Commiserations to Joanna Burrows, who fell one vote short of winning today's by-election in the Oakham South-West ward of Rutland County Council for the Liberal Democrats. The full result: Richard Alderman (Independent) 178 Joanna Burrows (Liberal Democrat) 177 Patsy Clifton (Conservative) 163Chris Brookes (Labour) 80 At least we beat the Conservatives, who previously held this seat, into third place. Later. Martin Brookes tells us what happened at the count tonight: The votes counted and a dead heat between the Libdem and the Independent Candidates the final vote was decided by the returning officer who drew a ballot paper from the ...
This is rather a surprise. Long-time suspended Labour MP Jared O'Mara was just let back into the party after being given a formal warning for a series of allegedly homophobic and misogynistic comments. Now the MP for Sheffield Hallam has quit Labour. He said: There is no doubt that I made mistakes as a young man using distasteful language as a clumsy attempt at satire and sarcasm online. But that does not mean that is who I am today. I am sure that there may be many of us who have done things in our past which we wished we ...
Celebrating 20 years of Lord Bonkers' Diary I wrote: Growing up in Market Harborough, it was hard to ignore Lord Bonkers. If you climbed any of the hills that ringed the town then the slender spire of St Asquith's, the gaunt pinnacles of the Home for Well-Behaved Orphans and, most impressive of all, the towers, domes and follies of Bonkers Hall and its grounds, would dominate the view to the North. Lord Bonkers himself was rarely seen in town, though his longevity - he had ceased to be Liberal MP for Rutland South-West as long ago as 1910, people said ...
Much of the information about the Trump protest in London came out in an email to members last night. I didn't get it. This is a very good thing. Because as a Scot, I was getting all the info about the protest in Edinburgh on Saturday at which Christine Jardine is speaking (Meet at the Scottish Parliament at 11:45 am). Heaven knows, I have whinged when things that affect England only are emailed to Scottish members. We Scots get a bit sensitive about these things. So, when the lovely people who send the emails get it right, then they deserve ...
Embed from Getty Images The former Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has written a piece on the departure of Boris Johnson for iNews. When he was a transport minister Norman saw Boris Johnson, then the mayor of London, close up. I think it is fair to say he was not impressed: He spent time and money on a white elephant Boris Island airport that was never going to fly. He promoted a garden bridge that has been torn to shreds by the Public Accounts Committee. He introduced at vast cost a huge fleet of new Routemasters with open platforms and ...
Thu 12th
21:09
Come and join Jo Swinson at the Liberal Democrat anti-Trump protest tomorrow at 2pm #LibDemsAgainstT...
The party's website carries this invite to an anti-Trump protest tomorrow: The Government has made the right decision to cancel Trump's state visit, but this scaled down trip must not be met with scaled down protests. Protesting against a man with dangerous, misogynistic and racist views is our responsibility. It is our opportunity to stand in solidarity with all the people he has abused and denigrated. When he comes to the UK the Liberal Democrats will be front and centre of the protests. Join Jo Swinson MP and the Lib Dems on Friday 13 July to protest Trump's visit. Meeting ...
Second paragraph of third section (actually page 6): "Whalesongs are probably no different from birdsongs, except they are longer," Rueff says. "After all, whales have much bigger lungs." A standard choose-your-own-adventure book; there are moments where you can make a good choice or a bad choice, and moments where the capriciousness of the author pushes you down one track rather than another. Not sure why I picked it up, but you can get it here. This was the most popular book in my unread pile that I acquired in 2013. Next on that list is Missile Gap, by Charles Stross. ...
[IMG: Gloom has descended on the country] England has crashed out of the World Cup and evenings will never be the same again. Rushing home to water the plants does not have the same attraction, somehow. With barely enough time to draw... The post Gloom has descended on the country appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
Congrats to altariel, sevenorora, po8crg, huskyteer, redfiona99 and drplokta for correctly predicting yesterday's shock result. Commiserations to those who were hoping for a different outcome!
In just over 9 weeks' time, thousands of Lib Dems will be packing up and heading to Brighton for four days of serious debate, fun and thought-provoking fringe meetings. This Saturday, Federal Conference Committee will have a very loooooong meeting to decide how they will fill up four days by the sea. We've had a couple of posts about some of the motions submitted by members. Only a small fraction will make it on to the agenda. If you want to make a pitch for yours, there's still time – just send 300-500 words on it to Liberal Democrat Voice. ...
[IMG: MOD consultation map on Shorncliffe Garrison site development] MOD consultation map on Shorncliffe Garrison site development from 2011 Taylor Wimpey began acquiring the Ministry of Defence Shorncliffe Garrison site in 2015. Outline planning permission for a residential development of up to 1,200 homes with a nature conservation area, improved recreation facilities and a new primary school on this site was granted by Shepway District Council, now Folkestone and Hythe District Council, in December 2015. Full planning permission for the initial phases of development at St Martin's Plain and The Stadium was also granted at the same time, and those ...
Commenting after attending Donald Trump's NATO press conference Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Defence Menzies Campbell said:"Today NATO was treated to a stream of unconsciousness from the US President. Throughout the summit Trump's behaviour has been disruptive and divisive. His determination to describe the summit as a success beggars belief."No US president in living memory has ever been as damaging to NATO as Trump."Adding insult to injury he is off to meet President Putin whose aggressive behaviour in recent times has only served to emphasise the vital importance of NATO as a defensive alliance."
For reasons possibly connected with this, I am trying to track down some old news stories about how newspapers used to use the names of fake journalists. My memory tells me there were a series of reports by Raymond Snoddy for Channel 4's Hard News TV series in the late 1980s in which he rung up newspapers and asked to speak to various journalists by name, getting rather surprised and evasive responses. The reason? That although the names were taken from bylines in the newspaper, they were fake names – used when wire copy was being reproduced. My memory tells ...
The Ashdown Prize has shown there is a hunger in the Party for new policy and new radical and liberal solutions. A policy to make foodbanks more effective may address an immediate need, but why not instead make it our long-term policy to make them unnecessary? As it stands, Britain has a system to pay people money if they lack an income. Unless they left their last job voluntarily. Or if they fail to jump through enough hoops to show that they're looking for work in the DWP-approved manner. Or if they refuse to do unpaid demeaning labour for freeloading ...
Maria Caulfield, MP for Lewes, has resigned her position as Conservative Party Vice Chairman for Women in protest at the PM's position on Brexit. (I love the irony of a woman being called "Vice Chairman for Women".) Here are some comments on her letter of resignation. Dear Prime Minister It is with regret that I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign as a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party following the collective agreement by Cabinet on the Chequers Brexit deal. Having attended the briefings provided for members of Parliament, I cannot support the direction of travel ...
Thu 12th
11:06
I'm starting to think that perhaps hardcore Brexiteers actually want to stop Brexit themselves
If Brexit somehow does not happen, historians will look back in awe at the part those who most vocally advocated the UK leaving the EU played in making sure it didn't occur. From the moment following Cameron's resignation to the present, a group of hardcore Leavers have been easily the most instrumental figures in bringing us to a point where Brexit itself is in doubt; all of the Open Britain, Soros stuff would have been mere dust in the wind without the part played by Brexiteers themselves in bringing our exit from the European Union into serious question. I could ...
Wed, 12:01: RT @RichyCraven: Being Irish during the whole Brexit thing is like being the neighbour of that guy who was building his own rocket to prove... Wed, 12:56: Political and Economic Governance in the Balkans and Eastern Europe Compared https://t.co/aTCinQjwhS Interesting co... https://t.co/UYO5Pmu51X Wed, 13:44: RT @UKPoliticalNews: President Trump might think the UK is in "turmoil" but Theresa May has only lost 10 frontbench ministers since Novembe... Wed, 13:57: Semi-final retrospective, part one https://t.co/MO8A24Fefu Wed, 15:15: My interview from earlier this week with CGTV's World Insight (NB there were problems with the Brussels feed so I j... https://t.co/Ssu9i5mJpy Wed, ...
Responding to a report from the Chief Prisons Inspector Peter Clarke on prison conditions, Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said: "The prison conditions described in this report should shame the Government. "Prisons should be centres of rehabilitation, yet these inhumane conditions show prisons are purely punitive. "The Conservatives cannot continue to treat prisoners as though they are subhuman."
Commenting on Donald Trump's visit to the UK, Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable said: "Trump is fast becoming Britain's enemy. He is trying to destroy the rules-based system of trade and cooperation on which we depend. "Trump befriends autocrats and despises democrats. He does not rate NATO; he even regards the Canadians as a threat to US national security."Those businesses and other leaders who fraternise with Trump should be careful of their reputations."
It is funny how Tory politicians portray themselves and their party as champions of business and free markets when they are trying to raise money, but when it comes to the crunch and those same business interests start to question the Tory party's direction of travel, those same politicians are no longer interested. According to the Independent, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is worth a few bob, and has his own business interests, has urged the government to ignore the voice of business leaders as they have "got everything wrong in the whole of their history." One such business might be the ...
A59 Cycle path becomes narrow pavement at Robins Island. I've mentioned before my desire to see a safe cycle route through Maghull and Lydiate from Switch Island to Robins Island and I took the matter up with Sefton Council Highways. This is what they had to say:- 'We have actually identified this as an issue and are pursuing a proposal to develop a cycle route between Switch Island and Robbins Island as one of our priorities. We have secured funding for the initial section which will link Switch Island to the service roads to the north of the Dover Road/ ...
Thu 12th
08:55LibLink: William Wallace Aggressive language from political extremes and media will spark violence a...
Our William Wallace writes for Politics Home about the dangers of the language used in political discourse. Almost at the same time, the Telegraph tweeted this: Is Theresa May guilty of treason? Plenty of readers think so. Politicians would be wise to listen up https://t.co/s7toX8qO1s pic.twitter.com/Q14PXU5ktz — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 11, 2018 So now the PM who, whatever she delivers in terms of Brexit will leave us worse off, is being given the "enemy of the people/saboteur" treatment. The temperature needs to come down, and fast. Heaven knows, we don't have any time for what the Conservatives are doing, ...
"There are two kinds of European nations. There are small nations and there are countries that have not yet realised they are small nations." Thus, brilliantly, the Danish Finance Minister Kristian Jensen summarised his own country's position, the Europe we live in and specifically the position of Britain in its Brexit negotiations. A warning to those [...] The post The case for national humility appeared first on Radix.
A new study calls for a rebalancing of research and innovation funding to better meet the UK's economic, social and health needs The political turmoil over recent days has meant that a speech last week by Sam Gyimah, minister for universities and science, hasn't received the attention it deserves. Opening the Schrödinger Building in Oxford, Gyimah set out in the most comprehensive terms yet why the government has made the biggest increase in research spending for 40 years, and set a further ambitious target of investing 2.4% of GDP in research and development (R&D) by 2027 (up from roughly 1.7% ...
Former MP in Southwark, previous Party President and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, indefatigable conference fringe meeting attender and brilliant campaigner for liberalism, Simon Hughes has announced that he won't be standing again for Parliament.
