Govt forced to act on requirement to disclose minor childhood offences Responding to reports that Sajid Javid is considering changing the rules on criminal record disclosure, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said: It's odd to hear Sajid Javid now suggesting changing the rules that require people to disclose minor childhood convictions throughout their lives, given that he and other Tory Ministers recently fought against a court judgement saying exactly that all the way to the Supreme Court. Javid's change of heart is welcome, but he should be honest about it. This is not some great brainchild of the ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Cleopatra's Needle was first erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis by on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC. In 12 BC the Romans moved it to Alexandria and set it up in the Caesareum - a temple built by Cleopatra in honour of Julius Caesar. And in 1878 it was brought to London and the Victoria Embankment.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I am afraid the old brute is not at all impressed by Britain's newest political party, I would not advise them to put up in the Bonkers Hall ward just yet. Friday Last time I called in at the Lib Dem Whip's office at the Commons, I found several of our MPs dressed in rucksacks and hiking boots. When I asked what they were up to, I was told they were off to deliver leaflets for something called 'The Independent Group'. So I made it my business to look into it. I discovered from someone in the Lobby that this ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Young people are such an important part of our party. Not only do we offer an army of eager campaigners and young candidates, we also help speak up for youth issues and ensure the party has this voice on things it may otherwise overlook. The Young Liberals are committed to ensuring that the voices of all young people are heard and represented, and this is why we need your help. At our Spring Conference in Glasgow, we passed a motion to explore increasing the age range of our membership. The way it works at the moment is that you are ...

Posted by Callum James Littlemore on Liberal Democrat Voice

The Independent Group and the Greens rebuffed Liberal Democrat suggestions of a combined Remain front in the European Parliament elections. As The Independent reports: The Liberal Democrats have accused other anti-Brexit parties of damaging the chances of success in the European elections by refusing to fight on a joint ticket. Vince Cable lashed out at The Independent Group and the Greens for rejecting his pleas to stand joint candidates on 23 May, to boost the number of MEPs demanding a second referendum. The Lib Dem leader revealed that his party proposed fighting together - a move that one election expert ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Earlier today the Liberal Democrats announce the list of MEP candidates in England and Wales for the EU elections on the 23rd May. The diverse list of candidates sees 50% of the top-listed candidates being women and 10% BAME. That diversity, welcome though it is and an improvement on what the party has often achieved in the past in selections, was however lower than aimed for. Planned additional measures to boost diversity were dropped following threats of legal challenges to the party. Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said: Today we've announced a strong, diverse mix of candidates, from ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The New Statesman gives a sympathetic account of the selection of Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidates in an article headed "The Liberal Democrats' class of 2022: who they are and what they think", focusing on our target seats. It includes a paragraph about Lib Dem Voice editor Kirsten Johnson: Kirsten Johnson, a pianist who is contesting North Devon, said she entered politics to push for more money for mental health services and reduce the gap between rich and poor. "The Liberal Democrats stand for equality across all sections of society, whether economic, gender or any other equality. I think we need ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

I did something last night I have not done before - I went to the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, which has been going for about as long as I have been living in Belgium. The partner of one of my colleagues at work had a short film in the mix, so I persuaded Anne and F to join me at Bozar for its session. In the space of two hours we saw ten very different films from nine different countries, all made in 2018. They were: Stray (14 min, Australia), written by Katherine Chediak Putnam and Dean Law, directed ...

Britain’s political parties are weak where they need to be strong and strong when they need to be weak. Is there a solution?

Posted by Nick Barlow on Stories by Nick Barlow on Medium

March was the best-ever month for Lib Dem grassroots donations outside of an election campaign. Read about this and more in Lib Dem Newswire #123.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
YouGov

Lakeland MP Tim Farron says "The line was set to be shut over Easter because of engineering works on the West Coast Mainline, so it's brilliant news for the Lake District that we'll now have trains running again on the line on Saturday and Sunday. I'd like to say a massive thank you to West Coast Railways and Network Rail for helping to make this happen. The guys at West Coast did an amazing job last summer when they stepped in to provide a service on the Lakes Line – roll on the weekend!"

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

"Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards", and "Ha, ha, I hit them", said the crew of a US helicopter as they machine-gunned Iraqi civilians, including a child, in Baghdad. (12/07/07) That is part of what Chelsea Manning exposed and Julian Assange published, for which they are prosecuted and punished, apparently unlike that crew. There appear to be two types of charge against Mr Assange. One relates to rape and one to accessing information about particular behaviours of a nation's rulers. They are both to do with security - individual, group national and international. Security matters to all of us ...

Posted by Steve Trevethan on Liberal Democrat Voice

So we are almost definitely going to fight the European elections - independently, or in some form of coordination with other Remain-committed parties. But what - beyond 'Remain' - should we put forward in our campaign? First and foremost, we have to make the case for continuing British participation in managing relations among European governments, warts and all. We should not risk getting bogged down in discussions about how to 'reform' and improve Europe's current institutions. They don't work very well - but neither do our national political institutions, and they work much better than any other international institutions (think ...

Posted by Lord William Wallace on Liberal Democrat Voice

I am very much looking forward to voting in the European elections, more so than any other election I can remember. I suppose this is because this set of elections was snatched away from me as a result of the 2016 referendum, and now I get to have them back. When it became clear they were going to take place, I felt cautiously optimistic about how Remainer parties would do. A lot of that has deflated since because of the way the parties involved are going about things. Change UK and the Lib Dems really need a pact for these ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

As part of the great protest movement of the Sudanese people against the military dictatorship that has been in place for thirty years, an amazing scene took place last Friday in Khartoum. In the middle of the day, the crowd gathered in front of the headquarters of the Sudanese army wanted to engage in Friday [...] The post The Muslim peoples who reject Islamism appeared first on Radix.

Posted by Renaud Girard on Radix
Wed 17th
11:00

My tweets

Tue, 12:56: RT @MrEugeneGrant: Thread: #Dwarf people have long since been (over)represented in fantasy. There are more than enough White Male Bearded D... Tue, 15:58: I think you mean third place? 2nd placed Unionist, perhaps. https://t.co/EEBVbRy7TS Tue, 16:05: Well, this had a poignant twist. https://t.co/eSO7ViV87T Tue, 17:11: RT @Dublin2019: We have a message from the Chair's desk for those affected by the new AirBnB legislation this summer. If you have any quest... Tue, 18:18: Tuesday reading https://t.co/lnKXmBLix9 Wed, 10:45: RT @DomWalsh13: Slightly late to this but John Redwood MP has written a letter to Attorney General Cox attacking the Brexit ...

Today the Liberal Democrats announce the list of MEP candidates in England and Wales for the EU elections on the 23rd May (Scotland should follow later today). The diverse list of candidates includes former MEPs, current Councillors and other hard working community activists. The Liberal Democrats will fight the elections as an unapologetically pro-European Party campaigning hard for People's Vote with an option to remain in the the EU. Vince Cable commented: Today we've announced a strong, diverse mix of candidates, from those who've joined the Liberal Democrats recently to those with long experience of the European Parliament. We will ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Rimrose Valley Country Park Please access the link below for the latest news from Rimrose Valley Friends about their environmental work and campaign to try to stop Highways England building a new access road to the Port of Liverpool through their beautiful county park:- Leeds Liverpool Canal through Rimrose Valley Country Park.

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Those of us who have experienced mushroom management will know that it consists of being kept in the dark, while having manure shovelled over us. The Department of Work and Pensions however, prefer to utilise these methods when dealing with the claimants they have been created to help. The Independent reports that Ministers have been accused of keeping "alarming" findings about their flagship universal credit scheme under wraps for a year and a half. MPs say it was "deeply irresponsible" to delay the release of a report, which suggests nearly half of claimants were not aware their tax credits would ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

A number of residents who live in the Riverside Apartments just west of the roundabout on Riverside Drive at Tesco have expressed concern about the speed of some vehicles outside their homes. Some have suggested the more appropriate speed limit at their homes would be 30mph, which would involve moving the start of the 30mph zone slightly westwards along the road. The current 40mph limit here was put in place when there were no residential properties on this part of Riverside Drive. On their behalf, I raised this with the City Council and the council's Traffic and Transport Team Leader ...

eUKhost