Following the news of Ben Rathe being appointed Jo Swinson's Press Secretary, comes the appointment of Rhiannon Leaman as her Chief of Staff. Sara Mosavi has also been appointed Head of Office. Formerly the party's Head of Campaigns, Rhiannon has been central to the party's anti-Brexit campaigning, bringing to that her experience also of campaigning outside the party working previously at Save the Children. It's great to see someone with such experience of helping the party campaign on national issues in this key role as this sort of campaigning is crucial to building up a Lib Dem core vote and ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The advertised resurfacing work is likely to start on Thursday this week. This will have a major impact on local bus services. Services Y1 & Y2 will divert via the full length of Sundridge Park and Rodford Way in both directions. The bus stops Hardwicke, Deerhurst, Prescott and Northfield will not be served during the closure, but buses will stop at all bus stops on the diversion route.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington
Tue 20th
19:13

Tuesday reading

Current De Bourgondiërs, by Bart Van Loo The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin True Stories, ed. Xanna Eve Chown Last books finished Alina, by Jason Johnson Next books Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky Berlin Book Three: City of Light, by Jason Lutes

Trees which separate the Leeds Liverpool Canal towpath from the new housing development site off Maghull's Turnbridge Road have had a preservation placed on them by Sefton Council and residents living close to the trees have had a letter from the council today. The large trees in the background of this shot are some of those affected by the order:- The order takes takes effect on a provisional basis from 20th August and will continue in force on this basis for a further 6 months or until the Order is confirmed by the Council, whichever first occurs. In effect the ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

A former No10 colleague asked me recently: is there a definitive guide out there to how monetary and fiscal policy work together? What determines incomes? What made his questions remarkable were both how fundamental they were, and yet how distant from the day job when we had worked together in Downing Street. Politicians do [...]

Posted by freethinkingeconomist on Freethinking Economist

The Catechism of Cliché: What is a bad thing worse than? Useless. What can one do with fierce resistance? Offer it. But if one puts fierce resistance, in what direction does one put it? Up. In which hood is a person who expects money to fall out of the sky? Second child. If a thing is fraught, with what is it fraught? The gravest consequences. What does one sometimes have it on? The most unimpeachable authority. What is the only thing one can wax? Eloquent. How are allegations dealt with? They are denied. Yes, but then you are weakening, Sir. ...

Today has been pretty much perfect. I am in my favourite place in the world, the weather is glorious, I had almost eight uninterrupted hours of sleep for the first time in a long time and the local shop had in stock Lotus Biscoff biscuits just when I had a craving for them. There is a chicken roasting in the oven and some very nice gin waiting for me when I get back from our evening beach walk. I thought it couldn't really get much better and then I heard who Jo Swinson had appointed as her Chief of Staff. ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Earlier this year I ran a survey for party members which included questions about the Lib Dem policy on Brexit and on possible deals with other parties. As so much has happened politically since then, with MPs joining the Lib Dems and new cross-party initiatives, I'm re-running those particular questions to see if views in the party have changed in response. Take the survey here (for Lib Dem members/registered supporters) I'll cover the results in a future Liberal Democrat Newswire newsletter (my free monthly newsletter with party news and analysis). You can sign up for that here.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Many people living in retirement in Sefton, Liverpool, Knowsley etc. will have worked at this world famous toy factory. Indeed, many visitors to the Frank Hornby Experience displays within Maghull's Meadows Leisure Center tell us that they or a relative worked there and it's always great to hear stories about working lives there. Not so long ago, with the help of Keith Page, I purchased a Dinky Toy model of a green and white toy bus which was made at the Meccano Factory. Here's the bus:- Then my fellow Frank Hornby Trust trustee Les French pointed out that there's a ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Five years ago, a rather dull-sounding law was introduced by Theresa May's Home Office called the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. It passed relatively easily through parliament and was presented as a more effective way of taking enforcement against anti-social behaviour. In reality, it has become a favourite tool of the more authoritarian-minded councils, who now have the power to criminalise virtually any activity they choose, with no central oversight. As a busker and a campaigner for Keep Streets Live, we've felt the sharp end of this legislation. Despite Home Office guidance stating that the powers 'should not be ...

Posted by David Gray on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

It would be an act of monumental self-deception for Canadians to believe that our country is an island set above the rage bubbling across the world.

This is how the voice of the speaking clock was selected in the UK in 1936... perhaps a format that could be adopted for training telephone canvassers in the Liberal Democrats?

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

A report by the electoral commission has called for the regulation of targetted political messages sent digitally. In general, the report calls for limits to the amount of money spent during election periods, the prohibition of foreign money, and the identification of the senders. You can see the details here. Sadly it is probably too late to bring in relevant new laws before a snap general election or even another referendum, but it is vitally important for us, the public, to be fully aware of what is going on. A recent article by Peter Pomerantsev tells of a world of ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal

Embed from Getty ImagesSo, what should we make of yesterday's report from IPPR North about projected spending on transport in the North of England up to 2033? Lets first look at those figures: The north of England is set to receive £2,389 less per person than London on transport, according to a new study which has stoked concern that the north is "held back by government underinvestment". The study, by IPPR North, analysed the government's planned infrastructure projects between now and 2033 and found that planned transport spending in the capital was set to be £3,636 per person, compared with ...

Posted by Richard Kemp on Liberal Democrat Voice
Tue 20th
11:00

My tweets

Mon, 12:14: We were surprisingly close to not awarding Best Fanzine in both 2019 Hugos and 1944 Retro Hugos this year. The tota... https://t.co/NR6Qp68YOq Mon, 12:56: RT @DmitryOpines: Reminder: When New Zealand lost preferential access to its traditional export market (the UK), its economy and standard o... Mon, 14:03: @GeekMelange You have mail. Mon, 14:03: @MaryRobinette You have mail. Mon, 16:05: RT @claudiascore: This aged well. https://t.co/Z5cJgZPggq Mon, 18:48: "John W. Campbell, for whom this award was named, was a fascist." @jeannette_ng's Campbell-winning speech. She actu... https://t.co/S5mWUpnOKH Mon, 19:03: RT @davidallengreen: Given a No Deal Brexit means, on any view, ...

Jane Dodds applauds helpers at Brecon – Photo by Callum Littlemore I heard the good news about Brecon and Radnorshire having disappeared for some R&R as soon as Parliament closed, and the new Lib Dem leadership was settled. I was delighted with the result not just for Jane Dodds and our campaigners - who fully deserved it - but for an excellent colleague, Roger Williams, who didn't deserve to lose back in 2015. Our victory is testament also to Kirsty Williams, our AM, who kept the Lib Dem flame, and local party, alive through the years of exile. I enjoyed ...

Posted by Vince Cable on Liberal Democrat Voice

Liberal Democrats in Greater Manchester have announced their candidate for the election for Greater Manchester Mayor in May 2020. Councillor Andy Kelly, who is the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Rochdale Council will take on Labour's candidate, Andy Burnham. Andy said: "The Tories are playing parlour games with people's lives and Labour are betraying those they profess to represent I felt the need to step up to the plate. Greater Manchester voters deserve better representation, we need someone who is not afraid to be frank about our future. That person is me. This year the Liberal Democrats made ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

When I first read about Trump's interest in buying Greenland from Denmark, I thought it was a spoof story doing the rounds. So I was a bit surprised to learn that the story was for real. Greenland is the biggest area to leave the EU and the population of 60,000 has something of a reputation for wanting at least their own internal independence. It's unlikely they will ever want to be bought or

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

The Sunday Times on August 18th led with this "leaked" Cabinet document, purportedly by a former Cabinet official and then downplayed by Mr Gove and others as a "worst case" scenario or a re-hash of "project fear". Even if the "revelations" are slightly dated (although it is said to have been an updated version) the base-case cannot have changed materially since March 2019 and if anything could arguably have worsened given the macro-fiscal setting the UK faces. The National Audit Office produced a dry overview of Operation Yellowhammer in March 2019 which was setup under the aegis of the Civil ...

Posted by Rupinder Singh on Liberal Democrat Voice

Council Leaders in Greater Manchester have voted to introduce a £10 a year charge for pensioners to travel for free on Metrolink and trains. The charge will come into effect in 2020 and is expected to bring in in around £1.2 million, straight out of the pockets of Greater Manchester's pensioners. This was supported by the nine Labour Council Leaders (including Bury's), the Labour Mayor and the Conservative Leader of Bolton Council. Bus travel will still be free but for us. this extra charge for pensioners at the worst possible time. Free TV licenses for the over 75s end next ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone
eUKhost

I never have had much time for superheroes. Entire stories and worlds in which women barely feature, apart from as occasional love-interests, always read like the self-aggrandising fantasies of male comic-writers and directors, somehow given big budgets to play out their make-believe on cinematic scale. I don't watch the films – the tales of ordinary men turned into extraordinary men don't matter much to me. Putting on BBC Parliament can feel a lot like watching the latest offering from Marvel Studios. Last month, a battle played out between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, two particularly average men. In fact, they ...

Posted by Zoe Hodge on Radix Think Tank

Gibraltar has just controversially released the Iranian oil tanker formerly known as the Grace 1 with a new name and a written assurance from Tehran that its shipment won't be used to break EU sanctions on Syria. As a member of the European Parliament's Iran delegation and one of the LibDem MEPs for Gibraltar, as well as the South West of England, I have warmly welcomed this move. And I'm pleased to be in a position to strengthen our co-operation and influence with Europe on this critical issue. Its no exaggeration to say that peace in the Persian Gulf hangs ...

Posted by Martin Horwood on Liberal Democrat Voice

Last month was there regular meeting of Bury Council's Cabinet. Opposition Leaders are allowed to attend the meeting but not vote. Councillor Cristina Tegolo reports: Corporate Finance Monitoring Report The Leader and Cabinet Chair, submitted the Cabinet Financial monitoring report. The report informs Members of the Council's financial position for the period April 2019 to June 2019 and projects the estimated outturn at the end of 2019/20. The revenue budget projections highlight the fact that budget pressures exist in some key areas and it will be necessary to continue to maintain the high level of scrutiny, control and support around ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

Reproduced with permission, a message from Candy Piercy on Facebook: Lib Dem friends! Calling all artworkers. If you are an experienced leaflet writer, Sarah Yong and I need your help this week! I am the Chair of the Campaign for Gender Balance and Sarah is Chair of the Racial Diversity Campaign. We are working together with Daisy Cooper and Miranda Roberts getting ready for an imminent general election. We are supporting lots of brilliant women members, BAME members and potential candidates from other underrepresented groups in the current snap selections, In order to do that they need great artwork and ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Reports that the new Home Secretary is proposing to end freedom of movement for EU citizens immediately after a no-deal Brexit are both predictable and disturbing. It is predictable because Brexit has always been about isolating the UK in the world and taking us back to the pre-World War One era of Empire, when Britain ruled the waves and all was right in the world. It is an unachievable fantasy but one that is nevertheless driving the actions of UK Ministers. It is disturbing of course because, as the Guardian reports, it could create a hostile environment for European nationals. ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

This weekend is the annual Manchester LGBT Pride festival, so expect the city centre to be busy with some road closures for the parade on Saturday. The parade starts at midday on Saturday 24 August 2019 going down Deansgate, then Peter Street, ending up in the gay village area. The rest of the event takes place at two venues: – Manchester Pride Live at the former Mayfield Station site near Piccadilly with acts which include Ariana Grande – Gay Village Party, in the gay village. You need a ticket to go to both events, which are available here!

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

NHS Bury have issued the following information to local residents about health service opening times over the summer bank holiday weekend. "Patients are being urged to get organised ahead of the summer bank holiday on Monday 26th August, collect prescriptions in advance and to consider self-care for minor, short term conditions. There are a range of services and options available over the bank holiday with some community pharmacies open. Pharmacists offer expert health advice and can recommend over-the-counter medicines to provide relief from many minor, short term conditions such as coughs, colds, sore throats, tummy trouble and aches and pains. ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone
Tue 20th
07:00

Dundee Cycling Forum