What on earth is going on with the world? Last week we gained back a Council seat in Sheffield. This week, we gain a seat in North East Derbyshire which is not, shall we say, an area of strength. It's been a while since we ran a campaign or even stood a candidate there. Look at the, though: Tupton (North East Derbyshire) result: LDEM: 38.3% (+38.3) LAB: 34.7% (-32.4) CON: 17.5% (-15.4) UKIP: 8.9% (+8.9) BPP: 0.7% (+0.7) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 15, 2016 I'm not going to lie. I did say a lot of very sweary words when ...
The final round of by-elections before the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton starts is looking rather good.
Is there a new law which I'm not aware of that says that all cinematic showings much have a minimum quota of Sigourney Weaver in them? Not that I'd complain if such a rule did exist, mind you — Sigourney ... Continue reading →
A sensible move by the Acting Returning Officer for this year's round of Liberal Democrat committee elections, the first due by one-member, one-vote (OMOV): In the past we would normally open nominations for these elections at the Autumn Federal Conference immediately before the elections were held, as the electorate was Federal Party Conference Representatives. There has been a change of the electorate to one member one vote following the decision at the Autumn 2015 Conference. Furthermore, potential changes to the bodies being elected and the rules for election are going to this Conference in Brighton. As a result, we are ...
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Ciaran Morrissey. To help, please contact Greg Stone on 07747 862582 or greg@gregstone.org.uk.
Independent seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate – Sara Mihajlovic.
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate: Dave Raval
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate: Jonny Keeley.
Labour seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate – Alison Hobson.
Independent seats (x2). Cause: Resignations. LD candidate – Jenny Davies. To help, please contact Chris Nelson at chris@chrisnelson.org.uk or telephone 07824645049.
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate: David Hancock. To help please email david@canon-guide.com
At Qaanaaq, in Greenland, there's IS18: an infrasound station that's quietly listening for nuclear tests.
It looks as though all is well at Bonkers Hall after all. Let us steal away and leave him to enjoy his new fame until our next visit. Bigger than Kim Kardashian's bottom I wrote all the above yesterday, and will confess that I spent the night tossing and turning. How would my piece be received in Fleet Street? I need not have worried. This morning I received an excited telephone call from the organ. I won't pretend to understand everything that was said, but the gist of it was they had published it on the electric internet under the ...
Discerning readers will of course not click through to read the full story. Or see any pictures. Especially as photos of Tim Farron and milk are absent.
I love this story from the Aberdeen Evening Express: Scots face a "Brexit Irn Bru tax", with the cost of importing soft-drink ingredients already rising sharply following the vote to leave the European Union ... the Liberal Democrats have warned. The cost of a two-litre bottle of Irn Bru could rise by 6p if just half of the beverage's secret formula is affected by Brexit-related inflation, MSP Mike Rumbles said. Manufacturers are already seeing higher inflation for raw materials since the Brexit vote, he said. Inflation for imported soft-drink ingredients jumped 6.3% between June and July compared to only 1% ...
"Although the policy paper is called 'Mending the Safety Net', what it proposes is nothing of the sort. In fact, it actively endorses the current welfare system which is failing so badly that over a million people in the UK don't just live in poverty but are actively destitute." George Potter argues that Liberal Democrat Conference should reject the social security policy paper. Caroline Wright reports that a renowned Harvard psychologist Says ADHD is largely a fraud. Gavin Stamp mourns the unhappy fate of Christopher Wren's London churches. Thinking of faking your own death? It's harder than you think, explains ...
On Monday at Liberal Democrat conference, party members will have the chance to debate policy motion F31 which endorses a new Liberal Democrat welfare policy paper, Mending the safety net. However, as one of the members of the working group which wrote the paper, I strongly urge all members at conference to vote against the motion. My reasons for saying this are simple: although the policy paper is called 'Mending the Safety Net', what it proposes is nothing of the sort. In fact, it actively endorses the current welfare system which is failing so badly that over a million people ...
Second paragraph of third story ("Undercurrents", by Gary Merchant): He [Jamie] looked up though half-closed eyes. 'Zoe? What's the matter? It's the middle of the night.' Another in the generally good series of anthologies by Big Finish, this one leaning a lot more on Big Finish's own continuity and thus a bit less on TV Who (though Nev Fountain's "The Five O'Clock Shadow" bridges the TV and comics versions of the First Doctor, with the Cushing Doctor Who thrown in as well). I did not really understand what the theme was here, except perhaps that all the stories take place ...
Members of the Nuclear Weapons Working Group are presenting their personal views as part of a wider consultation process into the party's future policy on nuclear weapons. The full consultation paper can be found at www.libdems.org.uk/autumn-conference-16-policypapers and the consultation window runs until 28 October. Party members are invited to attend the consultation session at party conference in Brighton, to be held on Saturday 17 September at 1pm in the Balmoral Room of the Hilton. The UK's options for the successor to Trident are (boiled down to essentials): Same as now – nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, only new. Keep most or ...
I was delighted to visit the Four Season's centre in Birkdale this week where I was met by one of the founders Ruth Wareing. The scheme provides opportunities for people with learning difficulties to gain training and experience of work leading to greater independence. The project offers opportunities in horticulture, catering, floristry, hairdressing and in a new retail enterprise that I had been invited to open I was very impressed by the set up and the opportunities that the scheme provided for people to gain experience and qualifications. It is particularly good to see the trainees gaining nationally recognised qualifications ...
[IMG: Baby] Someone at the Office of National Statistics has been having a bit of a play with birthday data. This time of the year (the second half of September) is the most popular time to be born (with September 26th being the "peak" day on the data for the last twenty years. The peak in births in late September show that more babies are conceived in the weeks leading up to and days after Christmas than at any other time of the year. Honestly. You would have thought mince pies was enough. Unsurprisngly though, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and ...
[IMG: wellbeing-for-life-logo] Some of you will know this logo. Others won't. In a nutshell its self-description is "FREE service supporting you to live well in County Durham." You could help them (and me) know how they (and we) are doing by completing their survey at http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/R6ZH8/ (applicable only to those of us who live in the North of the County). I started to do it myself, but realised that what is really needed is is not more answers from "the usual suspects" like me, but open-minded, non-partisan members of the local community. People like you.
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and Jo Barton are holding their next advice centre in Churchtownn We will be at BoxTree Kitchen for Queenscourt café, Manor Road/Cambridge Road, roundabout, from 10:30 to 11.30am on Thursday 22nd September. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We also hold a monthly advice centre in Crossens, at St John's School, Rufford Road, Crossens every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month from 11:00 am to 12:00.
I'm going to be posting a proper review of Jerusalem on Mindless Ones tomorrow, when I've had time to finish thinking about it, but my review will probably not be touching on one of the main issues of the book, ... Continue reading →
UK Parliament would like to hear your views about your local park. The Communities and Local Government Committee is investigating public parks and wants to know what you use your park for, or if you use it at all. We also would like to know how you feel about your park and its role in your community. If you would like to complete a short questionnaire, click here. The questionnaire shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to complete. Your answers to these questions will help inform how the Committee questions local authorities, the Government and other organisations about how parks ...
I read in the Champion newspaper (14th September edition) that I 'believe' that the Maghull branch of Home & Bargains will expand into the soon to be become vacant HSBC bank unit next door to it. I think something got lost in the translation so to clarify, I already know that Home & Bargains is due to move itself off Westway and into the 'Square' itself. I am told this is planned for 12 to 18 months time and that they will take over some vacant units that will be knocked together. However, on hearing the news about HSBC closing ...
The Huffington Post has the story on its web site – see link above A definition of Comradery is a feeling of trust, a bond created by a shared goal or experience — you don't have to be best friends with everyone in the group to know you have their support. But there's not much comradery around in the Labour Party these days! With thanks to KP for spotting this story. And this more Merseyside centric Labour story that the Liverpool Echo is running follows that one up nicely, or not so nicely, depending on your opinion:- Trying ...
These are the recommendations regarding Wales of the Boundary Commission set up as as result of the government decision to reduce the number of Westminster constituencies to 600 at around 75,000 electors each. The proposals affecting Neath, Port Talbot and adjacent areas are shown below. It seems to us that the Boundary Commission has paid insufficient attention to one of its rules, namely special geographical considerations, including in particular the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency; local government boundaries as they existed on 7 May 2015 and any local ties that would be broken by changes in constituencies. Local ...
I've just downloaded the newly updated Conference App to my phone and spent half an hour making up my schedule for the Conference. You can get it from your App store of choice now. It's brilliant because it has the Agenda and Directory in full so you can look up the text of motions. It will have the Conference Extra and Conference Daily when they are published. It also has maps of the venue. and exhibition. I find it particularly useful that it will save the events I select into the main diary on my phone where I've been piling ...
The stark reality of the gas chambers and furnaces of Auschwitz are hard for the human mind to imagine, even when one visits the eerily empty huts that have been preserved on site. And although concentration camps have figured in many Hollywood movies — Spielberg's Schindler's List perhaps being the best-known example — none conveyed [...]
A lovely picture of Teresa May's cabinet RT @holly: LOOK AT THE MANSPREADING Evil Dead 2: The Official Board Game - BackerKit Excited to be the 2,847th weirdo on @BackerKit for Evil Dead 2: The Official Board Game Thx @gospacegoat! LEGO Ideas - Red Dwarf Lego Hey @bobbyllew you have seen this, right? I've seen it in the flesh (plastic) and I want one. Pls promote? 'She makes the ordinary feel as important as the epic': the gift of Ursula Le Guin | Books | The Guardian Wonderful, WONDERFUL article on why Ursula K Le Guin is so awesome: Jack ...
The Left is cracking the Cava about Jeremy Corbyn having finally got the best of a Tory prime minister at Prime Minister's Questions. Fair enough – it's been some time in coming, and there is no doubt that Corbyn won the session. But if you stop to think why that is, several things about the Corbyn project become evident. The chief reason Corbyn did well in the chamber yesterday is because he was talking about something he really believed in that just happened to be something May found difficult to talk about. The point of PMQs from the leader of ...
This weekend the British Liberal Democrats go to their main annual conference, in Brighton. They expect little media coverage, but buoyant membership should ensure a lively event. These members face a troubling question: how to rebuild the party's electoral base. To do this they will have overcome its ambiguous feelings about its recent past. Notwithstanding ... Continue reading To progress the Lib Dems must confront the coalition years →
It is a fact that until the revolt by the Parliamentary Labour Party against Jeremy Corbyn's leadership the official opposition were neck and neck with the Conservatives in the polls. This does not mean that Corbyn was doing particularly well or that the Labour Party were in a position to win a General Election but it did provide some comfort to those who had placed their faith in Corbyn as leader. The dramatic decline in the Labour Party's standing in public opinion since then is almost certainly down to the perception that the party is split down the middle and ...
If you read any other paper than the Guardian, you will have noted some days ago a generously-covered story about the enormous 'lifetime tax bill' faced by British families. The 'average UK household' in 2014-15 was estimated to pay £826,000 in direct and indirect taxes over their working life, while the top 20% 'will pay £1,686,970' - a curiously exact figure for an estimate, and a claimed rise of 4.3% over the previous year. The story had no reference to any benefits that flowed back to taxpayers in return for this drain on their income: education for children (£180,000 per ...
Residents have expressed concern to me about the quality of repair recently undertaken to the steps to houses in Benvie Gardens. As you can see (right) the repair has broken down and the step in question is not secure. I have contacted Home Scotland regarding this and have been promised that this will be attended to with a permanent repair to be promptly undertaken.
Family court judgement written so that the children involved can understand it Heart-rending. (tags: law children )
Thu 15th
01:01
Redcar's Yorkshire Coble pub no longer allowing parents of Lakes Primary pupils to park during Schoo...
I am being contacted by parents and residents concerning the recent decision of the Yorkshire Coble to no longer allow parents to park in the pub car park whilst dropping off or picking up children at Lakes Primary School. This arrangement seemed to have been working well ever since the current travel to school plans were introduced and I have always thought it was very helpful of the landlord and staff at the Coble to allow this to happen. I am unsure as to why the decision has been taken to block access though I understand it has do do ...
