This UKIP leaflet was delivered with the post by the Royal Mail yesterday. Wanting a moment's amusement, I sat down to read it. Point one: it has no imprint. Is this legal, especially given that this is a leaflet paid for by the "Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy" group in the European Parliament, financed by European taxpayers? Point two: on the back page is a photo of the North East's
... Birthmas gift recieved xxx [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
So, I've been on Mastodon for a bit now, and while I probably still look at twitter more times during a day that I do masto, I think I spend more actual time on Mastodon. Here are some hints and tips for you:Try to find an instance which suits you BEFORE you just sign up to mastodon.social because it's the default. There's a tool which will help. The reason I say this is because you are going to want your local timeline to be cool, and migrating to a different instance is currently a bit annoying (although the new migration ...
It is 10 years since Nick Clegg narrowly gained the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. Jen Yockney speculates on what might have happened if Chris Huhne had won instead. Justin Gest asks what lesson can be learnt from the victory of the progressive Democrat Steve Bullock in the Montana gubernatorial race. Nakul Krishna looks at the work of the philosopher Philippa Foot: "Like other philosophers before and since, Foot's achievement consisted in pointing us in a better direction. Instead of looking to logic or language for answers, she suggested that we look to 'the reality that surrounds man'." The Victorians ...
Tue 19th
20:29
"Do not approve" - Shropshire Council highways consultants join those opposing Rocks Green housing p...
"Recommendation - do not approve." That's the view of the highways consultants retained by Shropshire Council to examine the traffic impacts of plans for 200 homes south of Rocks Green. They join conservationists, ecologists and Highways England have also objected to the current scheme for the site. There is little doubt that homes will be built on this site at some point. At the moment though, it is looking like the submitted plans might not get approval. The developers might have to radically revise them or withdraw the application and submit a new set of plans. WSP is an international ...
When I joined the Liberal Party it published a weekly newspaper - Liberal News. This became Liberal Democrat News when we merged with the SDP. I applied unsuccessfully to work for it once and later became an (unpaid) columnist for many years. I even did the desktop publishing on a couple of issues. Liberal Democrat News ceased publication shortly after the party went into coalition with the Conservatives. Its replacement, we were assured, would be a revamped AdLib magazine. This did manage to appear monthly for a while - I wrote for it in those early days, but found this ...
I've talked before about how slow and steady progress is usually the way to successful online politics (as in The secret to getting 1,000 ward residents to follow you on Twitter), but slow and steady progress often runs into a problem: where do you get the content from? Whether it's building up an email list, getting a decent readership for your blog or accumulating a good network of residents on Facebook, as you steadily build up towards large audiences you need a regular supply of content, and all the more so once you have got your large audience. Being seen ...
A lot has changed since 2014 - the biggest part of which is the fact that we now have around 100,000 members. This is amazing, and it is radically changing us as a party but also challenging us to do things differently. One challenge is that the cost of producing AdLib has escalated to the equivalent of the entire staffing budget for the Party's Membership Department. Because of these high costs, with regret, the Federal Board has decided to cease publishing it as a printed magazine in 2018. I understand that this will be disappointing for many of you. It ...
The Speaker of Britain's House of Commons, John Bercow, has come in for a lot of flack over the years, mainly from his fellow Conservatives. But he has proved himself to be a hero in the way that he maintains debating standards in the chamber and is unafraid to stand up to bullies. We saw [...]
I'm really poor at blogging. That's a fact. I like WordPress. Another fact. I've therefore decided that, instead of having a Tumblr blog, Blogger blog and WordPress.com blog that I barely use (to name a few), I will stick to barely using one of them. By virtue of my day job, that choice has been made. My WordPress blog has been re-born and I've set myself the challenge of actually using it from now on. You can find me at https://garymarkfuller.wordpress.com/ from now on. Wish me luck!
Our fourth (and, sorry, very belated) update from the LDV Fantasy Football League. Congratulations to Emma Vincent, our Manager of the Month for November. Her Killer Canaries scored an impressive 278 points, just edging out Andy Briggs' eponymous Andy Briggs On Fire (269) and Victor Githae's M.S.F.C BOOM Squad (265). Here's the current, full league table – note there are two former MPs in the top 10! Well done John Leech and Adrian Sanders: There are 200+ players in total and you can still join the league by clicking here and using this code: 926270-223363. * Stephen was Editor (and ...
Over the past year we have seen a number of incidences where the outlook for many residents in our area is getting worse not better. Brexit is affecting London and certainly the boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow. Many banks and financial companies are moving jobs from London to France and Germany meaning that Chiswick residents are losing their jobs. Liberal Democrats have observed that continued government cuts have resulted is a greater number of people being displaced from their housing and some being homeless. The truer level of homelessness is much higher as there are a large set of residents ...
The future of the four stalled developments of which this in Norfolk Street is one hang in the balance following today's court ruling against the Council You will have seen the judgement against Liverpool City Council given today. This is ... Continue reading →
That is the task that Lord Malloch-Brown seems to have set himself. It is doubtless a good idea for those who oppose Brexit to speak with one voice. To marshal their arguments and messaging and to target key constituencies. The problem, however, remains the same as it was during the referendum campaign. The Remain side [...] The post How to mobilise public opinion against Brexit (and how not to) appeared first on Radix.
Branches etched out movement on a bright November sky tracing their patterns of regret and birching silver stripes of clarity above the shadowed lowering wood, sharpened by a northwind blown across the course to shiver those still trailing leaves of painted-on decay in dissipated beauty drawn from distant, coppered splendour... Cold and heedless of disorder under [...]
I am currently working my way through Iain McGilchrist's The Master and his Emissary. The theme of this book is the battle between the right and left parts of our brain. Mr McGilchrist thinks that in western civilisation left-brain thinking has become predominant, to the detriment of humanity. And yet, looking at the current state ... Continue reading Donald Trump's security policy represents the revenge of the right-brainers
ruthct21 | Britain is stepping back from EuropeThis post from one of our most Europeanly embedded lib dems is heartbreaking. Instagram photo:https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc22NHxHeMN/ I read The Torment Of Others (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #4) by Val McDermid - here's my review on GoodreadsNot so much a review as a mark, TBQH. Kindle lets you give a star rating but not actually type a review. If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: [IMG: Paypal Donate Button] [IMG: Buy Me an uncaffeinated beverage (because I'm allergic to coffee) at ko-fi.com] [IMG: ...
Mon, 12:08: In case you ever wondered: Which lines of longitude and latitude pass through the most countries?... https://t.co/ex4cSA38dO Mon, 12:56: RT @bbcdoctorwho: As the moment approaches, Peter Capaldi reflects on leaving #DoctorWho... 😢 https://t.co/zoVmH02jhU Mon, 14:17: RT @Stephen_Curry: Remember this headline from January 2017? It's been quite a year. https://t.co/IHll7YokvS Mon, 16:05: South of the Border, down Monaghan way https://t.co/H7Ea7pHJTC Brilliant piece on the Irish Border. Mon, 16:09: A question you may have never asked: Which lines of longitude and latitude pass through the most countries?... https://t.co/bjmfC8UNZj Tue, 10:02: I predicted this four weeks ago. https://t.co/43KLlcHWpR?amp=1 https://t.co/7IX3RHBZhJ Tue, 10:02: ...
Stephen Kinnock writes in Politics Home of his amicable clash over Brexit strategy with Nick Clegg. Clegg is arguing for a change of course before 29 March 2019. Look, it's David Davis who famously said that 'if a democracy cannot change its mind, then it ceases to be a democracy'. And the fact of the matter is that on an almost daily basis all those lies that were told by the likes of Boris Johnson during the campaign are being exposed, and the reality of what Brexit will do to our country is emerging," he says. Surely, as it becomes ...
Tue 19th
09:50
I think I've finally figured out why Theresa May lost her majority in June - and why that's still im...
There are many competing theories as to why May managed to lose her parliamentary majority in a snap election she called in order to increase the slim one she was sitting on. In my book "Apocalypse Delayed: Why the Left is Still in Trouble", I had a go at few myself. Usually people surmise it was all about Corbyn emerging as a strong campaigner and showing May up. Or the disaster that was the Tory manifesto, with the social care bit of it directly attacking the core Conservative vote. Now, I'm not saying those things weren't factors. But I think ...
Going into the 1997 General Election and the subsequent devolution referendum, all the talk was how the then 1979-1997 Tory Governments had taken control of the levers of power in Wales through the creation and control of a series of Quango stuffed with appointments favourable to their point of view. The Welsh Assembly was created to democratise that process and sure enough, within a few years the government in Cardiff Bay had swept many of these bodies away, whilst Welsh Ministers introduced new appointment processes, took responsibility for the decisions of the remaining bodies and new Assembly Committees scrutinised them. ...
I've been tracking the progress of the construction of Maghull's second railway station which is due open in May 2018 Work started during September and here are 4 shots showing the stages of construction up to 16th December:- 7th September 2017 19th October 2017 17th November 2017 16th December 2017 All the photos were taken from the School Lane overbridge. Things will really start to move soon with lift towers being the most obvious addition to the foundations already laid for them. The station building will be on the right hand side next to the Poppy Fields housing development on ...
The Asda Pharmacy in Patchway has the best opening hours over Christmas. Address: Highwood Lane, Patchway, BS34 5TL Tel: 0117 3172410 Monday 25 December (Christmas Day): 1000-1200 Tuesday 26 December (Boxing Day): 0900-1800 Monday 1 January (New Year's Day): 1000-1800 Specialist Medicines Service: Yes To find out more about pharmacy opening hours in your area click here
From Blether Tay-Gither : Our last Blether of 2017 will be on Thursday 28th December at 7pm at The Butterfly Café, 28 Commercial Street (please note change of day this month). The theme this month is "Yuletide Tales." Hope to see some of you there - all welcome!
