The new Liberator has arrived. Tomorrow, you lucky people, I shall start posting Lord Bonkers' latest diaries, but for tonight here is something from Radical Bulletin on the Lib Dem performance in last month's London borough elections: While the number of councillors in London increased from 115 to around 150 the majority of this growth came in the boroughs of Kingston and Richmond. Lib Dems are also represented on Sutton, Haringey and Southwark (all current or former parliamentary seats) and elsewhere only on Merton, Ealing, Camden and Kensington and Chelsea. Indeed the number of boroughs with no Lib Dem councillors ...
David Steel still believes the allegations made against Cyril Smith are "scurrilous hearsay". Ruth Bright says he is wrong. She is right. David Boyle watched A Very English Scandal: "I'm not sure if I was weeping for myself or for my party. Or indeed for Thorpe and Scott, who both seem to me - and the series portrayed this even-handedly - the victims of forces beyond themselves." Let's keep with the Seventies theme and read Ed Barrett on the Grunwick dispute. Andy Boddington believes it is time for South Shropshire to be designated a national park: "Not everyone will welcome ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 519th 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 (3 – 9 June, 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. Time for the party to ...
Embed from Getty Images This blog has dwelt before on the case of the Eastbourne doctor John Bodkin Adams, who appears to have been the Harold Shipman of the 1950s. His elderly patients developed the convenient habit of changing their wills in his favour and expiring shortly afterwards. We have seen that Theresa May's father was chaplain at the hospital to which Bodkin Adams was attached and that Harriet Harman's father was the medical defence witness when he was tried for murder and acquitted. But this case reaches deeper into the heart of the British Establishment than that. It even ...
Today, events have been taking place in the four capitals of the UK to celebrate 100 years since women got the vote. Christine Jardine explained why she was taking part in the Edinburgh event. We asked @cajardineMP why she is taking part in #Processions2018 today pic.twitter.com/cZhxrVmiNu — Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) June 10, 2018 For me, seeing banners about period poverty and state pension inequality for women reminded me that the fight for gender equality goes on. To be fair, I hadn't really forgotten, but it drove home that when you don't have enough women in the room, bad decisions are ...
Living here in South Shropshire most of us know what an AONB is. Or at least I hope we do. But that's not true elsewhere, even when the name is spelt out in full as "area of outstanding natural beauty". And in my experience, not that many people know how an AONB stands operates or protects the landscape, even when the name is spelt out. But almost everyone knows what a national park is. Almost everyone knows they are the nation's most cherished landscapes. The government is suggesting that it might create more national parks. So why don't we grab ...
Christine Jardine will be covering the Foreign Affairs brief during Jo Swinson's imminent maternity leave and said she was glad of the chance to continue Jo's work: I am delighted to be trusted with this important role. It is an area in which I have always been interested in and I look forward to continuing Jo's good work. Jo knows her job is in good hands: I'm delighted that Christine will be keeping my desk warm and I'm sure she will do a brilliant job making thoughtful interventions on foreign policy. The forthcoming visit of Donald Trump will give Christine ...
One of the more incongruous sights at a motor racing circuit is at Oulton Park, Cheshire. I was reminded while watching the British Touring Cars racing on ITV4 this afternoon that I took a photograph of the monument to Captain John Francis Egerton on my last trip there in 2015. It was erected by subscription in May 1846 following the ... The post The Oulton Park monument appeared first on ten pence piece.
Good thing my delivery round this morning for Lucy Salek in the Lewisham East by-election didn't involve going straight ahead at this point...
In the last week, Government has issued some clarification about what the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) does and does not do in response to a petition. In particular they clarified that the protections for single-sex services were in the Equality Act, and that Government was not currently minded to amend this. One of the recommendations [...]
A reminder of the many ways in which Leave campaigners have already been caught breaking the law.
This week, Vince Cable met campaigner Gina Martin with her lawyer Ryan Whelan to give his support for Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse's Bill to make the appalling practice of "upskirting" a specific criminal offence. This will ensure that victims will no longer be told by the Police that nothing can be done to deal with their complaints. Wera's Bill has its second reading this coming Friday. Vince said: Upskirting is a shameful crime which has already affected far too many women across England and Wales. One woman who was affected was Gina Martin. I was fortunate enough to meet ...
Time of the Season was a sleeper hit in the States. So much so, that by the time it reached no. 3 there The Zombies had split up and their writers, Rod Argent and Chris White, were working on material for the new band Argent. There was an attempt to cash in however. There was talk of a new LP made up of outtakes from Odesssey and Oracle and the odd new song. The album never appeared, but this track was recorded for it and even appeared as a single. Did The Zombies ever record a bad song? Not that ...
It is said that revenge is a dish best served cold, but before anyone considers taking the law into their own hands in retribution for a crime or injury, it is best to note what Confucius had to say on the subject: "Before embarking on a journey of revenge, dig two graves" — in other [...]
Have you managed to get to Lewisham East yet? If you are one of the party's many thousands of members in London and you haven't been yet, head down in the next few days to help Lucy Salek get the best result we can on Thursday. There has been a pretty vigorous Lib Dem campaign. In just a month, Lucy has managed to get name recognition and has been out and about in the community. There have been a LOT of leaflets highlighting how the Liberal Democrats are committed to giving people the final say on the deal while Jeremy ...
I first visited Dubrovnik with Anne in 1996, just after the war, and we came back in 1997 with baby B and in 1998 with toddler B. I have been a few times since, but usually without much time to look around. Yesterday, however, our conference finished at lunchtime, and it turned out that C, another participant, is also a Game of Thrones fan; equipped with information from various websites (here, here and here) we went into the old city, C for the first time, me looking at it with fresh eyes. We were joined by Danish B, who confessed ...
Sat, 12:56: Sensible comment from a Brexiteer. https://t.co/tAjkZ0R0sy Sat, 15:15: The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form https://t.co/hLG5QTebHe Sat, 16:05: RT @DianeCoyle1859: Just heard Home Office denied residence to my French neighbour - here 17 years, married to a British man, caring for he... Sat, 20:48: RT @thejoannagraham: my apple watch decided to call emergency services *in the middle of sex*, much to the horror of the man in my watch ye... Sun, 10:45: RT @sound_of_sirens: Want some idea of how feeble and "motivated" the thinking of an anti-immigration anti-EU "thinker" can be? See this re...
Sunniside History Society, of which I am the chairman, held its monthly meeting last Tuesday and our speaker was Freda Thompson who gave a presentation about characters from the past 200 years of Geordie history. One of the characters lived 200 years ago on the Newcastle Quayside. He was a regular at an establishment called Hell's Kitchen, an aptly named public house with a riotous reputation.
We paid the Potters Wheel a visit on Friday evening. The pub in Sunniside, my home village, reopened a couple of weeks ago under new and (according to the poster outside) "good" management. While enjoying a pint of George and the Dragon ale, the barman persuaded me to enter the pub's World Cup sweep stake. I am not a follower of football but I made the comment that I would enter but I hoped not
It turns out that it is not just Brexit that has UK Government Ministers at each other's throats. As the Independent reports there are also serious disagreements over immigration as well, as the Prime Minister refuses to back down from her 'hostile environment' policy, despite it being discredited over the Windrush scandal, and her misplacing a Home Secretary who was seeking to defend the indefensible. The paper says that whilst on her trip to the G7 summit, the prime minister rejected three times, calls for a rethink on policies to curb illegal immigration, which have trapped British citizens. Instead, she ...
Jo Swinson has written for the New European on Brexit. In the style of her excellent book, Equal Power, she explains the problem and then gives you a whole list of things you can do about it. We wake up to headlines every day which emphasise the many reasons why Brexit is a bad idea. As well as one of the key protagonists and funders of a Leave campaign having more contact with the authoritarian Russian Government than is seemly (for the avoidance of doubt, none would be seemly), the Government's own papers suggesting we'd run out of food and ...
At long last South Glos has come forward with some draft proposals to improve Yate's confusing B&Q (salt truck) roundabout. Their plans show much clearer road markings and signs, plus two puffin crossings. The plans are open for comment until Monday 2 July - you can see the details and comment here
Imagine you've just joined the Anti-Cat League because you're horrified at the carnage caused to Britain's bird population.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMr3_5bO8fU Above is a link to a most wonderful tune by jazz guitarist Norman Brown. Hey things are more than a bit grim at present. The NHS is falling apart at the seams, the police are so under funded they struggle to protect us from crime, our schools are at breaking point with budget cuts, Northern would rather run buses than trains, Government is all at sea and their Official Opposition doesn't seem to know how to oppose them. Trump keeps going bonkers, global warming is going to create a living hell for future generations and Brexit is going to ...
The first Sunday Band Concert at Magdalen Green is later today - starting at 2pm and with the Forfar Instrumental Band - all welcome! Details of the remaining 2018 concerts is below :
