Gateshead Lib Dem members' email newsletter has now been sent to recipients. The lead story is the selection of myself for Blaydon, Frank Hindle for Gateshead and Peter Maughan for Jarrow. There are also articles about campaigning in Birtley and in Dunston Hill and Whickham East. You can read the newsletter on this link.
Welcome to our Election Night open thread. We'll be looking at the results as they come in from all over the country. The most exciting thing we are likely to find out tonight is whether we have managed to make up ground in Cardiff. Most results come in tomorrow. Where are the key battlegrounds? Let's have a look at the elections being contested. Every council seat in Wales and Scotland is up for grabs, as is every County Council seat in England. For us key battlegrounds include Cardiff, Edinburgh and Cornwall. We have new mayoral contests in Greater Manchester (where ...
As polls close in the local elections, Tim Farron has emailed party members to say thanks for all the hard work they have done over many months which has culminated in a very long day today. Activists are in pain right now. Many have been on the go since before dawn. And under normal circumstances, they'd be able to rest up for a bit, but Theresa May had other plans for our lives for the next five weeks. Anyway, here's what Tim said: Hi Polls are now closed in England, Scotland and Wales. I want to thank every one of ...
An excellent dissection of political campaign ads work, starting with some lessons from Alfred Hitchcock.
What's this about then? A local resident recently contacted me about the issue of how long it takes to get into town, which made me wonder what your thoughts or experiences are? The resident told me, "The bus takes 20+ minutes to get me to Queensgate. I often can't spare that long, when the drive [...]
When I got back from delivering our Focus newsletter in Marley Hill on Sunday, I checked on my animals. I had one remaining pregnant goat, Spot, but when I got to the allotment, she was pregnant no more. She had given birth to two little billies. One was in good health but the other was very weak. I took the decision to take his home to nurse him. He would almost certainly have died if left
Embed from Getty Images Mark Pack brings the intriguing news that: Jo Roundell Greene, granddaughter of Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee and deputy leader of South Somerset District Council, has been selected by the Liberal Democrats as the prospective candidate for Yeovil:On a similar note, the Labour MP Lisa Nandy is the granddaughter of the Liberal MP and peer Frank Byers.
Thu 4th
18:48
Getaway Granny steals antique cabinet from England cricketer-turned-MMA-fighter Adam Hollioake
Thanks to the Evening Standard, we have our Headline of the Day.
Jo Roundell Greene, deputy leader of South Somerset District Council and granddaughter of Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee, has been selected by the Liberal Democrats as the prospective candidate for Yeovil: Cllr Roundell Greene said: "It is an honour to lead the local Liberal Democrat team into this crucial election. Knocking on doors I am struck by the number of people who have told me how badly they believe our area has been served in parliament since the last election. "I will ensure that we return to the high standards of representation which David Laws and Paddy Ashdown gave us ...
Maybe future general elections need to be arranged to have days off in the middle of them? Right now, all the politicos in the country are focused on the local elections, as are the journalists, though mostly because none of them want to run into trouble with reporting restrictions by covering the general election today. Of course, this isn't actually a day off for the people campaigning in the election, as much as the media like to spin the 'campaigning is over, now let's vote line'. Election days are long and busy – the way we do things might have ...
Thu 4th
15:50
LibLink: Nick Clegg: The EU knows Theresa May is deluded on Brexit and soon the Tories will
Nick Clegg has been writing for the Guardian on Theresa May's approach to Brexit. The article was published before May made her bizarre statement in Downing Street yesterday. Here is what Nick had to say later about that: Theresa May's desperate, bizarre statement could have come word for word from Nigel Farage. The Coalition of Hard Brexit between the Conservatives and UKIP is now complete, and it will be hard-pressed families up and down the country who will suffer most. In his Guardian article, he looks at the costs we are already paying for Brexit – which, remember, we were ...
Last night in Havering I was adopted as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Dagenham & Rainham, in East London/Essex. Apart from the fact that I have for years had dealings with local LibDems there while I was campaigning to be elected to the European Parliament (just missing out in 2004 and [...]
Thu 4th
14:20Lib Dem Aude Boubaker-Calder featured in article on EU nationals seeking election as councillors
The Scotsman ran a feature the other day on the candidates from the EU who are standing for election in Scotland's council elections. Aude Boubaker-Calder is standing in West Fife and Coastal Villages in Willie Rennie's old Westminster constituency. "I wanted to join a fair, tolerant party that supports the European Union," said Boubaker-Calder, who moved across the North Sea from Belgium after meeting her Scottish husband while working in Brussels. "In Belgium, we tend to be a bit more involved in politics as voting is compulsory. However, in Scotland, and the UK in general, people are more passionate when ...
In yesterday's third part of the interview, Jo talked about a range of issues from Easter eggs to body image. Today, it's the turn of equality issues, both in society and within the Party. The first part of the interview can be found here, and the second part here. Perhaps, what you are best known for is your continual fight for gender equality. You were the Minister for Women through much of the Coalition. In your recent article in the Huffington Post, you paint a bleak picture of the current state of the road towards gender equality and what, as ...
On Tuesday of this week our former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said on Radio 4's Today programme words to the effect that Mrs May and the Tories are more or less bound to win the election. Then on the same slot on Wednesday our present leader Tim Farron said she was "Slam dunk" (whatever hat means) for victory. I find this astonishing in any circumstances. Whoever went into a competition saying they were bound to lose? In the present circumstances it is outrageously timid. Throughout the "Western" world politics have never been so uncertain. In France not one but ...
Carl Cashman I'm voting for Carl Cashman today. He's a fresh new voice for the Liverpool City Region. Hope you will support Carl too in the polling booth.
The Independent has the story on its web site – see link above 'The latest polls show most people think Brexit was a mistake. This could be a turning point'
Thu 4th
11:30Willie Rennie: Every Liberal Democrat councillor will be a champion for their community, not a cheer...
Willie Rennie has delivered his final rallying call of the Council campaign in Scotland. Every council seat in the country is up for grabs today. This is what he had to say: It is incredibly important that everyone has their say on who they want to represent their community. Every Liberal Democrat Councillor will be a local champion that communities deserve. They will work all year round, not just at election time. Despite the Greens and the SNP wanting to put independence back to the top of the agenda, Liberal Democrats will serve to deliver the improvements to local services ...
Thu 4th
11:00
Everyone compares the current era to the 1930s. But it's more like the 1920s and here's how
The 1920s are often thought of historically as the calm between two storms; the jazz era that was a brief flicker of stability between the First World War and the Great Depression. However, in Britain it was a very politically turbulent time, with three general elections being called in the space of two years. The Conservatives came into the 1922 general election with a small majority, but facing a fractured opposition made up of split parties, nationalists, and emerging third entities. The election was fought under new boundaries which reduced the number of MPs from 707 at the 1918 election ...
Chechen authorities 'summon parents to prison camps to kill their gay sons' This gets more horrific by the day. weekly_food_challenge | Challenge 16: Chickpeas: Nachos with Cheats' Salsa & Mojito Hummus a.k.a. What I Had For Lunch when I suddenly realised I hadn't posted anything for WFC and the next challenge was due. Fact-checking doesn't 'backfire,' new study suggests The backfire effect may be a lot rarer than we're led to believe. REPORT: Bisexuals Face Biphobia at Doctor's Office, LGBT Groups ITV urged to 'empty chair' Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn over election debate snub New zinc battery competes with ...
I can still hear the mantra now, especially as those who have adopted it repeat it at every opportunity - Brexit they say means taking back control. Really? Putting aside the rather large aberration wherein the Brexiteers tried to keep all the big decisions away from the democratically elected Parliament, at least one eminent law lord thinks that coming out of the EU will disempower Parliament, rather then empower it. As the Guardian reports, Lord Judge is concerned that by the time Brexit is completed and the "great repeal bill" enacted, MPs and peers will have effectively given away their ...
Saturday and Sunday campaigning was all about leaflets: writing and delivering them! Our 4th leaflet of the campaign was the Sunniside Focus. (See images above and below.) It had been planned well before the election was called but to make way for general election content, I had to drop 5 local news stories from it. They will appear in our next edition and in our forthcoming eFocus email
With more and more people relying on the private rented sector for their housing, the Liberal Democrats will be looking to develop a workable policy that supports tenants and encourages good landlords. Last year Caroline Pidgeon from the Greater London Assembly published startling research. It showed that in the whole of 2015/16, just 411 landlords had been prosecuted across the capital, with a quarter of all boroughs not prosecuting any landlord at all. This is despite there being over 400 regulations governing the sector. This highlights that the problem of tackling bad landlords is in large part due to regulations ...
The latest YouGov poll asked people to name, unprompted, any Conservative or Labour election slogan they have heard.
The party's digital people are really on form at the moment. Within hours of Tim Farron's friendly argument with a voter yesterday, they had this out on social media contrasting what happens when Tim and Theresa go out in public. Tim chats away to anyone and came out of that experience with Malcolm very well. Theresa, well, doesn't really meet ordinary people. This is important because in a democracy, people need to see their leaders under intense public scrutiny. No idea should go unchallenged. Anyway, enjoy. Watch what happened when Theresa May and Tim Farron met the public. Two very ...
Polling stations opened at 7am this morning for unitary and local council elections across Shropshire. Here is Ludlow, all four unitary seats are being contested, along with two town council seats. The polls close at 10pm tonight. The votes will be counted tomorrow. Please vote for your Lib Dem candidate. We work hard for the interests of the areas we represent and for the future of our county. Richard Huffer, Tracey Huffer, Vivienne Parry, Andy Boddington Liberal Democrat candidates for Ludlow and Clee Unitary candidates Ludlow North. Candidates: Andy Boddington (Lib Dem), Simon Harris (Conservative), Linda Senior (Green), Christopher Woodward ...
13 times Eurovision got super political A partial explanation for the interested but confused. (tags: eurovision ) You're not going to believe what I'm about to tell you This is great. Read it to the end. (tags: comics ) The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election Long but convincing from @NateSilver538. (tags: uspolitics )
There are local elections today in Scotland, Wales and across much of England. If you have an election in your patch, here is the key voting information.
There are few empirical studies outside of academia that have looked into what makes an accomplished negotiator. However, in 1978(*), Neil Rackham and John Carlisle of the Huthwaite Group conducted one that went beyond game playing. Their work compared the behaviour of a number of accomplished negotiators with ones rated merely average by their peers. They found that accomplished negotiators: ... The post What makes an accomplished negotiator? appeared first on ten pence piece.
Yes, it's polling day for many of our readers, including here in Suffolk, where I'm our candidate in the evocatively named Upper Gipping division. It's a river, by the way. Good luck to everyone, be it as candidate, agent, activist or supporter. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Here, again, are some of the press releases not covered elsewhere on our pages that were issued yesterday... Lamb: IFS figures reveal both health and social care spending to fall per person Both health and social care spending per person are set to fall in the coming years under current government plans, analysis ...
Norman Lamb has responded with anger to reports that more than five million people could be waiting for NHS treatment within two years, according to confidential documents reported in The Times. Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Norman Lamb said: "This is further evidence of a health service facing impossible challenges. "The inevitable consequence of growing waiting lists is that those
Responding to reports Theresa May plans to push through a vote to bomb Syria if she wins the elections, Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said: "The idea that after months of disinterest and inaction Theresa May would back military intervention against
