In years gone by, I used to take photos for use by the party of conference. That normally meant being part of the photographers' scrum in front of the leader during the speech. I couldn't resist the temptation so I joined the scrum again. Here are a handful of the photos from Vince's arrival and then his speech.
In the wake of the recent terrorist outrages in the UK Liberal Democrats are calling for a bold change of strategy to defeat terrorism and counter violent extremism. At the heart of the strategy being proposed is proper funding and resourcing for community police. The Liberal Democrats are calling for proper funding of community policing and working with affected communities to fight against terrorism and violent extremism. In addition, cooperation with European neighbours is critical to our safety. The perpetrators of these attacks were often known to the police or suspected by the community. In addition, they are also calling ...
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation normally, in my humble opinion, put on the best lunch at conference, and this year was no different. My reason for attending, should you choose to believe me, is that I have an interest in shooting. I don't take part in the activity myself, but in my world of self-sufficiency, I trade with people who do go shooting and fishing. They provide
Longtime readers may remember I used to be a comics blogger (and in fact I'm planning on posting a comic review tonight). But I've not posted much about comics in the last few years, largely because DC Comics' Flashpoint and ... Continue reading →
[IMG: 16843445202_408375c3a7_b.jpg] In All Out War, the excellent account of the EU referendum campaign by Tim Shipman, there are several occasions where Tim relays the idea that the Leave campaign were happy to continually stoke the row over the £350m figure. The argument goes that every time it was discussed, even if the discussion was simply about how false the figure was, it reminded people of one of their key messages and, given they won, it is hard to disagree with their logic. I was reminded of these passages today when listening to Vince Cable's speech at Liberal Democrat conference. ...
One more glimpse of my favourite Shropshire town.
The Bonkers Hall Estate is noted for its coverts and hangers, so it is no surprise that Lord Bonkers should take a dim view of Labour policy in Sheffield. Friday To Sheffield to weigh our prospects of regaining the Hallam Division at the next election. I am shocked at the scenes of desolation I find: street after street with stumps but no trees. Oak, ash and thorn are all felled, and the sycamores are looking distinctly nervous. Squirrels tug at my tweeds as I pass and beg for nuts. "I expect the socialists have decided that trees are bourgeois." I ...
Last night Blake Pain, the Conservative leader of Harborough District Council, announced his intention to resign his position at the end of a full meeting of the council. The Leicester Mercury quotes my old friend Simon Galton, a Liberal Democrat councillor: "It was bizarre the way it happened. It got right to the end of the meeting and then the chairman said there was one more bit of urgent business - a statement from the leader. And then he resigned. I think only one or two people knew about it in advance. "He said the Tories want a change of ...
Comparing their first Liberal Democrat conference speech as leader shows up an important difference of approach between Vince Cable and Tim Farron. Tim Farron's autumn 2015 speech was the emotional crowd pleaser: Wow, that was the best leader's speech I've heard in just under 50 Lib Dem conferences. #ldconf — Mark Pack (@markpack) September 23, 2015
So, having vented my spleen just a little, one does have to move on. And I have an idea, in that I have an interesting platform as a member of FIRC (which does, now I think of it, have the ring of a group of shadowy figures bent on world domination). After all, I have notional credibility as a commentator on international affairs in the Party. Why not write a motion on something that interests me then? That something is intervention abroad, what criteria should be applied, what changes to governance are necessary and how might they be resourced. More ...
Second paragraph of third chapter (counting the introduction as the first chapter): Then they all tried to talk at once, and Scooper banged the table with a maller to bring the meetings to order. Unfortunately his banging upset a bottle of water which fell right into Doughnut's lap. My long term reader will remember that I wrote up the 17 episodes of classic children's TV show Here Come The Double Deckers last year. Here is the one and only book of the show, by script editor Glyn Jones, transforming to print two of the episodes that he wrote or co-wrote, ...
The machine man clocked in for his shift and went down in the rattling lattice cage, swallowed whole. He took his pride beside his fate to go down: Down in darkness on a thin September day below the gear at Woodhall's Virtuewell; Down through the narrow stooping ways of dust chiselled deep beyond pretence and [...]
"Only the Liberal Democrats have the ideas, the experience and the commitment to transform the fortunes of our country. An exit from Brexit. A grown-up approach to the economy. And bold ideas to strengthen our society through the 21st century." - Vince Cable
What a confused state economists and central bankers are in these days. One can't envy them their job – always difficult but apparently now veering towards the impossible. The latest cause of confusion is the apparently senseless relationship that we are seeing today between interest rates, money supply, employment levels, wage growth and inflation. Interest [...] The post Message to establishment: you don't know the answers, so don't pretend you do appeared first on Radix.
So, I've written a report for Liberal Democrat Voice on what happened at Sunday's meeting of the Federal International Relations Committee, as I promised I would do when I ran for election in the first place. Read it, why don't you. It is, as you might guess, a reasonably neutral version of events for, after all, Liberal Democrat Voice represents a kind of unofficial official record. Here, I don't have to be quite so restrained. The input from our guests from the ALDE Party Bureau, Timmy Dooley TD, and Henrik Bach Mortensen, was genuinely interesting. To read the debate in ...
That's the idea the Electoral Commission has floated: Social media trolls who abuse prospective MPs online could be banned from voting under new proposals from the Electoral Commission. The watchdog has recommended that election legislation, much of which dates from the 19th century, should be overhauled to increase deterrents for those found guilty of abusing election candidates... The Electoral Commission recommended "specific electoral consequences" for those found guilty of abusing candidates, which "could act as a deterrent to abusive behaviour". Some forms of abusive behaviour are offences under existing electoral legislation and therefore carry special sanctions, including the convicted person ...
Tue 19th
11:34
Is Switzerland now bad? Why I'm struggling to understand the Leaver argument these days
Despite being a Remainer, I am trying as hard as I can to understand the Leaver position, particularly as Brexit appears to be inevitable. I try and keep an open mind about it all as much as is humanly possible. But man, the Brexiteers are making it hard to keep this up at present. I recall a James Delingpole article during the referendum campaign called "I've seen Britain's post-Brexit future – and it's beautiful". I can summarise the article for you: Switzerland is a beautiful country; Switzerland is not in the European Union; therefore, being outside of the European Union ...
I did GLEEEE and it felt like it was a good one and I got a whole four hours' sleep and I chaired the first debate of the morning (link here for those in the UK) and it didn't all go horribly wrong and nobody tried to suspend standing orders on me. The next thing is Not The Leaders' Speech. Which, the way things are going, will be in the sodding directory by Spring. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Mon, 16:15: Agreed. Doesn't make Lib Dems look serious. https://t.co/2sdbhF2h0Z Mon, 18:05: Sultana's Dream, by Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain https://t.co/uZmUQpQoS3
The undoubted highlight of the Glee Club was Dillie Keane sing Fascinating Aida's pro Remain song Thank You Scotland. After the usual rendition of The Land the packed hall fell silent, frankly stunned by the quality of the performance, it didn't last as the video shows. Enjoy
The Lib Dems' only Cabinet Minister, Kirsty William, Cabinet Secretary for Education in Wales, addressed Conference on Sunday. Here is her speech in full. Introduction I would like to open this speech with a thank-you to Tim Farron for his leadership over what, unquestionably, has been the toughest period this party has ever faced. At our lowest point, Tim stepped up to the plate, helping reverse our fortunes. In an unexpected election, Tim nearly doubled the number of seats we held in Parliament, and took our membership to over 100,000. A record. As I look across the room and see ...
Today's Guardian highlights a speech by the head of the National Housing Federation, David Orr in which he stresses the urgency of tackling the social housing crisis facing the UK. To be fair he is actually talking about England but some of the problems and issues he raises apply to Wales as well. He says it is "absurd" that the government is spending less on social housing in England now than in the 1990s while paying increasing sums to private landlords via housing benefit: "There's more than a billion pounds that remains unspent on Starter Homes. Let's put this money ...
If you've not cycled for a while and would like to get back on a bike for fitness, leisure, or an easy and stress-free way to get to work, then why not give the Loan Bike scheme a try. The Loan Bikes scheme is different from a daily Bike Hire as their quality bikes can be borrowed for up to a month, absolutely FREE of charge, and are a great way to boost your confidence and discover if cycling is for you before investing in a new bike. The loan bike scheme is open to anyone who lives, works or ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above I have covered this project previously and whilst I know that some Lancashire folk are highly sceptical of the £300m+ new railway line and Skem station ever being funded this is clearly another, if small, milestone along the right track. Here's a shot of the old and now long gone former Skelmersdale Station:- The old Skelmersdale Station – now long gone in the name of 1950's/60's progress! And here's a couple of shots taken at Rainford Junction Station (there is no junction now):- And finally ...
The Evening Standard has the story on its web site – see link above Leaving the EU has always been about the internal troubles of the Tory Party and what's going on today is all part of that same internal Tory power struggle. This latest twist must surely sober up the more sensible Brexiters as they head lemming-like nearer towards the cliff edge, yet will it? May talks of having a great relationship with the EU when we leave but that's like getting divorced and then continuing as before without being married – what's the point? The UK is ...
