Moran: Recognition of Palestine cannot wait a moment longer Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has today called on the UK Government to recognises Palestine following the Israeli election. Ms Moran, the first MP of Palestinian decent, previously introduced the Palestinian Statehood (Recognition) Bill which would require the UK Government to recognise the State of Palestine within 3 months of the Bill being passed. It had support from Lib Dem, Labour, SNP, Plaid and Green MPs. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said: The dead heat between Gantz and Netanyahu means uncertainty for Palestinians continues. We now wait with baited breath for ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

"Primrose Hill is a place of sublime beauty. It's spiritually important to Londoners. Because - look! - London in tamed into a landscape. Brazen, raucous, noisome, infinite London becomes a panorama. We can feel that we are back in control, that our spiritual life transcends the carnal city." "We may yet find evidence for ancient pagan practice here, but until then we can enjoy a numinous place of our own making."Now read the curious story of Greenberry Hill.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The great man has a piece in the Guardian imagining Brexit Britain in 2029: After Brexit, the credulous became suspicious. Word spread. These were the years of the Great Revelation that began with the realisation that although the street names had been changed to honour the Martyrs of Nationalism (Banks Avenue, Farage Square, Fox Passage, Analytica Crescent, Dacre Meadows, Redwood Close) Britain remained the very place they voted to get away from - but worse, far worse, now transformed, indigent and in a state of advanced deterioration and festering decrepitude. Rationed electricity and gas, carburant shortages and vehicles left where ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The transport news of the day is that the East Midlands rail franchise is to change hands. From 18 August trains on the St Pancras main line will be run by Abellio instead of Stagecoach, which has operated the service for years under the name East Midlands Trains. Business Traveller explains why: The reason involves the funding of railway pension funds, and one assumes that Abellio has given the DfT assurance in this regard.Two quick points. First, for all Abellio's talk of experimenting with hydrogen fuel cell trains, it remains the case that the whole of this line needs to ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I recently acquired a copy of Cooking Price Wise by Vincent Price, and promised Ozzy that I would blog any recipes I cooked from it. ( Recipe and pictures under the cut ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

North Cornwall Liberal Democrats have selected Danny Chambers, a local vet who grew up on a farm near Launceston, as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC).

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

It's time to demand better for Britain - elect Lib Dem councillors on 2 May to fight for your local community.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The Party has launched it's "new" local election broadcast. Well, actually, it's the same one we've been using for a few months – which is fine, because it's a cracker – with an extension highlighting the Council elections. I personally love this one – it reminds us that only 7 years ago, we were all loving Danny Boyle's diverse and wonderful opening of the Olympics. And it's a reminder that we can stop being collateral damage in the Conservative Party's civil war and go back to being a country that works together to solve the problems of poverty and inequality. ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Second paragraph of third story ("A Gallery of Pigeons", by Jim Smith [James Cooray Smith]):These events occurred during the period covered by the very earliest pages of the first volume of my memoirs of the Great War. I had been inadvertently swept up in the joyous crowd that celebrated outside Buckingham Palace on that, in my mind even then, dreadful day in August when His Majesty's Government declared war on Germany and her allies. I would never have joined that throng by choice but I was busily making a home visit to an elderly patient in Victoria and foolishly attempted ...

Alistair Carmichael MP has today warned that the Conservative Government's inaction on the guilty verdict handed to the 'Umbrella Nine' in Hong Kong is an insult to all those in the region.Alistair Carmichael used an Urgent Question in the House of Commons today to The nine activists could be sentenced for up to seven years. They were found guilty on rarely used colonial-era public nuisance charges.Speaking after the Urgent Question, Alistair Carmichael MP said:"Many in Hong Kong rightly look to the UK for protection and support for their continued autonomy and progression towards democracy. This guilty verdict and the Conservative ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats
YouGov

The Guardian reports: Brexit has contributed to a shortage of certain medicines at pharmacies in England, according to a body that represents the sector... The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee ... said Britain's planned exit from the EU coupled with manufacturers' views of the country as a less attractive market had caused these significant problems... Simon Dukes, the chief executive of PSNC, said: "Community pharmacies are reporting increasing problems sourcing some generic medicines for their patients." All the more reason to redouble our efforts to keep Britain in the European Union, especially given the warnings from the BMA about the danger ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Wed 10th
16:51

Technical problems

Apologies for the intermittent technical problems today – in fact, you have done well if you have got this far! We are trying to fix it.

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

With Euro elections looking increasingly likely on 23rd May, Lib Dems have been busy preparing. Party members are currently voting to select their party list candidates in the Euro regions, and in spite of the condensed time frame there is no shortage of candidates. For example, in London 24 people have put in nominations for eight places. How did we get to this position so quickly? Well, the party starting preparing last October, anticipating that the Prime Minister would not gain support for her deal. Other parties seem to have been caught on the hop. Labour emailed members last week ...

Posted by Mary Reid on Liberal Democrat Voice

Today Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable has called on the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to join him in televised Leader's debates ahead of the EU election. Cable stated that a proper debate is needed ahead of European Parliamentary Elections and the two main parties must clearly show their hand on Brexit. In this election, every vote for the Liberal Democrats is one for a People's Vote with an option to remain in the EU. Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said: "Televised Leaders debates have become a crucial part of the democratic process ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has today called on the UK Government to recognise Palestine following the Israeli election. Ms Moran, the first MP of Palestinian decent, previously introduced the Palestinian Statehood (Recognition) Bill which would require the UK Government to recognise the State of Palestine within 3 months of the Bill being passed. It had support from Lib Dem, Labour, SNP, Plaid and Green MPs. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said: "The dead heat between Gantz and Netanyahu means uncertainty for Palestinians continues. We now wait with bated breath for the last votes to be counted and the outcome ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats
Wed 10th
11:00

My tweets

Tue, 12:56: RT @hugorifkind: Proper flash of age yesterday, getting a polio booster and remarking to the vv smart 20 something nurse that when I was a... Tue, 16:05: RT @emilylooked: friendly reminder that the "transgender debate" is verified, peer-reviewed science endorsed by the worlds leading health o... Tue, 17:11: Does Political Violence Work? https://t.co/wzxQbcfSPM "You're more likely in America to be killed through auto-erot... https://t.co/synbnjnGU7 Tue, 17:27: RT @APHClarkson: By 2016 so much UK analysis was so obsessed with supposed EU weakness and incoherence that you ended up with a state elite... Tue, 18:37: RT @AFP: #BREAKING Cross-party Brexit ...

When I was elected a Lib Dem Councillor in Oxford last year a regular feature of Council meetings (where there have not been any Conservatives for 20 years) was the Labour diatribe against the Coalition Government. Even the most talentless Labour hack knew that a safe answer to any Lib Dem criticism of the Labour Council was to attack the Coalition and the Lib Dems' part in it. As this got increasingly annoying, I decided it was time to do some detailed research on the subject. I found that we have a great deal to be proud of in our ...

Posted by Paul Harris on Liberal Democrat Voice

Just how deeply ingrained Islamphobia is in the Tories is revealed today by a story in the Guardian, alleging that the party have been dragged into fresh controversy after it emerged self-professed party members have been discussing how they could prevent Sajid Javid becoming prime minister. They say that Tory supporters who claim to be members of the party have attacked the home secretary online for his Muslim background and pledged to back another candidate to prevent any potential leadership bid he might make: The social media posts, reported by Buzzfeed News, prompted the chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Readers of this blog site will know that I have been posting for a long time now against the plan of Highways England to build a new access road to the Port of Liverpool right through this lovely Country Park. I was delighted therefore to read in the Champion newspaper (3rd April) that a Cycle Safari organised by Merseyside Environmental Trust/Merseyside Cycling Campaign stopped in this South Sefton Park to register their objections to the road building plan. Nice to see fellow cyclists getting involved in trying to stop the Highways Agency bulldozers. An idyllic view of Rimrose Valley Country ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Mark Pack recently addressed Hounslow Liberal Democrats on his views concerning growing party support. During his talk he focused on branding and relevance Listening to Mark I was reminded of the work of Michael Porter and his approach to strategy development. Porter in the 1980s determined that there are only three possible strategies that any commercial organisation can adopt - Low cost, differentiation or focus (market niche). Within a focus strategy, a low-cost or differentiation approach can be adopted. According to Porter, what is fatal for any organisation is to get stuck in the middle. Essentially, organisations must seek cost ...

Posted by Joe Bourke on Liberal Democrat Voice
eUKhost
Wed 10th
07:00

The Art of Reading

From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : The Art of ReadingAn exhibition of art about, inspired by and in the form of booksTower Foyer Gallery, Tower Building, University of DundeeNow on until 29th June - Monday to Friday 09.30-19.00; Saturday 13.00-17.00 The latest show in the Tower Foyer Gallery has been created as a companion to the current rare books exhibition in the Lamb Gallery (Bodies, Botanicals & Bindings). It looks at some of the ways that artists are inspired by or make use of books.  Sketchbooks are often the starting point for any ...

Report proves need for a transformational investment in mental health The Liberal Democrats have called for a "transformational investment in mental health" following a report by the Children's Commissioner for England which shows over a third of local areas have cut real terms spending on 'low level' children's mental health services. Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Judith Jolly said: The desperate lack of funding for children's mental health services leaves young people with nowhere to turn. This is exactly why issues like depression and anxiety become worse. It doesn't need to be this way. The writing has been on the wall ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
Wed 10th
03:07

3 Faces*****

I imagine it would come as quite a surprise to the current occupant of the White House to learn that Iran is producing some of the most interesting and challenging films around and has done so for many years. Cowboys and Injuns are probably more his style. But cinephiles have long been championing the work [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Responding to the publishing of Amnesty International's annual death penalty report, Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said:"The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. As long as our allies far and wide continue to execute people, it shows opposing it is simply not enough. "The Conservative Government must do more to ensure the countries named by Amnesty International move towards abolishing the death penalty."Not only is China the highest on the list, but their poor record of human rights abuses also extends to the treatment of the Uyghur people.By failing to speak out, the ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats