[IMG: winterson] Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson This is the fifth novel plucked from my #40booksby40 list. If you know it only as a "coming out novel" or, worse, "that lesbian book", you are missing out, bigly. Jeanette Winterson's Künstlerroman is many things: rawly personal, laugh-out-loud funny, gorgeously big-hearted, seriously wise, indulgently surreal, and, yes, brilliantly written (she was just 26 when it was published). I recall watching the BBC adaptation, which I loved though remembering it always makes me sad: Charlotte Coleman, who played 16 year-old Jeanette, died far too young. But what the TV series ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Embed from Getty Images A poster produced for the London & North Eastern Railway, which dates it to between 1923 and 1948.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Labour seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Keith Kirwan. To help, please phone 07753 570721.

Independent seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Tim Welch

Conservative seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Mary Varrall.

Independent seat. Cause: resignation.

Conservative seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Andy Halliday To help, please contact Andrew Wait at waithere55@gmail.com.

Over on Patreon, my latest Patreon-backer-only comics reviews, this time looking at Giant Days, Invisible Republic, Star Wars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This is a free post, but can only be accessed by people who are backing me on ... Continue reading →

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

Six months' ago I wrote a blog-post, 3 policies I support in principle, but not in practice, one of which was the universal basic income. I was prompted by an email I received from Someone I Respect taking me to task for having glibly listed it as a Good Liberal Thing: "The cheapest rent for a studio in Oxford seems to be c. £750pcm, or £9k per year. Plus council tax, and utilities. So probably £11k a year. Plus food, etc. Are you really going to give that to everyone? You need really, really high rates of tax to get ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall

Embed from Getty Images John Harris is a political commentator without equal, as he proved when he wrote from the Liberal Democrat conference one year: Hats off to ... the brilliantly idiosyncratic folks gathered around the ginger group Liberator, who rightly treasure an underrated aspect of this lot: their internal democracy, which makes a mockery of the big two party's annual bunfights, and Labour's squashing of its membership and activists in particular.So it is encouraging him to see him write this in the Guardian: As also evidenced by a steady stream of council byelection results, a proper Lib Dem revival ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
YouGov

The road to Edith Weston. Photo © Marathon Rutland and Melton Liberal Democrats are holding a supper to celebrate their vice president Fay Howison winning the Harriet Smith Award. Sal Brinton, the party president, will be there to present the award. She will also do a question-and-answer session with those attending. The supper takes place on Wednesday 9 November at Rutland Sailing Club, Gibbotts Lane, Edith Weston, Rutland LE15 8HJ. Full details and a form to complete and email can be found on the East Midlands Liberal Democrats site. We all know who Fay Howison and Sal Brinton are, but ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

So this month marks a year and a half of my membership with the Liberal Democrats. Whats it been like? Absolutely incredible. My experiences within the Lib Dems has not only grown me as a person, but also socially. When I first joined back in April 2015 I joined with a vision. I wanted to [...]

Posted by vloggerhannah on The Liberal Queen

Well, this will make things easier for the Liberal Democrats in the forthcoming Richmond Park by-election. Ukip has decided not to run a candidate and to praise Zac Goldsmith instead. As Tim Farron says: Zac Goldsmith claimed Brexit has nothing to do with this by-election. The very public endorsement he has picked up from the party of Nigel Farage nails that lie. Zac Goldsmith was already the Conservative Party candidate. Now he is also the UKIP candidate. His campaign is the Nigel and Zac show. UKIP's website expressly states that it is vital for supporters of Hard Brexit to defeat ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Former Liberal Democrat MP turned peer Jenny Tonge has quit the Liberal Democrats after being suspended by the party following a controversial meeting about Israel and the Middle East. It's a topic which has often caused controversy in the past. Back in 2012, for example, I wrote of her, She is probably best known in recent years for her views on the Middle East which often generate controversy, including when she said in 2006, "The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips. I think they've probably got a grip on our party" (comments which ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The Chamber of the House of Commons. On April 4th next year I will have been a member of my Party (including its predecessor) for 50 years. I can say with total clarity that I have never known times like ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

Following UKIP's endorsement of Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election, Tim Farron commented: Zac Goldsmith claimed Brexit has nothing to do with this by-election. The very public endorsement he has picked up from the party of Nigel Farage nails that lie. Zac Goldsmith was already the Conservative Party candidate. Now he is also the UKIP candidate. His campaign is the Nigel and Zac show. UKIP's website expressly states that it is vital for supporters of Hard Brexit to defeat the Liberal Democrats in Richmond Park, and praises Zac Goldsmith for being 'fully committed to getting Britain out of the ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Richmond Park and North Kingston LibDem HQ in Mortlake to collect a couple of delivery rounds and was pleased later to learn that a hundred other people passed through the doors during the course of the day. With polling announced for 1 December, this is likely to be the [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Embed from Getty Images So we have the first by-election test in London for the Prime Minister who wants a country that works for everyone. How does Zac Goldsmith stack up against this mantra (even if not the official Tory candidate)? Firstly he voted to cut disability benefits by £30 a week, resulting in him being dumped by a local disabled charity. Secondly he has never railed against the lack of affordable housing in his own area as Richmond Council allows more and more luxury flats to be built in a form of Bosnian style ethic cleansing as his friend ...

Posted by Chris Key on Liberal Democrat Voice

Embed from Getty Images Is she or isn't she? Since her accession, the public has been puzzled by Theresa May's stance on Brexit. Was her lukewarm support for Remain merely self-preservation, just wanting to keep out of the fray? Was she a closet Leaver? Well now we know. The Guardian suggests that she is indeed a Remainer, but not just any old Remainer, but a Tory Remainer and so quite happy to switch sides. Paddy Ashdown summed it up in this Tweet. Strange times! Our Remain Foreign Sec campaigned for Brexit to further his career & our Brexit PM supported ...

Posted by Phil Aisthorpe on Liberal Democrat Voice

So, this morning I phoned Samsung, again. To tell them that the courier had failed to turn up to collect my phone, again. The lady on the phone was lovely, really lovely, and rescheduled my pickup for tomorrow morning, and was laughing with me when I said "I'll speak to you tomorrow afternoon, then" as we finished the call. About ten minutes after I got off the phone there was a knock on the door, and it was the courier. To pick up my phone. Completely unscheduled and with no warning. And he made a crack about exploding phones because ...

eUKhost

No doubt you have heard ...... The Tory-controlled Peterborough City Council now plan to sign a deal to pay Stef and Philips nearly £1 million a year to use 98 properties in St Michael's Gate, Parnwell, as temporary accommodation for homeless people, but many local residents feel let down and say they have not been [...]

Posted by Cllr Darren Fower on Cllr Darren Fower

Embed from Getty Images Here's a lovely story from the Bromsgrove Advertiser: A renowned campaigner for cyclists who died in 2007 will live on in a commemorative plaque to be unveiled at Bromsgrove railway station, marking a new facility that would have been close to his heart. Gordon Selway, described as a "larger-than-life" character and who was also a Bromsgrove district councillor, was transport spokesman for the Worcestershire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and volunteered for many charities. He was a qualified barrister, a nationally recognised expert on rail issues and Cycling UK described him as ...

Posted by Newsmoggie on Liberal Democrat Voice

I'm not sure what the collective noun for a group of Community Interest Companies (CIC) is; an enterprise? an innovation? maybe they should call it a hope of CICs. My visit to Safe Regeneration at the site of the former St Mary's School in Bootle definitely filled me with optimism. CICs are social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good. I met so many different projects housed in and around the canal side site. I was shown around by Jane Johnson their development manager and Su Grainger from the Community Choir 'Sing your Socks ...

Posted by iain on theMayoralBlog

Lib Dem seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Alison Munro. To help, please contact Alison Munro on 07503 157385, or email alisonquarmby@netscape.net.

[IMG: Campaigners outside the Priory Pub in Litherland trying to save it a while back.] Campaigners outside the Priory Pub in Litherland trying to save it a while back. The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above Well this is an issue I have posted about quite a lot in recent times, most recently with regard to the demise of the Weld Blundell Pub in Lydiate – see photo and link to previous postings on this subject below:- [IMG: The Weld Blundell in happier times - 2008] The Weld Blundell in happier times – 2008 I ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

The Western Mail reports the comments of former AM and now Welsh Office Minister, Lord Nick Bourne that the package of powers that the UK Government plans to devolve to the National Assembly in the latest Wales Bill could be the "last major piece of legislation on Wales for a long time". He is, of course urging the Welsh Assembly to pass an order giving its consent to the Bill and has suggested that if there were a snap General Election then the Bill might be lost altogether: Mr Bourne reckons it will be "no time soon" before there is ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

I'd be either very easy or very hard for a machine to emulate! This is the kind of blog post that my friends make on occasion that I really love; it's not long but it twists one's brain in pleasing ways. Brexit Britain will be a Paradise This blog post enumerates all the ways in which it will be a paradise. miss_s_b | Update: health and phone In case you all were wondering, here's an update on Things Happening To Me: Sweden bans cameras on drones Going 'bats' over aeroecology - Science360 News Service | National Science Foundation RT @science360: ...

Embed from Getty Images Zac Goldsmith's bid to become London mayor was memorably described as a "dog whistle campaign in a city with no dogs." And few places in the capital demonstrate that better than Richmond Park itself. As the local MP you would have thought his personal vote would make it a walkover. First preference mayoral votes, a good indicator of popularity, in Richmond Park shows that Boris Johnson won his second term in 2012 by a greater share in all but one of the constituency's eleven wards compared to Zac in 2016. The differences by ward are Coombe ...

Posted by Lester Holloway on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: Sandgate Open Space Appraisal 1975] I've been passed a photocopy (by local resident Rosemary Sanders) of a 41 year old appraisal of Sandgate's open space and recreation areas. Although much has moved on, there are a number of points still relevant today. In the spirit of conserving useful historical information about the area, I've retyped and its reproduced below. Opinions expressed are those of the original authors and are of their time... Sandgate Study: An Informal District Plan Consultative Draft 1975 Social and Community Facilities The quality of the local environment is in many ways affected by the public ...

From one by-election we run straight into another, with Richmond Park getting off the ground as a result of the Government's decision on Heathrow expansion. It is absolutely vital that we all contribute to the campaign as early as we possibly can to keep up the momentum from Witney. In the midst of the excitement for a second by-election in a matter of weeks you may however have missed that the deadline for nominations for internal elections to our Party's Committees is fast approaching. Nominations close on Wednesday 2 November at 12 noon. As a reminder there are four committees ...

Posted by Tim Gordon on Liberal Democrat Voice
Thu 27th
08:45

RNLI Coffee Morning

 

Posted by Alisdair Gibbs-Barton on Alisdair Gibbs-Barton

[IMG: The close up view of the winter planting.] The close up view of the winter planting. Maghull in Bloom volunteers have replanted the barrier planters that sit on the pedestrian barriers all along Maghull's Westway which cuts through the Town's shopping centre. [IMG: The long view down Westway looking from the Leighton Ave junction towards the A59 Northway.] The long view down Westway looking from the Leighton Ave junction towards the A59 Northway. Sheila and I were not able to assist on this occasion so our thanks to the volunteers who did such a splendid job.

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

The original caption is misleading, as the photograph shows Dundee's Scouringburn, whose layout was incorporated into the new Hawkhill section of the city's inner ring road system in the 1970s, here seen leading westwards, Session Street to the right. Mrs J. McManus, the general dealer, is first listed at No. 13 Scouringburn in the Dundee Directory for 1888-89. The 1893-94 edition has John Finnigan as the owner of the public house at No. 15, the Celtic Bar. James P. Casey is described there as 'dealer in furniture, left-off clothing, antiquarian and general bookseller, and licensed broker'. Their advertisement says Mr ...

Okay, credit where credit is due here: Jeremy Corbyn was very good at PMQS yesterday, while Theresa May was genuinely awful. I never thought I'd type that sentence but here we are. Of course, it was mostly because Corbyn went after her on Brexit, easily her least favourite topic of discussion, finally, finally doing so after avoiding it for whatever reason for so long. But at least he's finally figured out. Corbyn's first question was a simple one about single market access. May was all over the shop. She opened by saying "I have been clear and I will be ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

This week, a Christian couple who run a bakery and refused to make a cake with the statement "support gay marriage" on it lost their latest court appeal. Now when I first heard this story and didn't realise the facts, I assumed the bakers had refused to bake the cake because the people asking for it were gay. It was only later that I realised they had refused to bake the cake because they disagreed with the pro-same-sex marriage political statement written upon it. If they had refused to bake that cake because their clients were gay or they refused ...

Posted by The Mec Journal on The Mec Journal

Are Progressives Being Played By WikiLeaks And Julian Assange? Yes, and have been for years. (tags: wikileaks ) A Brexit reality check in Stockholm What Sweden really thinks. (tags: brexit eu ukpolitics sweden ) Let's Move the Oireachtas from Kildare Street Very sensible idea. (tags: ireland ) Those who think Marlowe co-wrote plays with Shakespeare may Kyd themselves A different view. (tags: Shakespeare ) The Most Durably Democratic County In The Country Could Go For Trump 144 years on... (tags: Uspolitics ) Party politics aside, Austin-based Texas Republican releases most hilarious ad of the election cycle Surely a spoof?!?!? (tags: ...

Dealing with Smile has always been a problem in this series of books. To recap, for those who aren't completely familiar with the story, in 1966 and 1967 the Beach Boys recorded a series of sessions for an album largely ... Continue reading →

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