A half-dozen council by-elections this week, fresh off a continuing gentle but clear rise in the Liberal Democrat poll ratings. Good news also that all six were contested, just what the party needs to do more often in order to help build up a bigger core of liberals who consistently view themselves as Liberal Democrats. Ottery St Mary Rural, East Devon Nick Benson was the Liberal Democrat candidate, the first time the party has contested the ward (hooray!) after four previous no-shows stretching back to the ward's creation for the 2003 elections. Despite that weak track record for the party, ...
I'm working on the script for episode three of my history of rock and roll podcast, and I want to use it to bring up something early on which will apply to far too many of these episodes in one ... Continue reading →
You come across this striking library on the long walk from Long Eaton station to the town centre. The Carnegie Legacy in England will tell you about its history: Designed by 1906, by architects Gorman and Ross of Long Eaton and built by Messrs J & J Warner of Mickleover. Above the entrance is a "mosaiced tympanum with the figure of Learning set against a golden sunburst." The library also has a large stained glass window by Stoddart of Nottingham. ... Awarded Grade II listing in 1986. To east of the main entrance is a pair of free-standing iron gates, ...
Thanks to Rob Tuck in the Lib Dem forum on Reddit, there's a handy collection of links to watch again the various parts of the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton.
After yesterday's post — and thanks to everyone who's shared and commented on it, the feedback has been really useful — it occurred to me that the one thing I'd not looked at in it was where people who currently identify as Liberal Democrats or vote for the party position themselves. So I went and crunched a few more numbers from the British Election Study to see. (For this post, I stuck to data solely from Wave 14 of the current BES, all of whom were surveyed in May 2017, in the run up to last year's election, so a few of the numbers ...
After talking to the BBC about Liberal Democrat prospects in London, I guested on the excellent Political Betting Polling Matters podcast with Kieran Pedley. We talked about the national prospects for the party and who might be the next leader. Listen to the end for my tip on who to place a bet on... During the show, I mentioned the rising Liberal Democrat poll ratings. It's always risky to highlight a poll trend as the very next poll published after you air may appear to rubbish that trend. But this time, the next one thankfully reinforced my point: 13%, lucky ...
Thu 20th
18:08
Dark Satanic Mills, by Marcus Sedgwick, Julian Sedgwick, John Higgins and Marc Olivent
Second frame of Lesson Three: I picked this up on a whim, and I have to say that I wasn't hugely impressed. It's a story of a future radiation-raddled England literally flooded by rising sea levels (there is an effective frame showing Trafalgar Square awash) and under threat from religious fanatics threatening to take over the government, opposed only by one brave biker girl and her assorted companions. I found the politics heavy-handed and the prose rather simplistic, and the monochrome drawing style didn't appeal to me at all, giving little room for chatacter or setting to be properly explored. ...
An exotic prism yesterday There is a little encouragement for the Liberal Democrats in today's Ipsos-MORI opinion poll: Conservative 39% Labour 37% Liberal Democrats 13% Of course, bloggers only notice polls where they are favourable to their party, but this is our highest share in any poll since the general election. And it follows a number of recent polls in which we have recorded double figures. Baby steps, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and all that. Headline shamelessly stolen from Michael Noller on Twitter.
For anyone who was unable to attend the Liberal Democrat Friends of Cake Annual General Meeting last weekend, here are the notes the Underbaker circulated on Facebook a couple of days ago: CONFERENCE POLICY IN FULL: at our AGM in Brighton, the following composited motion was passed reflecting the current values and direction of the party, including the proposed "friends of friends of someone who once met a Lib Dem at a train station and she seemed fairly nice" system of selecting party leader. This AGM Notes:a) CAKE; b) biscuits; c) tarts; d) pies and what have been termed "other ...
This was a title that just grew at the Brighton Conference. Paddy Ashdown started it by remarking at one of the huge Consultation sessions on Vince's new ideas,"You're all extremists! Or you wouldn't be here!" By the end of Conference, extremism had attached itself to the formerly scorned idea that we activists are moderates, adherents of the Centre ground where the majority of the British public live. So, we are happy to admit a connection to the moderate majority, so long as it is known that we are extremists too! Of course, we are not THAT sort of extremist - ...
... are landing in inboxes right now. If you went to LDconf please fill it in and be as honest as you can be. I promise you that I, personally, read all your responses and try to get them acted upon. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Around April 2015, I was seriously considering not voting for the Liberal Democrats in the upcoming general election. It wasn't the mistakes of the coalition that worried me, it was something about the values of the party around that time that gave me pause to wonder if it was the right thing to do. I read about the scandals about complaints in the party, and it seemed that attitudes were not as progressive or inclusive as I expected. Complaints against members appeared to be inadequate and chaotic, leaving victims (especially women), feeling unsafe in the party. I wondered if I ...
1, The Abortion debate I'm genuinely pleased that for the first time ever we have a party policy on abortion. I wish I'd been more prepared to say so, but I hadn't planned to speak in the debate; one of the joys of being on FCC is that if a debate is running low on speakers you quite often get asked to put a card in, and this was one of those times. That speech was therefore scrawled hurriedly on the back of an official FCC debate planner. This might explain why it's a bit short and I'm shaking like ...
When it comes to education policy, we need blue sky thinking. And I think that scrapping external exams would be a fantastic example of this. Let's remind ourselves of some of the negative consequences of our exam system: Stress – Student wellbeing is considered collateral damage. Having yearly exams which have such a huge impact on your life is incredibly stressful, and I doubt that adults would cope any better than teenagers do. We are sacrificing our young people to a system which we know is harming their mental health, but which we persist with nonetheless. Teaching to the exam ...
We not only have debates in the Town Hall but also have an opportunity to ask written questions of the Mayor and Cabinet about city issues. As you can see they are not usually very helpful and its the none ... Continue reading →
miss_s_b | That Was The Conference That Was In which I talk about the things I enjoyed most at conference. miss_s_b | Blog Maintenance Stuff In which I complain about spambots. Twitter will soon let you switch between chronological and ranked feeds weekly_food_challenge | Challenge #53: Hand Held Foods This week's food challinj is live live live Software disenchantment The most frustrating thing about this is that similar articles were being written at the time of Windows 95... Reaching out and making friends, just like Vince says I'm not going to stop giggling about this for quite a long time. ...
The panel at our fringe: from left to right: Back row: Caron Lindsay, Liberal Democrat Voice editor (Chair), Sarah Brown, LGBT+ Lib Dems, James Morton, Scottish Transgender Alliance, Emma Ritch, Engender and, front row, Sal Brinton, Liberal Democrat President. Most of you may notice the odd advert on Liberal Democrat Voice. These help LDV to contribute to the Conference Access Fund, making it easier for those of modest means to attend Lib Dem conferences. With the advert funds, we also sponsor or host fringe meetings at conference. At Brighton on Saturday, we hosted a fringe meeting in the Hilton hotel ...
This post first appeared on the Radix blog... Socialists are naïve about power; Liberals are naïve about money. That is the rule of thumb that I find myself judging current policy by - and especially when the parties that represent them are being particularly naïve. I had the temerity to say this again in a Demos/Centre for Progressive Policy fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton and I was quite rightly contradicted. It isn't, as I suggested , that the Lib Dems are empty-heads when it comes to economics. It is that they tend to cling, for whatever ...
Socialists are naïve about power; Liberals are naïve about money. That is the rule of thumb that I find myself judging current policy by - and especially when the parties that represent them are being particularly naïve. I had the temerity to say this again in a Demos/Centre for Progressive Policy fringe meeting at the [...] The post Are Liberals bored by economics? appeared first on Radix.
Wed, 12:37: Belgian prime minister @CharlesMichel also representing Netherlands for today's session of EU summit, due to... https://t.co/9ZD8W6Yz8W Wed, 12:51: RT @hughBXL: @nwbrux @CharlesMichel @MinPres A few years back @David_Cameron asked @MinPres to represent the UK at the European Council. I... Wed, 12:56: A new frame for the sky https://t.co/BCwcXKnInO Knowing where we are more precisely. Wed, 19:05: The Guermantes Way, by Marcel Proust https://t.co/nP3ugGDZPg Wed, 20:48: Life Echoes in Eternity: On J.R.R. Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle" https://t.co/Xb4kmRWfsS Not much to say, but saying it well. Thu, 07:12: BBC News - Ian Paisley: DUP MP keeps seat after recall petition ...
There is now a superb summary of all the conference motions on the Liberal Democrat website. This allows you to see, at a glance, the final passed motions, incorporating any passed amendments. One really important motion was that on the party disciplinary process. This process was initiated by a motion at 2016 conference to review the party's disciplinary processes. There have been reviews conducted by Helena Morrissey, Ken MacDonald and Isabelle Parasram. The review was delayed by the 2017 general election. The process was debated at the 2018 Spring Conference, where it was referred back for further work. The Federal ...
Another night, another set of blood transfusions, antibiotics and iv fluids for which I'm grateful. I feel stronger again today. However, lack of sleep over the few days means fatigue is kicking me to Devon and back. I'm also grateful that my MCL treatment has been possible at all. As a rare cancer, it was only identified as a specific ... The post Transplant +8: Grateful and demanding better appeared first on ten pence piece.
Thu 20th
10:16
Ormskirk – Preston Trains an update on a line that's struggled to deliver decent service level...
Ormskirk Station – The train in the foreground is Preston bound (when it's not being replaced by a bus). The one behind it is Liverpool bound. Along with many railway routes across the Northern Rail franchise the Ormskirk – Preston Line has suffered some very poor levels of performance for a long time now. Indeed, whilst you may be forgiven for thinking the melt-down that is Northern Rail started when the May 2018 was brought in the reality is that the rot set in well before that on this line. Cancellations and the dreaded rail replacement buses have been the ...
In a recent report from Tes, schools stated that, if they were to cut subjects entirely from their curriculum, music would be the most likely to be the first to go; closely followed by a couple of languages and drama. Southbank Centre, London I've written previously about how important the UK's soft power is around the globe; and with this latest revelation, it is increasingly likely that this cultural capital will be reduced in the future. The arts are always seen as 'soft' subjects; the connotation here that softness equates to ease; but speak with any artist from any discipline ...
It is telling that despite there being no vacancy, Theresa May's position is so precarious newspapers and others are already speculating on her successor. The Telegraph is no exception and they have an exclusive this morning in which they reveal what is described as an explosive internal memo suggesting the Prime Minister will be forced to "stand down soon after March 2019" and detailing the pros and cons of her potential successors. They say that the excruciating dossier is being widely circulated among Tory MPs and analyses the leadership prospects of her cabinet colleagues and other contenders, including leading Brexiteers ...
On Saturday, Ian Kearns electrified the Conference rally with a brilliant speech explaining why, in June, he left the Labour Party and joined the Liberal Democrats. You can watch his speech above and the text is below. Good evening conference. My name is Ian Kearns, and after many months of soul-searching, I joined the Liberal Democrats in June of this year, from Labour. I'm here on the stage tonight to tell you why. I'm here because I could no longer tolerate the sight of a Leader of the Opposition, a Leader of the Opposition, portraying himself as a great peacemaker ...
Last week, following complaints to me from residents that the lift at the Seabraes lift was again out of action, I reported this to the City Council. The lift was swiftly repaired but I have asked for - and been given assurances - that signage will be provided with the contact phone number for reporting when the bridge is not working.
Yesterday, Shropshire Council published more details of the Foldgate Lane application (18/02413/REM). They include revised landscaping and planting plans, a change to the location of the pedestrian and cycle access by the retail park and details of the play area and house designs. One of the significant changes is to the pedestrian and cycle link to Foldgate Lane. This has been moved further north to provide an opportunity for a future link into the retail park between Pets at Home and Ludlow Nut Company. This is very welcome as it will improve safety. People will no longer need to walk ...
