One for the 'not exactly surprising news but good thing they've got it out of the way so soon' pile courtesy of Layla Moran in Oxford West and Abingdon.
Only one today, with Parliament not in session, and all eyes turning to tomorrow's march... Cable at People's Vote march: Brexit is dividing generations Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable will be speaking at the People's Vote march in London tomorrow afternoon. Vince is expected to say: Tragically, Brexit divides one generation from another. A substantial majority of my generation voted to leave. A substantial majority of the young voted to remain. Your generation [the young] is being betrayed by mine. By those who look to the past, who see Britain as a museum. As a bonus today, here's a link ...
This photograph has turned up on Getty Images with the caption "Graveside Hymn, Market Harborough." As those houses in the background look like the bottom end of Great Bowden Road, the explanation for it is to be found on a page about the ruined church of St Mary in Arden: A Service is still held here every Easter Saturday at 6.00pm, in accordance with the bequest of William Hubbard, whose gravestone is one of the few remaining in situ. In 1786 he left a rent-charge of one guinea to the church provided that 'the Harborough singers' sang the Easter hymn ...
Questions via [IMG: [community profile] ] thefridayfive 1. Have you ever bobbed for Apples? Yup 2. Do you like a regular or hard apple cider? Ah, being British "cider" means the alcoholic stuff exclusively. I can't drink it because it was the first thing I ever got really blindingly drunk on and just the smell of it makes me feel vomitous. I do like apple juice, and Appletiser (which is pure apple juice that's been carbonated). 3. Do you have a special type of apple that you prefer over others? Granny Smith 4. Have you ever made baked apples? Yes! ...
Helen Pidd had an article in Sunday's Observer on an exhibition at Bishop Auckland Museum that celebrates the role of women in British coal mining. This put me in mind of my favourite Edwardian Liberal, Charles Masterman, as he was the minister responsible for taking the Coal Mines Act of 1911 through the Commons. Masterman's wife Lucy wrote about this episode in her biography of him: The Coal Mines Act went through with little trouble except for a struggle to keep pit-brow lasses their right to work. Masterman had made enquiries into the question when he had been to Lancashire ...
[IMG: Handy quotes on the EU to remember while marching for a people's vote] 1. Winston Churchill "I look forward to a United States of Europe, in which the barriers between the nations will be greatly minimised and unrestricted travel will be possible." (21st October 1942 2. Margaret Thatcher... The post Handy quotes on the EU to remember while marching for a people's vote appeared first on FeministMama.
Nick Clegg stopped being deputy prime minister almost three-and-a-half years ago. By modern standards he has waited a couple of aeons before taking the corporate shilling. Fairly or unfairly, Nick is unlikely to able to continue a career in British politics and is still too toxic to be of much help to the Liberal Democrats, so he does need to find something to do with his life. And I suspect he was always cut out to be a Eurocrat or corporate insider than a campaigning politician. As James Kirkup once wrote: Politics is about arguments, about persuading people, by fair ...
The Guardian reports: Facebook has hired Sir Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, as its head of global policy and communications. Clegg, 51, will join Facebook as it struggles to cope with mounting political pressure over issues including fake news, data protection and the threat of government regulation. The former head of the Liberal Democrats will move to Silicon Valley in January. While the appointment of Clegg to a top role at a Silicon Valley giant may come as a surprise, rumours had been circulating for weeks that the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was close to appointing a ...
Second paragraph of third story ("The Tunnels to Heaven", by Andy Bodle): All was still but for the occasional passing functionary. The Reminder Screens were projecting the same old slogans. The Facilitator at the desk was reciting her Tenets as if today were a day like any other. A set of short stories about Bernice Summerfield's life before she joined the Doctor. Most of them are OK; the first ("Biology Lesson on Mal Oreille", by Xanna Eve Chown, a Malory Towers spoof)) and last ("Thirty Love", by Eddie Robson, in which she tries to explain tennis) are rather good; the ...
Stories based on personal experience and distrust of economic statistics are central to negative perceptions of immigration in the UK. That's the finding of new research reported on by Heather Rolfe, who leads the Social Policy team at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Although the past five years have seen a big shift towards a more liberal attitude towards immigration in the UK, there is still widespread hostility. It's a hostility that is often resistant to the facts around the net benefits of immigration. One reason for this is that a significant chunk of people hostile to ...
There were 2 by elections to keep us ticking over this week before the 11 by elections on Super Thursday next week. With candidates standing in 2 Labour safe seats it was a challenging week for the local Lib Dems. Hackney LB, Victoria - Labour Hold Lab 1311 [57.6%; -9.7%] LD Pippa Morgan 436 [19.2%; +10.3%] Green 296 [13.0%; -4.0%] Con 148 [6.5%; -0.3%] WEP 84 [3.7%; +3.7%] Our best result of the night came in the safe Labour London Borough of Hackney. Despite Labour holding the seat, Lib Dem candidate Pippa Morgan ran a great campaign resulting in an ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 18-10-2018 I posted The Blood is the Life for 18-10-2018 to my dreamwidth blog miss_s_b | Lib Dem Conference Attendees: a request I posted Lib Dem Conference Attendees: a request to my dreamwidth blog miss_s_b | Report back from FCC 18th October 2018 I posted Report back from FCC 18th October 2018 to my dreamwidth blog If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: [IMG: Paypal Donate Button] [IMG: Buy Me an uncaffeinated beverage (because I'm allergic to coffee) at ko-fi.com] [IMG: ...
The new leader of the Dutch social liberal party D66 channelled Take That in a speech in Westminster about Brexit this week. Rob Jetten, who at 31 is the second youngest political leader in Dutch history, met MPs and peers – and impressed them too. We don't want your money. We don't want your jobs. We don't want payback. We want you back. Zojuist mocht ik spreken ik in de House of Commons over #Brexit. Thank you @vincecable and @Andrew_Adonis! [IMG: 🇪🇺] pic.twitter.com/LB3Q2Ji9fh — Rob Jetten (@RobJetten) October 17, 2018 The speech is worth reading in full because this guy ...
Thu, 12:56: George R. R. Martin, Fantasy's Reigning King https://t.co/Jm5fDstf6h Great NY Times profile. Thu, 14:49: RT @OliverKamm: Anthea Bell OBE, Order of Merit of 🇩🇪, died this morning aged 82. She was a literary giant: among great C20th/C21st transla... Thu, 16:05: Less than Six Months After Revolution, Why We Should Still Be Watching Armenia https://t.co/24hlUz36c3 Or, why has... https://t.co/E3UKLhwuMz Thu, 18:26: Here's My Card, by Bob Popyk https://t.co/DJfjIDZmSR Thu, 20:48: I'll Look at Your Facebook Profile Before I Tell Your Mother You're Dead https://t.co/0PWdwlMliM Strong piece. Fri, 08:36: Brexit's 'doom loop': the 'blood red lines' that drive May's DUP ...
It was a pleasure to be at the Irish Embassy last night to celebrate the launch of the M.A. in Irish Studies offered at the London campus of the Irish Institute of the University of Liverpool in Finsbury Square. As well as looking the work of writers from W.B. Yeats to Seamus Heaney (and my [...]
Lib Dem MPs Christine Jardine and Layla Moran are facing their third weekend without any booze. They are doing Go Sober for October to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. So far, they have raised nearly £650 between them. It's not always been easy. Last week, poor Christine had to serve whisky to guests at Edinburgh West's whisky tasting. Her face says it all. So why not give them a bit of encouragement, all for an excellent cause. You can donate to Christine here and Layla here.
The extremely likely interrogation, torture and murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul is set to have far-reaching consequences. The position of Iran, the civil war in Yemen, the Arab-Israeli conflict, reform in Saudi Arabia, the tenure of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the economic development of Saudi Arabia, US foreign policy and the credibility of President Trump will all be affected. I should add the caveat that as of this broadcast/writing there is no body and the Saudis continue to deny, deny, deny. But so far they have failed to explain why ...
From Sheena Wellington : Wighton Heritage Centre at the Central LibrarySaturday 20th October - 11.00am - noonJanice Clark - singer Janice Clark, one of Scotland's most respected traditional singers, was born and brought up in Aberdeen and from an early age took an interest in the traditional music and song of the North East of Scotland. Her ballad singing style was heavily influenced by some of the great local source singers like Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins and Stanley Robertson. Janice began singing at Folk Clubs and Festivals in her early teens and travelled and recorded with bands such as Iolair, ...
Three council by-elections this week, two Labour defences and a rare Northern Irish council by-election. The rarity of the latter type of contest is due to the electoral system used. As in Scotland, the Single Transferable Vote (STV) is used to elect councillors in Northern Ireland from multimember wards. In Scotland, when a councillor departs, the by-election is then contested using the Alternative Vote (AV) – which, in effect, is STV for a single vacancy. In Northern Ireland, however, things are different, as the excellent Britain Elects council by-election preview explains: Irish and Northern Irish local government, together with the ...
