While Layla was putting in a storming performance on Question Time, her Oxfordshire colleagues were finishing off polling day in Wheatley ward. We were seeking to defend the seat we won by a whisker last year. Could Tim Bearder hold on? Well, yes. By quite a lot. Wheatley (Oxfordshire) result: LDEM: 61.0% (+15.8) CON: 31.2% (-11.8) LAB: 7.9% (-4.0) Liberal Democrat HOLD. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 29, 2018 There are three more results to come... * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Later than usual this evening, as I've spent the evening at a Proclaimers concert, courtesy of my lovely wife... it wasn't 500 miles away... PM leaving us in the dark on immigration Cable: May "running scared" of real opposition Lib Dems warn BBC that 'Brexit debate' may breach Ofcom code Government has let down victims over second Leveson Inquiry PM leaving us in the dark on immigration Theresa May has today refused to confirm when the immigration white paper will be published. She was asked by Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb after Ministers originally promised to publish the white paper ...
This is how Grandstand was introduced in the mid 1960s. Those four cameras showing different sports and the wonderful music are among my earliest television memories. In those days the programme showed motor sports like scrambling, speedway and hillclimbing that I have not seen for decades. And whatever happened to show jumping? It was huge. Come to that, who was Sam Leitch? The opening item was always billed as "Sam Leitch's Football Preview". Sometimes I turn on the TV on a Saturday afternoon still expecting Grandstand to be there. All I find is a repeat of Celebrity Bargain Hunt.
Under Jeremy Corbyn, as I wrote at the start of the month, Labour has quite moderate policies but does its very best so sound like far-left party. Under Tony Blair, by contrast Labour had progressive social policies but did its best to sound right wing. I am reminded of this contrast by an article in Prospect by Steve Bloomfield, who writes about the Blair government's rhetoric on immigration: Under Tony Blair, New Labour passed five migration-related bills between 1997 and 2007. Each one was about making it harder for refugees and immigrants to live here. Each one was accompanied by ...
You really couldn't make up the state of British politics at the moment. The monstrous shambles that is Brexit is bad enough. A governing party riven by toxic split. An opposition that should be 20 points ahead in the polls but is excelling itself only in being more useless than the Government. In recent days there has been talk of a tv debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn but even that can't be sorted out. At the time of writing, Theresa May's going to be on the BBC while Corbyn is cosying up to ITV, saying he wants it ...
By now you will have discovered Talking Pictures TV, the Freeview channel devoted to old (mainly British) films and television. But to get the most from it there are three websites and a book you need. The first website, inevitably, is IMDB. With its help you can spot young actors in their earliest roles and occasionally old actors making a final appearance. The second website is Reelstreets which posts then and now photographs of the locations of British films. If you have a difficult location question then you need BritMovie.co.uk, On the boards there are people who, particularly for London ...
Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb has explained why he will be voting against the Brexit deal on his Facebook page. He abstained on the vote to trigger Article 50 after promising his heavily Leave voting constituency that he would not block it. He can't vote for the withdrawal agreement, though, because it means further uncertainty. I was determined to take time to consider Theresa May's Brexit deal, rather than rushing to a judgement. We all have a responsibility to make the best judgement in the national interest. Frustratingly, I do not think this deal resolves anything. We face years of ...
Question Time will actually be worth watching tonight as our Layla Moran makes her debut on the show. She will be on the panel in Penzance with Conservative MP Nadim Zahawi, Labour's Rebecca Long Bailey, Professor Benjamin Zephaniah and Tim Martin, the founder of Wetherspoons, a chain few self-respecting remainers will be seen in these days. We know Layla is brilliant at these things because she has always rocked on Any Questions with openness, honesty and strong arguments. Lib Dems have been rarer than hen's teeth on these big programmes – absent from Marr these last couple of weeks as ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: "I'm sorry," Masooma whispers. I wasn't totally convinced by the two previous novels I've read by Hosseini, but I really enjoyed this one: a narrative from multiple points of view, following the lives of three Afghan siblings from 1952 to 2010, from childhood to old age, across continents and cultures. The youngest brother stays in Afghanistan; the middle sister is adopted by a Franco-Afghan poet and grows up and lives her life in Paris; and the story ends with the oldest in California, which by odd coincidence is where I was travelling to when I ...
Over on theGuardian's "Comment is free" website, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez very powerfully berates David Cameron for his arrogance in calling the EU referendum. Then she lays into Theresa May for her "citizens of nowhere" and "queue jumpers" remarks. The article is worth reading in full here. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
On Tuesday, the Christmas lights in Whickham were switched on. The funds were raised by Lighting Up Whickham and they organised the event which started at Rose Villa Nursery and then along to St Mary's Green. The photos I took are on the above link.
Recently, British regulators and lawmakers have started to acknowledge the health benefits of certain, previously banned, substances. Cannabidiol (one of the chemical constituents of cannabis but with virtually all of the stuff that gets you high – THC – removed) has been legal since 2017. As of the first of this month, doctors have been able to prescribe cannabis-based products for medical use. These are moves in the right direction. Cannabidiol has been shown to have anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory and anti-pain benefits. As the evidence currently stands, it seems to have less harmful side effects than many of the medicines already ...
On Thursday last week, I attended the turf-cutting ceremony at Whickham School where work is now beginning on replacing the old buildings. I was a pupil at the school some years (decades) ago. It's a small world however - one of the 6th formers told me that his grandfather was a Whickham policeman in the 1970s and remembers dealing with a road accident in which I was seriously injured and ended
On Wednesday last week, the final battle to stop Labour's plans for 582 executive homes on former greenbelt land at Dunston Hill took place when the planning application for the development came before Gateshead Council's planning committee. Labour have battled hard to have the houses built though at election time they try to claim they were against them (and therefore against the own plans
On Saturday 17th November, Gateshead Lib Dems had another action day, this time in Pelaw and Heworth ward, where Labour are defending a majority of about 100 over us. Lots of activities took place including a street stall, litter pick, survey and Focus delivery. We were spotted by a Labour councillor!
Poirot without a moustache? This is not what I call festive cheer So I'm willing to give this a chance, but it does sound like it's going to be just as edgelordy and needlessly "provocative" as Witless for the Prosecution was. Let's hope they have at least ditched the "through the bottom of a Gordon's bottle" green filter that they filmed everything through on Witless. The weird history of Henry the seventh's marital bed. Norman Rockwell Classics Reimagined To Show Today's Diversity Some of these are fantastic. Lib Dem Voice's Christmas Writing Competition Well, this should produce some interesting fulminations. ...
Wed, 12:56: The�International Space Station is full of floppy disks https://t.co/UTVOYe3rr6 Glorious. Wed, 14:51: RT @TheHugoAwards: Join Worldcon by December 31, 2018 to be Eligible to Nominate for 2019 Hugo�Awards https://t.co/nTS4v1EODk Wed, 16:05: RT @apcoworldwide: How should companies respond to #cyber attacks? Our @jaysolomon and Aftan Snyder share expert insights and opinions from... Wed, 17:11: What Happened to Venezuela Isn't So Simple https://t.co/CS7aXovIup ...and has worrying parallels with Trump's USA. Wed, 20:48: Why is Orban embracing a criminal from Western Balkans? https://t.co/h1ZrfHZ0RN Good question. Thu, 10:45: RT @juliangough: This excellent and succinct tweet saves you from having to read a ...
My photo of the entrance to the Sri Lankan President's House in Colombo last week I'm just back from a glorious holiday in Sri Lanka. Going around this beautiful island, one could have been forgiven for not realising that there was a national constitutional crisis going on. Every where was peaceful and there was no sign of even the odd protest placard, even in the capital of Colombo. The Sri Lankan people are extremely friendly and peaceful. I did notice some particularly passionate TV debates, as I flicked around the channels to find the cricket, and the papers were full ...
Well according to their Chairperson, Liam Robinson, they are. I reported on OPSTA's (Ormskirk, Preston & Southport Travellers assn) public meeting a few days ago which was actually held in the community room of Southport Fire Station of all places. That posting was about the utterly appalling train service, or indeed the complete lack of a train service last week, on the Ormskirk Preston Line and here's a link back to that posting:- Now don't get me wrong I'm not blaming Liam Robinson in any way for Northern's terrible performance but he listened to stories of Northern's Failures at ...
When the M4 extension around Newport was first mooted we were assured that it could be delivered for less than £1 billion. Alas the inevitable has happened and according to this report on the BBC, not only is the cost now likely to spiral upwards to £1.7 billion, but there may well be a judicial review as well, which will add to the cost and delays. Of course the real cost of this misguided scheme is its impact on the environment. It is planned to infringe on five SSSIs and will compromise the mitigation measures that were put in place ...
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey has been speaking out about how Theresa May's Brexit deal would end police access to vital EU-wide crime databases. The Brexit withdrawal agreement states that the UK will lose access to both the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) and the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) at the end of the transition period. The Government's 'Assessment of the security partnership' is available here. The Government's 'Assessment of the security partnership', published today, admits that no agreement has been reached to enable UK police to continue to use the databases after that ...
Yesterday, we reported on an argument over the publication of the full legal advice as given to the Government on the Brexit deal. However, it might be helpful to get a better sense of exactly what is being argued and why, so here's Tom Brake's letter to Speaker Bercow... Dear Mr Speaker, I am writing to you regarding the Government's refusal to publish the full legal advice on the Brexit deal. You will be aware that the House passed the following humble address: 'That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, that she will be graciously pleased to give ...
Thu 29th
04:10
The housing scandal Shropshire Council is hiding - it gives most the money it gets for struggling pe...
Shropshire Council received more than half a million pounds in funding from the ministry of housing last year. The funding was for Discretionary Housing Payments, which help those struggling to meet housing costs, including advance rent and removal bills and people that need a top up to ensure benefits cover the rent charged. What did the council do with its £531,974 grant? It sent more than half of the money back to Whitehall. I'll pass that by you again. Shropshire Council thinks that there is so little need for short term housing support in our county it thinks it has ...
