It was time to leave the warmth of Santiago behind, for the next stage of the adventure had arrived, and a three hour flight brought me to Punta Arenas, the major town of Chilean Patagonia. The vista was, in truth, a bit bleak and austere, as the mountains are running out by this point, and the endless wind tends to discourage anything taller than a shrub. But then, it's the furthest south that I've ever been, beating Invercargill, New Zealand, and remembering what Orkney is like, there is something of a similarity there too. The hotel was an oddity, looking ...
People today seem surprised that there were coal mines in Somerset within living memory. My mother lived down there in the 1950s and remembers how strange it seemed when a bus drew up in the centre of a rural village and men with coal-blackened faces got out. This video tells the story of the canal that was built to serve those mines. There is more about the Somersetshire or Somerset Coal Canal on Wikipedia.
Peter Black asks if the USA becoming a land of censorship, prejudice and paranoia. Privatising Britain's railways has led to "a mixture of crony capitalism, a world populated by well paid lobbyists and well networked insiders, and smoke and mirrors accounting which makes it impossible for normal citizens to penetrate what is going on," argues Michael Moran. "Several industries have become notorious for the millions they spend on influencing legislation and getting friendly candidates into office ... But one has managed to quickly build influence with comparatively little scrutiny: Private prisons." Michael Cohen on the dangers of introducing the profit ...
Hello friends! This is a blogpost officially announcing that I'm going to be running to be the first elected chair of the Radical Association. So, the RA. What is it and why is it? It's a ginger group – an internal pressure group, that is to say – with the Liberal Democrat party. Its aims [...]
Embed from Getty Images The Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Falkner chaired a discussion on 8th February on the demise of Hong Kong's political freedoms since the transfer of its sovereignty to China. The event was organised by the Henry Jackson Society at the Palace of Westminster. The speakers were Joshua Wong (a Hong Kong student and co-founder of the political party Demosisto), Angela Gui (daughter of detained publisher Gui Minhai) and Benedict Rogers (Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission). 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule. The freedoms for Hong Kong citizens, ...
A joint post from Kate King, Lib Dem candidate for Burnell in the May Shropshire Council elections, and Andy Boddington, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow North. Local representatives are calling for a greater priority for safety on the roads of a county where traffic speeds are above the national average. New government statistics show that only eight council areas in England achieved faster speeds on A roads than Shropshire in 2015. In 2015 also, statistics reveal that more than half the injuries on the county's roads were on A roads (423 of 796 injuries). Kate and Andy are calling for improvements ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39109408 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above I find myself now agreeing with a Tory politician following agreeing with a former Labour one on the same issue – Brexit. This time John Major is in effect attacking the nutters in his party, UKIP and indeed Labour who seem to think all will be rosy in the Brexit garden. He is right to say that the impression being given by Brexiters, that all will be great, is utter rubbish and that everything is likely to be very far from wonderful. But as I took ...
Embed from Getty Images From Iain Donaldson, Chair of Manchester Gorton, Central and Blackley Liberal Democrats: It is with great sadness that we heard of the death yesterday of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton. I first met Sir Gerald over 30 years ago when he visited (then) Wright Robinson High School whilst I was studying in the sixth-form. I can honestly say that despite our having been political opponents for the many years I have known him he was a kind and gentle man whose acerbic wit was always used in good humour to promote the ...
This evening's BBC2 "documentary of the week" Meet the Lords is the first of a series of three, with unprecedented access to the Palace of Westminster, to Peers and to the inner workings of the Lords' operation. Having seen a sneak preview, we are hopeful that some of the contents will renew public support for our longstanding campaign to replace the Lords with a modern, elected chamber. The century-long Lords reform saga took another turn at the beginning of this year, when a new group was set up by the Lord Speaker. It is to consider "the extent to which ...
[IMG: nomination] This month (February 2017) we're launching our next set of ALDC webinars - a great chance for you to train and get advice online. This time they will be to help you get your nomination papers filled in properly. It is one of the main enquiries we receive through the election period. We want to [...]
At Bury's recent 'Budget Council' Meeting the proposals from the majority Labour Group were voted through, which is a Council Tax increase from 1 April 2016 of 4.94%. Your local Liberal Democrat councillors voted against this budget. The increase is made up of a basic increase of 1.94%, plus a further 3% 'social care levy'. Bury has opted to 'front load'; the Social Care Levy increases, so although this wasn't announced last night, we can expect a further increase of 4.94% the year after, and 1.94% in 2019/20. This means Bury's Council Tax will rise by almost 12.5% over the ...
The rise of insurgent parties or insurgent leaders in politics has split the political landscape. In business terms we can see this as a battle between incumbents and entrepreneurs. Established political parties with traditional leaders are the incumbents. They are the equivalent of large, oligopolistic corporations. Slow moving, stuck in the old ways of doing things and fighting for the status quo that favours them. Their success depends on having a broad base of support to which they can play. They favour their base while trying to expand it at the edges to gain their overall majorities. In essence, their ...
Lib Dem Health Spokesman Norman Lamb MP who is working with people of all Parties and none to try and build a consensus on health and care spending At our Spring Conference to be held in March in York we ... Continue reading →
From Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th March, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) will be holding its first ever Spring Walking Weekend, with five of the 30 fun and friendly walks set to take place in some of the most beautiful and historic locations across Wigan and Leigh, offering something for every age, interest and ability. Bury Walks are: Peel Tower to Greenmount Friday 3 March, 4.30pm Meet: outside Hare & Hounds, Holcombe Brook Distance: 4 miles Affetside to Jumbles, Saturday 4 March, 10am Meet: outside Pack Horse, Affetside Distance: 4 miles Greenmount to Affetside, Sunday 5 March, 1.30pm Meet: outside ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above Oddly the junction is in Melling yet the Echo refers to it as the Kirkby junction. But why do we hear of and see so many lorries turning over these days? Is it happening more often or are these incidents just getting more publicity? Is speed the problem?
Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre is the first museum in the country to show the LGBT+ exhibition 'Diary Drawings'. The museum is also collaborating with artist Jez Dolan on the 60/50 project, resulting in a series of events in the permanent collection gallery. Diary Drawings has emerged from the research project, The Last Case of George Cecil Ives (1867-1950). Ives was a British-German poet, penal reformer, diarist, and founder of The Order of Chaeronea, the world's first secret homosexual society, founded in London in 1891. Artist Jez Dolan is one of the first people to research Ives in any ...
Greater Manchester Police are asking for residents views on their 'Citizens' Contract'. "Keeping Greater Manchester safe isn't just a policing issue, it is an issue for us all. We all have a part to play in keeping our communities safe and this means outlining what we, as the police can do, and what we need others to do. Neighbourhood policing continues to be at the heart of what we do. But we face continued challenges ahead as we have to save a further £67m by 2020. It means we need to look at how we are working and what we ...
Copeland is a place of significance for me, I love it to bits, and I wish I had been able to come up and help the campaign. On Thursday, Rebecca Hanson and team delivered a solid result for us in Copeland, doubling our vote share and forcing UKIP down into fourth place. Of course, we are by no means a close third, but over time could this become a Lib Dem target seat? Neighbouring seat Westmorland and Lonsdale, held by our own Tim Farron, had a strong tradition of Lib Dem second places by the time he won in 2005, ...
Being beaten up on twitter concentrates the mind wonderfully and, although I wasn't badly beaten, I have been thinking about what I clearly did wrong. I knowingly, wilfully and with aforethought, compared my two journeys to London and back with Southern Rail to a slave ship. This was pretty crass. There were no chains, no whips, no cholera and no fear of death. Of course it wasn't anything like a slave ship and I never thought I was doing more than drawing an analogy. But I am not supposed to do such things, so why did I do it? The ...
Maghull Wind Orchestra in the wonderful setting of Sefton Park Palm House. This is not where the Star Trek music was filmed. Have a listen to this concert (see link below) where our very own Maghull Wind Orchestra does Star Trek. It's really is rather good:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLaPAZSeJvE
There has been a lot of attention on the Mayoral races taking place in the great cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol but, as so often is the case, the West Midlands mayoral contest has not received so much publicity. It maybe because the Mayor won't just cover Birmingham, but other areas as varied as the Black country and the city of Coventry. For too long, the West Midlands has been sitting quietly at the back of the queue when successive governments decide which region to support – and that has to change. Beverley Nielsen, our candidate to be the ...
I have just received the following statement from the NHS. I am bitterly disappointed because it is not what I understood or reported, although the commitment to re-open is re-stated: Date: 24 February 2017 Stakeholder Briefing – Shotley Bridge Community Hospital Over the course of the last few months, we have shared with you information regarding inpatient services at Shotley Bridge Community Hospital. As you will be aware, last autumn NHS Property Services identified significant maintenance issues at the Hospital with the water and drainage infrastructure. As a result, a joint decision was made to temporarily close the ward in ...
I like Kezia Dugdale. I think she is trying her best in a bad situation – and getting less than no help. Anyone within Scottish Labour calling for her to go should look at the bench and see she is far and away the best option right now as leader. On that no help thing – I should preface this whole thing, particularly for non-Scottish readers. Labour have been trying to come up with something distinct to say in the independence debate. The Tories under Ruth Davidson have effectively cornered the Unionist market, the SNP the Nationalist one. Kezia and ...
Embed from Getty Images You wish to buy a house, but can't afford one – a predicament many face. You approach the bank for a loan, repayable over 25 years. You'd think that the money the bank has loaned is actually other customer's savings that is held in some 'physical' form, yet you'd be wrong. In reality, when the bank made this loan they created the money by inputting numbers into a spreadsheet; bank-created money accounts for over 97% of money in circulation today. Effectively this means 97% of our money is also debt. When times are good people pay ...
The Three Shire Stone (from Wikipedia) News of the Copeland by-election in December prompted me to discover Britain's three-party constituency tripoints, where three constituencies each held by a different party meet. Back then, it formed part of a tripoint with Lib Dem-held Westmorland and Lonsdale, and Tory-held Penrith and the Border on the ridge running from Helvellyn to Fairfield. Now Copeland's Tory, however, the electoral geography has changed, but the number of tripoints remains the same. We've lost the old one (which now marks where two Tory constituencies and one Lib Dem one meet) but have gained a new one ...
This government is evil Genuinely fucking evil. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Including the best film to get no nominations. OK, confession time: I have not seen Fences, Hidden Figures, Loving, Jackie, Nocturnal Animals, Moana, or any of the best foreign film or documentary contenders. The reason is that they either haven't come out in Korea yet, or they came out whilst I was back in [...]
My objections to the M4 relief road around Newport have been stated over and over again, on this blog, in party conferences and in the Welsh Assembly chamber. I have five basic concerns: 1. The environmental damage; the road will pass through five SSSIs, add to to air pollution and disturb a number of valuable ecological areas; 2. The long term impact on traffic: like every new road it will fill up within years and will soon be featuring on every traffic bulletin for delays and accidents. It will not be long before people are calling for yet another relief ...
From 20th March for 11 weeks there will be night time southbound closures of the M32 to enable the central reservation barrier over the Eastville Viaduct to be replaced. To try to minimise disruption, the contractors will carry out the work between 8pm and 6am Monday to Friday, so the M32 will remain open in both directions during the day. At night the southbound carriageway will be completely closed. There may also be times when they need to close a section of the northbound carriageway too, but these times are not yet finalised. They will be liasing with contractors on ...
Embed from Getty Images If you didn't drop into LDV over the weekend you will have missed Caron's marathon effort in reporting on all the speeches made by Lib Dem Lords last week on the Bill on Article 50. There were 32 of them, amounting to over 30,000 words. You can find all the speeches listed here. It was an excellent reminder of what an important job our peers are doing and how important the second chamber is. In the Lords the decisions in the House of Commons are subjected to in-depth scrutiny and challenge, and we don't hear enough ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2017 Perth Road (at Arnhall Drive) - temporary traffic lights for 2 weeks for gas main renewal. Blackness Road (at Glenagnes Road) - temporary traffic lights for one week for Scottish Water mains renewal. Nethergate (West Marketgait to South Tay Street) - closed for 3 weeks from Monday 27 February for carriageway resurfacing works. Riverside Drive at airport - off-peak temporary traffic lights on Tuesday 28 February for maintenance to Department of Transport monitoring site. Forthcoming Roadworks SSE Glenagnes Cable Renewal - Lochee ...
My Friend, The Russian Ambassador Lovely obituary by former US ambassador @SamanthaJPower. (tags: death russia uspolitics diplomacy ) To the Commonwealth, "Global Britain" sounds like nostalgia for something else Deaf to history and blind to economics. (tags: brexit ukpolitics ) The Martin Schulz bounce @JonWorth wonders if it can last. (tags: germany )
