Truly appalling and the exact opposite of what I said. I am disgusted. https://t.co/DPFzjNmKie— Andrea Leadsom MP (@andrealeadsom) July 8, 2016Remember this and Andrea Leadsom's other tweets on the theme? All that has changed. Helped by a comically one-sided article in the Telegraph by my former classmate Allison Pearson, Leadsom has decided to apologise and play the victim.: When I ask if she would like to apologise to Mrs May, she says: "I've already said to Theresa how very sorry I am for any hurt I have caused and how that article said completely the opposite of what I said ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week and also apologise for the lack of a newsletter last week. Unfortunately I was extremely busy at work and just didn't have time to put one together. 1. Local Migration There was some interesting research published this week about where people move to when they leave Nottingham. The study tried to plot where people who left Nottingham in the 12 months to July ...
Sun 10th
22:06
WATCH: Alex Cole-Hamilton's speech to March for Europe: No Tory civil war will take our EU identity ...
A big @LibDems group at #marchforeurope in Edinburgh this afternoon, led by @agcolehamilton pic.twitter.com/HdAKZSx9Qt — Scot Lib Dems (@scotlibdems) July 10, 2016 "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line" from Abba's Take a Chance on Me was not quite what we expected to come blaring out of the PA system at the Young European Movement's rally after the March for Europe in Edinburgh this afternoon. The good tunes just kept coming, though, with Dancing Queen and the Proclaimers 500 miles featuring as well. There was a pretty big turnout, which was amazing given that the event was ...
Embed from Getty Images In the immediate of the referendum there were news stories suggesting a very low turnout among younger voters. Now research has appeared that questions that conclusion. Toby Helm writes in the Observer: The turnout among young people aged 18 to 24 in the EU referendum was almost double the level that has been widely reported since polling day, according to evidence compiled at the London School of Economics. The new findings - based on detailed polling conducted since the referendum by Opinium, and analysed by Michael Bruter, professor of political science and European politics at the ...
I admit it. When it comes to politics I will always remain a dreamer. I put it down to the fact that I grew up so close to the Iron Curtain, and that 1989 was the most formative year of my life, certainly politically speaking. Everything seemed possible, borders opened, people seemed to understand each other better. Even the horrible consequences, such as the wars following the break-up of Yugoslavia, could never quite dampen my optimism (I recently wrote about this for the My EU Story Facebook page) It may seem like a Brexiteer's worst nightmare, but there was a ...
Sun 10th
20:00
People's Alliance for Ludlow to be launched on Tuesday night, 12 July to fight Shropshire service cu...
On Tuesday evening, a new campaign will be launched. The People's Alliance for Ludlow is being backed by a number of groups and many individuals around the town. Organisers of the alliance say: "The sustainability of Ludlow, as a vibrant and resilient community, is seriously threatened by forthcoming cuts. The proposed creation of the people's... Continue reading People's Alliance for Ludlow to be launched on Tuesday night, 12 July to fight Shropshire service cuts →
Sun 10th
20:00Shropshire Council calls for 'clustering' of town and parish councils to run services it wants to di...
On Tuesday evening, a new campaign will be launched. The People's Alliance for Ludlow aims to take action over the current uncertainty on future funding of many Ludlow services. That uncertainty is a result of cuts to Shropshire Council budgets and its struggling attempts to persuade town and parish councils to take over services it... Continue reading Shropshire Council calls for 'clustering' of town and parish councils to run services it wants to discard →
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 462nd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (3-9 July, 2016), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Why I joined the Liberal Democrats by ...
"May you live in interesting times" the saying goes, and we certainly live in interesting times. Both Labour and the Conservatives are in crisis, the country is on the precipice of economic and political disaster and the Liberal Democrats are being listened to. Labour, Conservative and Liberal politicians are in talks regarding a new political party. A name has been suggested in today's Sunday Times - the "Democrats." I have mixed feelings on the concept and its benefit for the Liberal Democrats. Principally, I'm not certain it would be good for liberalism. Let's get one of the key issues out ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: True to his father's instruction, on that fateful evening so many ages past, Peter had the flute named Frost with him. It sat in its small carrying case on the truck bench's seat beside him. This was a new case, of course, made of modern high-impact plastic and reinforced steel. The original leather case had worn away long ago, as had many successors since. But Frost remained unchanged by time. It looked as new today as when he first saw it, and probably the same as when fabled Jorg first carved it.I read most of ...
So the dust has settled to an extent on the Brexit vote, and we are where we are. Now that that referendum battle is over and the campaigns are no longer trying to push their points home in the same way, hopefully a somewhat clearer picture of what it all means, and the choices we now have, should be emerging for people. What is clear is that a decision was made, but that it was not a clear decision about the way forward, and nor was it the kind of clear margin of victory that could be said to reflect ...
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 25,000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Mockery of Diane Abbott shows why our political culture has to change (19 comments) by Caron Lindsay Vince Cable writes...The birth of the 48 movement (130 comments) by Vince Cable Tonight's Question Time is going to be worth watching (13 comments) by Caron Lindsay How did our constituencies vote in the EU Referendum? (9 comments) by Duncan Brack Should Parliament put a stop to Brexit? (79 comments) by Caron Lindsay Realignment of the left – an idea whose ...
There's definitely a gap for an active 'Liberal Democrats for Civil Liberties' group in the party.
Sun 10th
14:26LibLink: Shirley Williams: Bring all sides together to negotiate our future with Europe
While Tory and Labour parties rip themselves apart, the Liberal Democrats have spent a great deal of time offering ideas and solutions. The latest is Shirley Williams in today's Observer: She succinctly sums up the mess we are in: With every passing day, the problems confronting the new prime minister multiply. The balance of payments worsens, the pound sinks against the dollar, the London property market, no longer attractive to ambitious young bankers and financial experts, declines and Brexit begins to look more and more like snake oil. How do we face those challenges? Well, it needs strong government and ...
Today is your last chance to get a discounted place at the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaingers' premier training event, Kickstart, which is taking place in Staffordshire from 2-4 September. If you are thinking of standing for election next May, you will not find any better training available anywhere in the party. Over the course of a weekend, ALDC give you 30 hours of training, including individualised one to one training for your particular council area. Here are some more details: Kickstart is the highly regarded annual residential training weekend organised by ALDC that brings together some of ...
Sun 10th
11:55LIbLink: Alistair Carmichael: Parliament can not duck responsibility for UK joining Iraq war
As we have a 13-years-too-late mea culpa (but a big boy made him do it) from John Prescott, Alistair Carmichael writes for the Times about Parliament's role in supporting the Iraq War. He makes the very valid point that Parliament could have given Blair a much harder time, asking for more evidence, scrutinising every claim made, but they ducked it. Too many of those who now say, "Of course, if I had known then what I know now ..." must be challenged. For the most part they could not have known then what they know now because they were not ...
At 4pm today, a march organised by the Scottish Young European Movement will take place in Edinburgh. Liberal Democrats will be there – I'm picking up the placards and leaflets to hand out in a while. You can tell how much I love this cause as I'm having to give up watching both the British Grand Prix at Silverstone AND Andy Murray in the final at Wimbledon to go. We are meeting at the Floral Clock at the entrance to Princes Street Gardens near the National Gallery of Scotland at 3:30 – and for those who want to watch at ...
Why was Take the Skinheads Bowlilng a hit? Don't ask David Lowery who founded Camper Van Beethoven and wrote the song: I never thought that Take the Skinheads Bowling would become a Hit. If someone had traveled from the future and told me we would have a hit on our first album I would not have picked this song as being the hit. Not in a million years. I would have more likely picked Where the Hell is Bill. Why? We regarded Take The Skinheads Bowling as just a weird non-sensical song. The lyrics were purposely structured so that it ...
Twitter RT @tallgeekychap: Yet not a single commentator has suggested the Lib Dems are a possible answer. Tribalism is exacerbating this. Poll finds young Remain voters reduced to tears by Brexit | PoliticsHome.com RT @robinyapp: Dimbleby says young didn't vote on #bbcqt but @LSEnews profs say turnout was 70% in 18-24 age group Twitter @IainDBaker me too [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Sun 10th
10:25Tim Farron to Angela Eagle: If you aren't going to oppose Tory Little Britain economic vandalism, th...
As Angela Eagle prepares to launch her leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn, Tim Farron has taken a wee wander down Memory Lane and has found evidence from 2008 when she rubbished Vince Cable's predictions of what we thought then was an economic storm. Angela Eagle was the Treasury minister who laughed at warnings of a credit crunch. In April 2008. Not a great look. pic.twitter.com/DXwEhBnY4b — Dan Kelly (@ObiDanKelnobi) July 9, 2016 Tim now says that she needs to take heed of the many voices who are wanting Labour to support continuing membership of the EU. If Labour are not ...
We have been arguing for years that power cables need to be undergrounded in rural areas and in areas of outstanding natural beauty so as to preserve our natural heritage. Each time though the developer says it is too difficult or too expensive. Well, now that a two mile long pipeline has been laid to pump beer beneath the cobbled, historic streets of Bruges they will no longer have that excuse. What is good enough for Bruges is good enough for Powys, though power lines do not have the same allure as a specialist Belgian beer with a 450 year ...
Barnaby Joyce, Quite Possibly Deputy Prime Minister, speaks.
Sun 10th
08:55Baroness Jenny Randerson writes...For our transport sector Brexit means we are currently going nowhe...
Although few people have talked about it, Brexit is going to raise serious issues about how we get about. Our transport sector faces practical problems that need to be solved, or at least grappled with. These are issues that affect us in everyday life. I am pretty sure that people who voted to leave still expect to be able to fly abroad to their summer holidays and to buy goods that have been transported safely and in a timely manner from other countries. There is a simple, practical fact about which nobody—no referendum, no decision—can do anything: the continent of ...
On a recent walkabout with the Community Spirit Action Group, we were concerned about the state of the flower bed areas at the back of the Polepark Road council flats situated in Lower Pleasance. See photo below :I took up the matter with the council's Neighbourhood Services Department and have since been advised as follows : " ... (we are) making arrangement to ensure the area is cleaned up as a matter of urgency and in addition is reviewing the maintenance schedule. There is a tiredness with some of the planted area/fencing etc and we will include some of these ...
I wish to preface this article with the statement that everything you are about to read is simply conjecture. I have no inside knowledge as to whether any of this is a possibility or not. This, in other words, is just a scenario I have completely made up. But it is a possible one, and a fascinating one. There is a by-election approaching in Batley and Spen following the assassination of the sitting MP, Jo Cox, a few days before the EU referendum took place. All of the main political parties have said they will not contest the by-election, allowing ...
Sun 10th
08:01
The Strand Partnership Schools councils defibrillators fundraising reaches £7, 665.10p
It really was pleasure to join pupils and staff from the schools that make up The Strand Partnership in and around Bootle. The Schools Councils had met together to mark the culmination of their fundraising for the Oliver King Foundation. We met together at Formby Hall along with Mark King to hear all about the ideas that the schools had for raising funds and spreading awareness about defibrillators. One of the schools has a link with a school in Sierra Leone and had taught everyone there method of applause that they had brought back with them, The first time they ...
Sun 10th
07:50
Driver only trains – Study shows it makes passengers less safe – Well that's a surprise ...
[IMG: A Merseyrail electric unit at Bootle New Strand Station.] A Merseyrail electric unit at Bootle New Strand Station. I have commented on this matter a number of times previously, mainly with regard to Merseytravel (the Labour-run Transport Committee of Liverpool City Region) trying not to say in public what we all think they are up to i.e. getting rid of guards on Merseyrail trains when the new trains/rolling stock is ordered. [IMG: Merseytravel logo] Here's a press release from the RMT union on the matter and it is worth reading as the commentary is on a report funded by ...
The Fruit Meadows next to Meadows Leisure Centre & Library on Maghull's KGV Park are well er fruiting and residents are welcome to come pick. [IMG: WP_20160706_19_15_02_Pro] This publicly accessible Fruit Meadow was planted by Maghull in Bloom volunteers with help from the National Lottery. There are edible berries and currants of many kinds plus rhubarb, cherries etc. Just take a look:- [IMG: WP_20160706_19_14_28_Pro] [IMG: WP_20160706_19_14_51_Pro] [IMG: WP_20160706_19_15_22_Pro] [IMG: WP_20160706_19_15_36_Pro]
I'm a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing Forensic and searing. (tags: race uspolitics ) I have facial blindness so I'm crap at networking, but let's talk anyway Matthew on prosapagnosia. (tags: networking ) After the love has gone Esra fears that time is running out for a Cyprus settlement. (tags: cyprus ) Mysterious Circumstances Death of a Sherlock Holmes fan - old news, but a peculiar pancake. (tags: death crime ) Polish passports enquiries from Brits rise by 10,000 per cent after Brexit vote No further comment needed. (tags: migration ukpolitics ) Lush ...
