Lib Dems: Giving revenge porn victims anonymity is long overdue Responding to reports that the Government is considering granting anonymity to victims of revenge porn in prosecutions as part of a review of image-based sexual abuse laws, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said: Revenge porn is a despicable form of abuse. Guaranteeing anonymity for victims is a change that is long overdue. The Liberal Democrats led the fight to outlaw revenge porn in 2015, but prosecutions are still far too low. That's why the Liberal Democrats tabled legislation to extend anonymity to victims back in 2016, but the Conservatives ...
At cabinet yesterday a report on the agenda especially caught my attention. The Tour of Britain is coming to Gateshead and competing cyclists will be following a route which includes Sunniside and Whickham. Indeed, the route goes past the end of my street. It seems I will have a good vantage point. The only drawback, as I pointed out, is that live coverage will only be on ITV4, which I described
My colleagues kindly left me 600 Focuses yesterday to deliver once the rains had stopped. They are for Dunston Hill and Whickham East ward. Watch out for me over the next couple of days as I'm wearing out shoe leather during the heat wave!
There is something wrong with The Park. This enclave of 19th-century architect-designed houses stands behind Nottingham Castle. Indeed it occupies what was once its deer park. The houses are lovely but the atmosphere is strange. You will find the estate office in a building that looks like the sort of place where you would buy a ticket for the putting course at Church Stretton or Woodhall Spa. The streets are still lit by gas and little vehicles owned by the estate putter about them. The drivers will wave to you. But something is wrong with The Park. It feels like ...
Saturday was Sunday and Sunday was Saturday but, despite Lord Bonkers' insistence this time on writing his diary backwards, Wednesday is Wednesday. To understand what he means by "the knickerbocker glory treatment", you will have to read Thursday's entry which was naturally posted here on Tuesday. The old boy's theory about Corbyn being a Tory agent was set out a couple of years ago. Wednesday Being firmly convinced that Corbyn is a Conservative agent working to bring down the Labour Party, I seldom pay much attention to his views. I was, however, grateful to him for bringing my old friend ...
A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the oak-panelled drawing room of a west London hotel, speaking to tennis star Martina Navratilova. A few BBC cameramen and sound specialists were there also. Now, it's not normal that I go round speaking to sporting heroes. The BBC were filming a documentary based on Martina, [...]
Having moaned yesterday that only Sky was to screen a Lib Dem leadership debate, I am pleased to report that there are now to be two on the BBC. Tomorrow morning at 10, Ed Davey and Jo Swinson will take questions from a live studio audience on BBC2's Victoria Derbyshire programme. And on the evening of 19 July they will take part in a debate chaired by Jo Coburn. Well done, Auntie.
Sarah Olney, former MP for Richmond Park constituency, has been re-selected by the Liberal Democrats.
Former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (2008-11) Tavish Scott is standing down as an MSP to take up a new role at Scottish Rugby.
My friend and former fellow Sefton Borough councillor Maureen Fearn celebrated her 90th birthday today and we had a little party in Prezzo Southport to mark the occasion. Maureen is 2nd from the left. I blogged about Maureen (and her Brother-in-Law Ronnie) a while back and here's a link back to that previous posting from March 2016 as they were both retiring from Sefton Council:- Maureen was first elected to the old Southport Borough Council in 1971 and as noted in my previous posting she retired from Sefton Borough Council in May 2016. Over the years she has spent ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: I had never even seen a photograph of him from before he met my mother, and she has none. Apparently he had never been young. My father was born in Penang, now in Malaysia, in 1928, and this book is about a middle-aged Scotsman tracing the history of his own father's time in Penang at almost exactly the same time. So there was a lot of personal interest in it for me. The narrative cuts back and forth between 2004 Britain (mostly Orkney with bits of London and elsewhere) and 1930s Malaya, both of them ...
I knew I'd walked into a very geographically distinctive campaign this morning. The Brecon HQ gurus showed me the position of my delivery rounds using a large "Mountain Map" on the wall. I was expecting to be issued with crampons. * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Responding to reports that the Government is considering granting anonymity to victims of revenge porn in prosecutions as part of a review of image-based sexual abuse laws, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said: "Revenge porn is a despicable form of abuse. Guaranteeing anonymity for victims is a change that is long overdue. "The Liberal Democrats led the fight to outlaw revenge porn in 2015, but prosecutions are still far too low. "That's why the Liberal Democrats tabled legislation to extend anonymity to victims back in 2016, but the Conservatives and Labour blocked our attempts. "The Government must bring forward ...
[IMG: Image result for tavish scott] Tavish Scott (Photo: tavishscott.com) Former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Tavish Scott, is to step down from his role as an MSP after 20 years of representing Shetland at Holyrood. Scott was one of the first intake of MSPs and served as Minister for Transport in the Lab-Lib Dem coalition prior to becoming leader in 2008. His leadership came to an end following the disastrous performance of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the 2011 Holyrood elections. The widely held view is that the Scottish party suffered unfairly for the Liberal Democrats' Westminster coalition ...
Lib Dem activist Theo Butt brought his child along to campaign and tells us about the experience here. https://t.co/B8qhJdqtyq — paulwalteruk (@paulwalteruk) June 26, 2019 From a baby in a front-pack to a teenager with younger legs (I speak from experience) delivering to houses with long drives, bring your children along! Everyone is welcome in Brecon and Radnorshire to win this seat back for the Lib Dems. And if you can send in toys, books or games to the campaign offices to help keep younger children entertained, the addresses to post to are here: Llandrindod: Liberal Democrats, Haslemere, Park Crescent, ...
Ed Davey has apologised for his choice of language when talking about how he'd like to see Boris Johnson defeated at the next general election. Talking about how to defeat him in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, would-be Lib Dem leader Ed Davey talked about a plan to, "decapitate that blond head in Uxbridge and South Ruislip". He's since apologised, saying: I recognise this wasn't an acceptable choice of phrase and I'm sorry. This was careless use of language, meant in electoral sense and in no way literally. Whilst we should be robust in our opposition, we do have ...
Interesting news from Oldham with this press release: The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has welcomed a revelation in Oldham Council's recently published Housing Strategy that geothermal heat from Oldham's former coal mines could be used to heat homes across the borough in the future. In October 2014, Councillor Sykes first asked the then Council Leader if officers could investigate this possibility and five years on it appears they will finally do so. Councillor Sykes said: Oldham's coal mines are bursting with untapped renewable energy potential. Instead of your day to ...
Liberal Democrats in Business is a group within the Lib Dems for people who are in business to get together to discuss business issues and policy ideas. We meet with our elected politicians and candidates and help them to understand what affects business and help provide a channel for our politicians to communicate Lib Dem thinking to business people. Our next event at the National Liberal Club on the evening of Thursday 18th July will hear from Chuka Umunna Lib Dem MP for Streatham and the party's parliamentary spokesperson on Business and Treasury matters. Meetings take the format of networking ...
Please come and help @DoddsJane and her team here in Brecon and Radnorshire pic.twitter.com/Oh2jdHpdLc — paulwalteruk (@paulwalteruk) June 26, 2019 As you can see from the above video, I am Brecon and Radnorshire, busy helping Jane Dodds and her team over the next few days. We can win this one. Please get yourself down here as soon as possible. We need help now. Help given early in the campaign is inordinately important. There are two HQs – one in the south at Brecon and one in the north at Llandrindod Wells. They are both open every day from 10am until ...
Tue, 12:49: Agreed. https://t.co/gwg66P4hWo Tue, 12:56: Well worth reading. Tue, 13:09: RT @BBCTalkback: Advice from @WomensAidNI: 'If you hear a row going on between your neighbours and you are concerned, you should ring the p... Tue, 13:36: Well worth reading! https://t.co/BFByHJ9uH6 Tue, 14:03: Started Cycle with #cyclemeter at 14:03, on a new route, see https://t.co/HaAytrAJHd, Cyclemeter will speak your replies to me. Tue, 14:15: Very pleasant ride back from my lunchtime meeting, time 8:43, distance 1,80 km, see https://t.co/HaAytrAJHd, average 12,37. Tue, 14:23: RT @apcoworldwide: What impact did the recent #EUElections2019 have on Brussels and companies looking to navigate the ...
In his BBC interview by Laura Kuensberg (interview text here), Tory leadership contender Boris Johnson said he had a far better chance of realising an agreed Brexit than May had, because the political situation both in Britain and on the Continent, in Brussels, has been fundamentally transformed since the March 2019 Brexit Deadline (and the British European elections). Johnson says that the EU leaders are scared because the newly elected Brexit Party – and Tory MEPs – are a new, powerful Eurosceptic force, putting pressure on the European Commission and Council from within the Euro Parliament (EP). I think Johnson's ...
Wed 26th
09:50
If the Lib Dems really want to be "the natural party of business" they are going to have to do a lot...
The meltdown of the two major British parties has foist upon the Liberal Democrats a huge number of opportunities. One of them has been claiming the mantle of the business party away from the Tories as they now seem likely to elect the man known for chucking an expletive in the direction of the business community as their next leader. However, simply relying on the Tories and Labour being poor will not lead to any long-term electoral gains for the Lib Dems – and looking at current business policy of the party is a great place to start seeing where ...
[IMG: Venn diagram of Lib Dem/Tory influence on Coalition policies] "Two non-entities" - the curt analysis of historian David Starkey on the Lib Dem leadership race seems unduly harsh. But as a semidetached Lib Dem looking for an excuse to reattach I have at the very least been struck by just how similar the two Lib Dem leadership candidates are. The Lib Dems are now a very new and fresh party in the sense that most members have joined in very recent years or even months. For those of us with decades of libdemmery under our belts, Ed Davey and ...
On June 26 (today), in a welcome historical coincidence, the two leaders most capable of mediating between the US and Iran will meet face-to-face in Tokyo to put an end to the current dangerous escalation that risks setting the Middle East on fire. Emmanuel Macron, on an official visit to Japan, will have plenty of [...] The post Iran-USA: Macron and Abe must act – and quickly! appeared first on Radix.
From the City Council : Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating footway reconstruction works. The Order is expected to be in force for ten days from 1 July 2019. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months. The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic in Abbotsford Street its junction with Blackness Road. An alternative route will be available via Blackness Road and Seymour Street. Please forward any comments you may have regarding this proposal to ...
The Independent reports that Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of more "muddle and confusion" after Labour again failed to agree a shift to fully back a further Brexit referendum. The paper says that for the second week running, a shadow cabinet meeting broke up without reaching a consensus to end what has been widely criticised as fence-sitting by the Labour leader, with one source telling the paper that there was "no change" in referendum policy, while a second described "no movement": Phil Wilson MP, a Labour MP supporting the People's Vote campaign, said: "The longer this dithering goes on, the ...
