I hadn't been intending to write this post, but my twitter feed has been flooded with comments all day on this issue after I commented on a tweet of Nate Silver's about it; voting percentages, that is to say, the % of the time a legislator votes with a certain leader or leader's position. How [...]
Mon 30th
22:03
"We want the people to be given a final say on the Brexit deal in a referendum" - Tim Farron
Here's Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron setting out the party's position on holding a referendum on the outcome of the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.
A few years ago, I did some research into the Gare de la Rue de la Loi / Station Wetstraat, which was the precursor of the current Brussels Schuman railway station. It was opened in May 1865, nine years after the track had been laid between Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel-Noord and the station we now know as Bruxelles-Luxembourg / Brussel-Luxemburg, and closed in 1922. (The Schuman metro station opened in 1966, and the mainline trains stopped there again from 1969.) In the seven years since I last wrote about it, a couple more resources have become available online. One of them ...
I was invited along to the 10th Anniversary celebration for the Formby Pool Trust (FPT) which is a joint undertaking by the Pool Trust, the Formby Land Trust (Moores Family) and the council This is a brilliant and successful project which has exciting plans for the future. I got to propose a toast to the FPT, to cut the birthday cake and to lead the singing of Happy Birthday. A full report appears in the Formby Bubble Photos from the Formby Bubble
Mon 30th
21:05
Holocaust Memorial service in Southport we must learn the lessons and build bridges and friendships ...
Rev Staurt Broughton, Imam Soyful Alam, Rabbi Ariel Abel and IBB The Holocaust Memorial service, presided over by Michael Braham, was one of the most compelling and powerful remembrances for the victims of genocide held in our town. Young people from the VIth Form Colleges at KGV and Runshaw joined the pupils of St John's Ainsdale in reminding us of the enormous human cost of the holocaust. They told the stories of individual victims, those who had died and those who lived on after the war. Their thoroughly researched presentations had a great emotional impact. Their contributions were followed by ...
Embed from Getty Images As I write this the petition against Donald Trump being granted a state visit to Britain is about to pass 1,500,000 signatures. And Conservatives should be signing it. Last year The Daily Beast recalled an interview that Trump gave to Howard Stern just weeks after the death of the Princess of Wales: Why do people think it's egotistical of you to say you could've gotten with Lady Di?" Stern asked Trump in the interview. "You could've gotten her, right? You could've nailed her." Trump replied: "I think I could have."The Beast goes on to say: Trump ...
Embed from Getty Images I feel as if a little part of who I am is struggling to survive. A little part that has been nurtured and has grown since, as a teenager, I marvelled at the liberal values and writings of Robert Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King. It's the part that grew up regarding US history as testament that a people can use lessons of a divided past to create a society that offers opportunity for all. And it's the same part of me that's always been so proud that I have family amongst those tired and huddled ...
A trio of Lib Dem councillors have launched a campaign to prevent the planned closure of the last traditional British bank in Churchtown. Customers of Lloyds Bank have received letters informing them that their branch will close in May following the November closure of the nearby NatWest branch. Cambridge Ward representatives Councillors Pat Keith and Sue McGuire together with Meols Ward Councillor John Dodd have started the campaign and visited the branch to talk to customers about the impending closure. "Churchtown is a bustling area for shops and businesses and is attracting new ones all the time yet we learn ...
Embed from Getty Images In this age of the image, when pictures are flashed around the world in an instant, I believe the image of a smiling Theresa May hand-in-hand with President Trump may be the most iconic of her Premiership, and, because of the power of images, will hasten her decline. This was a catastrophic mistake of image presentation by the Prime Minister. To be pictured smiling in the company of this President who is so widely disliked, condemned and feared in this country, and to be recorded admiring and praising his victory, was bad enough. These were cringe-making, ...
Applications are open for the Tesco 'Bags of Help' fund – which is the money raised from the sale of disposable plastic bags in our local stores. [IMG: screen-shot-2017-01-30-at-17-44-01] Three local community projects will be voted on in Tesco stores each month. In each region, the project that received the most votes from all stores in their region will receive a grant of up to £5,000. The second placed project receives up to £2,000 and third placed up to £1,000. Every year, over 7000 projects will receive funding through this scheme across England Wales and Scotland. · Bags of Help ...
Second paragraph of third section:The lifeboat crew were subdued by the incident, and thankful that there were no further call-outs that week. The wind dropped and the rain squalls moved on, though it was still cloudy, and by Friday the sea was calm enough for the fishing boats to go out. Steve finished work at four, and at four-thirty he drove to the beach with his scuba equipment, for an appointment with Charlie Johns.I must admit I had not heard of Louise Cooper before, but it turns out she was a well-known writer specialising in YA fantasy (best known for ...
One of the things I most enjoy about elections are the old war stories – the poster board wars of Kincardine and Deeside, the Brecon and Radnor story about out candidate not being from these parts, the mattresses, fridges and dumped litter of Brent East. Then there are the by-election which are so small and were so poorly attended by activists that they are worn as badge of real veteran status – Ogmore, Hemsworth I and Hemsworth II, Wirral South – campaigns where the focus was on flying the liberal flag in territory or times that were unfavourable. What is ...
Embed from Getty Images Over on Politics Home, Mike Storey has written about the need for defibrillators in schools, and calls for them to be a legal requirement. He writes: In March 2011 a tragic event took place at King David School in Liverpool, when a 12 year old boy, Oliver King, suffered a cardiac arrest while winning a swimming race. The tragic and untimely demise of that young boy bought indescribable grief to this family and friends and shocked the whole community. It was noted that the 24 minutes that lapsed between Oliver's cardiac arrest and the paramedics' arrival ...
They might hold hands in the White House but should not do so in Buckingham Palace LIBERAL DEMOCRATS TO ATTEND ANTI TRUMP RALLY AT ST GEORGES HALL TONIGHT Cllr Richard Kemp CBE, Leader of the Liverpool Liberal Democrats will ... Continue reading →
Embed from Getty Images After the horrors of the Second World War and the Holocaust, the world united to say 'never again'. Never again would any state be allowed to persecute a section of the population on the grounds of their religious beliefs, ethnic background or nationality. Never again would the rhetoric of discrimination and 'othering' which allows such persecution to prosper be allowed to gain a foothold in our societies. Never again would we allow the fundamental dignity of all human beings to be so completely eradicated as it had been by the Nazi regime. Post-World War Two, we ...
On Thursday last week, the Lib Dem group in Gateshead submitted the following motion for debate at Council on 2nd February. This Council notes the results of the referendum on the 23rd June 2016. This Council further notes that many leading supporters of the leave campaign backed calls for the UK to remain in the single market, even if there was a decision to leave the EU. Furthermore, this
It wasn't that long ago that the hot trend in website design was to move away from the focus on the homepage, acknowledging instead that most traffic comes directly to a particular story.
Donald Trump's arbitrary ban on immigration from seven Muslim states and his slamming of the door to all refugees will cause huge damage to the US around the world. Rather than make America safer it will deepen hatred among its enemies. I will also trigger revulsion among its friends. By imposing a blanket ban on [...]
What's this to do with? Each year the Peterborough Liberal Democrats undertake an on-line Resident Survey, asking local people their thoughts and opinions on a range of community topics! One of the regular questions we ask is, are you happy with the local bus service? What were the results? Well, last year, 40% said NO, [...]
Mon 30th
14:50
LibLink: Alistair Carmichael calls on Labour to get behind the Liberal Democrats on Brexit
Embed from Getty Images Alistair Carmichael has a letter in today's Guardian: Steve Richards (Labour's Brexit chaos is now so open it threatens to tear the party apart, 26 January) says Labour is hopelessly split on Europe. In fact, the Labour leadership's position is all too clear: to cave in to the Conservative agenda of trashing our economy and threatening the opportunities of our young people. Even Keir Starmer, Brexit spokesperson and billed as a voice of relative Labour sanity, suggests Britain should leave the single market and, even more quixotically, lauds Theresa May for avoiding a hard Brexit. In ...
The controversial planning application for a supermarket and petrol filling station at Rocks Green on the edge of Ludlow will be back before the South Planning Committee next Tuesday, at 2pm in Shirehall. This is a reconsideration by the planning committee after initial attempts to reject the application were blocked by officers. The scheme has subsequently been revised and planning officers are again recommending that the scheme is approved by councillors. Last October, the South Planning Committee decided that it wanted to reject the planning application for a new supermarket off Dun Cow Road at Rocks Green (14/05573/OUT).. Council officials ...
I suspect that this very old Lydiate charity is not that well known in the community as maybe it needs to be. I have blogged about it previously and a past posting is available via the link below:- BTW I have seen the charity's name spelled Gore or Goore and it is sometimes referred to as the Gores or Goores Trust. It is now being run by the Community Foundation For Merseyside. Here's a link to their web site:- www.cfmerseyside.org.uk/funds/john-goore If you know any Lydiate (the charity does not cover Maghull) resident who could benefit from this charity – ...
Embed from Getty Images (No, I've no idea what it means, either: Ed) The Federal Conference Committee met for the first time of the new cycle over the weekend of 28th and 29th January 2017. This new committee that has been elected is due to serve for a three-year period. Membership of the Federal Conference Committee A number of new members have joined the committee. They include Robert Adamson, Victor Chamberlain, Nick Da Costa, Heidi Worth, Jennie Rigg, Susan Juned, and Alex Hegenbarth. We also welcomed back a few familiar faces. The first substantive item on the agenda was the ...
[IMG: LEA - blog post pic] I'm sure you'll have noticed how well we've been doing in local by-elections, our excellent performance in Witney, and our stunning win in Richmond Park. Following the General Election, the ALDC team got together and agreed that we had to do everything we could to help the party start winning again. In 2016, we secured [...]
Mon 30th
11:58
Midcounties Co-op says smaller Rocks Green supermarket will not reduce impact on Ludlow town centre
Midcounties Co-op owns the store that used to be Harry Tuffins on Foldgate Lane. In May 2015, it objected strongly to the proposal for an out of town supermarket at Rocks Green. Now, days before the South Planning Committee meets to reconsider the proposal, it has renewed its objection. The Co-op's main argument is that reducing the size of the superstore will not limit the impact on retailers Ludlow town centre despite the developer's claims. The revised plans for the store reduce its retail floorspace by 14%. The Co-op is critical of the assumption by Indigo Planning that a 14% ...
Embed from Getty Images Yesterday, Tim Farron quite rightly called out the desperate situation in which Theresa May now finds herself. Like a door to door salesman selling their wares she is now desperate in terms of who she will deal with on the world stage. The refugee ban imposed by Donald Trump goes against all of the British values we stand for as a party and has even resulted in a Conservative MP being banned from visiting the US. The primary duty of any Prime Minister is to defend British citizens. Yet when quizzed at the press conference in ...
When I was a reporter in Oxford, I discovered a file of photos - in the Oxford & County Newspapers amazing press library - of the old Cutteslowe Wall. It was built in 1934 to divide a private estate from the public one. It was two metres high and had spikes along the top. It was a living symbol of snobbery and how the rich derided the poor, and how the powerful feared the powerless. It became a focus for idealistic protest and was pulled down twice by the city council, for the last time in 1959. When I was ...
James Veitch has spent years doing the tireless, thankless work of replying to spam emailers so you don't have to. He returns to TED to tell the tale of yet another spam email adventure, this time with a vital lesson attached: how to annoy your way off any spammer's mailing list.
A petition on the Parliamentary website that calls on the UK Government to prevent Donald Trump from making a State Visit to the United Kingdom has reached one million signatures within a day of it going up and the numbers are growing. However, as the Independent reports so far the UK Government is not buckling under this pressure. They say that Downing Street has already stressed its position had not changed on the US President's trip. "An invitation has been extended and accepted," a Number 10 spokesman added: The petition cites Trump's "well documented misogyny and vulgarity", and calls for ...
I'll preface this piece by saying that I believe that, even if we weren't leaving the EU, maintaining the strongest relationship available with America is vital. I also believe that for all the innumerable faults that US foreign policy has had over the years, having an America that is engaged in the world as opposed to in retreat is a good thing. Yet Theresa May's trip to America is looking like more and more of a disaster the greater the time we have to reflect on it becomes. The problem with it was simple: approach and build up beforehand. May ...
Embed from Getty Images The news that everyone's favourite athlete – Mo Farah – may not be able to return to his family in the US has encapsulated the impact of Trump's vicious travel ban. He was, of course, born in Somalia, one of the banned countries, although he is a British citizen and does not hold dual nationality. He is currently at a training camp in Ethiopia. Mo Farah wrote: I am a British citizen who has lived in America for the past six years – working hard, contributing to society, paying my taxes and bringing up our four ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 30 JANUARY 2017 Blackness Road/Glamis Road - temporary traffic lights for 2 weeks for gas main renewal. Greenmarket - prohibition of right turn into South Marketgait on Thursday 2 February from 9.00pm 6.00am for BT cabling works. Nethergate (eastbound from South Tay Street to West Marketgait) - closed on Thursday 2 February from 9.00pm 6.00am for BT cabling works. Hyndford Street - temporary traffic lights from Thursday 2 February for 3 days for water main repair.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" I wouldn't usually comment on American politics, but these words, now seemingly redundant, are from the Statue of Liberty
Eliot A. Cohen Responds to Donald Trump's First Week A blistering critique - from the Right. (tags: uspolitics )
For the last few months I've had little ability to do anything much. After Trump's election, and some health problems with members of my family, I've had little chance to do anything other than binge-watch bad 90s TV on Netflix ... Continue reading →
