I have been feeling guilty about my part in driving the rail minister Claire Perry out of her job at the Department of Transport. I did so with a series of blogs about the collapse of the Southern rail franchise, read by so many people that it began to terrify me. I even wrote a book about it. Claire Perry was the person most accountable, but least responsible for the situation with Southern Railways and it seems unfair that she (salary: barely £100,000) sacrifices her job while those most responsible for the situation keep theirs. Let's just list who they ...
In 2012 I blogged about the plan of Merton College, Oxford, to deprive the Leicestershire village of Turn Langton of its village hall. Judging by the banner I found when I went back to Tur Langton on Saturday, that dispute is yet to be settled. But Merton College has more ambitious plans for this part of the county. It is one of several landowners (including the Diocese of Leicester) behind plans for a massive development a couple of miles to the west at Kibworth Harcourt. Take it as a reminder that however much institutions portray themselves as above getting and ...
Embed from Getty Images Most of us have an idea how nuclear bombs work; history has taught us just how destructive they are. However, the argument still persists that world peace can only be achieved when the most powerful nations have enough of them to guarantee upon each other, mutually assured destruction. At this present time, with the renewal of Trident firmly on the Government's agenda, I feel now is a good time for people to express their views on the morality, legality, and practicality of utilizing nuclear weapons. The after effects of detonating nuclear bombs are well documented. The ...
Researching my post on The Uglys' Wake Up My Mind yesterday, I came across this cry from the heart on the Brumbeat site: The Spencer Davis Group was one of the most admired bands to come out of Birmingham in the 1960s. They were also one of the most successful with internationally known hit records like 'Keep On Running', 'Gimme Some Loving', and 'I'm A Man'. The aim of this petition is to show support for the original line-up of The Spencer Davis Group to re-unite and perform at Birmingham's Town Hall. Their drummer Pete York has requested support from ...
The Story is on the Birkdale Focus Blog site – see link above As someone who has always been at best sceptical of the Northern Powerhouse concept/project I find myself at one with Lauren Keith who has written a posting on this subject for the Birkdale Focus blog site. It is worth a read. I commented quite some time ago about a Labour Party friend of mine re- christening it the 'Northern Poorhouse' and a more apt name I have yet to come across. Sadly, I get the impression though that northern Labour leaders seem to have been taken ...
Second stanza of the poem that is the third chapter ('In the TARDIS: Christmas Day' by Val Douglas): `We must have a Christmas pudding,' The Doctor said at last As he searched through all the cupboards For relics of Christmas past. `Aha!' he cried in triumph And held up a mouldy goo. `A present from Mrs Beeton `In eighteen umpty-two.'These themed anthologies of Who stories are sometimes more miss than hit, and I fear this is largely in the former category - perhaps not helped by my reading it at the height of summer rather than in the Christmas season ...
Joe Otten recorded the William Beveridge Memorial Lecture given by Vince Cable at the Social Liberal Forum Conference on Saturday. And here it is: * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
[IMG: Cllr Trudy Dean on the value, and fun, of an ALDC Kickstart weekend] Why wait for the winter? Book your place at September Kickstart to maximise your chances of local success. "Kickstart has everything you need to get started on your next campaign; time to plan it, expert advice, and the energy that comes from being a movement worth fighting for. And it's fun!" – Cllr Trudy Dean, [...]
Some of our team celebrating after the adoption of our 5 Prospective Parliamentary candidates for Liverpool Constituencies Liverpool Liberal Democrats yesterday adopted their 5 Parliamentary candidates for Liverpool in the case of a snap General election. The 5 candidates are: ... Continue reading →
One more to the 17,500 plus list of new Liberal Democrat members, Robert Vint: Totnes Liberal Democrat spokesman, Keith Smith welcomed the move of Cllr Vint, a decision which was endorsed by local Party members last week. Mr Smith said: "Robert is a hard working local councillor who we are very happy to welcome into the Liberal Democrats, where we continue to challenge the Conservatives at South Hams and Devon County Council. "We have been discussing the possibility of Robert becoming a Liberal Democrat for a little while now and I am pleased that we will have an additional councillor ...
Scottish Liberal Democrats today said that people in Fife and Edinburgh deserve answers over the projected delay to the Queensferry Crossing and demanded the publication of new documents on the troubled bridge project. Since the announcement of the delay in the completion of the new Forth Road Bridge crossing, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have put [...]
Embed from Getty Images The decision about whether to expand Heathrow is imminent. In fact, it has been imminent for quite some time. A year ago the Davies Commission recommended that a third runway should be built at Heathrow, not at Gatwick, the only other contender at the time. We were expecting to hear an announcement from Government before Christmas, but then the Department of Transport said that the decision would be delayed until summer 2016, conveniently after the May elections. This delay was not unconnected with the fact that Zac Goldsmith was the Tory candidate for London Mayor. Zac ...
A semi-regular piece of political gossip over the last few years is that the next round of Parliamentary boundary changes (for which 13 September is a key date) may be sunk by Conservative backbenchers. The reasoning is apparently plausible – changed boundaries and fewer constituencies mean some Tories will lose out and only a few unhappy MPs removes the government's majority in the Commons. Yet overall the boundary review will benefit the Conservatives as the country's demographic changes since the last review play to their advantage. No bias is required for the the Tories to benefit from changes which catch ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles today said that the First Minister needs to get on with the day job after speculation over a second independence referendum increased. Mr Rumbles was speaking after Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC that Scotland could face another independence campaign as early as the first half of next year. Commenting, [...]
Embed from Getty Images With so much focus being placed on young offenders and the poverty traps that keep them locked in a cycle of crime, little attention has been given to an ever increasing section of the national prison population. In England and Wales, male offenders aged 50 or above are the fastest growing group in prison, rising by 74% in the past decade to close to 10,000 (that's 11% of the total prison population), while since 1990 the over-60s population has increasing eight-fold. A succession of governments, wanting to appear 'tough on crime', have led to an increased ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 17-07-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 17-07-2016 on #dreamwidth Instagram The tool in the blue shirt ruined my film of the train coming in to the station though. Instagram Daughter high fives her own reflection Instagram Today's "there are two dogs in this photo" [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Northern Pride Parade in Newcastle on Saturday. Here are some of the photos I took.
I have never before been on a parade (other than for Remembrance Day). But following the Brexit decision last month, I am concerned that some have taken this as a sign to return social attitudes to what they were over 40 years ago. Diversity is now mainstream and so I took the decision to celebrate diversity and show that it should remain mainstream. Therefore on Saturday I joined other Lib
The following piece I penned for our weekly Digital Inspirational email at Blue Rubicon as much of the reaction to Kath Viner's piece for The Guardian, and indeed the piece itself, misses a key point. 'How technology disrupted the truth' is the headline on Kath Viner's fascinating long read piece for The Guardian which has been getting attention, shares and even readers this week. But for all its interesting analysis of the impact of social media on the business models for media outlets, it also falls into a classic and widespread mistake when it comes to analysing the impact of ...
Liberal Democrats made net gains of four seats in principal council by-elections in the three-month period up to 5th May. The next quarter, which includes post-Brexit successes like these, is expected to show further improvement.
[IMG: monkey trap] Good news! There is optimism in the air - unfortunately it seems to be emanating from the Leave camp. Is that good news? Paradoxically yes. Leave campaigners are now in effect held by the political equivalent of the South Indian monkey trick. They can't let go of whatever Brexit nut they grabbed hold of in the tree because, to let go would mean they no longer have the certainty they believed they voted for. They got to this position because the referendum was really only half a decision. Coming to a crossroads and rejecting one route is ...
Those of us who have been around a long time may well have had an uneasy sense of deja vu when Tim Farron told the media at the weekend that he has been in talks with Labour and Greens about forming a left of centre alliance. The Independent says that Farron believes the calamitous environment of British politics presents an "historic opportunity" to build a new political party or alliance on the centre-left, involving both the Labour Party and his own MPs. Asked whether he was open to creating a new political party in Britain, the Lib Dem leader said: ...
A very warm Barcelona! Janet and I are just back from our holiday covering Portugal, France and Spain. We had a brilliant time and thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to keep up with constituents' messages via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter! Many thanks as always to the council's excellent members' services staff for covering constituents' phone calls and helping them whilst I was away.
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award - despite the characteristic unnecessary quotation marks.
Scottish Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson has written to the Scottish Justice Secretary calling for an investigation into obstruction of information regarding the Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR). Emails published last week as a result of a Freedom of Information request has shown that the Scottish Government pro-actively tried to obstruct the release of controversial [...]
[IMG: The old Skelmersdale Station - now long gone in the name of progress!] The old Skelmersdale Station – now long gone in the name of progress! The Southport Visiter newspaper has the story – see link above I have commented on this developing project many times before but it really does seem to have legs and probably stands a reasonable chance of getting off the ground despite the huge cost. I hope it does come off. In many ways though whilst it illustrates how large railway projects can be taken forward it is sadly the case that smaller ...
How Jimmy Carter saved the space shuttle And why. (tags: uspolitics space )
After visiting the Botanic Gardens I dropped into Farnborough Junior School to meet their new Head Taryn Sinclair. Taryn was elected by the pupils after an extensive campaign complete with videos and campaign literature, (Thanks to Neil Middlehurst and his team at the Borough Council for assisting with a ballot box and polling booth and the regulation stubby pencils) Taryn showed me around the school and introduced me to each class, The school was having a fun maths day with, for example, battle ships to practice co-ordinates and various other mathematical skills which I must admit I had never encountered ...
The brilliant Botanic Garden volunteers have magnificently maintained this jewel in the Southport crown. I met David and Ann Cobham when I visited the the Churchtown park. I have been coming to the gardens on and off for decades to visit the playground with my daughters and to listen to the brass band on a Sundays. The cuts in local authority funding inevitably led to a reduction in spending on the parks. One of the really uplifting things about Southport is the manner in which the townsfolk have been determined not allow austerity to diminish places like the Botanic. There ...
