This film was commissioned by the Colonial Office to promote Britain's police service to the colonies and Commonwealth states. It follows a typical day in the life of police constable Jack Edwards as he patrols his Leicester beat. Look for the old Midland Red bus garage in Peacock Lane, Charles Street police station, Leicester Central station and the London Road with a BOAC office. No doubt this film gives a false picture of policing in 1959, but the fact that we waned to see ourselves - and to be seen - like this is sobering in an age of tasers ...
Embed from Getty Images From the Guardian website this afternoon: George Galloway could be preparing for a political comeback in the highly contested Gorton byelection. The former MP will only say that he is "considering standing" - but sources say he has been on the campaign trail for three weeks. On Friday, Galloway was reportedly giving a talk to the congregation of a local mosque in the area, further signalling his bid to be elected to the Manchester seat, vacant since the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman. A source close to Galloway explained that the veteran leftwinger had picked the ...
Here's the new film from the Liberal Democrats, marking the doubling of the party's membership since its low point in the last Parliament.
At #ldconf we'll be giving two people the chance to win an exclusive copy of the Orange Book signed by @nick_clegg, David Laws and others! pic.twitter.com/tgDqNb6LfN— Liberal Reform (@liberal_reform) March 9, 2017When I saw this tweet I suspected it was a parody, but it does come from the official Liberal Reform account. The most vocal young economic liberals in the Liberal Democrats tended to find deeply principled reasons for leaving the party when it became clear the roof was going to fall in at the 2015 general election. But I am sure Liberal Reform will still find some keen to ...
On the 2nd March at 7.50 am I boarded a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Charleroi in Belgium. It is an hour and a half train journey from Charleroi to Brussels and the first thing that you notice is the friendliness of the people and the matter of fact way they switch from one language to another without pause. The next thing is the extent of the industrialisation of the landscape as it flashes by. I was travelling to join Catherine Bearder at the EU Parliament in Brussels on the European Information Program in the hope of finding out how ...
There are only 4 Lib Dem councillors in Liverpool at the moment (but we can't wait for elections to add to this). Every single one of us was name called and abused at the last meeting of the Council. Well ... Continue reading →
As noted in the previous post the Tories are good at choosing effective words and phrases to disguise reality. For much of the past seven years we've had their "long term economic plan" which most serious analysis demonstrated was getting us nowhere at all. Now the buzz-word to describe the economy is "resilient," the use of which is justified by claims of a level of growth higher and level of unemployment lower than most of our immediate neighbours. The key macro-economic variables I was taught, and have taught hundreds of others, to examine are growth, employment, balance of external payments ...
Energlyn Churchill says a more credible Labour leader than Jeremy Corbyn would help the Liberal Democrats. And he's right. "Our social care system is a leaky bucket. Large chunks of cash invested in social care end up in the hands of private investors. Instead of simply pouring an endless stream of public funds at the problem, we urgently need to fix the bucket." Sarah Lyall tells us how to do it. The effects of Britain's involvement in the slave trade are still with us, argues Chris Dillow. Sophie Miskiw on her father, the tabloid journalist and phone-hacker. "50 years after ...
[IMG: spire] Tim Bearder, former Campaigns Officer for South Central for the two years in the lead up to the General election is offering a discount to ALDC members for professional videos. After working for the BBC for over 12 years, Tim now runs a video production company and has made a number of short videos for [...]
Fri 10th
15:30
Lib Dems on Surrey County Council call on Tory leader to resign over 'sweetheart deal'
Some of you from outside the area may have missed the story that has been rumbling along about the communications and connections between the Government and Surrey County Council. Back in January Conservative-led Surrey announced that they were planning a 15% increase on Council tax this year. They could only implement that by holding a referendum, which they would hold on the same day as the county council elections. Then in February, David Hodge, the Leader of Surrey County Council, stated, to some bemusement, that they would not be holding the referendum after all. All became clear when Jeremy Corbyn ...
Embed from Getty Images There was a massive elephant in the British House of Commons on Wednesday. It was rampaging back and forth across the chamber, overturning tables, loudly trumpeting and waving his trunk from side to side. Its name was Brexit. Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond did his level best to ignore the distinctly unfriendly pachyderm. In fact, he did not utter the B-word once during his 45-minute budget speech. But the Brexit elephant was as plain to see as the chancellor's traditional red box. Growth forecasts for 2017, said the Chancellor, have been upgraded from 1.4 to ...
In the hours following the icy gales of Storm Doris, I caught up with Lynne at Taunton's most distinguished hotel, The Castle. This is the second instalment of our chat. You can read the others here. A more detailed discussion of the path to same sex marriage will appear tomorrow. Of your achievements in politics, where would you put the equal marriage bill? Oh, right at the top. It is the most public. It is the most clear cut and obvious. But it shares with others. Clearly the FGM campaign wouldn't have happened. I am incredibly proud of it because ...
Poor old John Major will be forever be remembered as the chap who thought a Cones Hotline was a great idea for drivers to call up when they were in a queue of traffic surround by cones but today it made me wonder. I joined a queue/traffic jam on the Bootle side of Switch Island this morning and it went all the way to Maghull Square shopping centre on the A59 – that's a long way! And I could not have been the only driver wondering what on earth was going on as all we could see was cones and ...
To state the blindingly obvious, Jeremy Corbyn is a car crash of a leader. He is now at the point where, even if he did suddenly start espousing credible policies, no one would listen on account of them coming out of his mouth. His credibility is nil. In the short term, this allows Liberal Democrats to stretch the point about being the only credible opposition to the Government. Whilst it exaggerates our meagre Commons presence somewhat, it does carry a little more weight in relation to the arithmetic in the Lords and, of course, the Party is enjoying a string ...
Fri 10th
10:40
Concern expressed about the plight of Polish people working in UK at Southport's Anglo Polish Annual...
The plight of Polish people and other EU citizens living and working in the UK was raised by Andrew Otto, a respected local solicitor and the Vice Chair of the Southport and District Anglo Polish Society, in his speech proposing the toast to the guests at the society's annual Lunch . Andrew was keen that the House of Lords should pass the amendment to safeguard the rights of folk already settled in the UK believing, as I do, that there is no risk that this will not be reciprocated. My role was to respond to Andrew's toast which I was ...
As the UK continues to drift away from the EU it becomes increasingly important to seek out new geopolitical alliances and trading partners. The Tories have pivoted towards the US to fill this role. However, with its scepticism of globalisation and lack of credibility the Trump administration is hardly an ideal ally. Instead we should turn towards Canada, Australia and New Zealand and form a "CANZUK Union". The CANZUK Union would be led by a Council of Prime Ministers and built on three pillars: free trade, freedom of movement and intergovernmental cooperation. A trade deal would strike down tariffs and ...
Imagine my surprise when watching Theresa May try and explain the Class 4 NIC debacle on last night's News at Ten, to hear the PM announce... "As the Chancellor made clear yesterday, we will use this moment of change to build a stronger economy and a fairer society" I don't know if this rings any bells with anyone... (see it here at 2.33 in....)
Fri 10th
10:15
The successful Tory backbench revolt over the budget demonstrates how terrible Corbyn is at oppositi...
The backlash from within Conservative circles to this week's budget has really been quite a thing to witness. The right of centre press has been filled with "NI increase for self-employed means communism is here/entrepreneurs will starve/the 2015 manifesto has been torn to shreds," and has been coupled with Tory backbenchers assurances that they will vote against anything that has the NI increase in it, the result of which has been a climb down. May has had to kick the whole thing into the long grass. It has been interesting to watch the government this week; they have grown too ...
[IMG: Budget] LDHQ have put together figures on the number of self-employed workers by constituency, giving an idea of how many will be hit by the Conservative tax hike on national insurance. You can find the figures broken down by constituency and region here, with the constituencies with the highest proportion of self-employed workers at the top. Please find [...]
With the local elections due in May, Blyth Town Council still has to meet to carry out the functions and duties that are assigned to us. That said, there are only 4 meetings scheduled for April. All are to be held at Arms Evertyne House , starting at 6:30 pm Tuesday 6th April - Planning and Development Committee Tuesday 11th April - Environment Services Committee Thursday 20th April - Events Committee Thursday 27th April - Planning and Development Committee As ever, if you are hoping to attend any of the meetings, please check with Blyth Town Council, or your local ...
The Midcounties Co-op on Foldgate Lane - formerly Harry Tuffins - has reduced its opening hours. It will open one hour later, from 7am Monday to Saturday and from 8am on Sunday. This is the only petrol station in town and many people need to get away before 7am in the morning. So, woe betide you if you fail to top up after a long day at work or commuting. You won't be able to fill your tank or grab a bacon butty to sustain you on your journey. This move is also likely to increase the queues for the ...
As the investigation continues into allegations by Channel Four that the Tories breached their expense limits in certain seats at the last General Election, the Independent quotes two 'whistleblowers' whose testimony could have a significant impact on the outcome of this investigation. The paper says that two Conservative activists have accused the party of "telling lies" over these allegations. They say that Gregg and Louise Kinsell, who campaigned for the party in several marginal constituencies, said Tory officials' claims they had not acted illegally were untrue: An investigation by Channel 4 has found the Conservatives transported busloads of volunteers to ...
The Derwent Valley Partnership has published the following information. Following the consultation event held on Tuesday 7th March at Consett Library outlining new proposals for Middle Street, Consett, please see the proposed design ideas attached for your information. These drawings can also be found by Residents, local representatives and businesses can comment and submit their feedback on the proposals by taking part in a short questionnaire which can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RWYMWRF The deadline for completed surveys is 11:45pm on Tuesday 21st March 2017. If you have any queries regarding the Middle Street consultation, please contact Fairhurst Consultants directly ...
Scottish Liberal Democrats gather in Perth today for our Spring Conference. Some of us gathered last night and enjoyed a delicious meal in a French restaurant. Sorry if I breathe garlic fumes on everybody I meet today. We meet just seven weeks before every council seat in Scotland is up for election. A better than expected result in last year's Holyrood elections, with solid parliamentary work on mental health, education and justice since has heartened the party but the national opinion polls are yet to show any significant movement in our favour. The political environment up here is very different ...
Good news – coming to you a little later than usual due to me drinking wine with my friends in the bar at the Scottish Conference hotel – from Oxfordshire. Hailey, Minster Lovell & Leafield (W. Oxfordshire): LD: 46.7% (+34.0) CON: 41.5% (+3.8) LAB: 5.8% (-4.5) GRN: 3.1% (-2.8) UKIP: 2.9% (+2.9) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 9, 2017 We await one result from Harrow. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
The White Paper on the Future of the EU: Which Way Forward for EU-27? My colleague @AnnalauraGallo on the EU's future. (tags: eu ) International Women's Day @SuzanneFGill on how the legal profession has changed - and must keep changing. (tags: sexandgenderandsexuality law ) Why the Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media The always excellent Tabibi advises caution. (tags: )
[IMG: C6gyp6yWsAQSC7c] There were seven by-elections in principal by-elections this evening – and the first success was a full slate of Lib Dem candidates! Labour didn't stand in two of the seven elections. Huge thank you to the candidates for standing, and the teams around them who organised the paperwork, delivered leaflets and knocked on doors! The [...]
