To Claydon this evening, for the quarterly meeting of the Mid Suffolk South Area of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils, the gathering of Town and Parish Councillors from the borders of Ipswich to a line south of the railway line to Bury St Edmunds. I've been attending these for a while, in my former capacity as Creeting St Peter's "Foreign Minister" (if it's outside the Parish, Mark's happy to go). It's a useful opportunity to find out what's happening across the District, and to get a heads-up on emerging issues. There is usually much talk about planning, highways and ...
A bumper set of eleven council by-elections or deferred contests from May this week. A little disappointing to see that it is only eight Lib Dem candidates across those eleven – but that is up four on the last time these seats were all fought. Alcombe, West Somerset Council Wow: Alcombe (West Somerset) result: LDEM: 39.2% (+39.2) CON: 27.1% (+0.9) IND: 19.9% (+19.9) LAB: 13.8% (-5.4) Liberal Democrat GAIN from UKIP. No UKIP (-22.2), Ind (-18.4) and Grn (-13.9) as prev. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 21, 2018
That said, I think the Children of the Hum would appreciate the strange creature on the church tower.
CLOSE MENU HOME BLOG PUBLICATIONS SLF CONFERENCE DONATE ABOUT CONTACT JOIN / LOGIN Agen Home /SLF Conference 2018 SLF Conference Agenda 201810am-10.30am: Reception and coffee10.30am-11.25am: Session 1 - A New Liberal Economics: Plenary with David Howarth, Stuart White and David Boyle, and chaired by Helen Flynn.11.25am-12.20pm: Session 2Breakout 1: Climate change Economics: With Ed DaveyBreakout 2: Housing: With Alex Marsh and Emily Davey (tbc). The session will have as one of its focuses the green paper on social housing due to come out on 24 July.12.20pm-1.05pm: Lunch1.05pm-2pm: Session 3 - Beveridge Memorial Lecture by Layla Moran MP2pm -2.55pm: Session 4:Breakout ...
Who is this paying tribute to Charles Kennedy in a BBC Newsbeat interview from June 2015? "He would have been great in the upcoming EU referendum - he won't be known just for [his problems]. He was so much more than that." Why would he have been so good in the EU referendum? "He was always pushing for the party to be an internationalist voice. "He believed that in an increasingly globalised world, having Britain in Europe was the only way forward. "And I think that's the message the party needs pushing. And he was one of the first people ...
(R-L) Vince supports the "upskirting" bill with campaigner Gina Martin, sponsoring MP Wera Hobhouse and Ms Martin's solicitor, Ryan Whelan We reported on Tuesday that the Justice Minister had agreed to take Wera Hobhouse's Bill through Parliament after it was sabotaged by Christopher Chope. We now have the details about how it will be progressed. It seems that the Government is using a rare parliamentary procedure to progress the Voyeurism Offences Bill. It will have its first reading tomorrow and is scheduled for its Second Reading debate in a couple of weeks time. Wera says: I am pleased to see ...
Second paragraph of Part 3: Sometime during the night, Meewee was awakened by the shaking of his bed. His first thought was — Earthquake! He opened his eyes to unfamiliar predawn walls. For the life of him, he couldn't remember where he was, and this alarmed his half-asleep brain. The bed shook again. Not an earthquake but a gentle swaying, like the old-fashioned railway cars he'd traveled in as a boy. I first encountered David Marusek as the author of the haunting short story "The Wedding Album", shortlisted for the Nebula in 2000 (when it was beaten by Ted Chiang's ...
As a professional musician and the mother of a keen athlete, I was interested to learn that the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee are looking into the social impact of participating in culture and sport. On Tuesday they took evidence from three people: Darren Henley, Chief Executive, Arts Council England; John Herriman, Chief Executive, Greenhouse Sports; and Deborah Williams, Executive Director, Creative Diversity Network. The questions asked were around the power of culture and sport to address deep-seeded social issues. Deborah Williams made the point that we need a broader understanding of what culture is, that it is ...
Today I got a letter from my doctor's surgery explaining why they were stopping a prescription I receive in response to recent NHS guidelines. You can find these guidelines here . The guidance is for those medical conditions which the powers that be say will cure themselves, or you can easily treat yourself for. My surgery was certainly quick of the mark! It's just a month since the guidance was issued, and to date I've heard no local discussion of it. Don't get me wrong. I and many others can afford to pay for our own hay-fever treatment, and often ...
Embed from Getty Images Once again transgender issues are making media headlines - sadly for all the wrong reasons. Arguments are being made that are based on misunderstanding and fear, rather than facts and tolerance. As a party the Liberal Democrats are very clear about the rights of transgender people. We had a debate, and passed party policy on this, at conference in September 2015. The motion starts: "The transgender and intersex communities are too often marginalised, with little or no emphasis on their needs from government or third sector organisations. Transgender and intersex individuals experience similar levels and types ...
We have all be shocked by the revelations about the inappropriate treatment of elderly patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital. Here is Norman Lamb talking about the way the NHS closed ranks when he was Health Minister, and how he called for the enquiry that has just been completed. We also have some quotes from him: The findings are shocking and devastating in equal measure - both in terms of the 456 patients who had opioids prescribed inappropriately, but also the disgraceful closing of ranks to stop families from getting to the truth. Never again must we allow a ...
View Poll: World Cup, Day Nine You should be able to vote using your Facebook or Twitter account, even if you aren't on Livejournal. Yesterday was a rare day when nine out of ten people called all three matches correctly. The lucky nine were sevenorora, johnny9fingers, pseudomantid, redfiona99, trepkos, vilakins, yiskah, mount_oregano and me.
It's mid-June and the time for London Technology week, a showcase for technological innovation. 5th generation mobile phones are almost upon us and along with the promise of blazingly fast mobile download speeds comes a renewed call for mobile phone operators to improve the rural coverage of their networks. In a conference sponsored by technology thinktank Cambridge Wireless, industry players gathered to discuss the issue in the high tech ambience of the Digital Catapult on the Euston Road. Large areas of the UK, especially Scotland, still do not receive good quality mobile coverage. A report published earlier this year by ...
Wed, 12:56: There is no non-wanky way to sign off an email, study finds https://t.co/lDW0xBiyxQ So true. Wed, 13:42: World Cup, Day Eight https://t.co/ZrQtHNMZgh Wed, 16:05: The Strange Case of the Missing Joyce Scholar https://t.co/noRXodBHWR An extraordinary story, well told. Wed, 18:01: The Case for a New WEU: European Defence After Brexit, by Charles Tannock MEP https://t.co/LyqPRYtnBo Wed, 22:13: RT @DavidLammy: Huge congratulations @ameliagentleman on your Paul Foot Award. The cruel treatment of Windrush generation by HO would never... Thu, 10:45: The Union in Revolutionary Times https://t.co/SENX5C49C1 Northern Ireland and the UK after Brexit. (And Scotland.) By @GerryLynch.
The latest in Nick Clegg's Anger Management series of podcasts is my favourite in the series so far, by a long way. He talked to writer, feminist and campaigner Elif Shafak. I was so impressed with her that I immediately went and bought a whole load of her books. She talked about the importance of appealing to emotions, of the very real threat to democracy posed by populists across the world, of the threat of majoritarianism – where the rights of marginalised groups are ignored. She talked of the importance of dialogue and not writing off people who have a ...
As Jonathan Calder reports: Mark Graves, who represents the Astley ward in Broughton Astley on Harborough District Council, has switched to the Liberal Democrats... Note that I have avoided using the word "defected," which usually appears in such stories. We are talking about local government here, not the Cold War. Harborough FM adds: Mark Graves has represented the Tories in his Broughton Astley constituency for over ten years. But, after disagreeing with his party over issues such as extra housing allocation for Harborough and a Council Tax increase which was more than double what they'd promised, last week they deselected ...
As a member in the south-west of England I am acutely aware of how we have fallen behind in the rural areas of England where we used to be able to garner a large amount of support. The south-west has a quite rare mixture of very rural communities and a long liberal tradition. In fact, my own constituency of Tiverton and Honiton (now a deep blue Tory area) was once partly represented by Lord Palmerston who was the MP for Tiverton while Prime Minister. Given the past support in the south-west I think it would be very worthwhile to now ...
The Guardian reports that a coalition of countryside groups and environmentalists are calling on the government to protect the UK's parks and green spaces which are at "crisis point" following years of swingeing budget cuts. They say that the group has today put forward a "Charter for Parks" which calls on ministers in England, Wales and Scotland to make it a legal requirement for all parks and green spaces to be maintained and managed to a "good standard." It also calls on them "to recognise the right of every citizen to have access within walking distance to a good-quality public ...
I was moved to read Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine's take on the legalisation of cannabis. She has epilepsy and tells her personal story about why she feels legalising medicinal cannabis is necessary. "The doctors could not then, and cannot even now, offer an explanation as to what caused me to have a major grand mal seizure in my sleep. For many years, I was afraid to sleep alone if my husband was away in case I had attack and there was nobody there to look after me." She also shared the story of a constituent who is desperate for ...
I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. As you can see from this list of the 10 most recent ones, I am happy to consider a wide range of subjects. If you would like to write a guest post yourself, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. "You're all the same" - Katie BarronThe trouble with Seamus Milne - Tim HallSave the University of Leicester's Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning - Sally BirchThe peculiar contradictions of Scotland's Named Person scheme - Simon CalvertThe straight line of racist politics from 19th century South Carolina to Donald Trump ...
Two years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Joan Baez. I was running the VIP and media desk at a Bernie Sanders rally in San Jose, California, and Joan was due to perform to the thousands in the scorching heat. What was funny was that she asked me who else was performing on the [...] The post When shall we overcome? appeared first on Radix.
Via Jen Robertson's research I have become aware of the man behind the famous Plimsoll Line on ships. He was clearly a fascinating chap and no ordinary campaigner, indeed he was an extraordinary campaigner for the rights of seafarers. The line on ships was indeed the result of his campaigning against the overloading of ships which led to them capsizing. Wikipedia has this to say about him:- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Plimsoll It's interesting to learn that Plimsoll shoes were so named because of the line around them, not because Samuel invented them, which of course he didn't. But one aspect of his time ...
Moira Macgregor (1931-2016) was a graduate from Dundee College of Art (now Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design) and built an international career as a fashion illustrator, editor and painter. Her work is characterised by her skilful draughtsmanship and a close attention to detail. In 2017, Macgregor's family donated a significant collection of her work to the University of Dundee, in accordance with her wishes. This exhibition presents a selection of this generous gift spanning her entire career and provides an insight into the development of her artistic practice. Her stylish fashion illustrations reflect the spirit of the ...
