Do you like living in this country? I do. It's where I'm from, and I like it. Not that I couldn't quite happily live in many other countries and like them too, but the UK is a technologically advanced liberal democracy with a dynamic economy, strong public services and incredible arts, culture and restaurants. Unlike those people (on the Left and on the Right) who I used to meet when knocking on doors politically who thought that the country had gone to the dogs and who automatically assumed that I agreed with them, I actually like some aspects of the ...
Earlier tonight, I attended the latest meeting of the Friends of Riverside Nature Park committee that took place at the Mitchell Street Centre. There were useful discussions on a whole host of issues affecting the park. There's a useful Friends of Riverside Nature Park Facebook page you can access here. Later this evening, I had the pleasure attending the Annual General Meeting of Starter Packs Dundee, which took place at the Salvation Army Gatehouse in Ward Road. It was a well-attended meeting and there was an interesting talk by Lorna Tunstall. Session Clerk at Inchture & Kinnaird Parish Church, who ...
It will come as no surprise that a Liberal Democrat member is going to vote Remain. Though I have never been an instinctive federalist, I have always believed that membership of the European Union and and embracing of our European identity are good for Britain. The referendum campaign has only strengthened me in that belief. The Remain campaign has lacked sparkle, but the sheer weight of informed opinion from economists and business against leaving the European Union is compelling. So much so that Michael Gove, who has long presented himself as the champion of rigour in education, has been reduced ...
I have posted quite a bit about tomorrow's referendum, I'm sorry if this has annoyed any of you, however it is the biggest decision that has faced our country in our lifetimes and on a subject I feel very passionate about. I think the leave camp have been much loader and passionate in general than the remain, therefore I have felt compelled to add my voice as much as I can just to make the remain a little louder.But that's the problem for me, the way that this referendum is run, so much of the media coverage is focused on ...
The Queen arrived at the International Business Festival (IBF) to open the new convention facilities in Liverpool to be met by the obligatory line of Mayors. Before she arrived we had all be tutored in the appropriate things to do; doff your hat with left hand and shake hands with you right hand. All this advice was almost negated when someone thrust a brochure into our hands as the royal party arrived. Fortunately the mayoress of St Helens had a capacious handbag and collected up all the brochures. There followed a short period of polite conversation as the Queen was ...
I've spoken for Remain and the Liberal Democrats at over 50 debates in this campaign – in villages halls, church halls, schools, pubs, universities, a science park and even one on a beach. A lot of party campaigners have been doing this. Everyone who is prepared to speak for our cause in public deserves a big thank you. I like to speak without notes so I did not think there was a copy of my speeches as delivered. [IMG: Lewes May 2016 speaking cropped] But a kind supporter surprised me yesterday. She recorded one of my speeches, wrote it up ...
You may have noticed that I've not posted much here for the last few weeks. Partly, that's because of day-job stuff. Partly, it's because I've had some freelancing work, which I can't talk about publicly on here, but which may ... Continue reading →
The Referendum Pledge Challenge has been in full swing for a couple of weeks now and parties across the UK have been embracing it and earning themselves some serious cash. As you will have heard we challenged every local party to use their pledge cards, make calls and knock on doors all with the express aim of entering data into Connect so we can contact voters on polling day and, ultimately, increase turnout. Some of last week's winners have continued to press on and have once again found themselves on the leader board. This week's worthy prize winners are: Edinburgh ...
Willie Rennie has been travelling round Scotland on town centre tour over the last few days, urging voters to vote to remain in the European Union. Here he is in Perth: Campaigning for remain in Perth with the team. #INtogether Still lots undecideds so work still to be done. pic.twitter.com/3kdb5MH8l6 — Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) June 22, 2016 In his final pitch to voters he said: Voters going to the polls tomorrow will be doing more than simply putting a cross in a box. They are taking a decision over the values that will define us as a nation for decades ...
Wed 22nd
17:48
Electoral register reaches record size, refuting individual registration scaremongering
Time for a return to my 'don't believe the electoral registration Armageddon myths' theme. This time it is the provisional electoral registration total for the European referendum. As the Electoral Commission reports, the size of the electoral register has reached a new record high: Data collected from the 382 local voting areas shows the provisional size of the UK and Gibraltar electorate indicates a UK record of 46,499,537... The previous record UK electorate for a similar franchise to that used at the EU referendum was the 46,354,197 voters registered prior to the UK Parliamentary General Election in 2015. So much ...
Dan Snow talks to a rally in Birmingham supporting Britain remaining in the EU #StrongerIn pic.twitter.com/M3ivYHvaZx — Stronger In Press (@StrongerInPress) June 22, 2016 It has just passed half eleven at night here in South Korea but I'm still wired awake. And I'm rather surprised why: an election thousands of miles away. Polling days have [...]
[IMG: strip the willow] I've found this EU Referendum really difficult. It's been a horrible, nasty, divisive campaign with the most uncomfortable racist and nationalist overtones. I can't remember which of our lot said it, but they were right that the dog whistle has become a foghorn. The thought that within 48 hours, our country might choose the path of isolationism and blaming of the others, believing a campaign based on lies is not doing anything for my anxiety levels. This afternoon, however, there was bright spot. Outside the Scottish Parliament, the folk group Lau held a ceilidh flashmob to ...
Second paragraph of Chapter 3: Some well-placed observers believe that this meeting in Crawford, at the start of April 2002 and nearly a full year ahead of the actual invasion, marked the moment at which Tony Blair began to commit Britain to invasion. The hold that the prime minister made a binding, though private pledge.² ²The former British ambassador in Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, told the Chilcot Inquiry he was 'not entirely clear what degree of convergence was... signed in blood, at the Crawford ranch' but pointed to the 'clues in the speech that Tony Blair gave the next day' ...
Wed 22nd
17:00
LibLInk: Edward McMillan Scott: Turkey's EU membership will remain in the EU's deep freeze, no matte...
The Leave campaign continue to peddle the lie that Turkey is about to join the EU. This is not going to be happening any time soon despite the disgraceful leaflet which shows the 76 million figure and an arrow going straight from Turkey to Britain (and actually in Scotland, the arrow pointed to Scotland). Former Liberal Democrat MEP Edward McMillan has outlined the issues surrounding Turkey's application in an article on politics.co.uk. Turkey has always been a divisive issue for the Tories, whose Ukip tendency see Turkey's membership as the final nail in the EU's coffin. I witnessed this for ...
With less than 24 hours left before polls open, it has all gone a bit Game of Thrones over here in Referendum UK. It is not quite as gory, but the leading figures of the Remain and Leave campaigns are fighting like a bunch of public schoolboys. Oh, wait a minute....! The Telegraph's live blog of events records the insults being traded by both sides, summing up the reason why nobody believes a word either side is saying and why most people wish they would just go away and leave them alone. In fact, 10pm on Thursday cannot come quick ...
In a video for the European Movement, of which he is President, Paddy Ashdown urges people to make sure they vote, and vote Remain tomorrow. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Dear Olivia, You have indicated to me that you are seriously considering voting tomorrow for the UK to leave the European Union. This has caused me some distress as not only do I value your opinion but I fear that you may be representative of a number of Conservatives whom I previously considered to be [...]
This is a very different post to what I usually write. It's longer and possibly a bit rambling. But it comes from the heart. I haven't posted anything on this site for a while – mainly because I have been far too busy doing politics to have time to write about what's going on. But now I have reached the point with the EU Referendum that I just have to write something. Tomorrow we vote. And I can't keep my thoughts to myself any longer. Let's be clear. I am writing this as someone who is firmly in the Remain ...
Despite weeks of campaigning and countless articles and debates, the Leave and Remain campaigns have consistently failed to connect with voters at a local or regional level. Yet, the EU has been one of the most active and effective organisations in overcoming regional inequality, with Northern Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, the Tees Valley, and the Scottish Highlands currently receiving the largest amount of EU funding per person. In this blog, I suggest that the EU is as issue of huge regional, as well as national importance, and that the North West of England is a strong case in point. From 2007 ...
[IMG: Get Connect ready for polling day!] LDHQ have just sent out an email detailing all of the Connect support on polling day. 1. Connect's Support Line: 020 7227 1206 We have our Connect helpline available right from when polls open on Thursday, all the way through to 10pm. If you need any Connect support on the day, make sure you have [...]
We don't normally put personal viewpoints on here, but this article explains why our editor is voting REMAIN. The Brexit campaigners want to return to a Britain that never existed for most of our people. As a child I played on the bomb sites. Bath time was in a tin bath in the living room. The toilet was outside and round the side of the house, though we were luckier than our neighbours, who had to cross our front to get to their loo. I played with ration coupons - food rationing had only just finished, nine years after the ...
Embed from Getty Images As our Chief Whip in the Lords, I want to respond briefly to the article that was posted yesterday about our Peers and social media. Firstly some facts – the Lib Dem group in the Lords has more Peers on Twitter than any other party or political group there, and between them they have over 100,000 followers. What they say online therefore is clearly reaching a lot of people. We also have a new Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LibDemLords) which highlights the work done by our Peers. Every week the Letter of the Lords is sent out – ...
My previous posting about the the demolition of this and the old Maghull Library refers – see link below:- [IMG: Maghull's former Stafford Moreton Youth Centre boarded up.] Maghull's former Stafford Moreton Youth Centre boarded up. The Youth Centre was a 1960's building named after a prominent local councillor called Henry Stafford Moreton, indeed the adjacent Stafford Moreton Way is also named after him of course. I did not know him as my time in local politics (starting in 1980) coincided roughly with him retiring from it. I do know his nephew Chris Bayliss though and Chris's Uncle Frank ...
I was in London over the weekend to sort out some business so yesterday I was doing a bit of catch up in campaigning for the Lib Dem Remain campaign. I headed down to the Watergate Estate in Whickham to deliver 370 of our Focuses, which contain a call to vote Remain. Thankfully there are lots of terraces on the Estate so I was able to get it done in less than 2 hours. Alas, I had jokes from
Today is World Humanist Day, a day of celebration set up in the 1990s. Humanism is not a religion. It is a world view based on secular values, common to any person regardless of nationality, race, culture, sexuality, gender or background. Its ethos is captured in the phrase - nothing to die for, everything to live for. Humanism is growing across the world and often people lead a humanist life without realising it. The Guardian reported last month that, for the first time, in England and Wales those who identify as non-religious now outnumber Christians. Sadly, many people still suffer ...
If you have a postal vote and have not yet returned it, you can take it into ANY polling station within the St Albans district up until 10pm on Thursday If you have an emergency on Thursday eg work or medical, you can contact the council and get an emergency proxy vote up until 5pm on Thursday. [...]
Wed 22nd
11:55Gems from the archive: David Lloyd George and other Liberals speaking at the 1929 general election
Back in the early 20th century, political parties used to record speeches and distribute gramophone copies around the country for replaying at local meetings. I recently came into possession of a set of such records from the 1929 general election and, with thanks to Pete Dollimore for his help, here now they are for the public to hear once again. The speakers include David Lloyd George and the first female Liberal MP, Margaret Wintringham.
Peace: the single most important reason for the creation of what we now call the European Union, and the reason it remains so crucial. The European project arose from a clear vision: to make war in Europe 'materially impossible', to create enduring peace in a continent long ravaged by war. It is almost impossible to imagine now the devastation that plagued our continent for so long. And that is thanks to the visionary ideas of its founders. A spirit of reconciliation and mutual cooperation among the six founding members was crucial to ensuring Immanuel Kant's idea of perpetual peace seemed ...
When you vote in this referendum, you're voting on the future of young people across the UK - and the vast majority want to stay IN Europe so they can make the most out of their life.
[IMG: remain] Yeah, right. I was always voting Remain. When asked by my step-son Joe (aged 11) why I was putting a "Remain" poster in the window, I could have given him lots of answers. I could have talked about the likely damage that leaving the EU will do to the British economy, and thus the equally likely Government cuts in spending on services, benefits and tax increases on the lowest paid. I could have talked about the trade uncertainty that would (again. likely: nothing is certain in life) be caused, and the impact that could have on local employers ...
So here we are. After what feels like years of campaigning, the polling stations will open less than 24 hours from now on what will be one of the most momentous decisions the country has ever undertaken. At present I feel a bit like someone who has been told he might have cancer, but the results will be given to me over the next 48 hours. At the end of that time span, I could be told I am going to die – or I could be told it is all clear. If people think I'm exaggerating for effect, I'm ...
I am six inches taller this week. Wales smashed Russia in Toulouse! Russia was our heroic ally during the war but for most of my adult life, we were living under the threat of a huge looming Stalinist empire. I grew up with soccer, as we used to call it. Saturdays were school rugby in the morning, and the Boys' Enclosure at the Wrexham Racecourse soccer ground in the afternoon. Tunnicliffe thunders down the wing, crosses to Les Speed in the centre who puts the ball in the net. At our end, the amiable Ferguson tries to keep his knees ...
See my guide to how Referendum night could play out, area by area, hour by hour, now available for download. Enjoy!
The referendum in the UK has hardly been a spectacle of informed and intelligent debate. We have seen absurd statements made by politicians who must clearly know that they are lying. The cost of EU membership is easily provable with the most cursory online research and yet the the Leave campaign have run with a number that is provably not true- £350 million a day is at least twice and probably three times more than any actual number, and anyway assumes that the UK receives no benefit from membership, which we do, even if Leave can hardly deny, although they ...
I have an article in the New Statesman, asking why anyone would want to be Prime Minister if we vote to Leave. I'd be interested in what you think on this issue, so please do comment below. If we vote for Brexit, and a Leave campaigner becomes Prime Minister, their every word of reassurance will be repeated back to them a thousand-fold. As the country lurched into recession, economists would point out that 90% of them had predicted this. Voters would ask the new Prime Minister, why did you say Project Fear was a lie? If David Cameron remained Prime ...
Earlier this month, I advised of a temporary traffic order in respect of Thomson Street. However, this temporary road closure from 13th June did not go ahead due to issues around the completion of the water supply to the care home extension at the south end of the street. The temporary traffic order has now been rescheduled. The City Council advises: THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water service connection works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT ...
Candidates' Commitment to Human Rights Should Play Crucial Role in UN Secretary-General Election Who's failed to deliver? (tags: humanrights un ) Who Is to Blame for Brexit's Appeal? British Newspapers Mr. Johnson and his fellow Brexit proponents are now campaigning against the caricature of the European Union that he himself helped create. They are asking the British people to part with a monster about as real as the one in Loch Ness. (tags: ukpolitics eu ) Nicholas Whyte: Brussels policy machinery is actually very open to external input The Belfast Newsletter prints my email message. (tags: croatia ukpolitics migration Balkans ...
