Remember when I went to look for what remains of the old Loughborough Derby Road station and was taken for an explorer by two boys who probably were not ghosts? This aerial photograph shows the station in 1947, when it had long closed to passengers but was still open for goods services. It is halfway down the photo towards the right-hand side. You can clearly see the goods shed that still stands there and the low station buildings are next to the main road.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

It's been suggested quite often in these pages that the media coverage we get as a Party isn't that great. And, often, it is suggested that we need to crank up our media operation. So, for one week, I'll be publishing all of the press releases that Liberal Democrat Voice receives from HQ, honouring the embargos as they are advised. Today's press releases are; Welsh Lib Dems Urge Health Boards to Monitor Loneliness The Welsh Liberal Democrats have urged health boards across Wales to monitor the scale of loneliness in their areas and treat loneliness and isolation as a health ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 15th
19:08

Monday reading

Current Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson Doctor Who: The Widow's Curse, ed. Tom Spilsbury Last books finished Seychelles: The Saga of a Small Nation Navigating the Cross-Currents of a Big World, by Sir James Mancham The Sound of his Horn, by Sarban Sodom and Gomorrah, by Marcel Proust Larque on the Wing, by Nancy Springer Next books The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells Earth Girl, by Janet Edwards The Vampire's Curse, by Mags Halliday

Its been sleeping for a while but next Tuesday, Shropshire Council's South Planning Committee will decide on whether to fell a Norway Maple and destroy a green space at the bottom of Charlton Rise. The five social housing bungalows off Sidney Road will add to our housing stock. But is it worth the damage to this area of Ludlow? This application is unique in my experience. Almost a full year since the latest plans were submitted, this controversial application for five bungalows is going to planning committee next Tuesday. The uniqueness does not lie in the application. Final negotiations on ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Some commentators claim that we're on the brink of the biggest constitutional crisis since Lloyd George's People's Budget and I find I'm not holding my breath with excitement. The reason is simple. I don't really care what kind of deal the negotiators come up with, because I know that any deal that can be salvaged from the mess (and I rather suspect that after the heightened brinkmanship of the final couple of days something will be produced which Mrs May and the Expressand Sun will hail as a triumph and the government will pootle on for a few more months) ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal

We used to poll our readers quite a lot, and very interesting the results were too. Not always entirely reflective of the wider Party membership, but often the only meaningful attempt to assess the direction of travel on a range of subjects. Well, we're keen to resume our polling, but before we do, we'd like to invite those of you who are members to register for the forum linked to the site (assuming that you haven't already done so) so that we can send you an e-mail inviting you to take part when the time comes. And whilst we're talking ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

After all the vegetation on the M4 embankment was removed as part of the smart motorway project, I contacted Highways England for some more information. They have now replied. They haven't said much about measuring noise levels without the trees there, but have answered pretty much everything else. The bad bit is that it looks like residents are going to have to have a year between removal of the existing noise barrier and its replacement with new better barrier. In full they say Dear Councillor Bray, Thanks you for email of the 26 September regarding vegetation removal and noise from ...

Posted by Prue Bray on Prue Bray

Parliament returned to Westminster on Tuesday after the conference recess, and the Lords was immediately presented with one of those challenges it so often rises to, another anti-terrorism Bill, the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill, which received its Second Reading. From the Liberal Democrat benches, Jonathan Marks outlined the four key tests against which the proposals would be judged; First, what is the purpose of the measure and what is the mischief it seeks to address? Secondly, is the measure necessary to achieve that purpose? Thirdly, is the measure a proportionate response to the mischief, having regard to the restrictions ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Dominic Raab heads to Brussels for a chat with Barnier – but nothing is agreed regarding the backstop. A feeling of drama grips the bubble, while calm continues in the rest of the UK, and indeed, in Brussels itself. Where does "hell week" leave us then? There are only really four ways I think Brexit goes from here. The cabinet swallow the backstop, whatever it ends up being (and it will result in a very soft Brexit, at least for the time being). Then, May gets the deal, including the backstop, through parliament. If this happens, the Tories will then ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

One of the policies that got the most attention during the Labour conference was the idea of a 4 day working week. Of course, this set off the barrage of accusations of fantasy politics, but what is now seen as a bit of a mad idea was once a mainstream view of the inevitable. After the Industrial Revolution, workers found themselves working seven days a week and leisure time was seen as a virtue of the rich not to be wasted on the immoral poor. But, as technology and political will evolved, the working week shortened. Great industrialists like Henry ...

Posted by Darren Martin on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov
Mon 15th
12:19

Further Roxy Update

She is much better today than she was over the weekend. She is eating "normally" (i.e. leaving half of her own food, but stealing Spike's) and much more alert and bright. She's still quite clingy though. I have discovered that the best way to get the "mix with food" powders into her is to wrap them in sliced meat or hollow out a piece of cheese and give them to her that way - actually mixing them with her food is not an option when she regularly leaves food, without even considering that Spike might eat it if we don't ...

As you may know, people who back my blog and podcasts on Patreon get free ebook copies of all my books (and people on higher tiers get free paperback or hardback copies). Partly to thank them — and also partly ... Continue reading →

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

Fascist Spain meets British punk: the subversive genius of Judge Dredd Lovely article about Carlos Ezquerra FactCheck: Men are more likely to be raped than be falsely accused of rape There are some truly horrifying statistics here, but the headline is definitely one to bear in mind What Are We Like? 10 Psychology Findings That Reveal The Worst Of Human Nature Want to be even more depressed and misanthropic? This is the article for you! PZ Myers lays into some transphobes "Biology does not support your gender essentialism, so quit pretending it does. Your species is specified by your genetics ...

Mon 15th
11:00

My tweets

Sun, 12:56: Why I have come to Lebanon https://t.co/IgXZJ7dI11 @alexia_Faus_ explains. Sun, 13:09: RT @purves_peter: Looking forward to Tuesday,when i shall be meeting up with over 30 former Blue Peter presenters at the 60th Anniversary o... Sun, 14:54: RT @StevePeers: If the EU is panicking where's the evidence for this? Why didn't Davis stay on to finish his great victory? Would this head... Sun, 15:29: Dreams of a Life (2011) https://t.co/09FzDiiSxG Sun, 17:08: Election results in Oud-Heverlee #kies18 #Stem18 #VK18 https://t.co/mfICpJleit Sun, 17:48: RT @POLITICOEurope: Negotiators in Brussels have reportedly reached a deal on a Withdrawal Agreement to secure the ...

Yes, it's back, as the end of the Peer show returns to a Parliamentary chamber near you. And this time, I'm going to try to produce a column every week... The ninety-eight strong Liberal Democrat group returned to battle this week, having shrunk by one more just before the Summer Recess. Ronnie Fearn, after two terms as the MP for Southport, and seventeen years in the Lords, retired under the terms of the 2014 House of Lords Reform Act on 11 July at the age of eighty-seven. No doubt the wear and tear of the commute down to London was ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Over the past 20 years or so I have consistently fought to stop the headlong charge to build on the highest grades of agricultural land in Sefton Borough. That fight was most recently via its Local Plan process and prior to that it's Unitary Development Plan in the late 1990's. But my point here is not just about saving to save Green Belt, worthy though that aim is, it's about trying to save the land which grows our food! That we now import 50% of what we eat when only a few years ago it was just a third is ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Ending the UK's membership of the EU will not just affect the trade relationship between the UK and the EU, which has dominated the headlines. It will also mean that UK nationals will lose their EU citizenship - and with this, EU citizens' rights under the EU treaties. These rights are many and varied. An [...] The post The will of the people versus the rights of man (and woman) appeared first on Radix.

Posted by David Harrison on Radix

When some of Aberystwyth beach is on the road outside the venue of the Welsh Party conference, you know things are not quite right. The rain and wind in Wales this weekend has been dire, with roads closed, train lines down and houses flooded. At least two of our party members experienced flooding of their houses, and those of us who travelled to and from the conference experienced delays, and many did not even get to us. But, along with the exceptional weather, we had an exceptional Autumn conference. Vince Cable and Sal Brinton battled to get to us and ...

Posted by Jane Dodds on Liberal Democrat Voice

I've spent a rather relaxing weekend in Hampshire and Dorset, but it's time to return to reality, or at least mid-Suffolk and a new week. Will the week ahead see a rash of Cabinet resignations, as Brexiteers realise that the next set of Government compromises in search of a deal will take them ever further from whatever Brexit they individually want or understand? Is Theresa May really a sleeper agent for an Exit from Brexit, or just being tossed from crisis to crisis? The suggestion that talks between Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier broke down without agreement last night do ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

From the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden : The first of the Wednesday afternoon lectures, held in the D'Arcy Thompson lecture theatre in the Tower Building at the University of Dundee, takes place later this week. This will be given by Dr Neil Paterson of the Botanic Garden, and the title is "Sex, Obsession and Madness: Linnaeus and the naming of names". It is on Wednesday 17th October at 2.15pm, and admission is £2 - all welcome!

eUKhost

I cannot remember a week in the last few years when Ludlow has not suffered roadworks. They are becoming as much a part of the character of our town as its historic buildings and the collapsed town walls. Not all works are disruptive but the works planned for Sheet Road two weeks today will severely disrupt the town bus services. Shropshire Council has so far not responded to my request for the roadworks to be rescheduled and redesigned to reduce disruption. Sheet Road is a mess. It urgently needs resurfacing. That's not on the agenda. Instead it will be patched ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Responding to news today that the Government will ask the Climate Change Committee for guidance on reaching net zero carbon, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson and former Leader Tim Farron said: "We're well past the time for talking. Driven by ideological compulsion rather than facts, the Conservatives have lurched drastically away from supporting green technologies. "This has created the uncertainty that has caused businesses to put their money elsewhere. Investment in solar, wind and other renewables in the UK slumped by 56% - billions of pounds - last year, while the rest of the world's spending grew. "No more chat, no ...

Posted by LD Neath on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

Episode 2 of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up on the website, and should be on the podcast's iTunes feed in a couple of hours. This one is on "Roll 'Em Pete" by Big Joe ... Continue reading →

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!