Liberal Democrats have played their part in making sure that the inadequacies of Universal Credit have been highlighted. In the debate on Wednesday, Christine Jardine said: We hear that, instead of it helping, as many as 1 million children could be pushed into poverty by 2020. That surely cannot be the legacy that my Conservative colleagues would want to leave for future generations. They surely cannot be content with what they are hearing in this Chamber from constituents and even their own Back Benchers: that families are facing rent arrears and the threat of losing their homes; that there is ...
[IMG: Chairman Meow] Chris Dillow explains why a new centre party would likely fail: "Political parties are powerful brands that have been built up over decades. This loyalty doesn't only attract millions of voters. It means that members stick with the party through thick and thin, even if they profoundly disagree with their policies and leaders." Good news. Cicero's Songs is back with a post on Estonia. Nicole Vassell on the experience of the few Black students who do make it to Oxford or Cambridge. The Pledge of Allegiance in American schools was promoted by a man who made a ...
There's a plethora of social media tools out there. But if your campaign is just launching, focus on where the largest audiences are and do them well.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 493rd 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 (15-21 October, 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. Is it eight or nine council by-elections ...
We don't encourage reliance on experts, particularly foreign experts, in this school. We will now sing the national anthem and if I catch any boy not singing loud enough he will be beaten.
10am this morning and I was on Church Green in Whickham to help with the planting of the flower beds, organised by Planting Up Whickham. Time to get my hands very dirty. By the time we had finished, thousands of plants had gone into the ground. Thanks to everyone who took part. And thanks to St Mary's Church for the lunch!
Fly-tipping in Shropshire was down a little last year but the overall trend is no change. Over the last five years, reported incidents have averaged 1,400 a year, mostly on the highways and mostly domestic rubbish. Over the same period, Shropshire Council spend £500,000 cleaning up and taking action. There were only two prosecutions and twelve fixed penalty notices. More than 300 warning letters were issued. Thousands of perpetrators went unidentified or didn't face action. I am not convinced that the official data records anywhere near the number of incidents that occur on private land, especially agricultural land. Investigating and ...
By Special Request of Baroness Scott and Mark Valladares... Cicero's Songs returns: bigger, longer and uncut. October 1st marked the half way point of the Estonian Presidency of the European Union. Perhaps for many people such an anniversary is of passing interest at best. Yet the conduct of the Estonian Presidency is reinforcing just how forward looking and innovative the most northerly of the Baltic States has become. Estonia is a country that wants to live in the future, and with its openness and innovation, that future seems a lot closer than almost anywhere else in Europe It is not ...
I was in the Whickham part of my ward yesterday with a bundle of 450 Focuses to deliver. My usual 3 patches were done and I was back home by 3.30pm. That's my deliveries done for this Focus. There will, of course, be more Focuses coming up.
Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) The Past Through Tomorrow, by Robert A. Heinlein Running Through Corridors 2: Rob and Toby's Marathon Watch of Doctor Who, the 70s, by Toby Hadoke and Robert Shearman Last books finished Plague City, by Jonathan Morris Grand Hotel, by Vicki Baum Caprice and Rondo, by Dorothy Dunnett Next books The Last Castle, by Jack Vance Thorns, by Robert Silverberg A Man of Parts, by David Lodge
Liam Fox and other Brexiteers in the UK's current Conservative government are fond of saying that when we are "free" from the European Union, we will be able to enter into a great new dawn of trading partnerships with other big players around the world, not least China. Actually, it was David Cameron and the [...]
An old one but a good one. If a mouse fails to operate or should it perform erratically, it may need a ball replacement. Mouse balls are now available as FRU (Field Replacement Units). Because of the delicate nature of this procedure, replacement of mouse balls should only be attempted by properly trained personnel. Before proceeding, determine the type of mouse balls by examining the underside of the mouse. Domestic balls will be larger and harder than foreign balls. Ball removal procedures differ depending upon the manufacturer of the mouse. Foreign balls can be replaced using the pop off method. ...
Liverpool Lime Street Station at night. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eLUD_9RBv4 Network Rail have put this time-lapse video (see link above) on youtube with regard to the recent 3 week closure of the station because of massive platform and track works to increase the capacity of Lime Street. It's worth looking at to see the extent of the works so far. A Virgin Trains Pendolino train at Liverpool Lime Street Station.
Today's pronouncements by Keir Starmer that Labour might, if it feels like it, work with Tories to secure some moderate changes to the EU Withdrawal Bill are hardly earth-shattering. I can't find the words "single market" anywhere in his red lines. Perhaps the people's red lines are, like the Glee Club song, slightly pink. I certainly don't think that Labour should be expecting gratitude any time soon. They are barely managing the minimum you would expect from an opposition. Lib Dem Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake is similarly unimpressed: It's entertaining to see the Labour front bench attempting to have a ...
I see the Grauniad have seen fit to publish yet another wilful misunderstanding of the purpose of trigger warnings today, this time from David Mitchell. Trigger Warnings are there to give people extra information about the media they are consuming. It's like when the continuity announcer says before the showing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that "this film contains strong language and scenes that some viewers might find upsetting". It's not censorship to allow people to make a free and informed choice about their media consumption. The purpose of a trigger warning is to be courteous to people who have ...
Sad news for Julian Huppert's many fans. He announced on Twitter this weekend that he won't be standing for Parliament again. It was an honour to represent my home town as MP & to make a positive difference locally & nationally. However, I will not be standing again — Julian Huppert (@julianhuppert) October 21, 2017 I remain passionate about many issues & will continue to try to make things better, in different ways. We need fairer, more liberal society — Julian Huppert (@julianhuppert) October 21, 2017 While I understand that he might want his life back after seven years of ...
Anybody who thinks that the effects of 2008 crash are in the past, needs to look again. Not only is the economy still struggling to get back to pre-2008 levels but some of the measures put into effect by the UK Government to control expenditure continue to hot ordinary people. One of those measures was the public sector pay cap. This was meant to be a temporary measure but for some reason successive Chancellors of the Exchequer have not been able to bring themselves to lift it. Now, as the Guardian reports, we have a situation where public sector workers' ...
M Magazine interviewed Jon Boden last week: 'The future of folk is hanging in the balance, and is in danger of turning into just another branch of the performing arts... passively consumed by the audience rather than being a participatory social art form,' warns Jon Boden, ex-frontman, composer and arranger with Bellowhead. As a leading light in the British folk scene, over the years he's added to our nation's canon while also exhuming forgotten works for contemporary audiences. It's an endeavour that has seen him pick up many plaudits along the way, not least from the BBC Radio 2 Folk ...
... However, as it is for publication in Liberator, you'll have to wait to read it :þ Once Liberator has landed on doormats I'll put the review up on Goodreads and link to it here. But if you want a little spoiler, although I had some criticisms I genuinely quite enjoyed it, and will definitely buy his next (if he ever writes another). [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Sat, 12:56: RT @DailyOscarWilde: A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. Sat, 15:02: Cimarron, or how to erase feminism https://t.co/d4aMUsKN4S Sat, 15:27: Just behind me in the queue for pictures with @Jenna_Coleman_ . https://t.co/N5NbOYOpzj Sat, 16:05: Psalm 53 Sung in Aramaic for Pope Francis by Georgians https://t.co/NvVMoWLoiF Absolutely amazing. Sat, 16:14: RT @quarsan: Envious of a friend who's just met the Maybot v 1.0 https://t.co/uiknStlgP4 Sat, 16:19: Having revealed to @Jenna_Coleman_ that @brianminchin is my cousin... https://t.co/jzLZbFYFzo Sat, 17:19: "My God! Was the 50th anniversary as long ago as 2013?!" - @Jenna_Coleman_ https://t.co/V6BstofF4l Sat, 17:21: ...
Britons facing Storm Brian urged to 'always look on the bright side of life' Other people not being such twats 'can help treat depression', finds study [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
An illegal vote. State police censoring political websites. Paramilitary police using violence against peaceful protesters. Calls from Amnesty International to release imprisoned political campaigners. The right-wing preparing to seize control of a democratically-elected government. You might think that I'm talking about a backward dictatorship in a far-flung corner of the world. Rather depressingly, I'm not. Instead, these events are happening right now in one of our fellow EU countries. By now, I'm sure most of you are aware of events in Catalonia. You may not be aware that this is not a sudden constitutional crisis, but the culmination of centuries ...
While Universal Basic Income is popular in principle, support for it falls sharply once increases in taxation or reductions in benefits to pay for it are included as this IPSOS Mori survey shows. UCL's Institute for Global Prosperity has just published a report, proposing what they call Universal Basic Services as a less costly alternative. The first point to make about their proposals is that only some of them are truly universal, with others targeted at the lowest two deciles. The Royal Society of Arts, who have their own Basic Income model, have already criticised it. The Universal Basic Services ...
Oxford and Cambridge are always viewed as the ideal English universities. Witness how every time someone mentions that they attended or have applied to study there inevitably the response is always a "wow". I was in thrall too and had always wanted to go to Cambridge. That all changed a year ago. After attending an open day at Cambridge I was left with a distinct impression that it was just the epitome of white privilege and middle-class snobbery. Every other university open day I had attended had focused on what the university could offer students with a list of reasons ...
With the school holidays over tomorrow, it is back to West End Ward surgeries this coming week. My Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy surgeries take place tomorrow afternoon. My full surgery details are below - although I can also be contacted via esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk or phone me at home on 459378 anytime :
The use of hashtags on Twitter may be a great social media innovation for getting a specific message across in the way the #metoo hashtag has drawn attention to rampant global sexual harassment of women. The flip side of the coin is the power of the eponymous hashtag to further reinforce and disseminate stereotypical demeaning messages and pictures of women. I looked up the hashtag #Asians because I had attended an Asian Writers Festival and was seeking to reach the right audience with my tweets. What I found was a stream of naked women and nothing of any relevance to ...
Sun 22nd
07:44
Bootle – Has Sefton Council been involved in off-shore dealing over Strand Shopping Centre?
Bootle Town Hall – The Labour administration runs the Borough from here This has been a odd carry on ever since it first emerged that Sefton Council was buying this shopping centre. I blogged about it at the time the story started to leak out (May 2017 – see link below to access that posting) from Labour's Bootle Town Hall bunker:- £32.5m borrowed & spent by Sefton buying Strand shops Sefton Council are now saying (Champion Newspaper 18/10/17) that the Lib Dem Group Leader on the Council was briefed about the £32.5m purchase, yet how on earth does that ...
