At cabinet on Tuesday morning, out of the blue, Labour councillor Gary Haley suddenly accused me of eating at "high end" restaurants. I'm not sure what the point of his intervention was but I thought it a bit rich for Posh Boy Gary to be making such silly claims. Mr Haley was the failed Labour candidate against me in 2003 and 2004 and I don't really think that Labour ever recovered from his
For some weeks now, my Dad, David, had been in St Bede's Hospice at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. We were resigned to losing him. He was 86 years old and for 85 year he had been in fine health. The past year had seen a significant decline in his health. The hospice called me at 6.30am on Saturday morning to tell me Dad had passed away. He taught me jam-making and self-reliance. He
Ball of the century...? pic.twitter.com/iAhbnJ3Y8h— County Championship (@CountyChamp) May 28, 2017Today Mason Crane took 5-40 to help Hampshire beat Somerset and confirm his potential. He also produced what will probably turn out to the ball of the 21st century. There aren't many bowlers who can turn it square and york someone with the same delivery.
In a campaign speech in Bavaria, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, today declared bluntly that Europe can no longer rely on the United States as a core ally, now that Donald Trump is in charge — and that Theresa May's Brexit strategy has put the United Kingdom beyond the pale, too. Although Frau Merkel emphasized [...]
We have our Headline of the Day. They'll be rejoicing at the Daily Mirror tonight. Since you ask, the MP in question is Mark Menzies from Fylde.
Embed from Getty Images When George Osborne was appointed as editor of the Evening Standard I grumbled that it was like something out of Putin's Russia - a politician from the governing party editing a major newspaper. Sure, I reasoned, he might have some fun at Theresa May's expense because she had sacked him from the cabinet. But Tories are Tories, and come the next election the Standard would be relentlessly on message. But things didn't quite turn out like that. First, Theresa May called an unexpected general election. I am not saying this was done solely to force Osborne ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our xxxth 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 (-, 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. Here's my 2017 General Election prediction by Nick ...
Sun 28th
20:55
Farron: "May has allied herself with Trump, these comments are the inevitable outcome"
Tonight, at a campaign rally in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly said that Europe can no longer "completely depend" on the US and UK following the election of President Trump and Brexit. Responding, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron said: "The Prime Minister has allied herself with Donald Trump and these comments are the inevitable outcome. "It doesn't have to be this way, a vote for the Liberal Democrats can change Britain's future and we can avoid this extreme Brexit that Theresa May is pursuing, with the full support of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party."
Embed from Getty Images With Theresa May revealed as a weak and wobbly leader, the Conservatives are keeping her out of Wednesday's leaders debate on BBC television. Instead Amber Rudd, now seen as a safer pair of hands, will take part. Which makes this Daily Mirror story from October 2016 interesting all over again: The Daily Mirror has examined Mrs Rudd's record before she entered politics in 2005. We found she was the director of a city firm which went bust in 1992, owing £537,581 - including £67,977 to the Inland Revenue. Mrs Rudd was also a "corporate advisor" at ...
There have been two developments on planning applications for housing on the Linney in Ludlow Conservation Area. One application for three houses has been approved, though there is little expectation these houses will be built rather than a further application submitted. I have never seen an application approved when the developer says it doesn't want the scheme to be built. A second adjacent application for two homes has been substantially revised. Neither application will deliver or pay a contribution towards the affordable housing this town desperately needs. Linney House Shropshire Council has reapproved a scheme for three houses in the ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. Many apologies that the was no newsletter last week. I was going to do it on Monday night but then the news from Manchester came in and it didn't seem appropriate. Much has already been said about what happened in Manchester and I would simply like to add my voice to the many expressions of grief and sorrow that had been made. I had the privilege of representing the Liberal Democrats at an act of remembrance in ...
Well if I was ever under the illusion that I had any special insights into Britain's general election campaign, it is now banished. Last week I described the improvement in Labour's poll ratings as a "dead cat bounce". It is clearly much more than that. As the election goes into its last lap, it is going to ... Continue reading Is Theresa May the new John Major? →
A lot of you are kind enough to ask sometimes about the situation of the girls - B, who turns 20 next month, has no language ability at all, and lives full-time in a care facility half an hour to the east of us; and U, who is 14, can talk a little, and is with us five nights a fortnight and in the same place as B the rest of the time. This is a short (15-second) video that I took two weeks ago when we took the entire family out to Tienen for a combined Mother's Day / ...
So we drifted past in the night: as implacable ships of disregard, in silence except the changing bells of watch, respecting rights of way in navigation if not always each other... Until we were woken startled by the dawn barrage of voices, a lying loud array on shore joined in the jagged struggle to defend [...]
Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) Warriors ed. George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII's Fifth Queen, by Josephine Wilkinson Last books finished An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity, by J. Mulrooney Everything Belongs to the Future, by Laurie Penny Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, by Lois McMaster Bujold Every Step You Take, by Maureen O'Brien Descartes' Clock, by Gary Powell Broederschap: Pleidooi voor verbondenheid / Fraternité: Retisser nos liens, by Frans Timmermans A Motif of Seasons, by Edward Glover The Innocent Man by John ...
It is a truth pretty much universally acknowledged that East Dunbartonshire is one of the key battlegrounds and best hopes for a Lib Dem gain in the UK. Our Jo Swinson is fighting to regain the seat she lost to the SNP in 2015. I've been in the constituency twice this week and have been impressed by the number of Jo Swinson posters in people's gardens. It feels much more visible than it did back in 2005 when she was first elected. The Scottish Sun has done an election car-share type thing with her in which she talks about life ...
Sun 28th
13:28
Amber's TV refusal to come clean on #DementiaTax is disrespecting families in #Hastings #StLeonards ...
Commenting on Amber Rudd's admission the Conservatives are "not sure" what any future cap on social care costs will be, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb said: "The refusal of the Conservatives to tell us what the cap on social care costs will be shows they are holding the public in contempt. "Theresa May must stop flip-flopping [...]
The Lib Dem focus this weekend has been attacking the Conservatives for their most controversial domestic policies – school lunches and the dementia tax. We put out a poster that channels Oliver Twist to highlight the Tory plans to abolish provision of school lunches and replace them with breakfasts. When Nick introduced the lunches policy in coalition, he made sure that there was some pretty detailed nutritional standards to go along with it. Each week, pupils eating free school lunches get: five portions of fruit, five portions of veg, five portions of protein (meat, fish, eggs or beans), five portions ...
Rarely has such an ill-thought out policy made it into a manifesto. The Tory proposals for what's been dubbed a "dementia tax," going back on previous proposals to set a cap on care costs for those who need care, don't even seem to have the agreement of senior Conservatives. In fact, if the Sunday papers are to be believed, they don't even have the backing of Theresa May's two chiefs of staff. Vince Cable outlines the main issues here: What is the dementia tax? @vincecable explains why Theresa May's cruel plans will hit the most sick and vulnerable. https://t.co/mnHUKd1X8O pic.twitter.com/RirKW8JP4I ...
Sun 28th
11:17
One extra vote per three members would have doubled the Lib Dem Parliamentary Party size, or why tar...
Just one extra vote for every three party members in the right places in 2015 would have doubled the size of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party.
It wouldn't be an election without photos of Willie Rennie with cute animals. This time, they even behaved themselves. I thought that the election hadn't had enough alpacas in it, so I was delighted when I heard that he was off to visit an alpaca farm. Here he is with Edinburgh West candidate Christine Jardine and Edinburgh South West candidate Aisha Mir: We proudly stand against the dividers of our time by standing for the majority of people in Scotland. #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/ViiRQRZuP0 — Scottish Lib Dems (@scotlibdems) May 27, 2017 The headline is not my invention – it came from ...
Here are two photographs taken from the Red Box early morning email newsletter produced by The Times.
OK, so I didn't like the last couple of weeks very much, but that? That has actively made me angry. Anyone who has been in an abusive relationship? Do not watch this episode. What kind of ( cut for spoilers and lots of swearing ). And that's without even getting into the fact that ( more spoilers ). So yeah, I am angry. I am especially angry given how good the first few episodes this series were. If it had all been crap I could have just shrugged and carried on. But this is... ugh. It feels like such a ...
Being a dude I liked XTC and did not have much time for Marillion. But I have to say this a tremendous live cover of Senses Working Overtime, which was a hit for XTC back in 1982. I have skipped the first 90 second where Dave Gregory, for many years the guitarist with XTC, is introduced. Many thanks to Colin Smith for tweeting this video.
If you like reading film reviews that means you are either a fan of films or harsh put downs. As an example of the later may I commend Kyle Smith's review of Baywatch for National Review. My favourite section is the following: At one point, Zac Efron's character lay in a morgue drawer while fluids from [...]
Now out is the 2017 version of my popular 'What the Lib Dems believe' graphic
Campaigning for the General Election has been suspended twice in recent days, and rightly so. Last Sunday, we paused in memory of Jo Cox, her lifelong work to show that we have more in common and her tragic death, whilst in recent days we ceased campaigning in the wake of Monday's atrocious terrorist attack on Manchester by those who wish to use death and destruction to drive us apart. Last Saturday I visited the North West Kent Muslim Association for their public open day, and now feels like a good time to write about that visit. Like many people, I ...
The Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden have an event later today. It is a foraging walk in the Garden with Clare Reaney, Horticultural Technician. Meet at the Education Centre in the Garden (pictured) at 2pm. There is no charge for members of the Friends; visitors are invited to make a donation.
2: a song you like with a number in the title Ten Duel Commandments from Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda. So, really early in this meme run, we get a song from Hamilton. It was always going to show up at some point - it's not much over a year since multiple friends with very different musical tastes raved to me about the musical, and I do in general like musicals anyway. Ten Duel Commandments is one of the rare songs from Hamilton that can stand on its own outside the wider context of the musical. It's a beautifully-crafted exploration ...
Last Wednesday evening, Councillor Tim Gill was installed as the new mayor of Ludlow at the Assembly Rooms. Anyone who knows Tim, knows that when he speaks about local issues, he tells it as it is. His inaugural speech was no different. Mayor Gill said taking on services from Shropshire Council remained a challenge for the town council. He condemned the council's continuing clampdown on evening parking in the town centre and the planned closure of Brand Lane for three days. Mayor Gill said he was proud to follow in the footsteps of his father who was mayor of the ...
Why you should care about the Muslim headscarf ban Hear, hear, @aryngbeck! (tags: humanrights eu race )
"Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored" Bletchley Park was a beautiful house, with exquisite grounds, but the hundreds of people labouring away in the huts in those grounds scarcely had time to stop and look at them for a second. There ... Continue reading →
