Earlier this week Marc Riley and Rob Hughes reached T in their A-Z of Psychedelia. As they have good taste, one of the Ts was Traffic. You can hear them for the next month on the BBC iPlayer starting at 1:32:00. They give a summary to Traffic's career and changing personnel and play two of their records. One is Hole in My Shoe (which the other members threw Dave Mason out of the band for writing) and the wonderful Paper Sun. It gets a little better each time I hear it (and I have heard it a lot of times ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Many thanks to the reader who sent me this photograph of the Class 27 locomotive that has been stabled in the new sidings at Knighton Junction, Leicester, for the past month or so. He tells me (and, given the photo must have been taken from the footplate on the freight-only Leicester to Burton upon Trent, he knows a thing or two about trains) that the 27 was not there on Sunday night. I wonder where it got to? My suspicion is that Lord Bonkers borrowed it for trials on the Bonkers Hall Branch.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Gay Communicant Hokey Cokey In a relationship out, Out of relationship in, In, out, in out, profress it all about, Unless we doubt your credibility when you are in love, That's what it all about. Words The Doctrine Committee 2018Tune Trad.

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

Second paragraph of third chapter: Some campaigns have more time and money for cybersecurity than others. That's why our recommendations offer two tiers of protection: "good" and "enhanced." The "good" tier represents everything a campaign must do to have a minimum level of security. You should always aspire to do more as time, money, and people allow, which is why we recommend using the "enhanced" level whenever possible. If you have the resources to get reputable, trained IT support, it's money well spent. Threats are constantly evolving and professional IT services will help get you beyond what this playbook provides ...

Well today it appears to be official, I am no longer allowed to be a full member of the Church I grew up. The church that the majority of my ancestors have been members of since their families came to Ireland. The church that several of my forebears have had leadership roles in. Today the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has ruled that anybody in a same-sex relationship cannot be a full member of the church and also that their children cannot be baptised. Even though my full communicant membership was denied when I was not in a relationship and haven't ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal

[IMG: Grapevine Snail (By Jürgen Schoner [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons)] In 2015, I posted about the inability of Shepway District Council to accept an online debit / credit card payment for the renewal of a parking permit. In 2016, I posted about the inability of Shepway District Council to accept an online debit / credit card payment for the renewal of a parking permit. In 2017, I posted about the inability of Shepway District Council to accept an online debit / credit card payment for the renewal of a parking permit. Today, guess what. I received ...

My blood test results from Monday showed a significant improvement over the previous week (no longer neutropenic, but still a little anaemic), so cycle 5 happened on Wednesday. I felt dreadful yesterday. It was the first time since I started chemo that I didn't bother to get out of my pyjamas all day. I have perked up enough today ... The post Farewell Maxi-CHOP. You won't be missed! appeared first on ten pence piece.

Posted by tim on ten pence piece

This week, Christine Jardine appeared on Politics Scotland. She didn't seem that impressed with what Labour MP Paul Sweeney had to say. And she didn't even say a word: She took apart the Tories on their Brexit shambles though * Newsmoggie - bringing you comment on the Lib Dems whether it's deserved or not

Posted by Newsmoggie on Liberal Democrat Voice

I was glued to the screen for the three instalments of "A Very English Scandal" – not least because I was at party headquarters during the later years of Jo Grimond's leadership and am the last remaining active member of the small cabal that tried, somewhat quixotically, to prevent Jeremy Thorpe becoming leader in January 1967. I was also a party officer in the later stages of his leadership. Our opposition to Jeremy at the time had nothing whatever to do with his homosexuality, which simply did not figure in any discussion. It was entirely to do with his lack ...

Posted by Michael Meadowcroft on Liberal Democrat Voice

When I watch the James Bond sequence at the opening on 2012 Olympics, it just makes me smile and I glow with pride! This is the image of a confident country at ease with itself that values its culture, respects its institutions in a self-assured but not arrogant way. The opening sequence in the stadium [...] The post Our mission to be like the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony again appeared first on Radix.

Posted by Tom Burgess on Radix
YouGov

Great atmosphere, great training, great opportunity I've spent the last couple of weeks volunteering on the Lewisham East campaign. There is a tremendous buzz at the by-election HQ, with more and more volunteers passing through the doors every day. I came down to volunteer for an afternoon, but saw the impact we were having and have stayed for the remainder of the campaign. Members and activists are still clearly on a high following this year's successful local elections - our best in over a decade. They're bringing optimism, good humour and a real sense of fun to this campaign on ...

Posted by Peter Barton on Liberal Democrat Voice
Fri 8th
11:00

My tweets

Thu, 12:08: RT @DivisMountain: Once again British PM repeats the line that only State actors are being investigated at present , in clear contradiction... Thu, 12:08: RT @SorchaEastwood: Disappointed and dismayed that Theresa May giving factually incorrect information again from the dispatch box. Chief Co... Thu, 12:56: In the matter of an application by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review (Northern Irela... https://t.co/EOIoeVgl24 Thu, 14:13: RT @JamesCrisp6: Got in touch with an EU contact in Brussels to get a sense of how the David Davis vs May Brexit ding dong was being viewed... Thu, 16:05: Andrew O'Hagan's ...

Japanese anime have rightly won a global reputation. Compared with the often saccharine products from Disney et al the films often have an appealing edge to them. In Mary and the Witch's Flower, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi takes the very English magical mystery story The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart and gives it a Japanese makeover. [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

On Wednesday, Vince Cable spoke at an Open Britain event where he talked about EU immigration being "managed" from within the EU. Later in the day he tweeted: "Fully support [Gordon Brown's] proposals to ensure that #Immigration is managed. Compatible with membership of #singlemarket and #EuropeanUnion. Pity his government and mine acted too late to stop disastrous #Brexit vote. But not too late to stop Brexit." So we've written him this letter to tell him what we think: Dear Vince, We know you're trying to help; really, we do. We know that you want the UK to stay in the ...

Posted by Lib Dem Immigrants on Liberal Democrat Voice

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the dissolution of the Soviet Union into a number of independent nation states, and with it a transition within Russia from a fully centralised socialist economy to a capitalist one, was carried out appalling poorly. Simplifying the story for brevity's sake, the immediate post-Soviet government, for all intents and purposes still owning the economy, sought to distribute the proceeds of the state as evenly as possible to ensure that at least the relative equality of wealth Russian "enjoyed" under the socialist system was a starting point. This quickly fell apart. Having no knowledge of ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

I haven't enjoyed a Tory Government meltdown so much since John Major resigned the Tory leadership in an effort to force a confrontation with his Eurosceptic 'bastards'. The downside however, is that these idiots are meant to be running the country at a time of major crisis, when they would struggle to run a bath. I am sure many of us sat open-mouthed as the will-he-won't-he saga unfolded around David Davis' threatened resignation over the so-called Northern Irish backstop. In the end he stayed on in return for a large helping of fudge, a deadline date to introduce a hard ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Too much of a good thing is bad for you. That's what my mother always told me. Her pronouncement was echoed by my father, teacher, doctor.... That appears to be the case for environmentally-friendly green technology. I mean, how can you go wrong with windmills, solar panels, tidal power and pedal power? They are the good, politically correct thing. Well, according to a report recently published by Cambridge University, green technology could cost the world economy up to $4 trillion by 2035. This, is of course, grist for the mill of the climate change denial lobby—until you examine the fine ...

Posted by Tom Arms on Liberal Democrat Voice

Sefton Council Logo The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above In times when it looked just about possible that the Borough of Sefton could be split up I recall that Bootle Labour Party were seemingly of the view that merging Bootle in with Liverpool City Council was akin to them all being captured by the enemy. They certainly seemed to view the prospect with more than a little spluttering into their coffee so to speak. Now it seems that some Labour folk are saying Knowsley Borough may not be viable in the ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

The BBC News Beds, Herts and Bucks pages win our Headline of the Day Award.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Tom Brake has written a letter, a nice letter, to Chuka Umunna and Anna Soubry asking them to support his Amendment, to be debated in the Commons this week, to the EU Withdrawal Bill, calling for a People's Vote on Brexit. He said to them: Dear Chuka and Anna, Over the last two years we have worked cross-party to convey to the country the benefits of the UK remaining in the European Union. Ahead of next week's debate in Parliament, I urge you to support my amendment 19a to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill which provides for the people to have ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
eUKhost

Three council by-elections this week. Three previously Conservative held seats. Two without a Lib Dem candidate last time. All with a Lib Dem candidate this time. And... one dramatic Lib Dem gain: Cranmore, Mid Devon A contest caused by the tragic early death of Cllr Clarissa Slade at just 21. Canmore (Mid Devon) result: CON: 45.1% (+13.3) LDEM: 32.5% (+32.5) LAB: 22.4% (+7.0) Conservative HOLD. No Ind(s) as prev. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 7, 2018

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Good news from Oxfordshire where Liberal Democrat Sue Cooper took a seat from the Conservatives in pretty spectacular style. Benson & Crowmarsh (South Oxfordshire) result: LDEM: 57.4% (+27.2) CON: 36.0% (-10.6) LAB: 6.6% (-4.0) Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative. No Grn (-12.6) as prev. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 7, 2018 Thanks to our candidates Les Cruwys and Michael Pettingale. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : A Legacy of Art & Design in Dundee An exhibition celebrating 15 years of funding of artistic excellence at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. In the Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, University of Dundee, "A Legacy of Art & Design in Dundee" is running until 23rd June. Since 2003, the William S. Phillips' Fund has supported over 40 postgraduates with bursaries to study at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. This major exhibition commemorates 15 years of this funding with a wide-ranging collection of ...

Before I start, I want to clear something up. My earlier posts in this series were linked on Metafilter, and some people there, who aren't used to what I normally do with my writing, thought I was doing the Rick ... Continue reading →

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