According to some reports (which in these post-Truth days one never knows whether one should believe), unnamed sources in the UK government have told Prince Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth, that it would be unwise to invite Barack Obama to his wedding, but rather he should welcome Donald Trump instead, in the interests of a [...]
Well that's nice and clear. In a new interview with The Independent Jeremy Corbyn lines up with Theresa May in refusing to let the British people decide whether or not the eventual Brexit deal should go ahead or not. He said: We're not advocating a second referendum. and We are formally leaving the European Union, of course, and that is the position. No wonder many Labour members and supporters are switching to the Liberal Democrats over Europe. That's a trend backed up by a new poll finding: The poll of people planning to vote Labour - conducted by YouGov for ...
It's the annual "Trash the Lib Dems" day in the national press with gloomy analyses in both the Times and the Guardian. When the papers do SWOT analyses of us, they do tend to omit the strengths and opportunities and focus on the weaknesses and threats. We can quite often do that about ourselves, too, and talk ourselves down. There is no doubt that we face some pretty intense challenges in 2018, but there are signs of a plan coming together to meet them and also that the political environment is changing. The Guardian tells us that we are facing ...
There is a by-election in Pallion ward of Sunderland Council. At the last by-election in the city in January, Labour got an absolute kicking from the voters when their vote was slashed by two thirds and the Lib Dems went from 4th place on 4% to 1st place with over 40%. So, for Pallion, Labour are a bit more prepared....or are they? This time, Labour have learnt that getting leaflets through
This is a reminder that I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. And as you can see from the list of the 10 most recent guest posts below, I am happy to consider a wide range of subjects. If you would like to write a guest post yourself, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. "You're all the same" - Katie BarronThe trouble with Seamus Milne - Tim HallSave the University of Leicester's Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning - Sally BirchThe peculiar contradictions of Scotland's Named Person scheme - Simon CalvertThe straight line of racist politics ...
"I'm still not convinced that he was particularly brilliant in the successful campaign in 2010 ... He faced a still toxic Tory party and a Labour party that was weary and run down after over a decade in government, and still managed to lose seats." William Barter offers a reappraisal of Nick Clegg. Steve Peers looks at the threat to workers' rights after Brexit. Geoffrey Wheatcroft discusses the career of Conor Cruise O'Brien on the centenary of his birth. Christmas Day 1977 marked the beginning of the end of an era for British light entertainment, argues Curious British Telly. Mark ...
Wed 27th
19:30
Council tax bills set to rise next year as everyone passes the buck on who funds services
We don't yet know how much council tax will rise next year. That will be decided in February but we have some early clues. Shropshire Council's financial plan assumes a rise of 3.99%, though it may be tempted to take advantage of a government offer made just before Christmas to add an extra 1% to the bill. The Police and Crime Commissioner is proposing an increase of 4%, though the government has since said he would be allowed to raise half as much again. The Fire Service and Ludlow Town Council have yet to declare their plans. The government is ...
Late this afternoon a Peugeot 208 was found on fire with its windscreen stoved in and rear end smashed up – Lambshear Lane end of Sandy Lane. Residents rushed out and a car driver stopped but fortunately there was no one in the car. Assumption is that it had been stolen and abandoned. Police and Fire Brigade called out. With thanks to Keith Page for the lead to this posting.
That's the headline in the piece about the future for Vince Cable and the Liberal Democrats in The Guardian today. It includes, ahem, this: Mark Pack, the former party strategist who co-founded the influential Lib Dem Voice, said Cable may have been aided if there had been a leadership race. "A contested leadership has the benefit of pushing you to come up with your message quickly, Vince did not have to do that," he said... Pack said the party still had several key strengths, a large membership as well as a unique selling point as a pro-remain national party. Cable, ...
January I said Yes to Leveson 2, No to Section 40 and offered some thoughts on Vince Cable, British Asians and Brexit. "This is wonderful", I said, when posting this video of Paul Robeson singing to Scottish miners in 1949. It is. I argued that Just because Paul Nuttall is from the North, it doesn't mean he will appeal to Northern voters. Call me Mystic Meg. And I quoted Karl Popper on not tolerating intolerance: We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in ...
Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email? Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there's new stories of interest. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day's posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read. Just go to our email sign up page to ...
OK, it's some time since I did one of these properly. (Earlier this week doesn't count.) Think of this as a sort of audit of internationalisation; this is the word for "Belgium" in most of the world's scripts. View Poll: #2076555 Results in a few days!
Now birds hunt not sing, evoking older fears of a single strike we felt could cast us down; and daydreams, of likening to those encountered briefly while switching (versatile) between the roles we'd made within the gift of life. Sometime supplicants, always turning on the pinwheel, stiffened by surprise, we are held safely, still, but shaking / in each others' smoky hands [...]
Wed 27th
12:53
Sick absence figures reveal extent of strains on NHS staff as 45 million hours lost in Scotland alon...
Last year, my husband spent 51 days in hospital. He received excellent care from compassionate and skilled staff at what was an absolutely terrifying time for us. That experience gave us an insight into the strains and stresses that the NHS faces. The most common refrain from staff was that it was so stressful and the Winter hadn't even started yet. He spent a just over a month in a medical ward in our local hospital and a further three weeks in a specialist centre in our nearest city. On only one occasion in the whole 51 days did I ...
Before Christmas, we delivered our latest Focus for the villages of Sunniside, Streetgate, Marley Hill and Byermoor. It led with the issue of the rejection of plans for the land to the south of Marley Hill to be used for motorbike scrambling and 4X4 off-road driving. Also included were articles about the Sunniside Christmas tree, Marley Hill Community Centre asset transfer, house-building at
Tue, 12:27: Re-#AnimateEurope, ed. Hans H. Stein https://t.co/GFrCrRrWaM Tue, 12:56: The Byzantine emperor's trip to London in the winter of 1400-01 https://t.co/jT7yxKgfeB A historical curiosity. Tue, 16:05: Whenever the minority party has had a poll lead of >2% at this point in the electoral cycle, they have taken contro... https://t.co/VKKwCFPtvv Tue, 17:15: RT @apcoworldwide: The Italian Parliamentary Election is just one of the major European #elections to watch in #NewYear2018. Our @nwbrux sh... Tue, 19:30: Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons https://t.co/smhgAGdlJP Tue, 19:44: Golden Dawn: Het Genootschap van Socrates, by Yves Leclercq and St�phane Heurteau https://t.co/7WEY1d1Nqa Tue, 22:44: ...
Jennie Rigg's review of Splinter the Silence I read Splinter the Silence (Tony Hill & Carol Jordan, #9) - here's my review on Goodreads Driverless cars became a reality in 2017 and hardly anyone noticed Calm Harm | Digital Apps Library An app to help those struggling with the urge to self harm Clegg: A reappraisal Will (of the people) Barter takes a look at Cleggy in the light of his proposed K. This list of things that people achieved in 2017 that they are proud of is glorious and humbling ... and keeps being added to. Driverless Cars Could ...
If you've read 101 Ways To Win An Election by Ed Maxfield and myself, then (a) thank you, and (b) I've got a little favour to ask.
45000 people. It's the size of a small town. It's also the number of young people presenting as homeless to local authorities across the whole of Britain. The wonderful people in the Lib Dem research team have uncovered this in a series of freedom of information requests which revealed the number of 18-24 year olds who presented themselves to councils as homeless or at risk of homelessness, who were subsequently assessed under the Housing Act, and who were then accepted as statutorily homeless in the year to September 2017. You can see a full breakdown of the figures here. Notable ...
SUD (Sustainable urban Drainage) – A big pond to collect water at times of heavy/persistent rainfall, which is then pumped away when the local drainage ditches can cope with the withheld water. Well that's my definition anyway. A more technically correct definition, via Wikipedia, is available in this link:- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_drainage_system And the reason for this interest in urban drainage? Well Maghull has a SUD pond on the new Poppy Fields* housing development off School Lane and here's a photo of it pretty full of water on 22nd December:- If my understanding is correct, it will be drained via a pipe ...
Big thanks to Sefton Council's Rights of Way Team for getting this cycle/footbridge rebuilt just south of Andrew's Lane in Formby:- I had blogged about the need for action to taken over the old and in poor condition bridge. My previous postings refer and are accessible via the link below:- With thanks to Roy Connell for the lead to this posting
The South Gloucestershire Spring Clean will run from 13 February to 14 May. This is a chance for individuals and groups to help clean up our local area by organising or taking part in a litter pick. The national Keep Britain Tidy network will be focusing on the weekend of 2-4 March in particular but you can organise your event at any time in the three months. In fact, as the council has limited equipment to offer, choosing a less popular weekend could be a good idea - as well as booking as far in advance as possible. To get ...
The British Retail Consortium has warned that consumers face rising prices after Brexit unless Britain can replicate trade deals negotiated by the EU with dozens of other countries. The Guardian says that the BRC's chief executive, Helen Dickinson, has predicted the cost of everyday products from food to clothing will go up if the UK loses the preferential arrangements it enjoys as a member of the EU: Currently, she said, Britain benefits from zero or low tariffs on various imports from trade deals struck by the EU with 73 third-party countries. As it stands, those arrangements will come to an ...
