Despite the fact that Ros is no longer the Chair of the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment sub-committee, the work done under her leadership still rumbles on, partly due to scheduling delays, as she notes in the speech that follows. In her speech earlier today, she noted the paucity of the Government's response to her Committee's report... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (LD) My Lords, I am grateful to have the opportunity this evening to debate the sub-committee's report on energy union governance. It is some six months since our report was published, although having just heard that ...
My blogging continues to be rather slack of late but a comment on an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience can not be missed. When I started blogging properly back in September 2010, I took this opportunity to lambast the woes of the Welsh footballing team down through the years. I returned to the same theme on a wonderfully happier note only last October when Wales qualified for their first major footballing tournament for 58 years. BordeauxWell this weekend, I was one of around 25,000 fans that made the pilgrimage across the water to see that history being re-written as Wales not only ...
Mon 13th
20:02
Future Fit: Scrapping of Rural Urgent Care Centres is a disaster in the making for Ludlow, says Trac...
"I am in utter despair. This is a disaster in the making." That is the reaction of Shropshire Councillor and nurse, Tracey Huffer, to the news that the Future Fit programme has abandoned any hope of creating Urgent Rural Care Centres in Shropshire. Tracey continues: "We have been told for two years that Future Fit... Continue reading Future Fit: Scrapping of Rural Urgent Care Centres is a disaster in the making for Ludlow, says Tracey Huffer →
Mon 13th
19:26
Good politics like good religion should seek to break down barriers not build new ones and encourage...
My Chaplain during my year as Mayor is Canon Dr, Rod Garner . His most recent column in the Southport Visiter explains why he will being voting to remain in the European Union. THE QUESTION OF IDENTITYIt's 25 years since Dr. Helen Sharman became the first British female astronaut to go into space. In a recent radio interview she was asked if the original journey felt a long time ago. Without hesitation she replied that it was all still wonderfully fresh and real. The enthusiasm in her voice left me in doubt that this was so. In particular she recalled ...
My nominations for Best Novel for the 1941 Retro Hugos were: Kallocain, Karin Boye (finalist) The Ill-Made Knight, T.H. White (finalist) Twice in Time, Manly Wade Wellman The Last Man, aka No Other Man, Alfred Noyes Captain Future and the Space Emperor, Edmond Hamilton I was under no illusions that two slots at least would go to novels I didn't care for, Slan and Gray Lensman, but hoped that I would at least boost the signal for T.H. White and for at least one of the other four. I'm glad that Kallocain was the one that made the cut, though ...
On LDV we rarely reproduce press releases from HQ word for word, but this one needs to be given wide coverage. Although the poster has disappeared from the Leave.EU website it is still circulating across social media. Tim Farron accused the Leave.EU campaign of racism today after the group endorsed by Nigel Farage released a poster saying: "Act now before we see an Orlando-style atrocity here before too long." The poster was taken down online but Leave.EU failed to apologise. Tim said: The latest poster from the leave side shows that campaign's true colours. It is scaremongering at its worst. ...
[IMG: There is a significant gap between perceptions of influence between ethnic minorities and white people according to Demos research] There is a significant gap between perceptions of influence between ethnic minorities and white people according to Demos research The snag is that the fears are real. The photo comes from an article on research by Demos which highlights a perception that ethnic minorities are more able to influence things. That fits with a sense of alienation and fear I have been encountering on the doorsteps among the less wealthy and predominantly white people who have been talking of voting ...
I thought I'd take a few moments to set out exactly where I am on this whole question of membership of the EU. Now, I've never considered myself to be among the most ardently 'pro-European' (in the sense of the EU 'project') of Liberals. I know there are even some (a minority, I suspect) who would even go so far as to want to see an end to the idea of 'nation states', and to have a single European, or even world, 'state' for all people. I'm certainly not among their number, or even close. Indeed, I'm not even a ...
[IMG: celebrities] Coalition: painful for us Lib Dems at times, but this isn't about the last parliament, it's about the referendum. Over the last few weeks' economists, historians, scientists and celebrities have emerged, arguing the benefits of our membership of the EU. However, recent polls indicate increased support for Brexit; prompting calls for all campaigns to up their game. But something else is happening; Brexit campaigners are making more extreme claims as the debate goes on. Farage telling his supporters to 'go out and bully them', Boris Johnson accusing the EU of excessive banana regulation, Diane James' claim of 'we ...
After several months campaigning to keep Britain inside the European Union I have clear picture of what people say they want to hear before voting in the referendum. They don't want scare mongering and are fed up with lies masquerading as facts. The BBC and other objective news outlets ought to deal with the veracity [...]
I'm voting Remain in the EU referendum and here's why 1. I want the ability to live and work abroad for myself and my family. Selfish, maybe. But I also think the flipside of that is others should be free to do similar, unless they are criminals. 2. Brexit would cause a recession in the short term 3. Since the Single Market began, in real terms* the UK has gained 62% in GDP. Source here 4. In today's globalised world, it pays to work as a group to negiotate with other, much larger, more diverse economies who have economies of ...
This Thursday we are fighting a by-election in Tooting, caused by the resignation of Sadiq Khan as MP and election as Mayor of London. Our candidate in Alex Glassbrook, and here is a video of him talking about his campaign – with BSL signing. If you can get to Tooting, or can do some phone banking from home, in the next few days please contact the campaign HQ, by texting Caroline Ogden on 07740 531682. Alex is a barrister who in his spare time volunteers for South West London Law Centres. He also volunteers overseas and has taught in countries ...
The Guardian has the story -see link above. With thanks to my Research Assistant Roy Connell for spotting this story.
[IMG: The Weld Blundell in happier times] The Weld Blundell in happier times www.starpubs.co.uk/pubs/weld-blundell-arms-lydiate If I had a penny for everyone who has asked me in recent weeks whether I know what is going to happen to the closed Wellie Pub then I would be worth a few bob. With thanks to the excellent Lydiate World web site for unearthing the link above. Let's hope the rather poor looking boarded up pub does have a future by Lydiate Village Green.
"Thank you for this statement, part of which we have used. "What is disappointing, however, is the glaring admission - there is no mention whatsoever that it was LGBT+ people who were attacked and killed, and that this was obviously an assault on the community as a whole. "It does matter who the victims are, especially when those victims have been intentionally targeted. "It is easy to focus on the crime rather than its target. But we cannot afford to overlook the fact that it was the LGBT+ community that was the focus of this brutal attack. The attack hurts ...
Mon 13th
12:34
Our green economy can only be protected from full Tory demolition by staying in the EU
[IMG: Lynne-Featherstone---Stroud] Lynne Featherstone has joined forces with Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity to talk about how the EU helps the renewable sector. Just one year of a Tory-only Government we have seen a dangerous unravelling of the green actions of the Coalition. Our investment in the renewable sector made Britain the fastest growing green economy in Europe, created jobs and set solar and wind power on a path to becoming subsidy-free. This progress has been flung into jeopardy by a Government that has not made much effort to hide what it thinks of this "green crap". The renewable sector ...
Mon 13th
12:30Are we in or are we out? It is "in" for me as we face up to the most important political decision fo...
I don't love bureaucracy. I am not a fan of the EU. I am a diehard localist. But I am also a realist. The big world out there is changing fast. We are either part of that big world or we step back. That is the decision we will make on 23 June. It is... Continue reading Are we in or are we out? It is "in" for me as we face up to the most important political decision for generations →
[IMG: Shepway DC website bill payments screen screenshot] A year ago, I posted about the inability of Shepway District Council to accept an online debit / credit card payment for the renewal of a parking permit. On Saturday, I received my renewal notice for my parking permit. You still can't pay it online using a debit or credit card. You still can't pay over the phone with a debit or credit card. To pay by card, you still need to go to the Civic Centre. In June 2015, Rory Love, Cabinet Member for "Digital Delivery", came back to my original ...
This is is an issue that has concerned me for some time, and one that has now been highlighted by Prof Roger Scully of Cardiff University in his excellent blog post Not Waving but Drowning. It relates to those soundbite slogans we Lib Dems, and all of the other parties, invent at election time to emblazon across all of our literature and media output. Remember 'Stronger Economy, Fairer Society' (and something about opportunity that we sometimes add on but not even we can really remember the wording of)? How about 'Look Left, Look Right, Then Cross', or that frankly weird ...
Mon 13th
11:34
Oh Taste and See. the Queens' 90th Birthday Holy Trinity Southport and Liverpool Cathedral
I left the Floral Hall without the cake I had expected, to attend a special service at Holy Trinity to mark the Queens birthday and to welcome the new Archdeacon Pete Spiers. In common with many other places there was a rendition of Happy Birthday which morphed into the National Anthem in a special arrangement by Thomas Hewitt Jones. The choir also sang one of the anthems specially composed for the coronation by Ralph Vaughan Williams, O taste and see. Many of my readers will know one of the choristers who sang at the original performance in 1953 Generations of ...
Over the weekend, I happened upon a YouGov poll that was conducted and released at the end of May on the EU referendum question. This one wasn't your run of the mill polling on the subject – instead, people were asked to rank 30 different well known fictional characters from most likely to vote Remain to most likely to vote for Leave. As we know, polling on the referendum has gone from difficult to understand, to all over the place, to downright wacky. With all of that, how can we really understand how the country will vote on June 23rd? ...
Mon 13th
10:52Official, authoritative Dutch government calculations: "Every Dutch citizen stand to lose 1000 euros...
Embed from Getty Images The morning papers in the Netherlands and NOS (our BBC) all reported last week on a report of the government's Centraal Plan Bureau (CPB = Central Planning Office, authoritative since its start in the late 1940's like your IFS; they seldom are far off the mark in their predictions). I base this piece on articles in De Volkskrant (our Guardian) and Financiele Dagblad (equivalent of the Financial Times) and the NOS news website. It makes for worrisome reading. The immediate effect of a Brexit is, according to the report, that it will cost 1.2% of GDP ...
I have to admit that I've been a little blown away. I've been blogging for some years now and, even when I was doing it every day, I never had a response anything like the last post I wrote about Southern Railways and privatisation. It reached a peak last night of 3,000 people reading it in an hour - that's over 30,000 now since Friday. This is gratifying but also, if I'm honest, a little frightening. The first thing I did was to write an open letter to the chief executive of Southern's operating company, GTR. You can read it ...
"Learn to ride" and "Fix" courses have been added to the Bikeability scheme in South Gloucestershire. The first gives children basic cycling skills and road safety, while "Fix" involves mechanics teaching basic maintenance such as puncture repairs. Most Bikeability training for children takes place in schools but there are also free courses available in the summer. Adults can book individual lessons here. A scheme called Bikeability Recycled, which saw used and unwanted bikes refurbished and made roadworthy before being redistributed to people in the community, is being extended until the end of August. The council hopes to win funding to ...
The Fulham West by-election 1938 was won for Labour by Edith Summerskill, taking the seat from the Conservatives by 52%-48% in the face of widespread predictions by pundits that the Tories would hold on. Why mention this?
Last night during the Sky News paper review at 10:30 (it wasn't repeated at 11:30) Owen Jones, who is someone I admittedly don't always agree with tried to make the point that the attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando was a direct homophobic attack. In a heated exchange in which Mark Longhurst the host and Julia Hartley-Brewer tried to down play the homophobic element of the attack Longhurst said "you don't have ownership of this horror cause you're gay." I for one, and reading social media late last night, must of the LGBT+ community were outraged by such a ...
Embed from Getty Images The snag is that the fears are real. An article on research by Demos which highlights a perception that ethnic minorities are more able to influence things. That fits with a sense of alienation and fear I have been encountering on the doorsteps among the less wealthy and predominantly white people who have been talking of voting for "Out". In many of my doorstep conversations with people who say they want to vote out of the EU, I have been left with a sense that it is those who stand to lose most from leaving the ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT WEST END REPORT FOR WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 13 JUNE 2016 Scottish Water Clatto East mains renewal - Session Street closed for up to one week. Old Hawkhill temporary traffic lights for up to one week. Millers Wynd closed from Friday 17 June. Thomson Street (Magdalen Yard Road for approximately 100m north) - closed from Monday 13 June for 5 days for Scottish Water service connection works. Forthcoming Closures Seabraes Lane (from No 11 for a distance of 30m westwards) - closed from Monday 20 June for 5 days for gas service connection works. ...
The massacre of clubbers at a gay venue in Orlando, Florida, is the worst mass killing by a gunman in US history. Fifty people are dead and several others wounded; across the world there have been spontaneous vigils and acts of mourning. The gunman's ex-wife says he has a personality disorder, which underlines why there [...]
Nailing the lie about unelected Brussels bureaucrats Robin Lustig's lucid analysis #fb (tags: eu ukpolitics ) Frank Bruni on Orlando An attack "on freedom itself". (tags: guns uspolitics sexandgenderandsexuality ) 10 steps to Brexit What could go wrong between now and next week... (tags: eu ukpolitics ) 1.5 million registered to vote last week Will it help? (tags: eu ukpolitics ) WikiLeaks to publish more Hillary Clinton emails - Julian Assange Assange helping Trump. (tags: wikileaks uspolitics ) GOP blocked bill to stop terrorists buying guns A year ago. (tags: uspolitics guns )
This is another of my "from Facebook" posts... a brief response to the horrific events in Orlando. This is horrendous, and as always on such occasions I struggle with how best to react. I'm sure I'm not alone: many people say their "thoughts and prayers" are with the victims and their families: and I'm sure they genuinely are. Others that they're "sending their love". As an atheist my prayers are obviously with no-one, and although my thoughts are with those bereaved, this seems as futile as "sending love", whatever that means. The next step for many is to try and ...
