It's customary, though neither mandatory nor universal, for other parties not to put up a candidate against the Speaker when they are running for re-election. Not so this time with the Liberal Democrats and Speaker Bercow, as the party has just selected a prospective candidate: Delighted to be @BucksLibDems Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Buckingham, offering voters a strong voice in Parliament #GE2017 — Sarah Lowes (@SarahLowesLD) April 23, 2017
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 477th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (16-22 April, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. My on a hiding to nothing General ...
Sun 23rd
21:17
Labour still minus a candidate for #Hastings #StLeonards and #Rye as General Election looms!
Labour has thus far failed to select a candidate in Hastings & Rye with the general election just weeks away. The news has been revealed by the Liberal Democrats, who say that it shows Labour has "given up", even in some of its former strongholds. There are over 340 constituencies Labour has still not selected [...]
Some wonderful footage of East London and its railways in 1960.
The Leicester Mercury tells us that the Conservatives have yet to select their candidates for the three city constituencies: However the Mercury understands a number of Tory hopefuls would like a crack at Leicester West where Labour's Liz Kendall will defend a 7,000 majority. Leicester branch chairman Jack Hickey, who has said he will not seek to become a candidate himself, said: "West is the target. It's where we think we can do well. "We are huge underdogs. We are outnumbered, we are outmatched but we are like the 300 Spartans. "We are fewer but we are better."All rather fanciful, ...
What's this about then? Local residents have recently contacted my colleagues and I, about when our local area (Gunthorpe Ward including parts of Werrington) will finally have all the street lights updated to the LED style lamps? Council Officers at the Town Hall have now confirmed that all lights should have LED lights installed by [...]
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-39684287 The BBC has the story on its web site – See link above Well it's about trains so what would you expect from a blog site run by a railway enthusiast like me. And not as boring as politics either! Did I just say that? With thanks to spotter Keith Page
Many former Liberal Democrat MPs are working hard to win their seats back on 8 June. . But, reports Mark Leftly in the Guardian, Norman Baker has other plans: Rather than knocking on doors, Baker will be taking delivery of Britain's first electric-powered bus on Monday. Last month, he became managing director at the Big Lemon, a 10-year-old, eco-friendly bus operator in Brighton, where its single-deckers run on cooking oil - 112 tonnes of fat was used to fuel 16 buses and coaches for nearly 220,000 miles last year. Partly through crowdfunding and two-year bonds of £100 each to the ...
Very few people will be unaware of the upcoming General Election which is due to take place on June 8th 2017, but there are a couple of other very important elections which are due to take place on 4th May 2017. In Besses ward, which encompasses parts of both Whitefield and Unsworth, one of the [...]
It must be great to be the person in charge of the Tory smear campaign, because you have to do so little work of your own. Just nudge out a little bit of disinformation and wait for the circular firing squad (motto: 'the good is always the enemy of the perfect') of the left to pick it up and deploy it far beyond any reach you might have managed yourself. Having tested out the appratus on Tim Farron, which has now – despite the voices of many LGBT people – got elements of the left denouncing him as though he ...
IW Lib Dems reveal key priorities for 2017 council electionshttps://t.co/hOkjvjUMLH#IsleofWight @IOWLiberals pic.twitter.com/47lGSaENyj — OnTheWight (@onthewight) January 24, 2017 The Isle of Wight County Press reports: A FRESH face will be taking the reigns in the Isle of Wight Liberal Democrats' fight for parliament on June 8. Nicholas Belfitt, 24, of Shanklin, was selected as the parliamentary candidate at a local party meeting today Saturday. Mr Belfitt is the youngest parliamentary candidate on the Island but was Isle of Wight Lib Dem vice chair for two years, before being elected as party chair last autumn. He said: "I am deeply honoured ...
Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth Words are My Matter, by Ursula K. Le Guin Death's End, by Cixin Liu The Parrot's Theorem, by Denis Guedj Last books finished The Habit of Loving by Doris Lessing Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man, written by Tom King, illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez Walta Next books Lavondyss, by Robert Holdstock Argonautica, by Valerius Flaccus The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd
The Liberal Democrats have demanded the government publish a highly embarrassing report on air pollution before the election. Ed Davey, Lib Dem former cabinet minister for Energy and Climate Change, has said the government is reportedly blocking release of its report into air pollution because it is worried the "shaming" findings would become a major election issue. Ed Davey said: "Air pollution is one of the biggest health challenges in Britain today. The Conservatives have hidden the truth about their toxic policies. Increasingly air pollution is linked to a rise in asthma, COPD, heart conditions, and even recently to dementia. ...
... and, inevitably, they are massively cishetwhiteabledmale. This is a bit of a self-reinforcing thing, so I thought I would try to help out. The people on this list are not all people I agree with all the time, but they are all people you find things out from following, and they are all civil (none of them will start frothing at you for differing with them, although if you attack them they're perfectly capable of defending themselves or blocking/muting you). Journos and Pundits: Jen Williams - I'm with Gadsden on this, Jen is the best political journalist in the ...
If you want to get home safely after a night out then flag down a 'Black Hack' or ring up or use an app from a local company. Just getting into any old vehicle on the street is dangerous Last ... Continue reading →
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. 1. General Election Well, that was a bit of a surprise. This time last week no-one had any idea that Theresa May was going to call the general election that she had repeatedly promised not to call. Even though we didn't expect it the Lib Dems were prepared just in case. Our candidate will be Tim Hallam from Stapleford. Tim is an engineer ...
[IMG: MedwayCLPBob and Big Ben] The BBC reports: Former Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews has defected to the Lib Dems after describing Jeremy Corbyn's party as a "political basket case". Mr Marshall-Andrews told The Times he had jumped ship in light of the Brexit campaign and Labour's refusal to stand aside in the Richmond Park by-election. The QC and barrister was MP for Medway from 1997 to 2010. A Labour spokesman said: "Bob Marshall-Andrews has not been a member of the Labour Party for some years." Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said he was "coming over to the only party that ...
... I said all I wanted to say in the title, really. There's 37 more here if ppl want to go look :) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Borussia Dortmund bombs: 'Speculator' charged with bus attack - BBC NewsCopying [IMG: [personal profile] ] andrewducker's comment on this: "Now, I'm not saying all capitalists are to blame, but why have the leaders of the capitalist community not condemned this action by one of their members?" Chechnya's president 'vows to eliminate gay population by the end of May'You know those gay (and bi) people he said didn't exist only a couple of weeks ago? Well, he's going to eliminate them anyway. miss_s_b | When Worlds Collide, said George Pal to his Bride, I'm going to give you some terrible thrillsIn ...
"Things are looking brighter for the Lib Dems" - The Economist
The rot set in with Sailing in 1975, but before that the Faces were a great band and in the Sixties Rod the Mod was something of a counter culture figure. This was his first record, made in 1964. If he was meant to be backing Long John Baldry, it turned into more of a duet. There's more Long John Baldry on this blog, as well as a glimpse of Rod Stewart in 1965 and a nice anecdote about his In a Broken Dream.
Sun 23rd
10:30
The 'hit list' of Pro-EU Tory MPs the Lib Dems are targeting in Brexit election purge - Telegraph
The Telegraph reports: The Liberal Democrats have drawn up a hit-list of pro-EU Tory MPs who they want to unseat as they plot a Brexit purge for the election campaign. The Telegraph can reveal that four Conservatives in parts of the country which most voted to stay in the European Union have been singled out. Among those targeted will be Tania Mathias MP, whose Twickenham constituency overwhelmingly backed staying in the EU at last year's referendum. According to Lib Dem party analysis just one in three voters in Twickenham wanted Brexit – something the Tories are now promising to deliver ...
SOUTHWARK DISHES OUT MORE £100,000+ PAY PACKAGES THAN ANY OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITY IN BRITAIN I was stunned to hear that Southwark Council has the highest number of staff on pay packages above £100,000 of any local authority across Britain. The list, complied by the campaign group TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA), also revealed that Southwark has increased the number of staff who received remuneration in excess of £100,000 by over 26 in the past year, again more than any other council in Britain. With tough decisions currently being made on where to prioritise limited resources in Southwark this is a contentious decision ...
Tim Farron yesterday, positioned the Liberal Democrats as an independent force determined to fight for the country's best interests by opposing a hard Brexit, without being shackled to the interests of any other party. As the Observer reports, Farron ruled out any form of coalition with the Tories or Labour after the general election. Instead he set out a bold ambition to attract enough Remain voters to form the main opposition party in parliament: In a dramatic shift of strategy for a party that entered coalition with the Conservatives in 2010 in the "national interest", Farron said in an interview ...
Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron at Southport Station with Southport Councillor David Pullin. I want to make this clear. The Liberal Democrats will not enter into any coalition deal with either Theresa May's Conservatives or Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party. On Thursday 8th of June, every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to change the direction of our country and stop a hard Brexit. The reasons for this decision are simple. Under no conditions can we sign up to Theresa May's Hard Brexit agenda; a hard Brexit will be a disaster for Britain. It risks crashing our economy and ...
Labour supporters shouldn't be breaking out the champagne at the news that Labour is dominating online searches, picking up 60% of all search traffic at the moment.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has declared that momentum has given the Liberal Democrats the upper hand in the snap general election. Since the announcement on Tuesday of a snap election 8,000 people have joined the party with membership more than double than what it was before the election in 2015. The party also raised £500,000 in just 48 hours. In an email to members, Willie wrote: Nobody was expecting the announcement on Tuesday but the calling of the general election has given the Liberal Democrats real momentum. A staggering 8000 new members joined the party in the 48 ...
I'm really, really glad I've been to Montenegro. For a start, it is a visually incredible place, the mountains against the sea even more stark than in neighbouring Croatia. On a personal level, my general anxiety level decreased massively over the four days I spent in the country. However, first impressions of the place were slightly ropey. For a start, we had hoped more restaurants would be open in April as compared to its EU cousin, only to pick one that seemed to be hosting some sort of Balkans Mafioso convention. We went to an adjacent playground, only to find ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - ROAD REPORT FOR THE WEST END REPORT FOR WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 24 APRIL 2017 Riverside Esplanade/Riverside Drive (Tay Road Bridge off ramp to 75m along Riverside Drive) - westbound nearside lane closure for 30 weeks to facilitate V&A construction works. SSE Glenagnes Cable Renewal - Lochee Road lane restrictions and closures on Blinshall Street, Fleuchar Street and Scott Street for 4 months. Perth Road (at West Park Road) - off-peak temporary traffic lights on Friday 28 April for BT manhole repairs. Riverside Drive (at Tesco) - overnight (6.30pm - 6.00am) contraflow and eastbound lane closure on ...
The first Scottish opinion polls since the General Election was announced have been published and there's mixed news for the Liberal Democrats. Panelbase has us on just 5% (but that's still up since January) and Survation has us up 1 from the 2015 election at 9%. If we go up at the rate that we have done in every election other than 2015, we could be on for a fair few gains up here. Edinburgh West and North East Fife, both gained from the SNP at Holyrood last year are the top targets but seats like Caithness, Sutherland and Easter ...
A few weeks ago Lydiate Parish Council took a tough decision that it would very much rather have not made. It closed the open space around Lydiate Village Centre on Lambshear Lane at times the Village Centre itself is not open. Lydiate Village Centre The reason? Excessive dog fouling of the grassed area leading to young children being put in conflict with the fouled area. Not surprisingly the move has upset local dog walkers who do clear up after their dogs. As with many anti-social activities it is the actions of the few who care little for our communities that ...
Can Global Britain Defy Gravity? Probably not. "Perhaps the boost to productivity from being able to use incandescent light bulbs while vacuuming with high-powered hoovers will be significant, but the above suggests new free trade agreements alone can't do it." (tags: ukpolitics brexit eu economics )
Voters in France go to the polls today in the first round of presidential elections. If the opinion polls are right, none of the 11 candidates is likely to garner as much as a quarter of the votes, but what is crucial under the French voting system is which two come first and second — [...]
There has, rightly, been a lot of attention paid to the campaign to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, But there is another working bell foundry in England and it is here in Leicestershire. Wikipedia tells its story: John Taylor & Co, commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is in Loughborough, in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. The business originated in the 14th century and became Taylor's after the Taylor family took over in 1784. In 2009 Taylors went bankrupt but was bought out of administration ...
Labour has failed to select candidates in Gower, Brecon & Radnorshire or Carmarthen East & Dinefwr with the general election just weeks away. It seems that Labour has "given up", even in some of its former strongholds. A further twelve out of the forty seats in Wales await a Labour candidate, while there are over 340 constituencies Labour has still not selected for in England. In contrast the Liberal Democrats have selected 92% of their candidates in England and the Welsh Liberal Democrats virtually all their candidates in this region. It seems that Labour have simply given up in large ...
On the way to visiting Dad in hospital on Friday, I called into the new community cafe next to Watergate Park. It was its "trial day", opening for the first time to test the facilities. The official opening was on Saturday when I had to go to my action day in Birtley instead. A pleasant establishment. I recommend the cheese scones.
