What is Theresa May playing at? A week on from the heaviest parliamentary defeat since ever, and still she's clinging to her Brexit deal, her Plan A-thru-Z. The reason, I guess, is clear. She would rather go down in history as the Prime Minister who brought the country to its knees (by allowing no deal) than the Conservative leader who split asunder her party (by blocking no deal). There was a time, not that long ago, when I could conjure up some sympathy for Mrs May. She was the only grown up left standing in her party's 2016 leadership contest. ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Stephen Tall
Wed 23rd
22:11

Six of the Best 844

Geoffrey Evans and Florian Schaffner find that "Brexit has quickly and dramatically replaced the traditional party allegiances of Conservative and Labour in the hearts and minds of voters". "I am struck by the reluctance to debate the failure of our policy in Libya during the Coalition. Although not the same as Iraq, the parallels are striking. We actually repeated the same fundamental mistake in not preparing for the aftermath of regime change - this we previously criticised Blair for - and we hardly talk about it." Geoffrey Payne on the damage done by Francis Fukuyama's The End of History. Martha ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

[IMG: The 4.1 miles of human plight] This documentary titled '4.1 Miles' centres on a Coast Guard on the island of Lesbos in Greece battling to save refugees at risk from drowning at sea. It won the 'David L. Wolper Student Documentary... The post The 4.1 miles of human plight appeared first on FeministMama.

Posted by ambitiousmamas on FeministMama

I've recently read two books about the 2017 general election, Britain Votes 2017 and None Past the Post. Not only is the title of the latter far better than any I've ever come up with, both contain chapters far better than any I've ever done. They're not bad books. And yet... I'm not quite sure what I've really learnt from either. Or rather, there are some good details, such as points about the performance of the SNP that have helped develop my own thoughts on Liberal Democrat strategy. But overall, the books already feel dated and also feel far too ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Guildford Liberal Democrats have re-selected Zöe Franklin as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for the seat that was held by Sue Doughty 2001-5.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Updates: 1. Home Office EU Settled Status Scheme 2. National Audit Office report on children's social care Todays Press Release: 1 Sony's move symbolic of Brexit uncertainty 2. Liberal Democrats move to prevent May from holding Parliament hostage on Brexit 3 Moran: PAC report highlights the increasing fragmentation of schools system Home Office EU Settled Status Scheme – It is all very well to say that in the modern world, relying on a reference number that would give prospective employers or landlords access to the Home Office computer is enough. But in the wake of the Windrush, nobody trusts Home ...

Posted by Tahir Maher on Liberal Democrat Voice

Second paragraph of third section:Thus voyages from sun to sun will always be few. Colonists will be those who have extremely special reasons for going. They will take along germ plasm for exogenetic cultivation of domestic plants and animals—and of human infants, in order that population can grow fast enough to escape death through genetic drift. After all, they cannot rely on further immigration. Two or three times a century, a ship may call from some other colony. (Not from Earth. Earth has long ago sunk into alien concerns.) Its place of origin will be an old settlement. The young ...

I remain one of the few who predict that, following parliament's spectacular rejection of the government's deal to leave the EU, Britain will crash out on 29 March. Most MPs oppose such a no-deal, but until they can coalesce around an alternative, no-deal it is. And would the EU agree to an open-ended postponement of ... Continue reading Britain's political parties are stronger than MPs: that's why no-deal is still likely

Posted by Matthew on thinking liberal

Looking for something to take your mind off Brexit? The Liberal Democrat History Group can help! One hundred fifty years and six weeks ago, on 3 December 1868, William Ewart Gladstone took office as Prime Minister at the head of what can reasonably be accounted as both the first identifiably Liberal government and the first modern administration. Gladstone was eventually to serve as Prime Minister on four separate occasions. The most famous, recognisable and enduring of all the Liberal Party's leaders, he dominated British politics for more than thirty years. He brought to the leadership of the party and the ...

Posted by Duncan Brack on Liberal Democrat Voice
Wed 23rd
11:08

My tweets

Tue, 12:19: RT @anandMenon1: Can't overstate this point. Labour problem with the deal is that it's a Tory deal. https://t.co/UQQWPasSB3 Tue, 12:56: The Amritsar massacre: a cold, callous display of colonial evil https://t.co/iglPoWRnGk ...for which no amends have been made. Tue, 15:47: There's a by-election in the House of Lords today! Contain your excitement, if that is possible. Tue, 16:05: RT @CoppetainPU: Crunch time approaches (again) & the mythical 10-year grace period of an interim trade deal keeps rearing its head. Here,... Tue, 17:11: RT @lisasharper: I've been watching videos all day. I have one thing to say (in a ...

YouGov

Liberal Democrat Newswire #120 has hit subscribers's email inboxes and includes an excellent analysis of the British electorate by Paula Surridge.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Rough sleeping is one of the big problems of modern society. There are a lot of reasons why people rough sleep, including difficulties with the benefits system and problems with housing. Very often rough sleepers have mental health problems, sometimes triggered by trauma as is often the case for ex-military rough sleepers. Shropshire Council has good rough sleeper policies and offers accommodation all winter long. But not everyone wants to take this up and many refuse mental health support. This is where specialist workers like the Shrewsbury Ark can do a lot to help. But some cases prove to be ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

The decision of Labour's Tulip Siddiq to delay her caesarean section last week so she could be wheeled into the lobbies to vote has hopefully knocked some common sense into those in the UK Government who were delaying reform on the way the House of Commons operates. As the Independent reports, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom announced MPs would finally be able to approve a "substantive motion" on proxy voting on Monday, allowing the changes to voting for new parents to be brought forward within days. Ms. Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Kilburn said she defied doctors' advice because she did ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

A large number of residents attended the public session of Lydiate Parish Council's meeting last night in Lydiate Village Centre. They were there to raise concerns and objections to a recent planning application to build a 3 storey block of flats on the site of derelict garages off Saville Road to the rear of the row of shops on Liverpool Road. Rear of the Liverpool Road shops on Saville Road. The proposed flats would be adjacent to them if Sefton gives planning permission. The site is surrounded on 3 sides by bungalows and 2 storey houses so the fact that ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

One of the great worries of any Parish Council, and perhaps especially for its Chair, is the prospect of housing development. Increasingly, we see speculative applications for housing, on sites that might not otherwise be obviously suitable, because the local District Council doesn't have a five year housing land supply set aside. In reality, even if it does, the onus is on the District to prove that it meets the requirements as laid down by the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Here in Mid Suffolk, we were told last summer that the District was in good shape, having ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy

Introduction The Brexit process began as an internal Tory party squabble, but its resolution has to move from there to mature thinking about the future. This means asking the rest of the EU for a significant extension to the Article 50 period. This is not for significant further negotiation — if Brexit has to happen, May's deal is pretty good — but to enable things to be done with considered thinking about the future. I suggest that the process needs a People's Vote, but on a longer timetable than people are proposing to allow adequate preparation. It requires a Government ...

Posted by Mark Argent on Liberal Democrat Voice