Commenting on the government's refusal to allow cannabis for medicinal purposes, specifically in the case of six year old Alfie Dingley, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Ed Davey said: "The government's refusal to consider allowing the use of cannabis for medicinal purpose is criminalising people who simply need to alleviate chronic pain. "A growing number of our European neighbours and other countries around the world now recognise the benefits of medicinal cannabis. "The government must put aside their preconceptions on this issue, and instead start looking at the evidence and listening to the views of patients and experts."

Posted by LD Neath on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

ONS figures show the first rise in unemployment in two years. Baroness Susan Kramer, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson, commented: This rise in unemployment is small, but it is a warning sign, that, along with the drop in foreign investment and high inflation, UK economic growth is fragile, and that the uncertainty of Brexit is denying us the high rates of growth that other countries enjoy.

Posted by LD Neath on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

Online astroturfing, or faking grassroots opinion, crops up at unfortunately regular intervals in discussions of both online PR and online politics. All the more so with the rise of fake news. But it's got deep historic roots that are rarely mentioned. The story starts in the 4th century BC with the Greeks: Greek playwrights hired bands of helpers to laugh at their comedies in order to influence the judges. The Romans also stacked the audience, but they were apparently more interested in applause than chuckles: Nero – emperor and wannabe musician – employed a group of five thousand knights and ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 507th 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 (11-17 February, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. It's a bit late this week due to illness. You might also be interested (probably not) that this is the week that I finally changed the actual template to read 2018 rather than just amend the post from 2017 every week. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Once I had photographed the Saxon cross at Rothley I found myself running out of energy. It was the precursor to a nasty bout of man flu I have been down with this week. But I did photograph another building, It looked as though it had at one time been noble, suffered a hard life and was now preserved (with a touch of the mortician's art being used). I was more or less right. The Grange began life as a farmhouse in the 18th century and was enlarged to become a large country house at the end of the 19th. ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

One of the oddities of those on the right of the Conservative Party who talk about being pro-business is how often there is a successful business that they take against, demanding a swathe of changes to rules, taxes and government spending that make the interventionism of even much of those on the left look timid. Onshore wind farms are a classic case – a successful, growing business with an increasingly bright future in generating not only power but skilled jobs and exports. And their response? Quick, all change please to hobble it! The aviation sector is another example. It's a ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Wed 21st
20:01

Six of the Best 769

"The smaller party in a future coalition must be wary of sacrificing too many of its core values for the sake of government unity." Judi Atkins draws some lessons on how to make coalition work from Britain's 2010-15 experience. "We live in an age of increasing polarisation and fraction with bitter conflicts between opposing groups, whether this is in the case of Trump, Brexit, One Nation or other extremist or populist movements. These results remind us that we should be wary of assuming that our followers are thoughtful and caring but their followers are brainwashed and hateful — not least ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Over on Mindless Ones we're celebrating ten years of that site's existence, with a mixture of classic old posts and new ones, so for my contribution I'm giving away the short ebook Welcome to the Multiverse, a look at Grant ... Continue reading →

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

Unless you know what this is all about, the following 24 seconds from a press conference look remarkably tedious. But they were the most important 24 seconds ever in a press conference.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

We've been awaiting the final recommendations for new ward boundaries here in Mid Suffolk for some time, and whilst the proposals are put out for final consultation are not to everyone's liking (and that includes the Liberal Democrats), they did look like an imaginative and credible solution to the problems caused by a combination of rapid growth in Stowmarket and a reduction in the number of councillors to thirty-four from the current forty. Creeting St Peter was proposed to be transferred from Stowupland ward into Needham Market ward, which would at least give me a reasonable prospect of living in ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy
YouGov

Second paragraph of third chapter:Sometimes the Doctor vanished loudly, with a comforting little yell as he fell into something.This is surely the last of the unpublished Douglas Adams scripts to surface. Back in 1976, Adams had actually submitted a story outline to Robert Holmes involving warlike aliens with a peculiar connection to cricket - this in itself was surely inspired by "Volcano", the seventh episode of one of my very favourite stories, the epic Daleks' Master Plan, broadcast on New Year's Day 1966, in which the TARDIS, pursued by Daleks, materialises at Lord's during a cricket match. Actually, never mind ...

Here is what I said at today's County Council Budget setting vote: I shall vote against this council tax rise because I have no confidence in the figures on which it is based. Just four months ago, Cabinet approved a version of the Medium Term Financial Plan which balanced the books with minimal use of reserves and a council tax increase of 2%. Since then, according to the figures in this report, this council's financial position has improved. They show the council £4 million better off than it expected in October. You might think that that offered a chance to ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple & Margaret Nealis

The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above And we should not be surprised because we all know the NHS is close to breaking point. What's more the prospects are for things to get worse with Brexit! So sad that our political leaders both in Government and in the Official Opposition are both ploughing on with Brexit when they know it will further cripple vital public services. You can't have a great NHS if the economy is broken; wake up smell the coffee. Time for rank and file Tory and Labour members to ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

At our last two conferences, the Ask an Expert stand has gradually been expanded and developed. Many people have asked me why we need this facility? My answer would always be that sometimes a one to one conversation can be a really good way to solve a nagging question or issue. On the stands previously, we've had experts in compliance, Connect, communications, campaigning, Diversity & Inclusion to name but a few, and all have had detailed conversations - sometimes quite private and confidential - to overcome those issues which wouldn't necessarily have been possible to explain or detail in a ...

Posted by Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett on Liberal Democrat Voice
Wed 21st
11:00

My tweets

Tue, 12:56: 'Painful': Citizens count Brexit's personal cost https://t.co/r1074Vmm71 For the record. Tue, 16:05: Cooking with Ursula K. Le Guin https://t.co/RrGkKOSAin Recipes of the planet Winter, including hot beer. Tue, 18:16: BSFA Best Artwork 2017 https://t.co/tqia5BAbtS #3 Tue, 20:48: RT @ranarama: Anyone who thinks gamers invented "I can't stop until I reach a save point" has never lived with a knitter. Tue, 21:08: RT @bbcdoctorwho: New Doctor, New Series, New Logo #DoctorWho https://t.co/qpXoEcvFHv Tue, 21:10: Not ashamed that I got this question wrong on @hqtrivia! https://t.co/dfeOQOoM0K Tue, 22:41: Nebula nominees: Goodreads/LibraryThing stats https://t.co/PyWcVtsgEy Wed, 08:11: RT @SamCoatesTimes: So what does ...

Cabin Pressure, or Always Playing "Yellow Car" Have you ever listened to Cabin Pressure? You HAVEN'T? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU! Here Nanila tells you why you should. In Defence of Wallpaper Science Fiction I love Charlie Stross deeply, and this article picks on him a lot, but it does make some valid points. Googly eyes add so much to dinosaur history... Secondary school expulsions up by more than 40% in a year in Manchester ...more than half of them pupils with special educational needs. A #MeToo Moment Unfolds At Gallifrey One Sophie Aldred such a badass. Brexit Britain won't be ...

Rimrose Valley Country Park Full details are on the Rimrose Valley Friends web site – see link above Discover the Fulwood Wetlands on Rimrose Valley - FREE Join Rimrose Valley Friends, led by the Amazing local Ranger Eugene, for a stroll on Rimrose Valley. Starting at the Derwent Road Entrance, Crosby L23 0SX on Sunday, 25th February, 2018 at 10.30am Watch out though it may be cancelled in poor weather – see link above

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Liberal Democrat Spring Conference takes place in Southport in just two and a half weeks' time. Party members will be discussing policy motions on the NHS at 70, party strategy, housing, Brexit, education and rural communities. You might want to take note that the deadline for submitting amendments is 1pm on Tuesday 6th March so you have a whole 13 days to put your amendment together, find 9 people to agree with you and submit it to the Federal Conference Committee. I bet virtually everyone who has been to Conference has been in the hall and realised that the motion ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Wed 21st
10:15

Sainsburys box junction

The yellow lines at the junction of Woodcote Road and the B271 (Stafford Road/Stanley Park Road have been faded for some time now. Your ward councillors raised this with the council and asked for them to be repainted. We have been informed that, weather permitting, they will be repainted by the end of February. The [...]

Posted by jaynemccoy on Diary of a Sutton Councillor

Those of us who remember the infamous Sun headline in 1992, exhorting the last person who leaves Britain to turn out the lights if Neil Kinnock won that year's General Election, will know that those who control the media believe that they can influence public opinion to get their own way. That may or may not have been the case 26 years ago, but the influence of the traditional press has waned considerably ever since, with many people relying on social media for their news. That does not mean that a good old scandal does not resonate, nor that lies ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black
eUKhost
Wed 21st
09:00

Rural broadband latest

There is good news for some of our villages, with fibre broadband being delivered to new parts of communities including Coalpit Heath, Codrington, Dodington, Tytherington and Westerleigh. To find out what broadband speeds and packages are available to you, contact your chosen Internet Service Provider (ISP). Note that broadband speeds will not automatically improve, you need to order a suitable package. Some parts of Codrington have had their upgrade delayed due to the need to close a road. They hope to complete deployment in Codrington by the end of February 2018. An extra 4,300 homes and businesses will get ultrafast ...

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

Writing for Politics Home about her Lords question on the issues facing charities at the moment, Liz Barker said that Oxfam did not deserve the "monitoring" it was getting at the moment as it had taken action to deal with the unacceptable and inexcusable behaviour of a small number of its members of staff. The crisis to which she refers, though, isn't the one you think. She highlighted failings in the Charity Commission, most notably its senior people being too close to Government and without enough knowledge of the sector: One might have expected the Charity Commission to know that ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Something is stirring out there. We have lived now for far too long with politics dominated by the same old Brexiteers and anti-Brexiteers, slugging it out in precisely the same way as they did back in 2016. It is in fact depressing that so few people have changed their minds since then, according to a [...] The post A shift in the Brexit debate may be stirring out there appeared first on Radix.

Posted by David Boyle on Opinion - Radix

[IMG: "May abandons plans for House of Lords reforms"] Good news! Brexit won't be happening in our lifetimes! At least, that's the best conclusion I can draw from recent news. It has been 19 years since the House of Lords Act 1999, which abolished most of the hereditary peers*. Phase 2 of those reforms was due to introduce elected members of the Lords, but despite the Wakeham Report being published in 2000 we are still waiting. A widely recognised problem with a simple and democratic solution. But Theresa May wants more time to think about it. 19 years is not ...

Posted by Zoe O'Connell on Complicity

Residents have asked when the public pathway to the west side of Harris Academy down to Riverside - currently closed for railway bridge works - will re-open. The City Council has updated me as follows : "The works are due to be completed by the 23rd of February. This delay is because much of the work requires night time possessions and access is granted conditionally by Network Rail. We have also been restricted somewhat by inclement weather."

Many newspapers report this morning that 81 year old Lib Dem Peer Anthony Lester has stepped down from the Liberal Democrat group in the House of Lords while an investigation takes place by the Lords Standards Commissioner into allegations of sexual harassment. From the Guardian: The commissioner for standards lists the peer as the subject of one of its current inquiries. It says an investigation is being carried out into an "alleged breach of the code in relation to personal honour". A spokesman for Lester, a prominent QC, said: "Lord Lester has a long and distinguished record as a champion ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice