The following is my uncensored account of the Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference 2016. The Night Before – Lib Dem Pint After four hours and three trains I stepped out onto the ... Continue reading →
Loads of industrial steam goodness to enjoy. Read about The Foxfield Railway on its website. I first came across this line by accident in 1988.
Alwyn Turner paints a portrait of Tom Watson - "an overfed Che Guevara". "I started out drawing clear lines linking schoolmates to flatmates, Bullingdon buddies and policy wonks, but pretty soon exactly the same people started popping up in new guises — as fellow MPs, cabinet colleagues, party donors — and the lines started to veer into ever more deranged spirals as everyone turned out to be linked, several times over, to everyone else." Emily Hill on the rise and full of the Cameron chumocracy. Ferdinand Mount reviews a new biography of Karl Marx: "By the end of his life, ...
Here's the new film from the Liberal Democrats, an extract from Tim Farron's conference speech in which he called on more Labour supporters to leave their party.
Today's steps were easily achieved as this evening I went out leafleting on behalf of the excellent Liberal Democrat by-election candidate for Allestree, Deena Smith. For those of you that don't follow Derby politics closely, the vacancy was caused by the Conservative councillor elected in May being jailed for two months for providing a false address. I think the people ... The post 10,000 steps a day – day 27 – Allestree by-election appeared first on ten pence piece.
Deputy Chairman of UKIP Peterborough, who was recently reported in the Peterborough Telegraph after being suspended for "speaking out against elements of racism, cronyism, corruption and hypocrisy in our party" – has now published a hard hitting letter in response and published it on Facebook. In the letter he has claimed: UKIP is in a [...]
[IMG: Model Standing Orders] All Liberal Democrat council groups need a set of standing orders that set the rules for that group. They should be reviewed regularly but this is an unglamorous job that is easily neglected. The standing orders lay out how the group is run, how its officers are elected and how problems should be dealt with. While we [...]
Embed from Getty Images Nick Clegg is to guest host Have I Got News for You, reports the Radio Times. He will be in the chair when the show returns for a new season on Friday 7 October. The Chortle website adds: Last year, Clegg appeared on The Last Leg with Josh Widdicombe, Adam Hills and Alex Brooker and held his own, despite some embarrassing questioning. And he is also due to appear in Dave's new political show Unspun with Matt Forde.I don't know if this is a shot at political redemption or being done with an eye to a ...
I've given blood off and on for years, but have become a bit more regular in doing so over the last couple of years. It's always been a worthy thing to do, but part of the reason for now doing so more often is that I can now find and book appointments online (at www.blood.co.uk) which fits the way I work. As a part of that you can sign up to receive text message reminders of appointments and so on, but esentially the service is as it has been for years: turn up for your appointment, donate, wait a few ...
Platform for Design, Hugh Pearman's book about the design work that is going into the stations and trains for Crossrail to ensure the stations are efficient, pleasant and long-lasting, is at times a frustrating mix of the fascinating detail and boilerplate design brochure speak.
I attended Merseytravel's consultation event in Maghull yesterday held in their rather fetching and unmissable tent at Central Square. [IMG: WP_20160926_13_51_41_Pro] I raised concerns about the lack of a bus to Ormskirk from Lydiate since the 311 was withdrawn. I also asked for a 231 circular bus to meet the last train from Liverpool each night rather than the service ceasing with the last but one train. I do hope that these issues can be addressed as part of the review of bus routes across Sefton Borough.
Depressing. That is how I describe modern day politics all over the world. Can it be just eight years since a black man was first elected as the leader of the free world? That win was born out due to both hope and disappointment in the other choice. A landslide victory in a two-horse race doesn't solely come down to people liking you, but in people liking the alternative less. We are seeing the same thing happen in the States now but instead of two politicians going at it, an angry man is fanning the flames of hate in an ...
I never cease to be amazed by what my close fried 95 year old Charles Walker has to tell me about his world prior to WW11 living in Egremont and Wallasey and his times spent across the water (River Mersey) in Liverpool. Recently he told me about his visiting a zoo in Liverpool with his mother that he recalled was in the Mossley Hill area of the City. A little Googling and the link above popped up with a fascinating history of the zoo with additional references to Liverpool's other zoos. Charles (known to his friends as Uncle Albert) ...
Holy Trinity church in Southport certainly has a 'wow' factor especially when , as on Sunday, the impressive architecture is combined with excellent music, a well ordered service and a thought provoking sermon. Rod Garner and his team gave substance to the psalmist plea to 'worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness'. The church was packed and we ran out of service sheets. It was good to see so many people attend from the groups that I have visited since I became Mayor in May. In addition to civic colleagues (including the High Sheriff) I was particularly delighted to ...
I was pleased to see that the Liberal Democrats have become the first political party to launch a national consultation exercise on the impact of Brexit on local communities. Lib Dems will be contacting businesses, health and educational institutions and civil society organisations in their constituencies to discuss their Brexit concerns. This Tory Brexit Government are [...]
[IMG: avril-coelho-conference] As a disabled commuter who is unable to drive for medical reasons, I rely as thousands of other people to on public transport to get to the shops, to get to work and back and to get to medical appointments. Whilst I have a disabled person's freedom pass, drivers don't always notice that I need a priority seat. Certainly as my disabilities are hidden, other passengers don't see my epilepsy or the three worn vertebrae in my spine. I need to sit where it's not too hard to get up again and where the driver can see if ...
Whickham Golf Club, which is in my ward, received a grant to develop new facilities and to reach out to local schools to encourage children to take up golf as a sport. Since I am keen on mass participation in sport and healthy lifestyles, I supported the application when it went to Sports England. On Sunday, the facilities were officially opened by Gateshead Mayor Cllr Allison Thompson. I
Macham Investments Ltd have published plans to redevelop the ugly One Stop site at 9 Tower Street (16/04032/FUL). This site needs developing, though I am concerned that the company could be trying to cram too much onto the site. The plan is for a retail unit or café on the ground floor with 10 apartments... Continue reading Plans submitted for redevelopment of One Stop on Tower Street →
I write this blog about all manner of things, and especially - this is rather the purpose of it - about my books. But there is no doubt, it just electrifies when I write about Southern Railways. I try and move on but I'm drawn inexorably back - as I was yesterday. But then two things happened yesterday, both related to the ongoing crisis at Southern, which speak directly to the themes of this blog - the appointment of a new chief operating officer at Govia Thameslink, Southern's operators, and the focus of attention on the beleaguered Seaford line. The ...
Prior to previous set of strikes, there was an emphasis on patient safety. The contract was unsafe, argued doctors, and Jeremy Hunt's plans were unrealistic. Chair of the Junior Doctors' Committee (JDC), Johann Malawanna and a number of other doctors in the BMA did a superb job of appearing reasonable, measured and yet passionate. Junior doctors looked like professionals being harried and hampered by government from trying to help patients. Embed from Getty Images At relatively short notice, a ballot with a turnout of 72% gained 98% support for strikes. This is unheard of. The strikes were announced well in ...
Concentrix: 'Suicidal calls' made to tax credits firm - BBC News The Vlad the Impaler method of eradicating poverty seems to be going well for this government... 18 Things Feminism Has Destroyed Austerity may be officially 'over' but its faulty logic lingers on Rod Liddle said, "do the math". So I did. | polarizingthevacuum Something to cheer you all up: Mathematician expertly takes down racist misogynist Rod Liddle using his own terms: Ofcom to Investigate Christopher Biggins Biphobic Big Brother Comments | Biscuit RT @Biscuitmag: Christopher Biggins Biphobic Comments to be investigated by @Ofcom http:// Punt drafts a letter for ...
As I sat in a reception last night, the endless affairs one goes to at any political conference, I thought: so this is how the Left dies; not with a bang but a whimper. Like before last year's Labour conference in Brighton we heard all about how the party's divisions were going to be on violent display; there would be fights in the bar and the like. Yet in the end, it was much like last year in Brighton replayed: the Corbynites had won by so great a margin there was no need to gloat; the moderates weren't prepared to ...
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today – another report on campaign field experiments carried out by academic Florian Foos in cooperation with the Labour party in Southampton. The results were presented to the recent EPOP 2016 academic conference, the slides for which are reproduced below. They are somewhat technical in places, so here are the two key findings: Canvassing data came out as accurate when compared to an independent telephone survey – suggesting that it can be used meaningfully to track the impact of campaign tactics, and Handwritten letters to voters ...
The new leader of UKIP came to Wales yesterday determined to unite the seven UKIP AMs and resolve all feuding. By the time she left she had acknowledged that Neil Hamilton was actually the leader of UKIP's Welsh branch rather than their sole MEP and elected leader, Nathan Gill. Oh, and the UKIP group in the Welsh Assembly still stands at six, with Nathan Gill sitting as an independent AM. The Western Mail reports that Diane James described Mr Hamilton as the leader of Ukip in Wales, apparently accepting Mr Hamilton's interpretation that Mr Gill had lost the role when ...
Embed from Getty Images There were nine by-elections in total on Thursday. Seven were spread out across England with one each in Scotland and Wales so after celebrating our two gains I decided that they represented a big enough cross section to do some analysis. Across the seats we contested the average increase in our vote was 12.3% and our total vote share was an impressive 24.7%. However, we only contested six of the by-elections. 1/3rd of the elections went ahead without any Liberal Democrat on the ballot. Unfortunately when you add in these three 0% figures our vote increase ...
On Wednesday, Focus Team Cllr Claire Young (also our Parliamentary Candidate) attended a heritage briefing in Yate. There were presentations from a whole host of local heritage projects of all sizes, including the £90 million Aerospace Bristol and ones even closer to home like Winterbourne Medieval Barn, Yate Heritage Centre and the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group. They are always keen to have new people involved so if you have an interest in local history, do get in touch with them. The Know Your Place mapping project is currently asking for your help in two ways. Firstly, they'd like you ...
As expected, Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected as leader of Britain's Labour Party over the weekend. Thus ended the attempt by the bulk of Labour's parliamentary party to remove him. There is much comment in the usual places that this will be a disaster for the party, and by and large I agree. But we are ... Continue reading Corbyn's victory shows that Westminster politicians are losing their grip →
It is common for developers to revise their plans after submitting them to Shropshire Council for approval. This allows the developer to take on board early comments, especially from experts within the council. This application though, has been revised more than most. This is the third set of plans for the Lower Galdeford site; the... Continue reading Third set of plans published for new retail unit on Buftons site, Lower Galdeford →
Klopt de uitleg van Bart De Wever? Not entirely. (tags: Belgium )
Embed from Getty Images Well, at last we saw Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton facing each other this morning. You can watch the debate in full via CBS and YouTube below. My first impression was that Hilary Clinton certainly put the "health" and "stamina" issues to bed. Donald Trump started to get a little frayed as the debate wore on. Clinton carried on confidently and was as fresh as a daisy at the end. She certainly looked "presidential". Towards the end, Trump was getting very tied up in complex explanations. For example, his description of whether he was for or ...
