Here is Richard Williams as quoted on this blog back in 2009: Ray Wilkins was 18 years old when Eddie McCreadie gave him the captaincy of Chelsea back in 1975, with the team newly relegated to the old Second Division. The fresh-faced teenager was succeeding Ron "Chopper" Harris, the most gnarled of veterans. To outsiders it seemed as though McCreadie was taking an outrageous chance. But Wilkins's precocious calmness and football intelligence made him a superb captain of a side that mixed a few old stagers - Peter Bonetti, David Webb, Charlie Cooke, Ian Hutchinson - with a lot of ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

It's Lib Dem spring conference and for the second year running, we are in York. I arrived this afternoon, complete with cameras, tripod, laptop and 2 day's worth of underwear. As is always the case, conference rally is held on the Friday evening. Tonight's was by far the best attended I have experienced. That may be down to the fact that about a quarter of the people in the conference hall were

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace

From the Leicester Mercury: A senior Ukip official has told potential candidates they "can make money by doing nothing" if they get elected to Leicestershire County Council. Harborough Ukip chairman Richard Billington told colleagues if 'by chance' they win a seat at County Hall on May 4 they can avoid going to meetings and collect their expenses "until they are asked to leave". He said: "If the half-wits in the Lords can make money by doing nothing, so can we! It's a strange thing democracy!" Mr Billington made the comments in an email sent earlier this month regarding a meeting ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met this afternoon to go through the amendments, emergency motions and topic issues submitted for spring conference. Thank you to all those who submitted items for consideration – unfortunately, the deadlines for spring conference are very tight compared to autumn, so we do not have time to give everyone the individual feedback on amendments and motions we usually would. The full text of selected amendments and emergency motions will appear in Conference Daily. Emergency motions are selected by ballot and papers should be returned to the ballot box in the auditorium on Saturday morning. Full details ...

Posted by Zoe OConnell on Liberal Democrat Voice

Here's what Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron had to say at the Friday night rally at the Liberal Democrat conference in York (with slight improvements): So, never let it be said that I don't play fair. My daughter Gracie went on Spanish exchange to Madrid last month to stay with her friend Alba, and her parents took them to Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium. This week it's our turn to host Alba, and where have we taken her in return? That's right, we've brought her here to Liberal Democrat party conference. We're telling her it's Wembley. We told her the truth ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

See? Razor-sharp analysis. The old boy is not such a buffer as some suppose. Friday Home from Stoke-on-Trent where I have been helping in the by-election. I have nothing against the good people of Copeland, but a chap doesn't want to glow in the dark, what? Besides, I had promised Cook I would buy a replacement pie dish for the Wedgwood one that good broken on the night we celebrated Sarah Olney's victory in the Richmond Park by-election. I am afraid that Ukip's candidate was something of a dud: no one believed his claims to have been the first Briton ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Coastal Scene ("Latest news and sport from the Suffolk coast") wins our Headline of the Day Award.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

At the Conference rally tonight, Nick Clegg will take apart the arguments of the Brexiteers, calling them shameless. He will say: I've had enough of the continued, blatant attempt by Brexiteers to pull the wool over the public's eyes. They spread fake news as indiscriminately as Trump's Twitter rants. It started on the campaign trail with a promise of £350 million for the NHS – rejected by its authors the day after the result. Since then we've had patently false claims that Brexit will lead to more not less trade – a logical impossibility if we leave the EU's single ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

In a few years' time, when people may well be wondering why Parliament didn't stop the Government in its reckless pursuit of the most damaging brexit possible, it will be clear who stood up for their rights. As Labour crumbled in farce, Liberal Democrat peers stood firm for the rights of the EU nationals who are are parents, neighbours, partners, co-workers and against the Government. The Lib Dem lords did all they could to prevent the disaster. Here is Jonny Oates' speech when pressing the issue to a vote. My Lords, I move this Motion for the following reasons. First, ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

As you read this, Liberal Democrats will be arriving in York. I'll be just about to head to lunch with some friends in a place called Sutlers. Never been there before, but anywhere that boasts of having 100 gins is good by me. Conference kicks off at 3 with various consultation sessions. These are an important part of our policy making process. The Federal Policy Committee sets up working groups to look at various subjects. They take evidence from experts and consult members. Once they have done that, they draw their conclusions into a final paper which is debated by ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

Click on the graphic above to enlarge it Just an initial shout out that a planning application has been submitted to Sefton Council with regard to land off Turnbridge Road, Maghull. Whilst the access will be from Maghull all the site is actually within Lydiate Civil Parish as Maghull Brook (the boundary) runs along the end of Turnbridge Road. Above you will find a link to the documents about the application on Sefton Council's Planning Web Site. Maghull/Lydiate residents will recall that the site has been somewhat controversial due to the Forestry Commission taking a dim view of the ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Its Spring and much is stirring as people look cheerfully ahead at prospects new. Every well informed individual in the schools sector though looks ahead with scarcely disguised pessimism. There is one very obvious reason for this. School funding is scheduled to nose dive. Heads know it,teachers know it and gradually parents are getting to hear about it. Today we have seen a new report published by the Education Policy Institute underlining the same grim statistics that troubled everyone from the National Union of Teachersto the National Audit Office. The message is stark. Rejigging pupil funding on a national ...

Posted by John Pugh MP on Liberal Democrat Voice

The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above Air pollution is probably one of the biggest health issues that we face these days and Bootle seems to have more than its fair share.

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus
Fri 17th
11:34

Just asking

Our only vision of what leaving would entail came from the xenophobic rantings of a faux working class muppet or whatever random thought happened to flash through Boris Johnson's mind when someone shoved a microphone in his face. Continue reading →

Posted by Simon Perks on Simon Perks

Liberal Democrats, and social democrats in the Labour party, share two key priorities. We want to improve social justice, and, to fund that work, we need to strengthen the economy. We've often argued about the best way to do this, both within our parties and between them. But the decisions of the 2010-2015 parliament are behind us, and we need to look forward. Unfortunately, deficits aren't in the past. Since 2010, the deficit, when adjusted for the economic cycle, has fallen by about 40%. But it's still around £65 billion a year. And the existing deficit is only one of ...

Posted by George Kendall on Liberal Democrat Voice

I represented the Gateshead Lib Dem Council Group on Monday at the Commonwealth Day flag-raising ceremony at the Civic Centre. This is the video I filmed on the day.

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace

No seats changed hands in last night's by-elections but there were some solid rises in vote share for the Liberal Democrat candidates. The Conservatives may have held on to Walton-le-Dale East ward in South Ribbble but it was Liberal Democrat candidate Alison Hesketh-Holt who was the real winner, gaining 14.6% of the vote. We didn't stand last time the seat was fought. Walton le Dale East (South Ribble) result: CON: 49.4% (-5.1) LAB: 36.0% (-9.4) LDEM: 14.6% (+14.6) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) 16 March 2017 An even bigger vote, 15.1% was similarly won by Andrew Thorpe in the Saham Toney ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and Jo Barton are holding their next advice centre in Churchtownn We will be at BoxTree Kitchen for Queenscourt café, Manor Road/Cambridge Road, roundabout, from 10:30 to 11.30am on Thursday 23rd March. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We alo hold a monthly advice centre in Crossens, at St John's School, Rufford Road, Crossens every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month from 11:00 am to 12:00.

Posted by John Dodd on Meols Lib Dems

Local resident Ian Muirhead with Cllrs Claire Young and Paul Hulbert Your local Focus team has been campaigning for a more reliable Southmead Hospital 82 bus service with a later bus back. Some buses have been manned by drivers who don't know the route and rely on passengers' directions - one tried to drive into the Ministry of Defence by mistake. Many of the buses on this route are old and leak water onto passengers when it rains. Sadly, we are still regularly receiving complaints about late running and cancelled buses, as covered by the Gazette newspaper this week. However ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

With my historian's hat on, I was invited as part of Sunniside History Society's Fugar history project to do a talk to a class of 28 nine year olds at Washingwell School about life as a peasant 800 years ago. The focus of the talk was food and I took in with me some of the foods eaten in 1217 (nettles, wild garlic, a fresh trout, 2 quail, pig's trotters and pig's head). I also took in a

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace
eUKhost

Preface: the Labour Party does not make this list, or indeed, even come close to doing so. At present, they do not constitute an opposition of any description. Yet politics abhors a vacuum, so other forces have inevitably filled the void, albeit not as well as a unified, real official opposition would do. The SNP Even a few weeks ago I wouldn't have put this number one, but watching the usually assured May make several missteps this past week as a direct result of Nicola Sturgeon, I have to reward them with top spot, at least for the time being. ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

I am not talking about the court ruling on version two of his travel ban. Neither am I talking about the mounting incredulity over his wiretapping claims and tax returns. I am talking about an event that took place 3,843 miles away from the White House on the other side of the Atlantic– the Dutch general election. Trump's man was Geert Wilders. The anti-EU, anti-immigration, racist leader of the Netherlands' Freedom Party who has bounced in and out of the Dutch courts on hate crime charges. There was never any question of Wilders winning a majority in parliament and forming ...

Posted by Tom Arms on Liberal Democrat Voice

 

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition apart from the odd Welsh Tory. The Daily Post reports that the Conservative Party has distanced itself from one of its own prominent Brexit campaigners after he appeared to call for the return of religious persecution. They say that Dr Felix Aubel, who was the West Wales co-ordinator for the pro-Brexit Vote Leave campaign, responded to a Swedish far-right blogger by asking: "When will today's Christian Europe say "Enough is Enough", just like the Christian Spaniards did at the end of the Middle Ages?" As the paper points out, in the Middle Ages the Spanish ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

A planning appeal decision for housing in Wem earlier this week shows that Shropshire Council could have won a judicial review over the aberrant decision to approve 137 houses off Foldgate Lane. The council has never given strong reasons for not going to court. It has refused to publish the legal advice it received. I think it would have gone to court if Foldgate Lane had been further north in the county. The lead cabinet member and senor officers did not even bother to visit Foldgate Lane before making their decision. In a statement slipped out just before Christmas, Shropshire ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Off-radar lobbying damages us all Lobbyists are in favour of transparency. (tags: lobbying ) Three Things to Know About the Dutch Election Results My colleague Daniel Benjamens explains. (tags: netherlands ) The Oxford comma: A Maine court settled the grammar debate over serial commas with a ruling on overtime pay for dairy-truck drivers Be careful! (tags: english law punctuation )

The first big showcase event of Spring conference takes place this evening. At the rally, Tim Farron will call on pro Europeans to stand and fight. First of all, though, he may gloat a bit about being named Remoaner in Chief by Arron Banks's outfit: If remoaning means standing up for EU citizens who have made their lives here in the UK. If remoaning means demanding that the British people have the final say in this process If remoaning means standing up for a family of nations that has healed the wounds of two world wars and a terrifying cold ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

On Tuesday last week, Sunniside History Society celebrated its 25th anniversary. Founded in March 1992, it has been going strongly ever since. A celebration was held to mark the occasion with a birthday cake (cut by Eleanor Baty, one of the founders) and a quiz about events of 1992. My job was to write and present the quiz. It was a great evening and hopefully the Society will continue to be

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace