The Independent wins our Headline of the Day Award.
[IMG: Liz Leffman] Quite a story in the Independent: The Liberal Democrats came fourth last year with just 7 per cent of the vote, but could now leapfrog Labour and Ukip into second place. Normally there are no prizes for political runners-up, but if the Lib Dem candidate Liz Leffman comes a strong second it would give some credence to the "Lib Dem fightback" messages that activists send to each other to keep their spirits up after their crushing defeat in 2015. It seems that they have noticed the effectiveness of Liz Leffman's energetic campaign which has firmly established her ...
Back in July 2013 I photographed the former Royal Ordnance Depot at Weedon Bec in Northamptonshire. Today came news that there is still ordnance in the village - under a children's playground. BBC News reports: A parish council fears it could be facing bankruptcy over the £1m cost of clearing a mound where two World War Two hand grenades were found. The mound near a play area in Weedon Bec, near Daventry, was being cleared by the parish council in July when the explosives were found. The bomb squad was called but the council found the cost of clearing the ...
Too Much Happiness [IMG: munro] , Alice Munro This is the fourth novel plucked from my #40booksby40 list. I'm going to start with the one negative: reading a collection of short stories one after the other isn't (at least for me) a great way to enjoy them. It's wearying. Better by far to dip in and out; but that's a lousy way to get through a list, so, reader, I rattled through them. (There is, incidentally, a wonderful quote from a character who disdains a books when she realises it's a collection of short stories, not a novel: "It seems ...
Excellent news that the government is set to accept an amendment put down by the Liberal Democrats to the Police and Crime Bill: Big story breaking later – 75,000 gay men to be pardoned for long-abolished sex offences, 59,000 posthumous. A @LibDems victory, congrats. — Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) October 19, 2016
Strange goings on in Swindon, where a Labour councillor crossed the floor to join the Tories, thought again and then rejoined the Labour group a day later. The Swindon Advertiser has the story: Matthew Courtliff, who was elected to represent the Lydiard and Freshbrook ward just five months ago, made the shock decision on Tuesday evening following a meeting with council leader David Renard. After completing the paperwork to officially join the Conservative group, Coun Courtliff released a statement citing concerns with the direction of Labour under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership as the motive behind his decision. He said he looked ...
Wed 19th
20:01
Unemployment leaps 20% in Ludlow area - it is time for a clear economic vision for our county as Bre...
Unemployment, as measured by claimants, is up by 21% year on year in the Ludlow area. The numbers of unemployed people are still relatively low but we have to ask why local unemployment is growing. Nationally, unemployment has fallen by nearly 2% in the same period. During the Great Recession of 2008 to 2013, unemployment... Continue reading Unemployment leaps 20% in Ludlow area - it is time for a clear economic vision for our county as Brexit nears →
The latest polling figures from Ipsos-MORI shows a major move in public opinion towards people thinking Brexit will make them worse off.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37620989 The BBC has this most worrying story on its web site – see link above With the right wing press obsessed with promoting Brexit, the Tories and of course Bake Off's troubles this is a major issue that is simply not getting the profile that it needs. As well as an NHS that is all but on its knees care for the elderly is also in crisis. You would think this should motivate us all to put in place, or to ensure that our political leaders put in place, the required solutions but apart from the wringing of hands ...
This is a blog about junk food. Nothing more. Just junk food. If you choose to read more into this, then that's your issue: I'm talking about junk food. Right? Image Source: heartquery.com Junk food is bad for you, right? We all know it. However, sometimes you fancy a doughnut instead of an apple. Despite the fact that you know that the apple is better for you, sometimes you just want a doughnut. Specifically a Krispy Kreme. Or a whole packet of biscuits. Or an ice-cream sundae balanced on top of candy floss in a cone. Whatever. Image Source: londonist.com ...
As a result of the argument I made, Press (1 member) and Public (none) were allowed into cabinet today for one of the previously "secret" items I wrote about on Sunday – the refinancing of County Durham's debt in respect of 3 PFI schools. And what a peep it was! To re-finance the £43 million still owing on these school buildings, Durham will have to pay eye-watering early redemption penalties of around £12 million to the banks. That's not a misprint. It's not a mis-placed decimal point. It's really £12 million. And despite that the county council still expects to ...
We live in an incredibly interconnected world. The phrase "It's a Small World" has never been more appropriate. Image Souce: Parade Walt Disney with original models for the 'Small World' ride at DisneyLand. Any excuse for a Disney-related image! If I wanted to, I could have a girls-night in, with friends from America and Australia, over Skype. I could chat, face-to-face with my family in Canada while I was on the train on the way in to work, and information is shared at lightning speed from all points of the globe. So, when victims of hate speech online are told ...
Back in July, I told a panel on social security at the Social Liberal Forum conference that in the wake of Brexit, a benefits freeze for four years, which was never a good idea, was entirely inappropriate and we should be opposing it loudly. Analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies confirms that Brexit is going to hit those on benefits and low incomes particularly hard: Normally many of those on the lowest incomes would be at least partially protected from the impact of higher prices by the rules that govern the annual uprating of benefits and tax credits. By ...
Once again, at the most recent meeting of Full Council at Peterborough Town Hall, whilst elected members "discussed" a range of important issues ..... I looked up to the public gallery and saw, as is always the case, just a handful of local residents in attendance. Don't forget it's FREE to attend council meetings! So why [...]
[IMG: Helen Watt] Many of us have expressed the opinion that 2016 can just do one. The deaths early in the year of national treasures, the heroes we'd grown up with, like David Bowie and Alan Rickman shocked us. In Scotland, that sense of loss has intensified and come closer to home as we learned of the passing on Monday of one of our most popular and stalwart members, Helen Watt. Helen was convener of the Scottish Party's Conference Committee between 2003 and 2007. She also chaired and held most of the offices of Scottish Women Liberal Democrats. She stood ...
The Community Engagement Forum for Yate, Chipping Sodbury and Dodington (which replaces Safer Stronger and the Area Forum) has unavoidably had to be postponed to 21 November, 7 pm in the Main Hall at Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church, High Street, Chipping Sodbury. Mark King, the Head of Street Care and Transport for South Glos Council will be attendingThe meeting will also include an update on the Libraries consultationPlus how a Community Plan can benefit YOUR CommunityIf you have any issues or concerns you would like to raise please email your local chair via community.engagement@southglos.gov.uk Below are just some of the ...
Tomorrow the voters of Witney in Oxfordshire will be going to the polls in a by-election caused by the resignation of former Prime Minister David Cameron. Normally this would be safe Conservative territory (despite the fact that one previous incumbent defected to Labour), but these aren't normal times. David Cameron made the disastrous mistake of [...]
[IMG: jane-brophy-manchester-metro-candidate-500x375] I have news! Next May in the a swathe of Metropolitan districts there will be elections, although not for council seats. In the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and Sheffield City Region many millions of people will be choosing their Metro Mayor. These will be positions of real power that can shape the [...]
Embed from Getty Images Commenting on the news that MPs will not get a vote on Heathrow expansion until next year, Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson Jenny Randerson said: Theresa May has kicked the can down the road, but this doesn't change the fact that she is set to break her party's promise to people in West London. The Liberal Democrats are the only real voice of opposition to Heathrow expansion. We must fight against this reckless proposal that would be a disaster for our environment and for local people. * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary published in ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] Cross-party Local Government Association (LGA) research, reveals that nearly half a million pupils are in academies that have been assessed by Ofsted as either inadequate or requiring improvement since conversion. Commenting on the report, Education spokesperson John Pugh said: "These findings back up our long held concerns that the Government's obsession with turning every school [...]
Twitter @po8crg Twitter RT @barryjbutler: #Brexit. Taking back control. Twitter RT @AstroKatie: That whole "watched pot never boils" thing is just propaganda to prevent you from enjoying the awesomeness of fluid... miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 18-10-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 18-10-2016 on #dreamwidth Twitter This is the crux, IMHO Ursula K Le Guin: 'I wish we could all live in a big house with unlocked doors' | Books | The Guardian RT @GuardianBooks: Ursula K Le Guin: 'I wish we could all live in a big house with unlocked doors' Twitter RT @MSmithsonPB: ...
This afternoon, we'll find out who will be leading the Parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit as MPs vote for the chairs of the new select committee on Brexit. It's a race between Labour's Hilary Benn, who campaigned for Remain, and Brexiteer Kate Hoey who does not think that membership of the single market is an achievable outcome. From the Herald: Labour's Hilary Benn, the former shadow foreign secretary, is tipped to become chairman of the committee, which will have 21 members, including 10 Tories and MPs from six opposition parties; the average committee normally has 11 members. But Ms Hoey, who ...
We had a meeting on Monday of a Gateshead Council advisory group to consider the review of Parliamentary constituencies. Under the electoral quota, Gateshead is entitled to 1.89 constituencies. We currently have 2 that are fully within Gateshead (Blaydon and Gateshead) and a couple of wards in Jarrow. Under the new proposals, we will not have a single constituency fully in Gateshead. Instead,
Many in the Cameron camp thought that May would be the continuity candidate. Sure, she'd have to give a lot of jobs to Eurosceptics in the wake of the Leave vote, but it would be a show of reconciliation from within the same basic camp within the Tory party. But that is not how it turned out. May got rid of the Cameroons, whether they were leavers or remainers – George Osborne and Michael Gove being the two most obvious examples. It's never a great idea when taking the mantle as leader of your party while it is in government ...
It started on a breeze-chilled evening, with the last of sun smudging the sky a deep red. My legs hung over the edge of the roof. I gripped a hot chocolate in my left hand. A silver signet ring clasped in my right. Haz's ring. His initials HS engraved into the oval. The sun dipped below view and the dark of night sneaked over and around me. My phone read 20:11. Lucas was late, but then Lucas was always late. Dan would be pissed because that caused me and Lucas to be late meaning Dan had to wait for us ...
World Mental Health day fell on the 10th October and it has dominated my activities this week. For the first time ever there was a Mayoral reception in Southport Town Hall to mark the event. Mental Health remains an underfunded and neglected area of care. We have seen destressing cases, for example, when a young women was held in a police cell because there was no appropriate hospital bed available. I know of cases where the only available hospital bed for someone in crisis was hundreds of miles away. The situation is particularly acute in services for adolescents. There is ...
David Stewart and I after the presentations I was pleased to be invited to attend the Awards Evening at Deyes High School in Maghull. It is always uplifting to hear the stories of young people and their successes. At Deyes I heard not only about their academic and sporting prowess but also their service to the wider community. When there is far too much negativity about young people it is important that these stories are heard. The guest speaker, former Deyes student, David Stewart spoke about his journey from Deyes High to a top job at QPR. He was a ...
[IMG: International Office_with text] On the surface of it, you couldn't be blamed for feeling pretty grim about the results of the recent local elections which took place on 2 October in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In both semi-autonomous regions, the biggest winners were the large, ethno-nationalist parties who managed to maintain and entrench their positions as the major political force in their region. Perhaps most symbolically of all, the city of Srebrenica, where the infamous genocide of over 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks by the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska took place in 1995, has elected its first Serb mayor since ...
Labour's record on civil liberties has not been a good one. Whether it is their support for identity cards, their attempt to bring in a 90 day and then 42 day pre-charge detention regime, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 that gave extraordinary surveillance powers to local councils and other authorities, and of course their attempt to monitor and store details of our private communications. Of course there are some that would say that all this came in a different era, when Tony Blair was in charge and when they were in government. And it is true that being ...
Roger Gabb and Sue Inkin have been fined £1,000 each for illegal newspaper advertisements during the 2016 European referendum promoting a Leave vote. The newspaper adverts were missing the legally required 'imprint' which reveals who is behind an advert. As the Electoral Commission explains: In both cases the campaigners placed advertisements in local newspapers arguing support of a vote to leave the EU. Neither campaigner included their name and address in their advert, meaning that voters could not identify its promoter. Following investigations into each campaigner, the Commission has concluded that both campaigners committed an offence by failing to include ...
Unfinished business from Governance Review There are three significant pieces of unfinished business from the Governance Review which was voted through at the federal autumn conference in Brighton. One is simply that changing rules does not in itself change that much. People need to follow them. They need to be implemented with enthusiasm, competence and a clear purpose. Cultural change does not automatically follow. So whilst there is much good in the Governance Review, including the improvements to the way the party makes strategy, as I wrote in the last Liberal Democrat Newswire, it is crucial we get the right ...
This photograph below shows part of Dundee's Perth Road, known as Invercauld Place, here leading eastwards towards the city centre. No. 153 was Sarah Campbell, a fruiterer, and No. 151 John Farquharson & Sons, 'plumber, gasfitter, tinsmith & brassfounder'. George Christe, a grocer, had a shop at No. 149, and another fruiterer was at No. 145, John (later Mrs John) Peebles. No. 143 was the grocer, David (later Mrs David) Sewart and, beyond Pennycook Lane, which led northwards to Hawkhill, was a butcher shop, which was probably what is listed in the Dundee Directory as John Birse, flesher, at No. ...
We have just had a call purporting to be from Liberal Democrats party headquarters. A heavily accented voice asked for support in the "Whitstable" by-election, and suggested that I donate "as little as £25" I politely explained that I would not give my card details over the phone on an unsolicited call, at which the caller hung up. A check on 1471 showed that the number was withheld Now it could have been a genuine call, and if so we need to train our callers better. However, I suspect a fraud / phishing attempt. Be wary of such calls, and ...
[IMG: IMG_1210] News that the trickle of children admitted from the Calais jungle has started to become more of a steady flow is, of course, welcome. But there are still hundreds there and no real sign that there will be a convey of coaches to bring them to the UK, where they can be reunited with their families, as they are entitled. I wrote before on LDV, and spoke at Conference, about these children being caught in a web of bureaucracy. The Home Office does now, it appears, take this more seriously but the danger that the demolition of the ...
Yesterday, we wrote to Simon Wright, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), and Jan Ditheridge, chief executive of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (ShropCom). We are concerned that a lack of joined up working prevented switching midwifery-led maternity services from one part of Ludlow hospital to another. We are not expecting... Continue reading Our letter to health executives on sudden closure of Ludlow maternity ward →
Lin-Manuel Miranda Monologue - SNL Glorious. (tags: uspolitics television ) Up Down @Belgianwaffle reports on visiting my ancestral homeland. (tags: Northernireland )
Chuck Berry turns ninety today, and has also used today to announce that next year he will be releasing his first album in thirty-eight years. I've often said that Berry is the perfect example of a case where it's a ... Continue reading →
