The latest recording in this series covers the city's former maternity hospital.
Mon 16th
21:16
Clegg speaks at #libdempint's first birthday - on the Lib Dem recovery and the stark choice we have ...
After 20,000 people joined us in the wake of the horrific election result last year, a few of them had the idea of trying to get a few of them together in London for a drink. A few hundred turned up, Nick Clegg came to speak and the #libdempint phenomenon was born. They've spread across the country and are characterised by a few speeches from ordinary members as well as the occasional appearance from the great and the good. #libdempint celebrates its first birthday today. It was obvious that the guest of honour had to be Nick Clegg. For the ...
Georgia joined the Liberal Democrats a year ago and now is a councillor in Maidstone: With @markpack @Goodison_Blues & @GLH1410 just elected on to Maidstone Council – joined #libdemfightback last May pic.twitter.com/SOr34CuBwY — Daisy Benson (@_DaisyBenson) May 16, 2016
[IMG: Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice] 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 ...
Hello all - and please accept my apologies for being away from here for a little while. "No problem", I can hear you all saying, "we understand that you've been working hard on your dissertation, reading research papers, collecting data and transcribing interviews, analysing it all and making astounding discoveries." Hmmm. Well, the truth is rather more prosaic I'm afraid. ... The post A distinction in procrastination appeared first on ten pence piece.
Mon 16th
17:29
Sefton's 7 northern wards (Southport) racked up big Lib Dem victories in the recent local elections
I thought readers may like to see the detail of the local election results for Sefton's most northerly 7 wards (all in the Southport constituency) that were won by the Lib Dems. The link above is to the web site of my old friend Cllr. Iain Brodie Brown where the detail is located. Whilst 4 of these wards have traditionally elected Liberal Democrat representatives the other 3 (Dukes, Cambridge and Ainsdale) have always been a much harder nut to crack. This year however none of the wards had a close result.
Embed from Getty Images ... but would like to help even more people this time. The Conference Access fund was set up at the beginning of the year to provide financial support to people who otherwise might not be able to afford to attend Federal Conference. The fund supported 19 people at the Spring Conference in York. A good proportion of these were first-timers, one of whom wrote about the experience here on Lib Dem Voice. Registrations for the Autumn Conference in Brighton are well underway. Once again, when you register you are asked whether you would be willing to ...
It is a truism of debating that when a team resorts to invoking Hitler in support of their case they have lost the argument. Boris Johnson's comparison of the aims of the European Union to those of Adolf Hitler is a fine illustration. Not, in my view, that the "out" campaign ever had much of a serious argument in the first place. However, that does not mean that Johnson's absurd claim will have no effect. His clowning panache has considerable public appeal (as has that of the almost-as-flamboyant Nigel Farage.) In fact Johnson's position as de facto leader, or at ...
May arrived in a hurry with a weekend of high temperatures bringing on trees and shrubs in a flurry of soft greens, the woods full of bluebells and the garden full of birdsong. The winter finished off the old pergola, with the wood supports rotten through and the low brick wall behind it split and in need of repair. The small patio it covered is still fine and with the wall repair underway, the top of which will return to providing a garden seat with a view to the woods, the open patio is a good place for the BBQ. ...
[IMG: Maelor Williams] Last year Maelor Williams, who represented the Stainton and Thornton ward in Middlesbrough, passed away. At the time he was the only Lib Dem councillor, and had run up over 60 years of membership of the Liberals / Liberal Democrats along with over 50 years of standing in elections before his death at 77. A local wood is now being renamed in his honour: Stainton Wood will now become Maelor's Wood as a tribute to Councillor Maelor Williams who represented the Stainton and Thornton ward from 1999 until his death in March 2015. The renaming of the ...
It was Anne's birthday yesterday, and I had some recent good news at work, so we celebrated by going to the Netherlands for two days with F (U went to respite care). It was a good trip. Kinderdijk Kinderdijk was a regular excursion for my family when we lived in the Netherlands in 1979-80. The 19 windmills remain a striking picture against the stark landscape. F was also intrigued by the (decommissioned) Wurlitzer jukebox in the Buena Vista cafe where we had lunch, a different take on rotational technology. Keukenhof The farthest point of our trip from home was the ...
Embed from Getty Images Tim Farron has strongly condemned Boris Johnson's extraordinary comparison of the EU with Hitler. Tim said: Under Hitler, Europeans were killing each other, now they are arguing over Eurovision. The European Union is what happens when countries seek to learn from the past and work together. Boris Johnson's latest intervention is what happens when people refuse to learn the lessons of the past and seek to spread discord by inventing conspiracies. The EU has helped secure peace; Hitler destroyed peace and killed millions of innocent people. It is extraordinary that anyone even needs to point this ...
The headline story is that 57 Labour councillors lined up today to approve the dismissal of 2,700 teaching assistants. They will then be offered their jobs back – minus 10% or more of their pay. There is no surprise in that. It was pre-determined when the Labour Party refused permission to discuss the question in December, and then voted against a review of the position in January. There were several very interesting sub-stories to be seen however. Where were the rest of the Labour councillors? 39 of the 96 Labour councillors were not in the chamber to vote. Some of ...
My in-laws have been staying in my house for nearly a week now and I have no privacy, quiet, or time alone (except for very brief periods when Holly can drag them to the shops, as she has this afternoon). ... Continue reading →
Embed from Getty Images Just a couple of remarks as an indication of the Dutch perspective on English/British relations with the European continent. First compare when the English were successful, and when not, in a struggle against France and French Hegemonism, and later against Nazism: When the English kings (without Scottish support) tried to get the upper hand over weak French kings, you ended up with a 100 Years War, without succeeding in the end. When the United Kingdom joined the Dutch Republic (from 1688 up to 1702 with a Orange "Stadhouder", federal president, and from 1702 with the support ...
Today, George Osborne, Ed Balls and Vince Cable shared a platform to argue against Britain leaving the EU. It was all three flavours of mainstream political thinking in the this country telling us that Brexit would be a terrible thing. In other words, it's every mainstream party v UKIP on this one. And UKIP got 13% of the vote at the last general election. Meanwhile, Boris is doing his bit to ensure the idea of Brexit being linked with extremist ideology is a done deal. A friend of mine offered to bet me several months ago that at some point ...
ComRes polled 500 people across Greater Manchester to find out what we all think about having a mayor for Greater Manchester. With Parliament just sorting out the details, Greater Manchester is set to vote for our first elected mayor next May (2017). The poll found: 45% of people knew about the plan for an elected mayor, but 54% didn't. 59% thought the elected mayor should have more powers than elected council leaders, with just 24% thinking they shouldn't. People thought the top priorities for the elected mayor (in order) should be healthcare, emergency services, schools & under-16 education, housing, social ...
Great video showcasing the recent celebrations at the newly refurbished Cheadle Village Hall on Brook Road, behind St Mary's Church.
Embed from Getty Images 'Divided parties don't win elections.' Those were the words of newly-elected London mayor Sadiq Khan, recorded in Saturday's Guardian (14.05), asking his Labour Party for unity. Of course, if true the saying should equally apply to today's Conservative Party, with its bitter infighting even at Cabinet level. Liberal Democrats can offer a saying arguably more telling - 'A small party can help a divided major party form a governing coalition.' A year after the Coalition Government ended, the road to 2020 may lie wide open. We are a small party now, but we are not a ...
Watch the latest videos from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign: The Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney could not be clearer: leaving the EU would lead to the pound falling, unemployment rising - and could even lead to recession. 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.
I joined local Lib Dem members to support the IN campaign in Low Fell in Gateshead on Saturday morning. We had a stall on Durham Road with balloons, t-shirts, leaflets and a petition. I turned up expecting to get a bashing from loads of anti-European residents but it was much better than I expected. Yes there was one person who wasn't going to vote for "those b******d Germans". And of the few
Regular readers of this blog (if there are any now that I'm no longer a regular writer of it) will know that I also have a minor side-career as the author of short books on naval history. That's why I have a new book out, about the sinking of the cruiser Indianapolis in 1945. It's called Lost atSea. Why am I so fascinated by naval history? Well, the answer is that my grandparents lived in Portsmouth and I learned to love the green smell of the harbour as I watched the navy creep in and out past the Ramparts. But ...
This has been doing the rounds for a very long time as West Lancashire Borough Council grapples with such a hugely controversial planning issue. The site sits between Lydiate and Ince Blundell – both these communities are in Sefton Borough but the land between them is in West Lancashire Borough. I am told that letters have started to appear on the West Lancs Council web site supporting the wind farm and that some of them are from people or organisations who are outside of the affected area. Clearly the developers are drumming up support letters in order to counter the ...
[IMG: London panorama. CC0 Public Domain] A follow up to my lists of top 20 Liberal Democrat wards (by vote share and by vote increase) in the 2016 London Assembly elections. Here is the full ward by ward voting breakdown for London Mayor and London Assembly.
Godwin's Law is an internet adage that is derived from one of the earliest bits of Usenet wisdoms, which goes "if you mention Adolf Hitler or Nazis within a discussion thread, you've automatically ended whatever discussion you were taking part in." In other words you have lost the argument. Those defending Boris Johnson's attempt to compare the supposed creation of a European Superstate with the ambitions of Adolf Hitler, whose actions led to the loss of millions of lives and countless suffering, have really missed the point. The individuals that Boris names were power-hungry autocrats who would stop at nothing ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 16 MAY 2016 Fleuchar Street (Eassons Angle to Blyth Street), Blinshall Street (Lochee Road to Douglas Street) and Scott Street (City Road to Glenagnes Road) - closed for 3 weeks for SSE cable renewal works. Thomson Street (Magdalen Yard Road for 100m north) - closed until Monday 16 May for service connections. Perth Road (West Park Road to Blackness Avenue) - closed for 2 weeks for carriageway resurfacing. Riverside Drive - traffic control for one week for carriageway patching works. You can read the weekly ...
[IMG: Deal-High-Street-looking-towards-Town-Hall] In my area I am collecting a Europe related survey of local businesses. My survey asks about ways in which being in Europe may affect them. It covers sales to visitors from Europe, customers in Europe and purchase of supplies from Europe. It also asks about employment of Europeans from other members states and regulations – whether they support EU law on health & safety, equal pay, and so. I ask how any of the regulations affecting business can be improved. Finally, I also about general issues affecting local business, such as skills and education of young people ...
New Scientist has reported a fascinating study. The theory is that people who recognise fear in people are less likely to be violent towards them. Very disappointingly anti bullying programmes and monitoring young offenders have not been found to be effective. Birmingham University researchers divided a group of 50 boys convicted of a crime. One half were a control group. The other half completed 7-9 hours of computer based traning to better recognise facial expressions. This training resulted in significant improvements in the boys involved ability to recognise fear, anger and sadness. This transferred into significantly less violent and severe ...
