Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has decided to lose Ludlow Maternity Unit for two weeks. Tracey Huffer, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow East says: I have completely lost track of how often we have heard that Ludlow Maternity Unit is to close temporarily. A few days later, it reopens. And not long after that, the health trust, SaTH, announces the maternity unit is to close yet again. Maternity services in rural Shropshire look like they are stuck in a Groundhog Day. We are told by SaTH that women are choosing to give birth at the consultant-led maternity units in Telford and ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

During his Q+A session at Liberal Democrat conference in Southport, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable talked about his support for those worried about their university pensions. The post 19 times we rejected Conservative plans to cut workers' rights – Vince Cable appeared first on Mark Pack.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

It's the weekend before Hugo nominations close, and I know a lot of people will be filling in their ballots in the next few days. (Last year, roughly two thirds of nominating votes came in in the last five days, roughly half in the last two days.) I just want to remind you of two very different but eligible candidates for this year's awards. For Best Series: the Doctor Who novelisations began with the publication of Doctor Who In An Exciting Adventure With The Daleks by David Whitaker in 1966, and the most recent is the novelisation by James Goss ...

Over on the Guardian website, the Labour Party are making some pretty big claims about the huge hike in energy bills that we have all experienced over the last ten years or so. Their hypothesis is that the Conservatives have cost British households nearly £1,000 in extra energy costs over the past seven years by failing to stop electricity and gas firms raising prices. The figures are quite stark. In 2010, a household with typical energy consumption paid £1,038 for an annual dual fuel bill. In 2017 it was £1,116, but in some years it has been more than £1,200. ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Vince has been talking to the Evening Standard ahead of Spring Conference. He emphasised our unique position on Brexit and how we are going for the votes of EU Nationals in the local elections in May. "We are going forwards, the question is how fast," he said. Brexit might provide their way back. "I think the Government is making a terrible pig's ear of it. It's proving to be far more complicated, far more difficult than people were led to believe. Theresa May's biggest mistake was probably hubris, making these commitments to red lines on the single market and the ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sat 10th
11:19

An Unhappy Context

Because of the ongoing strike action across the university, this week a group from my module met, off campus of course, to conduct a facsimile of a seminar. Staying true to the style we have established for our seminars, we began by discussing several of the overarching themes of this weeks reading before the conversation veered off into esoteric and inaccessible territory: but we tried! The title of this blog comes from the work cited during the post.Image Source: bp-or-not-bp.org Is there such a thing as an ethical institution? This question has been raised with regard, specifically, to the corporate ...

Posted by Dani Tougher on More Than Nothing
Sat 10th
11:00

My tweets

Fri, 12:56: RT @jonlis1: Crucial. As pointed out last year, both in customs debacle and illegal Home Office letters to EU cits, UK bureaucracy no longe... Fri, 13:14: RT @JORISLUIJENDIJK: imagine that the UK government and its Brexiteer cheerleaders were as respectful and rational towards the EU as Tusk a... Fri, 14:12: RT @georgiaEtennant: Final update. #SmearForSmear https://t.co/LMeWkJAYKv Fri, 16:05: Meet Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Iceland's Left-Wing, Environmentalist, Feminist Prime Minister https://t.co/VAch2PKPUI Fascinating. Fri, 18:06: The Sudden Appearance of Hope, by Claire North https://t.co/oovwRW8S4C Fri, 18:10: For the first time in my life, I have knowingly seen the planet Mercury - a ...

In Scotland, the Liberal Democrats have become the go-to party on Police issues because of our long record of opposing the disastrous merger of Scotland's Police Force. Willie Rennie, Justice Spokesperson Liam McArthur and his predecessor Alison McInnes have criticised the Police over things like inappropriate use of stop and search or routine patrolling with firearms but they have also highlighted the stress that frontline officers are facing and raised the flaws in the new management. He will say: Effective, well-resourced policing is fundamental to protecting our freedoms and helping the most vulnerable in society. Liberal Democrats' commitment to civil ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Well I've had a go at this one in the past (see previous postings going back ages ago) and so has my fellow Lydiate Parish Councillor Edie Pope but still a very significant flooding of the pavement and road surface takes place on Lambshear Lane after every heavy rain storm between Lydiate Village Centre and Oakhill Drive. The photo above was taken on 8th March. Time to give Sefton Council Highways Dept. another nudge me thinks; surely they must know what the cause is by now and can fix it? More news when I have it. Click on the photo ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

A huge thank you to the emergency services, NHS staff, gritter teams and other council staff and everyone else who worked hard to keep the rest of us safe during the snowy and icy weather. Unfortunately severe cold weather often creates more potholes on our roads. If you spot one you think could be dangerous, you can report it online.

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

I always go to the Conference rally. Except for last night. I had my "fields of wheat" moment and sloped off to the pub to celebrate my friends' special birthdays. Thankfully, those nice people who sort out the live streaming have put it up on You Tube for us all to enjoy. I am particularly looking forward to seeing Zoe O'Connell talk about same sex marriage. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Ed Davey will outline bold new ideas to pitch the Liberal Democrats as the party of policing. Speaking at the Party's Spring Conference in Southport, Ed Davey will argue the police are critical to protecting freedom and promoting social justice. He will call for an additional £300 million investment in the police - especially community policing. Ed Davey will attack the Conservatives for "betraying" the police - with new cuts of over 4,000 officers since 2015 and Theresa May's police bashing and assault on police pay and conditions. Ahead of the speech Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson, Ed Davey said: ...

Posted by LD Neath on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

Continuing his round of party conference interviews (see yesterday for the TV debate challenge), Vince Cable talked to the Evening Standard about, amongst other things, the next election for Mayor of London: When his party selects a candidate for Mayor of London he says: "I would like us to have an ethnic minority candidate. Not just because of London, Sadiq and so on... we are making a big push on diversity. Relatively speaking we are a very white party, often because a lack of effort to diversify." Improving the party's diversity is one of the organisational priorities in the proposed ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Federal Conference Committee (FCC) has now selected the amendments and emergency motions for spring conference. The full text of selected amendments and emergency motions will appear in Conference Extra and Conference Daily, which may well have been published by the time you read this. Emergency motions that are in order (I.e. genuine emergencies) are selected by all-member ballot on Saturday morning, via the ballot box at the front of the auditorium. Full details on the process and content will appear in Saturday's Conference Daily. Some authors of amendments have included titles, but this is not mandatory so a number are ...

Posted by Zoe O'Connell on Liberal Democrat Voice