Following Tuesday's victorious warm-up, Thursday brings nine by-elections starting with a Labour gain but a big swing to the Lib Dems in Cumbria: Labour GAIN Christchurch (Allerdale) from Conservative. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 22, 2016 More results to come later...
Independent seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate – Catherine Nakielny.
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate – Debbie Michelle.
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate: Ian Richard Thomas.
Conservative seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Trevor Sheldrick. To help, please contact Dave Busby on 01473 311576/07855 777147 or email busbydathome@aol.com.
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate: Amelia Louise Ord.
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate – Graham Moore.
SNP seat. Cause: Resignation.
LD Alison Eden 491 Con 286 UKIP 111 Lab 72 Lib Dem gain from Conservatives Majority 205 Turnout 25.08%
You've seen her in my photographs. Now enjoy her video. Incidentally, her appearance on Britain's Got Talent shows what a sham that programme is. Ruth is no wannabee but an experienced artist. Book her here.
Good news for Spencer Davis Group enthusiasts from Music Business Worldwide: Mervyn 'Muff' Winwood will receive the prestigious A&R Icon gong at The A&R Awards in association with Abbey Road Studios on the evening of Wednesday, November 2. The prize recognises 'a remarkable individual whose momentous professional feats continue to inspire the UK A&R community' - a description which perfectly suits the former CBS, Sony Music and Island Records exec.Muff Winwood, the bass player with the Spencers and Steve's older brother, went on to have a great career on the other side of the microphone. The website quotes a couple ...
The other day I quoted from Tim Farron's speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference. Here is a video of the whole thing.
Chris's speech on refugees: 40 seconds in. http://bbc.in/2cquvhN
That's the subject of The Times's Red Box podcast from the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, including Lib Dem peer Lynne Featherstone and former staffer James McGrory. As presenter Matt Chorley finds, the conference air was full of optimism: (If you want my answer to the question in poster form, take a look here.)
Second paragraph of third chapter: "Hutch." Ed Jesperson, up front. A medical researcher. "My understanding is that we know where the omega clouds come from. Is that right?"There was a time when each year's Jack McDevitt book appeared on that year's Nebula shortlist, and just as reliably failed to win (with one exception). This one was beaten by Powers, which I felt was a rather minor Le Guin. Cauldron turns out to be the last in a series none of the rest of which I have read, which maybe accounts for a somewhat elegiac tone. I thought it was competent ...
[IMG: Merseytravel logo] This is a vital issue for bus users as it could lead to changes in the bus network across Sefton Borough. Those with an interest in local bus services need to ensure that their voice is heard. The rest of this posting is taken directly from Merseytravel's briefing note. Please read on:- [IMG: A shot of the recently lost 311 route] A shot of the recently lost 311 route Merseytravel Briefing Note: Sefton Bus Network Review We are currently undertaking a phased approach in reviewing the bus network across the Liverpool City Region. The next area to ...
Here's a short list of reflections and thoughts from autumn conference, which I enjoyed but which was nonetheless quite frustrating at times – unlike last time's ten from Spring conference, this time they're not all criticisms of Federal Conference Committee. Just quite a lot of them are.... 1. The social security motion was a grievous missed [...]
Thu 22nd
15:45
The Game: A Northern comedy about love, honour and football performed at Southport's Little Theatre.
I had a grand night at the theatre. A Lancashire play was performed in Southport. Although The Game was written over 100 years ago its themes are still ones that exercise us today. This is a play about football set in a northern town. The cast includes a corrupt club owner, a would-be WAG a pompous solicitor from London and a footballer who lives a terraced house with no hot water (that final bit doesn't have any relevance today). I was the guest of the SDC and their chair Jan Hale along with many of the Little Theatre's partners. Southport ...
[IMG: Sandgate War Memorial] The Sandgate War Memorial has received Grade II Listed Building Status following an application by local parish Councillor Guy Valentine-Neale on behlaf of the Sandgate Society conservation and planning group. The official notification dated 20 September said: "Sandgate War Memorial, Junction of Military Road and Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, Kent - Awarded Listed Building Status "Following your application to add the above memorial to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, we have now considered all the representations made and completed our assessment of the memorial. I am delighted to inform you that ...
I know that my blogging here has become quite infrequent - but I do still intend to make the occasional post. Like this one. As is my wont, I live-tweeted from the leader's speech at Lib Dem Conference, and have collected these tweets in a Storify for your enjoyment. For those who want more, and more regularly, you can find additional writings on my public Facebook page, including my "quick takes" following the speech. [View the story "Open. Tolerant. United." on Storify]
It's not just that I am having withdrawal symptoms from a wonderful four days at Conference that makes me want to rush down to Witney to spend time with more Liberal Democrats. That may be part of it, but why would I want to risk the guilt-inducing wrath of my dog by leaving her again so soon? On Monday, I'm travelling 350 miles for a whirlwind 24 hours of leaflet delivery or whatever else needs doing to help the wonderful Liz Leffman's campaign. I'm doing so for several reasons; A good result for the Liberal Democrats is important for party ...
Embed from Getty Images I get why Tim Farron has promised the Lib Dems are committed to holding a second referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union. There is a good principled reason for doing so. Regardless of what you think of Vote Leave's campaign and its mendacious, swiftly abandoned, promise to spend £350m a week more on the NHS, the Leavers never set out their alternative. Deliberately so, as they knew they wouldn't be able to agree with each other on what a post-EU Britain would look like. Some, the 'hard Brexiteers', are perfectly happy to sacrifice ...
Our beloved Health Service must not be preserved in aspic but modernised to meet changed times and opportunities I spent a very large part of my time at the Liberal Democrat Conference talking to various parts of the NHS ... Continue reading →
On Sunday 2nd October, the Players Sprint Triathlon will be taking place at The Players Golf Club near Codrington. Consisting of a 750m open water swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run, it will be raising money for the West of England MS Therapy Centre. For more information visit mstherapybristol.org.uk/triathlon
I want to respond to the challenges issued by Paddy and Vince during our conference. Paddy said the party was "intellectually dead." Vince said our position on another referendum was disrespectful to the electorate. Let me take on Vince first. We and our predecessors supported UK membership of the European Community from its inception. The SDP was created largely because of Labour's equivocation over British membership. We campaigned unstintingly for Remain and we remain convinced that the UK 's interests are best served by being a key member of the European Union. Yes, by a narrow margin the country voted ...
Twitter RT @Pablo_1994: British public: "We love the NHS" Lib Dems: "Okay, this is how we'll fund it" British public: "We don't love it that much" Joss Whedon Has Launched A Campaign To Get You To Vote — And Not For Trump - BuzzFeed News RT @pickwick: This is even better than expected - @Joss Whedon has launched a campaign to get you to vote — and not for Trump Labour MPs parroting myths about immigration fuels the xenophobia they claim to want to stop - Media Diversified RT @MayaGoodfellow: Immigration doesn't cause racism - Labour MPs should stop buying ...
[IMG: The winners of the ALDC Campaigner Awards 2016, sponsored by Midshires, were presented at the ALDC AGM held in Brighton at Federal conference by Willie Rennie MSP, celebrating the best campaigning teams from across the Country. This year's winners and runners-up are: Best By-Election Campaign - Mole Valley Runner-up: Aird and Loch Ness Best Fightback - Manchester Runner-up: Liverpool Best Innovation - Manchester Runner-up: Tower Hamlets Best Literature - Liverpool Runner-up: Gloucester Best Squeeze Campaign - Manchester Runner-up: Cardiff Best Community Campaign - Portsmouth Runner-up: Bristol Overall Winner - Liverpool Runner-up: Portsmouth Well done to Liverpool, our Overall ...
All the usual things, really. Met up with and broke bread with people I consider family. Voted in lots of debates. Went to fringes. However, there are a couple of things that were out of the ordinary: - I was very proud that Calderdale's anti-racism motion went through (helped along by a barnstorming speech from the amazing Pauline Pearce). - I was similarly proud that our amendment to the transport motion went through, and it's now officially lib dem policy to support HS3 connecting the north. - I made a few speeches, but one that was particularly well-recieved was the ...
There has been some controversy recently over the future of the Welsh Government's flagship Communities First programme after it was omitted from the latest iteration of the Programme for Government and the First Minister refused to deny it was destined to be cut. More than £300 million has been spent on this programme since 2001 and yet it is difficult to identify what it has achieved. Of course there are individual success stories but Wales has fallen back relative to the rest of the UK in economic terms and the absence of effective measurements means that we have not been ...
At the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton last weekend, I spoke at an event about Lib Dem campaigning. Now, the Lib Dems are an optimistic (some meaner people might use the word delusional) bunch when it comes to the future of their party, so I think I ruffled some feathers with what I had to say. Which was essentially the following. The Lib Dems problem isn't really tuition fees or the fact that they were in government with the Tories – those things don't help, but they aren't the root problem for the party's inability to capitalise in the polls ...
In England, in the EU Referendum, 53.4% of voters chose Leave. However, in districts with grammar schools, that figure was 56.1%. Imagine, for a moment, that no one at all voted in those areas. It might seem a bit hard on each side to group voters in Kingston and Cheltenham, with some of the highest Remain votes in the country, with those in Lincolnshire and south-east Essex, who recorded the very lowest. Nevertheless, the consequence of their removal would reduce the margin of the Leave victory to just 2%, 51% – 49%. Obviously, therefore, this is not the full explanation ...
Back home from conference on Wednesday afternoon, I was straight back into self-sufficiency and local constituency issues. The first job to do was to cut some branches from one of the hedges in the community garden at the Whinnies, Sunniside, and feed them to my goats. In the evening I headed down to Whickham for a meeting of Planting Up Whickham where we sorted maintenance days for Church
