Konni Zilliacus, the Labour MP for Manchester Gorton died In July 1967. Granada TV was there to film the resultant by-election. Click on the still of Terry Lacey above to watch it on the British Film Institute website. Kenneth Marks, the Labour candidate, held the seat with a much reduced majority. He was to represent Gorton until 1983, when he retired from the Commons and Gerald Kaufman moved over from Manchester Ardwick. (Much of his old seat was included in the redrawn Gorton.) The Conservative candidate was Winston Churchill, grandson of the wartime prime minister. He later sat for Stretford ...
These days everyone has tablets and smartphones and there is free wifi everywhere. But I started blogging in an era when internet cafes were important to the citizen journalist. You found them in every town, usually in the poorer quarters where overseas students gathered and wanted to make cheap phone calls home. Many were not cafes at all - you could not even get a coffee - and I wouldn't have logged in to any accounts involving money in them. But I do miss that heroic era of blogging. I remember sitting in an internet cafe in King's Lynn in ...
We've raised over £7,000 of our £15,000 target to back an additional 50 wards we are fighting to win this May. Thanks to the generosity of scores of ALDC and Liberal Democrat supporters, 20 seats are now receiving additional direct mail to help them win. We're now able to help: Neil Mottershead tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in Burnley Emily Smith fight for traffic improvements in Abingdon Beverley Baker defend her seat in Shropshire I'm sure you'll agree that on Friday May 5th we want to be seeing on the TV; hearing on the radio; and reading in the papers: ...
A shocking story from The Pool: What would a cricketer use to beat his wife? The answer is as obvious as it is devastating. Mustafa Bashir, 34, who plays for a local cricket league in Oldham, Greater Manchester, used his bat as part of vicious attacks against his wife, 33-year-old Fakhara Karim, in which he also poured bleach down her throat, grabbed her neck to the point she thought she would die, tried to break her fingers and slapped her so hard she fell unconscious. He threatened to kill himself before telling her that he wanted her to kill herself ...
Here is a neat explanation for you to share with anyone who wants to know. It was created by Damn Fine Media, which is run by two former BBC producers. * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
At the Blyth Town Council full council meeting last week I was presented with the pictured medal The cost to the council was relatively minimal, and is the only reminder of the year I had as Mayor of Blyth ( except of course some memories ) It is an honour to be voted Mayor by your fellow councillors, and an honour to be given this memento of my term of office
Embed from Getty Images We don't usually cover newspaper editorials, but the one yesterday in The Observer was extraordinarily angry and intense. The subeditors and author seemed to have had second thoughts about how it should be titled. The online version was originally headed "The triggering of article 50 jeopardises 60 years of unparalleled peace" – a quote from the piece, and a strong enough sentiment, but it does not do justice to rest of the hard-hitting post which begins: Like sheep, the British people, regardless of whether they support Brexit, are being herded off a cliff, duped and misled ...
The next Liberal Democrat federal conference will be in Bournemouth on 16-19 September (keeping the new 'temporary' sort-of-shorter format).
Embed from Getty Images Poker is a game that is not won by playing the hand but by playing the people. On May 29th, Theresa May will trigger Article 50 that will start the lengthy process of negotiating a deal with the EU. She might feel confident with the size of Britain's economy, outstanding financial service sector and vast number of international companies behind her. When compared to the might of the Single Market, it might not be enough. Liam Fox revealed the Prime Minister's intentions when he said, to give EU nationals the right to stay "before we get ...
Clearly it hasn't been a good weekend for residents of the new estates at Villa Real. I walked along Villa Real on Friday to visit the business park, and clearly smelled the silage-like smell of the anaerobic digester (as I have now also twice experienced on Medomsley Road by the Rugby Club). I then walked back along the front of Carr House Mews and then down through the estate, stopping to talk to some residents. It was, as one two or three year old resident put it, "A stinky day". By way of an update people need to know that ...
A few days back the Rev Giles Fraser had a very good column in the Guardian about praying after tragedies like the terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge. In the light of a radio presenter tweeting: Can everyone stop all this #PrayforLondon nonsense. It's these bloody stupid beliefs that help create this violence in the first [...]
Embed from Getty Images Since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader much of the Liberal Democrat's rhetoric has been aimed at portraying him as an extremist. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron claimed that Labour had "left the field" in a party conference speech. The implication of this claim is that Labour have left the centre ground to embark on a far leftist fellow-traveller path, seemingly ignoring the electoral success it gained from the dominating the centre ground in the New Labour years. In this way the Liberal Democrat comeback seemingly relies on a message that it is the ...
Mon 27th
12:25
Brexit – Labour have a bloody cheek having already backed the Tory's Hard Brexit at any cost!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39398049 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above I despair I really do! The party has that has back the Tories pretty much every inch of the way towards Brexit now has the bare-faced cheek to talk about what they will not support about Brexit. Hey Mr. Starmer that horse has bolted with the Labour Leadership riding it! What's the point in locking the stable door now, unless you are trying to cover Labour's tracks.
It's become common place for organisations to talk about using digital channels to amplify their activity. But (as I found out on a recent visit) over in Washington D.C., National Geographic has gone further and flipped around the usual relationship.
You get bad people in power because good people are doing other things. Sarah Olney Imagine, for just a second, less than two years ago you were living in relative obscurity. You were known to only a select few people - friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues. You belonged to no political party. Then, in only a few months, you rose from anonymity to the hottest national topic of the day, creating history along the way. The contrast is almost unimaginable. In short, that's the story of Sarah Olney. Five months have yet to pass since she overturned a 23,000 ...
Labour's announcement today that they will vote against any deal that leaves the UK with fewer benefits than are currently enjoyed by being full members of the EU is frankly unbelievable! Labour had a choice weeks ago. Standing at the Brexit bus stop, they saw two buses approaching, one heading for Soft, the other for Hard, Brexit. They flagged down the Hard Brexit service. They weren't just
Mon 27th
10:04
Len McCluskey is supposedly giving Corbyn 15 months to turn things around. So what happens in summer...
Over the weekend Len McCluskey gave an interview on Pienaar in which he talked a lot about the importance of workers' rights being protected during and after the Brexit process, the need for stronger unions in order to battle coming mechanisation, how key it is to return Britain to full employment.....I'm kidding, of course, he actually complained about Tom Watson for ten minutes. But he did reveal something of interest to those watching the (not so) slow death of the Labour Party: he dropped a hint that Corbyn may only have until the summer of 2018 to turn things around. ...
Some might say that it's admirable that Labour are laying out their six red lines in Brexit. Some might say that, I definitely don't. Labour's Six Points It's now far too late, the horse has bolted, the stable door is open, the flood gates are gaping wide; and many more metaphors. Labour trying to set... Read More Labour's six points are too little, too late
On Thursday evening I hosted the first civic reception for LGBT people in Bootle Town Hall. Members of Embrace- which is a network for all Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual (LGB) people who live, work or socialise in Sefton-attended including their Co-Chairs Dr Mike Homfray and Rach O'Brien. They were joined by Queer Notions a voluntary group that offers support, advice and information on mental health matters. I was particularly keen to host this reception as it marks an important stage in a journey from exclusion to full acceptance. The Town Hall is a venue for marriages and across England and ...
At the 13th Annual Africa Liberal Network (ALN) General Assembly, Africa's largest political network adopted the flagship Nairobi Delegation condemning the common practice of violence against women on the continent and committing the Network's members to working stringently to eliminate gender-based violence in their home countries. Acknowledging that violence against women remains one of the most widespread forms of human rights violations, the ALN has committed to working with their partners in Liberal International (LI) and liberal parties across the world, in opposition and in government, to condemn and eliminate gender-based violence. The Network's members agreed to promote and, where ...
Of all the lies and misleading statements put out by the Leave side during the referendum those on immigration were the worse. As has been pointed out many times many public services depend on immigrants for staff, not least the health service. Even if there were £350m a week more for health, a fantasy if ever there was one, the reality of Brexit is that we could not recruit enough staff to spend it effectively on patient treatment. Although there is two days to go before Article 50 is triggered and two years before we finally leave the EU, that ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of SSE cabling works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Brown Street (between Douglas Street and Miln Street), Dundee This notice comes into effect on Monday 27 March 2017 for 5 working days. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Diversion routes for vehicles available via Douglas Street / Blinshall Street / Miln Street For further information contact 433082. Executive Director of City DevelopmentDundee ...
What is this about then? The last three decades have seen the prison population in England and Wales almost double, from 44,975 in 1990 to 84,874 today. In December 2016, eighty out of 124 prisons in total were past 100% capacity and eighteen more were past 95% capacity. The Lib Dems have now put forward [...]
Raw Data from the Meat Atlas Are we what we eat? (tags: food ) The Most Expensive Weapon Ever Built More on the F-35, though less on the problems we keep hearing about. (tags: war ) Monica Lewinksy on Cyber-Bullying and Harassment She knows what she's talking about. (tags: psychology internet )
