Now this really was a joy. The Elderberries are a gardening club for pensioners that meet in St John's church hall in Birkdale and they are a most friendly and welcoming group. Today they had their Tomato and Chilli festival under the watchful eye of their chair Derek Lewis Lavender. I was down to judge the produce. and the winner of the coveted trophy The truth of the matter was that there was a goodly display of home grown tomatoes and the elderberries had been very enterprising choosing some unusual varieties alongside the expected ones. I was particularly impressed by ...
Looking for the cricket ground at Darley Dale I first came across the lovely Whitworth Park. It was given to the town by and named after Sir Joseph Whitworth. Now read more about Darley Dale: The village ground where Hampshire won the John Player LeagueThe intermediate station on Peak Rail
Frankly, after all that build up, I was hoping for more than this. I'm buggered if I know Tea was delicious, as indeed was dinner - cannon of Norman lamb with pugh lentils. The sun gone down over Rutland Water with a loud hiss and I have before me a blank sheet of paper. Well, not quite blank. Beneath the heading "How the Liberal Democrats can revive their electoral fortunes," I find I have written the words: "I'm buggered if I know." Still, a deadline is a deadline, so I shall now have a junior footman take it to the ...
Embed from Getty Images The resignation of David Cameron and the resultant by-election in Witney give the Liberal Democrats to regain some political momentum and re-establish themselves in the public mind as challengers for power. You can donate to help the campaign via the Liberal Democrat site. Our realistic aim in Witney must to be to regain second place. Historically, Labour has polled better in the constituency than you might expect and have sometimes come second there themselves. But I cannot see Corbynism appealing to this tract of deep Tory England. Paddy Ashdown has had what he calls a "naughty ...
Cedric and Amy Bosi, the team behind the Charlton Arms, have submitted their plans for refurbishment of Ludlow's historic Church Inn (16/03750/LBC). This is a light-touch makeover. The bar will be moved and restored. The floor will be repaired and the building will get a much needed redecoration. Cedric and Amy say: "It is important... Continue reading Plans for refurbishment of Ludlow's picturesque Church Inn published by Bosi's →
Former Liberal Democrat MPs Vince Cable and Ed Davey will be Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidates again in the event of an early general election: [Vince Cable,] the ex-business secretary, 73, has been selected to stand again in his old seat of Twickenham if there is an election this year or in the first half of 2017. "It would be right and well-advised for Theresa May to call an early election," he said. "If that happens, I and my team are ready for it and we are confident we could reverse the verdict of just over a year ago." Former energy ...
During his pre-conference interview with the Evening Standard, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has poured cold water on the idea of the Lib Dems entering into a coalition with Labour whilst Jeremy Corbyn remains its leader.
When you or I have naughty thoughts, we tend not to share them with 30,000 people. Paddy Ashdown on the other hand.... Naughty thought Witney by-election: One non-Tory candidate with one cause: the people must have a say on the Brexit deal.Re-tweet = u favour — Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) September 14, 2016 The flaw with this, of course is that Jeremy Corbyn doesn't favour a second referendum, so there is no chance of Labour standing down, even if we thought it was a good idea. The Liberal Democrats certainly seem to be gearing up to fight Witney seriously. There's lots ...
Second speech of third episode: Rembrandt: "Vessels of the stars. Not my usual line of work, but she was willing to pay and I was unwilling to starve." I listened to this for the first time back in March, on a day when other matters broke my concentration, so returned to it with the intention of taking careful notes. But you know, I was just enjoying it too much. It's a Fifth Doctor adventure, set immediately after Arc of Infinity (which ends with the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa still in Amsterdam); the two plot lines concern the team's discovery of ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] (With thanks to LDHQ for providing the briefing and press release) Funding from the EU for building new affordable homes must be plugged by the Government to avoid making the housing crisis worse, Liberal Democrats have said. What is the problem? Housing Associations and councils in Britain have applied for £400m of funding from the [...]
Invitations have gone out to approved parliamentary candidates to stand in the Witney constituency by-election, caused by David Cameron's sudden resignation from Parliament. It's important the selection goes ahead quickly and the very best person is appointed as this is a contest we should fight with maximum resources, energy and determination. There is no time to lose as rumour has it that the by-election may be called for 20 October. Although the Liberal Democrat vote fell back sharply in 2015 (as in so much of the rest of the country), the party's candidates (respectively Dawn Barnes and Liz Leffman) came ...
[IMG: LDV survey graphic] This is just a reminder that the new LDV members' survey is now live. So if you are one of the 2,200+ registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum, and any paid-up party member is welcome to join, then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. You have until tomorrow morning to fill it in so we can have the results ready before Conference. Questions we're asking this time include: What do you think of the Lib Dems' plan for Britain in Europe? Should there be a referendum on the final Brexit ...
There are days when two separate but related news stories appear alongside each other on the same day, and no-one makes the link between them. Yesterday was one such day.All the morning media carried the story of the report by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee that says teachers are condoning casual sexual harassment of girls in Britain's schools by choosing to see it as 'just banter'. By the evening, a story had hit some media about a petition on change.org launched by a mother in Kent whose daughter was ordered by her school to remove her plait ...
Back in the day, the run-up to Conference used to include Tim Farron grabbing some headlines with his pre-conference interview. Remember the cockroaches one? I'm not entirely sure that the Clegg press office was wildly chuffed with that one. Thers a certain irony this week, as the run-up to Conference is punctuated with numerous forays by Nick Clegg in the media as he publicises his book, published tomorrow. He's doing the interview equivalent of a photobomb. Yesterday, he clearly had a very good lunch with the press gallery. He said a lot of very pertinent things on Brexit including a ...
This morning council debated its new proposal to extend the period of compensation for loss of earnings to two years instead of one, provided that teaching assistants vote to accept the revised contracts which will reduce their pay by between 10 and 25%. If the proposal had simply been to increase the compensation two two years, whether or not the new contracts were imposed, I would have voted for it. Something is always better than nothing. But we didn't have the choice just to approve the improved protection. Approving that meant re-confirming the process of dismissing and then re-employing all ...
[IMG: The Lib Dems are proposing an additional £8bn NHS spending in the next Parliament] Our friends at the LGA Liberal Democrat group have been in touch to let us know about this useful source of health-related information for local campaigners in England and Wales. How healthy is your council area? The Health Profiles have been produced annually since 2006, providing a snapshot overview of health for each local authority [...]
[IMG: Meadows Flower Beds 10 09 16 (2)] One of the areas of the Town that the 'In Bloom' volunteers have taken over in recent years are the flower beds at the front of Sefton Council's Meadows Leisure Centre in KGV Park. [IMG: Meadows flower beds 10 09 16] Last Saturday was time to fettle out weeds and do some dead-heading as well as a general tidy up. Around a dozen volunteers turned out and the job was done in not much more than an hour. And after the work a chat with friends over coffee in the Leisure Centre. ...
On Friday I night launched a Badmintonathon in Birkdale organised by the Woodvale badminton Club to raise funds for local charities. What is a Badmintonathon? It seems to have been dreamt up by the Woodvale club and this is their fourth. It is a 24 hour continuous game with over 100 players taking part. I was mightily impressed by the way the event had been organised. Local businesses had been generous in their sponsorship, there was an amazing raffle and a number of sealed auctions for super prizes. I stayed for a good while and what stood out was the ...
[IMG: Agenda 2020 paper] Sunday morning at Brighton will see one of the most important debates at conference. It probably won't be terribly controversial (though one never knows ...), but it is party members' chance to say what they think - not about specific policies the party should adopt, but about what the party stands for: its basic philosophy. This is the final stage in the Federal Policy Committee's 'Agenda 2020' process, which has featured many times before in the pages of Lib Dem Voice. Over the past year we have published two consultation papers, organised two consultative sessions at ...
Well that's is a statement of the blinding obvious, obvious to all except extreme Brexiters that is. But I think she needs to change the word 'may' to 'will'. And here's another Mayism:- Mrs May said she would not pretend that leaving the union would be "plain sailing" And another:- "I think we must be prepared for the fact that there may be some difficult times ahead. But what I am is optimistic." I think the last sentence actually means, 'I have everything crossed' All said on the Andrew Marr show recently but don't you just get the impression that ...
[IMG: one-in-three-500x375] The electoral commission has just realised statistical information on the 2016 local elections and they confirm a trend of the last few years: Postal voters are disproportionately important in 'stand-alone local elections'. Of course postal voters are important in all elections but in local by-elections and lower turnout votes such as May's they are an [...]
Local people will have noticed a lot of police activity around 'the hill' next to Greenbank school. Dog walkers -hopefully fully equipped with their poop and scoop bags- were re-routed to allow a VIP guest to land in a helicopter. The Deputy Lord Lieutenant from Southport Michael Braham and I were waiting to welcome Prince Andrew to Birkdale where he was hosting the Duke of York's Young Champions Trophy. This international competition is in its 16th year. The tournament sees 55 of the world's most talented young male and female golfers take part in a 54 hole stroke play tournament. ...
Wed 14th
11:20
Conference Countdown 2016: Tackling global corruption should be a core Liberal campaign
On April 3 2016, just under 12 million documents were leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca containing financial details on over 200,000 offshore companies. While the bulk of our nation's media coverage was of David Cameron's family investment fund - Blairmore Holdings - and the former Prime Minister of Iceland's resignation, most news outlets underplayed the real significance of the investigation: the details of shell companies used to profit from criminal activity and how the lack of transparency in opaque jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles or Bahamas provides cover for organisations involved in people trafficking, ...
Twitter RT @davidschneider: Good to see the Tory plan for the BBC is now at stage 3. #GBBO Deadline extended to help find the best business in Calderdale - Halifax Courier RT @Reporter_Ian: Deadline extended to help find the best business in #Calderdale Twitter "Look how hard I kicked The Donald in the head, ma!" BCE Consultation Portal RT @Jamesdbaker1: Boundary review seems sensible for Calderdale. Removes the bizarre shape of the previous Calder Valley constituency. Leaked Emails Raise More Questions For Corbyn Team Over EU Campaign RT @tallgeekychap: Great story by @youngvulgarian shows how Corbyn's head of media resisted ...
"I have no respect of admiration for the Establishment," novelist and occasional MI6 collaborator Frederick Forsyth declared yesterday at a gathering of the London Grill Club, an informal lunch club for journalists and other professionals who give a prominent public figure a grilling once a month. Forsyth campaigned for Brexit long before this summer's EU [...]
For those of you heading to Conference in Brighton this weekend, I hope word has reached you by now that Cambridge Lib Dems are once again hosting the hugely enjoyable Lib Dem Disco in association with UK Music. It was such fun last year that even Buzzfeed was astounded. This year will see defending champion DJ Jo Swinson taking on the challenge from Kirsty Williams, Simon Hughes and the ALDC's own Abi Bell. As before, your MC for the evening is one Julian "J Huppz" Huppert. Things kick off at 10:30pm in the Balmoral & Buckingham Room, Hilton Metropole, Brighton ...
[IMG: Postal Vote] ALDC is organising a national Fortnight of Action to help you build the number of Liberal Democrat supporters who are signed up as postal voters. Experience has shown that postal voters are significantly more likely to vote that 'regular' voters - particularly in local elections - and it is important to make it easy for [...]
Wed 14th
09:06
ASLEF leader compares Hilary Benn to Hitler - and that's not even this worst thing about his speech
Today marks the end of TUC congress. To explain what that is in layman's terms, it is an annual conference where people interested in trade unions come together to discuss trade union type stuff. This year's event is in Brighton. I'd like to highlight a segment from the congress speech of Tosh McDonald, the president of ASLEF, the train drivers union. Now, some of you may have heard from Twitter that Tosh compared Hilary Benn to Hitler. In a sense, he did – but he actually said something far more offensive. His reference to Benn was about the Syria speech ...
Wed 14th
09:00
Winterbourne Medieval Barn - drama to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, Sunday 18 September
'A Day's Work' - Sunday 18 September, 3pm A Musical drama to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Using original songs, spoken verse, monologue and dialogue, 'A Day's Work' tells the story of a group of farm labourers, members of a mummers' team, who join up, or refuse to join up, and meet finally on the first day of The Somme. The show examines war, love, courage and cowardice through this new script and songs with a cast of highly respected performers. Refreshments will be available to purchase during the interval. Visitors are welcome to bring ...
I am rapidly coming to the view that the disgraced former Tory MP and UKIP Assembly leader, Neil Hamilton should be kept away from microphones for the good of his own party. On the other hand as somebody who abhors everything UKIP stands for, long may he continue embarrassing his colleagues. The latest gaffe came at the first UKIP press briefing of the new Assembly term. According to the Western Mail, Hamilton once more inserted his foot in his mouth and pronounced: "With the boundary changes that are going to take place before 2020, Labour are going to suffer a ...
[IMG: Journal of Liberal History cover Sept 2016] I know when my Journal of Liberal History arrives that it will contain interesting, well researched, evidence based assessments and accounts of Liberal Democrat, Liberal and SDP activities. The Conference issue of this quarterly publication has just arrived and it looks at the record of the Liberal Democrats in coalition. Unlike last year's Conference issue, which looked at the coalition as a whole, this takes a detailed look at individual policy areas. Economic policy, social security, health and social care, education, constitutional reform, home affairs and climate and energy come under the ...
Over the years, I have taken a close interest in the work of Dundee's Russian School and I am delighted at the school's success in achieving the school's first certificates. The school's students of Russian as a foreign language were delighted with their GCSE results, with a 100% success rate including an A*. The school's Director Dr Andriy Sukhodub is also happy with his students' success. " Andriy said, "These GCSEs are a first for our school, and we are all extremely proud of our students. Our main focus, as a Saturday school, has always been on delivering supplementary education ...
xkcd: Earth Temperature Timeline *gulp* (tags: climatechange ) The Custodian of Forgotten Books About a guy who I knew through livejournal! (tags: Books reading ) Zero chance EU citizens in UK will keep same rights post-Brexit, says expert And vice versa. (tags: brexit ukpolitics eu ) My grandfather Roald Dahl, the magician On his centenary. (tags: writing sf family )
Jimmy Webb is one of the true greats of songwriting, one of those names who other writers will bring up when asked who they admire. He's never had the public recognition he deserves, perhaps because his work straddles the border ... Continue reading →
Wed 14th
00:04
Freedom of information request reveals Labour MP Kate Hoey behind hospital anti-cycling campaign
When a London hospital is lobbying against a healthy activity – cycling – it kind of feels like something is going wrong. So when Guys and St Thomas Hospital in London runs an extensive (and expensive – campaigner Tom Kearney has uncovered that £10k of NHS money has been spent so far) lobbying and legal [...]
