[IMG: Dilys Neill - A fresh start for Stow] This week has seen eight principal council by-elections across the country with Lib Dem candidates contesting six of them. The team in North Norfolk have faced another by-election, this time Glaven Valley with our great candidate Karen Ward. This was a Lib Dem defence and the team managed the following result LD Karen Ward 429 (55.3%; +8.4%) [...]
Stow on the Wold is a gorgeous little Cotswolds town. Tonight it has a Liberal Democrat Councillor as Dilys Neill stormed to victory with a 21 point advance. Stow (Cotswold) result: LDEM: 64.9% (+21.0) CON: 35.1% (-21.0) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 29, 2016 This by-election gives a boost to Liz Leffman's campaign to win the parliamentary by-election in Witney as it's just 4 miles away. In the Adeyfield West ward of Dacorum Town council, Liberal Democrat Adrian England gained a seat from the Conservatives. This is a ward we also won in another by-election in 2013 and held in ...
Here's my pick of five Liberal Democrats to follow on Twitter to entertain, inform and motivate: Floella Benjamin The worst moment I've had ahead of giving a speech was when I realised I'd be speaking on a panel immediately after Lib Dem peer (and favourite on the 2015 adoption meeting circuit) Floella Benjamin. Not exactly an easy act to follow unless you wish to appear boring, dull and insipid in the afterglow of her brilliance. Luckily for me, her talk was so beautifully idiosyncratic and different that my following effort was obviously nothing comparable to hers in any way save ...
Another Lib Dem win with a big vote increase to kick off the results from the eight by-elections today. Congratulations Adrian England and his team: @joeharrispark @sa_cullen @lizleffman @LibDems going for a win in Adeyfield West too! pic.twitter.com/Xn7KPzw1Xk — Adrian England (@Adrian_England) September 28, 2016
Having had a full day of meetings at the Redcar Community Heart today I found myself in the Redcar Library cafe with twenty minutes to spare before my next meeting but with only £3.00 cash on me after I paid out £4.50 to park. However, they were serving homemade chicken casserole for only £2.50 and it was delicious. What a change it made from my usual unhealthy diet. I miss proper home cooked meals. I do them myself occasionally but no where near as often as I would like. I will be visiting the Library cafe again very soon.
Because you've not had enough of those, recently, right? We've been hearing a lot from the right wing of the Labour party recently about how "we must listen to the legitimate concerns of the white working class", and so on. ... Continue reading →
The next Newcomen Ward Neighbourhood Action Partnership is Monday 3rd October 6pm at Roseberry Square Library, Roseberry Road, Redcar. Barry Coppinger The Police and Crime Commissioner will be attending the next meeting. Barry will give an overview of what is happening in the Police and will answer any your queries about Anti-Social Behaviour and Crime.
Lovely footage of steam locomotives hauling passenger and goods trains along this former GWR route. Look too for some brief appearances by diesels, notably a Western and the Midland Pullman, The final scenes at Snow Hill are particularly interesting and feature a steam locomotive shunting a DMU car. It's rather like seeing an aristocrat polishing a peasant's boots after the Revolution.
Conservative seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate – Dilys Neill. To help, please contact Chris Twells on 07952 450943 or email chris@cotswoldlibdems.co.uk.
Conservative seat. Cause: death LD candidate: John Barnes Wheaver To help please contact Chris Nelson. Email: chris@chrisnelson.org.uk
Conservative seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Deena Smith.
Conservative seat. Cause: death. LD candidate: Adrian England. To help, please contact Lloyd Harris on 07932 251 945 or email agent@hhlibdems.org.uk.
Conservative seat. Cause: death. LD candidate – Paul Richard Hindley.
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate – Karen Ward.
[IMG: Richard Jefferies Museum, Coate] From the festival website: This year our festival will be held at the picturesque Coate Water Country Park, the birthplace of one of the world's greatest nature writers, Richard Jefferies. The festival is renowned for creating warm and welcoming poetry events, providing great poetry with enjoyment at its heart. The Big Poetry Weekend features dozens of poets and takes place between 6th to 9th October 2016 with Andrew McMillan and Kim Moore as poets in residence.For details and tickets, including accommodation packages, see the Poetry Swindon Festival 2016 site.
"Is it possible for someone to crave something for so long, and then be deluded about why it happened? To strive and strive, only for the country to fall into a different, meaner, poorer future?" Sam Knight profiles Daniel Hannan, the man who brought you Brexit. 'Baby-boomer' is thrown about a lot these days, usually in a pejorative sense. But, as Flip Chart Rick explains, the concept does not really work in the UK. "In her 1993 book, Denying the Holocaust, the American academic Deborah E. Lipstadt called David Irving, a British amateur historian, 'one of the most dangerous spokesmen ...
The NHS currently costs about £130Billion. Every sensible politician agrees that the amount needed will keep on going up, year after year. New drugs and treatment and diagnosis techniques increase the cost pressures of an ageing society. But there is no consensus on how to find the extra money and safeguard it when government finances [...]
The Refugee Crisis is especially severe when we look at the fate of those who are young and alone. The United Kingdom is pledged to accommodate those most in need. The Dubs amendment originally called for 3,000 to be allowed into the United Kingdom. This was defeated and I sat on the bench in the Lords as 200 Tories marched through the Not Content lobby. These fathers, mothers and grandparents were trampling on the hopes of thousands of "other" children. Eventually an amendment was approved obliging the government to accept an unspecified number of children. We are told that throughout ...
Springfield Church in Wallington is offering a free Money Management course running for three weeks starting on 6th October. The CAP Money Course will teach you budgeting skills and a simple cash based system that works. In just a few weeks you will get to grips with your finances so you can budget, save and [...]
News reaches the Voice: 20,000 new members have joined the Liberal Democrats since the EU referendum, the party has announced today. The surge in membership has been boosted by the party's clear pro-European stance, including calling for a referendum on the final Brexit deal, and the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour party leader last week. The Liberal Democrats have gained over 1000 members over the past week alone, including a number of former Labour members. President of the Liberal Democrats Sal Brinton said: It is wonderful to see so many people joining us who share our vision of a ...
UBER, is an American international transportation network company headquartered in San Francisco, California and develops, markets and operates the UBER mobile app, allowing consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which is then routed to sharing economy drivers. It's already become quite a "thing" and is now operating in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester, Merseyside, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth and Sheffield. With this in mind, and realising [...]
It was a real pleasure to be at the Waterloo and Crosby in Bloom awards night at St Luke's last night. Andrew Tonkiss was in the chair and ably assisted by the team especially Treasurer Caroline. Everyone missed the presence of Derrick Hymus who does so much for the group. I had the task of handing out the cups and certificates. If my notes are correct the supreme champion, the equivalent of the best in show was Paul Weston (correctly quickly if I'm wrong) There were lots of categories including front gardens, containers, window boxes, open spaces, commercial, pubs etc. ...
The Daily Telegraph has the story – see link above 'Smart meters will cost £11bn – but you'll be lucky if yours saves you £30 My friend and regular contributor to this bog site, Roy Connell, has been tracking the progress of smart meters for quite some time as readers may be aware from previous postings. Roy has been sceptical of the claims made about such meters and it seems he is probably right to be such a sceptic.
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] ALDC and our colleagues at the LGA Lib Dems have worked together to produce a model council motion challenging the government's position on council tax referendum caps and their extension to a number of town and parish councils. Defending the right of local councils to choose This council notes: – The technical consultation launched by [...]
If I had a vote it would be for Hillary Clinton Some people might wonder why I am commenting on the USA elections when I am a politician and citizen in the UK. Well there are two reasons. Firstly I ... Continue reading →
The Labour Party conference has resounded with repeated calls for unity behind Jeremy Corbyn, now re-elected as leader with an even bigger share of the vote than last year. Not only should Labour's MPs heed the call, but the rest of what I'll call for want of a better name the "progressive left" should get behind him as well. Just over a year ago, when Corbyn first was first elected leader with the overwhelming support of party members, the BBC published a list of "24 things that Jeremy Corbyn believes." You can see the full details here, and here's a ...
Last night, 9.45pm, its dark, I am just about to turn right in my car out of Larchwood Avenue onto Liverpool Road South and I am looking both ways to check Liverpool Road South is clear. Out of the corner of my eye I spot movement to my right and then I see what to me is a very disturbing sight. Up to 10 men/youths riding cycles towards me. No lights on any of the bikes, all in dark clothing and the whole gang of them spread across Liverpool Road South taking up about three quarters of both carriageways! How ...
Centrist politicians are hard-wired to look for a middle way when confronted with difficult problems. So after absorbing the shock of Britain's vote to leave the EU last June, it is only natural that so many have sought one on this most perplexing issue. It goes by the name of "soft Brexit", to contrast with ... Continue reading Soft Brexit is a mirage →
Something quite remarkable happened in Holyrood yesterday. The SNP minority government experienced a rare defeat after all opposition MSPs united behind a Labour motion calling to protect local NHS services. After the government's amendment, committing to "maintaining and improving safe and effective local services across Scotland" was defeated, the 62 SNP MSPs abstained from the final vote, meaning that the Labour motion was passed by a margin of 64 to 0. Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and the Scottish Greens want the government to call in proposals affecting services across Central Scotland. What is particularly concerning is that proposals ...
96 people went to a football match and did not return . They were unlawfully killed at Hillsborough in April 1989 . The 96 were posthumously awarded the the Freedom of the City of Liverpool and as Sefton's mayor I attended the ceremony at St George's Hall. The Freedom is the highest honour that the City can give. More residents of Sefton died in this tragedy than from any other part of Merseyside. I met several of the local families who lost loved ones including Denise Hough whose brother Gordon was one of the victims along with Gordon's niece Annabel ...
The reality of Brexit continues to hit home and we havent even left the EU yet, or started the process of leaving for that matter. The Independent reports on the views of a senior executive at Jaguar Land Rover, who has warned that post-Brexit trade barriers imposed on the UK car industry if the right deal is not reached would "frankly be disastrous". Hanno Kirner, executive director at JLR, which is owned by Tata Group, based in India, issued the stark warning at a joint Government-industry "Great Britain" event, ahead of the Paris Motor Show: Mr Kirner was speaking openly ...
Roller Coasters Could Help People Pass Kidney Stones The headline says it all. (tags: health ) A settlement to Cypriot dispute 'closer than ever before, but there's still a way to go' Here's hoping. (tags: cyprus )
