It used to be the case that Liberal Democrats seeking to win all-member elections in the party would set big, ambitious membership goals... and then the party would come nowhere near meeting them. But now there's a different pattern emerging: big, ambitious goals... which then are met surprisingly quickly. So it was with Tim Farron's 100,000 membership target. Now it may also be true with Vince Cable's ambition, set out in his leadership campaign, that the Liberal Democrats should overtake the Conservative Party's membership. The Liberal Democrats have never done this before, even when the party has been on a ...
Fri 29th
21:37
Vegetation on a Leaflet. Day 2. Don't be silly, of course he doesn't have a heart murmur
Day 2 of my meander down Nightmare Alley as I remember Bob's stay in hospital last year. This is what I put on Facebook for Thursday 29 September last year. 29 September 2016 Bob had a very tough night and ... Continue reading →
Back in April BBC News reported this story: A hoard of more than 900 gold sovereigns found hidden in a donated school piano has officially been declared as treasure as the coins' original owner and the reasons for them being so covertly stashed still remains a mystery. Piano technician Martin Backhouse, 61, was astonished to discover the coins, found hidden under the upright's keyboard and carefully stitched into seven cloth packets and a leather drawstring purse. He had been called in to tune the 110-year-old instrument at Bishop's Castle community college in Shropshire, which received the piano last year from ...
"The voters hated the Lib Dems going into coalition and still haven't forgiven them." Right? Wrong, says Mark Pack. Nick Tyrone asks why the left applies different standards to antisemitism than to any other form of racism. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has photographs of Karabolka, a Tartar village that was the site of what was then the world's worst nuclear accident in 1957. Forest Green Rovers are the world's greenest sports team, says Adam Elder. Lynne Truss contends that, despite at the time being overshadowed by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and others, Joni Mitchell will come to be ...
The BBC has the video on its web site – see link above A stirring speech indeed to US Air Force cadets over racist slurs, well done that man racists have to be challenged, they are evil. With thanks to Roy Connell for the lead to this posting
Fri 29th
18:19
Henry Bolton, Ukip's new leader, stood against Philip Hammond for the Lib Dems in 2005
One of the few things the press has been able to discover about Ukip's new leader today is that he is a former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate. It turns out that Henry Bolton fought Runnymede and Weybridge for the Lib Dems at the 2005 general election. He finished third behind the victorious Conservative Philip Hammond.
Theatre is shaped by society, but a society is shaped by theatre. Brecht teater - Image Source: pinterest.com In Brecht's poem "On Everyday Theatre" he impresses upon his actors the performativity of mundane life, but also the prosaic nature of their supposed art: The mysterious transformation / That allegedly goes on in your theatres [...] that magic / Which I have often seen reduce the stagehands, beerbottles in hand / To laughter...[1] Art may reflect life, but life, just as often, reflects art. Performance can be seen in the everyday, in ritual, in politics, and in our own interactions. Even ...
Second paragraph of third story ("Triumph", by Robin Hobb): The dust-laden wind was drying his bared eyes, and his vision was dwindling. Tears, the tears of his body rather than the tears of his heart, ran unchecked down his cheeks. The severed muscles that had once worked his eyelids twitched in helpless reflex; they could not moisten his eyeballs and renew his vision. Just as well; there was little out there he wished to see. Ages since I read this, I have to admit, but looking back three stories stood out - two which both look at the Rome/Carthage conflicts ...
Biteback has recently published David Laws' Coalition Diaries, 2012-15. They are well worth a read. Unlike his Coalition book published last year, these contemperaneous diaries aren't nicely organised into different subjects and you tend to get more of a flavour of the frustrations and emotions that were going on at the time. I am wending my way through the 560 page volume and will drop you the odd snippet while I read. John Rentoul seems to be doing the same, on Twitter. He posted an account of a meeting between the Tory Chief Whip Sir George Young and Tory Ministers ...
Dutchmen are often called blunt, uncouth because of their direct way of expressing themselves, so I don't mind Paddy's warning that as an ex-commando he "doesn't do subtlety". As an activist since 1976 in a coalition politics country, I fully support his plea to work pragmatically with like-minded people of other parties (non-tribalism), and/or people who don't want to affiliate permanently or at all. And having witnessed many local political deals by D66 with leftist Dutch parties (in their peak days, the 1970's/'80's), I also agree that a progressive, ameliorating, modernizing perspective/aim is key, not clubbing together for the sake ...
Fri 29th
11:38
Sefton Lab Councillor declare 'year zero' and accept no responsibilities for 'before JC'
'Year zero' was declared by a Labour councillor at the Sefton Council meeting last week. Everything 'before JC' , as he put it they did not accept responsibility for. With JC all was made new and the world began again. We had the usual rants about how evil and wicked the Lib Dems were for agreeing to reduce the deficit. I thought it appropriate to point out the 2010 Labour manifesto proposed cuts more swingeing than those actually carried out by the Coalition. The Labour councillor did not dispute that. It simply didn't matter because it was 'before JC ' ...
8 Gaslighting Techniques to Use at Work One of those you have to laugh or you'll scream in horror posts [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Thu, 12:46: For #NationalPoetryDay @seamusheaney09, The Cure at Troy: Human beings suffer, They torture one another, They get hurt and get hard. Thu, 12:56: Bombardier: Theresa May's free-trade reality check https://t.co/zjTt2u0Ynu Yup. Thu, 16:05: What Did the Kurds Get Out of the Referendum? https://t.co/9BOLyBLkH4 @JoostHiltermann explains. Thu, 18:03: Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro https://t.co/44TUumM9hd Thu, 20:48: The 21st floor https://t.co/9zML72Si4x How the people of Grenfell Tower lived and died. Thu, 22:15: RT @apcoworldwide: How will the #KurdistanReferendum impact the #MiddleEast? @drjwalk discusses the regional interests: https://t.co/HgiSJ5... Fri, 10:45: Eurovision winner Salvador Sobral in critical condition https://t.co/DkBOffdIAw Crumbs. ...
This is a cross post from the Radix blog... It is almost ten years since the publication of one of my best books (I have to say this myself!). It was called Toward the Setting Sun and it told the interlinked stories of the three men who gave their names to the so-called 'discovery' of the New World, Columbus, Cabot and Vespucci. In the process of writing it, I became convinced that Columbus and Cabot had not just known each other, but had originally been co-conspirators in their great breakthrough - which was really about intellectual property. It was the ...
Economists love globalisation. It allows them to achieve what their fellow bean counters the accountants call economies of scale. This has substantial knock-on benefits. It increases profits so it is good for shareholders and share prices . It reduces the prices at the till and so it is good for customers. It keeps down inflation which is fantastic news for old decrepit types on fixed incomes. It creates job opportunities in the developing world which means the developed world does not need to dig so deeply into its aid pockets. International understanding is improved by the exponential growth in global ...
The Left have come up with a new phrase to shame centrists with: Centrist Dad. I have to admit, they nailed it this time. Having spent ages trying to tar centrists with "Blairite" or even "Tory", they have figured out what most centrists hate to be associated with – middle-aged timidity. The idea is that centrism is something that lefties take up when they get old and tired; their former radicalism buried under used nappies, school reports and mortgage offers; a slide towards conservatism resisted under a lukewarm soup of "centrism", a mush that has no ideological cornstarch to make ...
Responding to the news that Conservative backbenchers have called for a pause to the roll-out of Universal Credit (UC), Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions Spokesman Stephen Lloyd MP said: "There is a mounting sense that the government could be defeated if it does not immediately pause the roll-out of Universal Credit. "The roll-out has been an utter failure so far, with many claimants waiting over two months for their first payment and some relying on loans to survive. Rent arrears among universal credit claimants are also through the roof. "If the Conservatives are serious about helping ordinary people get ahead ...
With Theresa May making a speech in defence of free markets, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said: "Theresa May professes to support free markets yet she is determined to drag Britain out of the world's largest, most ambitious free market, the European single market. "The EU's four freedoms - of goods, services, capital and people - have underpinned British prosperity for the past 40 years. Yet the Conservatives' extreme Brexit will deprive us from all four, making us poorer. "Meanwhile, Conservative attempts to build new trade relationships in a post-Brexit world have been rebuffed with the Boeing row underlying just ...
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has challenged Damian Green after the Theresa May ally claimed that Liberal Democrat voters would secure the Prime Minister victory at the next election. Vince Cable said: "Damian Green is right that as moderate Labour voters come to realise that Jeremy Corbyn supports Brexit and does not want Britain to remain a member of the single market, they will see Liberal Democrats as the moderate, economically credible alternative. "But make no mistake, we are every bit as determined to win over Conservative voters. They have seen Theresa May destroy the Conservative reputation for being the ...
Lib Dem Brexit Spokesman Tom Brake has written to the Prime Minister, calling on her to investigate whether Boris Johnson has broken the Ministerial Code. Following on from Johnson's reprimand from the head of the UK Statistics Authority due to his repeated peddling of the discredited £350 million a week for the NHS figure, Tom Brake has called for the PM to investigate whether Boris has breached the Ministerial Code on three fronts Breaching collective responsibility by openly criticising the government.A conflict of duty between his public duty as Foreign Secretary and senior Cabinet member and his private interests campaigning ...
The Tory conference starts on Sunday and already Conservative politicians are covering their backs. In Wales leading Tory politicians have gathered together to urge Theresa May to approve the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, a cynical gesture that seeks to put themselves on the right side of the argument whilst their party in government remains deaf to their pleas and those of others. Meanwhile, as the Daily Mirror reports the Prime Minister herself is indulging in her own cynical spin exercise. She has give an interview in which she claims that her party were not ready for the snap election she ...
It is almost ten years since the publication of one of my best books (I have to say this myself!). It was called Toward the Setting Sun and it told the interlinked stories of the three men who gave their names to the so-called 'discovery' of the New World, Columbus, Cabot and Vespucci. In the [...] The post Uber, Columbus and the robber baron disrupters appeared first on Radix.
Within academic study there is an underlying tension between 'theatre' and 'performance'. A Google image search for 'theatre' and 'performance' - first images that appear. Theatre is perceived as 'a theatre' - i.e. proscenium arch stages and tiered seating; Performance, as a word and concept has many more layered meanings and preconceptions. Image Sources: Time Out - The best theatres in Edinburgh | Thomson-Reuters blog Performance is a relatively new scholarly discipline and Richard Schechner states that the term encompasses both the performing arts and performative action, which is "how performance is used in politics, medicine, religion, popular entertainments, and ...
We had a very well attended fringe meeting in Bournemouth on this important issue - helped and sustained by the great Dorset High Tea, kindly provided by Liberal Democrat Voice. There are over 65 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide, 22 million of whom are refugees who have left their country of origin. Over half of refugees are children. Nearly 90% of refugees currently reside in states bordering conflict zones in the global south. A relatively minimal amount have sought and been granted safety in western European states. This insightful and fascinating fringe event explored and analysed the European response to ...
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award.
That Jeremy Corbyn has almost God-like status amongst his fans is undeniable. And why not he's pledged to do many wondrous things that few people could argue with. He's going to save the NHS with massive injections of cash. Save our railways with nationalisation and massive injections of cash. Save students with no more student loans/tuition fees (despite Labour previously bringing in such loans/tuition fees) and possibly paying off/refunding all the old/outstanding loans/tuition fees too. I could go on but I'm sure you get my and indeed JC's drift. Does he mean it? Will all his pledges come about if ...
Corbyn's call in his Leader's speech at the Labour conference for the nationalisation of utilities raises all sorts of questions about how, if at all, this is going to be financed but also begs the question of which utilities would be brought into public ownership. The simplistic claim that life will be so wonderful if companies providing public services were nationalised is not something I
