Another busy day, but I'm pleased to note that a bit more use is being made of our Spokespeople in the Lords. After all, there are rather more of them than in the Commons, and they're a valuable asset when it comes to holding the Government to account... Cable: Bank of England must conduct honest assessment of Brexit deal Cable: Govt must block Interpol election of Alexander Prokopchuk Tories to blame for missed NHS targets Cable: Our priority is building the momentum for a People's Vote Vulnerable people put in homes not fit for human habitation The licence fee is ...
Oliver Twist was the original Well-Behaved Orphan. Thanks to Liberator's Kiron Reid for sending me a link to Ashley Byrne's interview with Mark Lester. As the blurb there says: It's been 50 years since the film musical masterpiece Oliver! brought the murderous melodrama of Charles Dickens' famous novel to life. Winner of five Academy Awards, nominated for 11, this mammoth production about the world's most famous fictitious orphan remains a must-see. Ashley Byrne went to meet Mark Lester, the boy who played Oliver - despite the fact that he couldn't sing or dance.
Lord Bonkers puts his mind to the Liberal Democrats' financial woes and produces a novel solution. Thursday Have you come across these new mobile telephones? They are Terribly Clever - you do not have to wait for someone to bring you the apparatus before you can have a conversation. This morning I receive a tearful call from Great George Street: it transpires that redundancies are in the air because the party's finances are looking a distinctly unhealthy shade of green. I promise my caller and her friends that I will ensure they are given beds at the Home for Distressed ...
Second stanza of third poem ("Swineherd", by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin):I intend to learn how to make coffee, at least as well As the Portuguese lay-sister in the kitchen And polish the brass fenders every day. I want to lie awake at night Listening to cream crawling to the top of the jug And the water lying soft in the cistern.Second paragraph of Padel's commentary on this poem:In [poem] No. 2, Derek Mahon approaches the Troubles through the parallel of Dutch art; many Irish poets also approach them via Homer. The Trojan War and its aftermath offer a more familiar parallel ...
Alastair Campbell gave this year's Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture in Fort William in August. He has now posted the text of that lecture on his website: It was funny to watch the vox pops in Fort William after his death. Virtually everyone said "oh yes, I always voted for Charles." Amazing he lost really! But he would have seen the funny side of that too. There was pain in his defeat, but no bitterness. I never once heard him express bitterness about his ousting as Lib Dem leader either. He knew his colleagues had a point. They knew - and ...
Talking Pictures TV showed this on Saturday evening and are showing it again tomorrow at 9pm. It is a film I have long wanted to see, as it features Melvyn Hayes in an early serious role and the whole story is told to the young David Hemmings as an Awful Warning. As you may gather from this trailer, it turned out to be desperately overwrought. Only Sylvia Syms emerges with much credit. Melvyn Hayes gives his all, but looks awfully like a murderous Charles Hawtrey. At his most emotional there are distinct echoes of his Gunner 'Gloria' Beaumont from It ...
Marielle Franco was an inspiring activist from Rio, Brazil. She campaigned for LGBTI, black and women's rights in her country, and for this was shot dead aged only 38.
Great to see Lib Dem MP Layla Moran taking action over the Prime Minister's offensive remarks about EU citizens: Today I'm submitting a Parliamentary motion calling on the Prime Minister to apologise for her offensive remarks yesterday saying that EU citizens in the UK had "jumped the queue". Her words have caused great offence to EU citizens here. They deserve better & I demand better. Today I'm submitting a Parliamentary motion calling on the Prime Minister to apologise for her offensive remarks yesterday saying that EU citizens in the UK had "jumped the queue". Her words have caused great offence ...
November 20th every year is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, where we stop to remember those transgender people who have lost their lives over the past 12 months because of who they are. The party Twitter account marked the occasion and highlighted Sal Brinton's recent blog post. On #TransDayofRemembrance we remember all those who have been killed as a result of transphobia, ignorance and prejudice. We must continue to strive for a society of greater understanding and compassion.https://t.co/R8GvZdJtzE — Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) November 20, 2018 A list with just one name on it would be too much. But when you ...
Our latest email newsletter for Lib Dem members in Gateshead was published recently. Issues covered included the action day in Pelaw and Heworth, the recent regional conference in Darlington and the Gateshead AGM. You can view the newsletter on this link.
Our latest eFocus for the Whickham area, no. 109, has just been published. Issues covered include: D-Day decision on greenbelt executive house-building plans Lest we forget - residents turn out in force for Remembrance Day parade and services Post office provision in Whickham under threat Arson at Marley Hill bowling club Christmas market at the Whinnies. You can view eFocus on this link.
In 1998, about 300 Guardian articles mentioned populism. In 2016, 2,000 did. What happened? • Revealed: how populists tripled their vote over 20 years Populism is sexy. Particularly since 2016 - the year of the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump - it seems as if journalists just cannot get enough of it. In 1998, the Guardian published about 300 articles that included the terms "populism" or "populist". In 2015, these terms were used in about 1,000 articles, and one year later this number had doubled to almost 2,000. The increasing popularity of the term is no coincidence. ...
I have been reading posts and responses on LDV and LibDem-linked sites for some years. Although LDV posts sometimes don't follow entirely the same practice as many others, the comments often do. With that in mind and to avoid falling into the category of Grumpy Old Man, I write to offer ten suggestions about how to enter into the true spirit of internet debating: It's important to get right the overall tone. Try for a core approach of righteous indignation. There's no need to be overtly patronising; most people will get the message anyway. You should cultivate an air of ...
Responding to Theresa May's speech to the CBI conference yesterday, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said:"Theresa May is desperately trying to win over the Brexit hardliners on the Tory benches by promising tough new immigration controls. But she still refuses to publish any details of her plans, more than a year after the white paper was originally due."The PM is trying to hide the truth: that her plans would either fail to end free movement as she claims, or place a huge new bureaucratic burden on employers while damaging our economy and undermining public services. Either way, that's ...
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable has today urged the Bank of England to conduct "an honest assessment of the Brexit deal and the options" and produce economic analysis of what remaining in the EU will mean for the UK economy. The calls follow the appearance of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney before the Commons Treasury committee this morning where he said that the Bank of England was "not intending to look at providing additional analysis on the third scenario which is no Brexit at all." However, just last night the House of Commons forced the Government to ...
"More than fifty shades of diplomacy." So says Britain's Ambassador talking about the nuances of international relations in a BBC documentary about the Foreign Office, the first part of which was shown last week. It opens just after the 2017 election, with Boris addressing the assembled ranks in the Foreign Office. Typically, he talks about the fate of the Conservative Party in front of impartial civil servants. He talked about wanting to go to Tehran – and we all know how his dealings with the Iranians ended up for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The Permanent Secretary, Sir Simon MacDonald, talked about the ...
Mon, 12:56: Jo Johnson: the inside story of Brexit and where it all went wrong https://t.co/eRBQe2U3ar This is paywalled, but i... https://t.co/YeBncSF1J6 Mon, 14:35: I still think No Deal, or a general election, more likely than fresh referendum; but deal passing (if not on first... https://t.co/wTHgMdf3M2 Mon, 16:05: Why California's Wildfires Are So Destructive, In 5 Charts https://t.co/d8JHaj1LpN Grim reading from @FiveThirtyEight. Mon, 17:21: At @epc_eu meeting on Kosovo. I asked if Serbia has implemented 2011 obligations on cadastral records. @Ardiangjini... https://t.co/Z0DuaKi2sW Mon, 18:39: RT @KeohaneDan: @nwbrux That is my hunch too, not that I'd place money on it, I ...
How new media recycles the mainstream press This is very interesting; it concentrates primarily on The Canary, but there's a good wider point in there about all media. 1910 film of Frankenstein rediscovered this is very cool 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
Tue 20th
10:26
For the first time since June 2016, I feel like Brexit not happening is more likely than it happenin...
Some housekeeping first: looks like the 48 letter challenge to May's premiership has stalled, rather embarrassingly for the main cheerleaders involved. Meanwhile, Spain is threatening to bring down the whole deal from the EU side over provisions covering Gibraltar – remember, the deal still has to be ratified by the EU27. There are still a lot of twists and turns in the tail. The way I see it, we've come down to two choices: May gets her deal through parliament and we thus get a very soft Brexit (or indeed, stay in transition for possibly decades) or we will have ...
Vince did an interview last week that I expect he enjoyed more than most. The interviewer wasn't Eddie Mair, or Andrew Neil, but his grandson Ayrton. As an ambassador for the I Will campaign , which aims to engage young people in social action, he took the chance to interview his Grandad. Vince has always been pretty robust about how the older generation has shafted young people. He talked about how important it is for young people to get involved, engaged and to get out and vote. Watch the video here: My grandson and @iwill_campaign Ambassador Ayrton Cable interviews me ...
If any of the money promised for Northern Ireland as part of the deal with the DUP has not been paid over yet, then the Treasury needs to seriously consider cancelling the payment altogether. Voting in the House of Commons last night clearly showed that the DUP have walked away from this agreement and are actively engaged in undermining Theresa May and her government. Having brought down the government in Stormont due to their intransigence Arlene Foster's party are now trying to do the same to the UK. Those of us who have studied history will remember the extreme measures ...
Byant House, at the junction of Shop Lane and Liverpool Road North, used to be leased to Sefton Council who had an outpost of its Social Services Dept. in there and some other municipal functions. However, the Council moved out some years ago. Since then it's really not had any occupancy at all although it has been touted for use as a children's nursery and even a Wetherspoons Pub. The latter caused a real stir in the nearby community back in 2011 but of course, it never came to fruition. The photo above was taken a few days ago and ...
Dear Mr Lloyd I, along with many other of your fellow Liberal Democrats, have noted with considerable alarm, your intention to vote with the government on the issue of Brexit. Not only is this totally at variance with the party and the manifesto on which you fought the last General Election, but it flies in the face of your duty as an MP to vote in the best interests of your constituency and the country. It is worth remembering the letter written by Edmund Burke MP to his constituents in which he examines the whole question of what an MP's ...
The political discourse over most of my lifetime has been "who are these lying liars who are lying to me". It is incredibly rare to get an interview that tells you who a politician and why they believe what they believe. No wonder we get the "you are all the same" on the doorstep. The fact is that on all sides of the political spectrum and, indeed the Brexit debate, there are genuinely honest and caring people trying to do their best for their constituents and the country- often at considerable personal cost. That a small group of fanatics have ...
Article Two of the UN Convention on Genocide, in December 1948, defined genocide as "any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group [...] The post The genocide that dare not speak its name appeared first on Radix.
Saturday 24th November sees the start of the West End Christmas Fortnight, which will be launched with a children's crafts event followed by fortnight of many activities across the West End. A highlight of the fortnight will be the Christmas Lights Switch On for the West End and a spectacular fireworks extravaganza, taking place on Wednesday 28th November. This year's West End Christmas Concert takes place that evening at Dundee West Church at 6.15pm. There will be musical contributions from all local primary and secondary schools. The concert will be hosted by Gordon Sharp. We are delighted that "The Notables" ...
