Slightly early because I need to go to bed, it's the new 500 Songs, on Chess Records, Alan Freed, and the Moonglows, and how a strike, a bad pitch at a baseball game, and a lawsuit from a blind ... Continue reading →
Two old parties hopelessly divided ahead of Euro elections Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake has accused Labour and the Conservatives of being "hopelessly divided" and said only the Liberal Democrats have a "clear offer" ahead of European elections. The comments come after Iain Duncan Smith called on the Prime Minister to resign and Jeremy Corbyn was warned by Labour's MEP group leader that he must back a People's Vote or lose a generation of young people. Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said: At this time of national crisis, people are demanding real leadership. However, the Tories only offer internal ...
This bookmark advertises a short-lived independent bookshop in Market Harborough. It dates from the first few years of this century. The Word's premises, a fine Edwardian building, are now occupied by an optician.
Sun 14th
21:01
Why there should be a single Remain list for the Euro elections - and why it won't happen
When Labour was obliged to introduce proportional representation for elections to the European parliament, Jack Straw chose the most unattractive system he could find. He did not want the idea catching on and fuelling demands for PR in Westminster elections. He chose the D'Hondt method because it denies voters the ability to choose between different candidates from the same party and, crucially for the argument of this post, does not allow votes to be transferred between parties. A tweet from Nick Reeves explains the implications of this for the Liberal Democrats: D'Hondt is roughly proportional, but in a 6 seat ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 546th 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 (7-13 April, 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. Labour only just hang on in Lambeth ...
This is my video diary for March 2019 mainly covering the local election campaign but also a wide range of council meetings.
Back in April 2017, the Electoral Commission announced it was investigating the Brexit campaign group Leave.EU over possible breaches of the rules controlling expenditure and finances for the European referendum. The investigation resulted in Leave.EU being found guilty and last week after an appeal hearing in the county court, the punishment was set at a fine of £60,000. The Electoral Commission commented: The court, having confirmed the offences we found that Leave.EU committed, has also confirmed that these offences justified substantial penalties. We impose penalties to ensure that the rules on campaign finance are complied with, and so that people ...
A mock-up of a Class 777 – The new Merseyrail trains that will soon replace the Class 507/508 EMU's * The first Class 777 unit is expected to arrive on Merseyside in the Autumn of this year. * The seventh unit delivered, I am told, will not now have battery capability and the battery trial has been suspended due to an identified technical issue. Battery capable units are being looked upon by OPSTA and others to enable the extension of the Ormskirk line (for example) to Burscough and possibly even Preston as this option will be much cheaper than having ...
Throughout Britain celebrations have begun to mark #Vaisakhi - an important date in Sikh calendar which marks the birth of the Khalsa. I wish you all a happy and peaceful #Vaisakhi to all those who are gathering with family and friends to celebrate. — Vince Cable (@vincecable) April 14, 2019
Liberal Democrats in Birmingham have re-selected Lee Dargue as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for Birmingham Ladywood.
Our second day with Lord Bonkers and this is definitely one for the teenagers. The problem with his diaries is not that he is too old, but I am starting to wonder if I am getting too old. Tuesday News reaches me from America that Bernie Sanders is going to have another shot at the Presidency. I fear he will prove a bit long in the tooth for the campaign, but you must admit that he has had a wonderful career. I remember him as a young comedian: while his brother Mike had all the patter, Bernie was the lovable ...
I've never been into the whole Easter thing, but having lived in Belgium for eight years and subsequently spent a lot of time in Brazil — both countries deeply steeped in Catholicism, despite a significant Protestant and alternative presence — I could hardly ignore the pomp, ceremony and religious fervour of Holy Week, beginning today [...]
Sun 14th
15:15
LibLink: Jo Swinson: 100 years after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, will the UK Government do the ri...
Yesterday marked 100 years since the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Amritsar, India. A British General ordered his troops to open fire on crowds gathered in a park to celebrate a Spring harvest festival and at the very least estimates, hundreds of people were killed. In the Independent this week, Lib Dem Deputy Leader Jo Swinson called on the UK Government to apologise for this atrocity: This centenary year falls at a time when the term 'Global Britain' is increasingly being touted by the Conservative Government as they point to the Commonwealth in the wake of the Brexit shambles. But what ...
Rounding up my votes in the other two BSFA categories (see also Best Novel and Best Art Work). Best Short Fiction No less than seven shortlisted works this year, five of which I liked. (Though this means there must have been at least a three-way tie for fifth place, which indicates a rather low turnout at the second stage of nominating.) 7) The Land of Somewhere Safe, by Hal Duncan. Second paragraph of third chapter:So presently then, she's snug in nightie, dressing gown and slippers, peeping into the kitchen to find Peter scoffing down his third bowl of cullen skink, ...
The four Lib Dem women MPs this weekend signed a letter to the Home Secretary asking him to co-operate with the Swedish authorities should they seek to extradite Julian Assange to face extradition requests. Tonight over 70 parliamentarians stand with victims of sexual violence, and are calling on both the Home Secretary and the shadow Home Sec to urge them both to be champions of action to ensure Julian Assange faces Swedish authorities and is extradited there if they so request: pic.twitter.com/uaJMM984Cc — stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) April 12, 2019 Labour needs to take a look at itself if it's losing people ...
I remember Young At Heart as a fun hit from 1984, but there is a bit of history to it. It was first recorded by Bananarama the year before and appeared on their first album. It was credited to the group's three members and Robert Hodgens of the Bluebells, who was dating Siobhan Fahey at the time. The Bluebells reached number 8 with it, but when it was re-released in 1993, having been featured in a television commercial for the Volkswagen Golf, it spent four weeks at number 1. In those days TV commercials could rewrite pop history like that. ...
Friends of mine have been reporting empty "Newsfeeds" on Facebook for a couple of days. Now the problem has hit my laptops, but oddly not the 'phone of ipad. A quick search of the world wide super highway thingy shows complaints from all over the world of a similar nature. I have messaged FB support, but I have more chance of being elected the next pope ( I am a married protestant) than getting a sensible reply promptly. So if you need me, conventional EMail, or even 'phone is the way to go. I have business FB accounts for both ...
...a story in the Sunday Times (£) today tells how details from a suicidal young girl's medical notes were used to deny her family asylum. And what's worse, an immigration judge found in favour of the Home Office and the family faces deportation. The girl, who lives in the northeast and cannot be named, had been given a "sugar-coated" version of why her family had to flee Albania for a new life in Britain. Her father did not tell the child about an alleged assassination attempt on his life by the local mafia. At an interview with a psychiatric nurse, ...
Our Layla Moran was reviewing the papers on the Andrew Marr Show today and she did her job in getting one very simple message across. Layla Moran – A vote for the #LibDems, in the EU elections, is a vote to #StopBrexit.... a very simple message. #Ridge #marr #PeoplesVote #FinalSay @LaylaMoran pic.twitter.com/asjMrRhwQp — Haggis_UK #FBPE [IMG: 🇬🇧] [IMG: 🇪🇺] (@Haggis_UK) April 14, 2019 As Vince has said, the Lib Dems are the party of Remain. Her message was actually echoed by the awful UKIP leader Gerard Batten, who said that Remainers have a clear option in the elections – the ...
Sat, 12:56: RT @campbellclaret: Good to see Dulwich-educated City trader and friend of billionaire private jet lenders @Nigel_Farage teaming up with ne... Sat, 14:00: RT @bbcdoctorwho: Happy birthday to the wonderful Fifth Doctor, @PeterDavison5! 🎂#DoctorWho https://t.co/Psd5qR0EnQ Sat, 15:37: BSFA Award for Best Novel, 2018 https://t.co/UAYCSx8DD8 Sat, 20:00: My week on Twitter 🎉: 59 Mentions, 32.7K Mention Reach, 262 Likes, 88 Retweets, 297K Retweet Reach. See yours with... https://t.co/tP3jNVaDbF Sat, 20:48: RT @Longshanks1307: So I just re-watched the classic Simpsons episode 'Bart Gets An Elephant'. It is 25 years old, but a parable for our ti... Sun, 10:45: RT @ttomholIand: tessa ...
One article we didn't have time to get to on this morning's Radio Wales paper review was this one in the Observer, about a project aiming to record and catalogue creepy-crawlies indigenous to London. We are used to the occasional announcement of new species discovered in remote and exotic parts of the world, but it seems that we are harbouring rare species closer to home as well. They say that London's eight royal parks are home to a spectacular range of creepy-crawlies, and over the next few weeks these creatures will be the focus of a major campaign: A project ...
I have somehow managed to miss the publication of recent Low Fell eFocuses so I've included the links to them here. Edition 27 (4th February 2019) includes: Success for Cardinal Hume Catholic School Residents fight litter Preparations for the Low Fell's Summer Fayre are underway Council to decide budget this month You can read it on this link. Edition 28 (20th February 2019) includes:
The latest quarterly update to my PollBase, my database of British voting intention opinion polls since 1943 is now up. No extra bonuses from the 1950s this time, just another three months of data. Enjoy! P.S. For the very latest polls, see my polling scorecard. Get polling news and analysis by email I release a new edition of PollBase once a quarter, both adding in the new national voting intention polls from the last quarter and also improving the older data, such as filling in gaps and making some of the columns clearer. Sign up here for Polling UnPacked, which ...
In the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory at Brandeis University, there's the Artificial Gravity Facility: otherwise known as the rotating room.
This is the first in a series of articles commissioned by the Diversity Sub Committee of the FPDC (Federal People Development Committee) and a group of Party campaigns and SAOs on intersectionality - examining how different layers of diversity, discrimination or disadvantage combine. Ray Lewis is our first contributor. He joined the Party earlier this year and runs the Eastside Academy in London. Disadvantage ruins lives. I live and work in East London, running a Leadership academy for young people from local disadvantaged communities. I have seen for myself the difference that can be made when we can break the ...
This was a somewhat unexpected finding in Matt Parker's new book, Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors...
With the Easter school holidays now nearly over, it is back to West End Ward surgeries this coming week. My Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy surgeries take place tomorrow. My full surgery details are below - although I can also be contacted via esurgery@frasermacpherson.org.uk or phone me at home on 459378 anytime :
