Naturally, Brexit again dominates the news, but there is at least comment on the increasing problems with HS2... Best deal for UK is what we already have Responding to reports in today's Sunday Times that Theresa May has negotiated a deal with the EU that would see the UK remain in the Customs Union, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said: The deal the PM seems to have secured will leave us rule takers not rule makers. It is time she conceded that the best deal we will get is the one we already have: in the customs union, in ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 533rd 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 (28 October – 3 November, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed from the last couple of weeks. 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 ...
What to make of the Goons? I grew up knowing they had been wonderfully funny, but when I watched The Last Goon Show of All on television as a 12-year-old I was hugely disappointed. Lately, though, I have been listening to the Goons on Radio 4 Extra in the mornings (it sure beats John Humphrys) and found myself warming to them. You sense the studio audience's delight when Bluebottle makes his appearance and I find that things thought avant garde in the Sixties, like dragging the continuity announcer into the proceedings, had been done by the Goons long before. Peter ...
Peter Black on claims that Arron Banks misled parliament. "On Monday, 29th October 2018, the occupiers of Tidemill Garden were evicted by heavy-handed bailiffs and security guards ordered by Lewisham Council." Anita Deptford has the story. "We need a theory that tells us not only what we may do but also what we are obliged to do: when is standing by in the face of injustice simply not morally permissible." Chris Bertram reviews Candice Delmas's A Duty to Resist: When Disobedience Should Be Uncivil. "It's all here anyway: the lack of adult oversight; the suck-up press; the growth-at-any-cost mentality; the ...
Second paragraph of third section (Tony Lee's reminiscences): You see, all my childhood I wanted to be a Time Lord. I wanted to travel in time and space and fight Daleks and the Master and do all that cool stuff I saw the Doctor doing every week. Doctor Who was much better than Star Trek, or Star Wars — an argument that caused much dissension in the playground — but I didn't care. Unfortunately, as I grew up, my formative teenage years had no Doctor. He was on hiatus or, dare I say it — cancelled. But I never gave ...
Responding to today's Telegraph story carrying Transport Secretary Chris Grayling's admission that the second phase (Birmingham to Leeds) of HS2 may never be built, Liberal Democrat Transport spokesperson Baroness Randerson said: "This is another line chalked up on Grayling's CV of failure. "If HS2 turns out to be just a way of making Birmingham a suburb of London because it can be reached in 30 minutes, it will have fundamentally distorted the purpose of the project. "This Conservative Government are dragging prosperity from the north rather than increasing it and the Liberal Democrats demand better."
Wilfred Owen, now the most celebrated of the war poets, died on 4 November 1918, a week before the end of the first world war. Benjamin Britten set eight of Owen's poems, along with words from the Latin Mass for the Dead, to form his masterly War Requiem. It was commissioned for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral and first performed there on 30 May 1962. This clip features Britten's setting of Owen's At a Calvary near the Ancre. The photographs is uses are unusually well chosen. You can find a wonderful recording of Britten rehearsing the many forces ...
Two years ago, I was a bit worried that everyone seemed to assume that Hillary Clinton would win the US Presidency. The lesson from the Brexit vote is that you can't assume anything and that you need to fight for every vote in every seat right up till the last minute. I just wish Hillary's campaign had done that. Never again do I want to feel the sense of horror and grief I felt on both June 24th and November 9th 2016. Trump's election, though, wasn't the scariest thing that happened to me that week. But then my husband having ...
The latest edition of Planet Money takes a look at the fascinating attempt in Seattle to even-up the impact of money on politics. The solution tried? To give everyone an equal sum in 'democracy vouchers' which can be given to political campaigns.
One of the things that we fetishise, possibly too much, when we talk about music is artistic growth. Musicians are supposed to be restless, always looking for the next big thing, never trying to settle for the same thing they've ... Continue reading →
Arron Banks, already facing multiple official investigations into his financing of the pro-Brexit cause in Britain, has lost his appeal against HMRC. As a result, he is going to have to pay up £162,945 in taxes.
Just as what gets said about the House of Commons Speaker these days isn't quite so new, so too comments about the House of Commons overall have a certain continuity about them. Here's what the Quarterly Review wrote in 1830 of our lower House, a few years before it was burnt down: There is something in the very atmosphere of the House unfavourable to bold and uncompromising conduct. It is, de facto, a sort of overgrown club. This is the worst part of the business. Things are every day admitted in private among the members, which are studiously denied or ...
Why isn't Mitch Murray better known? In the Sixties he wrote or co-wrote hits for Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Dave Clark Five, Mannfred Mann, Georgie Fame and Cliff Richard. He also wrote for Tony Christie - including Avenues and Alleyways - and in the Seventies helped the Nottingham band paper Paper Lace to twice top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. I'm Telling You Now was one of his too. Co-written with the band's leader Freddie Garrity, it reached number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the US. (Freddie and the Dreamers were from Manchester, ...
This week, a report by the Fawcett Society highlighted barriers impeding women's progress at every stage of the political proces. Strategies for Success, Women's experiences of selection and election in UK Parliament has details of things that work – most notably initiatives like the Ask her to stand campaign – and depressing experiences of discrimination at every level. The report concludes: Significant challenges to increasing women's representation remain at every stage of the process to becoming an MP. While a common argument is that political progression is based on merit, in practice, getting selected depends on a number of other ...
Last Thursday the Blaydon Lib Dem constituency meeting was held. I was there to give my report as group leader for the year as a whole as this was the AGM. I talked about our "6 to fix" which we used in the local elections but also raised Gateshead Council's late housing strategy Officers were elected for the year ahead and we concluded with a report on preparations for the local elections,
I have just watched the Andrew Marr interview with Arron Banks and was very unimpressed with the whole process. The problem with this format of course is that there is a huge amount of material to cover in a very limited amount of time, nobody has all the paperwork in front of them, and so it is very difficult to challenge any assertion by the interviewee. As a political interview this event was passable, but as a forensic dissection of the fog that surrounds the financing of the Leave campaign it was completely inadequate, (not least because all the parties ...
Saturday: We've been looking at Daddy Richard's campaign to be the Lib Dem candidate in Cheadle, with his speech and literature. But this is the MODERN age of Internets and newfanglery. There are new ways to talk directly to the members and voters. So, because of the low spending limit, we cut our campaign to the cloth allowed, and instead of producing a second colour leaflet, turned it into an email manifesto. Let's be honest, it's a bit too long to be an email. It makes a rather better blog post... which gives me a really good idea! Read on... ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 03-11-2018 I posted The Blood is the Life for 03-11-2018 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: comment count unavailable] comments
Sat, 12:56: Julian Assange: The Real Houseguest of the Ecuadorian Embassy https://t.co/AT17uk3V12 Not very surprising. Sat, 15:39: RT @jasonomahony: Huge point from @nwbrux. David Davis on Marr after the phase one negotiations a case in point. Can't be underestimated th... Sat, 16:05: How Vilification of George Soros Moved From the Fringes to the Mainstream https://t.co/mMxhqancFz A grim story fo the rise of the Right. Sat, 17:34: RT @alexwilcock: OTD 1963: #TheAvengers November Five Mrs Gale stands for Parliament (and doesn't think much of Steed's speechwriting)! The... Sat, 18:16: The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells https://t.co/vfGEPMd5jA Sat, 20:48: The Obsessive Search ...
Vince was up in Edinburgh this week (not, contrary to some reports, flying business class and staying in luxury). After an early start to do budget media stuff, he voted on the budget at 6:30 or so and caught a flight an hour later. He and Christine Jardine got to the Edinburgh West dinner at about 9:45 and both were in sparkling form. In fact, I think that the speech Vince gave was better than his Conference speech. There was none of the schoolboy, carry-on style humour, and just a very simple, effective liberal message. He talked about needing to ...
I recorded my thoughts on why I don't think there will be an election last week when I arrived at Gateshead Civic Centre for a meeting. It could be my famous last words but talk of a snap election is, I feel, misplaced. The Conservatives are ahead in the polls but their fingers were badly burnt last year when May lost her majority in an unnecessary snap election. Their poll leads are modest but
Liberal Democrat members in North Wiltshire have re-selected Brian Mathew as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC).
Sun 4th
09:27
Challenges for liberalism 3: Is liberalism under threat, and how should its values be promoted?
Editor's Note: These posts are based on a speech given by the author at an event organised by York University Liberal Democrats. It's certainly a difficult time for those who share our values. There's a song we sing at Glee Club at conference, and it includes the line, "Peace, reform and liberation be our triune aspiration". I think those are fantastic values – promote a world in which nations and peoples live together in harmony, in which borders are dismantled, have an agenda of constantly reforming society so that we are constantly ahead of the curve in promoting a more ...
I like much of Chris Rea's music and have seen him live a few times over the years, the last time at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall. One of his tunes has stuck in my head forever – Josephine. There are quite a few different arrangements of it which Rea has used over the years, particularly live versions and you can find pretty much all of them on YouTube. This is my favourite:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZpEz3-kj44 And here's the Wikipedia page all about Rea:- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Rea If you scroll down the page you get to the collision between music and politics i.e. the fake news ...
[IMG: Obama finally breaks silence to take on Trump days before the mid-term election] Barack Obama, former US President, has finally decided to break cover and campaign for the Democrats days before the mid-term election. Obama's long held silence, since he left office in January 2017, over the dismantling... The post Obama finally breaks silence to take on Trump days before the mid-term election appeared first on FeministMama.
Responding to reports in today's Sunday Times that Theresa May has negotiated a deal with the EU that would see the UK remain in the Customs Union, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said: "The deal the PM seems to have secured will leave us as rule takers not rule makers."It is time she conceded that the best deal we will get is the one we already have: in the customs union, in the single market and in the EU."The PM must accept the growing calls around the country to put this to a People's Vote and provide an option ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT WEST END WARD - SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2018 Nethergate (at Park Place) - temporary traffic lights on Sunday 4 November for Scottish Water mains repair. Forthcoming Roadworks Bellfield Street (southbound from Blackness Road to Hawkhill) - closed from Monday 26 November for 2 weeks for water connection works.
