"Just look at them. Professional bloggers, Lords, media historians, 'social tech entrepreneurs'. People who have their own columns in the Guardian. These aren't ordinary voters. They're people who have never even *met* an ordinary voter, except the one behind the counter serving them their overpriced lattes." I think it's fair to conclude that Andrew Hickey is not impressed by MoreUnited. Garry Kasparov finds that Donald Trump reminds him of Vladimir Putin - "and that is terrifying". A shocking miscarriage of justice reveals the fallacy that we can always spot a liar, says Matthew Scott. "As Hilaire Belloc wrote, 'When you ...
So after a lot of talking about "progressive alliances", we see at least what Paddy Ashdown's idea of one is, and... it's pretty dispiriting. Now, before I get into what I dislike, I want to stress that I am a ... Continue reading →
Embed from Getty Images It is not like me to gratuitously share links to the Mail on Sunday but this time it's worth it. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez has given an interview to the Fail to publicise her upcoming cookery book Made in Spain: Recipes and stories from my country and beyond (available for pre-order here). My husband has had enough heavy hints dropped that I want this book for my birthday next week. At least the Fail called her by her proper name, although they had to slip a "Mrs Clegg" into the headline. You would think her readers would ...
Embed from Getty Images The new issue of Liberator contains this article by me on Iraq and the Chilcot Report. It was written in haste and owes an indecent amount to Peter Oborne and James Graham, but I wanted to have my say n an event that continues to haunt British politics. Disgraced in the Desert "We want you to get up the arse of the White House and stay there." Tony Blair put it more elegantly when assuring George W. Bush that "I will be with you, whatever," but this order, given to Christopher Meyer when he became Britain's ...
#STENCH MORE OF THE SAME TODAY!— Measham (@MeashamCATS) July 23, 2016 Residents of the Leicestershire village of Measham are complaining about a foul smell that has plagued the village for years. One of them, Peter Yates, is quoted by the Leicester Mercury: "Here we are again, another warm spell when one likes to enjoy the outdoors and have the house windows open. "But here in Measham, for yet another year, we can't." He added: "Despite all the rhetoric and assurances from the offenders, A B Produce, with their annual fobbing off to both the local council and Environment Agency, the ...
Embed from Getty Images It appears as if Jeremy Corbyn may win the leadership race in the Labour party. So it seems that the Labour Party has decided to become a debating society rather than a proper parliamentary force. That's fine. Being a debating society is perfectly respectable. But it is not what established the NHS, founded the Welfare State, implemented the minimum wage, put in place equality laws, abolished the death penalty, legalised homosexuality, established the Open university etc etc. And this excellent luxury of being a debating society could allow (if UKIP and the right wing of the ...
Fellow Liberal Democrats ! We have made considerable progress in reconnecting with our historic voters & especially those who voted for the Party in 2010 and rightly abandoned us after. But not enough. We have a special connection with the 48% of voters who voted to stay in the EU.But there is still an invisible barrier of trust which is holding the party making the kind of breakthrough we saw in 2005 and in 1983. One word Trust. There is a feeling amongst the wider electorate that Liberals who were once about standing up for community politics and the small ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 464th 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 (17 -,23 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. Who is standing in seats Liberal ...
I picked up a tweet from a Puppy supporter the other day complaining that there is a media blackout of the Hugo Awards this year "because they can't smear Chuck Tingle like they did Brad Torgersen". Of course, to those who had not heard of the Hugos before last year, it seems odd that there is less coverage this year; in fact things are pretty much back to normal or perhaps a little above normal - my survey of bloggers on 21 July this year found roughly half as many as last year on 18 July, but roughly twice as ...
The next edition of Liberal Democrat Newswire will include an exclusive preview of the essay on immigration Tim Farron has written for The Alternative: Towards a new progressive politics, a book designed to foster cross-party cooperation with editors from Lib Dems, Green and Labour. Looking at the state of the immigration debate in the UK in the light of the European referendum, the Liberal Democrat leader sets out a new approach to making the positive case for immigration. The wider purpose of the book is to stimulate more working together by progressives, as I covered in Liberal Democrat Newswire #75 ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: "Half and half, ma'am." Weirdly, I had never actually read this (though thought I had). I got an electronic copy as part of a humble bundle in February, and then found I had a paper copy on the shelf, with a business-class boarding pass for a plane flight from Zagreb to Frankfurt on October 30 of an unspecified year stuck in the back cover. I was a bit puzzled - I have flown business-class seldom enough that I can still remember almost every occasion that it's happened - and checking back through my records I ...
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 16,300 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Daisy Benson, Claire Young and Dawn Barnes selected for former Lib Dem seats (76 comments) by Caron Lindsay Nick Clegg to challenge Government over Brexit (32 comments) by Caron Lindsay Paddy Ashdown to endorse new progressive, liberal movement (45 comments) by Caron Lindsay I should have joined the Lib Dems years ago (15 comments) by Edwin Moriarty Six Lib Dem MPs selected to fight their former constituencies (5 comments) by Caron Lindsay Lib Dems will offer an optimistic ...
We lost a vote on June 23, but we won the argument. The Leave campaign won by lying and the Remain Campaign was dominated by half-hearted Remainers like David Cameron & Jeremy Corbyn was set up for failure from the start. Add to that an electoral roll which deliberately excluded 16 & 17 Year olds, Long Term Expats and EU Citizens in a shameful betrayal of 3 groups most affected by Brexit and most in favour of Remaining. The Liberal Democrats are the party of the 48% and must work with Remainers in the Green Party and Remainer refugees from ...
I've recently had the pleasure of becoming a School Governor at Gunthorpe Primary School, and following my first meeting, I have to say I am encouraged by the commitment and ideas shown by other members of the board. I've been a governor before at Ken Stimpson, and earlier in the year, at a committee meeting, [...]
My first vlog as candidate for Blaydon, filmed at the Chopwell and Rowlands Gill action day on Saturday 23rd July 2016.
A special Gateshead Council cabinet meeting was held on Thursday morning. It had been called as Labour deferred a decision as to whether or not to join in the North East devolution proposals. That was a decision supposed to be taken at the cabinet on 12 July. And what happened at this special cabinet meeting? Labour voted to defer a decision yet again, citing uncertainty surrounding the position
Embed from Getty Images In May, the House of Lords select committee on the European Union published a detailed document on the process of withdrawing from the EU. Among other things, the committee concluded that: ...we have no reason to believe that the requirement for legislative consent for its repeal would not apply to all the devolved nations. -That is, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The committee also concluded that, once Article 50 of Lisbon Treaty has been invoked, it can be reversed before the end of the two year negotiating period: There is nothing in Article 50 formally to ...
Yesterday we held an action day in Chopwell and Rowlands Gill ward. There is to be a by-election there in what has normally been a strong Labour ward. Our aim was to get our Focus leaflet delivered across most of the ward. Apart from a few small patches, job just about done. I bumped into Labour cabinet member and ward Councillor Michael McNestry who, I am pleased to report, was not at that
A 10-minute version of this song from the band's live 1973 album On the Road. Too much noodling? Maybe, but I like sad songs that let you enjoy a wallow in your misery and then lift you. And you get two Steve Winwood guitar solos for your money,
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 23-07-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 23-07-2016 on #dreamwidth Instagram Not often daughter & I get to spend Saturday together just the two of us, so we're making the... Twitter @ephemeragrrl @Winter__Eevee it was Twitter RT @theonlyadult: And this is, boys and girls, why cable news dropped the coverage of this terror attack. Twitter RT @GailSimone: Love. Owners warned not to leave goths in a locked car during hot weather RT @scalzi: This is a very important issue and I think more people should be aware of it. Twitter RT ...
Over at the Independent, John Rentoul explains that he has had a bit of experience of conspiracy theorists and they are always "just asking questions" rather than esposuing a specific theory. So you may see what I have done with the title of this piece. Rentoul says that something strange has happened to politics in America, and something alarmingly similar seems to be afflicting the UK as well. It is the adoption of conspiracy theories by mainstream politicians to make a point or to distract us from shortcomings in their case. For example, he points out how Donald Trump responded ...
Embed from Getty Images Last week the new mobile phone game Pokémon Go was launched in the UK (you can download it on Apple and Android devices) and it seems to have been a great hit. The point of the game is to explore the real world to find these little Pocket Monsters ("Pokémon") which show up on your phone. In addition to this, there are numerous "Pokéstops" and gyms placed throughout the world which allow players to collect in-game items and compete against other players in battles to become the very best. Now this might sound silly to you ...
In a blaze on social media. the More United project, supported by Paddy Ashdown, launches this morning. It's certainly ambitious: MoreUnited.uk is a new movement setting out to change British politics. We're going to transform the way politics is funded, giving a voice to the millions of open and tolerant people in Britain who feel the political system no longer works for them. It has a Facebook page here and you can follow it on Twitter here. They intend to fund candidates who subscribe to a series of pretty broad principles: A fair, modern, efficient market based economy that closes ...
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has been writing for the Yorkshire Post: The letters page of the Yorkshire Post ... has been bursting with debate on the need for electoral reform in the light of Brexit and the divided state of our country. It is normally Liberal Democrats accused of talking too much about electoral reform, so it has been quite a surprise to see such enthusiasm for a subject often considered pretty dry beyond the boundaries of Westminster. But actually, is it any wonder the mood is changing?... The Conservatives, remember, won less than 37 per cent of the ...
Find out about Paddy Ashdown's new cross-party political movement, More United, what causes it will promote and how it plans to change British politics.
This has been reported to the council for repair and the mess cleaned up
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36803544 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above This is interesting and it fits with my thoughts as I have tried to get my head around why many folks voted for Brexit. This particular quote from the piece is telling about Brexit voters:- "They tended to value things like order, stability and safety against things like openness, modernity and other social-liberal values that were more popular among Remain voters. Often it's about harking back to the past – sometimes a feeling that they don't belong to the present." I had thought that wanting to ...
Here's a few photos and a short video from yesterday's official opening of the Magdalen Green Bandstand, following its successful and lovely restoration : Everyone on the bandstand! (With thanks to Ann Prescott for this photo) Pat Orr, a founding member of the Friends of Magdalen Green, cut the ribbon to re-open the bandstand, with Sandra McDowall (Secretary) and Catherine Fairweather (Chair) of the Friends (who both gave excellent speeches) looking on, as is Peter Menzies, Chair of West End Community Council, who compared the event With Mary Devlin of the Friends of Magdalen Green's Committee Piper on the bandstand! ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 25 JULY 2016 Scottish Water Clatto East mains renewal - Perth Road (Hawkhill to Nethergate) - closed eastbound for 5 weeks. South Union Street (West Earl Grey Place to Riverside Esplanade) - closed southbound until Tuesday 26 July for SGN valve repair. Riverside Drive (Bridgeview Cafe to Riverside West roundabout) - off-peak (9.30am - 3.30pm) temporary traffic lights for 5 days from Monday 18 July for replacement of road markings. South Union Street (Whitehall Crescent to Dock Street) and Dock Street (South Union Street to ...
Sun 24th
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Shrewsbury Ark goes outreach to tackle rough sleeping but let's not forget the hidden homeless
On a recent night, I was contacted on Facebook about a 16-year old sleeping rough on the streets of Shrewsbury. This young woman was vulnerable and needed safeguarding. I advised my Facebook contact to take the youngster to Shrewsbury Ark, a drop in centre for the homeless and vulnerable. Once there, she was re-engaged with... Continue reading Shrewsbury Ark goes outreach to tackle rough sleeping but let's not forget the hidden homeless →
In the map room with Theresa May @economist's gloomy take on role of FCO is the most upbeat analysis I've read! (tags: eu ukpolitics ) A 3SV Endorsement Amazing Stories likes our proposed change. (tags: hugos sf )
