Liberal Democrats win seat from Labour in Sunderland with massive 37% swing and another huge swing in Three Rivers gives the party an overall majority on the council.
We've run some cracking results late on Thursday nights in the last 8 months but this one is pretty amazing even by those standards. Last May, in the Sandhill ward in Sunderland, we got, to put it euphemistically, a modest 90 votes. Labour got 1229. And tonight, this happened. Sandhill (Sunderland) result: LDEM: 45.0% (+41.5) LAB: 25.0% (-29.9) UKIP: 18.7% (-7.2) CON: 10.0% (-5.7) GRN: 1.3% (+1.3) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) January 12, 2017 I'm sorry. What?! Yes, you read it right. Liberal Democrat GAIN Sandhill (Sunderland) from Labour. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) January 12, 2017 Bowsers. Congratulations, Cllr Stephen ...
Over the past year or so, I have continually felt more and more tired. I don't mean with respect to actual tiredness with regards to sleep. No, I get 6-8 hours a night so I am fine in that respect. No, I just feel tired with so much of modern life. Societal pressures. Relationship/personal so-called norms. The politics of the fucking World right now. Everything seems to exhaust me out. Why not just get into a relationship? Let us talk relationships for a second. I have been seeing a guy for almost a year now. Well, sort of. The truth ...
Conservative seat. Cause: death LD Candidate: Alex Michaels
LD seat. Cause: resignation. LD candidate: Carrie Pletscher. To help, please contact Carrie at carrie.pletscher@yahoo.co.uk or phone 07960 316331.
Labour seat. Cause: Disqualification. LD Candidate: Stephen O'Brien
It was great to see Cumbrian Councillor, health and education campaigner and erstwhile Liberal Democrat Voice contributor Rebecca Hanson selected as our candidate for the Copeland by-election. Rebecca has built a career as a teacher, lecturer and education advisor. She grew up in a deprived area of Newcastle and went on to study at Cambridge University. She is passionate about educational policy and ensuring no child is left behind. Labour, for some reason, seems to be putting the word out that the by-election won't take place until May 4th, the same day as the county elections. I guess they think ...
[IMG: blue-monday] We all expect to feel under the weather sometimes but when it comes to the way we feel emotionally, it can be tough to recognise or admit that we're not feeling 100%. This Monday is titled 'blue Monday' because people can feel down at this time of year. Whilst 'blue Monday' might be a myth, it's certainly true that winter can be a difficult time for lots of people in the UK. Suffering with mental health problems is as normal as a runny nose and it's something as a country that we need to talk more about. In ...
A topical photo, but it was taken on the same day as I shot the milepost at Redmire: 25 April 1981. After getting to Redmire, a couple of university friends and I walked back down the valley through the village of Wensley to Leyburn. There we were allowed to thaw out in the railwaymen's mess room while we waited for the train back to York.
Nick Tyrone says ALDE made a historic mistake by not allowing Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement to join. I think he may be on to something. "The President-elect really is very 'well-connected,' with an extensive network of unsavory global underground connections that may well be unprecedented in White House history." James S. Henry examines Donald Trump's Russian connections. Elizabeth King on the concept of the 'tomboy' and what it tells us about the history of race and gender in America. "In recent years, almost without anyone noticing, a great deal of broadcast drama has put art or entertainment second to ...
Sue McKendrick, leader of the 10-strong Labour group on North West Leicestershire District Council, has resigned from the party and will now sit as an Independent. She told the Leicester Mercury: "I have been finding that as leader of the Labour group on the council, I was finding it hard to maintain the national party line. "I feel Jeremy Corbyn has not been clear about what he has been asking of us. "On Brexit, I and others were out campaigning hard to remain, but it was hard to relay that to the voter when Jeremy Corbyn's position on the issue ...
[IMG: Blue Monday] Blue Monday's coming up and it's another chance to talk about Mental Health at a local level. We all know by now how taboo talking about Mental Health can be. This winter lots of people will suffer in silence so post this template to your MyCouncillor site and share some lifeline services with local people. [...]
An alternative title to this post could be: "When you're in a hole stop digging." As far as I know only two politicians, the Green Party leader Caroline Lucas and the newly-elected Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park Sarah Olney, have so far stated bluntly that, given the chance, they will vote against the triggering of Article 50. Others try to face both ways with weasel words on the lines of :" "I am not seeking to reverse the EU referendum result. but . . . " The case for no Brexit at all is perfectly clear and it is ...
[IMG: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA] Snow related emails often get a really high read rate, so if you are experiencing a sudden downfall of the white stuff, be sure to email your residents. Things that local people will find useful for you to put in an email include: Where is being gritted and kept clear by the council; Signpost resources [...]
Embed from Getty Images Santa kindly got me this book. I have just finished it – which for me counts as "speed reading". (I once spent an entire year reading "To kill a mocking bird"). Jeremy Paxman's memoirs, "A Life in Questions" is an excellent read – it presents a journalist of great integrity, an interesting life story which is, in turns, fascinating, gripping and, sometimes, hilarious. The book is essentially topped and tailed with Paxman's rather unusual relationship with his father, who seems distant and enigmatic. Although Paxman's upbringing was comparatively middle class, it was by no means orthodox. ...
A west Cumbrian councillor who has been fighting to save maternity services in Whitehaven has been chosen as the Liberal Democrats candidate for Copeland MP. Rebecca Hanson was last night selected to stand in the upcoming by-election, which was called following the shock resignation of current Copeland MP Jamie Reed. Mrs Hanson, a Cockermouth councillor, has strongly opposed Success Regime plans to remove services, and particularly consultant-led maternity, from the West Cumberland Hospital. She recently published her own research to demonstrate the safety risk to mums in labour and their babies. [News & Star] The Times & Star adds: Mrs ...
Embed from Getty Images When a political party is struggling for attention, or even to establish in the public's mind what it's actually for, it needs to do something that catches the imagination. Something that fits with the party's ethos but still manages to take the country by surprise. I may have just the thing for us Liberal Democrats. When I look at the reasons for the Leave vote in last summer's referendum, I see a lack of identity as a central factor, certainly in England. However irrational it may seem (on a pragmatic level the whole vote was irrational), ...
I am a regular reader of the The RAILWAY Magazine and unsurprisingly its January 2017 edition gives prominence to the £460m contract awarded to Swiss manufacturer Stadler to build the next generation of trains for the Merseyrail electrified network. All this we already know but one aspect of the Railway Magazine article jumped out at me. Maybe it has been said before and possibly I just missed it but I thought this quote was quite telling 'The new trains will be able to run under driver-only operation (DOO); following a fatal platform accident in 2011, the Office of Road and ...
Good report in Buzzfeed on Zac's election expenses, suggesting he may have spent £95k on his campaign. My favourite part of the story is this To which i can only add 'tell me about it' #sorefeet
From the News & Star: A west Cumbrian councillor who has been fighting to save maternity services in Whitehaven has been chosen as the Liberal Democrats candidate for Copeland MP. Rebecca Hanson was last night selected to stand in the upcoming by-election, which was called following the shock resignation of current Copeland MP Jamie Reed. Mrs Hanson, a Cockermouth councillor, has strongly opposed Success Regime plans to remove services, and particularly consultant-led maternity, from the West Cumberland Hospital.The paper quotes her as saying: "This by-election is a chance for people to send a strong message against a hard Brexit that ...
It's the time of year when HESA – The Higher Education Statistics Agency – issue their statistical first release covering student enrolments and qualifications obtained. Against a background of a small annual rise in all enrolments at UK HE providers (up 1%) and a slight fall in part-time ones (down 1%) on the previous year, Open University enrolments fell a ... The post Open University enrolments fell again in 2015/16 appeared first on ten pence piece.
The Copeland by-election, triggered by the resignation of sitting Labour MP Jamie Reed, does not yet have a date. Many have speculated as to when it might be. It now appears the answer is becoming clearer. Andrew Gwynne, the MP who has been handed the task of defending Copeland by Corbyn, has this to say about a prospective date: "There is a thought that May 4th is a good day. We're planning for that as it's better to plan for a long campaign and be pleasantly surprised than plan for a short campaign and then realise you've got to stretch ...
The following was first published on Lib Dem Voice, here. Brexit means Brexit... The oft repeated mantra has become as synonymous with Theresa May as Major's "Back to Basics", Blair's "Education, Education, Education" and Cameron's "Compassionate Conservatism". Like those, the phrase has become something of a joke - not helped by the assonance of the words "Brexit" and "Breakfast", and the trap this has provided to ministers and commentators alike. So far, so funny, so harmless. Well, not harmless, but there is a world of difference between soundbites and actual policy. Originally "Brexit means Brexit" seemed designed to simultaneously pander ...
For almost two years the functions of LDL have been subsumed into the oeprations of the Council It is now three years since the Police opened up a major investigation into the running of Liverpool Direct Ltd and One Connect ... Continue reading →
I am sorry to hear that Budgens on Upper Galdeford will close. There is no date yet for the closure and no retailer lined up to replace the supermarket. The closure is expected in weeks not months. I am sorry most of all for the staff, who look set to lose their jobs. I am not surprised that Budgens has decided to close its Ludlow store. It doesn't seem to have many customers at any time of the day. But I worry that if another retailer doesn't move in quickly, this area of town could suffer. And the last thing ...
Labour's problems with defence policy have continued with yet another row between the Leader's office and the MP designated to speak on the issue. The Daily Mirror reports that Labour Defence Spokesperson, Nia Griffith was said to be "furious" at an intervention by the Labour leader's top aide, who failed to back RAF Top Guns' mission in Estonia: Asked if RAF Top Guns should be pulled out of Estonia to ease tensions with Moscow, Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman said: "There clearly needs to be a ratcheting down of tensions between the West and Russia. "There's dangers involved in that military escalation, ...
In September 2015, amid widespread public outcry over the UK's lack of a response to the Mediterranean refugee crisis, David Cameron's Government agreed to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020 under the Syrian Vulnerable Person's Relocation Scheme. Yet, the latest Home Office figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request show that, in the two years to June 2016, just under 3,000 refugees have actually arrived in the UK. In other words, an average of less than 1,500 refugees are being resettled each year. This is far below the 4,000 per year necessary to reach the Government's ...
Just before Christmas, I had a well-attended meeting with residents in the Abbotsford and Corso area. The residents asked when external wall insulation (EWI) was likely to be delivered for the area. The council's Housing Investment Manager has now advised :Regarding (the) Corso Street (development), we are planning on carrying out EWI at this location around 2019/20. This is of course subject to the usual caveats of available funding through HEEPs* and our own capital finance.* (HEEPs is funding that goes to councils to develop and deliver fuel poverty programs - mainly solid wall insulation)
The Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee (FPC) is setting up two new policy working groups, one called 'Immigration and identity' and one called 'Power for people and communities' (including local government). You can apply to be a member of the working groups here. Here is some background on what being a member of a policy working group usually involves: Group members usually have one or more of the following: • Membership of the Liberal Democrats • An interest or expertise in the relevant topic • Willingness to make a commitment over 12-18 months, including evenings • Experience of using policy ...
Prospects for U.S. Democracy Promotion Under Trump Tom Carothers of @CarnegieEndow is not too gloomy. (tags: democratization uspolitics )
