Going in to the final test 1-0 up, England set Australia 223 runs to level the series. Though England's outstanding fast bowler John Snow was injured early on, it proved beyond them. Without Snow, the England attack consisted of the fast bowlers Peter Lever and Bob Willis (plucked from Surrey's second XI on John Edrich's recommendation when Alan Ward had to go home injured), the spinners Derek Underwood and Ray Illingworth, and the golden-armed medium pacer Basil D'Oliveira,
Fri 20th
21:10
Spreadsheets and vicious beasts - the not very secret lives of Lib Dem #dangerousextremists
So, Emily Thornberry said the Liberal Democrats had "gotten kind of Taliban" in an interview with The House magazine. Now, hang on a wee minute here. There might be another Taliban, who have a woman leader who talks about creating a more loving country, who state clearly what they are going to do if they win a majority in an election because, you know, democracy. But Google hasn't heard of THAT Taliban. It only knows about the murderous, misogynistic brutes who terrorised Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. Thornberry's comments show how Labour have really lost the plot. Maybe she is ...
Sometimes, you end up with resolutions that don't appear to be terribly important, and this one is one of those. Yes, animal cruelty should be challenged, but at a time of stress, you do wonder if this is worth debating time... Chick culling - A European concern The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party convening in Athens, Greece, on 24-26 October 2019: Having regard to: the resolution "The Link between Animal Welfare, Public Health and Resistance to Antibiotics" adopted at the ALDE Party Congress in Helsinki, Finland (October 2010).Notes that: as of 2018 around 7 billion day-old ...
Fri 20th
20:04
NHS managers who defrauded health service of £800k using names of U2 band members ordered to p...
Not for the first time, the Shropshire Star wins our Headline of the Day Award. Old joke: Why did Bono fall off the stage?
Missed the rally at Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth? You can watch it online, including Tim Farron plugging a book, by-election winner Jane Dodds, future MP Laura Gordon, a host of Liberal Democrat MEPs, Guy Verhofstadt, Jo Swinson and latest recruit Sam Gyimah.
The Daily Mirror tells us that Jo Swinson has hit back at Labour's Emily Thornberry after she branded the Lib Dems 'kind of Taliban' over their Brexit policy.And the Liberal Democrats have been united in their outrage. Trouble is, I have had a nagging feeling all day that it may be my fault. Because this is how I began my Lib Dem Conference diary for the Guardian website back in 2001:Fierce, bearded and wedded to an impenetrable ideology. Not a description of the Taliban, but the average commentator's view of the Liberal Democrats.Clearly, I am the one who put the ...
Full council yesterday in Gateshead and Lib Dems had submitted three motions: period poverty, Domestic Abuse Bill and ending the use of bottled water in council buildings. The latter motion was moved by me and is something close to my heart. Our motion called on the use of bottled water in council buildings to be phased out and replaced with a refill scheme in which people can use their own
Here's the write-up from LGBT+ Liberal Democrats of their meeting with Phillip Lee and others following the controversy and resulting resignations triggered by his switch to the Liberal Democrats: During the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth, members of the LGBT+ Liberal Democrat Executive met with Dr Phillip Lee MP, Equalities Spokesperson Christine Jardine MP, and Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael MP. Also present in a personal capacity was our former Chair, Jennie Rigg. We raised our concerns, those of LGBT+ communities and the party membership on how the events of the last few weeks were dealt with by the parliamentary party. ...
Fri 20th
18:23
This is what Shrewsbury Extinction Rebellion would have told yesterday's Shropshire Council meeting ...
I have written about events at yesterday's meeting of Shropshire Council, including the walkout by Tory councillors who could not stomach listening to an Extinction Rebellion protest. That's ironic. The Tories walked out because they did not want to listen to a protest about the climate emergency. They were more concerned with getting on with the business of building motorways in Shropshire. The Conservative walkout was just ahead of the protests by millions of people around the world today at the lack of progress by our politicians on tackling the climate emergency. Many, but not all, politicians accept the threat ...
In a break from my usual practice, here's the entry for today, 20 September: The Doctor Meets Two Loch Ness Monsters The group of Zygons whose spaceship crash-landed in Loch Ness lived beneath the loch for centuries before they discovered their home planet had been destroyed and decided to conquer Earth in Terror of the Zygons (1975). They brought with them an embryo Skarasen, which grew into a huge dinosaur-like armoured cyborg. The Zygons depended upon its lactic fluid for sustenance, and used it as a defence and a weapon. Over the years, people caught glimpses of the Skarasen as ...
In business it's been my experience that chance happenings, hard work and good luck lead to success more often than detailed strategic planning. This was definitely true when I found myself involved in Software AG's...Continue Reading The post Government Gateway chronicles part 1: "Microsoft are our common enemy" appeared first on ten pence piece.
Responding to the comments made by Emily Thornberry comparing the Liberal Democrats to the Taliban, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Chuka Umunna said:"Emily Thornberry should withdraw her inappropriate remarks. Language counts - comparing the Liberal Democrats to a murderous organisation is no laughing matter."It is also grossly insulting to the 6 million people who signed the revoke Article 50 petition launched earlier this year, including many of the Shadow Cabinet's constituents."The Liberal Democrats are clear that every vote for us is a vote to stop Brexit."Note: Constituency Number of signatories to the Revoke Article 50 petition ...
Fri 20th
16:20
ALDE Party Congress, Athens 2019 - "Carbon Capture and Storage: Reaching the Paris Goals"
More environmental policy making, this time from our Norwegian sister party, Venstre... Carbon Capture and Storage: Reaching the Paris Goals The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party convening in Athens, Greece, on 24-26 October 2019: Taking note of: the fact that carbon capture and storage (CCS) enables deep decarbonisation of the economy, and in particular for a number of industries that have few or no other options to significantly reduce emissions;the challenge posed by waste management, as global waste is predicted to reach several billion tonnes by 2050 and a significant part of this waste is expected ...
Welcome, Gabriel Rozenberg (Garden Suburb ward, Barnet Council) who, after twenty years as a Conservative, has joined the party because of Brexit: Today I've quit the Conservatives - I'm now a Liberal Democrat. [IMG: 👇] pic.twitter.com/d5P9VeZj4R — Gabriel Rozenberg (@rozgab) September 20, 2019 If you sign up for my blog posts digest you'll get a handy one-a-day email with links to all the latest posts. You can also sign up for a range of other lists, including Liberal Democrat Newswire – a monthly newsletter about the party. Just pick the options you'd like on the sign-up form.
With the prospect of a general election on the horizon, we have just finished another successful Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Bournemouth. Jo Swinson delivered a stirring first leader's speech and Conference backed several new policy motions, most notably the party's new policy on Brexit. A future Liberal Democrat Majority Government would revoke Article 50 and instantly stop Brexit. British politics now has a party that is prepared to do its utmost to put an end to Brexit, either by getting a democratic mandate to revoke Article 50 or failing that, by securing a People's Vote with the option to ...
Fri 20th
12:10ALDE Party Congress, Athens 2019 - "A Climate Policy that Delivers on the Paris Agreement"
So, as promised, here we go with the draft resolutions submitted for debate at the end of next month... A Climate Policy that Delivers on the Paris Agreement The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party convening in Athens, Greece, on 24-26 October 2019: Taking note of:the alarming trends of climate change and environmental deterioration in the last couple of decades;the fact that the rate of Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade and that the rate of sea level rise in the last two decades, however, is nearly double of that of the last ...
The Royal Society of Musicians' charming new headquarters in Fitzroy Square earlier this week hosted the launch of a CD of a cross-cultural "music-narrative", The Roaring Whirl, with music by composer Sarah Rodgers. Set in the Indian state of Punjab at the time of Kipling's Kim, the work blends Eastern and Western forms as well as [...]
Justin Trudeau, current Prime Minster of Canada and up for re-election in a few weeks' time, is being much maligned and on the front pages of even our newspapers for having darkened his face and worn a turban to attend a fancy dress party with the theme of "Arabian Nights." That was 18 years ago when he was a teacher and before he entered active politics. I suppose as the son of a previous prime minister he needed even then to be extra careful, but I can't for the life of me see that there was all that much inappropriate ...
Thu, 12:56: Noel Grealish's views of asylum seekers are based on myth https://t.co/Q8RP5gl13q The truth about asylum seekers in Ireland. Thu, 12:56: RT @pmdfoster: @LeoVaradkar IMAGINE how a Spanish minister would go down in London dishing out threats in this manner? I asssume @SteveBarc... Thu, 15:18: RT @jonlis1: In which the Brexit Secretary literally threatens Ireland with medicine shortages if it doesn't agree to flout the Good Friday... Thu, 15:43: TIL that both Gareth Thomas and Jacqueline Pearce were in the 1974 BBC David Copperfield (as Murdstone and Rosa Bar... https://t.co/BGaMlpRCfH Thu, 16:04: RT @jamesdoleman: (The fact everyone is discussing ...
I attended the fringe meeting to meet Luciana Berger MP in a small room fit for perhaps 30-40 people. Whoever thought that would be enough at a Lib Dem Conference for a meeting with the dynamic, young Jewish MP who had just joined the Lib Dems after 10 years as a Labour MP? The room was rammed to the doors with another huge group outside the open doors. It was clear that Luciana hadn't expected such a welcome. The room was so crowded that the person due to chair the meeting couldn't get in! A chair, who happened to be ...
I'm heading to Brighton for Labour conference on Sunday. It is my tenth in a row. Despite having never been a member or even seriously considered becoming one, I always enjoy Labour conference, every year. It is younger and cooler than any of the other conferences – even the if politics and the policy ideas tend to range from laughable to terrifyingly awful most of the time. This is the first year in a long time that people in Westminster aren't talking about how there will be fights at the bar and the like; I suppose there are only so ...
Today, around the world, millions of people will put down their tools and text-books, abandon their cars and computers, and join the global climate strike. But sadly, I will not be with them. For years, I have argued that climate change is the single greatest challenge we face; an existential crisis which threatens our every ... Continue reading On the Global Day of Climate Action →
This post first appeared on the Radix UK site... There are, said the poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge - the author of Kubla Khan and the Ancient Mariner - "two classes of men". He didn't mean, as W. S. Gilbert suggested, "either a little Liberal or else a little Conservat-ive". Nor did he mean Cavalier or Roundhead, nor Protestant or Catholic - though I will come to them later. He meant Aristotelians or Platonists. "Every man is born an Aristotelian or a Platonist," he said. "I don't think it possible that anyone born an Aristotelian can become a Platonist; ...
What If we Stopped Pretending? Jonathan Franzen, The New Yorker, 8 September, 2019 The climate apocalypse is coming. To prepare for it, we need to admit that we can't prevent it. In my previous piece, I imagined concentrating all kinds of new physical development on corridors designed to cope with global heating. But I had little to say about what could happen everywhere outside the corridors. This is such a huge issue. It needs an all-embracing approach. Something which everyone must get involved in and support. A life and death approach. How about getting rid of all spending which has ...
This fascinating exhibition opens at Kirkby Gallery on Monday 23rd September and runs until 16th November. I blogged about it back in August and here's a link to that posting:- As I mentioned in my original piece the Frank Hornby Heritage Center, which is based within Maghull's Meadows Leisure Centre, has loaned some items to the Hornby/Meccano part of the Made on Merseyside Exhibition. Indeed, this is the first time we have loaned out items to another exhibition. The preview opening was yesterday evening and I went along to have a look taking my Merseyside Maritime Museum Assistant Curator ...
Party President Sal Brinton with (L to R) Richard Logue, Audrey Eager and Conrad Bryan We weren't sure what to expect on Monday morning when we picked up 500 flyers for our launch event. We weren't inside the conference building, we weren't on the conference timetable and we certainly weren't on the conference app. What we did have was enthusiasm and determination to get the message out to conference that we were there and would welcome anyone who wanted to know what we are about and what we intend to do. We were delighted to secure the Irish Ambassador to ...
There were some great local election results last night: First of all, Derek Parry won in Vivary in Somerset. Vivary (Somerset West & Taunton) result: LDEM: 55.3% (+21.0) CON: 26.2% (-1.9) IND: 13.2% (+13.2) LAB: 2.7% (-9.9) GRN: 2.6% (+2.6) Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 20, 2019
Yes, it's coming up to that time of year again, when liberals from across the continent come together to meet, debate and swap ideas. There may also be the odd glass of something taken too... Over the next two weeks, I'll be covering the resolutions submitted for debate, and offering some of my thoughts where appropriate. But first, here's the list (and I'll add links to each as I publish...)A Climate Policy that Delivers on the Paris Agreement (submitted by Centerpartiet (Sweden), Nowoczesna (Poland), Radikale Venstre (Denmark), Liberal Democrats and LYMEC)Carbon Capture and Storage: Reaching the Paris Goals (submitted by ...
Students start to arrive at UK universities within days, offering political parties rich pickings in recruitment terms, a General Election is inevitable within the next few months, and the country is in turmoil, creating an opportunity for a savvy leader to capture the zeitgeist and storm to power, so Labour responds by setting up new internal arguments to divide members. The Guardian reports that the party have voted to wind down their 40-year old student movement because it is too right wing. Jon Lansman, the Momentum chair who sits on the NEC and is an ally of Jeremy Corbyn, was ...
Six council by-elections this week, with a full slate of Liberal Democrat candidates (yay!). They split equally between three Labour defences and three Conservative defences. One thing that was the same across the board was the Lib Dems going up and Labour going down: Change in Labour vote in last night's by-elections: -6 -7 -10 -12 -17 (Plus one contest without a Labour candidate) — Mark Pack [IMG: 🔶] (@markpack) September 20, 2019
Fri 20th
06:25Ludlow's Feathers Hotel applies to sell booze until 2:30am - that could make it a focus for antisoci...
Refurbishment of Ludlow's Feather Hotel is nearing completion and the new owners Crest Hotels have applies for an alcohol licence for the new bar, which will be located where the reception was before. Eyebrows are being raised at the application, which proposes selling alcohol, including off sales, until 2:30am at weekend and 1:30am during the week. This looks like a standard application put in by the company's legal team to cover every option. I very much doubt that Crest will want to become an early hours boozer full of people who leave other pubs at closing time. I wish the ...
