A couple of weeks ago I posted photos of Ilkley station and Ilkley Junction signal box that I took when I was a student at York. Here is another shot of the station. This one is taken from the start of the abandoned trackbed heading to Skipton, looking back at the rear of the buffers. I think you would be by the cooked meat counter of a supermarket if you tried to take this shot today.
Embed from Getty Images By my calculation, 22 per cent of Liberal Democrat MPs abstained in the Article 50 vote today, Norman Lamb and Greg Mulholland have given their reasons and you will find them collected together on Lib Dem Voice. The comments below dwell on matters of conscience, but I am more worried about their political judgement. This seems a good place to say how impressed I have been with Tim Farron's leadership of the party. Some say he lacks gravitas, but that elusive quality comes with time and with being taken seriously by the media - something which ...
Ukip leader Paul Nuttall may have broken electoral law by giving an incorrect address on his official nomination form for this month's by-election in Stoke, reports Channel 4 News. If a prosecution does take, place the interview he gave to Michael Crick may form part of the prosecution case. Meanwhile, if you want to help the Liberal Democrats in Stoke Central or Copeland, full details are on the party website,
Welcome to a new email service, Polling UnPacked. This brings you the best and latest news about British political opinion polling from a range of different experts direct to your inbox: Email* Name* First Last Click here for legal/privacy information.CommentsThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. This iframe contains the logic required to handle AJAX powered Gravity Forms. Polling UnPacked is different in two key ways from my range of other email lists. First, it's a carefully curated selection of stories from others, with just the occasional story from myself. I've gone for including stories from ...
With a new set of principles for artificial intelligence, tech pioneers seem to be developing a conscience. Good - but the discussion must include more voices Today in Washington DC, leading US and UK scientists are meeting to share dispatches from the frontiers of machine learning - an area of research that is creating new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI). Their meeting follows the publication of a set of principles for beneficial AI that emerged from a conference earlier this year at a place with an important history. In February 1975, 140 people - mostly scientists, with a few assorted ...
Tim Farron spoke in the Commons debate on Article 50 this afternoon. Here is his speech in full: She is not in her place now, but I want to pay tribute to the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) for her excellent maiden speech. Liberal Democrats have always been proud internationalists. It was the Liberals who backed Winston Churchill's European vision in the 1950s, even when his own party did not do so. Since our foundation, we have been champions of Britain's role in the European Union and fought for co-operation and openness with our neighbours and ...
Second paragraph of third section ("The Lure of the Wyrm"):At its base it was a mere score of yards across. Then it rose through clinging cloud, curving gracefully outward like an upturned trumpet until it was truncated by a plateau fully a quarter of a mile across. There was a tiny forest up there, its greenery cascading over the lip. There were buildings. There was even a small river, tumbling over the edge in a waterfall so wind-whipped that it reached the ground as rain.Many many years since I read this, and I had forgotten a lot about it. I ...
You may or may not have already seen the factual reports on Lib Dem Voice provided by Geoff and Zoe; I wanted to write something a bit more... human? Both of those reports contain lots of useful information, but it all seems a bit dry, and the relevance of it to the ordinary member might not be readily apparent1. I'm going to try and inject a bit more colour into things. ( It was the best of committees, it was the worst of committees; it was the committee of wisdom, it was the committee of foolishness... ) ANYway... I think ...
Some serious questions from Michael Crick for Ukip's leader Paul Nuttall in the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election: Inside the empty Stoke house which Paul Nuttall claimed is his "home", and which will appear on ballot papers as such pic.twitter.com/RR7upTW2Ek — Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) February 1, 2017
The Liberal Democrat figures for January are out and they are impressive – 4000 members in the month, 2000 of them in the last 10 days and 1000 since Tim Farron led the opposition to Trump's travel ban and called for the offer of the state visit to be withdrawn. Party President Sal Brinton said: Reaching 82,000 members is the highest membership in over two decades. With more than 4,000 new members having joined us in January and more than 1,000 joining since Trump's Executive Order on Friday, people are responding to the politics of hatred by joining the Liberal ...
[IMG: Webinars Postal Vote] Thanks for clicking! This month (February 2017) we're launching a new series of ALDC webinars – a great chance for you to train and get advice online. To coincide with our Postal Vote Action fortnight, February's webinars will be on 'Winning the Postal Vote' with 15 spaces available for each webinar. Each webinar will be [...]
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] The recent review of Party governance has resulted in a number of changes in the membership of key Party committees and boards. As a result the LGA Lib Dem Group and ALDC have secured observer status on two of the new boards and reconstituted committees, namely the Federal Board and the Federal Policy Committee. So [...]
[IMG: wrpblizgroup] This weekend is Scottish Kickstart, the local government campaigners' launchpad event held over two days in Perth. It is jam-packed with over 10 hours of training and additional ask the expert sessions, designed to help you win your council ward in May. The venue: The Salutation Hotel, South Street Perth, PH2 8PH Cost: £25 ALDC members £30 [...]
Wed 1st
14:45
Churchill inspires D66 fightback against Trumpism and Farage's people-expulsing "Hard Brexit"
This past week, both the Guardian and the Sun had articles about the deputy ALDE liberal group leader Sophie in't Veld in the European Parliament getting involved in the mistreatment of ordinary EU citizens, living and working in the UK and being married to Britons, by the May government and its over-enthusiastic Brexiteer ministers. Both newspapers only failed to mention which party Mrs In't Veld belongs to: none other than D66, the social-liberal inheritors of the pre-War VDB. As one of three parties at the origins of Dutch abortion legislation (very similar to David Steel's brilliant Liberal inheritance on that ...
The Liverpool Echo ran this story recent – see link above Quote from the Echo article – A review of further education in Merseyside has recommended Hugh Baird and South Sefton Colleges, together with Southport and King George V Colleges, should become a single college by summer 2018. This will be a big move indeed but my understanding is that it is required to try to help balance the books of the 4 presently separate colleges. Southport College and the Town's KGV College were already in the process of merging of course. The rather obvious point is that they ...
Times are tough for liberals and liberalism internationally, and perhaps especially at the moment in the Anglosphere. It's frustrating to be locked out of power, and to see our values attacked from all sides both at home and abroad. It's miserable seeing the UK lurch towards a hard Brexit, and I hope that together we can fight against May's love-in with the hardline authoritarian regime emerging across the Atlantic. Even in the darkest and most confusing times, though, it's important that we look to the future as well as fighting present battles. That's why I and others have been working ...
And they are, with the possible exception of the whole global annihilation thing, perhaps not even the most serious of the issues that demand our attention in these fraught times. Continue reading →
[IMG: Andy Graham and Chipping Norton Lib Dems campaigning against Brexit] With the Brexit debate dominating the news, and increasing evidence that the Government simply cannot deliver on the promises of the Leave campaign, many of our members and supporters are more concerned than ever about what the future will bring. Add to that the way Theresa May is now desperately sucking up to Donald Trump, [...]
Apparently when President Trump signed his executive order to ban refugee, among others, from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US Mrs May was on an aeroplane, tired and without time to think. So her first public pronouncement was a metaphorical shrug of the shoulders: The US policy on refugees is a matter for the US and nothing to do with us. As a former Home Secretary she should have known, and if she didn't one of her multitude of advisers on the aeroplane should have told her, that the 1951 Refugee Convention is a United Nations International Convention, ...
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! As Liberal Democrats, we are big fans of green open spaces and are own party policies prove we are determined to protect play fields and green [...]
Avid readers of Liberal Democrat Voice will already have seen Geoff Payne's report on the results of this weekend's Federal Conference Committee meeting. All those whose motions were not selected should now have received feedback, so we're able to release the list of motions to be debated in March when the party gathers in York. Although I have covered this before, a quick reminder of how FCC selects motions is probably helpful particularly as this is the first time I have included information on voting. Selection runs in rounds, with the first round consisting of an FCC member responsible for ...
Tomorrow, the Gateshead Lib Dem group will move an emergency motion at full council about the Trump state visit: This Council notes with concern the decision by the Government to invite US President Donald Trump on a state visit to the UK. This Council notes the extreme, discriminatory actions announced by the US President immediately after the visit of the Prime Minister to Washington DC.
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] Salary: £20,000 – £22,000 (based on experience) + 3% pension contribution An excellent opportunity has arisen for an energetic and enthusiastic person to become the full-time Campaigns Organiser for York Liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrat councillors form part of the joint administration controlling City of York Council and the successful candidate will work with us to [...]
I am so proud of Nick Clegg who made one of the speeches of his life, and one of the best I have ever heard in Parliament, in the Article 50 Bill yesterday. You would hope that such a momentous decision would bring out the best in our MPs. It certainly did for Nick whose oratory was mature, passionate, honest and searingly critical of a Government acting in its party's, not the national interest, Watch it here. The full text, including the interventions, is below: As this is the formal beginning of a process that will most likely lead to ...
[IMG: DSC_1505] This Saturday is National Libraries Day, a day where we can all celebrate the role of libraries and champion their continued success. This will be the last National Libraries Day as in October we will celebrate National Libraries Week. National Libraries Day celebrates why libraries matter. With over 280 million visits in 2013-14, going to the [...]
Much as I am opposed to the unseemly haste with which a state visit has been offered to Donald Trump, secretly I really want to witness a meeting between the US President and Prince Charles, but only if it could be subsequently broadcast to the rest of the world. For all his quirks, the heir to the throne is fairly sound on climate change and is not afraid to let his views be known more widely. He is also alive to the threat to democracy posed by popularist movements such as that headed by Trump. The Independent reports on his ...
February is LGBT History Month, a chance to celebrate those campaigners who have made such a difference for LGBT rights and a chance to remember all those who suffered as a result of repressive attitudes and laws. When I was growing up, I was heartbroken to hear accounts of long-term partners being frozen out of hospital visiting or funeral arrangements by family members who didn't recognise their relationship. You could live with someone for decades and have no rights when they were ill or when they died. It looks as though the US may be about to enter a period ...
I recently updated residents about the impending food recycling extension to cover the Perth Road lanes and surrounding area. There was a drop-in session yesterday for residents that I previously advertised and I thought it would now be useful to give a list of the streets wholly or partly included in the new food recycling extension : AIRLIE PLACE BALTIC GARDENS BELLEFIELD AVENUE FORDS LANE GREENFIELD PLACE HIGH MILL COURT MAGDALEN MEWS MAGDALEN PLACE MAGDALEN YARD ROAD MCGONAGALL SQUARE MCVICARS LANE MID WYND MILLERS WYND OSBORNE PLACE PATONS LANE PATRICK PLACE PENNYCOOK LANE PERTH ROAD RITCHIES LANE ROSEANGLE RYEHILL LANE ...
Wed 1st
07:58
Yesterday's second reading of the Article 50 bill was both sad and bizarre. How did we get here?
If I were Gina Miller, I'd want my time and effort back. The courts ruled in favour of parliament having a say in the triggering of Article 50, only for parliament to give over one of the most tepid, passive sessions in its long history. It were as if the House of Commons was having a wake for itself. It was like this due to the fact that whether Brexit heralds a brave new world or will be a total disaster, it was something the majority of parliament did not in fact want to happen. Forcing them all to vote ...
UK 'need not fear electricity blackouts' says ex-National Grid boss Avoid fake news! (tags: climatechange ukpolitics ) The Top 12 Crises Of 2016: Part 1 Of 3 Holmes Report looks at corporate comms when the going gets tough. (tags: publicrelations ) The Top 12 Crises Of 2016: Part 2 Of 3 (tags: publicrelations ) The Top 12 Crises Of 2016: Part 3 Of 3 (tags: publicrelations ) Davos 2017 Takeaways - Business Recoded? Trump's Twitter handle - the biggest political risk for corporations in 2017. (tags: publicrelations poliics ) Hannah Arendt: From an Interview On totalitarianism and lies. (tags: politics ...
Do you think I can ever be secure in that chair while that rabble are still loose? They rebelled against Hensell yesterday. Tomorrow it'll be my turn. Well, let them rebel. Tell them the guards have taken control. Let them ... Continue reading →
