An intriguing quartet of council by-elections this week, with one Liberal Democrat defence, one Labour defence and a pair of Conservatives defences, one in southern England and one in northern England. First in a Conservative hold in a contest without a Liberal Democrat candidate alas, as was the case in 2011 and 2015 too. In cheerier news, note the huge fall in Ukip's vote: Mudeford & Friars Cliff (Christchurch) result: CON: 46.8% (-9.0) IND: 34.7% (+34.7) LAB: 6.8% (-9.6) UKIP: 6.3% (-21.4) GRN: 5.4% (+5.4) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 2, 2017
This feature limps along - it has been a couple of months since it appeared. With the surge in Liberal Democrat membership, you have to conclude it is blogging that is in the doldrums and not the party. But there is good news. A new blog was added to the LibDemBlogs aggregator in February. Thanks as ever to Ryan Cullen for sending me this information. That blog is Maintain the Advance! It is written by A.L. Franklin. It has been going since 2013 and the posts are all poems. Here is the most recent: winter sun We escaped our hibernation ...
Independent Seat. Cause: Resignation LD Candidate: Grant Neal.
Liberal Democrat seat. Cause: Death. LD Candidate: Laura Benson
Independent seat. Cuase: Resignation. LD Candidate: Rob Ayres. To help, please contact Tessa Munt 01934 440639 & 07714 599669 or Petra on organiser.wellslibdems@gmail.com
Labour seat. Cause: Death. LD Candidate: Adam Slack. To help, please contact adam.slack@doctors.org.uk or phone 07540619228
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD Candidate: Graeme Kidd.
Manchester by the Sea received six nominations for this year's Oscars and won in two of those categories - Best Actor and Best Screenplay. I've not seen the film and, reading about it, I was disappointed it had nothing to do with Lancashire. It is set in the town of Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts. But I did once see a play called Manchester Super Mare and that did concern the North West of England. Mikron Theatre is a British theatre company that tours the country by narrow boat in the summer and by road in spring and autumn. They visit every ...
This story has been everywhere today, but the Grimsby Telegraph wins our Headline of the Day award for adding that vital local angle. Incidentally, while discussing it at work I found I had Richard Whiteley and Richard Madeley hopelessly entangled in my mind.
Good news. We have a Lib Dem on Question Time tonight. Completing this week's #bbcqt panel is former Lib Dem leader Menzies Campbell pic.twitter.com/MoGWUsLTQS — BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) March 1, 2017 It may actually be worth watching. Although there is a downside. Peter Hitchens is back on the #bbcqt panel this Thursday in Bedford @ClarkeMicah (3/5) pic.twitter.com/uRAx12FzQX — BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) March 1, 2017 Watch on BBC1 at 10:45 or on iPlayer later. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
As part of our occasional meander round the Liberal Democrat job ads, we have learned that Cambridge Lib Dems are looking for some staff between now and the May elections. Across Cambridgeshire activists are campaigning hard to make Rod Cantrill the first elected mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and to take control of Cambridgeshire County Council. Utilising both traditional and sophisticated online campaigning techniques in order to reach a huge geographical area, and with members of the winning Richmond by-election team at the helm, this is a great chance to come learn from the best. Will you join the team? ...
What's Joe Anderson got to hide about his statement offering to host the Commonwealth Games here in Liverpool in 2022 if Durban cannot proceed? Over the last two days I have had an amazing series of e-mail interchanges with the ... Continue reading →
Thu 2nd
14:50
Remember when all we had to worry about was Ed Miliband forgetting to mention the deficit?
Remember when Ed Miliband made his last leader's speech before the 2015 election and he forgot the bit that had the deficit in it? To be honest, it was quite incredible that he managed to memorise an entire speech and deliver it without an autocue. It was just a shame that the bit he missed out was about something so politically important. At least it was there, though. Today, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell made a speech ahead of the budget that barely mentioned Brexit or the single market. There is an argument, I suppose, that they don't need to. I ...
On Monday it was a real pleasure to meet Ethel Williams on her 100th Birthday and to help her celebrate the event. Ethel lives at Dovehaven in Southport. During the war she served as a Land girl in Montgomeryshire in Wales where she met her husband who worked for the Forestry Commission and she settled after the war. It was great to hear Ethel's memories and to discuss how much things have improved. She spoke of how much difference the automatic washing machine made. Ethel played the organ at the Victoria Methodist church in Southport. Early in the week I ...
Well what do we have here? The most pro EU area of the country has been a rather dramatic change in polling as the Lib Dems polled in the YouGov London sub-section yesterday at 23%, which I think we'd all agree is worthy of a second glance. For a long time I have held the belief that London would be the most ripe part of the country for the #LibDemFightback to gain serious momentum. The Richmond Park result was huge as overturning a 23,015 majority in under 18 months isn't exactly chopped liver. I will admit that this by-election had ...
It should have been one of the government's more difficult weeks. News emerged that police forces in England are rationing how they respond to calls for help. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary says too many crimes are not being properly investigated and fewer prosecutions reaching the courts. That's the sort of Britain that works for everyone. Another watchdog, this time the Care Quality Commission, says 80% of hospitals are failing across a range of vital areas. That's the sort of Britain that works for everyone. In the House of Lords decency prevailed and the Noble members of that house voted ...
The Guardian has the story on its web site – see link above I despair more deeply every day as Mrs May(hem) takes us closer to a fascist sate where reasoned humanitarian arguments stand for nothing against the will of the rich and the powerful and make no mistake that's the direction she is taking us in in my view. That we have to reply on the unelected House of Lords to stand up for decency beggars belief but with Corbyn hitching his wagons to Mrs May's wagon train she has a massive majority to do pretty much as ...
On Tuesday, Ian Horner and I as Agent and Campaign Co-ordinator respectively cleared the by-election HQ for Stoke-on-Trent Central. Unlike many such events from former by-elections, this was no sad or weary wake. As we loaded up the bags and boxes, sorted out what could caravan into the next election portal we laughed, smiled and exchanged anecdotes of a campaign well fought. 1. Over 60% of the constituency that voted had voted against the Stoke Labour Party nominee, Gareth Snell. This result ws no ringing endorsement. 2. UKIP – the party that was going to win this unfairly designated "capital ...
Message from the County Council: I am writing to notify you of the forthcoming Highways Maintenance works due to take place on Sandpit Lane, St Albans. The works are due to commence on Monday 6th March and are programmed to take approximately 10 Nights to complete. Given the likelihood of danger to the public whilst the works are being undertaken, [...]
It seems as though UKIP aren't just being squeezed politically. The Electoral Commission are reporting that in the final quarter of 2016, they received only £33,000 in donations. It's interesting to note that the Lib Dems' donations were £1.973 million, £3K ahead of Labour. If this minimal level of funding continues, UKIP's struggles will get worse. They will lack the funds to mount national
Nearly 100 yeas ago (in 1922 to be exact, as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921) the Irish Free State "exited" the United Kingdom. Compared with the legalistic shenanigans of the UK's departure from the EU, the Irish exit was achieved only after a bloody and murderous struggle, which in some ways still continues. Nevertheless the status of what became Irish citizens still living in the rest of the UK at the time was astonishingly generous and civilised. They were and are welcome to stay, or go and come back, or bring out their relatives. Anyone still living ...
Thu 2nd
10:19LibLink: Willie Rennie: Lib Dems will make case for public vote on Brexit deal even after Article 50...
Willie Rennie, writing in the Perthshire Advertiser has made the case for a vote on the Brexit Deal. People can change their minds, he said, like the public did over Iraq. He reminds us that Charles Kennedy was vilified for his anti-war stance but he was vindicated in the end. And even if the government refuses to do something, it can be made to think again: If you think about the fuel duty protests in the year 2000. There was a UK Government with a majority of 179 in the House of Commons. It didn't have to have an election ...
Thu 2nd
09:04
When Labour loses the next general election, will Corbyn stay on as leader or step down?
I first thought about making the first word of the headline "if", but then figured why bother, let's get real here. I should also confess that the impetus for this article is a conversation I had this week with a friend of mine, Tim Barnes, who I should also by way of disclosure reveal is a Tory, about what Corbyn will do when Labour loses at the next general election. Tim thinks he will have to resign; I don't think Corbyn "has to" do anything, and will stay on as leader of the Labour Party – but perhaps not leader ...
It isn't only Labour activists and councillors who are switching to the Liberal Democrats, largely thanks to Europe. There's also a trickle from the Greens, with another one to welcome this week: A Green Party activist has defected to the Liberal Democrats, saying he has found his "natural home" and promising to stand up against a hard Brexit. Connor Clarke, aged 19, stood for the Greens in Plymstock Radford in last year's council election, winning 154 votes... Connor says he has not yet decided whether to run for council again, but believes the Lib Dems can have an influence on ...
The suggestion by Trade Unions that 1,160 jobs could be lost at the Bridgend Ford plant because of Brexit will be devastating and deeply concerning news for plant workers, their families and the communities they live in. The First Minister, who is currently in the USA, must of course, immediately seek assurances from Ford Executives on the future of the plant at Bridgend. The future of the Welsh and the local economy depends on it. First it was the steel workers at Port Talbot who were designated 'low priority' by the Conservatives, and now plant workers at Bridgend Ford face ...
The next Harris Academy Former Pupils' Association Lunch is on Monday 6th March at 12 noon. It will be held in Invercarse Hotel on Perth Road and the cost per person, payable on arrival, will be £16.00. More information is available from the FPs' Treasurer Freida Soutar on 562788. You can read more about the Harris Academy Former Pupils' Association here.
The second of Brian Wilson's two-album deal with Disney records is the one that Disney themselves were more interested in - an album of songs from Disney cartoons. Unfortunately, it seems like the album was less interesting to Wilson himself. ... Continue reading →
