Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 532nd 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 (7-13 October, 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. Five by-elections, three seats change hands but ...
Photo: Alan Light Adam Bernard does not think much of Vince Cable's proposed changes to the Liberal Democrat constitution: "There is no practical way for the party to verify that each 'supporter' is a different person, let alone that they're who they say they are. It is trivial for anyone to make a dozen or a hundred 'supporters'. It is near-impossible to weed them out." "Our education service is poor value, poor quality and incredibly expensive. Successive governments have spent vast amounts of money on creating a National Curriculum; a vast bureaucracy and an expensive inspectorate. There is little sign, ...
There's still time to take the (unofficial) Liberal Democrat Newswire survey into the proposed party reforms set out by Vince Cable.
One problem with having chemo fatigue is that I watch far too much television. This weekend I've managed to see some of the British Superbikes from Brands Hatch. I was delighted to see Leon Haslam clinch the championship. Back in the late 70s I remember watching his father, Ron, duel with the likes of Randy [...] The post World Sidecar Trophy, Donington Park, May 18th 1980 appeared first on ten pence piece.
The Foldgate Lane housing development is to be named "St Laurence View". No apostrophe, no "s". I am sure this is the future of spelling. If there is an awkward apostrophe, avoid it. In another awkward moment, St Laurence's Church is to hold an "Ale Wife" beer festival. It a great idea but I demand that next year we have an "Ale Husband" festival. (Should that have an apostrophe and "s"?) Readers will already gather that this is not a serious blog. But it is a wet Sunday and hey ho. While strolling with Mel the Collie, I spotted that ...
From the Vlaanderen Kiest website... Party Votes % Seats Change N-VA 2,199 28.4% 7 +1 CD&V 1,903 24.6% 6 +1 Groen 1,819 23.5% 5 +2 Open Vld 1,007 13.0% 2 +2 sp.a-plus 813 10.5% 1 -1 7.741 100% 21 If sp.a had got three more votes, they would have got the last seat instead of CD&V, so the balance between them would have been 5 to 2 instead of 6 to 1. So all three parties in the ruling coalition gained seats, in fact to the point that any two of them can now form a coalition excluding the third. ...
One of my personal highlights of Lib Dem Conference in Brighton was the LDV fringe meeting on introducing some light and kindness into the currently toxic media atmosphere surrounding transgender and non binary people. In Scotland the atmosphere is much more inclusive. Scotland's feminist organisations are open to self identified women who are feminists. There has been an enduring, healthy and respectful dialogue between all equality organisations. That's why I invited Emma Ritch, the Director of Engender along with James Morton from the Scottish Transgender Alliance to tell us more. Sarah Brown from LGBT+ Lib Dems was there to outline ...
I had been intrigued by this film since I first read Carol Morley's 2011 Guardian article about making it. In 2006, housing officials making a repossession order broke into a London flat to make a grim discovery: the skeleton of its tenant, propped on the sofa, surrounded by Christmas presents with the television still on. Joyce Vincent had died in 2003, and nobody had noticed. Morley set out to tell her story, advertising in hopes of finding friends and relatives who might help her to understand what had happened. This film is the result. The story is a simple enough ...
A harmless novelty song about cowboys? It was, after all, played on Saturday morning children's television. Not quite. Wikipedia quotes Jeremy Healy, the male singer, who wrote it: It was an allegory for treatment of which the white settlers used, but on the Native American Indians. However, I wrote it like John Wayne having anal sex with a squaw. I thought this was hilarious!It also quotes the lyrics. Healy went on to be a sought-after producer and musical director, while Kate Garner has met equal success as a photographer and multi-media artist. Their keyboard player, Paul Caplin, became a successful ...
The consultation on Vince's party reforms ends today. If you haven't already responded, you can do so here. It's really important that as many party members as possible make their views known. If you are not sure about the issues, we've published lots of articles with varying viewpoints about this over the past few weeks and months. There's a list of them here. Here are some highlights? Vince himself wrote for us to say why he thinks we need to change: The Liberal Democrats have a long and proud history of approaching these transformational moments head on — by localising ...
Shirehall is in poor condition. Few people doubt that it must be refurbished. But the cost will be more than £25 million. On inflation adjusted prices, that's not far short of what it cost to build this unloved building in the 1960s. Is it worth it? I have my doubts we need to spend so much. I would like to see cheaper options. But a council discussion on the costs of the scheme has been cancelled twice. Shirehall 1967 In 1967, the Architect's Journal published an appreciative article on the new Shirehall. Designed by Salop County Architect Ralph Crowe, the ...
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today - how leaflets (which we know from other research work at helping to win elections) help raise turnout.
A visit to a Cardiff food bank laid very heavily on Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds' mind as she delivered her speech to Welsh Lib Dem Conference. Citing examples of someone sanctioned by the Department for Work and Pensions for not going to an interview on the day their father died, she called for an end to the rollout of Universal Credit. Her speech in full follows: Inspiring speech by @DoddsJane Leader of @WelshLibDems at #WLDConf launching a campaign to halt the rollout of Universal Credit in Wales. The implementation is not fit for purpose. pic.twitter.com/a6wmq3x1Cc — Eluned Parrott ...
After somewhat of a break from Twitter, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary health team account is back up and running: @libdemhealth.
Sat, 12:56: RT @mvanhulten: So after two years of aimless #Brexit manoeuvring, this is where we are today: the UK will likely stay in the customs union... Sat, 14:17: RT @sundersays: A brain science paradox: will clear evidence that evidence-based advocacy doesn't work persuade those invested in evidence-... Sat, 15:24: Voting time in Belgium https://t.co/xVeGVuEtNP Sat, 16:05: In Which I Am Fired From Marvel - @ChuckWendig https://t.co/4n21I1teiE Pretty awful. Sat, 18:19: RT @timoconnorbl: @CER_Grant @KeohaneDan @CER_EU Apparently, warnings from the Chief Constable of the PSNI are smears, now. Sat, 20:48: things top job candidates never do -- which aren't deal-breakers ...
When I first read a commentator in a serious newspaper saying, in the early summer, that the UK was heading towards a potential political and constitutional crisis, of the sort that we have not faced for a century, I thought that was an exaggeration. Now I'm not so sure. In the course of the next few weeks, if the Prime Minister's attempts to achieve a deal to leave the EU which will at once satisfy enough members of her party, appeal to a number of Labour MPs as well, keep the DUP on board, and not provoke a run on ...
Good news for the People's Vote campaign and intriguing news for the increasing contortions of the Labour Party, led by a life-long Eurosceptic who has often voted with the hard right Eurosceptics in the Tories, over Europe. In a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn, the Co-operative Party – which has 38 MPs who sit with Labour in the Commons – also called for the UK to stay in the single market and a customs union with the EU. The move, agreed at the party's conference in Bristol, is also a blow for Theresa May as it means their MPs are virtually ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : The University's annual Culture Day is a stimulating mix of talks and presentations across a wide-range of subjects united by a common theme. This year we are pleased to be part of the new Festival of the Future and we'll be exploring the body, marking 200 years since the publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and 130 years since the first Professor of Anatomy was appointed in Dundee. Feel free to come to as much of the event as you like. Admission is free and booking is not essential, ...
Responding to the release of the 'no-deal Brexit' papers Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said:"The Government have parted company with reality: they are seriously proposing that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, they will at that point start running around, trying to replicate all the deals they would have just walked away from. They are completely silent on how they would deliver this from such a weak position, what businesses are meant to do before bilateral deals are signed and the scale of the damage such an approach would inflict. "Since triggering Article 50 without a plan, Theresa ...
Responding to reports that a no-deal Brexit could damage access to electricity in Northern Ireland, former Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary Ed Davey said:"As Secretary of State I saw the electricity market in Ireland working extremely successfully, guaranteeing power to Northern Ireland and having a positive impact on energy prices."The fact that the Prime Minister is willing to gamble with the electricity which powers thousands of homes in Northern Ireland is deeply disturbing."The people of Northern Ireland should not have to wait and see if the lights turn on in April 2019. That is why the government must give the people ...
Responding to a report in The Independent that some Labour MPs could back Theresa May's discredited Brexit plan, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake said: "A small handful of Labour MPs have ended up in this position precisely because there has been an appalling disregard of leadership, duty and official opposition from Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. "Brexit can be stopped. There are enough brave souls among Labour and Conservative moderates to support us in doing the right thing to back the public on having a People's Vote."
