One of the more notable names to have left the Labour Party today is the Leicestershire county councillor Leon Spence. He has announced his decision in an article for Huffngton Post: No one has to remain a member of Labour, should you disagree with the path the party is taking any member has the right to stop their support. Many decent Labour members did just that under Tony Blair, many others will take the same decision now. The time, for me at least, to stop supporting the party has come with the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn. I've never disliked Jeremy ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. Shortly before sitting down to write this week's enews I heard reports of a tragic accident in Stapleford, in which a teenage boy fell into the River Erewash and drowned. May I offer my deepest sympathy and those of my colleagues to everyone affected by this, and especially of course to his family. 1. Health Spotlight People living across Broxtowe are invited to ...

Posted by David Watts on David Watts

As she revealed on Danny Baker's show last Saturday, Petula Clark sang on the Plastic Ono Band's 'Give Peace a Chance'. You can read how it cane about in an old Guardian piece. Petula Clark rang me once, you know.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Getty Images has introduced a new feature. You can choose five images, turn them into a slideshow and embed it in your blog. So, to see if it works, here are five photographs of musicians in Leicester... Embed from Getty Images

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Sat 24th
20:50

The Mayor of Mogadishu

For two decades following the ousting of President Siad Barre, Somalia was written off by the West as a failed state. Yet somehow parts of the capital Mogadishu survived and braver members of the large Somali diaspora in Europe and North America returned, to set up businesses or attempt to reconstruct a shattered country, despite [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Shropshire Council planners have approved a reduction in the area of the solar farm due to be constructed off Squirrel Lane. The new plans are an improvement and will reduce the visibility of the scheme, which was approved by a planning inspector after the original plans were rejected by the South Planning Committee. Under plans... Continue reading Henley Hall solar farm to be reduced in size →

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

George Osborne is not a popular figure in the Liberal Democrats. He has never shown compassion of the poor and since the 2015 General Election followed an economic policy we disagree with – failing to invest and take advantage of low interest rates. Many of us who gave all we had for Remain feel he let us down. His foolish threat of an "emergency budget" drove voters into Leave's hands. Like Cameron, he contributed over years and years to the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe mood music that entrenched euro-scepticism in many people's minds. However, he has now made a speech clearly criticising ...

Posted by Antony Hook on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sat 24th
17:40

School Food Hygiene

All children should attend great schools. But they and their parents shouldn't need to be concerned about basic food hygiene of school kitchens. When I first raised the issue of poor school hygiene in Southwark in 2013 12 of our schools had only 3 star ratings. A year ago July 2015 it had broadly improved with the lowest ratings with 2 schools with 3 stars but 2 x 1 stars Major Improvement Necessary. Currently no Southwark school has 3 stars and one has only 1 star. So big improvement needed. [IMG: 1 star] But the Southwark website listing all Southwark ...

Posted by James Barber on James Barber

[IMG: Sal Brinton Liz Leffman Paul Walter Charlie dog at Witney by-election 24th Sep 2016] (R-L) Party President Sal Brinton, Witney candidate Liz Leffman and Paul Walter with veteran Focus delivery dog Charlie at the Witney by-election campaign HQ today The Lib Dem Witney by-election HQ was abuzz with activity when I visited to help today. I was astonished by the busy team all set to work so early in the campaign. It was great weather for delivering leaflets. I enjoyed doing my very large bundle in Carterton, with the sound of the aircraft at Brize Norton in the background. ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sat 24th
15:35

Saturday reading

Current The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke Unquenchable Fire, by Rachel Pollack Last books finished In The Blood, by Jenny Colgan A History of the World in Twelve Maps, by Jerry Brotton Last week's audios Aquitaine, by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris Next books Nemesis, by Philip Roth The Dinner, by Herman Koch Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in honour of Jack Vance, by George R. R. Martin Books acquired in last week Toch Een Geluk, by Barbara Stok

YouGov

Corbyn has won today and with a greater share of the vote, so Labour just needs to get on with being the socialist party which is surely what it is now supposed to be. It was all but Christian Democrat under Blair in European terms. And what's all this fuss about right wing Labour MP's potentially being deselected? Surely they are not socialists (the left, and I include myself here, call them Red Tories) so why do they want to stay in a socialist party? And yes it is legitimate for Labour members to deselect them as they don't believe ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

There was a big difference between Tim Farron's frst two conference speeches as leader. The first came 3 months after a brutal general election at a time of existential crisis for the party. The second, at a time of existential crisis for the country, enabled him to set out our party's mission: to fight for the values we hold dear and not to let the Tories away with 25 years of untrammelled rule while Labour fiddle on the sidelines.. He's written about that for PoliticsHome. I said on the night of my election as Liberal Democrat leader: "Our survival, revival, ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

Although I do not get many handwritten letters from constituents nowadays (mainly emails or phone calls), one I received made me very sad to read. It was written by a very elderly lady who, in her own words, cannot get about easily. The block she is in, is not rated very highly by her or fellow residents. Getting around in her wheelchair is not going to be comfortable as we see so clearly with many of the life stories of the athletes in the Paralympics. She wrote to her three Labour Councillors, and when ignored, then wrote to her MP. ...

Posted by Gary Malcolm on Councillor Gary Malcolm

Questions are invited for Thursday's public discussion of health and council services in the Ludlow area. We are very pleased that Ludlow MP and Health Minister Philip Dunne will attend the meeting. The line-up includes Councillor Cecilia Motley, a nationally recognised champion of rural services. They'll be joined by Shropshire Council's director of place and enterprise, George... Continue reading Questions are invited for Ludlow health and services debate - 29 September 2016 →

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Knowing that there may be a lot of unhappy Labour members once the leadership result is announced, Richard Kemp and the Liverpool Liberal Democrats are setting up a stall outside Labour's conference to offer them a home if they are feeling that their party has moved too far from them. They will be outside the Liverpool Museum at the Pier Head between 11 am and 1pm. They will be looking for people like Mark Robinson: I left @UKLabour in 2006, took me nine years to find @LibDems, if you #leavelabour after lunch today join the #LibDemFightback for tea! — Mark ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sat 24th
10:06

How to leave Labour

The Independent reveals that "How to leave the Labour party" is currently the most searched for question about the party on Google on the eve of the leadership election result. They say that the party faces a potential exodus of its more moderate supporters who have become disillusioned with the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, who is expected to beat Owen Smith to stay as Labour leader: The revolt by the PLP has exposed tensions between the majority of Labour MPs, who occupy the centre ground and have dominated the party for the past 20 years, and a small group of ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

One federal conference done, the next is on the horizon already. The deadlines for motions and the like to the spring 2017 conference in York have been published.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Frederick Cook; Robert Peary; Roald Amundsen. They all have claims to be the first to the North Pole, and they can all be disputed.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] This week has seen ten prinicipal council by-elections across the country - nine on Thursday and one on Tuesday night. Lib Dem candidates contested seven of the ten. In the Tuesday night by-election in Plasnewydd (Cardiff) Lib Dem candidate Robin Rea had a spectacular win, gaining the ward from Labour with a 48.1% share of the vote (up +15.4% since the ward was last contested in 2012). Labour were pushed into second place on 34.8%, and Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives and the Greens all saw a drop in their vote share. Congratulations to Cllr ...

Posted by ALDC on Liberal Democrat Voice

The LGBT Foundation have been sharing some bi stories, and one of them was mine; this what what it said... When did you first realise you might be bisexual? My sister came to visit and left a copy of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit on our kitchen table. I was 15; within a week it was read and something I'd known since I was about 12 started to develop a word to go with the feeling. How did you come out? What were people's reactions? I came out to the whole of my sixth form shortly after - it ...

Posted by Jen on Either / And
eUKhost

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending an event at the Queen Mother Building in the University of Dundee to celebrate the work of the pioneering User Centre over the past decade and to unveil a plaque in memory of John Gibson, the first Chair and founding member of the centre, who passed away last year. The User Centre has done much over the past ten years to bring the benefits of modern technology to the elderly and to adults with communication disabilities, and the celebration yesterday was also marked by the announcement that Brian Cox has accepted the role ...

An ode to the night train How the EU has unintentionally killed romance. (tags: travel rail eu ) The Real Power of Putin by Benjamin Nathans Fascinating on the leader and his country. (tags: russia ) The Eruditorum Press Doctor Who Poll Vote! Vote! Vote! (tags: doctorwho )

Before I start, a brief apology for not being around much the last few days. I've been wrangling home studio software to get some music done for Plok (very soon! I PROMISE!) and also getting some work done on the ... Continue reading →

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