmac Ltd during night shift arrangements. The work is scheduled to commence on Thursday evening 19th May 2016 and may take up to 2 weeks to complete, weather permitting and will carried out on week nights only between the hours of 19:30 and 05:30hrs ...
Fri 29th
08:54
Farron makes pitch to centre left voters - support Lib Dems for good local councillors and effective...
[IMG: Farron in Edinburgh Western 28 April] At about 8:45, Tim Farron made a flying visit to Alex Cole-Hamilton's campaign HQ in Edinburgh Western. He did notice that the SNP office next door was already in darkness. The visit had an additional bonus for us as the campaigns staff from Scottish HQ pitched up yesterday afternoon and pronounced the place not tidy enough to receive the leader and proceeded to tidy it up for us. No doubt we won't be able to find anything this morning. Tim was highly impressed with what he'd seen, which is definitely a compliment given ...
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron was in Edinburgh last night (Thursday) to rally the local activists in Edinburgh Western 7 days before polling day next Thursday. Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Liberal Democrats candidate, is currently neck-and-neck with his SNP rival and Farron urged activists to carry on working 'right up to 10 pm next Thursday'. [...]
From the City Council : Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating service connection works. The Order is expected to be in force for two weeks from 2 May 2016. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic in Thomson Street from Magdalen Yard Road for a distance of 100 metres or thereby north. Vehicular access to premises will be maintained where possible. Pedestrian provision will be maintained at ...
I have been writing a lot about the EU referendum. During the course of doing so, I've realised that there is no obvious place that brings together many of the main statements and positions on either side of the referendum debate. This is therefore a "live" list, to which I will add interesting and useful sources as they appear. It [...]
Welsh Tories have taken every opportunity during this Welsh Assembly campaign to describe Wales' biggest political party as 'Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party'. That decision looks to have paid off today as a scheduled visit to Wales by the Labour leader was cancelled. allegedly because he was asked to stay away. The Western Mail reports that Mr Corbyn was due to visit Bridgend College in Pencoed with First Minister, Carwyn Jones, but it was agreed he would stay out of Wales after discussions between his team and Welsh Labour officials. The paper says that the team around Carwyn Jones are understood ...
Government statistics show an increase in the number of Welsh pupils taught in large classes. According to figures obtained by the independent Assembly research service, 71,724 pupils are now being taught in classes of 25 pupils or more in Wales, and 59% of all infant classes have 25 or more pupils in them. This is despite Estyn stating children perform best in classes of fewer than 25 pupils. Class sizes are meant to be restricted to 30 (with permitted exceptions), yet in 2015 7,835 pupils were educated in classes of more than 30 pupils, up from 6,969 in 2013. Class ...
