I liked it.

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

With the Glee Club about to get underway at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton, it is time to share this with you... Bonkers HallTel. Rutland 7 Are we downhearted, fellow Liberal Democrats? No we are not! Every day brings news of fresh triumphs. Why, only last week I read on Liberal Democrat Voice that we had come second in a parish council election in Cropwell Bishop. With our clear stance on Europe - exemplified by that splendid new group 'I'm As Much In Favour Of The EU As The Next Man But Did You See The Referendum Result In ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Current Liberal Democrat Party President Sal Brinton sees her two year term of office come to an end shortly. Earlier today the party announced the timetable for the next Presidential election: Nominations open: 17th September Membership cut off date for being able to vote in contest: 2nd November Nominations close: 2nd November Dispatch of Voting instructions: 21st-23rd November Close of ballot: 14th December Count: 17th December Party Presidents are limited to two terms of office, but her current term is her first. Hence Sal Brinton will be running again... and is almost certain to be elected for a further two ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Remember this poster? I came across it on a bright January day this year when I visited Rothwell. I thought of it when I read this post on the British Psychological Society's Research Digest blog: Imagine there was an honesty box in your coffee room at work, do you think it would make any difference to your behaviour if there was poster of staring eyes on the wall? A hugely influential study published in 2006 suggested that it would - that feeling watched, even by a picture of eyes rather than an actual person, increases people's honesty. In fact, in ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Nick Clegg has been fully supportive of the line on Europe conference voted for, whilst Vince Cable has been talking of his opposition to conference policy.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Mon 19th
20:10

Dreams can come true

One thing I've always been told is "Never meet your heroes. They will just disappoint you!" And many people never have the chance to meet them. However last night I met my hero Former MP for Eastleigh and energy secretary Mr Chris Huhne, and I was far from let down. For many of you who [...]

Posted by vloggerhannah on The Liberal Queen

It's time that Shropshire Council gave town and parish councils a fairer financial deal. On Thursday, I am calling for the unitary authority to use part of the proceeds from the sale of redundant buildings to help councils prepare to take on amenities such as youth, library, museum and leisure services, along with parks and... Continue reading Stone House sale funds should be used to improve Ludlow services →

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

There is still a real buzz around Liberal Democrat events created by the volume, talent and eagerness of the party's new members. That has been on display again at the party's conference in Brighton. That is the enthusiasm of my headline. As for the disjointed nature of the conference, consider this. Just before it, Tim Farron said education was his top priority. Then wander around conference, look through the paperwork or listen to the events. Education pops up now and again but not in a way that would give a clue it is now the top priority unless you already ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

An exhibition and conference that celebrate the Revd J.P. Martin's Uncle books are to be held next month at the New Room, The Horsefair, Bristol. The exhibition will run from 7 to 22 October. It will explore the links between Methodism and publishing in Bristol, celebrate the Uncle books and mark the achievements of the Martin/Currey family, particularly the involvement of James Currey in the African Writers Series. The theme 'Writing and Publishing in Bristol' will run through both the exhibition and a free one-day conference on Saturday 15 October. Further details can be found on the New Room website. ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Embed from Getty Images Judging by the stats for this blog, there is a hunger among my readers for good news about the Liberal Democrats. So try this story from the Evening Standard for size: City "superwoman" Nicola Horlick today backed the Liberal Democrats to lead the battle against Brexit and launched a stinging attack on Cabinet minister Liam Fox. The financier and mother-of-six has previously shied away from taking sides in the political arena. But she says she was stung into speaking out after a "barrage" of abuse on Twitter for warning of the perils of Britain quitting the ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
YouGov

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Derbyshire. So Jane and I took a quick hop up the M1 to Hardwick Hall – one of my favourite National Trust properties. You can spend a whole day here, as there's the Hall, Old Hall, gardens, walks around the estate and the tea rooms to keep you busy. Especially the tea rooms. We ... The post 10,000 steps a day – day 18 – Hardwick Hall appeared first on ten pence piece.

Posted by tim on ten pence piece

Second paragraph of third chapter: And besides, he was no longer a cop. Latest in the post-retirement stories of John Rebus, Edinburgh detective - this time combining his old gangland foes with new rivals, and an ancient political sex scandal (borrowed from the real-life Kincora scandal in Belfast) combined with the legacy of more recent conflicts, mixed up with colleagues of dubious loyalty, and of course death. I felt that the internal police wiring didn't quite link up here, but the rest of it made a lot of sense and the resolution was very satisfying. This was the top non-sf ...

Embed from Getty Images Prime minister Theresa May has called for "dads to talk to girls about current affairs and politics" in a bid to encourage more women to enter Parliament. The Liberal Democrat party has a long track record of encouraging, training and mentoring women who have parliamentary aspirations. I have attended Inspiration Days at LibDem HQ and have come away buoyed by the brilliant, erudite, passionate and diverse women I encountered there; and not once has the subject of wishing their fathers spoke to them more about politics been raised. There are myriad reasons why women are under-represented ...

Posted by Dani Tougher on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 19th
15:54

Nick Clegg book signing

I've just heard that stocks of the new Nick Clegg book have sold out here at Brighton conference. This is hardly surprising given the huge queue for the book-signing this weekend. Well done to Gateshead Lib Dem Councillor Daniel Duggan for his patience after joining the queue.

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace
Mon 19th
14:34

Fighting the Culture War

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the creation of a raft of new liberal and democratic states in 1989 and 1991, the argument about the values of the open society went into a kind of stasis. The debate was deemed by many to be closed, and the virtues of liberal democracy self-evidently triumphant. 25 years later that "end of history" seems at best more nuanced. At worst, the closed authoritarian model seems to have made a spectacular come-back. This blog references Cicero, and in previous posts I have explained why. I have feared for a long time that ...

Posted by Cicero on Cicero's Songs

Embed from Getty Images The 2016 #libdemdisco has been liberally covered in the tabloids. The Daily Mail went with "Were there points for the best dad dancing? Lib Dem grandees dance the night away at bizarre competitive DISCO". They described the disco as a "Booze-fuelled late night event" and said: Sir Simon (Hughes) got off to a faltering start after inviting the still mostly sober activists to guess Fat Boy Slim – a task in which he failed...ex-business minister Jo Swinson won the dubious honour of the Lib Dem Disco crown for the second year running with a set including ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 19th
14:16

Rochdale Pioneers Museum

I lived in Rochdale as a lad in the 1960's (went to Lower Place Primary School – lived on Weston Avenue) and had a vague memory of the Toad Lane Co-Op shop/museum so last week Sheila and I travelled over to Rochdale from our Merseyside home to have a look at it and learn more about the Rochdale Pioneers. [IMG: The Toad Lane Shop/Museum of Rochdale Pioneers with the Baum pub nextdoor] The Toad Lane Shop/Museum of Rochdale Pioneers with the Baum pub nextdoor The staff were very friendly and took a real interest in us; we had a great ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Local Liberal Democrats have been attending their Party's Autumn Conference ‎in Brighton this week in the wake of a number of local government by-election victories across the country. Policy discussions have centred on the party's determination to give the country a further say on the terms of the proposed Brexit deal; as well as to [...]

Posted by nickperrylibdem on Nick Perry For Hastings & Rye

There literally was just standing room only yesterday at Conference for Tim Farron's Q&A session. I popped in to do some photos and while I was in, he was answering questions on Europe. I wonder how many other party leaders would take questions from the floor without having notice of them in advance. It was a good performance by Tim. He's clearly growing into the role. It is noticeable that

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace

I had written a speech for the European motion at conference, and I wanted to share it with you all: I was going to tell you about how angry I was. I was going to talk about how the Leave campaign lied, how they cheated, how they preyed on fear, and how fear won. I was going to demand we take action. I was going to implore you to stand fast in your support for internationalism and your support for Britain's membership of the EU. But then I remembered that it isn't just about us, that it isn't just about ...

Posted by Alex Hegenbarth on Liberal Democrat Voice
eUKhost

The Lib Dems are so far the only party to call for a referendum on the eventual Brexit deal. Conference overwhelmingly backed a motion lodged by the Federal Policy Committee. Nick Clegg spoke in the debate and got a standing ovation, saying that Clegg: Tories will gear up for hard Brexit. They can never say that they are party of business or responsible party of government #ldconf — Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) September 19, 2016 He got a standing ovation – even from some people who have spent the last six years heavily criticising him. Is the party learning to love ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Twitter RT @A_C_McGregor: Dreadful pun, 10/10 Look out! There's a SAFETY ELEPHANT on the rampage! @caronmlindsay Charles Clarke - possibly am aging myself as a political blogger there @lisanandy Twitter RT @caronmlindsay: The fantastic @DipaJVaya challenging @LibDemWomen to do more on diversity. #ldcomf Twitter Oh God... I should have gone. Twitter OMG *bows down before the glorious leader @timfarron * that's AWESOME Twitter RT @SarahNobleLD: #ldconf Instagram #ldconf Brighton beach selfie with @tomfooled :) Twitter RT @BBW_BFF: imagine not having a huge crush on Vincent Price David Cameron 'to earn £1.5m from memoirs and £50,000 per hour giving after dinner ...

Margaret Beckett famously described herself as a "moron" in regards to her decision to nominate Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the Labour Party. Yet she also can't bring herself to say anything truly bad about him either. She even once described him in an interview, post-2015 leadership election I hasten to add, as a saint. This is a very common view of Corbyn – a lovely little man sucked into the centre of politics where he never really wanted to go, who is now drowning, incompetently pining for his allotment and some peace and quiet. I can see how ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

Over the weekend, political blogger and LBC presenter Iain Dale unveiled his list of Top Liberal Democrats in 2016. It is generally viewed with amusement by conference-goers. While it may give people bragging rights over certain of their colleagues, it is fairly arbitrary in nature. I was particularly happy to see some of the most energetic campaigners our party has make it on to the list. Daisy Benson has been a massive factor in galvanising the Lib Dem Newbies into quite a force within the party. Former Presidential candidate and now PPC for St Albans Daisy Cooper is another welcome ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

On 17th July I wrote a blog about a Compass meeting held the night before when one of the speakers about creating a 'progressive alliance' was Labour MP, Lisa Nandy. She was in the news again yesterday when she shared ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

It is fair to say that the Liberal Democrats' Autumn Conference has been dominated by discussion of Brexit and in particular the very clear stance of Tim Farron and the party that there should be a second referendum on the final terms of Britain's departure from the EU. This is by no means seeking a rerun of the referendum that was lost in June, instead it is saying that the British people should have the final say on what emerges from the process they set in chain when they voted to leave. Tim Farron sets out the case as reported ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

The Tory government's controversial welfare reform bill proposes to slash £30 a week - or over £1,500 year - from the benefits of ill and disabled people who have been found unfit for work. Speaking in the House of Lords during a debate on the bill, the crossbench peer Lady Grey-Thompson said: "It almost feels [...]

Posted by Cllr Darren Fower on Cllr Darren Fower
Mon 19th
09:30

Deputy Leader Drama

A good deal of this Conference is taken up with debating the party's Governance Review. Changes are being made to make the party's structure more accountable, transparent and strategic. This was a key plank of Sal Brinton's presidential campaign in 2014. Thankfully, all the constitutional stuff has been split up and is being discussed in smaller slots at the end of each day. Yesterday afternoon, we debated proposals to elect a Deputy Leader. This came out of a constitutional amendment last year which was referred back to the Governance Review. In the wake of an election result leaving us with ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

You have to read between the lines about this, but it appears that Theresa May's objection to George Osborne, who she sacked as Chancellor, was partly that she felt he and his Etonian colleagues treated politics too like a game - a game of symbolism and positioning. This was certainly true of Boris Johnson, who played around with the idea of banning tall buildings when he stood to be London mayor for the first time. He promised to do so, in fact, but did nothing of the kind in office. I suppose he thought that is what politics is all ...

Posted by David Boyle on The Real Blog

Tesco have announced some important changes to the Tesco Bags of Help funding scheme which may be of interest to any community groups seeking project funding in the Yate area. In order to give Tesco customers a more frequent say on where their money goes, as of today the Tesco Bags of Help grant scheme will now be permanently open for applications from community groups. Bags of Help will now see the money raised by the 5p bag charge in Tesco stores in England, Wales and Scotland opened up to a greater range of projects that support community participation in ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

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. The social security debate at Conference this afternoon will be dominated by two major arguments. George Potter recommended rejection of the motion as a whole because it chose not to endorse a universal basic income and because it supports the use, albeit much restricted, of sanctions. Supporters of the UBI may well support an amendment calling for a ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Some time ago, I highlighted residents' concerns that there was a lack of No Through Road signage at the bottom of Saggar Street and that I had raised this with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership. In response, I was advised : "A dead end "T" sign will be incorporated into new street name plates at the Saggar Street/City Road junction." I am pleased to note that signs are now erected on both sides of the street at its junction with City Road - see right :

Whether you are physically in Brighton or are following what is happening from home, this is your place to talk about the public face of the Conference – in other words, all the debates and speeches that are going on in the main auditorium. Please use the comments below to add your reports on policy and constitutional debates or to draw readers' attention to ones in the pipeline. You can read the agenda in full, including the text of amendments, here. We will be running a similar thread each day, so please confine your comments today to what is actually ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

The South Planning Committee approved the demolition of the former council offices on Corve Street on 13 September after a detailed debate. The offices will be replaced by 44 apartments to be built and operated by Churchill Retirement Living. Four affordable units will be provided by converting the former stable block. Much of the committee... Continue reading Stone House retirement complex approved by the South Planning Committee →

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Will This Be a Four-Party Election? Probably not, but this is a good historical perspective. (tags: uspolitics history )