"This is children's television before life jackets, health and safety or safeguarding, " I wrote when I first came across the 1967 children's television series Flower of Gloster. I didn't know the half of it. In the first episode a 10-year-old boy rides his bike into the Llangollen Canal as it passes over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. The trough stands 126ft above the River Dee, there is a sheer drop on the opposite side to the towpath and it is scary enough making the crossing in a boat. If you want to blame anyone for this, it should probably be Bill ...
So the weekend is always busy – but right now it's like a gathering of the clans. People coming in from across the country to help the Liberal Democrat candidate Dr Zulfiqar Ali. Now I have done a lot of campaigns and by-elections and seen a fair range of Liberal Democrats. But today has surprised and impressed me... People are turning up to help Dr Zulfiqar Ali who have never been involved in Party politics – when asked they are desperate to stop the rise of UKIP, against the rise of the far right, against hatred and against fear. These ...
Sat 11th
19:53
Federal International Relations Committee - I'm going to need another set of coloured pens, aren't I...
It's taken me much longer than usual to report back on what happened at FIRC's first meeting, and I am grateful to Caron and the team at Liberal Democrat Voice for fitting my piece in at rather short notice. It's just that I had almost forgotten just how much work there is to do with a new Committee, especially at a time of organisational change. You can, of course, just wing it but, if I'm honest, laying down some ground rules early tends to avoid quite a lot of pain later. Thus, it is clear that whilst Robert, our Chair, ...
It has never been more important for communities to come together in solidarity - Caroline Pidgeon
This week has been particularly depressing for those of us Brits who are true Europeans, with the House of Commons giving its backing to the triggering of Article50, which the Prime Minister has said will happen before the end of March. To rub salt in our wounds, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has sent warning letters [...]
Embed from Getty ImagesLabour is in many ways clueless, disunited and perhaps in terminal decline. Whatever happens in the by-elections, it faces another crisis in the mayoral elections in May: the Tories are now favourites to win in Birmingham and there are worries even about Corbyn's former rival Andy Burnham in Manchester.Last summer I reviewed Engel's England, in which Matthew Engel visited all 39 English counties. He has been on his travels again, visiting the Labour campaign in Stoke-on-Trent Central for the Financial Times. He found it in an almost comically suspicious of him: Even before I left home, Chris ...
I am in Tirana this weekend for a conference, and spent some time in the new Bunk'Art museum, just off Skanderbeg Square in the heart of the city. It's the bunker built for Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu as part of the Interior Ministry in the 1980s - in fact both died before it was finished, and it was never actually used during the Communist period (it is noted that on three occasions post-1990 the government did use it in emergency conditions). The entrance is oddly sfnal - one commenter made the point that, Tardis-like, it seems bigger on the ...
Hat-tip to Liberal Democrat Voice for the following: "Six years ago, Nick Clegg was not the most popular politician amongst students. Now, things have changed as many young people find that he speaks for them as the Government hurtles towards a hard Brexit which will blight their future and opportunities. The Guardian's Patrick Wintour watched him speak to a crowd of students: Follow Patrick Wintour ✔@patrickwintourHeard Nick Clegg speak on Europe at a very large student event in London last night. No question on tuition fees. Huge applause at close.9:32 AM - 10 Feb 2017 7878 Retweets 9292 likes In ...
Our newest MP has been talking to The House magazine, along with other recent by-election winners, about the Liberal Democrats' winning campaign in Richmond Park. She described it as one of the best experiences of her life: Running in a by-election was one of the best experiences of my life. I am very new to politics, I've never been involved in a parliamentary campaign of any kind, I've never been a candidate in any election before, so I had no idea what to expect. It was quite a high profile campaign, right from the beginning I was right in the ...
I opened my first file on this project back in May 2014. Nearly three years later, we have an initial decision after the South Planning Committee agreed by five votes to four to approve the scheme. The scheme can't yet be approved. There are a few more steps take, including endorsement from the secretary of state for communities. Secretary of state approval This is a large out of town supermarket that is being approved contrary to the local plan, which does not allocate this site for a retail complex. That means that the South Planning Committee decision must be approved ...
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! Now given that Peterborough has aspirations to become the UK's environment capital and the Council's Transport User Hierarchy, as part of the Local Transport Plan states [...]
Some positive news on Yate Fire Station. At the end of last year, Avon Fire Authority was consulting on cutting Yate Fire Station from a full time service 24 hours a day to having a full time crew 8am to 5pm and just one crew on call at night. We were very concerned that this could put people in the Yate area at risk - you can see Claire Young's response to the consultation here. Our Yate colleague Cllr Mike Drew has been working hard with the Deputy Chief Fire Officer to develop an alternative. Instead of taking us down ...
The main courtroom at the Supreme Court, from the perspective of the Presiding Judge.This week I wanted to visit a court in London, to get a feel for the proceedings. I didn't fancy the Old Bailey – its case list is a series of stabbings basically. Not nice. I was about to make the journey to the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand when I remembered the more recently opened Supreme Court. The United Kingdom Supreme Court resides just opposite Parliament in an impressive building previously occupied by Middlesex County Council and the Middlesex Courts. When I visited, there ...
Six years ago, Nick Clegg was not the most popular politician amongst students. Now, things have changed as many young people find that he speaks for them as the Government hurtles towards a hard Brexit which will blight their future and opportunities. The Guardian's Patrick Wintour watched him speak to a crowd of students last night: Heard Nick Clegg speak on Europe at a very large student event in London last night. No question on tuition fees. Huge applause at close. — Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) February 10, 2017 In his Standard column this week, Nick described another student debate, in ...
[IMG: 16708717_10155144828484604_1665978496423914286_n] Click on the bar chart to enlarge it A quite remarkable change in Lib Dem fortunes with both Tories and Labour doing really badly.
Boris Johnson urged UK to continue Saudi arms sales after funeral bombing can't understand why so many people STILL think this man is a buffoon, and not an evil opportunist who's worked oor that pretend buffoonery lets him get away with it [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Sat 11th
08:55
What do you do when you want to distract from your party driving the country off a cliff?
Well, if you're Welsh Conservative Leader Andrew R T Davies, you point out to anyone who will listen that Liberal Democrat Welsh Education Secretary voted in accordance with Liberal Democrat policy in the Article 50 debate in the Senedd as if this should be some sort of issue. Labour AMs were whipped to vote for Article 50 to be invoked. Davies argues that this broke cabinet responsibility. The BBC has the story: The Liberal Democrat AM voted with Plaid Cymru against Article 50 despite the Labour group opposing the motion. Mr Davies suggested some Labour AMs were "sore" over the ...
I recently received complaints from residents about potholes in the roadway of Saggar Street - see below : I raised this with the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now been advised by the department that "there is a CAT 3 line in to fill three potholes in this area."
I write about Jeremy Corbyn a lot, pretty much all of it negative in the extreme, so I get a lot heat on Twitter from his supporters. I want to be clear right off that I'm not complain about this fact – I have to be able to take as good as I give in this regard. The reason I bring it up today is that of late, the tweets from this group of people have changed a little in one terrifying aspect: British leftists are starting to use Trumpisms. A lot. The most prevalent are "fake news" and "alternative ...
I have blogged about this a number of times in the past. The issue is car dealers selling car on the public highway which some residents oppose (I appreciate that some residents don't oppose the activity I would add) and have complained about. [IMG: This is the Green Lane, Maghull site where cars are regularly for sale.] This is the Green Lane, Maghull site where cars are regularly for sale. In Maghull the problem/issue manifests itself in the turning circle/dead end of the Green Lane Service Road where it faces Liverpool Road South. In Lydiate it is on Southport Road ...
Crisis of capitalism? Perhaps, but don't blame it on globalisation Governments chose austerity; they were not forced. (tags: economics ) Six in ten around the world think their society is 'broken' Though the picture is mixed. (tags: politics economics ) Trump vexed by challenges, scale of government Diddums. (tags: Uspolitics )
Those MPs who represent steel producing areas and voted for the UK Government's hard line Brexit bill could well be regretting their actions after it was revealed that the steel industry is a low priority in negotiations. The Independent reports that a leaked document divides Britain's industries into "low priority", "medium priority" and "high priority" for negotiations - indicating how much special attention they needed in the Brexit process. High priority industries include banking and the automotive industry, while fisheries and the chemicals industry sit in the middle tier. Steel and telecoms are in the bottom tier. As one MP ...
