Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. 1. Mayor Making Broxtowe will be having its annual council meeting tomorrow when Graham Harvey will be installed as the new mayor of Broxtowe and Halimah Khaled MBE as the new deputy mayor. Congratulations to them both on their appointments. 2. New Council Structure Another change that will happen tomorrow is that the council will revert from being run by a cabinet system to a committee system. This is how the council used to be structured but the Labour ...
This morning, I was very pleased to attend and do the welcome and introductions at Jericho House's Open Day for partner organisations working in the alcohol and drug fields. It was an impressive showcase for the vital work that Jericho House undertakes and to listen to the personal journeys the service users told. I have served on the Jericho House Support Group that assists the work of the house. You can read more about Jericho House in Dundee here. I also attended the official opening of C Gate, the new home for the Dundee Carers' Centre (spookily enough, situated in ...
Listening to the BBC one might think that, intellectually, the debate about British membership of the European Union was a finely balanced argument. It isn't. As Kate Hoey admitted to Andrew Neill, there is not one single independent study that suggests that leaving the EU would benefit the UK economy. The Leave campaign could have put up a "sock puppet" study up to suggest they were right, but they could not even do that- so damning is the factual evidence. The press is suggesting that they are reporting the debate evenly- but the reality is that there is no factually ...
Thanks to Jim Waterson for tweeting this. He's well worth a follow.
The former chairman of the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner, makes the case for helicopter money. David Boyle is characteristically illuminating: "I have no problem in principle with contracted out services, but note that the contracts tend to be won by companies whose main skill is the delivery of target data to their commissioners." "Labour's new members have arrived at the expense of the Greens and the assorted Judean People's Front parties of the far left. Those new members are still fighting their #1 enemy, the 'Blairites', some of whom have decided, for various reasons, that enough is ...
In 1969 - and I am so old I remember watching it - the Queen agreed to be the subject of a fly-on-the-wall television documentary - Royal Family, It has never been aired since, and the first extract in this look back on it surely explains why.
The outstanding application to build 25 houses at the former council office site on Corve Street has been withdrawn (15/05509/FUL). The plans had met heavy opposition from conservationists, the town council and residents. I made it clear I could not support the scheme as proposed. The latest proposals are to build a retirement complex of... Continue reading Update... The planning application for new housing at Stone House has been withdrawn →
As the second comment says, the Lib Dem candidate had the same name as the Labour candidate not the Tory. Oh well... More evidence that the Labour Party is in a strange place at the moment comes from Croydon (hitherto best known as the land of inflammable trousers). There, says the Croydon Advertiser: A Labour politician claims the Liberal Democrats sabotaged his party's election chances - by selecting a candidate with the same surname. Stuart Collins, deputy leader of Croydon Council, claims the Lib Dems helped the Conservatives beat Labour hopeful Marina Ahmad in Croydon and Sutton by selecting Amna ...
Note: posts on this blog are published by a small team. Therefore the name listed as the author of the post is not necessarily the person who wrote it, but rather is the person who was responsible for publishing it. Sources inform Liberator that Liberal Democrat HQ has decided to scrap its arrangement with Nationbuilder at the end of the year. Nationbuilder is an American company which provides campaign websites for organisations like political parties which include features such as mass emails, event management, volunteer recruitment and online donations. The national Lib Dem website and the SNP national website, for ...
Hello from sunny Stockholm! I wasn't planning to write one of these but old habits die hard. So, with only a short time before the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest kicks off, here's a very brief look at the songs in the first semi-final. Finland Light and enjoyable and a fitting opener, especially with lyrics about singing. I see what they did there. Greece Chorus that doesn't rhyme, rapping that's a bit dull. Potential non-qualifier for a country with a strong track record. Moldova Middling but helped by an upbeat chorus. Hungary First of many solo male vocals. Has a good ...
Posting yesterday, I forgot of course the one Shakespeare speech we have written in his own hand, from Sir Thomas More, never performed in his lifetime. We are in London in 1517; anti-immigrant riots are about to break out; Thomas More, the sheriff of London, succeeds where his aristocratic superiors fail and quells the mob, shaming them into submission to lawful authority. He tells the crowd that by using unlawful force against the immigrants ("strangers") they risk destroying the basis for the stability of their own society, a message that remains grimly appropriate for the present day. Imagine that you ...
I joined the Lib Dems back in 2010 because I wanted to put pro-European, pro-equality, anti-establishment values into the heart of government. I am still a Lib Dem because I have seen up close what a different our values of community make to the people we seek to represent – whether it is carrying out [...]
The skies had darkened and the drizzle had transformed into a fierce downpour. Andrew Brown and myself had eagerly arrived at an action day meeting point in Windmill Hill, Bristol. ... Continue reading →
Tue 10th
17:45
Croydon Court Hotel in Thornton Heath evacuated after guest's trousers catch fire in room
Congratulations to Your Local Guardian for winning our Headline of the Day Award. And thanks to the reader who nominated it.
The local elections are over and I'm more free to write about what has gone down and I have to say that whilst it was an extremely poor evening for the Lib Dems (bar the huge win in Leigh) it wasn't a surprise. I think most people fully expected the party to lose Prittlewell and Blenheim Park, two seats we were defending and not be able to pick up much traction elsewhere. There are reasons for this which it would be unfair to go into in such a public forum but the results in terms of what happened to the ...
Book early to avoid disappointment. [IMG: Cheadle history walk]
Belgian local historians are very fortunate from the cartographical point of view: almost all of what became the entire country was mapped in 1777, by Count Joseph de Ferraris, and the results can be consulted online at the Royal Library's website. I'm contrasting below with Google Maps screenshots of the same places now. Our village is clearly shown, though as Vieux-Heverlé rather than Oud-Heverlee, with today's street pattern almost unchanged. You can see that there are a lot more houses now - and yet the forest seems to have encroached a bit on the agricultural land as well. The railway, ...
I imagine that by this point you'll all have seen the score-lines; here are some reflections on what they mean, as the dust settles from a hard-fought 2016 election campaign with some mixed (though broadly positive) outcomes for the Lib Dems. Firstly, Wales. There can be no question that this was a bruising result for [...]
We did it!! 3 Lib Dem cllrs elected in Central ward (1 gain from Lab). Aga is Watford's first Polish councillor. pic.twitter.com/QAY1haRSOu — Watford Lib Dems (@WatfordLibDems) May 6, 2016 For the first time in quite a few years Lib Dems in many areas have spend the post-election weekend in a good mood. 45 net gains in the English council elections ain't bad, the first time we've made gains in local elections since 2008. Coupled with some great results in Scottish constituencies, many Lib Dems have spent the weekend smiling. The good news is far from universal. I know that ...
Watch the latest video from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign: World War II veterans give their views on Brexit and why we MUST stay in Europe in this moving film. As they make clear, the EU reflects the values these veterans and their generation fought for in the Second World War. 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: Display on No.58 Nottingham bus] Merseytravel Committee Members recently took the decision to recommend that the Combined Liverpool City Region Authority gives consent to the signing of a 'Bus Alliance' agreement by Merseytravel, Arriva and Stagecoach. [IMG: This is me with the Lydiate & Maghull resident's petition in 2015 at a 311 bus stop in Lydiate. The petition was not collected by me I would add but by the hard work of locals concerned about the loss of this Arriva route to Ormskirk. The battle was sadly lost.] This is me with the Lydiate & Maghull resident's petition in ...
I attended such a session that was organised at my place of work not so long ago and I found it very informative and helpful. [IMG: images] The information Sessions are run by Dementia Friends Champions to help people learn a little about what it's like to live with dementia and how we can support those living with dementia in our communities. [IMG: Lydiate] The session held at Lydiate Village Centre session yesterday was for Lydiate Parish Council staff, Councillors and volunteers and I hope it went well as I could not be there on this occasion.
Below are the brilliant results from Southport. Never before throughout the whole history of the borough have we won every seat. That goes back to the granting of the borough's charter in 1858! Lynne Thompson Liberal Democrats 1713 42% Elected Jamie Halsall Conservative Party 1149 28% Not elected Mhairi McLeod Johnstone Doyle The Labour Party 729 18% Not elected Duncan Browne United Kingdom Independence Party 394 10% Not elected Barbara Ann Dutton The Green Party 133 3% Not elected Birkdale - resultsElection CandidatePartyVotes% Richard Ronald Hands Liberal Democrats 1443 46% Elected Ged Wright The Labour Party 717 23% Not elected ...
As a parliamentary inquiry into science and the public begins, I'd argue there's been a revolution in the way researchers think about science and engagement "What have the Romans ever done for us?" John Cleese's famous question from Monty Python's Life of Brian has been in my thoughts over the past couple of weeks. Back came the answer, "The aqueduct." "Oh, yeah, yeah. They did give us that." "And there's sanitation..." You get the picture. I've been recalling lines from Monty Python thanks to the House of Commons select committee on science and technology, which today begins a round of ...
The timing of the Tooting By-Election is far from perfect for us. Most of us have been campaigning flat out for either local, assembly or parliamentary elections and there is the small matter of the EU referendum where the Liberal Democrats will be one of the few political organisations whose activists will be enthused to [...]
Liberal Democrat MEPs have always led the way on transparency and personal accountability. They have set a high bar, which others have repeatedly failed to match. Chris Davies in particular led the way on reforms and changes in the Parliament that eliminated some abuses. There is a specific commitment to make available any claim over £25 on the General Expenditure Allowance (the main sum of money that MEPs receive as expenses): Liberal Democrat MEPs make receipts for items spent under the General Expenditure Allowance (GEA) in excess of £25 available either on their websites or on request in their constituency ...
After Labour's less than apocalyptic (but still poor) local election showings in England, coupled with Sadiq Khan's victory in London, the coup of Jeremy Corbyn post EU referendum looks less likely than ever. What is most interesting about this is that while Khan becoming mayor has theoretically helped Corbyn, at least in the short term, the two are clearly rivals more than comrades, and the London mayor could become a threat to the leadership reasonably soon. I said the other day that Sadiq Khan's victorious campaign was the very opposite to the way that Jeremy Corbyn campaigns. Some have asked ...
In Gateshead, Dunston Hill and Whickham East has, in recent years, been the most closely fought ward in local elections. We used to hold all 3 seats in the ward but we lost in 2010 and 2011 to Labour by relatively significant majorities. In 2012, our remaining Councillor, Peter Maughan, retained his seat. In 2014 and 2015, Labour clung on. Last year, their majority was just 23, despite the
OK - a break from the politics. I've recently had occasion on a forum to list my Top 10 albums, in order. I should say at the outset that this is always something I have a 'love/hate relationship with - I always enjoy doing such things, but struggle to decide what should go in, and in what order. There were so many great 'nearly made it' albums that I thought I'd expand it and post it here as a Top 20. So here goes (counting down from 20 to 1): 20. TesseracT - Altered State 19. Gryphon - Red Queen ...
As I warned in advance, the Thrasher and Rallings prediction for the Lib Dem vote share* in the 2016 local elections was indeed on the high side. In fact at a 2 point over-estimate, the error was in line with their previous pattern of over-predicting the Lib Dem share by on average 2 points in the last Parliament. It is a good example of the value of a little bit of data crunching, yet their predictions rarely get a test against their past form when they come out each year. Here then is the overall record of their vote share ...
Embed from Getty Images It seems a lot of events are happening around the country on June 23rd – Glastonbury for one. The clash with the Referendum is of some significance, because festivals attract younger people who are more likely to vote to Remain. So it is good to learn that the organisers have emailed all ticket holders encouraging them to apply for postal or proxy votes and telling them how to do just that. It is also the time of year when many people who are not tied to school holidays are away from home – far more than ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP has called for planned closure of police control rooms to be put on hold after reports that procurement for a new control room IT system has been cancelled. Mr Rennie had previously raised concerns over the impact of the closure of police control rooms following repeated reports of [...]
Dylan Thomas has very kindly returned at my invitation from the Hereafter, where he is running a small bar, to write for the Steyning Festival blog - looking forward to the imminent festival launch. To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and ocean green, the grassy lanes, silent and the hunched wood limping invisible up to the slow, green, tennis-elbow green, rabbit-and-stoat bobbing Downs. The houses are blind as Colonel Cat, sleeping in his bifocals; the Steyning Centre snoozes, St Andrew and St Cuthman stir in their sleep, while Christine Aubrey - ...
The Scottish Liberal Democrats five MSP's, including first timer Alex Cole-Hamilton, settled in to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood yesterday ahead of what is sure to be an interesting and exciting five years of debate and activity. Cole-Hamilton was firmly in the media spotlight yesterday, performing a series of television, radio and print media interviews [...]
Just to thank residents across Bury for their support in the local elections last week. Our two best results were in Holyrood Ward, where we took a seat from Labour: Steve Wright (LIB DEM)1,733 Labour 1,463 Conservative 280 UKIP 229 Green 139 and in St Mary's Ward where we lost by 19, but cut Labour's majority down from 892 last year: Labour 1,349 Michael Powell (LIB DEM)1,330 Conservative 463 Green 126 Lib Dem Group Leader, Cllr Tim Pickstone said: "A huge thank you to voters in Prestwich, who have sent a very clear message that we are fed up with ...
Puzzled of Lyme Regis writes: Information and interpretation relating to the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) seems confusing/conflicting, despite coming from reputable sources. Can any Lib Dem Voice followers help with their information and interpretations? Here are some particular statements and questions. Corrections/Improvements to the statements, answers and observations mightily appreciated! The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills opines that the TTIP will bring personal savings and general economic benefits etc (see Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) benefits and concerns and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: What's in IT for Me?). 38 Degrees opines that it will lower ...
The economic arguments for staying within the European Union are overwhelming and should be reason enough to vote that way on 23rd June. However, there are other reasons for staying too. One of these reasons is the security and safety of this country and its citizens. Yesterday, as reported by the Independent,two former security chiefs expanded on that argument: In a direct challenge to Leave campaigners who have argued that Britain's membership of the EU leaves the country more vulnerable to terrorist attack, Baron Evans of Weardale, the former director-general of MI5, and Sir John Sawers, the former head of ...
I have now published my May 2016 Update to the Community Council and you can download this here.
Just to let residents know that a new Committee was elected at the Simister Village Community Association AGM which was held on 27 April 2016: Kristian Dodsworth - Chair Donna Kelty - Deputy Chair Paul Acheson - Treasurer Robina Fallon - Secretary Angela Hutton – Committee Member Anne McGee – Committee Member You can keep up to date on the Association on their Facebook Page which is here.
Following complaints by the Lib Dem team and local residents, the Council and Police have both been in contact with the Barnes Hospital site manager about contractors parking on the South Park Road Estate. We have now been told that there is contractor parking on the Barnes Hospital site (this wasn't there before). That means no contractors should be parking on the South Park Road Estate or on the slip-road onto the estate. So please let us know of any contractors still parking there. If you can let us have the registration number and make/model of any illegal parkers, we ...
Dementia Awareness Week is 15-21 May 2016 and a number of events have been organised across Bury: [IMG: Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 05.48.03] Monday 16 May Dementia Friendly Swimming Castle Leisure Centre, Bolton Street 12.00pm – 1.00pm Otago Clarence Park, Walmersley Road 1.30pm – 2.30pm A series of slow and steady strength and balance exercises. For further information call John on 07972 732 848 Dementia Friends Session Millercare, Bolton Road, BL8 2AH 2.00pm – 3.00pm Learn more about what it is like to live with dementia and turn understanding into action. To book phone 0161 761 0099 Tuesday 17 May ...
Two new planning applications have been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 60028 Registration Date: 21/04/2016 Location: 23 St Margarets Close, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2LY Proposal: Two storey side and single storey rear extension Application Number: 60015 Registration Date: 18/04/2016 Location: 19 Raglan Avenue, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6US Proposal: Single storey front extension Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with these. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
Two new planning applications have been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 60041 Registration Date: 20/04/2016 Location: 2 Newlands Drive, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 3BU Proposal: Two storey extension at side and rear with single storey rear element Application Number: 59967 Registration Date: 06/04/2016 Location: 68 Heaton Street, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1HH Proposal: Single storey side extension Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with these. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
The organisers of the Battle of the Somme event in Heaton Park on Friday 1 July 2016 are looking for 400 volunteers to take part in short movement based performance. They need people over 18 regardless of age, gender, experience or disability. Dressed in a made-to-measure uniform as a member of the 'Somme100 Pals', you'll form part of a moving tribute to the many 'Pals' battalions whose devastating losses impacted on communities throughout the region. [IMG: Screen Shot 2016-05-10 at 05.09.55] More information and to sign up as a volunteer here.
