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. John Clifford School May I start by correcting an item in last weeks newsletter. I reported that the school had 208 pupils, which was the number in the Nottingham Post report. However a couple of the Governors have been in touch to say that this was an error and the correct figure should have been 420. I'm happy to put this right. 2. Election Expenses There have been a couple of further developments in the reports that various ...
The Londonist video on the lost GWR line to Uxbridge Vine Street shows that today there is nothing left of that station, which closed to passengers in 1962 and to goods two years later. But it was still standing when a 1967 episode of my new favourite programme, Gideon's Way, was shot there. The photo above is a still from How to Retire Without Really Working. The location is identified by Avengerland. There are many more photos of Uxbridge Vine Street on Disused Stations.
I want to write "the unitary experiment has failed". But it's not an experiment, it's the real thing. And the political failure of the unitary council is damaging our county. The unitary council's idea of civic leadership is to keep to itself grant money that the government intended for town and parish councils. It leads... Continue reading Shropshire's unitary council has failed and it's hurting our county →
The Huffington Post reports what it describes as Paddy's "blazing rant" about the Tories' plans for the BBC. To be fair, they have probably never witnessed or been on the receiving end of an actual Paddy rant. This is mild in comparison. However, his comments were certainly robust and there is an audio clip of them on the report. He told audience members at Radio 4's 'Any Questions' that were the Conservatives still in coalition with his party they would "never have gotten away" with changing the BBC's governance rules that meant they could appoint the new executive's Chair and ...
I'm putting together a list of the best blogs about British political opinion polling. There are some obvious ones, such as Anthony Wells's UK Polling Report, but I'm know there are also some excellent other ones out there which are lower profile, such as Leo Barasi's Noise of the Crowd. So which ones would you recommend that I might have missed...? Thank you!
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 457th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere, back from our election break ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (-, 2016), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. How accurate are ...
Liberal Democrats are proud of the European Union and are fighting for us to stay IN Europe when the referendum takes place on 23rd June. I come from a position where it is better to discuss differences with others, rather than isolate ourselves. Reforms are certainly needed within the European Union but we NEED to be at the table to influence any reforms. Councillor Gary Malcolm Groups like the EU, NATO and the United Nations - can deal with shared issues better. Only the EU with others can make changes to significantly reduce the effects of Global warming. And through ...
Citing concerns raised by the Irish Justice Secretary to her Eurosceptic British counterpart, Michael Gove, Alistair Carmichael, Lib Dem Home Affairs Secretary has accused the Government of being "hell-bent on unravelling the Union." The Irish Minister said that decoupling Northern Irish law and the European Convention on Human Rights could undermine the Good Friday Agreemment on which the peaceful settlement in Northern Ireland was based. The Minister's letter can be read here. This also applies to the devolution settlements in Scotland and Wales. Alistair said: The devolved settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have the European convention hard-wired ...
I have been having a debate with various Family Court barristers as to what the rules are in respect of a barrister taking on a case for a parent when they previously have taken on a case for the local authority the parent is facing in the court. The rules on the Bar Standards Board website are difficult to link to clearly. The basic rules can be found from here. The relevant rule is: rC21
Greater Manchester Police has confirmed it is looking into four allegations of "personation" – where an individual votes as someone else – which allegedly occurred during the Oldham Council elections on May 5... One resident took to Facebook to reveal that her brother was turned away from a polling station because someone had already used his vote. She said: "Voting system was not fair, my brother and a few others I know went to vote and someone had already voted under their name. How can this be justified as a true result."... In a report on last year's electoral fraud ...
It's been a wee while since we've had a brand new Parliamentarian. Here's how Alex Cole-Hamilton, who gained Edinburgh Western from the SNP last week, spent his first week in office. Monday Outgoing Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick instituted a 3 day induction for new MSPs so that they weren't just thrown in the deep end. Here's Alex enjoying his new office: First day of school! @scotlibdems pic.twitter.com/Dol4hK579s — Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) May 9, 2016 Sunday No rest for the newly elected. Alex was talking about his first week on Sunday Politics Scotland. He said he intended to work to get ...
Dulwich Park is looking splendid from the Heritage Lottery grant 2004-6, ongoing support and such an active friends group. Part of this was restricting cars from using the park, sometimes at speed, using it as a short cut. Whatever possessed people to allow this in the past. Disabled people are allowed to travel at 5mph in cars to park up. For those disabled residents it's a chance to see such a lovely park. But things aren't going well. The park has disabled parking spots. For people who are disabled want to park and can walk a little way. For those ...
The Party has been pretty bad at saying thank you to people who fly the flag for it. In recent years, Nick Clegg did try to remedy that by phoning candidates and campaigners and members of the House of Lords did a lot of that in the wake of last year's General Election. It's good to see that Tim has written to them as Jerry Lonsdale tweeted the other @timfarron what a pleasent surprise to find a letter from you this morning, thank you Tim, good health and god speed pic.twitter.com/ex3k09YPfE — Jerry Lonsdale (@JerryLonsdale1) May 13, 2016 In addition, ...
Sun 15th
14:50
Traffic chaos caused by accidents - we need to listen to local radio and look to our own driving
Embed from Getty Images On Wednesday there was traffic chaos in Berkshire. A lorry driver sadly lost his life after his vehicle over-turned, closing six lanes over two carriageways on the M4 for nearly twenty hours. Fortunately, I turned onto BBC Radio Berkshire as I left home and, on hearing about the problem, was able to turn around and work from home for the day. Others were not so fortunate. There was a seven mile tailback at one point and drivers were sitting in their cars on the M4 for up to seven and a half hours. The record of ...
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 13,200 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... The Liberal case for Leave (121 comments) by Anne Cremin John Pugh MP writes...2 lessons from Thursday (15 comments) by John Pugh MP Election expenses: Nine of the Tory MPs being investigated named (7 comments) by The Voice Tim Pickstone writes...45 gains must only be the start (23 comments) by Tim Pickstone Liberal Democrats for free trade (59 comments) by Richard Flowers Progress for Lib Dems in local elections (31 comments) by Thomas Shakespeare It all kicks off ...
[IMG: Expenses image] It is that time again when expenses deadlines are looming. All agents need to make sure they have their expenses in order. Your local authority should supply you with a set of election expenses forms. There are 3 basic forms to be submitted for each candidate: 1. The expenses form 2. The candidate's declaration. This declares that the [...]
When you fall foul of Godwin's Law by bringing Hitler into a conversation, you have to expect to be criticised. Boris Johnson isn't stupid. Far from it. He was trying to get those two words resounding in people's heads. It doesn't matter that he refined his comments in the interview. The headlines turbo-boost the poison dripping from the Brexiteers in their highly emotive campaign. They play on people's fears and suggest that leaving the EU would solve all our problems. Both Tim Farron and Paddy Ashdown have been quick to resoundingly condemn Boris's comments. Tim said: Under Hitler, Europeans were ...
Following on from my previous post about the issues we Lib Dems have inadvertently created for ourselves through previous targeting strategies, I wanted to throw in a few suggestions about practical things we could be looking at as a party (as opposed to local strategies that our local parties can employ to improve things, though we need to look at the specifics of them too). I think it's important to reiterate that this isn't about criticising the past, or indeed about 'having a whinge' post-election when it hasn't gone well for us (and in Wales it clearly hasn't, though I ...
Time for another track from the Zombies' album Odessey and Oracle. And time again to quote the band's bass player and Chris White, who wrote half the songs on it: Even till the late 70s we were seen as a curiosity - a band who never quite made it - and then slowly in the 80s and 90s you found young bands quoting it as an inspiration. It's quite surprising to me to find that this album nobody wanted 40 years ago has become an icon. Some people have said it's their idea of the perfect album. It's all quite ...
Last Wednesday I went to a very useful presentation by the Samphire Project, a charity based in Dover. Samphire do no promote a policy agenda but communicate accurate information about immigration, detention, asylum and refugees in the UK. They covered some popular beliefs about migration and compared these to reality. It was hughly educational. I am far from a believer in tabloid panic about migration but I did not know that the number of asylum applications in the UK was only 31,000 last year. This helpful factual graphic was available to share: [IMG: Samphire-Immigration-Facts-JPG] * Antony Hook was #2 on ...
Instagram Day 14 of onicahanby's #quotedmay2016 #challenge - prompt: difference #ink #inkyfingers... Instagram Day 14 of @mjrutell's #pfsixwordchallenge - prompt: fame #ink #inkyfingers #fountainpen... miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 14-05-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 14-05-2016 on #dreamwidth Untitled RT @Iltu123: POLL: Which is your favorite @ClassicDrWho story from this #drwho set? #6thDoctor - Vol 1 Untitled RT @Iltu123: POLL 2: Which is your favorite @ClassicDrWho story from this #drwho set? #6thDoctor - Vol 2 Untitled RT @Iltu123: POLL 3: Which is your favorite @ClassicDrWho story from this #drwho set? #6thDoctor - ...
It's like Lib Dem Christmas this weekend, with Eurovision and a National Day of campaigning to stay in the EU. So many readers will be pleased to see that Abba's Bjorn Ulvaeus has come out for Remain. Watch his interview here:
As the member of a party that is struggling to establish a core vote at all, I found this analysis by the Fabian Society on what is happening to Labour support amongst its traditional voters to be a useful distraction. According to the Guardian Labour is struggling to attract the working-class voters who traditionally formed the core of its support. They say that a report for the Fabian Society by the political analyst Lewis Baston shows that Labour performed well in what he calls "the most modern bits of England" and badly in its heartlands: Turnout in local elections tends ...
Bodily integrity is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy and the self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. It considers the violation of bodily integrity as an unethical infringement, intrusive, and possibly criminal. Anthropologists Margaret Lock and Nancy Scheper – Hughes have provided a useful framework... More Liberty: Body Integrity – sterilization
[IMG: Willie Rennie and therapet] Willie Rennie, seen here seemingly enacting a scene from Lady and the Tramp with a therapet during the election campaign, has called on Nicola Sturgeon to appoint a dedicated minister for mental health when the new Scottish government is announced next week. A major part of the Liberal Democrat election campaign was a call for a step change in the way mental health services are supported. Willie said that this appointment would send a clear message that the Scottish Government is taking mental health issues seriously: Mental health spending has been cut as a share ...
[IMG: Spiral staircase in City Hall, London - CC0 Public Domain] Following up the top 20 wards for Lib Dem vote share on the London Assembly list ballot, here are the wards with the 20 biggest increases in the Liberal Democrat list ballot between 2012 and 2016. In doing these calculations, I've omitted Hackney, Kensington & Chelsea and Tower Hamlets due to boundary changes. There are a couple of wards in Tower Hamlets which might otherwise make it into the top 20, so I'll do a bit more digging on those to see if a like-for-like comparison is possible. Borough ...
Back in February, I advised constituents of the Scottish & Southern Energy project for replacement of high-voltage underground electricity cabling affecting parts of the West End Ward. Details of the Temporary Traffic Order for the work that started at the beginning of April can be read here. I have just received a letter from Scottish & Southern Energy as follows :I have expressed my astonishment that, after five weeks of roads disruption, the company has abandoned the work as the new underground cabling failed a final quality test. Whilst I appreciate that the company will not implement a cabling system ...
Across Britain yesterday, hundreds of local Liberal Democrat parties organised street stalls promoting a Remain vote in the Euro-Referendum. I briefly manned the one outside Stratford Station in Newham and although inevitably many people rushed past without stopping, anxious to catch their train or to do their Saturday shopping, it was encouraging just how many [...]
Of course Cameron's National Living Wage (presently £7.20 per hour) was a bit of a con but at least it was said to be aimed at improving the lot of the most exploited employees. [IMG: index] The real Living Wage at £8.25 per hour (promoted by The Living Wage Foundation) is obviously where the Government's new National Living Wage should have been set. [IMG: logo] But experience is starting to show that employers are getting around the National Living Wage by cutting hours, expecting greater productivity with less resources etc. etc. And this despite the fact that new legislation says ...
Just when I was starting to recover from the bout of Hitler tourettes Ken Livingstone suffered a few weeks back, now we have BoJo in on the act. Speaking to the Telegraph, Boris evoked a grand theory of why the EU doesn't work that involved, you guessed it, the Nazis: "The truth is that the history of the last couple of thousand years has been broadly repeated attempts by various people or institutions - in a Freudian way - to rediscover the lost childhood of Europe, this golden age of peace and prosperity under the Romans, by trying to unify ...
Congratulations to Mark Finney, whose Aston Villarreal (2,218 points) lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after the penultimate gameweek, number 37. But it's close at the top – fewer than 20 points separate the top three, with Mark Widdop and Edward Douglas having made up ground. Sunday marks the final day of the season. Who will emerge triumphant? We'll know by the end of the day... [IMG: ldv 37] There are 219 players in total. * Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.
The Nebula winners were announced an hour or so ago: Best Novel: Uprooted, by Naomi Novik Best Novella: Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor Best Novelette: "Our Lady of the Open Road", by Sarah Pinsker Best Short Story: "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers", Alyssa Wong Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: Mad Max: Fury Road Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: Updraft, by Fran Wilde Alyssa Wong, at 24, is the first Nebula winner born in the 1990s, and the second youngest winner ever (beaten only by Ted Chiang, who got his first Nebula award a few ...
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 60082 Registration Date: 09/05/2016 Location: Brook Farm, Simister Lane, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2SB Proposal: Non-material amendment following granting of planning permission ref. 58827 – Demolition of existing buildings currently used for oil recycling business and livery yard, replacement with 4 no. dwellings and conversion and extension of traditional barn to form a single dwelling: Unit1 – Additional rooflights, alteration of window to include juliet balcony, alterations to internal layout Unit 2 – Additional chimney stack, alterations to roof, windows and internal layout Unit 3 – Additional log store and rooflights, ...
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 60090 Registration Date: 03/05/2016 Location: 48 Derby Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6TN Proposal: Single storey extension at front/two storey extension at side Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. 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: 60088 Registration Date: 05/05/2016 Ward Name: Prestwich – Holyrood Location: 17 Maple Grove, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 3DQ Proposal: Lawful development certificate for proposed extension and modification of storm porch at fron Application Number: 60080 Registration Date: 28/04/2016 Location: 19 Nursery Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 3DU Proposal: Single storey rear extension and dormer loft conversion 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
