There haven't been that many days of such high drama in Parliament to compare to the next few. How badly will Theresa May lose in the Commons? Will it be enough to force a change of policy? Can the Conservative Party cling together? We'll see soon enough but, in the meantime, here are the weekend's press releases... Grayling has lost the plot Short-term sentences of 12 months or less must be scrapped now Corbyn has failed the test of leadership Cable: No-deal is a choice and the Govt can stop it Grayling has lost the plot Responding to claims from ...
The potted candidate biographies which appear in election leaflets these days are so dull compared to a gem from 1945, which I found in The British General Election of 1945. The rest of the world may know the 1945 election as the one in which Labour won a landslide, ousting Winston Churchill. But to me it is also the one with the tiger, the earthquake and the pythons: His most thrilling weekend was when he shot and killed a tiger which had for months killed the coolies' cattle; a few hours later he was in an earthquake which damaged his ...
Norman Baker was my favourite Liberal Democrat MP of the party's glory years. He was a powerful campaigner, friendly and with enough quirkiness to be a true Liberal. And he had a talent for getting up the noses of all the right people. Looking back on the death of David Kelly in 2003, it does remarkable that no inquest was held into his death. Instead, it was bundled up with Lord Hutton's inquiry into "the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly". Those circumstances where expanded to include the intelligence reports the Blair government used to justify war in Iraq ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 539th 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 (6-12 January, 2019), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. 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 down: 1. A muted start to 2019's council by-elections ...
HS2 Ltd's chief executive Mark Thurston has told a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group that train speeds and frequency on the new line could be changed to reduce costs, says the Evening Standard. Its report says the options discussed included lowering train speeds by around 50kmph (30mph), reducing train numbers from 18 to 14 per hour and changing from slab to ballast track. A low-speed high-speed train would be a perfect symbol of the dynamic new Brexit Britain. More and more, politics today reminds me of the early 1970s, when prestige projects were promoted and then abandoned. There ...
Sun 13th
16:55
The EnAble Fund for Elected Office: help for candidates with a disability or health condition
I've previously covered the work by Stephen Lloyd MP and others to restore the grants to help people with disabilities and health conditions stand for public office. Since that success, the fund has been relaunched. Here is more information about it from the Liberal Democrats at the Local Government Association, including how you can apply to the fund: EnAble Fund - access costs for disabled candidates standing for elected office The EnAble Fund for Elected Office is intended to cover the additional financial costs associated with a disability or health condition that would otherwise prevent someone from seeking elected office. ...
I am realising that my Big Finish listening dropped off in 2014 in the wake of the first Worldcon that I was heavily involved with. Now that I am on my third, I'm hoping to catch up by dint of managing my time a bit better and also using the iPhone app more efficiently. These three audios feature Tom Baker and Louise Jameson as the Fourth Doctor and Leela, following on from Last of the Colophon.. I'm noting them quickly here so as to move on to better stuff - none of them quite hit the mark for me. Destroy ...
Sir Ed Davey, in his speech against Theresa May's Brexit deal, looked at it through Paddy's eyes. He also spoke about his experience of European co-operation when he was Climate Change Secretary when Putin was overstepping the mark in the Ukraine. My friend, Lord Ashdown—Paddy—is being buried today in Somerset, so I hope that the House will allow me to speak about this deal as I think Paddy would have done. The hon. Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk) might not have known about the burial service, but my friend Paddy would have been able to apply his critical faculties to ...
Over the past 2 weekends we have knocked at getting on for 3,000 doors in Liverpool - I've knocked at a good number of these myself. What is extremely interesting to me is the response that we are getting on ... Continue reading →
Cheers to David Lammy MP for that speech: "Brexit is a con.A trick. A swindle. A fraud. A deception that will hurt most those people it promised to help. A dangerous fantasy which will make every problem it claims to solve worse." Cheers to the four single mums who won a High Court challenge on Universal Credit. While the decision is an important one in many respects, not least in underlining the reality that Universal Credit isn't fir-for-purpose, the four women concerned deserve applause for standing against the unfairness inherent within the system. Jeers for Andrew Bridgen MP - not ...
We always like to record Lib Dem contributions to significant parliamentary debates when we can. There is no more significant debate than that going on over the future course of Brexit – or otherwise. Vince spoke on the first day of the debate and he tackled the Brexiteers' assertions that the WTO Rules are just fine if we have a no deal Brexit.And he should know, because he's actually done trade negotiations. He totally demolishes the idea that WTO Rules a) mean much b) can be enforced and c) allow smaller countries to trade freely without being bullied by more ...
As Robert Webb once explained in the Independent: Suzanne Vega ate at Tom's Diner. Arlo Guthrie sang about Alice's Restaurant. Siouxsie and the Banshees' inspirational eaterie was a Chislehurst takeaway, the Hong Kong Garden. "I used to go along with my friend and just be really upset by the local skinheads that hung out there," said Siouxsie after witnessing racist taunts against the staff. She turned her anger into song.Hong Kong Garden reached number 7 in the UK singles chart in 1978. And what is Peter Cook doing here? Wikipedia explains: Revolver was a British music TV series on ITV ...
The Sunday morning political programmes can be summarised as follows: Tory psychodrama (Sophy Ridge had three rounds of it), Labour obfuscation and Lib Dem consistency and clarity. Just imagine that you were the Leader of the Opposition. You're supposed to be showing leadership on the most important issue of most of our lifetimes. You talk about how you want a General Election, though you haven't actually bothered to do anything to make one happen. Then you're asked what your policy in that General Election would be on the said major issue. Surely to goodness you would have something to tell ...
Blind date: 'I left my knickers at a house party we crashed' Sometimes you read something that just gives you hope for the future. Unions Did Great Things for the American Working Class Economists are belatedly realising that unions are not entirely bad. Even Mordor was less toxic than Brexit Britain, this nation beyond parody | Marina Hyde Marina remains the one pure thing about the Grauniad. If I could give money just to her, without paying for the whole sorry transphobic mess I absolutely would. Masterful trolling of MPs at Westminster Tube station (I still think if we get ...
Sat, 13:35: BSFA Long List - Goodreads/LibraryThing stats https://t.co/rlDZMD7YVR Sat, 14:15: RT @MilevskaTanja: Important reminder: the new name of the country is North Macedonia, the citizens, language and adjective however remain... Sat, 14:20: These numbers do not exactly boost the electoral case for a new referendum. https://t.co/NL4cg31gR3 Sat, 15:42: RT @jonworth: For your Saturday afternoon perusal I have made a new #Brexit diagram - about the #MeaningfulVote and what happens after that... Sat, 16:05: Blind date: 'I left my knickers at a house party we crashed' https://t.co/8DyiWLByLk If you want to be cheered up o... https://t.co/5mT6CIYbUW Sat, 16:46: RT @ce_murphy: ...
[IMG: The scandal of NHS gloves and Malaysian working practices] Migrants who work in Malaysia are known to face discrimination and stigma and it is disconcerting to see just how wide spread and entrenched this is. A factory based in Malaysia has been accused of... The post The scandal of NHS gloves and Malaysian working practices appeared first on FeministMama.
The Sunday Times characterises an attempt by senior MPs to seize control of Brexit negotiations and side line the prime minister by rewriting the standing orders of the House of Commons as a "very British coup", but the real surprise is that it has taken so long to get to this point. The paper says that at least two groups of rebel MPs are plotting to change Commons rules so motions proposed by backbenchers take precedence over government business, upending the centuries-old relationship between executive and legislature. They say that Downing Street believes that would enable MPs to suspend article ...
Sun 13th
10:30
Lib Dems vs Brexit: Layla Moran: I want an open Britain, not one that closes itself off
In full, below, Layla Moran's speech against Theresa May's Brexit deal. It will come as no surprise to anyone, I am sure, to hear that I will not support the deal. I am determined to do everything I can to secure a people's vote, with the option to stay in the EU and exit from Brexit. After all, that is what I was elected to do when I overturned a Tory majority of nearly 10,000 with the help of a progressive alliance of voters from across the entire political spectrum. I am still regularly stopped in the streets by constituents ...
Sun 13th
09:30Lib Dems vs Brexit: Jo Swinson "Even my five year old knows that unicorns aren't real"
This week the House of Commons has been debating Theresa May's deal. Liberal Democrats have been explaining why Brexit is a bad thing and why we need a People's Vote. Here's Jo Swinson making one of her five contributions in the Chamber on her first week back from parental leave. Two and a half years ago the Prime Minister stood on the steps of Downing Street and promised to tackle society's burning injustices. I for one was glad to hear that speech, and I hoped that it would mark a real change in direction from this Government. We could debate ...
The Party is finally starting to get its act together on racial diversity. Last week the Federal Board decided to properly set up the new Racial Diversity Campaign which aims to improve Lib Dem BAME representation in our various Parliaments. So, the party has advertised for a Chair and two Vice Chairs of the RDC. Applications must be submitted quite quickly, by a week tomorrow and the Federal Board will meet the candidates on 28th January and make their choices shortly thereafter. Here's some more detail: The Racial Diversity Campaign (RDC) will be the vehicle within the party which finds, ...
Between them, these three accounts provide an excellent regular flow of messages to enjoy and to share to help promote the Liberal Democrats and our policy on Europe. First up, former Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Green. He's remarkably indefatigable at finding new Liberal Democrat party members on Twitter and welcoming them. So why not follow Matthew too and join in welcoming new members too? It's a really simple but effective way to make the party stronger and larger. Second, the brilliant Remainer Now, which shares stories from Leave voters who now want Britain to stay in the EU. So again, ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT Forthcoming Roadworks - West End Ward Bellfield Street - off-peak (9.30am - 3.30pm) stop/go traffic control on Monday 18 February for 2 days at new housing development for road and footway reinstatement works.
