Speaking at a meeting in Mellor Brook on Wednesday night (10/05/17) former Ribble Valley Lib Dem MP Michael Carr helped launch Allan Knox's 2017 campaign to win the seat for the Lib Dems. At the meeting Michael Carr said: "Allan has a proven record of success locally in the Ribble Valley and would make a fine MP. "Since the advent of the EU and the single market; the nations of Europe have lived in peaceful and prosperous harmony. Where once our fathers and grandfathers were fighting two world wars within 30 years, we now have a continent at peace. Where ...
A few years ago, while working with Islamic Relief Worldwide I embarked on a lovely project with World Vision International to develop training for faith leaders and organisations that will help them be more conflict sensitive and effective. World Vision use the... Read More ›
Wed 10th
23:15
Election notebook #9: Regressive Alliance; 2 policies I like (and 1 I don't); & my letter to Mrs...
What to make of the much-mooted 'Progressive Alliance', with some on the liberal-left urging their parties to gang up on the Conservatives? In 1997, anti-Tory tactical voting delivered a body blow to the Major government, halving its number of MPs overnight. Yet in both 1992 and 2015, the prospect of a Labour prime minister in a hung parliament spooked the electorate into holding onto nurse for fear of something worse. So which scenario might it be in 2017? It's no surprise it's come up now. Last week's local election results, with the dramatic collapse of Ukip whose vote was largely ...
Responding to the Conservatives' announcement on defence spending, former Liberal Democrat leader and ex-Royal Marine Paddy Ashdown said: "This Conservative government has slashed funding on defence, cut our Royal Marines and left our troops on the front line without basic equipment."Billions has been spent on big ticket items that we may not even have enough troops to use. "Of course adequate spending on defence is welcome and necessary, but this is a piece of last-minute chicanery to cover up the Conservative's dismal record. "No wonder Britain's top generals have accused the Tories of trying to deceive the public over defence ...
More evocative footage of a lost branch line, This one closed to passengers the year after the film was shot.
It's reached Market Harborough. It's reached a Market Harborough school where, in an earlier life, I was a governor. The Daily Mail reports: A primary school has been accused of 'going back to Victorian times' by insisting children walk around the grounds with their hands behind their backs. Teachers at Market Harborough Church of England Academy say the antiquated rule is for the 'safety' of pupils and to encourage a 'calm' atmosphere. The ruling is also in force when youngsters finish their lunchtime break and return to classrooms. Angry parents have dubbed the new rule 'draconian' and blasted the school ...
The unitary elections were not a disaster for any political party other than UKIP. The Liberal Democrats lost one seat to the Conservatives as did Labour and an independent. The Greens lost one seat but gained another. Although the Conservatives gained 7% more votes and one more seat over 2013, the opposition was far from decimated. Could more seats have been won if the opposition parties had cooperated? I think so. And if we had have done so, we might have created a very different, progressive future for our county. My inbox is full of emails from supporters of a ...
Conservative member Peter Reynolds says Theresa May is not strong and stable but cowardly, evasive and weak. "This divorce is not going well. And the proceedings have only just started. There is a long road ahead. Heaven knows what sort of country we will be at the end of it. But, as with any divorce, we can be fairly confident that it is the children who will suffer the most." Chris Patten on what Brexit means for Britain's future. Leonard Pozner, whose son Noah died at Sandy Hook, writes about dealing with the conspiracy theorists and hoaxers who have taunted ...
Today we had the shock news that British election law is so weak that it's very very hard to actually break it (which is probably why Phil Woolas was so shocked that a court found he actually had). The main problem, I find, is that what people think election law should be is a very long way away from what it is. For instance, a number of times I've heard people (of all parties) complaining about a leaflet, a poster, or something else and saying they're going to go and complain to the Returning Officer. The Returning Officer has no ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: Jonathan woke up. How dare someone wake him so early on a Sunday? He opened one eye, like a bulldog, and scratched the spot on his chin. The door between his room and Lea's was open as usual. The high nasal voice kept talking: 'Thales walked across the fields with a servant-girl by his side.' For some reason this was on my pile of unread non-fiction books, though in fact it is a fictional Sophie's World type of story about three children and a retired bookseller discovering the history of mathematics. There is a rather ...
Pie charts make an occasional appearance in political leaflets but bar charts are very much the dominant form. Why?
I don't watch Andrew Marr's Sunday morning politics programme because I'm at church at the time it is broadcast and never seem to be able to find "catch-up" time. However I understand that two weeks ago (30thApril) Theresa May persistently evaded Marr's questions about nurses having to go to food banks because they couldn't afford to buy food, but three times referred to the need for a "strong economy" and a government which "understands the importance of the strength of the economy." Well, who would argue against the desirability of a flourishing economy? But the impression Mrs May gives, and ...
Wed 10th
16:49
The meaning of Moon: 8 thoughts on the progressive victory in Korea (Cable from Korea #12)
Whilst much of the world moves to the right South Korea goes left. Here's what I think that means. Apology 1: I wrote this in a hurry to ensure you could read it whilst it was still topical. As a result there will be more grammatical errors, and fewer references and hyperlinks than I [...]
Tim Farron was challenged this morning on the radio whether the decision by the local party to stand down in Brighton Pavilion respresented some sort of deal. It isn't, and nor should it be. For all my long standing political differences with the Greens, I, like Tim, am relaxed about this decision. We weren't going to win in Brighton Pavilion, and it is only fair that the Greens have a voice in parliament. Their politics are really quite bad in some ways but it is better they have a voice than are silenced. And tactically, I'd rather see a remainer ...
What's this to do with? As detailed in the Council's Medium Term Financial Strategy, published earlier in the year, our local authority announced it faces budget gaps of between £20m to £30m each year over next 4 years! Given the council's total net budget in 2016/17 was £163.4 million, this means cuts of up to 30% [...]
I'm just writing this as a brief update with thoughts on the ongoing campaign, which may be of use to others in some cases. Events & Polling We've had two major events so far since the campaign being called: the local elections and the CPS decision. The latter has, probably rightly legally albeit frustratingly, proven [...]
Liberal Democrat Newswire #95 came out at the weekend, taking a look at how the Liberal Democrats performed in last week's local elections. You can now read it in full below, but if you'd like the convenience of getting it direct by email in future just sign up for it here: A warm welcome to all [...]
The idea of knocking on strangers' doors and asking them how to vote can be a bit daunting. Even those of us who are experienced at it can feel a bit nervous about doing it sometimes – but the good news is that as soon as you are out and you have knocked on a few doors, you really start to enjoy it. Last night I headed out for my first big canvassing session with the fantastic Edinburgh West team. Such an awesome response on the doors of Murrayfield in Edinburgh West for @Cajardine and @scotlibdems #LibDemFightback #GE17 pic.twitter.com/iybQ9vEBF9 — ...
Willie Rennie has been up in the Highlands these past couple of days. Yesterday, he helped out in a restaurant and cocktail bar in Tain to launch Jamie Stone's campaign for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. Thankfully they didn't let him make any fried rice. When he was a student he thought that you actually had to fry it like an egg. Cooking up a storm with our candidates in the Highlands. Only Liberal Democrats can save the Highlands from the SNP. pic.twitter.com/I7lqgHVbky — Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) May 9, 2017 Today, he's visiting an ironing company in Dingwall (Lib Dems ...
Wed 10th
12:18
As on Twitter, so on DW: regarding the CPS decision on the Tory Election Expenses Scandal
Please, please be careful when commenting on Tory Expenses. Tories are generally not shy of litigiousness. Don't libel anyone. But remember this quote from the CPS report, when the inevitable Tory fulmination about being "cleared of any wrongdoing" happens: [IMG: Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest] That is not "cleared of any wrongdoing". You don't generally get "cleared of any wrongdoing" under English criminal law; you either get convicted, or you get "we can't prove you did ...
I am the Lib Dem PPC for Dartford in the upcoming general election, and, like candidates up and down the country, my campaign is being dominated by local issues. This is right and proper, a good MP can make their constituents' lives better in so many ways, and for most voters, the key issues are always going to be the things that affect them directly. However, in my day job, I am also a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, an academic institute that studies, and tries to prevent, human extinction level threats. As academic institutes ...
Labour will simply continue to back Teresa May's Brexit which will hit the poor and least fortunate the most.
Here is the long-awaited CPS statement on the election expenses matter. Can we also just remind you of our earlier post about comments. In summary, say nothing because you may fall foul of a plethora of defamation or contempt or electoral laws. The statement reads "We considered whether candidates and election agents working in constituencies that were visited by the Party's 'Battle Bus' may have committed a criminal offence by not declaring related expenditure on their local returns. Instead, as the Electoral Commission found in its report, these costs were recorded as national expenditure by the Party. "We reviewed the ...
The traditional wisdom about the left-right axis in western politics is that people feel that the Left's heart is in the right place, but that they often lack the competence to govern effectively; while the Right are grumpy bastards who may have impure intent, but at least they know how to keep things running properly. One of the unspoken reasons for why we're about to witness a Tory landslide is that the British Left is very quickly losing its "heart in the right place" USP – all while being incredibly incompetent at the same time. This has mostly happened since ...
Lib Dem rival 'cut out of photo of Vauxhall Labour candidate Kate Hoey'...but his legs remainIf you're going to photoshop, photoshop well. Lib Dems Pledge Free Sanitary Products For All School GirlsSimple but effective policy. Centralisation and chaos - inside the rush to select Conservative candidates in time for the electionRT @wallaceme: "CCHQ didn't have enough candidates approved, so ended up doing emergency interviews by Skype, and with no research" I'm really glad that we Lib Dems prepared for a snap election last year and mostly avoided this kind of thing. An actually useful guide to General Election 2017 online ...
The CPS is due to announce at 11 am whether charges will be brought over the Conservatives' expenses in the 2015 General Election. Whatever the outcome, we would urge extreme caution in what you say and write online regarding this. From the BBC: The CPS is considering files sent by police following investigations in up to 27 constituencies. It relates to claims some campaigning costs in the 2015 general election were wrongly recorded. The Conservative Party has insisted administrative errors were to blame rather than any intention to deceive. And it has said some of the spending was correctly declared. ...
Funnily enough not by a political party - by the Ministry of Sound, from the 1997 campaign. Still as brilliant as ever
Embed from Getty Images This (above) is a slide show courtesy of Getty Images. Click on the arrows to see all five photos of Tim's glorious descension into Burnham-on-Sea yesterday Well, you have to admire the pluck of Tim Farron. As a keen student of Liberal History, I am sure he is aware of the intimate details of Jeremy Thorpe's 1974 hovercraft adventure. That was the year of two elections – one in February and one in October. In fact, if you ask the great Paul Tyler, he will tell you all about this, because he was MP for Bodmin ...
As Labour MPs struggle to show a united front behind Jeremy Corbyn's candidacy for Prime Minister, it appears that beneath the surface more nefarious matters are being discussed. The Telegraph reports that Jeremy Corbyn's announcement that he intends to stay on as leader, even if his party is slaughtered at the polls, has caused huge unrest amongst his Parliamentary Party. The paper says that as many as 100 of the party's MPs are set to walk out and form their own breakaway group in an attempt to force him to quit: Moderate Labour candidates are already in talks with potential ...
Residents will recall that the former toilets in Lochee Park were finally demolished last November. I have had a number of enquiries about the state of the site within the park where they were situated - see below : I contacted Neighbourhood Services at the City Council about this and have now been assured that the area will be prepared and seeded in the coming weeks to add to the grassed area within Lochee Park.
Last night I introduced you to Dr Teck Khong, Ukip's candidate for Harborough on 8 June, He has featured on this blog a couple of times before. Dr Khong was on the shortlist of three from which the Conservative candidate for the 2011 Leicester South by-election was chosen, but did not make the cut. And he was himself the victim of a racist speech by one of his Conservative colleagues on Oadby and Wigston Borough Council in 2015. I wish him joy in Ukip.
Banks planning to move 9,000 jobs from Britain because of Brexit | Reuters #TakingBackControl (tags: eu brexit ukpolitics ) Centralisation and chaos The Conservatives' internal problems. (tags: ukpolitics ) A forecast of the 2017 UK general election Pretty broad! From @chrishanretty. (tags: ) Mississippi's richest county uses police checkpoints to enforce segregation, lawsuit claims Yep. (tags: uspolitics race )
This is the extra funding the Liberal Democrats are committed to providing for schools in the West Midlands Local Authority Per Pupil Spend Funding Formula Pupil Premium TOTAL ADDITIONAL FUNDING Birmingham £29,113,122 £79,674,219 £16,159,684 £124,947,025 Coventry £27,331,190 £21,114,102 £3,219,599 £51,664,891 Dudley £25,385,634
In response to a call by the Institute of Directors for the government to give investors a bigger say in executive pay, Sir Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, said: "Even directors think executive pay can be excessive, yet the Conservatives still refuse to take action. When so many people are struggling, it
Former Leader of South Shropshire District Council and Shropshire Councillor Heather Kidd has been chosen to take on Philip Dunne in the general election. Heather is well known for her campaigns for the health service, schools and better broadband and mobile phone signal in our very rural constituency. She also pioneered affordable housing policies which delivered affordable housing to rent and buy in South Shropshire. Heather was born up in rural West Sussex and is the granddaughter of a farmer and gamekeeper. She graduated from London University with a degree in Biology. Heather is married with 4 daughters who all ...
Tim Farron and Sarah Olney have announced that the Liberal Democrats will invest nearly £7bn more in schools and colleges over the next parliament. The funding would reverse cuts to frontline school and college budgets, protect per pupil funding in real terms and ensure no school loses out from the National Funding Formula. Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary Sarah Olney said: Children are being taught in overcrowded classes by overworked teachers – but Theresa May doesn't care. While funding per pupil is set to see the biggest cuts in a generation, billions of pounds are being spent on divisive plans ...
