Timothy Garton Ash asks if Europe is disintegrating. "We are two weeks away from Trump's Inauguration, and American intelligence agencies, flawed as they are, have declared, publicly and clearly, that they have convincing evidence that Russia, at its President's direction, interfered in a Presidential election." David Remnick on Putin's big hack. "It was not until I started to work more closely with homeless people and began to learn their stories that I have come to realise that each and every one of us is at risk of being homeless." Callum Hunter warns it could be you. Amia Srinivasan remembers the ...
Today's news that Beppe Grillo, the leader of Italy's Five Star Movement (M5S), has called an online vote on his recommendation that they leave the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) Group and switch to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) is something of a bolt out of a clear blue sky. There had, after all, been no suggestion that such a move was being contemplated, and to move from being aligned with UKIP to being aligned with the Liberal Democrats is a bit of a plot twist. The strange thing is, when they entered into ...
Sun 8th
20:28
Now, Theresa, you weren't really the driving force behind mental health crisis care improvements, no...
So, Theresa May gave an interview to Sky's Sophy Ridge today in which she gave the biggest signal yet that leaving the single market is very much on the agenda. In time honoured tradition, there's a nice petition you can sign if you agree with Tim Farron that "reckless plans to leave the Single Market would make us all poorer." But it's something else she said in her interview that grabbed my attention. She had moved from saying not much actually on Brexit to a very small amount on the NHS to talking about her speech tomorrow. Apparently mental health ...
How times change: A @Conservatives election poster from 1992 – they want to do the same now & have the same plan as @UKLabour had then. No plan! #stopbrexit pic.twitter.com/8SF6AxftsH — Simon [IMG: 🎳] (@S_Herbie) January 8, 2017 (Election poster from the 1992 Conservative Party general election campaign.)
Full marks to British Gas engineer Phil. He was at Charles (Uncle Albert) Walker's bungalow in Maghull today fixing a bust central heating pump when Charles had a fall. He helped 95 year old Charles up, made him a hot drink, ensured relatives were informed and waited for Sheila and I to arrive before he left. He then rang back a couple of hours later to check that Charles was OK. What a lovely young man who did more than his bit to help out; British Gas you can rightly be proud of Phil. And yes Uncle Albert is OK ...
New year, new day for my weekly roundups. Current Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, by Nicholas Ostler Short Trips: Farewells, ed. Jacqueline Rayner Last books finished Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution, ed. Margarette Lincoln The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, by David W. Anthony A Fall of Stardust, by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman, by Harlan Ellison Last week's audios Next books Jeremiah: Een Geweer in het Water, by Hermann Rhyme Stew, by Roald Dahl Rip Tide, by Louise ...
Our Headline of the Day Award goes to the East Anglian Daily Times. The spirit of Bob Russell lives on. He once wrote a letter of complaint to Liberal Democrat News when I invented some Essex** MP jokes in a House Points column. * "Why do Essex MPs support VAT? Because they can spell it." That sort of thing. ** I am allowed to: my mother's mother's family all came from Tollesbury.
Really sad news from the North East today. Chris Abbott, long-term Liberal Democrat Councillor from Redcar, has died suddenly. The photo of him here is taken from his Twitter profile. From Gazette Live: A prominent figure in local Liberal Democrat politics for more than 40 years, he represented Newcomen ward, in Redcar , where he lived. The 66-year-old lifelong Leeds fan and electrician was also chairman of Yorkshire Ridings Society. Paying tribute, Josh Mason, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Liberal Democrat group, said: "Chris was a bastion of local democracy and a lifelong liberal, whose knowledge, passion and dedicated community ...
Just before Christmas Greater Manchester councils added a few weeks more to the consultation on the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework – the new deadline is 16 January 2017. We only have a few days left to get our voices hear before so much of our precious Green Belt land will be lost for ever. Please: Sign the Petition – and remind your friends, family and neighbours. And even send in your own personal response to the consultation – more information on how you can do this below. The GMSF sets out how Greater Manchester Councils plan to provide the land ...
Other than messing around with a few FORTRAN benchmarks and learning how to code using Python, I haven't really used my Raspberry Pi computers for very much that's been practical. However, having bought a Raspberry Pi camera to play with over Christmas, I decided to have a go at building a motion sensitive camera for the garage. It's cheap and ... The post Raspberry Pi motion sensitive camera appeared first on ten pence piece.
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 16,400 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... This is how to respect the referendum result (89 comments) by Rob Parsons Vince Cable calls for an end to EU free movement (145 comments) by Caron Lindsay Farage's legacy and continental populist laws put EU expats in UK in impossible quandary (28 comments) by Bernard Aris Why we need UKIP in the fight for electoral reform (44 comments) by Ben Andrew Tim Farron's New Year Message – Don't shrug your shoulders, get involved (21 comments) by Tim ...
The Sunday Mirror reports that MPs and their staff have been complaining about the quality of their highly subsidised food in Parliament. Complaints revealed by a freedom of information request include "icy" hash browns, over-cooked eggs, soggy fish, too many curries and porridge with lumps "the size of ping-pong balls". There have also been moans and grumbles about waiting times, hot serving spoons, small portions and noisy washing-up at commons restaurants. Taxpayers spent £3.7million subsidising catering in Parliament in 2015-16, that is about 10 or 11 times more than the subsidy for catering in the Welsh Assembly, where the food ...
Two LPs remind me of the summer that I moved into my own house. The first is No Secrets by Carly Simon. The second is One Trick Pony by Paul Simon. One Trick Pony was the soundtrack LP from a film starring Paul Simon that came out in 1980. David Swanson writes that it is: a movie about a once popular rock and roll singer trying to come to terms with his life in a new decade while his life, personal and professional, keep throwing roadblocks in his way — was entirely his project. Simon's character, Jonah Levin, is the ...
It's been ages since I've done one of these and I've decided to change it slightly so that I put in some of my favourite articles, videos and interviews from various media outlets, not just the Sunday papers. First up this week exactly the sort of confident, bold setting out of the liberal values our society so desperately needs. Dutch liberal Marietje Schaake talks to CNN's Christine Amanpour about the benefits of liberalism: Dutch liberals face a challenging election later this year with right wing populists headed by Geert Wilders in a strong position. In the pages of the Express, ...
Second paragraph of third chapter ("Samuel Pepys: A Scholar and a Gentleman", by M.E.J. Hughes): The reasons for educational patronage were various. Piety and devotion were important; but there was also a pragmatic element. Society was in a state of transformation. The governance of towns and cities, the management of the professions such as law and medicine, the pursuit of science and the day-to-day functioning of the army and navy were all routinely placed in the hands of professional bureaucrats, often from the urban lower and middle classes. This created a real incentive to educate bright but poor city boys ...
There are many things about the modern day Left that irritate me. But one of the biggest ones concerns imperialism. You can boil it down to a simple equation: British and American imperialism is one of the worst sins imaginable; anyone else outside of the West engaging in the same practice is at best not at all on the same level of badness, at worse, fighting against British and American imperialism and therefore actively a positive as far as most of the modern Left goes. This manifests itself most obviously in the Left's approach to Russia. A blind eye is ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38497987 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above Quote from the article 'Yet commuters in Liverpool will pay 1.9% more for an annual pass. This is despite median wages having fallen, according to the Office for National Statistics.'
Vince Cable is fundamentally wrong to suggest that there is no great argument of liberal principle for free movement and his case for ending free movement is weak. He ought to revise his views to be in more in keeping with liberal values which, in the face of rising and fierce anti-migrant rhetoric, are sorely needed. His assertion that 'British opposition to immigration is mainly colour-blind' is simply not true. Fears and prejudices were purposefully stoked during the referendum with explicit scapegoating, disingenuous scaremongering about Turkish migrants and in particular Farage's appalling blatantly non-colour-blind Breaking Point' poster campaign. Hate crime ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING 8 JANUARY 2017 Perth Road (at Springfield) - temporary traffic lights on Sunday 8 and Monday 9 January for Scottish Water mains repair. Perth Road (at Farington Terrace) - off-peak temporary traffic lights from Monday 9 to Wednesday 11 January for BT cabling. Forthcoming Roadworks Blackness Road/Glamis Road - temporary traffic lights from Monday 16 January for 3 weeks for gas main renewal.
Vote for your favourite Blue Peter presenter of all time The serious questions now. (tags: tv )
