Yesterday (Friday) saw the start of a letter delivery in Blaydon constituency. We were hitting the streets of Whickham and Dunston from 10am. Alas, the rain, which has been absent for two weeks, made an appearance. At lunchtime I made a brief appearance at home to change into dry socks! I'm pleased to report that all the letters were delivered by late afternoon.
A currently fashionable explanation for the absence of a Lib Dem polling surge during the general election so far is that the party's European policy is at odds with an electorate who, it is said, just want to get on with Brexit. However, a new poll paints a rather different picture. Just under one-third of voters (32%) say they agree with the Liberal Democrat policy of holding a referendum on the terms of Brexit according to the latest Survation poll. The question was worded this way: "Do you support or oppose the following Liberal Democrat policies? – Second EU referendum ...
Vince Cable launched a new Lib Dem campaign poster today. Vote her, get him. Don't settle for Nigel Farage's vision of Britain by voting for Theresa May. #ChangeBritainsFuture pic.twitter.com/wiDXAwBnkA — Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) May 20, 2017 This is how he explained it: This week has been about manifestos To understand what is going on you have to listen to the voices of the people who are Mrs May's cheerleaders and admirers. Nigel Farage. He purrs like an elder statesman, his job done. He said of the Prime Minister "she is using exactly the words and phrases I have been using ...
Corbyn talks a good talk on poverty but doesn't walk the walk For the past 7 years I have sat in Liverpool Council listening to Labour speaker after Labour speaker deriding the Lib Dems for austerity. These Braveheart Trots always ... Continue reading →
Candidates don't get to control what their would-be voters do. That sounds obvious, and indeed is obvious, yet is also frequently forgotten.
The Labour Candidate has recently claimed that John Hemming was campaigning for unilateral nuclear disarmament at the 2015 General Election. This has been done on twitter and this is what she has said: She also seems to be confused between multilateral disarmament and unilateral disarmament. The Lib Dem position in 2015 and now was one of keeping nuclear weapons, but having fewer of them. In
I think you can guess what happened when Jeremy Corbyn was put on the spot over Labour's European (non-)policy.
Many years ago (during the early 1990's if memory serves) I helped, together with many other concerned folk, to bring a branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau to what was then my home town of Maghull (I live in Lydiate these days). It operated from Maghull Town Hall, was supported in terms of utility costs and via a nil rental charge by Maghull Town Council and was for the early years an outpost/outreach of Formby CAB. Some years later the CAB's across Sefton Borough merged into one organisation but they continued to operate out of Bootle, Crosby, Formby, Southport and ...
What's this about then? The City Council has put together an Environment Action Plan, which includes a section entitled Sustainable Transport, declaring they want: "A pedestrian, public transport and cycle first city and 90% of all journeys will be zero emission." Problem is, their own research shows: 68% of council employees do NOT travel to work [...]
I lived in Germany for five months in 1986, working on an archaeology site near the city of Heilbronn. Along with several of the other (paid) volunteers, I lived in a rented house in nearby Leingarten, a dormitory suburban place (not so different from where I live now) up the valley of the river Lein (or Leinbach) which joins the Neckar just north of Heilbronn. My landlord's daughter, a student in her mid-twenties (so a few years older than me - I turned 19 while I was living there), lived downstairs, and spurred my teenage imagination by having very loud ...
In an article for the Times Red Box, Tim Farron points out the huge differences between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat visions for the future: The contrast between the Liberal Democrat manifesto and the Conservative one couldn't be starker. We would extend free school lunches to all primary school children and invest an extra £7 billion in schools and colleges, to make sure funding rises in line with both inflation and pupil numbers. Instead, Theresa May wants to take free school lunches away from 1.9 million children to fund her obsession with grammar schools. Our manifesto commits to capping the ...
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LibLink: Vince Cable: After years of hiding from the public, Fred Goodwin will face the music over R...
Vince Cable wrote an interesting article in City Am last week about the imminent appearance (on polling day, of all days) of Fred Goodwin, the former head of RBS in a court case brought by 9000 retail investors. Goodwin, alongside RBS itself and several other former executives at the bank, are defendants in a case brought against them by 9,000 retail investors, including many current RBS employees. The trial starts in less than two weeks (22 May) and Goodwin will be called to the stand after the opening remarks. The claimants allege they were wilfully misled over the true financial ...
If you're not a Lib Dem (or political activist of another stripe) then I have heard that weekends are a time for relaxing. I vaguely recall this being the case from before I got into politics... Anyway, it seemed to me that the weekend might be a good time for a recs post.Book: Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. If you grew up in the 80s, this book is such a powerful kick up the memories. If you didn't it's probably less so; similarly, if you're less of a music geek than me, you might bounce off it. With those ...
weekly_food_challenge | Challenge 19: How to caramelise onions (a guide with photos) In which I detail step by step with photos my onion caramelising process Theresa May to create new internet that would be controlled and regulated by government JFC. We used to take the piss out of China for stuff like this. Instagram photo *smug mode* #cycling Arctic stronghold of world's seeds flooded after permafrost melts This is terrible :( Instagram photo The doggy version of a cargo cult: fire has not been on since early February, but still he hopes... An AI invented a bunch of new paint ...
It appears that the brutal Tory approach to social care is not going down so well with its own candidates. From PoliticsHome: One candidate said the author of the proposal "should be shot", The Times reports. Another candidate standing for re-election said it is "very hard to justify" the plan. "This plan was coming up on the doorstep this morning and there has not even yet been much coverage [on] it. It is very hard to justify, because people with a house of £300,000 could have a liability now of £200,000. I thought the campaign was just right until yesterday," ...
It has been quiet recently as far as UKIP goes. All we have had to chew on is leader, Paul Nuttall taking time out from his world-saving antics as Superman to confuse Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood with Natalie Wood or some other Natalie person. And then, as sure as night follows day, another controversy about a UKIP candidate tweeting racist and offensive things pops up to reassure us that the party is as nasty as ever. As the Guardian reports, Paddy Singh, who was standing in Wiltshire North for UKIP, has been suspended after posting abusive messages about Jews, Africans ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat general election campaign chair Alex Cole-Hamilton and young activists will be outside the U.K. Green Investment Bank headquarters in Edinburgh where Alex will call on young voters to register before Monday's deadline so that they can have a say in their future He will declare that only the Liberal Democrats are making the steps necessary to leave behind a green legacy for future generations. Leaving a sustainable legacy for our children is the most important task of this current generation and both UK and Scottish Government have failed in that task. The Conservatives don't care for the ...
A second day at Bonkers Hall, and his lordship considers the significance of Brexit for his native county, Monday Rutland, of course, will remain in the European Union. Every day ships laden with pork pies and stilton set sail from Oakham Quay to cross Rutland Water and then the North Sea. They return with wines, exotic spices and all the things that make life jolly. Why would anyone want to throw that away? This afternoon I join a party of military engineers to inspect out border with Leicestershire. Some have spoken of a 'hard border' after Brexit. Surveying its tank ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - SATURDAY 20 AND SUNDAY 21 MAY 2017 West Marketgait (Hawkhill to Ward Road) - northbound closure on Sunday 21 May for crane operation. Perth Road (at Union Place) - temporary traffic lights on Sunday 21 May for crane operation. REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 22 MAY 2017 Riverside Esplanade/Riverside Drive (Tay Road Bridge off ramp to 75m along Riverside Drive) - westbound nearside lane closure for 26 weeks to facilitate V&A construction works. SSE Glenagnes Cable Renewal - Lochee Road lane restrictions and closures ...
Elvish as she is spoke What Tolkien was doing and what other people did to it. (tags: tolkien languages ) What Donald Trump Needs to Know About Bob Mueller and Jim Comey Fascinating (long) read. (tags: uspolitics )
The Liberal Democrats have reacted after a day in which the upper echelons of the Conservative Party were in lock-down, apparently in panic after their social care policy backfired. The Institute for Fiscal Studies analysed Theresa May's plans and concluded that "the Conservative plan makes no attempt to deal with the fundamental challenge of social care funding." The Conservatives are now pushing different cabinet ministers out to Sunday newspapers in an attempt to "move the conversation on" from social care. Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: "The Tory high command is now in meltdown. It realises it has misjudged ...
Commenting on reports that the public back the Liberal Democrat policy of banning the most-polluting cars from city centres Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary Jenny Randerson said: "The air we allow our children to breathe is toxic and is leading to a national health crisis. "If our water was as contaminated as the air we breathe the Tories would have been forced to take this seriously. Instead they are plying more dirt into the air and pushing through Heathrow expansion with no serious attempts to address the illegal emissions that are endangering people. "Only the Liberal Democrats are committed to ...
