As expected, Vince Cable has been elected as new leader of the Liberal Democrats. Actually, "elected" is a bit misleading. The party managed to avoid a contested election after possible candidates Ed Davey, Jo Swinson and Norman Lamb decided not to throw their hats into the ring. So congratulations Vince. We look forward to working with you. You can read Vince's ambitions for the country and
Here is an unexpected pleasure. The whole of this documentary about the important folk group is available to view for free on the British Film Institute website. Click on the still above to view it there. As the blurb on the BFI site says: "These are the Watersons, a very important part of the revival of traditional British music. They live in Hull." A British road movie of sorts, this rich and vital film follows the group on the folk club circuit, at home and in studios. It's rewarding on several levels - whether your main interest is Hull, the ...
Finally — after a slightly absurd delay even when it became obvious there would be no other candidates, and a decade after he first ruled himself out of the running for the job on the grounds of his age — Vince Cable has been 'elected' Lib Dem leader. I'd probably have voted for him if the position had been contested, but I wouldn't take my endorsement as a golden pat on the shoulder. Since I left Labour and joined the Lib Dems in 1999, I've given David Rendel, Ming Campbell, Chris Huhne and Tim Farron my first preferences as leader. ...
When Tim Farron stood for the leadership two years ago, his winning manifesto was quite internally focused. It had to be. We'd just had what could have been a mortal blow from the electorate. We were all in shock, devastated at the psychological impact of the loss of so many of our heartlands. We knew we had to pick ourselves up, but in those early weeks, every time we tried to get ourselves off the floor, we couldn't quite manage it. Then along came Tim with a jolt of electricity, a motivational message that energised us and got us going ...
And so another week with Lord Bonkers draws to a close. His diaries appear in each issue of Liberator magazine as well as on this blog. Sunday It is the day of the annual fixture between Lord Bonkers' XI and the Democratic Unionist Party. The Ulstermen are rather pleased with themselves, having had handfuls of banknotes stuffed down their trousers by the Conservatives in return for their votes. Playing the DUP is always something of a trial: they will not allow two to their batsmen to be in at the same time in case it leads to immoral practices. During ...
Thu 20th
19:19
Government announces that the Midland main line will not be electrified north of Kettering
We will see more disappointing news like this around the country as HS2 eats up all the funding for rail investment.That's what I wrote last December when it was announced that planned access improvement at Market Harborough station were to be postponed. Reading between the lines of that post, it should already have been clear that today's announcement that there will be no electrification of the Midland main line north of Kettering was inevitable. The transport minister Paul Maynard had declined to confirm that work north of Kettering would take place. And BBC News had quoted his boss Chris Grayling:He ...
We've already reported on the works to the Bromley Heath viaduct on the Ring Road, which will have major travel implications across our area. Although the Government was not prepared to stump up any more cash, the West of England Joint Committee did recently agree funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership Economic Development Fund (EDF) to reduce the work from 52 weeks to 33 weeks. So the extra cash is being taken from other regional projects, it's not "new money". Traffic management will be put in this weekend, Saturday 22 to Sunday 23 July, and the actual maintenance work will ...
Here is Vince Cable's leadership manifesto, published this afternoon as nominations closed and he was declared the new leader of the Liberal Democrats. Privileged to be able to take over from @timfarron today. Ambitious for our country, ambitious for our party. — Vince Cable (@vincecable) July 20, 2017 Download this document
Vince is not our almost leader any more. Just after 4pm, Sal Brinton announced that there had only been one nomination received and therefore he was our actual leader. Having one of the country's most credible and authoritative experts on the economy at a time when the economy is at risk is no bad thing. We will certainly see a change in style from Vince. He won't be as Tiggerish as Tim, but he'll fight the recklessness of the Tories and Labour and promote our Liberal Democrat values with energy and optimism. Vince has huge intelligence, a way of telling ...
I wrote previously about some of the minor tweaks and proposals to this year's WSFS Business Meeting. Today I'm going to tackle the Best Series and the Young Adult category (which won't be a Hugo, but will be awarded by Worldcon members as is the practice with the John W. Campbell Award). Motion C.1: The Best Series category was proposed at the 2016 Business Meeting, and if ratified this year will come into effect in 2018. It is such a major change to the Hugos that we actually decided to give it a trial run this year, so the first ...
France wants the hardest of hard Brexits. Or so it had recently been reported in a memo by Jeremy Browne, following a meeting at the Banque de France. Is this true? And, if so, what are the motivations? The simple, and maybe simplistic, interpretation is that Paris would like to steal London's financial services business – or [...] The post Europe doesn't want to steal the City of London – they want to destroy it appeared first on Radix.
During the General Election campaign I found myself in an interesting position. Standing as the candidate for the most liberal, pro-EU party, I found myself against an incumbent MP who spent a lot of time talking about his enthusiasm for Europe. He also spoke often of the need for 'liberal pluralism' and his enthusiasm for a change to the voting system. He was against grammar schools for the same reason we are. He repeatedly stated at every hustings the need to reform the education system to encourage technical training schemes that were given as much respect as academic courses. He ...
Brief takeaways from Saturday's Social Liberal Forum on @LibDems party strategy in the wake of #GE2017
Thu 20th
14:12
LibLink: Lord Teverson - Big challenges ahead as the PM pushes nuclear button on Euratom membership
Lord (Robin) Teverson has been writing for PoliticsHome on the UK's membership of Euroatom: Last year's referendum was not about Euratom. Leave and Remain were silent about this low profile, essential institution - a body that uses the EU institutions but is not part of it. Put simply Euratom acts on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) as the 'safeguarding' agency for all its 28 member states, the same 28 members of the EU. It ensures that under international non-proliferation treaties all fissile materials are controlled and accounted for. Its inspections make sure the strict protocols and safeguards ...
Below is an email that I have written to my local MP, Clive Lewis. I have sent this to him and will post his reply when/if I get it. Dear Clive Lewis, Congratulations on your re-election. I live in your constituency and was just wanting to clear up what your actual position on Brexit is. As ... Continue reading Dear Clive Lewis...
The government has scrapped the planned electrification of railway lines in Wales, the Midlands and the North in a statement sneaked out today. The Department for Transport has claimed that planned electrification works between Cardiff and Swansea, Kettering, Nottingham and Sheffield, and Windermere and Oxenholme will no longer be needed due to the introduction of new trains. Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary Jenny Randerson commented: "This decision is a betrayal of passengers across the country who would have benefited from these upgraded routes. "The Liberal Democrats secured vital investment for rail electrification when in government. "That was then delayed by ...
Violent crime has risen by 18% across England and Wales in the last year, according to new statistics today. The Liberal Democrats said the figures revealed the government's "record of failure" on crime.It is the largest annual rise in crime for a decade and includes increases of 16% in robbery and 14% in sex offences.It comes as separate figures show there are 900 fewer police officers compared to last year.Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Ed Davey commented: "The Conservative record of failure on crime has been exposed - crime is up and police numbers are down."This Government is failing in ...
Thu 20th
11:16Here, there and everywhere - a report back from Federal International Relations Committee...
So, (some of) you very kindly voted for me last year to serve for three years as a member of Federal International Relations Committee. And, as promised, I am reporting back on what I've done, as well as making a few comments on our recent meeting on 13 July. I've spent much of the first half of 2017 bringing the Committee up to constitutional speed. I produced our first Standing Orders in January, and have since amended them to create some formal process for selecting our candidates for positions on the Bureaux of Liberal International and the ALDE Party, following ...
Wed, 12:56: Real progress will be when we don't have to celebrate a woman being cast as the Doctor https://t.co/WUs14lGOOB @UnaMcCormack nails it. Thu, 05:22: RT @apcoworldwide: The absence of a strong #PES partner in eastern EU members Poland & Hungary is a serious weakness. #EU @nwbrux https://t... Thu, 09:31: RT @BindaConsulting: #Brexit widens the #PES #EPP gap > Replacing Juncker: A centre-left struggle https://t.co/lk4D221crB great analysis vi... Thu, 10:45: Trump says anyone would collude, but in 2000 election, I called the FBI https://t.co/wLNoc05odW Tom Downey explains.
I have found a simple malady which, when handled expertly, will turn a system on itself, to poison every breath, to flinch from any touch; Ingested, even as immunity betrays me to trace its patterns on my skin with symbols of dismay, absent contagion – but who could ever tell?
Perhaps only Brexit is a more important political issue in Britain than austerity – the policy of restraint in public spending that is causing acute stress in parts of the public sector. It might surprising, therefore, that the quality of debate is so low as to be nonsensical. But then again, when things get important, ... Continue reading Can Britain afford to abandon austerity? Maybe →
Liam Fox was on Today today, talking the good talk about how leaving the EU will be a piece of cake, everything will be rosy, come what may. Interestingly, he would only say that the UK could "survive" a no-deal situation – so the whole thriving outside of everything has been dropped even by Dr Fox these days. "If you think about it, the free trade agreement that we will have to come to with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history. We are already beginning with zero tariffs and we are already beginning at ...
Counterintuitive though it may seem to many, Britain is significantly more equal than it was a decade ago – especially in London, where the fall in inequality has been "dramatic" according to the IFS. This poses several challenges for those who consider that reducing income inequality should be a policy priority, among whose number are many Liberal Democrats. First, are people really that concerned about inequality (i.e. their income compared to others) or do they care primarily about how they themselves are doing? The evidence from the last decade would suggest it is the latter. Second, what is the virtue ...
Who would have thought it was 40 or more years since we lost Exchange Station and indeed the overground Central Station in Liverpool for them to be replaced with new underground stations. Not forgetting of course that Liverpool had been blessed with an underground railway from the Wirral for many years prior to that – The Mersey Railway. An old Mersey Railway tinplate sign which is on display at the National Railway Museum in York And here's what the new underground network looked like when completed in 1977. The Northern Line (Blue) was subsequently extended from Garston to a new ...
The Guardian reports that not a single extra lone child refugee has been brought to Britain from Europe under the "Dubs amendment" this year. An urgent Commons question raised by the outgoing Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, brought forth cross-party criticism that it is taking too long to process eligible refugee children in Europe to bring them to Britain. The paper says that Home Office ministers have confirmed in written answers that only 200 children were transferred under Dubs in 2016 after the closure of the Calais camp and 280 local authority places remain to be filled: The Dubs amendment, ...
