Last night Gateshead Lib Dems' canvassing attentions were focused on Pelaw and Heworth ward. Again, more positive responses on doorsteps. Labour are defending a majority of around 100 over the Lib Dems. Our campaign this year has been much more targeted than last year but our candidate then was new to the ward, though so too was Labour's. Nevertheless, in what was traditionally a very strong
The road and railway from Northampton enter bottom left and run in parallel until the railway swings right. It soon joins the line from Rugby, though that is hard to see here. I like the patchwork quilt of allotments to the left of the road. They are still there. The town looks small to modern eyes and, if you know where to look, you can see my house in the bottom right quarter.
Very odd timing for this news about the now former Conservative leader of East Devon Council, Ian Thomas: The leader of East Devon District Council has quit the Conservative Party... Cllr Thomas blamed the performance of the Party nationally for his departure and emphasised it had nothing to do with local issues. He also added that if re-elected, he will sit as an Independent. [Devon Live] What makes the timing so odd is that this has come after his nomination papers went in... with the Conservative Party name and logo. Ian Thomas is therefore still appearing on ballot papers as ...
"In fact," said Rabbit, coming to the end of it at last, "Tigger's getting so Bouncy nowadays that it's time we taught him a lesson. Don't you think so, Piglet?" Piglet said that Tigger was very Bouncy, and that if they could think of a way of unbouncing him, it would be a Very Good Idea. "Just what I feel," said Rabbit.It was expected that the Independent Group would be very pleased with itself. You must get quite an adrenaline rush from launching a new party. But it soon began to grate and I wondered would could be done to ...
Lib Dem Deputy Leader Jo Swinson will be on The Andrew Marr Show (which will be presented by Mishal Hussein) at 9am tomorrow on BBC1. #marr with @MishalHusainBBC on Sunday at 9am Father @MartinJMagill on #LyraMcKee's funeral@Conservatives Chair @BrandonLewis Lib Dem Deputy Leader @joswinson Labour's Andrew @GwynneMP Actor Lesley Manville Plus the news review w/ @HenryNewman & Aditya @chakrabortty@BBCOne pic.twitter.com/c30RhzFHKh — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) April 27, 2019 This is a critical weekend for the party in the run-up to the critical local elections. A good performance will be a superb launchpad in our quest to establish ourselves as the Stop ...
Along with many other Liberal Democrat members from London, I headed off to Chelmsford today for another spot of local election campaigning.
In response to a Twitter thread about what smaller political parties need to do, I made this point about political messaging... Key in that list: understand that if you are a small party being seen as a single issue party is a *good* thing. The choice is between talking about 23 things and being known for nothing or 1 thing and maybe being known for that. — Mark Pack (@markpack) April 27, 2019 Or, to put it another way – becoming known as a single issue party isn't a problem for the Liberal Democrats, it is progress.
Second paragraph of third chapter:"What's the panic?" asked Ryan. "Who's Attila the Hun?"The two best episodes of last year's Doctor Who series were the two historical settings which are up for the Hugo this year; here, Steve Cole takes the Tardis crew to a less well known historical moment, the conflict between Attila the Hun and the Roman general Flavius Ætius which culminated in the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451, near what is now Troyes in France. As it turns out, there are aliens involved as well as human factions; the Tardis crew get split up four ways ...
Nominations closed on 3 April, and I was somewhat relaxed about my likely fate. After all, my colleagues were all thoroughly capable so, were the worst to happen (a contested election and defeat), Creeting St Peter Parish Council would be in good hands. I did at least know that my nomination papers had been successfully filed which, as it turned out, put me at a distinct advantage. For, when dawn broke the next day (or at least not that long afterwards), it turned out that I had delivered two of the three nomination forms. From a personal perspective, not having ...
Fri, 12:56: Opportunity, a rover on Mars, was declared lost on February 12th https://t.co/HbgMjCvxR9 Lovely @Economist piece. Fri, 16:04: Brexit as seen from Brussels - A free talk by Dr Nicholas Whyte... https://t.co/IoU25H2BDV via @sluggerotoole Fri, 17:11: RT @DataPup_: People compliment me on my maturity in regards to how I engage with "twitter drama" and a lot of that is due to me refraining... Fri, 22:10: RT @SJAMcBride: Karen Bradley last January: "What has quickly become clear to me is that time is short and one last opportunity to reach ag... Fri, 22:16: RT @SJAMcBride: Last January, the NIO issued ...
With just a week to the local council elections in England, an extraordinary public row has blown up within Labour ranks over the content of a leaflet produced, under the guidance of the Leader's office, for the European elections. As the Independent reports, Jeremy Corbyn is facing fury within Labour after campaign leaflets for the European elections suggested the party wanted to press ahead with Brexit, despite a new opinion poll showing Remain with an eight-point lead over Leave. The flyer, which was drafted by the leader's office, makes no mention of the party's policy for a second referendum on ...
Condemning the news that US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will withdraw its signature from the Arms Trade Treaty, Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable MP said: "As a Cabinet Minister with operational responsibility for regulating the arms trade, I regarded this treaty as one of the real positive achievements of the Coalition Government. It is critically important in regulating the international trade of weapons. "That Trump has scrapped US participation is yet another retrograde step to add to his dereliction of duty on climate change and his outrageous demands to weaken international action to combat rape ...
I more than 99% of people in the UK at the very least desperately wanted The Independence Group to succeed. I have written for a very long time about how I thought the Lib Dems had blown it and how we needed a new centrist force in British politics. When Chuka and co left Labour to do their own thing, I was hopeful for the first time in a long while; when Soubry, Allen's and Wollaston left the Tories to join as well, I thought perhaps we were on the verge of something really big. To say that it's been ...
The recall petition for convicted MP Chris Davies opens on 9 May. Voters in Brecon and Radnorshire will have six weeks to sign the petition in six locations across the constituency. People registered for postal votes will receive a signing sheet to return if they want to sign the petition. If 5,303 eligible voters (that is, 10% of the electorate) sign it, a by-election will be held. The designated petition signing places are located at: County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 5LGNeuadd Brycheiniog, Cambrian Way, Brecon, LD3 7HRPresteigne Library, Market Hall, Presteigne, LD8 2ADYstradgynlais Library, Temperance Street, Ystradgynlais, SA9 1JJCouncil Chamber, ...
I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. As you can see from this list of the 10 most recent ones, I am happy to consider a wide range of subjects. If you would like to write a guest post yourself, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. The importance of respectful relationships between teachers and pupils - Sean Warren and Stephen BiggerThe Lib Dems and Brexit: How a shot in the arm became a shot in the foot - Neville FarmerDrinking with Daniel Farson - James TarryAn ideological conflict is coming - time for Liberals to ...
Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have produced their annual local elections prediction, using the results in council by-elections to forecast the May local elections: Based on some 110,000 votes cast in more than 50 council elections since November, the Tories have a national equivalent vote share of 35%, with Labour on 34%. The Lib Dems are on 16% and Ukip is below 5%. This equates to a Tory-to-Labour swing of two points since 2015 with the Lib Dems six points up and Ukip down by about seven points. If that picture remains the same in May, Labour could make about ...
