And so, another eventful day is over. I placed my first correspondent into permanent moderation, and kept the show on the road as far as possible. I leave you with the thoughts of the President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, who is clearly looking forward to negotiations on Brexit... Can't wait to negotiate with @BorisJohnson, so that I can read him Article 3 of the Treaty of Rome https://t.co/UOUfVjMb3Z #Brexit pic.twitter.com/UlD42v0v9w — Guy Verhofstadt (@GuyVerhofstadt) November 15, 2016 It does appear that Boris hasn't worked out yet that the problem of holding a position of ...
When Liberal International was founded in Oxford nearly 70 years ago it was very much a European affair. With the noble exception of Canada, Liberal parties and values were largely confined to northern Europe, but since then the picture has changed dramatically. As we in Britain lick our wounds from the double whammy of the [...]
About a month ago, I did the NHS Mood assessment test to see how my anxiety and depression levels were doing. I thought that considering the NHS should at least have some expertise in this field that the test would at least be an indication if not a diagnosis. I forget the actual numbers of my results, but they were on the middle-to-higher end of the scale. So I showed a variety of symptoms for anxiety and depression which I knew I had. But then things changed... sort of. First, I found out that one of my exes may have ...
Wed 16th
21:44
Police investigation into electoral fraud reaches right into Theresa May's inner circle
Prime Minister's chief of staff Nick Timothy "provided assistance" to a controversial election campaign now under investigation by police, Channel 4 News has established. Michael Crick over at Channel 4 news has kept on digging into the series of Conservative election expense scandals which have seen more of Theresa May's MPs implicated than the size of her majority: Theresa May's Downing Street aide is in the spotlight amid questions over the Conservatives, campaign to stop Nigel Farage winning a seat in Parliament at the last election. Channel 4 News, which has been investigating the party's election spending since February, has ...
From the National Secular Society website, dated 2 November: A newly commissioned portrait bust of Charles Bradlaugh has been unveiled in Portcullis House, at a reception attended by parliamentarians and members of the National Secular Society (NSS). Terry Sanderson, president of the NSS, said: "We're thrilled to have been instrumental in enabling this magnificent portrait bust of our founder Charles Bradlaugh at last to take his rightful place in the Palace of Westminster, and we thank all who donated to our fundraising efforts."The portrait bust of Charles Bradlaugh was donated to the House of Commons by the National Secular Society, ...
Towards the end of August, I realised a long-held ambition of becoming a Caterham 7 owner. Six months earlier, I'd walked into the Bookatrack dealership at Donington Park, specified a yellow 270S (series V, as I'm too big to fit comfortably in an S3), paid my deposit and walked away, hoping to forget all about it until I'd safely completed ... The post Caterham 7 ownership – 3 months in appeared first on ten pence piece.
Here's the new film from the Liberal Democrats, a short and to the point message about Brexit from Richmond Park by-election candidate Sarah Olney.
Following my recently expressed concerns about the implications of the Northumberland, Tyne, Wear and North Durham Sustainable Transformation Plan, and any possible impact on Shotley Bridge Hospital, I am pleased to report the following response from Nicola Bailey, Chief Executive Officer of the North Durham Clinical Commissioning Group who commission most of the services provided by the hospital. She writes: 1. I have had chance to look at the STP page you have sent through and I can confirm that at no point has the future of Shotley Bridge Hospital or Chester Le Street Hospital been discussed at any of ...
This follows from part one, and contains some jargon that might not be understandable without it. So we're now living in a world where the US and UK are both controlled by RWA/SDO people, voted for by RWAs, and last ... Continue reading →
Regardless of the cries of the Brexiteers, the answer is simple. It can, if it wants to. Here's why; First and foremost Members of Parliament are representatives, they are not delegates. As representatives, they are free to, and it is their duty to, exercise their own judgement. Members cannot be and should never be prevented from exercising their conscience in casting their votes. This duty applies in even greater measure to Peers. As (self-proclaimed) trustees of the nation, they must be willing to take decisions counter to the public mood when they consider it to be in the national interest. ...
Our prime-minister, Theresa May, has recognised that "globalisation [is] a force for good" but admits that there are "tensions and differences between those who are gaining from globalisation and those who feel they are losing out." (Mansion House Speech, Monday 14th November.) Well good for her: she "talks the talk very well", but , as Aditya Chakrabortty points out, we need to avoid the trap of attributing the creation of a "left behind" class to the inexorable forces of globalisation which, now we recognise the danger, just need a bit of maternal tweaking to make things better.Chakrabortty attributes the growing ...
Tony Bramham showing me one of his artworks Tony Bramham and I talking to a WW2 naval veteran involved with the Arctic convoys On Saturday I was at Ainsdale Methodist church to view their Remembrance Exhibition. This featured original artwork by Tony Bramham which included the faces of local people who served with distinction in the armed forces. There were also pictures by schoolchildren some of whom had come to the luncheon club to interview older members of the church about their wartime experiences. There is more information and pictures on my blog which you can find www.theMayoralBlog.blogspot.uk. Whilst I ...
On Armistice Day I was at Farnborough Rd School for the two-minute silence at 11.00am. The pupils had made their own poppies that were planted in 'poppy field' in the school grounds. Each child had written on the petal of their poppy the name of someone in their family who had died in the wars and conflicts since 1914. Those who could not trace a relation wrote the name of the Unknown Soldier. I was struck by how powerful an act of Remembrance this produced as all the children had discovered something about the loss that had impacted on every ...
[IMG: 6months] Kickstart 2: Scottish Council Candidates and their key campaign team members should put the dates for the 2017 pre-election Kick-start event in their diaries. Following feedback from the summer Kickstart we are organising the event over two days with an optional Friday afternoon and evening session for candidates and team members who have to travel longer distances. Scottish Kickstart 2017 will run from Friday 3rd February and Saturday 4th at the Salutation Hotel, 30-34 South St, Perth PH2 8PH. Tel 01738 630066. There is a special rate bed and breakfast rate of £45 per person. Phone the Salutation ...
On Sunday evening after dashing from one Remembrance event to another it was great to find myself at incense impregnated St Faith's Church for a performance of the Crosby Symphony Orchestra. The concert entitled The Sound of Scandinavia was adventuress and the musicians pulled it off magnificently. There were some well know works like Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite which was followed by stunning performance of Sibelius's Violin Concerto with Thelma Handy as the soloist. It does confirm the quality of the Crosby band that they can command the services of such a accomplish player and the applause after the piece ...
View from the platform It was good to be back again at Greenbank High School where I have spent time both as a parent and a Governor. I was invited back for Prize giving and as you can see then event was well attended by students past and present as well as parents. With all the pressure on schools to concentrate on a deminishingly small number of core subjects it was a delight to be at a school which strives to offer a broad and balanced curriculum. There were students who were getting prizes for both Arts and Science subjects. ...
[IMG: cxdk05mwqaaqf_l] The Richmond Park By-election isn't like any other election you've ever been to. There's so much more at stake. Over the next couple of weeks you can be part of the Liberal Democrat team that changes the narrative on Brexit and on the face of British politics. If Zac Goldsmith loses on the 1st December [...]
Today the Investigatory Powers Bill overcame its final Parliamentary hurdle before becoming law. In the end the issue that held it up for a while was press regulation, not the powers of the state to intrude into our privacy. In line with party policy, agreed at Lib Dem conference, we tabled dozens of amendments on significant issues that went to the very heart of the bill - while trivial Labour and Government amendments simply tinkered around the edges. Despite the Government's best efforts to close down the debate, we fought hard and achieved close and careful line-by-line scrutiny of the ...
For all my years involved in local politics, I have believed the role of Peterborough City Council is to serve the people of our city. It is the people of this city who pay their taxes, the monies from which, find their way back down to the local authority, which in turn pays for services, [...]
[IMG: Picture of Burnley Liberal Democrats outside of their new office] Losing a talented MP such as Gordon Birtwhistle was tough on Burnley Liberal Democrats. Still they can take some comfort in that our vote held up better in Burnley than in some places in 2015, with Gordon polling 11,707 votes on a 29.5% share of the vote, behind Labour who managed 14,951 votes and a [...]
When Liberal International was founded in Oxford nearly 70 years ago it was very much a European affair. With the noble exception of Canada, Liberal parties and values were largely confined to northern Europe, but since then the picture has changed dramatically. As we in Britain lick our wounds from the double whammy of the Brexit vote and the triumph of Donald Trump in the United States let us take comfort from the fact that the Liberal family is growing worldwide. This was dramatically illustrated by the Liberal International (LI) Executive in Marrakesh, at which five new African parties - ...
OK, the headline is a bit corny, but the new Community Transport bus operated by Consett Churches Detached Youth Project really is a golden opportunity for community-minded volunteers to improve both their own social lives and the social lives of many disadvantaged groups in the area. [IMG: minibus-small] The minibus is available for economical hire by any group in the community who need a set of wheels to get get them around the area, like the wonderful Open Arms group in Leadgate who used it to visit the Sunderland Illuminations. It's certainly not just for young people. We are just ...
In the 21st Century the church plays a significant role in the life of our community. It is not just on Remembrance Sunday that churches provide the setting and the context for people to come together and mark significant events. In recent weeks, as Mayor, I attended three such events in addition to my own Civic Service at Holy Trinity in Southport. On each of these occasions the church have been well attended. At Holy Trinity we ran out of service sheets. A congregation of around 300 including local community group, charities and institution many of whom I had visited ...
I am a Millennial and I am a Liberal. The former just happened to me, like my skin colour, place of birth and shoe size; I take no pride in it, nor do I feel shame. The latter fact is something I chose for myself, and I am immensely proud of it. I reject hatred and violence as political tools. Why, then, am I writing anonymously? I teach in a university. In the past few years I have seen more and more of my colleagues deliver lectures in which "liberalism" (not neoliberalism) is used as shorthand for exploitation and racism. ...
Britons with no passport struggling to rent due to immigration checks | UK news | The Guardian RT @BusinessDesk: Britons with no passport struggling to rent due to immigration checks May's refusal to try for an interim Brexit deal led her to this disaster RT @IanDunt: Every detail of Brexit memo was raised by critics after the Leave vote. They were ignored as 'talking Britain down' 5 reasons to visit Calderdale Brighouse remains the hidden gem of the hidden gem, I notice. The way I see it: living with partial blindness This is a thing that more people need to ...
As everyone knows, Donald Trump met with Nigel Farage before Theresa May, or indeed, any other British politician of any kind. We know this for sure because the proof was in a photograph, taken in a gold plated lift, a demonstration of the trans-Atlantic kinship between the sort of/kind of headcheese of UKIP and the leader of the free world. Off the back of this, Farage is trying to set himself up as some sort of unofficial envoy of Britain to America, a go between for Trump and May. As usual, it is hard to understand what Trump wants or ...
If a year is a long time in politics then two years is an eternity. That is how it seems today as the BBC report that all the Welsh Assembly party groups are set to call for the scrapping of the Severn bridge tolls. It is nice to see that what started out as a Liberal Democrats policy, as reflected in our 2015 General Election manifesto has now achieved a consensus in the Assembly. It was not always the case. On 12 November 2014, the Welsh Liberal Democrats group tabled a motion which called for the tolls to be scrapped ...
West End resident Mandy Christie recently stepped down as Secretary of Dundee Diabetes Scotland Group - many thanks go to Mandy for all her work in this role. Mandy was also previously actively involved with the former Blackness Area Residents' Association. Unless more local people now come forward to help, unfortunately Dundee Diabetes Scotland Group cannot continue in its current form as there are now only two committee members left. Allan Kirkwood is Volunteer Development Manager at Diabetes Scotland and he would love to see the Dundee Group continue in some form. He said, "The Dundee Diabetes Group is believed ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above You really could not have made this up prior to 2016 but in our new post-truth politics era this kind of thing becomes sadly unsurprising. The Human Rights Act was used to uncover vital information in the quest for the truth regarding the appalling Hillsborough disaster so that's a good thing and it is true. What is wrong with repeating the truth please Network Rail? Yes we know that Mrs May, who wants to reduce our rights by getting rid of the Act, will not like you displaying the ...
I think I have mentioned before that Sheila and I maintain the boundary planter on the Maghull/Lydiate border in Southport Road. [IMG: Winter planting in Southport Road.] Winter planting in Southport Road. Well it got to the time of year when the summer marigolds had to come out to be replaced by primulas. The job is now done and some bulbs (not sure of the type – we will know when they come up!) went in as well.
The Guardian has the story on its web site – see link above A rather sad reflection on our times me thinks when 'objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief' or you could say beggar the real facts these are 'my' facts. With thanks to Keith Page for spotting the Guardian article.
As a long time supporter of the party, through good times and bad, I was, like thousands of others, finally spurred to join the party on 8 May 2015. My contact with the party had, until this point, been limited to the odd email initiated by donations made during the 2011 and 2014 referenda. The tone of these communications was correctly pitched and gave potential and actual supporters plenty of good reasons to lend the party their vote - I can't say the same about the (particularly electronic) communication with party members. Confession time; I haven't been at all active ...
Yes, another day. The LDV team are still a bit short-handed, and so I'm back in harness again this week. It's been another tough week for Theresa May's administration, with suggestions that they haven't got a plan yet, and that thousands more civil servants will be needed to deliver Brexit. I dimly recall that part of the problem with Europe was that there were too many bureaucrats... Ah well, at least we can be assured by the competence that they've displayed so far... Perhaps not. There will be more news from Europe, as Guy Verhofstadt gently chides Boris Johnson on ...
'There is no plan' for Brexit, leaked memo says What a surprise. (tags: brexit ukpolitics eu ) The Myths Democrats Swallowed That Cost Them the Presidential Election Aimed at Sanders supporters. Strong. (tags: uspolitics )
