Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Tavish Scott today set out five tests for new Education Secretary John Swinney as his rocky introduction to his new portfolio continued. Yesterday, Iain Ellis, chair of the National Parents' Forum of Scotland, warned that plans for national testing "would put far too much pressure and stress on the individual pupils". [...]
Another glimpse of the industrial steam railways of the Northamptonshire ironstone belt in their last years. The music is no better than before.
Embed from Getty Images And he's right. In the elections earlier this month Kirsty Williams was the only Liberal Democrat to win a seat in the Welsh Assembly. She increased her majority over the Conservatives in Brecon and Radnor to more than 8000. It's strange to recall that the 1985 by-election, when the seat first turned Liberal, was a neck-and-neck contest with Labour. (I was there.) Beyond Kirsty's victory, our results in Wales were universally dismal. We are firmly established as the country's fifth party - that rumbling sound you can hear is Lloyd George turning in his grave. Though ...
Embed from Getty Images Time to post a link to an old Liberator article of mine: So read Rorty, Popper and Berlin. Read L.T. Hobhouse if you want and pretend to have read T.H.Green if you must. But above all read the Mill of On Liberty.
I was delighted to see that Sefton Council had elected Iain as its new Mayor this week, not least because Iain is a friend of mine. I wanted to write up a personal tribute so here it is at the start of his mayoral year. [IMG: Iain with one of his daughters and grandchildren. Photo credit OTS news] Iain with one of his daughters and grandchildren. Photo credit OTS news You meet all kinds of folks in politics as you do in life generally but Iain is one of those people who sticks out as being firm in terms of ...
Recent arrivals to the Liberal Democrats might have thought that the conclusive vote at Federal Conference on remedying inequality in candidate selection had resolved things. However, one of the party's less transparent bodies, the English Council, is debating a series of resolutions as to how the party's candidate selections in England will be run. For the uninitiated, the English Council is a body of around 160 representatives, normally elected by regional parties [and the renamed Young Liberals]. The obscureness of the electoral procedure ensures that party bureaucrats are best placed to attend. Nonetheless it takes decisions on substantial issues including ...
Liberal Democrats across Greater Manchester have welcomed the announcement earlier last week that officials from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have met with the Volvo Bus Corporation to discuss proposals to replace the current bus fleet with a new electric fleet run on rechargeable batteries. A spokesperson for the Lib Dem group on Transport for Greater Manchester has welcomed the move: "I am pleased that Volvo have indicated that they would like to start a trial of up of thirty new battery-powered buses in Manchester city centre in 2017, and that they would also like to back this with an ...
Councillors met last week for Bury's 'Annual Council'. The event elects a new Mayor every year, but this year councillors also elected a new Council Leader. Councillor Mike Connolly (Labour, East Ward) is the new Mayor of Bury for 2016-17. Councillor Rishi Shori (Labour, Radcliffe West) is the new Leader of the Council. We wish them both the very best in their new roles. New Mayor of Bury, Councillor Mike Connolly, with his partner and Mayor's Consort Ian Hargreaves. (Bury Council) The Lib Dems on Bury Council will be represented on all the major committees – more details here.
Embed from Getty Images It is rather disconcerting that, sitting down to write this post, I have to think quite hard about what I can and can't say. It does seem that free speech is rather trammeled when people can't talk directly about this case. Those who have bothered to spend a little time googling (try Australian, US and Canadian outlets or a well-known political blog), will know what I am talking about. Those who haven't, won't. It's all a bit strange. That said, it seems to me that the Supreme Court have taken a sensible decision in the case ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: When the first Grel subdued the beasts of the plains and mountains, they gave thanks for their mastery of the paradise that was Grellor. For truly there was never a more beautiful world than this land of marshes and dark moist places, and truly there was never a more blessed race than the mighty Grel. For strong they were and handsome of feature; not for them the blighted featureless faces of the other savage and simple beasts. Their tentacles rippled with pride as this brave people recognized their mastery of all before them. The land ...
With Monday 31st May being a Bank Holiday the bin collection rota for the week is put back a day. If you normally have your bin emptied on a Monday, that week it will be Tuesday , and so on . The week beginning 31st May is a blue bin ( ie Dry Recyclable) week
[IMG: Folkestone St Martins Primary School] Huge congratulations to Kate Love of St Martin's CoE Primary School in Folkestone for winning the Kent Headteacher of the Year 2016 Award and Ashford and Shepway Area Head Teacher of the Year 2016 Awards last night. Teachers from across Kent were honoured at the award ceremony in Leeds Castle last night, with Brockhill Park also picking up two Kent wide awards, with Mel Williams winning the Kent Maths Teacher of the Year award and Robyn Fuller the Kent Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) of the Year. As I nominated Kate for the award, I'm ...
Liberal Democrats quite like to be in government. We like to think that we can make a difference. So when the larger parties find themselves without an overall majority, we - as individuals – are courted. This article deals with two aspects of the decision to go into coalition - political legitimacy and our party's mandate to govern. Liberal Democrats do not support the current unequal voting system. Put simply, we want every vote to be valued equally. We want the number of elected representatives to correspond to the number of people who voted for each party. So, if a ...
Last night, 19th May, it was the annual meeting of Blyth Town Council. Against previous custom and practice, the outgoing Mayor, Cllr Margaret Parker was nominated to return as Mayor for the 2016/17 year. Don't get me wrong, I congratulate her on her re-appointment, but wonder if there were no other volunteers / candidates within the Labour group. Cllr Adrian Cartie was nominated and therefore elected as Deputy Mayor. Not unsurprisingly I was replaced as Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee. I took the post last year to do the Labour Group a favour, but " have been seen to be ...
We are here, and we're going to have a good time, like we've been before... supposedly. The Monkees' new album, Good Times, comes out next week, but if you're in Canada, or know how to use a VPN, it's available ... Continue reading →
[IMG: DSCF0088] Earlier this month, we reported, tongue-in-cheek, on two Wounded Liberal Democrats nursing dog bitten fingers. We've now been contacted with news of two Liberal Democrats who have recently sustained broken bones in the course of campaigning for the party. We'd like to send these virtual flowers to the two members as well as listing them on this roll of honour. So, we take our hat off to: Liz Barrett Liz broke her wrist while canvassing for Willie Rennie – but was still phone knocking up for him a few days later on polling day. Poddy Clark Poddy from ...
[IMG: crime+scene+tape3] You will know that there is a growing story about possible widespread breaches of the law, amounting to criminal offences, by Conservatives at the 2015 General Election. The people of this country suffer a disempowering electoral system, a press controlled by a handful of billionaires mostly living abroad, and a system whereby one or two parties can massively outspend all other election participants. They can use power to reward their donors, making government a glorified client relations system. Until the day when we can put right those failings in our democracy, the least the people thought we were ...
The Western Mail reports that former Wales Office minister David Hanson has called for a ban on people who live outside Wales being able to stand in the Assembly. Mr. Hanson is exercised by the election of UKIP's Neil Hamilton to the Welsh Assembly. Mr Hamilton's main home is a manor house in Hullavington, Wiltshire (pictured below) and rather than following his new job over the border into Wales he is considering buying a mobile home instead. It is not clear whether he expects the Assembly to pay for that vehicle or not, in lieu of a permanent office. Mr. ...
A new report shines a light on the links that BP has developed with leading cultural institutions. Does this limit their ability to speak out on climate change? "I'd prefer the wording not to focus on environmental damage" - those were the words used in an email by the company Shell, as it attempted to muscle in on the Science Museum's curatorial decision making. In 2014, Shell had been a sponsor of the museum's climate science exhibition but once that controversial email had been unearthed - as the result of a freedom of information request - there was no going ...
This interview with Norman Lamb in the Telegraph. In it, he talks about why he is so motivated to change mental health care. We knew about how he and his wife Mary have supported their son Archie through battles with OCD and, for the first time, he talks about losing his sister Catherine to suicide last year. Anyone who has gone through those sorts of experiences, or who has tried to get treatment for mental ill health, will understand the frustrations that he describes and will understand how that drove him on to transform as much as he could while ...
[IMG: ALDC and LGA Lib Dems] Bookings are now open for this year's Conference in June.
Liberal Democrat peers have secured an impressive 20 slots out of 51 for Private Members' Bills for the Parliamentary session ahead. Talk about punching above our weight! The Bills cover all the sorts of subjects that you would expect Liberal Democrats to be talking about. On Monday Olly Grender and Judith Jolly introduce theirs on Renters' Rights and Register of Arms Brokers respectively. Later on, we have Antony Lester's on preserving the independence of the BBC, Lynne Featherstone on reducing carbon emissions, John Sharkey on student finance, Brian Paddick on online privacy, Meral Hussein-Ece on addressing the BAME pay gap, ...
... but doesn't carry on quite as planned. I particularly love the person rushing in to take a photo at the end: Hat-tip: James Crabtree
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! How I Acted Like A Pundit And Screwed Up On Donald Trump | FiveThirtyEight Interesting long-read mea culpa from Nate Silver?How I Acted Like A Pundit And Screwed Up On Donald Trump http://53eig.ht/1XD5MWS Research Briefings – Local Elections 2016 No, *you're* reading the House of Commons' research briefing, 'Local Elections 2016' http://bit.ly/1XD3hnl Why tobacco 'plain packaging' could have dangerous unintended consequences Interesting ...
Terrorist attacks often leave children without parents and real economic struggle on top of all the emotional turmoil and pain. France's minister for the family, Laurence Rossignol, has encouraged the families of children who lost a parent in the 13 November attacks to request the status of "ward of the nation", which dates back to World War One and could entitle the child to grants and subsidies for their education and early adult life. It;s a small compensation for their loss and the sacrifices they have given for their country. Why don't we do that in the UK? This would ...
On Twitter, I've been feeling the heat from the Leavers of late. Despite being a passionate Europhile, I have a lot of sympathy for these people. They are exactly where I and many people I worked with on the Yes to AV campaign were five years ago. "It's all unfair", "the other guys are nasty liars", "it's all an establishment conspiracy" – the echoes are so identical it is eerie. One such Brexiteer sent me a list of five questions the Remain campaign and the Prime Minister "must answer" in the run in to referendum polling day. I'm not either ...
Fri 20th
08:55
Can the Liberal Democrats provide a vision for Britain that the disaffected can support?
A few weeks ago Liberal Democrat Voice published an article by Lord William Wallace entitled Could Trumpland reach Britain in which William Wallace argued that we need to firstly "pay more attention to 'the bottom third' of society." He identified that "what used to be called 'the white working-class' has deserted the Democrats in the USA" and spoke of the rise of Marine le Pen in France and UKIP in Britain. Lots of liberals talk of the rise of inequality over the last 30 or so years. However few if any talk of the major causes of this - firstly ...
Why Marvel won the battle of the battling superheroes *Abundant spoilers from the get-go* Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War are in many regards very similar films. Both films feature superheroes. Both films centre on those heroes fighting each other. In both films, the impetus for that conflict is the [...]
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-36276346 The BBC web site has the story – see link above [IMG: index] So let me get this right, despite the banking crash, the loss of investors money and taxpayers having to bail out banks that had seemingly been operating in an outrageously risky way no one is to blame for banks acting like casinos? How come Iceland made its bankers pay for all the misery they caused there but here the bankers just walk away whilst the rest of us pay? Thanks to my Research Assistant Roy Connell for picking up on this story
My previous recent posting refers at:- [IMG: WP_20160429_20_25_23_Pro] There's now a petition to try to save this branch from closure – please consider signing it. It is available via the link below:-
This is the front page of The Journal from earlier this week. It puts into context the ludicrous decision by Labour in Gateshead to walk away from devolution and the North East Combined Authority (NECA). The implications of the decision are enormous. While the rest of the region goes ahead with devolution and an elected mayor, Gateshead is declaring UDI. The People's Republic of Gateshead,
