Lib Dems: No woman should miss out on education because of period poverty Reports in The Independent this morning that Daisy Wakefield, a student at the Univeristy of the West of England spent her entire student loan on sanitary products to distribute to poorer students, has reignited calls to end period poverty. Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons last month calling on the Government to extend its policy on free sanitary products to primary schools, colleges, universities and NHS GP surgeries. Commenting on Daisy's campaign for the University of ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

One of the most intriguing aspects of recent weeks in the long-running Brexit saga has been how French President Emmanuel Macron has played "bad cop" to EU Council President Donald Tusk's "nice cop" in the EU's dealings with the UK. In a sense, the date of 31 October agreed as the new extension for Article50 [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Two of the great female comedians of postwar British film and television appearing on Wogan in the late 1980s.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Fri 12th
20:24

Dorothy Rowe (1930-2019)

I was very sad to hear of the death of the clinical psychologist Dorothy Rowe. I met her a couple of times and found her both kind and wise. There is a good obituary in the Guardian by Tim Lott: Dorothy Rowe, who has died aged 88, was one of the earliest figures in psychology to build a bridge between the sometimes arcane world of clinical practice and the general public. Coming to prominence in the 1980s, particularly with her book Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison, she made a career around the principle of listening to the patient ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Friday: Happy STILL IN the European Union Day. Again. They come around so quickly, don't they! People keep asking me "What is going to happen about Brexit?" To which the correct answer is "How should I know, I'm a stuffed elephant!" But let's give it a go. There was exactly ONE moment when Brexit could happen, and that was 23:00 on 29 March 2019. And it didn't. Entirely thanks to the ineptitude of Brexiters in and formerly-in the Cabinet demanding more unicorns and less reality in their Brexit and through the religious intransigence of Brexiters outside the Cabinet insisting that ...

The new issue of Liberator was waiting for me when I got home from work. So what's in Radical Bulletin, the section that tells you what going on in the Lib Dems? It explains why the Lib Dem spring conference in York voted to reject many of the proposed elements of Vince Cable's supporters scheme. And it was quite a defeat. As the magazine says: though historians have scratched their heads, it has been hard to recall when the party establishment last took as monumental a kicking at conference as it did over the 'extras' to the supporters scheme in ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Voting Liberal Democrat in the council elections in much of England this May? If so, thank you! It makes a real difference to people's lives. And here are four simple things you can do to make your vote even more powerful. Show people your support on Facebook The more people see that others are voting Lib Dem, the more likely they are to vote Lib Dem themselves. You can show your support by signing up to the 'Voting Lib Dem' event on Facebook here. Tell the party you're voting Lib Dem Campaigners put a lot of effort into reminding supporters ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Second paragraph of third chapter: The following Monday, I experienced for the first time in my life the physical shock of seeing my name in print. I was leafing through Doctor Who Magazine and suddenly found I was in it. It said something like, 'Since the new script editor, Andrew Cartmel, has just arrived, it seems likely that it was the producer who commissioned Pip and Jane Baker.' Very astute. I was glad that people could work out for themselves that I was not responsible for Time and the Rani. Another of the many books brought out for the 50th ...

In the past few days I have been absolutely amazed by the support that has been given to Julian Assange by Jeremy Corbyn and other leading members of the Labour Party including Diane Abbott. For 7 years Assange has hidden ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

Since the 2016 referendum, we Lib Dems have been slightly on the back foot about the democratic implication of having a new people's vote. I firmly believe that, had the matter not been put to the public in 2016, the government would have said some time in 2017 or 2018, 'OK folks, Brexit was an interesting idea, but it's clearly not going to work so let's abandon it and stay in the EU.' But because the people did vote, and they chose by a small but clear margin to leave, the whole principle of democracy appears to be undermined if ...

Posted by Chris Bowers on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov
Fri 12th
11:00

My tweets

Thu, 12:06: RT @davidallengreen: @aklagareSE Long-term followers will remember I covered the case at length in c. 2011-12. https://t.co/UDm4pMxjYq an... Thu, 12:56: RT @MrAComerford: - Misgenders - Deadnames - Calls trans surgery "mutilation" - Says trans people should learn to accept their bodies - Cal... Thu, 13:08: Geopolitics: Sweden vs the UK https://t.co/DDguRMkARz What I wrote about Julian Assange in 2012. Thu, 13:37: Bulgarian news piece about lobbying in the EU. I make an appearance from roughly 2:27 to 3:40. https://t.co/CW9mBHMlN2 Thu, 14:10: Omar al-Bashir: Sudan military has ousted ruler after protests https://t.co/BoGLLlfc8F Couldn't happen to a nicer c... https://t.co/P350LGxG50 ...

This week in Parliament, Alistair Carmichael asked an urgent question on the Foreign Office's lack of action per the conviction of Hong King's Umbrella Movements's leaders. The Umbrella Movement had protested for 79 days for free and fair elections in 2015. This week nine of the Umbrella Movement's leaders were convicted of rarely used public order offences from the days of colonial rule. Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, described it as being "appallingly divisive to use anachronistic common law charges in a vengeful pursuit of political events which took place in 2014". The response of our ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice
Fri 12th
10:02

Mum in hospital (again)

Parents were going to visit a friend yesterday, and ended up being one of the two cars involved in this crash. Dad has a bit of bruising from the seatbelt but is otherwise uninjured. Mum is a more delicate flower, and has a cracked sternum and ribs. She's going to be in hospital over the weekend, so if I'm not as forthcoming to contact as I usually am it'll be because of that; dad and I are taking her a bag full of stuff in about half an hour. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

Netanyahu has won a fifth term as prime minister of Israel. On the face of it this is terrible news. Benjamin Netanyahu ("King Bibi" to his supporters) is a right-wing, ultra-nationalist, militarist populist who is the biggest single obstacle to peace in the Middle East. Or is he? And if he is, is that good or bad? Modern history has shown that the most obstinate political leaders are sometimes the best ones to achieve the required breakthrough compromise. Richard Nixon's history as a hardline anti-communist meant that he was the only one who could open the door to Mao's China. ...

Posted by Tom Arms on Liberal Democrat Voice

I am on the other side of this argument to David Boyle. I am not looking back to 40 years of membership, only 12. I have been in the crossfire of active politics and while I believe I am a true liberal – and with all the frustration during the coalition government, I am still [...] The post Why we are fighting a shoddy soft Brexit appeared first on Radix.

Posted by Wera Hobhouse on Radix

Considering the data protection rules which the UK Government quite rightly expects the rest of us to follow, one would think that they could set an example by following those rules themselves. Unfortunately, one government department has now committed its second data breach in a week. As the Independent reports, the Home Office has apologised for committing its second potential data breach of UK residents in a week after accidentally sharing the details of hundreds of EU nationals seeking settled status. The department has informed 240 applicants it "inadvertently" shared their email addresses with others who had applied under the ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

A number of constituents have contacted me about the deteriorating state of the road in Clayhills Drive near its entrance. I reported this to the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have been given the following helpful response : "The Road Maintenance inspector has raised an order for pothole repairs to be done with a timescale for completion of approximately thirty days. He will continue to monitor the condition of the carriageway during routine inspection and any actionable defects noted will be repaired to ensure safety is maintained."