Conservative seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Martin Sarfas.
Green seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Gerry Curran. To help, please contact Tom Stubbs on 01225 316316 or tomstubbs@live.com.
Conservative seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Anthony Dennis.
Conservative seat. Cause: resignation. (Conservative sitting as Labour resigned).
It has been over a week since the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States and close to four months since the EU Referendum that ended in a Leave vote. These events, plus the possibilities of the far-right government rising throughout Europe and Putin's aggression in Russia, give rise to the talk of liberalism dying out and authoritarian and even fascism replacing it. This has come about mainly through the constant bashing of the so-called "liberal elite". Entertainingly the idea of liberalism being a terrible thing is rather ironic when you consider the liberal opponents. Liberalism ...
The Liberal Democrats could leap over Ukip and Labour if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour comes out in support of Brexit ahead of the next general election.
Bass Maltings, Sleaford © Richard Croft All eyes are on Richmond Park, but don't forget that there is another by-election campaign going on. Ross Pepper is standing for the Liberal Democrats in Sleaford and North Hykeham - the contest caused by the resignation of the Conservative MP Stephen Phillips in protest at the government's conduct since the EU referendum. I have received an email from Ross's agent, Ed Fordham, detailing ways we can aid Ross's campaign: What can you do to help from home? Have a look at Ross's Facebook page Ross Pepper for Sleaford and North Hykeham Join the ...
The Swindon Advertiser wins our Headline of the Day Award. h/t Popbitch for the lead.
A knock on the door in the middle of the night. "Move your car or it will be towed". Three peaceful protestors, including two public spirited women in their 70s, arrested for the crime of "suspicion of preventing lawful work". Is this an anti-terror operation? Is this happening in Putin's Russia? No. It is a Labour council seeking to cut down eight trees on the highway, that residents have been campaigning to save for the last two years. Six of the eight trees could be saved according to the council's own Independent Tree Panel – whose advice the council thoughtfully ...
A planning application has been submitted to Sefton Council with regard to this closed pub which has been shut for some time now and sadly looks quite a mess at present. At the heart of Lydiate, by the village green, locals have been calling for action to be taken to tidy up the run-down building. [IMG: wp_20161117_16_16_42_pro] The application is for the 'Erection of a single storey extension and layout of external seating area at the rear of the premises' . This is a link to the planning application:-
This week is the 50th anniversary of the ground-breaking BBC film Cathy Come Home, the gripping and controversial 1966 film about poverty and homelessness. It tells the story of Cathy and Reg, a couple with three young children who find their life spiralling into poverty when Reg loses his job. Cathy is left homeless and her children are taken away. The film had a profound impact on me as a teenager. I watched it and decided to join Shelter. Then I realised I could do even more by getting involved in politics. Although in the last 50 years there have ...
If you want a quick read and simple answers, this is not the place for you. I have printed below a copy of the questions I put to the council following what I considered a very biased "briefing" to members. When I got a response it was not immediately in a form which I saw as precise answers to my carefully worded questions so I re-worked it and awaited confirmation that the way I had re-worked it was, in the view of the council, accurate. What follows later in the post is that agreed text, none of which is contested ...
Early signs from the Trump transition team suggest a worrying assault on the role of science in policymaking. How should the scientific community respond? Soon after his electoral college victory, President-elect Donald Trump was atypically conciliatory. "For those who have chosen not to support me in the past," he said, "I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country." Whether he can do so will have significant impact on his ability to govern effectively and repair the damage this election has wrought. So far, there's little reassurance ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – See link above This is a sad reflection on our times. Can we offer nothing more to young men than the opportunity to be involved in gangs and the violence that flows from such a way of life?
The Guardian has this opinion piece on its web site – see link above. Jen Robertson picked up on this illuminating article which really does go to the heart of what is going on in the USA and probably here as well.
Thu 17th
12:29
How it is humorous to watch previously pro-House of Lords politicians backtrack on the Upper House
Back in 2012, I worked for an organisation on the forefront of trying to help the then live Clegg Bill to change the Upper House from the current appointed House of Lords into an elected second chamber become law. So I was in the front row for all of the speechifying done by MPs around how vital the House of Lords is to the British style of democracy. As a result, it is now very entertaining to me to see a lot of previous cheerleaders for the House of Lords go a bit sour on "the other place" all of ...
Carl and some of his team who will be taking on Jeremy Corbyn's bag carrier next May So a great triumph is being proclaimed today. Today we got the first instalment of our City Deal money – £1billion apparently. Actually ... Continue reading →
This is something I'd normally just tweet, were I not on a self-imposed ban from Twitter until I can get my blood pressure down to non-life-threatening levels: Would anyone be interested in me writing a blog post or two, sort-of-but-not-really ... Continue reading →
In the aftermath of the Trump victory in the American elections, D66, the direct Dutch equivalent of the Lib Dems, has started a fightback both against the rising, fact-free and people-insulting populism personified by Trump, and against the appeasement-like reaction of the Dutch government on Trumps election. It started not only with the usual statement on the party website by party leader Alexander Pechtold MP, but with D66 publishing small advertisements (with a large party logo) in national Dutch newspapers, in which we stated that the age of staying passive in the face of rising populism had passed, it was ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 16-11-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 16-11-2016 to my dreamwidth blog Twitter posted The Blood is the Life for 16-11-2016 to my dreamwidth blog Twitter RT @OscarWGrut: Boris Johnson: the master diplomat — Italian minister on their #Brexit discussions Britain's Brexit Policy Chaos Is Unacceptable, Italy Says - Bloomberg RT @OscarWGrut: Boris Johnson: the master diplomat — Italian minister on their #Brexit discussions Twitter bots can reduce racist slurs—if people think the bots are white | Ars Technica UK Fellow white ppl, you should pay attention to this: Twitter RT ...
Ever lost a lover and then spent hours replaying the whole of the time you had together back in your mind? If you engage in such reflection it's often possible to see with hindsight where the cracks started to appear, and the happiness shunted to a road leading to subsequent despair. Liberals have been shell shocked by a 2016 that has produced a slew of political upsets, and created a stew of uncertainties about the prospects for a progressive future. The elevation of Donald Trump to the White House is merely the latest in a long line of upsets that ...
The Transparency Project have today produced a blog English councils confirm they set targets for the number of children to be adopted . That in itself is not news. Councils have prioritised adoption for many many years. What is new is that they recognise that when I say rather than being used to get children out of the care system, such 'targets' instead risk impacting on decision making at
There was hand-wringing piece in the Independent yesterday about an Essex pharmacy that provided a journalist with HRT. It's so bad and on so many levels that I felt it worthy of mentioning here specifically. However, this is hardly an isolated incident – the media have a very long history of trying to scupper trans healthcare, including David Batty's persecution of doctors practicing trans medicine and past efforts by the BBC, similar to this one, to shut down entirely legal sources of medicine. Turning back to the Indy piece, sources such as the pharmacy they mention are often a lifeline ...
From Sheena Wellington on the forthcoming Friends of Wighton Cappuccino Concert : On Saturday 19th November, Mary Ann Kennedy and long-time musical collaborator Finlay Wells who will reveal some brand-new material from two forthcoming albums in a series of intimate concerts. 'Glaschu' - a lovesong to her urban Gàidhealtachd home town, and 'An Dàn' - a unique collection of original Gaelic songwriting by Mary Ann and some of Scotland's finest poets - are scheduled for release in 2017. Join Mary Ann and Finlay to be among the first to hear these very special songs. An urban Gael from multi-cultural Glasgow, ...
Pro-remain Liberal Democrat peers believe they could insert extra clauses into even the most tightly worded Brexit bill to force Theresa May to tell parliament more about her negotiating plans before she triggers article 50... Constitutional experts have told the Lib Dems there is no obstacle to adding extra clauses to such legislation, which could force the government to publish a white paper detailing how it plans to approach talks with the other EU member-states - and even offer voters a second referendum. In a statement, four Lib Dem peers who are also QCs - including Menzies Campbell and Alex ...
Thu 17th
07:25
Laugh or cry? Either way, Boris Johnson's attempts to negotiate Brexit aren't going well
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson isn't exactly making a great success of the role so far: Boris Johnson's approach to Brexit has been ridiculed by European ministers after he told Italy it would have to offer tariff-free trade in order to sell its prosecco in the UK. Carlo Calenda, an Italian economics minister, said it was insulting that Johnson had told him during a recent meeting that Italy would grant Britain access to the EU's single market "because you don't want to lose prosecco exports". "He basically said: 'I don't want free movement of people but I want the single ...
I told conservatives to work for Trump. One talk with his team changed my mind. Wow. (tags: uspolitics )
The man who effectively invented the myth of the straight banana when he was a reporter based in Brussels is now foreign secretary and continues to put his foot in it all around Europe. The Guardian reports on the latest row involving Boris Johnson, in which he was ridiculed by European ministers after he told Italy it would have to offer tariff-free trade in order to sell its prosecco in the UK: Carlo Calenda, an Italian economics minister, said it was insulting that Johnson had told him during a recent meeting that Italy would grant Britain access to the EU's ...
