Well, well! The Observer has started agreeing with us again. Here's what it had to say on this coming week's Article 50 Bill amendments: Any MP planning to vote against the amendments to the bill that seek to ensure this - whether or not they supported Brexit - should reflect long and hard on precisely what they think parliament is for, if not to scrutinise the government on this most momentous of decisions. Second, the British people must have the opportunity to accept or reject the deal negotiated by the government. The referendum result provided a democratic mandate for Britain ...
The warehouse in a pleasingly derelict state has now been restored and is The Waterfront - restaurant and home of Market Harborough's first gin bar. You can see footage of the town's canal basin before it was redeveloped in another post on this blog.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 467th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (29 January – 4 February, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. How joining the Lib ...
Sun 5th
20:21
Finding out that mental health progress was worse than we thought - one of the reasons Scottish Libe...
You English were so lucky to have Norman Lamb and before him Paul Burstow as Health Ministers with mental health in their portfolios. In Scotland, we haven't made the progress you have – even though I know that yours is nowhere near enough. We don't have the parity between physical and mental health that Norman Lamb and Nick Clegg drove through, even in principle. During negotiations on this year's Scottish Budget, Willie Rennie discovered that the mental health situation in Scotland was much worse than even he had thought. He told activists yesterday at the Kickstart training day in Perth: ...
This is the picture of a story from the Independent. It concerns shocking figures unearthed by Scottish Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton which show the terrible lengths of time people can wait for discharge from hospital in Scotland for "health and social care reasons", There was one example where one person had to wait for almost a year and a half. Alex said: In November I asked the First Minister about a constituent of mine who had spent 150 nights in hospital due to delayed discharge. Nicola Sturgeon described the situation as unacceptable."What then are we to make of ...
Near the town of Herning in Denmark sits Elia, a giant metal dome sculpture by Ingvar Cronhammar that occasionally spouts flame.
Today is Visit My Mosque Day, a chance for people to build links between communities. Welsh Equalities Spokesperson Cadan ap Tomos has been doing exactly that, visiting the Dal Ul-Isra mosque in Cardiff. He made a short video afterwards: He added: The voices of intolerance and division are louder than I've ever known them. With a huge increase in hate crimes in the past year, I worry about the effect that divisive national debates around Brexit and immigration are having on the cohesion of communities across Wales. All of us must help bridge these divisions in our communities. That's why ...
Europe currently faces three serious threats: Islamic terrorism, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. At least that was the view of Belgian MEP (and the European Parliament's Brexit negotiator), Guy Verhofstadt, when he gave the Isaiah Berlin lecture for Liberal International at Chatham House in London earlier this week. He warned that the European Union now [...]
Here's an enjoyable driving route around Mid Derbyshire. Especially on a cold but sunny Saturday in February in a Caterham 7. What other way is there to travel? My route map is below, just in case anyone is interested in replicating the experience. I can recommend Kedleston Hall, Carsington Water's Visitor Centre and Middleton Top as places to visit on ... The post Carsington eight: a Seven driving route appeared first on ten pence piece.
I will not divulge the names of the participants in this email conversation to protect the guilty. If they wish to out themselves in the comments, that is entirely up to them. Someone very kindly emailed to say how much they had enjoyed my Lib Dem Lowdown for Newbies but asked why constitution geeks got a mention and not transport geeks. "That is so wrong." Actually, my correspondent had a point. Our erstwhile colleague, the lovely Helen Duffett, could tell you virtually anything you didn't realise you wanted to know about the London underground system and our ranks have a ...
Penny Lane Mosque which is a key player in our local community Today was "National Visit My Mosque Day" and I was pleased to take up the invitation from our local Mosque, the Penny Lane Mosque to once again visit ... Continue reading →
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 22,000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... Lamb and Mulholland to abstain on Article 50 vote. What does this mean for the party? (86 comments) by Caron Lindsay Why I've left the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election campaign (12 comments) by Ed Fordham Yet another massive Lib Dem GAIN from Labour (25 comments) by Caron Lindsay In full: Tim Farron's speech in the Article 50 debate (49 comments) by The Voice ICYMI: Nick Clegg's brilliant speech in the Article 50 debate (21 comments) by Caron Lindsay Is ...
Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) THEN: Science Fiction Fandom in the U.K., 1930-1980, by Rob Hansen To Lie with Lions, by Dorothy Dunnett Broken Homes, by Ben Aaronovitch Last books finished The Rapture of the Nerds, by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross Next books A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth The Parrot's Theorem, by Denis Guedj Short Trips: Time Signature, ed. Simon Guerrier
These have been sadly neglected, we have been nagging the council to spend a little money on them
No doubt Lords reform will be back on the agenda after the peers have had their way with the Article 50 Bill. The Lords will at most be able to delay the legislation, but it may well return to the Commons in a shape that is displeasing to the Tory brexiteers. In that instance, we can expect to see ministers huff and puff about the impertinence of an unelected house interfering with Government legislation. These will be the same ministers who as Tory MPs frustrated Nick Clegg's plans to have the House of Lords elected along with so many of ...
The Sunday Times reports: Muslim pupils outnumber Christian children in more than 30 church schools, including one Church of England primary that has had a "100% Muslim population". St Thomas in Werneth, Oldham, is reported by the local diocese to have no Christian pupils, while at Staincliffe C of E Junior School in Batley, West Yorkshire, 98% of pupils "come from a Muslim background", according to its most recent religious inspection report in 2015. The Church of England estimated that about 20 of its schools had more Muslim pupils than Christians and 15 Roman Catholic schools had majority Muslim pupils, ...
The number of potholes in this roundabout is ridiculous, maybe instead of spending so much on the park and ride folly these sort of potholes were repaired it would be good.
Last week's magpie went down well, so here is another bird. Oh! Wot a Dream is about Kevin Ayers' friend Syd Barrett,the founder of Pink Floyd. I detect the influence of Lewis Carroll and Viv Stanshall too. This performance comes from the same Old Grey Whistle Test session as Shouting in a Bucket Blues.
What's this to do with? I've been contacted by local residents who have, once again, raised concerns about cars and vans parking on footpaths and grass verges along Fulbridge Road. They have no respect for others! It's dangerous as you have to go on to road to get by them, this must be illegal? – [...]
Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton is a vocal opponent of Donald Trump. He's always had a massive interest in US politics. In 2008, he and his best friend Kevin Lang went out to Virginia to campaign for Barack Obama. He's written for the Scottish Lib Dems website to talk Trump and trade deals – specifically why we mustn't allow our commitment to human rights to be diminished. Many have watched in horror as the progressive legacy of Barrack Obama has been comprehensively devoured in the early days of Donald Trump's post-truth presidency and with it, a cold awakening to a ...
The most long-lasting legacy of the Trump Administration will be the make-up of the US Supreme Court, which is likely to influence social policy in the United States for decades to come. Already, one nominee has been sent to the Senate for confirmation and there is talk of at least two more vacancies opening up in future years. At stake is the ground-breaking 1973 judgement on abortion, Roe vs Wade as well as a host of other legal decisions and the first test for the new regime may not be long in coming if this article in the Independent is ...
More than £100 million a year is being spent on Brexit civil servants. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox's new department has 2,841 staff. David Davis's Brexit Department has 300 staff.
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above This is an interesting report on railways within the present Knowsley Borough whose Council have put together a web based archive called 'Chuffed to bits'. Some great old photos and the one that jumped out at me shows a diesel shunter pulling old Liverpool trams at Kirkby to their inglorious end. Worth a look indeed. Well done Knowsley Council for pulling this together.
The Guardian has the story on its web site – see link above Well Mrs May(day) what else are you going to allow the US to sell over here in your all too desperate plea to Donald for a UK-US trade deal! Of course you could continue to trade favourably with neighbouring EU countries; have you thought about that logical alternative? With thanks to Roy Connell for the lead to this posting
With another(!) influx of new members, it seemed time to write about some things that work for us in Harrow. They're not unique to us, but they're not universal either, so it seemed worth sharing. Say hello! Here in Harrow Liberal Democrats we try and make sure all new members — if they want — get an individual personal welcome. Our (awesome) membership secretary, or someone else from the exec, or a ward organiser, or whoever, just arranges to meet for a chat at a café/pub. It's a really good way to a) make sure new members feel cared about; ...
Retail matters dominate the town agenda right now. A decision is to be made on the Rocks Green supermarket bid on Tuesday. Budgens is set to close - no date has yet been set - and we are expecting redevelopment of One Stop on Tower Street. Again, there is no date for this. Business rates are also due to soar for some businesses. We have a busy town centre that for the most part works. We have both general purpose supermarkets and specialist local shops. Our streets are busy, even crowded. Most Ludlow residents visit the town centre at least ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2017 Blackness Road/Glamis Road - temporary traffic lights for one week for gas main renewal. City Road (at Pitfour Street) - temporary traffic lights for one week from Wednesday 1 February for Hydro Electric cable fault.
An update on my earlier post about the Liberal Democrat selection for West of England Mayor, up for election for the first time this May: Congratulations to @swilliamsmp on being chosen as the @LibDems candidate to be the Metro Mayor for the West of England pic.twitter.com/4RrtvCwnPM — Cllr Claire Young (@ClaireforTAY) February 4, 2017
John Tyler, who was US President from 1841 to 1845, has two living grandchildren Yes, you read that correctly. (tags: uspolitics ) Weak and Incompetent Leaders act like Strong Leaders An alternative theory of the Trump administration. (tags: uspolitics ) Ursula Le Guin on [science] fiction vs. 'alternative facts' Hooray! (tags: sf uspolitics ) Very quietly, Liam Fox admits the Brexit lie The facts about the WTO. (tags: ukpolitics brexit ) POLITICO Brussels Playbook Plus for 4 Feb Features me. (tags: Belgium )
[IMG: OECD Policy Highlights Document: Governance of Land Use] OECD Policy Highlights Document: Governance of Land Use The OECD has a Policy Highlight document out, summarising two forthcoming publications on the governance of land use. In it (page 17) it advocates for Land Value Tax: If governments aim to encourage efficient land use within urban areas, they may also consider the introduction of a pure land value tax, which provides particularly strong incentives for an efficient use of the most valuable land. In contrast to property taxes, a pure land value tax does not tax sparsely built-up land less than ...
My review of The Lego Batman Movie is over at Mindless Ones
