Stephen Tall cannot but take Brexit personally: "When he's older I'll have to explain to my son why we voted to leave the EU ... For a lot of ... people — I don't know how many, none of us does — it was simply that they didn't want more immigrants, people like his mother, in this country." The Liberal Democrats have their highest membership for a decade. Left Foot Forward talks to some new recruits. "David Cameron's decision to promise a referendum on British membership of the EU will be remembered as the greatest blunder ever made by a ...
Former Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has called for Tony Blair to be impeached over his conduct in the run-up to the Iraq War. Baker told the Argus: "We have had to wait a long time for this and there is a sense that justice delayed is justice denied. "Tony Blair is in terrible self denial. Saying the evidence wasn't sexed up can only be trying to keep his spirits up. You almost feel sorry for him. "He should just admit he was wrong and move on. "I would like him to be impeached and made to defend himself because ...
"Nobody knows anything." That's what the screenwriter William Goldman said. He went on to explain: Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.And it's certainly true of British politics now too. Take what I wrote on Sunday: There will be no coronation for the new Conservative leader. Two names will be put to the party's leadership. Those names will be Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom. May will win the ballot, but it will be no walkover - say ...
Honestly, I've not known what to write this past fortnight: so much things to say. But, then, so's everyone else. I was at a big dinner last night in the Remain stronghold of Oxford (numerous 'in' posters, and even a pristine EU flag, still defiantly displayed), saying farewell to my old boss, Tim Gardam, principal of St Anne's. Lots of people I knew, but hadn't seen in some time, which is usually the cue for amiably redundant small-talk. Yet, without exception, the conversation turned immediately to Brexit and their wretched dismay. Of course if Leave had won, plenty of their ...
After last week's satisfying post-referendum by-election seat gain, this week was rather more mundane. More mundane, but perhaps also more insightful into the challenge the Liberal Democrats face and the dangers of premature Stakhanovite optimism. For this week we saw one contest with no Lib Dem candidate and two with Lib Dem vote increases, taking the party in those wards from a very distant placing to a still pretty distant placing. Up by 4% in both of those wards fits the point Jonathan Calder made well about how the party needs more good third places – i.e. showing that it ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36742691 The BBC has the video on its web site – see link above Don't you just know that us Remainers will be making our points for years to come no matter how often we are told 'shut up', 'move on' or the 'people have spoken' by Brexiters. They can't make the most ridiculous public policy decision in a generation and more, have all their leaders run away after the vote and then think that the 48% of us who know the decision was barking will just sit back on the sofa with them and watch the catastrophe unfold. My ...
Whickham Community Festival is being held tomorrow from 10am to 2pm so I helped put the bunting up today on St Mary's Green, ably assisted by Cllr John McClurey who did all the scary ladder climbing to get to the top of lampposts. (I did manage to climb a tree however to wrap bunting around a branch!) There will be live music and entertainment and, in what is now a bit of a tradition, I will
Second paragraph of third chapter: Before he set out for Cologne, Morton spoke to Sir Oliver Passmore on the telephone to ask for any further news or indication of what to expect. Passmore chose his words with care. He had been choosing his words with care for most of his life. 'We're not absolutely sure what Kramer intends,' Passmore told him. 'He may try to do what his predecessor, Jacques Delors did, when he was President-designate back in 1985.' This is another real political treasure of times past, a thriller written by none less than the father of Boris Johnson, ...
The Chilcott Report is full of it, the failure of politicians to challenge the intelligence which misled them into believing that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Apparently the information they were given was partial, omitting key caveats, and swallowed too easily. I don't pretend it's on a par, but the willingness of Durham county councillors to reach for the Weapon of Mass Dismissal against it's own teaching assistants on the basis of partial information still disturbs me. So does the fact that I have twice been refused access to the Corporate Management Team's report(s) which led to the the ...
Embed from Getty Images So Wales did not get beyond the semi finals in Euro 2016. Or rather; Wales got through to the semi finals of Euro 2016. An awesome performance which highlighted real teamwork and courage. They had tenacity in the face of people expecting so little of them. They believed in themselves and gave it everything. They stood out as a team who felt privileged to be in the contest, wanted to make their mark and will come home to Wales with their heads held high having made it to the semi finals. Llongyfarchiadau Cymru/Congratulations Wales. I am ...
On Wednesday, the Conservatives and Labour voted to go ahead with the new waste strategy for South Glos. Your Focus Team welcomed the weekly recycling collections and the flexibility that residents will be given to choose boxes or bags for keeping their recycling in. When the draft strategy proposed switching everyone to boxes we raised concerns about people who have limited space and local people made the same point in the consultation. We also welcomed the reintroduction of a reusable nappy incentive scheme, which we hope will help more parents switch from disposable nappies. The strategy also includes replacing the ...
I am writing to notify you of the forthcoming Carriageway resurfacing works along the A1057 Hatfield Road, St Albans. The works will be carried out throughout the length of the roundabout at the junction with Oaklands Lane. The works will be completed using a full Road Closure on Wednesday 27th July and will take approximately 1 night to complete between 8pm - 5am. A soft [...]
Fri 8th
15:01
Southport Schools Partnership. Schools Council celebration of their contribution to the town
Ben Mitchell with his special Community Hero Award The week ended on a high with a visit to Southport's Learning Partnership meeting at Greenbank High School. The evening brought together representatives of School Councils from across the town to celebrate their achievements. Tina Cullen MBE -international hockey player and teacher- presented awards to the four consortiums which all consisted of primary and secondary schools for their work in the community. I was privileged to give to three students special Community Hero Awards for their exceptional contribution. Full details are on the
Last night saw three by-elections taking place, in Eden, Conwy and Suffolk Councils, with the Liberal Democrats putting up candidates on two of the ballots; Penelope Appleton stood in the Mostyn ward in Conwy, and Jon Neal for the Carlford ward in Suffolk. All of the seats were held by their previous party, but in both of the wards where we stood we enjoyed a vote increase, of 4.1% in Conwy and 4.2% in Suffolk. In Eden just two candidates stood for the Appleby ward, making it the first contested election in this ward for 13 years, following the death ...
Regular readers of LDV have recently been reminded of similarities between contemporary populist discontent and the 1930s. There is, however, one other aspect of the '30s which might be important to the Liberal Democrats today—and, it should go without saying—to the country as well. And it's not just the '30s. There are lessons, too, that should be learned from more recent events. To the '30s first: These were deeply unstable times for British political parties and for parliament. These were the years of the National Government, of the splintering of the Liberal Party, of enormous division in the Labour Party ...
[IMG: A demonstrator holds up a flag during a demonstration by far-right protesters in Dover] A demonstrator holds up a flag during a demonstration by far-right protesters in Dover, from "Go home, we voted Leave" on CBC Radio At the time of the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, I was in Spain at the annual meeting of the International Society for Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations. A gathering of people from across the world who are used to exploring unconscious processes was a rich context in which to explore what was going on under the surface. By coincidence, ...
The Guardian has the story – see link above Another powerful commentary from Nick Cohen on what happens when you play the racism card. This quote is chilling – 'It is still not true to say that race and immigration were all that mattered to everyone who voted leave. But they were all that mattered to Vote Leave. Mainstream Tories accepted that creating and exploiting fear would take them to victory. They played with fire and you can hear the flames crackling.' With thanks to Roy Connell who spotted this article
I can't be doing with religious teaching in schools of whatever kind. Surely we are grown up enough in 2016 to leave youngsters to decide for themselves, when they are old enough, if they want to be religious and if so what religion they want to follow. Schools are for teaching children life and employability skills not for indoctrinating them to believe whatever religious beliefs their parents may hold. By all means, as part of broadening the minds of young people, teach them what the major religions of the world believe in and why, but also teach them about Humanism ...
As we reflect on the Chilcot report, it is also worth reminding ourselves that British Foreign Policy in the Middle East has been flawed and at times disastrous for the last 100 years. Too often it has been based on colonial ambition or narrow economic self-interest or just surrendering to powerful lobbies - often ignoring the expertise of well-informed diplomats and historians whose advice would have helped to avoid and repeat mistakes. Until shortly before World War 1 the Levant was run by the armies of occupation of the Ottoman Empire. While this colonial Ottoman governance was exploitative and far ...
Last night, MPs tried to save Art and Design GCSEs from being 'downgraded' - News - Digital Arts RT @sphey1: This is very bad for our future designers, actors, artists and games creators Yarl's Wood detention centre staff replaced by 'self-service kiosks' Referendum untruths and overspending - can anyone be held accountable? (tl;dr: probably not) When geeks factcheck a Clickhole post about the car from Grease Evil Dead 2: The Official Board Game Kickstarter Do YOU need more @GroovyBruce in your life? Of COURSE you do. Brexit: a coup by one set of public schoolboys against another - FT.com RT ...
I have made reference several times recently to the success of the Cook-Maclennan talks as an example of where cross-party cooperation brought significant successes for implementing Liberal Democrat policy, and without electoral cost to the party. (If anything, they brought an electoral benefit.) But the internet is rather sparse with information about them, and I really don't want to think about what proportion of Liberal Democrat members were not even born when they took place. So here rescued from a Hansard Society / Study of Parliament Group paper is an account of the Cook-Maclennan talks written in 2010: There had ...
Two articles give much food for thought about the referendum. The Independent's "Austerity and class divide likely factors behind Brexit vote" finds that 60% of the country self identfy as working class and have strong views on immigration, benefits and the unemployed. The report also mentions anti-establishment feelings towards bureacracy and government. The social mobility of the second half of the twentieth century, which saw many working class people move into middle class jobs has all but ended so the possibility of social mobility as a route to security is no longer available. The article also notes short terms changes ...
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! Watch: Ken Clarke Ridicules Tory Candidates If only all political interviews could be like this... http://bit.ly/29hpp1I www.ft.com Janan Ganesh on SDP 2.0. Btw, think how nonsensical this para wd hv been even 15 months ago http://bit.ly/29iJdai The Brexit vote is history. A closed or open Britain is the defining battle now | Andrew Cooper | Opinion | The Guardian Andrew Cooper on ...
Everything is on a plate for UKIP at the moment. Actually, from the moment Cameron promised to hold an EU referendum, it always was. If we had voted to Remain, UKIP could have mopped up the disaffected, particularly the ex-Labour voters. As it stands, the prize they could grab could be much, much bigger now that the country has voted to Leave. The one thing I thought might hold them up (and I've said many times before has been UKIP's biggest problem all along) is if Farage clings egotistically to the leadership. Two reasons why this would have been tricky ...
Corbyn has won. It's clear that he will come out victorious in any leadership contest and the Chilcot report has put the final nail in the coffin of a serious challenge. And more importantly the left of the Labour Party has won. Their project - to seize control of the levers of power within Labour and change the rules to turn it into a true hard-left socialist party - will take another couple of years, but it will almost certainly happen. So Labour as a party of government is gone and Labour as a party of protest is here to ...
Kidlington is England's largest village sandwiched between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal. It has a population accroding to the 2011 census of 13,723. To all intents and purposes it is an unremarkable settlement. That judgement however is not one shared by others. According to the Metro, it has become a tourist hotspot. They say that in a bizarre twist to an already bizarre story police have been called as clueless residents have been left baffled following an influx of 'sight-seeing' foreign tourists arriving by the coachload - for no apparent reason: Stunned locals say hoards of Chinese and ...
Without any pre-announcement – a move that, judging by some tweets, annoyed even the Women & Equalities Select Committee – the government released it's overdue response to the trans inquiry. Once could be forgiven for thinking that the sudden, unannounced arrival of a report in the middle of the largest political crises the UK has seen for decades was an attempt to bury bad news. Despite some oddly positive press coverage suggests the report is promising things it doesn't, reading the report does little to put those suspicions to rest. By way of explanation, I should say that there are ...
Matthew Parris: For the first time in my life, I feel ashamed to be British Anti-immigrant feeling won it for Leave, and they know it. They used it, rode it and are complicit in it. I've been dismayed to see people I've respected descend to this. I never thought either that the reserves of xenophobia in England were so strong, nor that people who should know better would play upon them with such careless cynicism. I was doubly naive. (tags: ukpolitics race eu ) Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police officers. Here's what we know. - ...
As a councillor there is enough beating of one's head against a wall to make even small impacts rewarding. Today, as expected, the Mental Health Trust for our area made its decision on provision for elderly sufferers from severe dementia, sufferers whose behaviours are so challenging that they cannot be catered for outside of hospital. The decision is to close the Picktree Ward at Lanchester Road, and to cater for sufferers from this condition only at Bishop Auckland. Readers of my first article will know that I opposed the closure of the Durham ward from day one – even before ...
