Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 504th 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 (21-27 January, 2018), 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. Two prominent Lib Dems join the Labour ...
The waiting is over. On Thursday evening I posted part 1 of a video about the Hastings to Ashford line. Here is the second and final part. Another memory from that holiday at Winchelsea Beach in 1967. My parents told me that I should not pick up any metal object I found on the beach. That was because it was only 22 years after the end of the Second World War when the beach would have been mined. And here I am well into the 21st century.
I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. As you can see from this list of the 10 most recent ones, 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 from 19th century South Carolina to Donald Trump ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: Now she looked down at the piles of pink message slips spread out across her desk and sighed. Back then, it had never occurred to her to do the obvious and apply for admission. Half a dozen students in her own high-school graduating class had been taken on as commuters, all tuition paid by the Crockett Memorial Valley Scholarship Fund. Maybe it was the fact that those students had all been from the other side of town, where houses were neat and conscientiously painted and fathers were present and meticulously sober, that had made her ...
Sun 28th
16:56
Labour "betraying members and parliamentary base" by opposing single market membership
Jeremy Corbyn told the Andrew Marr Show this morning that Labour did not favour the UK staying in the single market. Will Labour members, who overwhelmingly want to do so now realise that Corbyn is not going to deliver what they want? A Queen Mary University study showed that 85% of Labour members want to stay in the single market. There is even higher support, 87% for staying in the customs union. 78% want the public to have a final say on the Brexit deal. Corbyn ruled that out too. Vince Cable had this to say: As has long been ...
At first sight, the headlines are good, very good in fact, for Remainers when it comes to the latest Guardian poll on Europe. It shows a 58% – 42% solid lead* for people wanting a referendum on the exact terms of Brexit when we know what they are. A big lead and one that fits a pattern of shifting views found with other polling. So break out the Euro-bunting? Not quite. For one thing, the wording is the sort of wording likely to give the largest pro-referendum result: I think the public should have the chance to take a final ...
Sun 28th
13:15
VIDEO: Impressum and Privacy Policy settings on Facebook Pages - all campaigners should use them
Welcome to the latest in my little digital tips video series, this time covering two Facebook Page settings - Impressum and Privacy Policy - which you should use to help keep party and candidate pages the right side of the law.
In Britain we know Just Walk Away Renée from the great Four Tops version. But theirs was not the original recording of the song and nor did they have the original or biggest hit with it across most of the world. Just Walk Away Renée was written by Michael Brown, Bob Calilli, and Tony Sansone for the band The Left Banke. Brown, then aged 16, was a member of the band and played harpsichord on this recording. Released in July 1966, the band's version reached number 5 in the US singles chart but was not a hit in Britain.
I have been through much in my short life. If you compared me to myself a decade ago, you would see a dramatic difference. That journey has left much damage in its wake. I have depression and anxiety and considered suicide twice. I changed my views on a variety of topics including religion, masculinity, sexuality and more. A decade during which time you move from teenager to young adult to adult and reach a quarter century will involve significant changes as mentioned above. I've moved from Preston to Liverpool and back. Over the period, I've transformed myself from a confused ...
It won't come as much of a surprise that John Rentoul forecasts doom and gloom for the Liberal Democrats. He has never been much of a fan. In an article ifor Indy Voices, he says: This I think is part of the most important reason the Lib Dems are cast down so low. That "ephemeral group of supporters that always clusters round anything new" is clustering around Jeremy Corbyn now. After Labour did unexpectedly well in last year's election, Corbyn is the new, improved, exciting special offer in British politics. We know that in the last few days, former Lib ...
Wales has made headlines across the UK today on not one, but two issues and they are both good news stories. It is a moment to savour. First and foremost of course is the remarkable performance from Newport County last night, who led Tottenham Hotspur for 82 minutes before succumbing to a late Harry Kane equaliser. The one-all draw was the least they deserved. A team that a few seasons ago were not even in the Football League, and who last season were struggling against relegation to the Conference, now face a replay at Wembley and a £700,000 windfall. The ...
Sat, 12:56: When beer was brewed at the European Parliament: Brasserie Leopold and the "Whim of the Gods"... https://t.co/jcjGfUnfi5 Sat, 13:09: RT @JenniferMerode: EU not against UK negotiating trade agreements during transition, as long as not signed. General tone in Brussels is '... Sat, 14:39: Choosing choice: why I would vote to #RepealThe8th https://t.co/kGhA6PyoGF Sat, 16:05: They were murdered for the crime of trying to keep children healthy https://t.co/QZjKKaBErB The deadly opposition to polio immunisation. Sat, 19:30: RT @brheading: If you read anything today, please read Nick's historical, factual and personal perspective on the issue of the repeal refer... Sat, ...
miss_s_b | Sunday Goal Check I posted Sunday Goal Check to my dreamwidth blog Did A Teenage Girl Make The Kinks Great? tl;dr: almost certainly yes. WATCH: Vince on Lib Dems' proud record on LGBT rights (video) This is the video that Vince made to be shown at LGBT+LDs winter strategy conference yesterday. The Presidents Club is not the only prestigious men only event I get a lot of my tech news from Ars Technica, so I am signing up to this Apart from anything else, I like the way they are doing it. Paying to remove the ads is ...
Sun 28th
10:35
If the Tory backbenchers finally pull the plug on May, who will become prime minister? A journey int...
Rumours swirl around Westminster that Conservative backbenchers have finally had their fill of May's premiership; Graham Brady, the leader of the 1922 Committee, is now at the point of begging MPs not to put their letters in. Again, so the rumours have it. I'm still not so sure that her end at PM is quite so imminent. Yet I certainly won't discount the rumours entirely; moreover, I wouldn't really be shocked if it happened in the very near future. What would happen if that were to occur? May could try and fight it out; to try and remain leader. I ...
With thanks to the most excellent @election_data, here is how large (or small) a circle you need to draw around the centre of London in order to include half of the UK's population.
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above When the post of Police and Crime Commissioner was imposed on Merseyside, as indeed with the post of Mersey Metro Mayor, many of us probably said oh no yet more political mouths for our Council tax to feed, or words to that effect. Neither post was requested by local people, neither seemed wanted yet both were imposed. Since then I think it is fair to say that the majority of us are still scratching our heads wondering what these additional layers of political bureaucracy actually ...
I've done really badly at actually keeping track of things this week, but I think after chairing Plus winter strategy conference yesterday I can at least tick off the positive political difference. Dog walking has been patchy, partly because for almost 3 days of the week I haven't been there. Similar with exercise - although as always when in London I have smashed my step targets. Must do better at tracking next week. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
I'm surprised this part of Tim Shipman's excellent Fall Out (hasn't received more attention. It's about the way in which Theresa May's closest aides regularly treated - or rather mistreated - other advisers for months on end.
My interest in political history sometimes finds me searching the used sections of the Amazon website for cheap second hand books. A recent discovery was a fascinating autobiography of Victor Grayson by Reg Groves. Grayson a working class lad from Lancashire was elected as an MP in the 1907 Colne Valley byelection at the tender age of 25. He was by all accounts a brilliant orator and passionate about socialism. This was before the Russian revolution when socialist ideas were rapidly gaining popularity amongst the working classes seeking a fairer system than the one they were living under. Grayson is ...
Commenting on ONS figures released last week showing an 82,000 fall in the number of self-employed workers, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesperson Stephen Lloyd MP said: "Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned by this huge drop in the number of people working for themselves, reversing a shift towards increasing self-employment and entrepreneurial risk-taking. "I find it hard to believe that the roll-out of Universal Credit - which penalises the self-employed - does not have something to do with this. "By slashing the support it offers the self-employed after twelve months and not taking account of freelancers' fluctuating incomes, Universal Credit ...
From Blether Tay-Gither : Our January Blether will be on Tuesday 30th January at 7pm at our new venue - The Butterfly Café, 28 Commercial Street. The theme this month is "Resolutions." Hope to see some of you there - all welcome!
One of the Internet's favourite things, it seems, is finding and celebrating The Woman Who Was Really Responsible For Work For Which A Man Took Credit. Sometimes, as with Delia Derbyshire on the theme from Doctor Who, Rosalind Franklin and ... Continue reading →
