It's Halloween, and the Press teams on either side of Offa's Dyke are still working away... Don't Let Down Welsh Farmers - Welsh Lib Dems Following the closure of the Welsh Government's Brexit and Our Land consultation, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have urged the Welsh Government to carefully listen to the views of farmers and ensure farmers are not let down as they begin to consider their response. The Welsh Government's proposed model for supporting farmers and land managers after Brexit involves removing any aspect of direct support and instead focusing on promoting economic resilience and public goods. The Welsh ...
Another advertisement from my 1967 guide to Rye. The Oxney Ferry Inn is still flourishing, though it seems to have dropped the 'Oxney' from its name. Malcolm Saville fans may recognise it as the Smuggler's Rest of Treasure at Amorys: Just over a mile to the north of Amorys, and standing well back from the road was an old inn called the Smuggler's Rest. It was a low-pitched, straggling building with white-washed walls and with several shabby sheds and outbuildings at the rear. It is probable that this isolated building was once a toll-house with a toll-gate across the road, ...
The Budget was supposed to mark the end of the age of "austerity." Theresa May had promised its end in her conference speech. She also promised that there would be a large increase in NHS spending, delivering her mythical Brexit dividend. Two tall orders for the Chancellor to deliver. Advertisements
No Hallowe'en could ever be complete without an Alex Cole-Hamilton pumpkin. The only #pumpkin I managed to carve to 'hall of fame standard' this year. #HappyHalloween from Vladimir Pumptin: #pumpkincarving #Halloween pic.twitter.com/B9GhYWZcOO — Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP (@agcolehamilton) October 31, 2018 Former Scottish Party Manager Linda Wilson came up with Death Star Pumpkin The one outside my house, made by my husband, is a bit more traditional: And from Jenni Lang in Edinburgh, we give you Hermione Grainger: Send us photos of your Lib Dem pumpkins to voice@libdemvoice.org and we'll update this post. Happy Hallowe'en! * Caron Lindsay is Editor of ...
Two weeks ago, penalty charge notice was stuck on the windscreen of a bus in Mill Street. This was parked in an authorised bus stand. The Arriva bus driver was taking a break before resuming the journey to and from Knighton. Shropshire Council has now agreed a deal to stop this happening again. I copy this below. What puzzles me is that Shropshire Council decided to slap a ticket on a bus rather that sort out a solution with the bus service parking in the first place. We need to move away from an "enforcement first and solutions later policy." ...
Non-fiction: 3 (YTD 45) Here's My Card, by Bob Popyk Seychelles: The Saga of a Small Nation Navigating the Cross-Currents of a Big World, by Sir James R. Mancham Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who, ed. Steve Berry Fiction (non-sf): 2 (YTD 26) Sodom and Gomorrah, by Marcel Proust Gentleman's Agreement, by Laura Z. Hobson sf (non-Who): 6 (YTD 103) Ringworld, by Larry Niven The Sound of his Horn, by Sarban Larque on the Wing, by Nancy Springer The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson Earth Girl, by Janet Edwards Doctor Who, etc: ...
As a nation we are famous for a good number of things, fish and chips on a Friday, being a nation of dog lovers and a legal system that is the envy of civilised nations worldwide. So, the question is, when we talk about government cuts hurting poorest, why is justice never mentioned? In the budget on Monday, there were new "efficiency savings" announced for government departments, including a further 300 million cut to the Ministry of Justice but people don't seem to care that Conservative maladministration has brought an industry to its knees. We can all find ourselves at ...
(This is the final part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) After several posts and a lot of words, we've come to the end of my odyssey through An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism, and I hope it's been of some interest. It's been an interesting exercise for me, as it's a good framework for examining liberalism, and the way Russell frames his vision of it allowed me to take a step back from current discussions and conceptions of liberalism ...
(This is part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) Out of all the posts I've done on this book, this one is going to have the least of Russell and the most of me in it because while Russell does embrace the idea of green liberalism, he was writing at a time when awareness of environmental issues was a lot lower than it was today, and it was less of a political priority too. I have also been reading Andrew ...
Almost a quarter of insolvencies (23%) are caused by late payment issues. That's a staggering figure that equates to tens of thousands of businesses collapsing every year. Many other small companies just about manage to absorb late payment, but the loss of income can stop them from investing and growing, it can also damage productivity and generally has a very negative impact. This negative impact isn't just on the small business, its owners and employees but obviously has a knock-on effect on the wider economy too. In response to this growing problem, the well intentioned and entirely voluntary Prompt Payment ...
(This is part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) "It is only if people's answers are their own that they will hold them with enough conviction to have any reasonable chance of acting on them." Given how central issues of individual liberty are to modern liberalism, it can seem curious that Russell only introduces it as a key component quite late in the book. As I've noted before, though, Russell's primary focus on liberalism as an ideology is historical, and ...
(This is part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) When it comes to internationalism, Russell's historical account of the development of liberal thought shows how the application of consistent principles to international affairs over the years have resulted in very different outcomes of liberal policy as the international situation has shifted. It's interesting — and not at all coincidental — to note that liberalism began to form as a coherent ideology in the middle of the seventeenth century, just as the modern world system ...
(This is part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) As I mentioned in my original post on this, the one thing I found most refreshing about Russell's of examination of liberalism was that it put power at the centre of his vision and not economics. A liberalism that's focused on how to liberate people from unjust power is one that looks upon economics and economic policy as a means to achieve those liberal aims, not one that sees a certain ...
(This is part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) To start, a disclaimer. I'm a heterosexual white cis middle class man living in an advanced industrial economy, and as such I'm the beneficiary of more unearned privilege than perhaps 99% of the people who have ever lived, so it's entirely possible that this post will include lots of inadvertent errors and omissions. There are things that, because of my position and experience, I do not and probably cannot understand, so ...
(This is part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) Russell uses his chapter on pluralism to discuss two issues for liberalism: the dispersal of power, and the celebration of diversity. While I understand how his historical view of the development of liberalism does link the two, tracing it from the challenge to the power of the Church and liberal support for Nonconformism, I'm going to give both issues separate posts to avoid confusion by conflating them too. As a liberal ...
(This is part of a series of posts about Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. You can find an introduction and links to all the posts here.) "Liberalism is and remains largely about power." It feels rather apt to be writing this post on a day when the Government — with the consent of the Opposition — has announced it will be rushing through new laws to get around the fact that what it was doing before was ruled to be illegal. However, I want to write about this issue in more general terms rather than focus on the Data Retention and ...
Back in 2014, I read Conrad Russell's "An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism" (not for the first time) and wrote a series of posts about it and the themes within it for my blog. As the blog now seems to have joined the book in the 'very hard to find and read without a lot of effort' category, I thought I'd repost those original blog entries here so others could see them, as I think they're useful as part of a discussion about what liberalism means in the here and now. This is the original post I wrote on the ...
Radio Bristol did a live broadcast from Abbotswood this morning about the by-election for the South Glos by-election for the Dodington seat (Shire Way and Abbotswood areas). The Tory candidate was invited but didn't turn up - the interviewer speculated that possibly the Conservative didn't want to answer searching questions. Liberal Democrat Focus Team candidate Louise Harris came over very well. The Labour candidate took part too. There was a good discussion about what opposition councillors can achieve, and Louise made some very good points. You can hear these two candidates on BBC Radio Bristol's website - the interview was ...
Wed 31st
11:55
Challenges for liberalism 1: How should liberalism respond to inequality and inequity in the UK?
It seems to me that inequity is a huge problem right now. We have some of the richest and poorest parts of the EU within the country, and an increasingly polarised society. That polarisation is not only writing off millions of people, but it's also creating the conditions in which authoritarianism, intolerance and violence thrive. We need some big ideas because what is clear is that we cannot keep going on the way we have been doing. We sold the country's family silver and lived on unsustainable debt in the 80s creating a boom that ultimately had nothing propping it ...
Tue, 12:56: RT @JamesCrisp6: You can see the minutes of thought that went into this terrible design. https://t.co/eLGIFYtD8y Tue, 16:05: Really interesting thread, esp how Czechs are outliers on a number of issues compared with their neighbours. https://t.co/bZTWYNTJGv Tue, 18:52: Larque on the Wing, by Nancy Springer; and The Matter of Seggri, by Ursula Le Guin https://t.co/syyrbOTxtR Tue, 20:48: The Get-Rich-Quick Scheme That Almost Killed a German Soccer Team https://t.co/5CZ5gBInGn Fascinating. Fake terrori... https://t.co/2b2nGOg5D4 Wed, 09:40: The hard right is going for Europe's jugular @CNNI https://t.co/W34mDpzqfO I am quoted in this article by Paul Hockenos. Wed, 10:45: London Library finds ...
On Monday night, Christine Jardine gave the Lib Dem response to the Budget in the House of Commons. Traditionally the leader does it, but it makes sense to have Vince going round the broadcast media rather than sitting in the chamber for hours on end waiting to be called. Christine talked about the pain caused by Universal Credit, and mentioned the unfairness suffered by the WASPI women. You can watch her whole speech here and read it below: Now we have heard it from the Chancellor and the Prime Minister: austerity is over. It is a nice thought, but it ...
This posting follows my reading a very interesting piece by Joanie Willett titled 'Parish Councils are a vital space for participatory democracy - but they are in crisis' on LSE web site – here's a link to the article:- Having continuously been a Parish Councillor since September 1985, firstly on Maghull Town Council (until 2015) and then on Lydiate Parish Council (to date) plus having been a Sefton Borough Councillor with Parish Councils in my wards this is a subject close to my heart. As well as being a member of 2 Parish Councils I've had varying degrees of ...
"Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past."TS Eliot Eliot is, I think, one of the greatest of poets, and as my own eye is distracted by ever more intractable problems in our political process, I have often taken comfort in the more nuanced and universal eye of a truly great poet. This blog eschews detailed futurology, the present is difficult enough, and the future in detail cannot be accurately predicted. Yet there are ways we can think about the future. We can identify trends, we can make general ...
On Monday I paid a visit to Marley Hill bowling green. I have been helping the club with publicity and advice on a community asset transfer. The reason I was visiting however was an arson attack on the club house last week. Someone broke in and set fire to the rubber mats used by the bowlers. The result is that everything inside has been destroyed by smoke damage. Fortunately the building is
With the selection of the party's London Mayoral candidate imminent, the team at Liberal Reform want to ensure party members are able to make an informed choice. So, we invited each of the candidates to discuss their experience, campaigning priorities, and policies. Liberal Reform is not backing any one candidate and the purpose of the interviews is to allow people to compare the responses they give to a set of questions on liberal issues affecting the people of London. The topic is obviously focussed on London but as the UK's capital city the issues have a wider significance as many ...
This must surely be from the soundtrack of a lost British folk horror classic. Read more about it on this blog.
Just how incompetent is Labour as an official opposition? Given their performance in propping up the Tories in pursuing our exit from the European Union, the question hardly seems answering. Like the Tories they are divided, ineffective and not listening to changing public opinion. They are letting the government get away with its own failings through poor and misdirected scrutiny, whilst Corbyn's performances at Prime Minister's Question Time remain tame and unfocussed. But they always have their opposition to austerity and their commitment to fair economic policies to fall back on. Or do they? This week's budget has been a ...
Too often, Europeans are unable to express themselves clearly on the strategic issues that are of primary concern. Towards China, the European powers have, for example, never denounced loudly the technological looting of which they were victims. It took a very clear speech by Donald Trump at the Davos Economic Forum in January 2018, followed [...] The post How to move beyond Europe's strategic impotence appeared first on Radix.
A huge thank you to the many local residents who took part in the online and postal survey on public transport in the Prestwich area. With congestion and air pollution two major issues affecting our area, having a good public transport system is vital. Many local people rely on our Metrolink and bus network to travel to work, study and to get about our daily lives. Metrolink We were keen to understand your views on what stops people from using the Metrolink more, and some of the current issues that face the system: What reasons stop you from using the ...
The next West End community police surgery takes place tomorrow at the Harris Academy community facility - details below and all residents welcome :
A concert will be held in Heaton Park on Saturday 15 June 2019. This is the Courteeners, with support acts including James, DMA's and Pale Waves. The 50,000 capacity event is one week after Parklife (8-9 June 2019). Whilst the events are brought in by a separate promoter, the concert is to be managed on site by the existing Parklife team multi-agency planning process. The events will use the main stage area infrastructure already in place for Parklife. Local councillors will be meeting with Heaton Park in the run up to Parklife and this additional concert and making sure that ...
A few less roadworks this month – for the full list see the GM Roadworks site here The major roadworks in November are: – Road closures up Rectory Avenue until 6 November (United Utilities) – Bury New Road outside Marks and Spencer lane closure on 5 November 2018 (Bury Council). – Simister Green resurfacing continues to 5 November (Bury Council). – continuing roadworks on the Motorway roundabout (to 17 November 2018) – Cadent works on Bury Old Road continue until March 2019 – not in Prestwich, but the roadworks on the A56 in Salford at the big junction near Northumberland ...
Heaton Park will be hosing the large Bonfire Night displays on Monday 5 November 2018. The bonfire will be lit at 7.30pm followed by fireworks. Heaton Park say: "Stay safe, bag searches will be in place. We advise you to leave your bags at home in order to minimise delays and to arrive early, to avoid disappointment. Please do not bring your own fireworks or alcohol as these will be confiscated. Wear appropriate clothing and bring a torch. Drones are not permitted on site or be aerial during the event, so please leave them at home." Parking on site is ...
