Very busy week, not had time to blog. Posting will resume at latest Friday. In the meantime, a reminder for certain people of part of the preamble to the Lib Dem constitution: Our responsibility for justice and liberty cannot be ... Continue reading →
Each year the Shropshire villages of Stiperstones and Snailbeach hold their Beach Party. As 2017 sees the centenary of Mary Webb's novel Gone to Earth, which is set in this part of the county, the event includes a screening of the film that Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger made from it. There will also be a chance to visit Lordshill Baptist Chapel, which features in both the book and the film.
I don't share the angst of so many Lib Dems that — it appears — the party has been deprived of a leadership contest. First, Jo Swinson, then Norman Lamb, and now Sir Ed Davey have all declined to take on Sir Vince Cable. Jo's and Ed's public reasons were each good and believable. Both have just won back seats they lost and need to focus on defending them. The fates of their predecessors, Nick Clegg (defeated) and Tim Farron (big majority slashed), hang heavy in the air. Both also have young families and don't want to miss out on ...
Embed from Getty Images Paddington came from Peru, made friends with his fellow migrant Mr Gruber and became a much-loved part of British life. By contrast, in the words of Ian Jack behind the London Review of Books paywall: The three young men - born in 1970 or 1971 - had certain similarities in their personal histories. Hannan and Carswell spent their childhoods in faraway, politically disturbed countries as the children of British expatriates: Hannan's family had a poultry farm in Peru, while Carswell's parents were doctors in Uganda. Hannan and Reckless boarded at Marlborough before Oxford. Carswell went to ...
You can tell that we are in the middle of a Leadership Election. All the Lib Dem social media forums are buzzing, rumours abound, and there are plenty of discussions going on about the next Leader of the party. As President I have to remain completely neutral in any Leadership contest because I represent all 104,000 of you to the Leader. I am very aware that many thousands of you will never have been through a Leadership Election before, so I thought it might be worth an attempt at explaining our processes. Any candidate has to get at least 10% ...
It is clear that we are not going to receive an explanation of the removal of Tim Farron from the party. So I have been waiting for the new Private Eye to go on sale - outside London, that happens on the Wednesday. But its article on Tim's defenestration does not tell us much more than we knew already - see this article from the time by Caron Lindsay, for instance. It repeats the stories about Brian Paddick's resignation and the tweets from Liz Barker and Anthony Lester, then continues: Later that afternoon a delegation peers - with Lord Pantsdown ...
I have to confess I find myself in two minds. Vince has outstanding qualities, but will his flaws be his undoing? It makes a coronation all the more risky.
A week ago I complained about the way in which councillors were rail-roaded into making a decision to approve the new Teaching Assistant pay offer. One of the points I made was about the lack of time for councillors to raise questions and get answers. Despite that, with the teaching assistant workforce already undertaking its ballot, I have been continuing to seek to uncover the truth as best I can. The table below has been provided to me by the Director of Resources in response to a query in which I tried to find out what the total pay of ...
Wed 28th
20:55
VIDEO: Jo Swinson warns withdrawing from the Single Market and customs union will threaten our jobs
Jo Swinson highlights the importance of Britain remaining in both the Single Market and the customs union.
A short one today. The twenty-eighth we camped by the edge of Muskerry, in Sir Cormac Mac Teige's countrie. Sir Cormac McTeig McCarthy, as Lord of Blarney, engaged in such flattering discourse with Queen Elizabeth that he gave his title to the word "blarney".
Christine Jardine made her maiden speech this afternoon. The text will follow when it is available. Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you for choosing me to make my maiden speech in this debate, which is of such crucial importance to our nation's future. It is a pleasure to follow the entertaining speech of the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart). It is a particular honour for me to have the privilege of representing Edinburgh West 20 years after the late Donald Gorrie first won the seat for the Liberal Democrats. He was a great servant to the area, first ...
Wed 28th
16:10
May's Brexit setup denies remaining EU states what she wants to recover for Britain: sovereignty ove...
As the Brexiteers slogan "take back control" clearly shows, the taking back of government control not only over your own territory, but also over the whole of your population, nation, (in short: "national sovereignty") is a central plank in the whole, over-ambitious and under-estimated, undertaking that is Brexit. But in Theresa May's proposed treatment of EU citizens in the UK, she in two ways denies the governments of the continental states who, very sensibly, choose to remain in the EU (and, conversely, some British citizens) what she herself wants to "take back from Brussels' clutches": national sovereignty. She does that ...
We shall learn in due course whether the Grenfell Tower conflagration was the result of saving £1.5m by using a less expensive cladding material, or turning down the preferred bidder because someone else was cheaper, maybe both or maybe something else entirely. However, there can be little doubt that any savings will already have been far outweighed by the enormous expense of paying for alternative accommodation for the displaced families, and the £5 500 per family grant to enable them to survive in the short run and re-equip in the long run. Add to this to the further cost of ...
When I was blown up in Iraq I knew I had to join the Liberal Democrats. The party needs to find its purpose again. There was a brief silence after the bomb blast. Then shouting, nervous laughter. The Iraqi policeman I had been meeting pointed at the shattered window and stammered, "Shay aadi," a normal thing. We were both uninjured, but I learned later that several guards had died outside the building. It was 2005 and I was in a Baghdad. Car bombs were normal. As I left the building I noticed a severed, charred hand on the ground. I ...
Yesterday, Roger Roberts was one of many Liberal Democrat peers to take part in the Queen's Speech debate. He's sent us his speech on the treatment of refugees, an issue very close to his heart: In the wide-ranging speeches, we had one great disappointment, and I am sure the Minister involved will know exactly what I am referring to; there has been no commitment at all to receiving the 20,000 Syrian refugees as promised by David Cameron. It is not there in the Queen's Speech. Nor is there a commitment to increase the number of unaccompanied child refugees. When you ...
I allowed my membership of the Liberal Democrats to lapse a while back but I took that decision without rancour. My involvement had not been passive I stood for local council and campaigned vigorously in other elections. I liked the party, still do but I just couldn't live with the position it had taken on Brexit. Another principled stand by yours truly, one of many over the years. So as the General Election came upon us my personal focus was on the need to stop the Conservatives winning. At the start of the campaign their arrogance and swagger was worse ...
Tue, 12:20: RT @apcoworldwide: APCO's @nwbrux explains why the #DUP's deal with the Conservative Party may appear better than it is https://t.co/qLJnz... Tue, 12:20: RT @EU_Competition: .@EU_Commission fines Google €2.42 billion https://t.co/GlRCC1G0TH https://t.co/KCarpERBtg Tue, 12:56: Harry Potter didn't cure my depression - but for an hour a day, it helped https://t.co/y6YNP5xt83 Tremendously moving. Tue, 13:15: RT @apcoworldwide: After #GE2017, we are finally seeing an agreement to have a #stable government for next two years - @nwbrux https://t.co... Tue, 13:37: Thread. https://t.co/CUyoRexeHE Tue, 18:25: Dingle of the Husseys, Part 15 https://t.co/8HuqAlgQNO Tue, 18:31: RT @davidallengreen: On ECJ and new body May ...
miss_s_b | State of the SB I posted State of the SB to my dreamwidth blog Instagram Instagram photo: Roxy drops the subtlest of hints [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Definitely not standing: Jo Swinson, Jamie Stone, Layla Moran, Wera Hobhouse, Tom Brake, Tim Farron, Alistair Carmichael, Norman Lamb, Ed Davey Probably not standing: Stephen Lloyd, Christine Jardine Probably standing: Definitely standing: Vince Cable ... Oh arse. Look, coronations are bad. The "candidate" does not get examined, does not get their feet held to whatever fire the membership is stoking, does not have to state any positions before the crown is lowered. Recent political leaders who have had a coronation rather than an election include TMay, Arlene Foster, and Gordon Brown. We do not want to be in that company. ...
So Ed Davey is not standing for the leadership of the Lib Dems. Without Ed in the fray, it almost certainly means there will be no contest. I am disappointed as I wanted there to be a debate (even though I was edging towards supporting Vince) about the future direction of the party. My hope now is that Vince will spend the summer reaching out to the members and will tour the country, giving both
There is a plot afoot for all the newbies to make their maiden speeches during the Queen's Speech debate. We'll bring them to you. Here is Layla Moran's from yesterday. The text is below: It is a great honour to make my maiden speech following so many eloquent and passionate speakers across the House. It is an even greater honour to do so in an education debate, as a teacher and educationalist and my party's spokesperson on this issue. I was reminded by Mr Speaker himself at my swearing-in that some very clever people indeed have represented Oxford West and ...
Since the Area Forums were scrapped, the council needed a new way to handle the local road safety schemes. If you have a road safety concern, you can now ask the council to investigate it by submitting the Highways Investigation Request Form. You will need the support of at least one local ward member and parish councillor on behalf of the parish council. Highways officers will assess your request to see if a viable scheme is likely. If it is, it will be added to the Local Transport Investigation List and once a year will be scored and prioritised along ...
Many constituents have contacted me regarding the resurfacing of Perth Road's road surface (plus north pavement and new pedestrian crossing) starting at the beginning of the Dundee Holiday Fortnight. I therefore paste below and update I have received from the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership regarding this : "Major Road Maintenance Works Perth Road (Hawkhill to Roseangle) I would like to advise you of major carriageway and footway maintenance works that will have a significant impact on the road / footway network and local businesses in the above area. This notice is given in advance of the letter which will be ...
Wed 28th
08:06Reprise: Vince Cable to liberals: Don't despair, go local, celebrate identities and embrace social d...
I wrote this in April after seeing Vince give a lecture in Edinburgh. Now that he is extremely likely to become leader, it's worth giving this another airing because he had a lot to say on the issues of the day. Last night, Vince Cable gave the annual John G Gray Lecture to the Scottish Liberal Club in Edinburgh. John G Gray was a leading Scottish figure in the fightback from near extinction in the middle of the last century. He was at one point the only Liberal councillor in Scotland. Vince observed that at the same time as he ...
