Such insight into one's own character is to be applauded. Friday On the way home to Bonkers House in Belgrave Square after a working day in the House I am asked by a dishevelled fellow if I can spare any change. I give him half a crown: I would only have spent it on drink. Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10. Previously in Lord Bonkers' DiaryThe Hinge and Bracket of English pace bowlingConfessions of a Cabinet MinisterSome silly ass with a hyphen"Just the sort of tomfool idea I would expect"
There was a Leicester City Council by-election yesterday in the Eyres Monsell ward. The result was as follows: Labour: 53.2% (+10.6) Lib Dem: 30.6% (+23.1) Con: 16.3% (-1.9) The slightly odd figures are caused by the disappearance of Ukip, who polled a quarter of the vote last time the vote was fought. As Mark Pack reminds us, the was a ward the Lib Dems used to hold. That was in the days (2003-7) when we ran the city. So encouraging progress. We also won a town council by-election in Earl Shilton, electing the town's first ever Lib Dem councillor with ...
An excited email arrives from Lib Dem HQ: Designed by Dave, this t-shirt represents the hopes and dreams of the tens of thousands of members who've joined our party since the EU Referendum - and our party's Internationalist values.Nice work, Dave. But does this T-shirt reflect Lib Dem policy? As Neville Farmer wrote in a guest post for this blog: An unscheduled Sunday motion proposed that an elected Liberal Democrat government would reverse Article 50 without need for a further Brexit referendum. It was crudely drafted but it was strong and clear and answered Paddy Ashdown's call for some party ...
Ten council by-elections this week, and mixed signs of Liberal Democrat progress. You won't find headlines here about the party gaining seats this week in other sorts of elections because of the reasons I've explained previously – paying attention to such results is deeply misleading about the party's prospects. But back to the principal council by-elections which are worth paying attention to for drawing out more general trends. Perhaps the most interesting contest from a Lib Dem perspective was in Leicester, taking place in a ward that the party held way back when it ran the city. By 2015, however, ...
This post first popped up on the Radix blog... The author Radical Middle, the campaigner Mark Satin, used the metaphor of roads and myopia to explain what he meant by the title. For Satin, it isn't about a view from the right hand side of the road, or the left hand side. It is, he said, "a view of the whole road". That fearless clearsightedness suggests an end to the deliberate selection of evidence, which should perhaps be a central purpose of the radical centre project. Which might explain why I feel so enraged by the faulty assumptions behind the ...
Fri 24th
18:44
Bootle – That purchase of The Strand shopping centre which Labour keep trying to brush under t...
£684,000 cost (and rising) of Bootle Strand "advice" As opposition Lib Dem councillors continue to dig into this murky matter further issues of concern continue to emerge. Cllr. Iain Brodie Browne has the latest on his blog site – Birkdale Focus – accessible via the link below And the Liverpool Echo is running this story on its web site based on Iain's investigations:- Despite The Times exposing what Sefton Council was up to just a few weeks back (see link below) it seems there are more carpets to be ripped up to get to all the facts about ...
Second paragraph of third story: It had been a terrible accident: a whole section of the tunnel roof had collapsed suddenly, without any warning. Diggin a new subway under New York City was always going to be dangerous, but Pete never expected it to be this dangerous. He never expected three of his fellow workers to be killed in the process - and he certainly never expected to see one of them again, just a couple of months later. A collection of six short stories featuring a companionless Twelfth Doctor visiting the USA at different points in history from 1815 ...
Back in the Autumn of 1981, not long after David Steel had told us to go back to our constituencies and prepare for government, the 14 year old me was pretty excited when Bill Pitt won the Croydon North West by-election. I remember that much as I loved Shirley Williams, I was quite glad that he hadn't caved and let her stand there. Maybe there was a wee bit of Awkward Squad in me even then. Anyway, for a while I did think the Liberal/SDP Alliance might just form the next government. The June 1983 election was my first lesson ...
Fun and games over councillor pay at Wokingham Borough Council meeting last night. Three pieces of essential background: Like most local authorities, Wokingham Borough Council has an independent panel made up of local residents who look at councillor pay. That panel reports to the full council, and councillors vote on their recommendations. Councillor pay in Wokingham consists of: a basic allowance for being a councillor, £7,618 (£1000 or which is for IT and out of pocket expenses) and a set of "special responsibility" allowances for councillors who carry out specific roles. These vary from £1250 for members of the Planning ...
Fri 24th
15:14
Vandalism of Ludlow's Christmas lights shows need to invest in young people and local policing
Last night, the power cables to the lights on the Christmas tree in the market square were cut. They will be repaired tonight (Friday) by Ludlow Town Council after the market is cleared of stallholders. The lights switch on is tomorrow. This is not the first time this has happened. Last year, 60 bulbs from the Christmas light display were smashed. Vandalism on the market area is not new but it is a problem. Young people hang out around the stalls at night. A very small number of them engage in antisocial behaviour. This is our media release. Andy Boddington, ...
For decades, in the post-war era, there was not a budget day when the Liberal Party did not move an amendment to promote employee ownership and industrial democracy. Jo Grimond and Richard Wainwright were always looking for opportunities to make the case for the redistribution of ownership. Not only did they believe that this would lead to a fair distribution of wealth and influence they saw that it would contribute to productivity improvement-but more of that later Donald Wade, (who for younger readers, was the MP for Huddersfield West,) laid out the argument in his pamphlet Our Aim and Purpose ...
The author Radical Middle, the campaigner Mark Satin, used the metaphor of roads and myopia to explain what he meant by the title. For Satin, it isn't about a view from the right hand side of the road, or the left hand side. It is, he said, "a view of the whole road". That fearless clearsightedness suggests [...] The post The real reason we can't afford to buy or rent homes appeared first on Radix.
Hello! Doesn't this time of year come around quickly? So, this is my standard post for this time of year. If you've read it before, feel free to skip. ( However, if you ARE considering getting me a Crispmas and/or birthday present, click the cut ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Brexit scuppers UK's 2023 European Capital of Culture bids - BBC NewsNot a surprise, but a bit of a pisser for the cities who had already spent money on bidding. Facebook (Still) Letting Housing Advertisers Exclude by RaceOh what a surprise. Did Vote Leave commit a crime over its funding? Democracy demands to knowJudging by how long it took for mad cow disease to be finally admitted to by the government, I suspect this will come to fruition long after brexit actually happens/doesn't happen. This woman making the best out of today's floods in Jeddah#lifegoals Quentin Crisp reflects on trans ...
The most eye-catching announcement in the Conservative budget - the standard "rabbit out of the hat" designed to catch the headlines - is the exemption from stamp duty for first-time buyers of houses up to the value of £300 000. Happily this is by no means as generous as it looks, as house purchases up to the value of £125 000 are already exempt. Given that the average value of the first time buy is £165 000 this means that the lucky purchaser will save a princely 2% of £40 000, or £800: better than a poke in the eye ...
The latest round of rubbish regarding Brexit and its relationship with the island of Ireland comes from Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP. Let's start with what she's said: "The Irish government are actually using the negotiations in Europe to put forward their views on what they believe the island of Ireland should look like in the future. We've heard from the foreign minister of the Republic of Ireland just yesterday talking about his aspiration for a united Ireland. He is entitled to have that aspiration but he should not be using European Union negotiations to talk about those ...
Embed from Getty Images This week, we've had our biggest warning yet about what the post Brexit world holds for us. We knew already that prices were going up because of the fall in the pound, that EU nationals were swapping our hospitals and surgeries for somewhere they felt more welcome and businesses are growing increasingly worried about the Government's diplomatic faffing. This week, we learned courtesy of the OBR that our economy is barely going to grow, that investment growth is scarily low at 0.2% and that it's going to take another 8 years to get back to the ...
(Lord) David Alton is absolutely right about Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. The Government must act. Over the past few days I have received a number of briefings about the 'crack gambling habit' provided by Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs). I ... Continue reading →
Thu, 12:00: RT @apcoworldwide: What challenges does the Irish border present to #Brexit? @nwbrux explains and looks at the latest developments https://... Thu, 17:50: RT @georgeeaton: The most remarkable #Budget2017 stats. - Deficit not due to be eliminated until 2031 (16 years late). - Growth below 2%... Thu, 18:00: RT @StPaulsLondon: Happy birthday, Doctor. Thank you for keeping St Paul's safe for the past 54 years. #DoctorWhoDay https://t.co/bb3xhN9j... Thu, 18:53: The Deepest Sea, by Charles Barnitz https://t.co/nv2HKZPoX1 Thu, 19:03: RT @nicktolhurst: My timeline is filling up with #brexit folk absolutely enraged that UK no longer allowed to compete for "European ...
Scotland, are you ready?! #TeamKez #ImACeleb [IMG: 🐍] [IMG: 🕷] [IMG: 🐛] pic.twitter.com/SjyNXQAfoi — Jenny Gilruth (@JennyGilruth) November 23, 2017 Kezia Dugdale was the best leader the Scottish Labour Party has had since Donald Dewar. She has warmth, humour, the ability to engage and is a really good ambassador for Labour values. It was her destiny to lead Scottish Labour through a Holyrood then a Westminster general election in the space of a year. She had to do it while being constantly undermined by various factions in the party. She has had criticisms piled on her like buckets of maggots ...
There has been quite a fuss made of the EU's decision to stop UK cities applying to be European capital of culture in 2023. According to Downing Street, the government disagree with the decision and are seeking "urgent discussions" with the European Commission. Quite what these talks can achieve is debatable. The rules are simple. If you want to be considered for the EU's capital of culture, you
Men In Sheds is one of the Good Causes chosen for the Tesco token scheme between now and the end of the year. If you have a Tesco token please consider choosing them as your Good Cause. They've only recently started but they have an enthusiastic membership who are keen to get the scheme going in Yate and the surrounding area. There is general information on this page: What is a Men's Shed? If you're interested - women are welcome as well! - please contact Yate Town Council by email info@yatetowncouncil.gov.uk or phone 01454 862595.
The Chesterfield was a banqueting Suite/restaurant for want of a better description on Prescot Road in Melling, near to the junction with Cunscough Lane. The building was originally a school (St. Mary's RC Primary School which closed in the 1970's?) and the banqueting suite/restaurant itself closed around 2000? The site has now been redeveloped as a large house and here's a couple of photos of it with an appropriate plaque/datestone reflecting back to what used to be on the site. The building as it was until the recent redevelopment – Photo Credit Rightmove From talking to a Melling resident who ...
The failure of the Tory Government to get to grips with the UK housing crisis is no better illustrated than the smoke and mirrors which surrounds the axing of stamp duty for properties selling for less than £300,000. As the Independent reports, the Resolution Foundation believe that the measure will inflate house prices by more than the saving it will deliver for many buyers. They add that the change will only marginally reduce the time it takes an average first-time buyer to save up to buy a property - from 19 years to 18.5 years. The Foundation's calculation is that ...
The Cold War-like conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia is simmering quite nicely—and, like most Middle East problems, threatening to boil over. The roots, the causes, the issues and the problems are all part of that complex Middle East tapestry which closely resembles Churchill's riddle wrapped in an enigma and perpetually shrouded in the shifting sands of Arabia. But I will attempt to provide a guide on today's state of play. The Sunnis hate the Shias. The Shias hate the Sunnis The problem is a 1,382-year-old dispute over the religious line of succession Iran is the dominant Shia power Saudi ...
From Blether Tay-Gither : Our November Blether will be on Tuesday 28th November at 7pm at our new venue - The Butterfly Café. 28 Commercial Street. The theme this month is " The Golden Years." Hope to see some of you there - all welcome!
(This is the second in my series of essays looking at each Nilsson album. You can find the first here) Almost as soon as Nilsson stopped working for Rock Music, he met with Rick Jarrard, a young staff producer at ... Continue reading →
The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservative government of "balancing the books on the backs of the poorest," after analysis of the Budget by the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed there are another £12 billion of planned welfare cuts. The analysis found that the four-year freeze in welfare is now set to lead to 11 million households losing an average of £400 each by 2019, with the poorest 20% of families hit hardest. The analysis also found average earnings in 2021 look set to plunge to £1,400 lower than forecast in March 2016 - which is lower in real terms ...
