Welcome to my list of podcasts dedicated to, or primarily about, the Liberal Democrats. Do let me know of any additions or corrections; thank you! The Limehouse Podcast The longest-running and best-named Liberal Democrat podcast, The Limehouse Podcast is named in honour of the Limehouse Declaration that founded the SDP. Its blurb: Interviews from the world of politics, along with weekly discussions on London issues and national analysis of all things Brexit, NHS and environmental. International quarrels will be rounded up and smoothed out and a general sense of well-being will be organised. The Limehouse Podcast is available on iTunes ...
On May Day in Queniborough they sacrifice a teenage boy to placate the dark gods of the Wreake Valley. For the most part it works, but it is something to remember when you see this chocolate box village in the sun a few days later.
Was Brexit a factor in the Liberal Democrats' local election successes last week? The answer from South Cambridgeshire at least is yes, but in an indirect way. Here is Bridget Smith, the new Lib Dem leader of the council talking to Cambridge News: Cllr Smith said that while Brexit had played a role, it was far from the "definitive" issue campaigners encountered on doorsteps. "When the vote was passed to leave Europe our membership went through the roof," she explained. "Suddenly you have lot's of people wanting to help you. "I had messages from people for them Brexit was the ...
"I became involved with Labour Against Antisemitism, and looked at what local Labour members had been doing online. I saw Holocaust denial sitting side by side with Corbyn worship; accusations that 'Israhell' and 'the Rothschilds' were organ harvesting alongside heartfelt prayers for aliens to 'kill the Zionists'." An anonymous contributor to Bristol Live shares her experience of antisemitism in the city. "If political and TV programming decisions are determined by opinion polls and focus groups - and failing that by some image of a narrow-minded voting and viewing public with no attention spans- there'll be no room for the high-minded. ...
When the wave of popular uprisings — given the misnomer The Arab Spring — swept across North Africa and the Middle East in 2011, few of us international journalists paid much attention to what was going on over in Cambodia. But for some time already, residents of marginal housing round Boeung Kak Lake in the [...]
In September 2017 I wrote an article for Libdemvoice called Time to Stand and Stare. The basic message of my piece was that it is important to take time for quiet contemplation to ensure the action we do then take is well considered and hopefully therefore more effective. This approach is well summed up by this quote from the Quaker John Wilhelm Rowntree (1868 - 1905); In the noisy rush of modern life we need periods of quiet when the soul may feed in peace on that which shall nourish it for action It was Wilhelm's inspiration that was behind ...
Current Ammonite, by Nicola Griffith Looking For JJ, by Anne Cassidy The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate, by Zoe Quinn Last books finished River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey Luminescent Threads, edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal The Road to Middlemarch, by Rebecca Mead Darkness and the Light, by Olaf Stapledon The Day of the Doctor, by Steven Moffat Donovan's Brain, by Curt Siodmak Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire Twice Upon a ...
Possibly one of my less exciting posts, but a necessary one: the privacy notice covering this site and my other activities has been updated. The new version comes into force on 25 May.
Buried amid the dramatic and highly welcome headline of the Liberal Democrat landslide on Richmond-upon-Thames Council was a rather overlooked factor that, when progressive alliances are done properly and sensitively, they can work and be a great asset to the party. In 2014 the Conservatives won thirty-nine of Richmond's fifty-four councillors. This time we won thirty-nine but, while we picked up the other fifteen councillors four years ago, this time the Tories only got eleven, with the other four going to the Greens. And those four Greens are in part a Liberal Democrat success. Richmond is made up of eighteen ...
Every election, some people tell me they haven't heard from any of the candidates including me, and are therefore not going to vote. In Winnersh the Lib Dems do try to knock on doors both at election time and outside election time. This year there has been less of it than usual, because we were campaigning hard to win seats elsewhere and so didn't have as many in our local team here. But I still did knock on quite a lot of doors myself. But there is a lot of difference between knocking on doors to speak to people and ...
I made a thing ... which I have already seen being shared without attribution, which I guess means it's properly a meme? G4S can keep running Brook House immigration removal centre following detainee abuse scandal, Home Office quietly announces Episode 405837 of The Home Office Are Bastards, You Guys. Britain's first private police force to go nationwide after success in London's wealthiest neighbourhoods | London Evening Standard This is absolutely terrifying Mum forced to move school and home over transphobic bullying :( If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: ...
I just want to ask: when will the party face up to the fact that whatever it is doing isn't working even in the slightest? This was from Lib Dem blogger Nick Tyrone before the recent local elections, after a London opinion poll showed weak figures for the Liberal Democrats. The party's appeal to Remain ... Continue reading Life in the tunnel. Being a Liberal Democrat
Sun, 12:56: RT @BartonBank: I want to tell you about a mate of mine. I've known him for almost half my life. Now I first met Ally when we were two peop... Sun, 15:43: Darkness and the Light, by Olaf Stapledon https://t.co/D67jI0WEPn Sun, 16:05: This is a very creepy story indeed. (Disclosure: @ColinKahl's wife worked for me briefly in 2004-05, before they we... https://t.co/UoLuH34aMs Sun, 16:34: RT @ExumAM: This reporting is incredibly disturbing, if true, but also reflects how little anyone wants to debate @ColinKahl on, say, the a... Sun, 20:48: Two thirds of children don't know what a floppy ...
In many ways nobody should be surprised at claims reported in the Guardian that at least 1,000 highly skilled migrants seeking indefinite leave to remain in the UK are wrongly facing deportation under a section of the Immigration Act designed in part to tackle terrorists and individuals judged to be a threat to national security. The Tories' obsession with unachievable net migration figures has always been blind to the best interests of the country as is evident from this story last month, that hundreds of doctors recruited by the NHS from overseas have been denied visas by the Home Office, ...
I've taken to doing a lot of cycling and walking around the Maghull & Lydiate area over the past year or so and you do see things from a very different perspective than when sat in the comfort of a car. For instance why on earth when walking down Coppull Road do you need to trek over a grass verge, walk in the road or have to cross the road to the opposite pavement due to it being laid out with no footway for a short stretch? My photo illustrates:- But it's worse than that actually as the opposite side ...
A decorated emergency exit door at Liverpool Central Station. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44023411 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above I suppose my first thought was, what's to like about it, it's an underground station with little architectural merit. As a separate posting I will blog about Liverpool's overground Central Station which really did look quite splendid. Here's a taster of the last bit of it that's still standing:- Fronting onto Bold Street – the last part of the original Liverpool Central overground station still standing.
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. These famous words, spoken by former Liberal, Winston Churchill, in 1942 after the second victorious Battle of El Alamein, could very well sum up where the Liberal Democrats find themselves after what many would see as a very satisfactory comeback after a few difficult years. But, as they say, one swallow doesn't make a summer. There is no guarantee that even moderate success at local elections will translate into success in a General Election. Despite the ...
I don't know about you, but it was nice this week to wake up to a set of election results that didn't make you think, "Oh no, not again...". And so, thank you to all of you, whether you won or lost, for doing so much to lift the spirits of Liberal Democrats up and down the country. Here in the Creetings, we've got rogue peacocks, and you'd be amazed just how noisy they can be. Luckily, if all else fails, one of my fellow Parish councillors is a pretty good shot... And so to today, the five hundred and ...
As today is the May Day holiday and local schools are on holiday, my usual ward surgeries on a Monday at Harris Academy and the Mitchell Street Centre do not take place but I can be contacted at any time at home on 459378 or by e-mail at surgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk. My surgeries resume on Thursday of this week. Details are available here.
