Lord Kerr, who wrote Article 50, has said many times that it is revocable. We could get out of Brexit if we wanted. People are resigned to it because they don't know that we could get out of it. So spread the news far and wide whenever you see it. He's reportedly making a speech tomorrow in which he emphasises that point. Vince Cable had this to say: The author of article 50 revealing that the process can be revoked is a significant development. There is no longer any refuge for brexiteers who argue that this whole process can't be ...
Another film from the BFI's Britain in Film collection. Click on the still above to view it on their website. That still is of particular interest, because it shows Lynmouth still suffering from the 1952 flood disaster there. Otherwise the footage, which takes in a lot of the tourist spots along the North Devon coast and even ventures a little way inland, has a gentle Fifties feel to it.
Many of us who are cyclists see junctions which are hot spots for injuries often involving cyclists and lorries, due to the blind spots. Recently I went on a rally to show Ealing Council that they need to do more to reduce fatalities on our roads, following the death of ex-police officer and cyclist Claudia Manera in West Ealing. As Ealing's Council Leader spoke he was barracked by cyclists demanding action not words. Too right. The Liberal Democrats believe that the Council and Transport for London (TFL) should make a commitment to action the recommendations of the review relating to ...
It's not clear that the government's 58 Brexit impact studies even exist. But if they do, would it be right for someone to leak them? Maria Farrell concludes that it would. Mary Bousted says "teachers will only have real autonomy when the government allows them to say no to the latest stupid fad". "My latest work has focused on the stories of the female heroes of World War I. They weren't fighting on the battlefield but their contributions at home and abroad were nothing short of incredible." Lauren O'Hagan uses the inscriptions people left in books as a way into ...
Before 2015 being a Liberal Democrat blogger was easy. If you were short of a story about the party, you just googled "Lib Dems" or the name of a random Lib Dem MP and something new was bound to come up. It's not like that now, but a search tonight does reveal the Lib Dem shortlist for the Cheltenham constituency. As the seat was held by the party between 1992 and 2015, and as the Conservative majority earlier this year was only 2569, if any seat can be said to be promising for the party then this is it. Anyway, ...
So a few months ago my working life was shall we say, turned upside down and I had to work out what I wanted to do next with my life. After essentially spending the summer chilling out, my girlfriend and I sat down to talk things through. What I wanted to really give a go was writing some fiction books. It was something that I've wanted to do for a long time. Luckily I had squirrelled away some money for a rainy day so I could actually give it a fair crack of the whip and earn peanuts for a ...
[IMG: 'To The Mother of a Dead Marine' - a poem about a mother's loss] To The Mother of a Dead Marine by Marilyn L. Taylor Your boy once touched me, yes. I knew you knew when your wet, reddened gaze drilled into me, groped through my... The post 'To The Mother of a Dead Marine' – a poem about a mother's loss appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
Despite the claims of British politicians, which in turn are echoed by their diplomats, the UK is not "within touching distance" of agreement on citizens' rights. Following a reiteration of this claim by UK ambassador John Marshall, at a public meeting on Wednesday in Luxembourg, MEP Charles Guerens outlined the European Parliament's position: Any application for 'settled status' should be a simple, cost-free and automatic process, that can be made by families as a joint declaration. Applications should not depend on complex conditionality and the burden of proof in a challenge to an application must rest with the UK authorities ...
Second paragraph of third story ("Blowups Happen"): The man addressed turned slowly around and faced the speaker. His expression was hidden by a grotesque helmet, part of a heavy, leaden armor which shielded his entire body, but the tone of voice in which he answered showed nervous exasperation. Heinlein's mammoth future history, some of which I had re-read recently; 21 stories published as a collection in 1967, though in fact all but two originally came out between 1939 and 1949, outlining the future development of humanity through the coming centuries. The 1941 stories alone provided four of Heinlein's five final ...
The papers today have been full of Vince Cable's proposal that all 16-year olds should have access to an £18,000 endowment for education. Here is an extract from The Sun: Teenagers should get £18,000 to spend on further education to re-balance inequality between the generations, Sir Vince Cable has said. The Lib Dem leader today unveiled his plans for an "endowment fund" which would be used for young people to spend throughout their lives. And from the Daily Telegraph: A new wealth tax could extract some of the housing value owned by older Brits, which Cable wants to use to ...
St Albans City & District Council has joined forces with Hertfordshire Highways to carry out street cleansing and highways repairs within roads that are heavily parked. Confirmation of the TTRO permits for the date and roads listed below came through yesterday so I needed to deliver letters to all residents today. (Copy of letter attached) [...]
Thu 9th
16:31
Sefton Council – So was it avoiding tax or not when buying Bootle Strand Shopping Centre?
Following the revelations in The Times newspaper of Wednesday this week a rather odd situation seems to be developing as Bootle Labour Party run around trying to deal with the fallout. The Times article says:- An email seen by The Times from the Labour leader of Sefton council confirmed that the structure of its purchase of the Bootle shopping centre helped to avoid tax. It said: "It is true that one of the important considerations for purchasing the company rather than the asset is that the council would not have to pay stamp duty land tax. This is a widely ...
Deep in our human consciousness is a memory handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. It is that to propitiate our gods, whoever they may be, it's necessary to sacrifice something valuable on their altars. This will persuade the god to look favourably on the giver and be good to him. Gods could shape Fate, so to make a sacrifice, part of an act of worship supervised by priests, was a necessary ritual. I believe that this folk memory of necessary sacrifice to keep oneself safe has surfaced again in the unconscious of British people today, and ...
Commenting following the firing of Priti Patel as International Development Secretary, Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson said: "Priti Patel has rightly been forced to step down for her cover up of meetings with foreign officials and the inappropriate requests for aid to be sent to the Israeli military in the Golan Heights. "This was an appalling error of judgement and is nothing short of a major failure by the British government. "Number 10 must answer questions about their complicity in this scandal. Someone has been deceived, either the British people or the Prime Minister's office. Whichever it is ...
There is a new initiative from the King's Fund on integrating physical and mental health care. They are setting up an "Integrating Physical and Mental Health Care Learning Network". The King's Fund learning networks provide an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning, challenge and information-sharing. Network members have the opportunity to work through local issues with colleagues facing similar challenges. External speakers will share insights on relevant topics, and the group will also draw on expertise from staff at the Fund, as well as our latest research and publications. This follows on from their 2016 report "Bringing together physical and mental health: ...
Sutton Council is once again supporting the nationwide 'Small Business Saturday' campaign. To assist local businesses, there will be free car parking in Carshalton High Street, Kingsway Road, Wallington Library and Gibson Road car parks on Saturday 2 December. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to use this opportunity to support the local economy and [...]
What is 'Live' in the context of art and performance? I would posit that for an experience to be considered 'live' it involves a simultaneous shared space and time between an action and a spectator. Image Source: vulture.com Peggy Phelan states that the life of a performance is only 'in the present.'[1]And argues that liveness is defined by its ephemerality, its quality of disappearance and non-reproductivity. Even when a staged theatre production is repeated multiple times over many weeks or months, the elements of the performance itself will inevitably be different at each showing. A quality of Liveness relies on ...
A week is a long time in politics, they say. A week before September's Federal German elections, all seemed reasonably well for Angela Merkel and her conservative CDU, rebranded as 'Die Mitte' (the middle), despite fractious arguments with the sister Bavarian CSU party on immigration, a rise in the far-right AfD and an aggressive campaign [...] The post Is 'Jamaica' a chance for the radical centre in Germany? appeared first on Radix.
At the Sunniside History Society meeting on Tuesday, our guest speaker was Professor Richard Madeley who gave a presentation on the Crimean War, 1853-56. For those unfamiliar with this period in history, the Crimean War, fought by the British, French and Turks against the Russians, was one of the most incompetently run wars of the past 200 years, especially by the British. The UK was
Wed, 12:36: RT @MalmstromEU: Meeting the Bulgarian government to discuss priorities for their presidency. #TeamJunckerEU. Their motto is Together we ar... Wed, 18:02: A year after the election, not one of these has happened. https://t.co/0NbT1tXQjw Wed, 18:21: The Last Castle, by Jack Vance https://t.co/AaM0Bw4hYk Wed, 20:16: RT @Peston: Patel gone. Official https://t.co/4vveyxnISa Thu, 00:33: RT @michelzaffran: Thank you to #G7 Health Ministers for reaffirming your commitment to #EndPolio and strengthening #health globally! https... Thu, 02:55: DC's first Georgian restaurant! (@ Supra in Washington, DC) https://t.co/xhZV2LjxSF Thu, 11:42: The women who shape Brussels — 2017 ranking https://t.co/89RccmPCGU Congrats to @BrusselsGeek @MalmstromEU... ...
Thu 9th
10:45
Approval of housing on Friars Walk has brought me to the end of my tether on planning in Shropshire
Council officers have approved a plan for two homes on Friars Walk. This scheme has been controversial from the outset. The town council objected, as did several residents. I objected and three times asked for the scheme to be called in to the South Planning Committee. All requests were refused. I was so angry I complained. I was due to meet council leader Peter Nutting at 9.30am yesterday morning to discuss the matter. That meeting was postponed for a week after the planning committee chair could not attend for perfectly acceptable personal reasons. Yesterday lunchtime, officers approved the scheme, something ...
The Liberal Democrats took an active part in the 199th Liberal International Executive Committee meeting in Johannesburg in October. The theme of this year's meeting was "Better Governance: Liberal Answers to Twenty-first Century Challenges". Delegates adopted resolutions on freedom of belief, tackling the persecution of LGBT people in Chechnya, and the rise of authoritarianism in Cambodia. The delegates elected a new Secretary General of LI, Gordon Mackay. He is a Member of the South African Assembly for Democratic Alliance. Liberal Democrat Party President Sal Brinton held a number of meetings with key individuals at Liberal International, ALDE and the DA, ...
At the headquarters of Cloudflare, in San Francisco, there's a wall of lava lamps: the Entropy Wall. They're used to generate random numbers and keep a good bit of the internet secure: here's how.
Thu 9th
10:30
Police and Crime Commissioner spends your taxes on more admin staff rather than police officers
Liberal Democrat County Councillors were astounded when they were told today (8th November) that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, David Lloyd, intends to employ an additional 20-30 administrative staff instead of funding more police posts. County Councillors on the Community Safety and Waste Management Cabinet Panel heard a report from Colin Woodward, a [...]
Over the past couple of years Ealing Council have made lots of small changes which have led to ward fora meetings being less effective or relevant to residents. Liberal Democrats believe that to get more people involved in the Council decision making process, the Council needs to be proactive and make ward forum meetings more likely to encourage residents to attend. I remember when ward forum meetings hosted some interesting debates about wheelie bins, the possible closure of the 94-bus terminus, whether or not to light Southfield Rec and discussing Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs).Instead the Labour party have reduced the ...
Brexit impact ████████ likely to be █████████ An hilarious satire. 'No coloureds' landlord taken to court by UK equality watchdog Some truly breathtaking "I'm not a racist, but..." quotes from the racist in this article. Profile of Danica Roem, printed before she won the election MOAR transwomen metalheads should be in legislatures, you guys. (CW: her opponent misgenders her in this, although the article itself is careful not to) John Stuart Mill tea towel | Radical Tea Towel Every home should have one. Yorkshire Games Festival | National Science and Media Museum, Bradford This cabinet has successfully normalised complete bloody ...
Concerns were raised at a recent meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee that some people find it more difficult than others to access GP and other healthcare services. This could depend on appointment booking systems, public transport, how rural the area they live in is and how close they are to a boundary with another council area. Healthwatch has agreed to undertake a piece of research on the committee's behalf to find out people's experiences of accessing GP services. You can share your experiences at: If you would like to discuss the survey with someone from Healthwatch, please call ...
Yesterday saw one of the more bizarre episodes in modern politics as journalists tracked the International Secretary's plane in real time, all the way from Uganda to the UK on social media and then followed her ministerial car from a camera on a helicopter as it travelled back to Westminster from the airport. It was the event of the day and took journalistic stalking to a new level. The summoning of a minister back from an overseas trip so she can be handed her resignation letter is in itself unprecedented. The media attention that surrounded that journey turned it into ...
Residents recently brought to my attention two big potholes on the southern carriageway of Logie Avenue, near its junction with Glenagnes Road. I brought this to the attention of the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now been updated as follows : "An order has been raised for the repair of this pothole on Logie Avenue with a timescale for completion of approximately one week."
I wanted to post an update to the blog I wrote in August on the poor bus provision in Oxfordshire due to cuts in bus subsidies. There are two parts to this story - the motion I moved on Tuesday to Full Council which passed unanimously - hooray! – and how I got the motion to its final form. We'll start with the second part, as that was the real journey for me as a new councillor. I had originally submitted this motion for September full council, but we ran out of time so it was re-submitted for November's meeting. ...
The Guardian has this opinion piece on its web site – see link above This is an interesting piece indeed and I agree with its general thrust. On austerity though Aditya Chakrabortty tells us that there was an alternative to it. Well yes there may well have been but how come the UK's 3 major political parties went into the 2010 General Election promoting austerity (in one form or another) as the major solution to the mess our economy had gotten into? The brightest minds in all 3 political parties seem to have reached a similar conclusion, some even ...
