I was in the US last year when the first tv debates were held for the Republican candidates. Even with 16 would-be presidents were battling it out, Trump dominated the stage. That says a great deal about the quality of the "establishment" candidates though few at the time believed Trump would triumph over the Republican field. And when I went to New York, we saw many demonstrations against
Confused Conservatives Not only do the Sutton Conservatives appear hopelessly confused over the school sites issue, they apparently enjoy worrying residents unnecessarily, and are quite prepared to use confidential information in order to do so. They have been aided by the Sutton Guardian's horribly mangled story about Rosehill, which followed the previous week's speculation that [...]
When commenting before about the successful use of Reddit by the Bernie Sanders campaign, I highlighted how much moderation of the community by volunteer moderates was central to its success. There was an active team of moderators, who ensured people kept focused and happy – something that's not often the tone of online political comment threads. But that emphasis on the positive worked well, as it does for the very successful Lib Dem Newbies group on Facebook. And also for one of the most successful pro-Hillary Clinton groups on Facebook: A private Facebook group created a little over two weeks ...
Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump, deleted a tweeted picture of his ballot this morning after Electionland pointed out that ballot pictures are illegal in the state of New York
This is another of the ghost trains run to avoid the railway companies having to go through costly formal closure procedures for a stretch of line. Unlike the train which serves Newhaven Marine, the one from Paddington to West Ruislip can be used by the public. There are a surprising number of these ghost trains running in Britain today.
There was a debate in the Commons today on the electrification of the Midland main line - the railway from St Pancras to Leiceter, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield. And, most importantly, Market Harborough. The transport minister Paul Maynard, says the Leicester Mercury, was clear that the line would be electrified as far as Kettering and Corby, but refused to confirm that the process would continue any further. Instead he said: "We are electrifying the line from St Pancras to Corby and Kettering to enable faster journeys for commuters on that route, and then we are continuing the development work as ...
Herman Sörgel wanted to create the largest civil engineering project the world has ever seen: a colossal dam across the Strait of Gibraltar, lowering the Mediterranean sea. There were, of course, a few problems with this.
Well, that was money well spent on lawyers by the Donald Trump campaign: Clark County statement on Trump lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/OUdZ6VjjN5 — Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) November 8, 2016 Interested in more stories about how our elections are run? Follow my dedicated election law channels on Facebook or Twitter which include bonus extra stories that don't appear on this blog.
The media and right-wing demagogues are attacking the independence of the judiciary - and, by extension, the rule of law. An element among them appears to be suggesting vigilante action against Gina Miller and those seeking to uphold Parliamentary democracy. What exactly is the Liberal Democrat leadership doing? In the Witney by-election some activists claimed the party's pro-EU message was concealed from literature to all voters. It certainly was kept off centre stage while used heavily in targeted mailings. Anecdotally, this strategy was electorally successful. Time will tell whether similar strategies work in the much more pro-Remain territory of Richmond ...
We travel to the West Country with the old brute today and encounter nuclear power and an unforunate episode in Liberal Party history. Friday You join me upon a windswept cliff overlooking the Bristol Channel. It is here at Hinkley Point that Britain's latest power station is soon be constructed. Under an agreement devised by our own Ed Davey, a constant stream of lorries will arrive bearing high-denomination banknotes. These will then be burnt by the plant's Chinese owners to generate electricity and we shall pay them more than generously for so doing. It is clear the Wise Woman of ...
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it be would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity. – George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 20. With the US Presidential election upon us, there has been scant defence of the "competence" let alone the "intelligence", of electorates around the world in 2016, but I think it needs more thought. For all that is said about ...
Alistair Carmichael was on the Daily Politics today, quizzed by Jo Coburn over the party's position on the Article 50 debate, the Single Market/soft Brexit and a referendum on the final deal. The segment starts at 21 minutes below, and Alistair is on from 24 minutes. [IMG: alistair-carmichael-daily-politics] It was put to him that making the A50 vote conditional on single market membership and a "second" referendum was seeking to thwart the will of the people: It is impossible for everybody who voted to leave for a whole range of reasons to get what they wanted. So we cannot go ...
Tue 8th
14:48
Rolling Stone magazine weighs in: 'Donald Trump cannot be President of the United States'
Embed from Getty Images Jesse Berney has written a corker of a piece in Rolling Stone magazine about Donald Trump, saying: "By virtually any measure, he is unfit to lead a Cub Scout troop, let alone the nation with the world's most powerful military." It's worth reading the article in full but here is its brilliant conclusion: ...now is the moment for every last American to decide what it truly means to be a citizen. You can be reluctant about Hillary Clinton. You don't even have to vote for her (though I did, without doubt or hesitation). What you cannot ...
[IMG: A Red Squirrel - What could be more symbolic of Formby and Little Altcar] A Red Squirrel – What could be more symbolic of Formby and Little Altcar Being involved with the Lydiate Neighbourhood Plan, although still reasonably sceptical of the limited scope of Neighbourhood Planning generally, I thought looking at a plan that was at a pretty advanced stage from a local perspective would be useful. Here's a link to the joint Neighbourhood Plan of Formby and Little Altcar Parish Councils:- I have always looked upon the Neighborhood Planning process in a similar way to how I ...
Over recent years, my blogging has become quite limited. Parallel to this, my political thoughts have been increasing expressed on Facebook - either through status updates shared with friends, or in discussions on various pages, profiles and groups. A couple of months ago, I set up my own *public* Facebook Page as an halfway house between full-on blogging and those ad-hoc debate contributions. You can find that page here, and the latest entry below. To my mind there are two main aspects to the decision: The "Respecting the Will of the People" argument. Whether we like it or not, the ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above Well they keep on coming but we have not heard much from our Police & Crime Commissioner about what she and her Merseyside Police Force are doing to get on top of these all too often shootings. It seems time for some high profile reassurance that Merseyside Police are going top get on top of this appalling march towards an American-type gun culture.
It has become a truism of this campaign that Clinton and Trump are the two worst presidential candidates of all time. We don't buy it. Embed from Getty Images Yes, Donald Trump is an ignorant narcissistic bully who would be an embarrassment to any self-respecting Parish Council; a serial groper, liar, and corrupt businessman whose response to these sound charges is generally to accuse his opponent of the same with no evidence. He is happy to fan the flames of racial tension for personal advantage, and as we saw with Brexit, if he wins (promising Brexit+++), supporters will feel justified ...
The 2015 general election devastated the ranks of Liberal Democrat MPs, reducing the House of Commons cohort to just eight, straight, white men — cruelly accentuating the lack of diversity in the parliamentary party (though the situation is a little better in the House of Lords, to which individuals are periodically appointed on the party [...]
In some areas of science, citizens are moving from being passive consumers to active participants. Citizen science has the potential to make science and innovation more responsible, but it is not without controversy. Like many patient groups, the Alzheimers' Society isn't happy with the state of scientific research. Using donations from members of the public, it funds its own science to fill in gaps and speed up the development of treatments. But as well as using its members' money, the society also makes use of their expertise. The science supported by the Alzheimers' Society follows an unusual model. At every ...
The establishment is the enemy of the day, the big bad that can be blamed for everything that goes wrong in your life. Politicians and the rich are in union to oppress the people and maintain their power. They're all the same, what's the point of voting? It's nothing but picking the lesser or two evils. If you're on the left then the government is in the pocket of big business and is leaving the poor to starve, if you're on the right then it is crushing business under regulation and taxes whilst funding the lifestyles of scroungers and immigrants. ...
Part of the notion that Donald Trump will come out ahead in the electoral college vote comes down to Brexit – I'll admit that up front. The whole thing feels eerily like the EU referendum, and not just because of Trump's love of all thing Brexity but rather due to the very similar things we're all trying to take comfort in at the moment. The polling – close but on our side. The basic thought that goes: the electorate won't do something that crazy, will they? But more than today feeling reminiscent of June 23rd, Trump winning the presidential election ...
I presented this question to peers, fellow Liberal Democrats and members of EMLD (Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats), after seeing the launch of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Manifesto in 2015, and I continue to raise this debate while holding office as London Region Vice Chair – because sometimes an acronym is important. BAME is the acronym for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, whereas BME is the acronym for Black and Minority Ethnic. The intellectual argument that 'Black' is a socially constructed political identity – a way to challenge the racism in England – became absorbed into ethnic and ...
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is considering whether to prosecute Brexit campaigners for statements made during the European referendum campaign. If the case goes ahead, it will put to the legal test a relatively new part of election law. The Guardian explains the background: The director of public prosecutions is considering a complaint that voters were misled by the Vote Leave and Leave.EU campaigns, in contravention of electoral law. The complaint about "undue influence" on the referendum campaign has been submitted by an independent group, spearheaded by Prof Bob Watt [who actually uses a lowercase b on his name], an ...
When Keir Starmer was made shadow secretary for Brexit, I was pleased. Finally, Labour would get serious about the topic of our times. Yet while Starmer has been impressive in the House, his appointment has still not been enough to halt confusion in regards to the Labour Party and its approach to Brexit. The most recent relevant example of this was the palaver around whether Labour would or would not hold up for the triggering of Article 50. First up, what Jeremy Corbyn had to say on the matter. He laid out his four "Brexit Bottom Lines", which were: UK ...
There is no doubt in my mind that the referendum on whether to remain in the EU was won on a false prospectus. That misrepresentation included the high-profile claim that the EU was costing £350 million a week, a claim that Vote Leave continued to use despite repeated ticking offs by the UK Statistics Authority. There was also the alleged threat of 76 million Turks on our doorstep, a mixture of racism, muslim-phobia, and downright misrepresentatoin that swayed many voters in the final week. However, whereas misrepresentation on that scale is illegal in a General Election, or indeed any other ...
......... newest member to the Peterborough Conservative party??? Who are we talking about? We're talking about Mr Beecher, who was recently reported in the Telegraph, as defecting to the Conservative party in Peterborough, having previously been a paid up member of UKIP in Peterborough. When did he say this then? It was only a year ago, whilst [...]
Janet Webster who is Peer Support Coordinator for the RNIB Scotland (the Royal National Institute of Blind People - Scotland) recently wrote to me as follows : "I am trying to raise awareness of our free Looking Forward programme for people with sight loss in the Dundee area. RNIB Scotland are trying to reach those who have slipped through the net and are unaware of the excellent services Dundee has to offer. The programme also gives blind and partially sighted people a chance to share experiences and tips; or just a chance to have a right good blether!" Please find ...
Yesterday, I wrote about what I offer in terms of the International Relations Committee. Today, it's the turn of the Party's delegation to the ALDE Party Council... Traditionally, candidates for the delegation have talked about their commitment to the European idea, about their belief in policy ideas. And, equally traditionally, I mutter darkly about the small matter that the ALDE Party Council doesn't have much to do with policy making. I tend to focus on what the Council is for, monitoring the work of the Bureau and the Secretariat, considering new membership applications and the Statutes, querying expenditure and debating ...
Please, Americans, please turn out and vote for Mrs Clinton and save the world. I know she's not ideal but she's better than the alternative. Don't be fooled by the opinion polls giving her a slight edge. " Remain" had a slight edge in our Brexit vote right until the counts started, and then we woke up in shock. I understand turnout is normally quite low - around 50%. So why not take a sympathetic friend to help clinch the deal? If you and she/he want to give the establishment a kick in the teeth, do it via the Senators ...
Brutal reality of lower benefit cap hits home for struggling families Theresa May's war on the poor. (tags: ukpolitics ) Inside Donald Trump's Last Stand: An Anxious Nominee Seeks Assurance The end is nigh. (tags: uspolitics ) To grow trade with India, UK must stop raising walls against Indian students and professionals War on migrants has consequences. Who knew? (tags: brexit ukpolitics india migration ) UK austerity policies 'amount to violations of disabled people's rights' UN damns British war on the disabled. (tags: ukpolitics disability )
