Lib Dems produce Bill to properly tackle plastics crisis Today, Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Environment, will present his Plastic Pollution Bill to Parliament. The Bill will set targets to help fix our plastics crisis and require the Secretary of State to publish a strategy for the reduction of plastic pollution. The Bill has been backed by a cross-party group of MPs as well as Friends of the Earth and the Women's Institute. Ahead of presenting his Bill, Mr Carmichael said: Plastic pollution is the scourge of our oceans. The Government must start taking action to reduce ...
This paperback was an unexpected find in the bargain box at Waterstones on Saturday. It is the second printing of the Girls Gone By edition of the first of Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine series. Unlike many Saville paperbacks, it has the full text of the original hardback. The Armada editions, for instance, were heavily cut and much of the character development and period detail in the stories was lost. I have a first edition of Mystery at Witchend from 1943, though without its dustwrapper. It is rare to find the book with a wrapper, but one such copy has sold ...
Horsham's Liberal Democrats have selected Louise Potter as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC).
The important news for Liberal Democrats comes right at the end of Dan Sabbagh's Guardian article on The Independent Group: Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said her party needed "to be working together with the Independent Group MPs but we need to find a 2019 way of doing that and I'm open-minded about how that looks". But despite Lib Dem enthusiasm, TIG MPs said they wanted Lib Dem MPs to quit their party and join them. They argued that the Lib Dem brand has been tarnished by the period when the party under Nick Clegg went into coalition ...
When Vince Cable first proposed allowing people to register as Liberal Democrat 'supporters' I wrote that it reminded me of the more relaxed arrangements that prevailed in the old Liberal Party. Active local parties naturally acquired a wider circle of people who wished them well but did not wish to join. For that reason, I find it hard to get too concerned about the idea. Though the decision to allow people to register as potential supporters before the new status has been endorsed by the party's democratic machinery is a pretty blatant attempt to bounce members in to accepting it. ...
A few days ago, the Dunston Staiths, the biggest wooden structure in Europe, was damaged by fire. It is highly likely that this was deliberate arson and it is not the first time the historic structure has suffered in this way. Quite what drives people to carry out this sort of mindless destruction is beyond me. I decided to have a look myself at the damage earlier today. I took a walk along
News is breaking that Labour are to back a referendum on the Brexit deal. Hooray! But don't forget, this is the Corbyn Labour Party we are talking about. Corbyn is a Brexiter and he has been dragged kicking and screaming and at a snail's pace to the point we have now reached. At this point however, we don't know what Labour's referendum will be about. Will it be about Labour's pie-in-the-sky
Mon 25th
16:42
Christine Jardine MP writes....Let's invite people in who want to help us build a movement
It was when Charles Kennedy was standing to be leader that I found it most frustrating not to be a member. I had supported the Liberal Democrats since I was old enough to vote. Here was a man whose political ideals epitomised what I believed in and I desperately wanted him to leader. But I couldn't do anything to help him, or support the party. I was a journalist. I worked for the BBC, often covered politics and, throughout my career, my impartiality had to be transparent. When I was eventually able to join the party it was at a ...
Continuing the trend of elected public officials and activists joining the Liberal Democrats, from both Labour and the Conservatives, is the news from Beverley.
This was written for [IMG: [community profile] ] who_contest's challenge "Element", and is an X-post of my entry there. Title: Refusing to Listen to Radio 4 is Self Care Rating: PG, probably? Genre: Headcanon Word Count: 381 (limit 500) Pairings or Characters: Sixth Doctor, Dr Evelyn Smythe, The TARDIS, implied TARDIS/Other TT Capsule Spoilers: None Warnings: None Summary: The Doctor is investigating why the TARDIS refuses to connect to Radio 4 and makes a surprising discovery. ( small fic under the cut ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Sun, 12:56: Voting with your gut https://t.co/qeJhh1XDOf Brexit and rationality. Interesting. Sun, 14:17: RT @ProfChalmers: The Spectator's solution to Brexit involves going over the heads of the Commission and negotiating with individual states... Sun, 14:31: RT @Frances_Coppola: What I found most difficult about @giles_fraser's piece was its judgmental nature. A lack of compassion: https://t.co/... Sun, 14:48: The caliphate crumbles: the last days of Islamic State https://t.co/eTMsKX8NWy Includes a brief interview with Shahmina Begum. Sun, 16:05: RT @MarkDiStef: A viral Guardian comment piece about a mother and her disabled son staying in UK post Brexit, more than 16,000 shares later... Sun, ...
A milestone has been passed. Recently, this blog recorded its half millionth visit! Hooray! The challenge now is to see it I ever get to one million viewings. I am likely to be seriously elderly by then!
Should the capital of the United Kingdom should be moved from London to Liverpool? For as long as I can remember the Liberal Democrats and the Liberals before them have been committed to a federal United Kingdom, but there have been many views about the exact form this federation should take. The advantages of federalism are obvious. It separates macro-economic, foreign policy and defence decisions which have to be taken at a national level, and brings all other decision-making closer to those affected, resulting usually in better informed, and so better, decisions. The UK, unlike many democracies, has always been ...
There was a useful article in the Telegraph a few days ago, in which the author argued that the recent increase in the number of leasehold properties is undermining people's aspirations to home ownership. The paper says that between July 2017 and 2018, new-build leasehold sales represented 44 per cent of all new-build by value and 38 per cent by number of properties. Leasehold apartment blocks are taking over, especially in London and the southeast. As if to add injury to this trend, by 2020 the government will have presided over the lowest level of housebuilding of any decade since ...
Mon 25th
09:12
An OPSTA meeting in Croston – So are things looking brighter on the recently appalling (for ca...
Ormskirk's Station where Merseyrail and Norther trains meet Croston is a lovely largish village which is somewhat isolated in public transport terms with few if any local bus services. And those that do run seem to be permanently under threat. But what Croston does though have is a railway station on the Ormskirk – Preston line, a line that in the early 1980s was under threat of closure itself and the reason the then OPTA (Ormskirk Preston Travellers Assn) campaign group was formed. That battle was won although there were some amusing reminiscences at the meeting held last Wednesday about ...
Peter Ho was the head of the civil service in Singapore. He invented the concept of the Black Elephant, which he described like this: "The black elephant is the evil spawn of our cognitive biases. It is a cross between a black swan and the proverbial elephant in the room. The black elephant is a [...] The post We all know the black elephants really – we need to make a list... appeared first on Radix.
Mon 25th
08:15
We need a new market towns initiative across Shropshire to promote our rural economy - we are propos...
It is time we had capital funding to improve our smaller market towns, not just in Shrewsbury and Oswestry. I have put forward a motion for next Thursday's Shropshire Council meeting aiming to establish a capital fund for investment in the smaller market towns including Ludlow. We must keep our smaller town centres alive. That will benefit residents and visitors. It will also ensure that Shropshire Council maintains its income from council tax and business rates. Last week, the Commons housing, communities and local government select committee published a report High Streets and Town Centres in 2030. It makes proposals ...
I rather allowed myself to be distracted last week, but I did promise to offer some thoughts on what skills an incoming President might need. I'll start with something rather dull, but critical. The ability to manage meetings is imperative. As President, you'll be chairing Federal Board, a body which can be fractious at the best of times, and moulding it into an effective decision making entity is critical. You can't just turn up and go, you need to determine potential flashpoints, decide how you might deal with disagreements. That in turn will require good communication skills and a sense ...
Residents will recall that, last August, Royal Bank of Scotland lodged a planning application to shut the bank's ATM at 260 Perth Road, the site of a former branch that closed in 2014. This was because the bank's lease on the building ends this spring. I wrote to the bank last summer reminding them that when the branch closed, I was given a commitment that its free-to-use cash machine would be retained. I asked that the company to therefore look for alternative sites in the Perth Road area and the bank did commit at that time to look at possible ...
The new episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up! We visit the UK for the first time, as we talk about Lonnie Donegan's "Rock Island Line", the trad jazz scene, and white British ... Continue reading →
