The Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Norman Lamb will use his keynote speech at the party's federal conference in Brighton this weekend to float the idea of a dedicated NHS tax and to announce a new advisory group of health experts: The Liberal Democrats are poised to become the first major political party to back a dedicated new tax to help rescue the NHS from its deep financial problems. The party is about to start examining the wisdom and practicalities of introducing a ringfenced tax which would involve a one pence increase in either income tax or National Insurance. The party ...
This near meeting between the late DJ and the assassin of President Kennedy wins our coveted award. "It's a story that I've told so often that you get to the point where you don't really believe it yourself, it just seems so unlikely. "But then in one of the bits of film of that press conference, we were all standing in this room and they had the identification parade in the basement of this building and they said - Henry Wade said - that this is the man that's been charged in the assassination of President Kennedy, and they brought ...
We've lost a battle. But there are many more to come. We must not lose them all. To win, we will need to fight more smartly than we did in the past. We must understand why we lost. The government – and Stronger In, which was in Downing Street's pocket – had no vision for how Britain could help lead Europe. It had no vision for how to make Britain fairer either. It just had a boring case for the status quo. To understand why we lost, we have to reach out to Leave voters. To understand why many feel ...
Nan beats grandson to claim Burton Latimer Council seat https://t.co/GNYTCTtItB pic.twitter.com/VTjCFowdvk— Northants Telegraph (@NTelegraph) September 16, 2016I don't like to dwell on Liberal Democrat successes in town council elections. It can come over as too needy, too Jeremy Corbyn. But Jenny Davies' victory in Burton Latimer should be noted because the Labour candidate she beat into fourth place was her own grandson. She told the Northamptonshire Telegraph: "I was really pleased with the result, it was quite something. "I had a lot of people helping and they were brilliant, they did a great job and it was a real team ...
Last night the Liberal Democrats comfortably held my favourite Shropshire town: Bishop's Castle (Shropshire) result: LDEM: 60.5% (-1.5) CON: 30.2% (-0.5) LAB: 6.7% (+6.7) GRN: 2.6% (-4.7)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 15, 2016Note that Labour's intervention made little difference and the Greens, who once had high hopes of this end of the county, actually went backwards. The by-election was caused by the resignation of Charlotte Barnes for family reasons. I met her in the days when it was easier for me to get over to Shropshire and I am sure she was a very good councillor. She also fought the ...
[IMG: Cllr David Hancock and team] Last night saw six principal council by-elections held across the country and there were some fantastic results for the Lib Dems! David Hancock and the team in Tupton ward in North East Derbyshire stormed to victory in a Labour stronghold with a 37.4% share of the vote. The team in Tupton worked incredibly hard on the ground to push Labour's share of the vote down 33.9% (a decrease of 33.2%) following the resignation of a local Labour councillor. The Conservatives came in third with 19.3% (-13.6%). Huge congratulations go to Cllr Hancock and everyone ...
[IMG: Disco 2014] Whether you are in Brighton or not, you can still keep in touch with what's going on at Conference in a variety of different ways. Obviously, you can follow the gossip, mischief, analysis and the stuff they won't put on the party website on here. The party is producing a daily round up email. Sign up for it here. Follow the #ldconf hashtag on Twitter. For a record of all the decisions passed as they happen, follow the Live Blog on the party website. If you suddenly find that you have some free time and can go ...
Lower part of first page of third chapter: I've been very much enjoying Saga, also by Vaughan but with a different artist; not quite sure where I picked up the fact that this might be worth reading, but I got it when in Portland and read it a week or so ago. The setting is small-town America in a fully detailed 1988, with four twelve-year-olds diverted from their early morning newspaper delivery run to deal with - time travellers? aliens? both? The period detail for 1988 is well realised, and it's also clear in a Buffy-like way that the sfnal ...
Fri 16th
16:57
Lord Dick Newby writes...We have more chance of breaking the mould of British politics than we had i...
[IMG: House of Lords chamber] It was a great honour to be elected Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in the Lords earlier this week. The challenge facing me and my colleagues is straightforward. How do we help the Party occupy as much as possible of the centre and centre left of British politics - ground which is currently vacant? Obviously we can do our bit by trying to defeat or amend the worst of the Tory legislation. We face a Tory government unrestrained, Labour are not doing their job as the opposition. It is the Liberal Democrats who have ...
I've noticed a few formatting infelicities in many of the ebooks I've got available on Smashwords. I'm updating them at the moment (just spent four hours hand-hacking the epub version of California Dreaming to get rid of a problem with ... Continue reading →
Human rights law is inherently international. This is true not only because of international agreements that codify rights to which ever person is entitled. It is also true because the authors of such agreements and courts that resolve disputes about the relationship between citizen and state look to each other, across national boundaries, are influenced by each other and have done for a very long time. Arguably the most important human rights case in the US since 1945 was Brown v Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court unanimously decided that segregation of black and white children between different ...
[IMG: The Strand, Bude by paul walter] The Strand, Bude, Cornwall On Wednesday I was lucky enough to be in a choir leading the singing of "Trelawny" in an ancient Cornish church. "Trelawny" or "The Song of Western Men" is the "unofficial Cornish national anthem" written by Rev R.S. Hawker. The congregation joined in with the choruses – most enthusiastically – and rapturous applause from "one and all" followed the song. It was a magical moment and reinforced that great feeling of community which one feels amongst Cornish people. There's a real passion and pride about the Cornish nation. The ...
Halfway there! ... even though it did mean more aimless wandering to reach my step count yesterday. These are the perils of having a job that meant I spent most of yesterday driving, in meetings or at an M42 service station. Most of the people I see out and about in the evenings are dog walking. Dog owners can be ... The post 10,000 steps a day – days 14 & 15 – halfway there appeared first on ten pence piece.
As Liberal Democrats gather in Brighton this weekend for Autumn Conference, it's a timely moment to consider the challenges facing the party. Despite the turmoil within Britain's official opposition party, Labour (graphically illustrated on BBC's Question Time last night by a cat fight between John McDonnell MP and Alastair Campbell), the LibDems seem stuck in [...]
The Brexit referendum was a perfect demonstration of what many of us have known for a long time: emotion trumps reason - every time. In the referendum campaign, the Remain campaign mounted a campaign focused on 'rational' arguments - largely about the economy. All the visceral emotion was with Leave. It is not surprising Leave prevailed. What is also clear is that anger trumps fear - every time. Angry people are fired up. They rise up to do things - often destructive things. Fear paralyses. People cower in a corner and hope it all goes away. The prevailing political mood ...
The Bird is soaring!! Now I know that this is a Scottish song about going off to a wedding which I will NOT be doing this weekend. It does, however, express the feelings of the thousands of Lib Dem delates ... Continue reading →
[IMG: IMG_3896] My friend Iain Brodie Brown has the story on his Birkdale Focus blog site – see link above. Always like to give a plug for The Atkinson, it's a great gallery/museum/exhibition space & theatre.
With all the fuss, particularly on social media, about the parking fines that are being handed out by the private sector company which owns the Maghull Square shopper's car parks I scratched my head a little over the stated position of Maghull's Town Council Leader. The Champion newspaper quotes him as saying – notices about the new arrangements are "strategically placed" around Central Square. He said "They are on the small side – but there are plenty of them." But what does that mean, what is he trying to tell us? I think our Labour Council Leader needs to be ...
From the paperwork for the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton comes this gem.
In the Brexit debate the then leading leaver Michael Gove made himself look silly by claiming that Britain had "had enough of experts." He has now been shifted to the back benches, and Mrs May's decision to put Hinkley Point C nuclear power station "on hold" while she had a further look at the evidence gave the impression maybe we now had a government that was prepared to listen and act rationally. Alas not so. I have just re-read my previous post on this topic and can see nothing that I would change. The project uses technology which achieves the ...
Embed from Getty Images What would we remember of the Labour government, if Al-Qaeda's terrorist attack fifteen years ago had never happened? If Labour had listened to the advice of Robin Cook and John Denham, and not engaged in the catastrophe of the Iraq war? Many of us will remember Robin Cook's electrifying resignation speech. If only he were alive today. However, he was not the only Labour minister to step down from government office because of the Iraq war. In his prescient resignation speech, on the 18th March, 2003, John Denham said: If we act in the wrong way, ...
Mayfair Curzon cinema faces closure over 'noise from films' in flats above it | London Evening Standard RT @eldnhistories: DON'T MOVE INTO FLATS ON TOP OF CINEMAS, BARS AND CLUBS IF U DONT LIKE NOISE U DICKHEADS Strange Horizons Reviews: Job Simulator, reviewed by Iori Kusano Twitter RT @amightygirl: Artist @Katersbonnevill mocked up an empowering version of Sept's Girl's Life cover: Twitter RT @historylvrsclub: Alice Cooper with wife and daughter, 1980s. Photo by Terry O'Neill. Former DWP disabilities minister set to be suspended from Parliament for leaking payday loan report to Wonga | The Independent RT @IndyPolitics: Former DWP disabilities ...
[IMG: The Alternative] This week I had the chance to talk to Caroline Lucas, newly elected co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, about the book "The Alternative." She co-edited the book with Labour MP Lisa Nandy and her erstwhile 2015 Liberal Democrat opponent Chris Bowers. The three will be taking part in a fringe meeting at Conference on Sunday at 1pm in the Buckingham suite in the Hilton Metropole. The event is organised by the Social Liberal Forum. The first part of the book explores all sorts of ideas, from foreign affairs to social security and public ...
Fri 16th
09:55As a former teacher and Chair of Education, this is why I think grammar schools are so wrong
I am writing to state my fundamental opposition to the re-introduction of grammar schools. I say this on the basis of my long career in education. I was in teacher education for 20 years being a Head of Department at the Maria Grey College and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee in Education at London University. I was Chair of Education in Devon. At Maria Grey I lectured in the History of Education and The English Educational System, These are some of the points I made in my lectures: Education in England is like a nubile Cinderella, sparsely dressed and ...
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... Sponsored: 64% off Code Black Drone with HD Camera Our #1 Best-Selling Drone–Meet the Dark Night of the Sky! Can Britain's vanquished liberals ever recover? Clegg on the Tory dilemma: the pro-business single mkt v the red tape of independence http://bit.ly/2cLasuR Ed Balls has some wise words for us all about Jeremy Corbyn, Brexit and the future of the Labour Party | The Independent Ed Balls on the need for strong oppostn: "It was terrible for us that IDS became leader ...
Welcome to the latest in my series of tips and advice for Liberal Democrat members, which appear first in the email bulletin run by London Region for party members. The members-only website for Liberal Democrats On the top right corner of www.LibDems.org.uk is a little 'login' option and any party member can click on that to login to our member-only website (and also to bring up information about how to get your login details). Login and click on 'members' in the top menu to find a huge wealth of useful information – free online training courses for campaigners, information about ...
It is hard to know who has come off worst with the defection of UKIP's fomrer head of media, Alexandra Phillips to the Tories. Is it UKIP who have lost a key figure and who are characterised by her as having become more "aggressive and testosterone-fuelled" and racked with in-fighting in the latter period of Nigel Farage's leadership? Or is it the Tories, whose leader and Prime Mininster stands accused of having delivered on all key elements of UKIP's 2015 election manifesto "within a matter of months" of David Cameron's resignation. So much so in fact that they allegedly leave ...
Orchard Harvest Day will be held on Sunday 2 October from 11am - 4pm. The most popular annual event at the Barn! Visit the wonderful medieval barn dating from 1340s. Celebrate and discover the bounty of local orchards, locally-produced food and drink together with displays of local crafts and rural skills. Adults £2, children under 16yrs FREE. Come and see traditional cider making using a Victorian stone apple mill and taste the results! Of course they will be paying homage to the Great British Orchard with cider making demos, apple display and we may have expertise on hand to identify ...
Nick Clegg talked earlier this week about the possibility of a second independence referendum in Scotland following the Brexit vote. This has been construed in some quarters as implied support of independence. He has written to Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie to enthusiastically endorse the position he has taken – that the Liberal Democrats will campaign to keep Scotland in both the UK and the EU. Independence, he says, would only compound the problems of Brexit meaning that everybody loses. Here is his letter in full: Dear Willie You will have read that I have been warning about the ...
Residents who use the Seafield Road car park have complained about seagulls' mess on their vehicles due to seagulls perching on the street lighting columns in the car park. I contacted the City Council's Street Lighting Partnership Manager about this and she has now helpfully advised as follows : "Our nightshift crew attended and fitted spikes to the lanterns in the car park ... Hopefully this will help with the situation."
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. 741 party members responded – thank you – and we're publishing the full results. We asked our members to rate Tim Farron's performance as Leader. The results will please him. His net +63 result is even higher than the last time we asked members to rate him when he was party president. You would expect his ratings to be higher than those of his predecessor Nick Clegg just by dint of the ...
Jean-Claude Juncker's State of the Union: What's Shaping the EU's Future? @emmabrux on Juncker. (tags: eu ) Scientists reveal most accurate depiction of a dinosaur ever created Who's a pretty boy then? (tags: fossils ) When a Crackpot Runs for President Kristof on the role of the media. (tags: media uspolitics ) DUP Invited In For Talks With Tories Amid Rumours Of Backroom Deal Over Grammar Schools And Boundary Changes Ahhh, Tory integrity. (tags: northernireland ukpolitics ) Brexit Aftermath: The Challenges and Opportunities @sirgrahamwatson's take. (tags: ukpolitics eu brexit )
Jonny Keeley, a member of the band Fight the Bear, has been elected to represent Bishop's Castle and the surrounding villages on Shropshire Council. His majority is 442. A couple months ago, Charlotte Barnes unfortunately had to stand down as Shropshire Councillor for the Bishop's Castle division triggering a by-election. Yesterday, a substantial majority of... Continue reading Shropshire Council - Bishop's Castle win for Lib Dem Jonny Keeley →
