David Nicholl will be standing for the Liberal Democrats against the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, in Bromsgrove constituency.
My mother is elderly and frail, which has (though I don't live with her) led me to the catastrophising conclusion that something terrible will happen if I leave Market Harborough. In am effort to refute that theory I visited Southwell and its minster in Nottinghamshire yesterday and stayed the night. It appears to have worked, but then Southwell takes me that way. I am not a Christian, but if anywhere makes me wish I was it is Southwell Minster.
Following the decision by Luciana Berger to fight the constituency where she lives in north London, Richard Kemp is going to fight her Liverpool Wavertree constituency for the Liberal Democrats. On his blog, he writes: Liverpool has been the proverbial two horse race between Liverpool and Labour since 1973. The last Tory councillor in Liverpool was elected 25 years ago and is now a Lib Dem member. The Greens are confined to a couple of wards in the Riverside Constituency. Liverpool Wavertree is a constituency with a 70% remain majority and that is the new dividing line in British politics. ...
As the digital giants (FANGs) are described by Bloomberg as not so much disrupting the economy but "eating it alive", there is evidence of a big shift in the attitude of competition authorities in the US – if not yet in the UK 13D Research is predicting a shift "from wealth accumulation to wealth distribution" In our recently published paper Freedom to Choose, Tim Cowen argues that competition authorities should get past their narrow focus on 'consumer welfare' and see their role as positively promoting freedom of choice Tim also argues that allowing continued market consolidation "undermines faith in market ...
Second paragraph of third section, 21st century: Cossa, George said.Second paragraph of third section, 15th century: Now, he said. This cup here has the Water of Forgetting in it. This cup here has the Water of Remembering. First you drink this. Then you wait a little. Then you drink the other. One of those prize-winning books from a few years back that I have only now got around to reading. Not a lot to say about it, except that I enjoyed it. It comes in two halves, one about a girl in contemporary Cambridge whose mother has recently died, and ...
Ok. I know I said that I wasn't going to do it. And as recently as conference I was adamant that I was not going to change my mind. But I have. The first thing of course that I have to say is that I am sorry for the delay and to explain that it was a family thing. It's well known that my husband died during the General Election in circumstances which were difficult, particularly for my daughter and the people close to me. I'm sure you all appreciate that without her support I would have found it impossible ...
Brexit is a symptom of a wider problem in British politics where we don’t know what we mean when we talk of democracy.
You may have seen images in the news of Indonesia with blood red skies and mired in choking smoke, looking more like Mars than on earth. Runaway forest fires in Indonesia has been a recurring problem, and the cause of the "haze" in Singapore and Malaysia, depending on which way the wind blows. The fires can rage on for days and weeks in the carbon-rich peat forests, and has so far affected an estimated 69 million people in the region. We can't even begin to count the cost to the wildlife. Each day in Singapore we look at the Pollutant ...
I was intrigued by an article on Lib Dem Voice penned by William Wallace entitled "How do we renew our battered democracy". Wallace is a member of the House of Lords and I have said previously that the House of Lords is an affront to democracy. Liberal Democrats should not be legitimising it by nominating or accepting peerages. It's just wrong. I am, therefore, always wary of articles by "Lords", especially if the title of the article refers to democracy. I was pleased to see a brief endorsement for an elected Upper Chamber. I also noted a strong case for ...
The UK section of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) made a timely visit to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh this week — my first direct experience of that institution. It is housed in a beautiful modern complex, full of light and symbolic detail. The architect unfortunately died before everything was up and running, so [...]
Liberal Democrat Voice has been advised by Prue Bray and Richard Kemp that they are withdrawing from the contest to succeed Sal Brinton as Party President. Prue writes; This is confirmation that, with regret, I am withdrawing from the election for Party President, despite having been successfully nominated. Unfortunately, the amount of work I am having to do as English Candidates Chair to prepare for the coming General Election simply does not allow enough time for me to simultaneously commit to campaign to become Party President. Richard has sent us a statement as well; I have announced that I am ...
Fri 27th
11:55
The speeches that got away: Investing in further education and learning throughout life
The Education motion at conference stated "The UK faces a serious skills deficit". That is an understatement. Take for example what happens when young people fail GCSE Maths and English and move on to sixth form or college. When I taught at a general FE College, I remember a group of 17year old girls, who aspired to be nurses. I had to spend time, for example, teaching them quadratic equations when they really needed much more time improving their understanding and application of decimals, percentages, and ratio relevant to their career. Force-feeding young people to resit GCSE Maths and English ...
[IMG: An application of the bus analogy] The post An application of the bus analogy appeared first on @ambitiousmamas.
The UK's institutions have, so far, stood up to what can only be considered a sustained assault by the executive. Over the last three years, it has become fashionable to argue that the whole sorry Brexit saga has made the UK a laughing stock around the world. Government in chaos. A parliament unable to decide which way is up. A country divided straight down the middle. All very messy, unkempt and disorderly. But messy and disorderly are inherent characteristics of a functioning democracy. Order can only be imposed on the innate entropy of democracy through authoritarianism or unaccountable technocracy. Brexit ...
Thu, 12:02: RT @afpfr: L'ancien président de la République Jacques Chirac est mort ce jeudi matin à l'âge de 86 ans, a annoncé son gendre Frédéric Sala... Thu, 12:56: RT @IsabelHardman: Genuinely quite shocked by Boris Johnson describing as 'humbug' Paula Sheriff's complaint about his language in which sh... Thu, 13:30: RT @nick_gutteridge: 1/ EU officials and diplomats were dismayed by last night's furore in Parliament, and events in general over the past... Thu, 15:06: RT @UKPoliticalNews: About to start an internal briefing for colleagues in DC, Berlin, Paris & Brussels on the current state of #Brexit and... Thu, 16:05: ...
During the leadership contest, Jo Swinson repeatedly made welcome reference to building a grassroots army of liberals to campaign for our values. We certainly need such a force to help overcomes the advantages the Conservatives and Labour benefit from with their friendly media barons, a political system designed for two parties and their big business and trade union funding. The good news is that we have plenty of the key ingredients already in place: hundreds of thousands of supporters. Not only is our membership at record levels and the new registered supporter scheme steadily growing. But also for every member, ...
Fri 27th
10:49
Boris Johnson's plan looks to be built on goading parliament to bring him down and have another prim...
When Johnson stood in the Commons, having been unwillingly recalled there by a decision of the Supreme Court, and said things he must have known would rile Labour MPs on a personal level, I wondered what was going in his head. The Jo Cox stuff was beyond the pale, and I refuse to believe he had no idea what he was doing. Won't he need to keep at least a few Labour MPs on side if he wants to attempt to get a deal through parliament? Of course, that was me falling for the bullshit. Johnson knows there is a ...
There were some good results in last night's by-elections with double figure increases for the Liberal Democrats. Alexandra (Ipswich) result: LAB: 50.2% (-3.7) LDEM: 19.6% (+10.3) CON: 19.0% (-6.2) GRN: 11.2% (-0.4) Labour HOLD. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 26, 2019 That was up from just 164 votes in a much bigger turnout in 2017. A good night for Henry Williams, Steve Moore, Lisa Newport, Harry Old and David Anderson.
Traditionally it is the families of service personnel, police officers and other emergency services who worry about the safety of their loved ones as they go about their duties with a commitment, dedication and selflessness that is often above and beyond what is asked of them. So when did our society get so toxic that the children of politicians feel that they have to express similar fears about the safety of their parents? As the Guardian reports, Ellie Cooper, the remarkable daughter of Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, has tweeted a long thread about her fears for her mother. It ...
The move of the sitting Lib Dem MP for Liverpool Wavertree, Luciana Berger, to stand for Finchley & Golders Green means that I am once again the Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Constituency. We regret that because we wanted to ... Continue reading →
Fri 27th
09:02
Port of Liverpool – Expansion continues & will become 2 carts (or many HGV's) before the ...
Rimrose Valley Country Park. I picked up the link below via a Liverpool City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) newsletter:- That the continued expansion of Liverpool 2 develops is of course no surprise at all. That the on-line article makes no mention what so ever of access to the Port does surprise me. It's not as if the access issues have been uncontroversial; they've been hugely controversial and still are and Highways England has not even taken it's first bulldozer into Rimrose Valley Country Park yet. I've always looked upon the expansion of the Port of Liverpool as being a ...
Lost this week in the blizzard of a British constitutional crisis and an American impeachment inquiry was President Donald Trump's speech to the UN General Assembly. Compared to past addresses to the United Nations this one was subdued. His language was relatively temperate, measured and verged on statesmanlike. It was a good speech—and all the more chilling for it. If Donald Trump has a political philosophy other than his own person advancement it is what he terms patriotism– and others fear as nationalism–versus internationalism and globalism. This is clear from his red "Make America Great Again" baseball caps, flurry of ...
No-deal prep for health supplies shows Brexit must stop Boris Johnson is the champion of the well-off, not the people – Davey No-deal prep for health supplies shows Brexit must stop Responding to the National Audit Office's report on the Government's preparations on health and social care supplies under a no deal Brexit, Liberal Democrats Health and Social Care Secretary, Sir Vince Cable MP, said: This report reinforces what we already knew from the Yellowhammer documents. We know that a no-deal Brexit would have a devastating impact on the UK's health and social care supplies. The risk is very real ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of rail bridge survey works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Riverside Drive (between Tesco roundabout and Bridgeview Café), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Wednesday 2 October for 1 night (10pm to 6am). Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes are available via Perth Road / Hawkhill / West Marketgait / South Marketgait. For further information contact 433082. Head of ...
