Three council by-elections this week, with one defence each for Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Bramley and Sherfield, Basingstoke and Deane No Liberal Democrat candidate this time even though there was one in the May elections. Result to come. Beanfield, Corby Chris Stanbra stood for the Liberal Democrats, giving the party a candidate in a ward where there had been none last time, hooray. Corby DC, Beanfield Lab 818 [56.0%; -5.1%] Con 497 [34.0%; +17.4%] Chris Stanbra LD 147 [10.1%; +10.1%] UKIP 0 [[0.0%; -22.4%]] Labour hold. Percentage changes from 2015. — ALDC (@ALDC) October 10, 2019

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

"I've got the headache from hell." "I'm full of the cold" "I feel incredibly anxious today" "My stomach is killing me." One of these is not like the others. We are generally pretty comfortable about sharing when we're feeling physically unwell, but not so if we are feeling mentally unwell. I'm not going to lie, I have found these last few months really difficult. I've often felt overwhelmed and anxious. In fact, earlier in the Summer, I thought my mental health was going to collapse completely. The last thing I was expecting from my campaigning trip to Brecon and Radnorshire ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Govt threats to deport EU citizens are appalling – Jardine Responding to comments by Branden Lewis that EU citizens living in the UK could face deportation, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Christine Jardine said: I am absolutely appalled. I have just been at a school where a Hungarian-born pupil told me she was scared about Brexit, and now I learn that the Conservative Government is threatening to deport people like her. Brandon Lewis has finally confirmed what we've known all along: Boris Johnson has no intention of keeping his promise to automatically guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Thank you to the many people who have already publicly said they'll be voting for me to be the next Liberal Democrat President.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Backed in the summer I posted a great video showing a journey along the GNR line from Derby Friargate to Nottingham Victoria in 1964. This one explores the remains of part of the line today. It takes us from Bennereley viaduct to Kimberley.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Excellent fact of the day, in 2019 style, this is also where Coleen Rooney had her 21st birthday party https://t.co/j9uPpAQP8m— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 10, 2019 Thank you Laura Kuenssberg. Suddenly the licence fee seems better value.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Thu 10th
19:16

Six of the Best 887

"Last year, 1584 children were unnecessarily dragged through the courts for possession of cannabis, with four out of five being found guilty, resulting in criminal records that will haunt them for their whole lives." Norman Lamb makes the case for a legal, regulated cannabis market. David Herdson asks why the European Research Group waved through Theresa May's withdrawal agreement at Christmas 2017. John Bull on the Harrow and Wealdstone railway disaster of 1952, which led to the development of the modern paramedic. "The quickest way to an audience's heart is to kill off one or both of your character's parents." ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

A mock-up of a Class 777 – The new Merseyrail trains that will soon replace the Class 507/508 EMU's On YouTube there's a video of a brand new Stadler Merseyrail Class 777 on the move in Europe being taken to a test track from it's place of manufacture – see link below:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncIhJ137pLM

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Second paragraph of third chapter:In March 1956, a meeting took place in Belfast which resulted in the setting up of a new autonomous Ulster Liberal Association for Northern Ireland — later renamed The Ulster Liberal Party. The first chairman of the party was Albert McElroy. Albert was born in Scotland in 1915 to parents originally from Ulster. When he was 15, his family moved to Northern Ireland. He attended Trinity College Dublin and served in the British Army during the Second World War. He was ordained in 1954 as a minister of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland, which is ...

It would seem so at the moment. We are in an unprecedented, astonishing political crisis, where an alliance of Opposition politicians is trying to stop our Prime Minister from ruining the country by permitting a No Deal Brexit, if no deal can be reached with the EU by October 19. How can this be? How is it that a man who has already committed an illegal act involving the Queen without accepting that he was wrong, who is universally known for unscrupulous behaviour in pursuit of personal ambition, is permitted to continue in the highest position in the land? His ...

Posted by Katharine Pindar on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

In a nutshell, the 7-year EU Financial Framework runs 2014-2020. More straightforward for the management of the EU budget for the European Commission and a neat end-point. Or is it? The noise out of number 10 to be un-cooperative to our continental partners may prove to be temporary bellicose "humbug" to use the PM's own recent rhetoric - not least if the UK's common interest in avoiding further regional turbulence in the Levant: military, economic – should US President Trump's threats to destroy the Turkish economy bear fruit, further potential conflagration into an already fragile middle east that could lead ...

Posted by Rupinder Singh on Liberal Democrat Voice

An extension to the Article 50 period now seems inevitable. There was never any chance of a withdrawal agreement being reached and Johnson was never serious about trying to get one, nor was the EU going to bend for anything that made things worse than the May deal from their perspective. The government is pretending it has a way of getting around the Benn Act since they want to maximise the notion that the extension has been done very much against their will. When the extension is in place, the next argument for the opposition to have is what to ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com
Thu 10th
11:00

My tweets

Wed, 12:00: RT @JenniferMerode: The EU is *not* about to make a big bold offer to allow Stormont to exit part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, in or... Wed, 12:11: I have never heard of either of these people, but this is fascinating. https://t.co/7Ita0iBiy7 Wed, 12:56: RT @Skapinker: "Cummings has failed to understand that no-deal is not the end of negotiations. It is merely the transfer of negotiations in... Wed, 13:54: Five hours to go... https://t.co/x2sWELFZaE Wed, 16:05: Mourning My Friend, Princess Diana https://t.co/OIfFR8eJ0o Lovely piece by Clive James that I had not seen before. Wed, 17:02: RT @NobelPrize: At ...

On my way to a meeting at Gateshead Civic Centre last night I had two bundles of Focuses to deliver in the town. Over 300 leaflets in total but fortunately I was given terraces to deliver. Job done in just over an hour. I even had time to listen to the Radio 4 news before going to the meeting.

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

On Tuesday, I attended an advisory meeting at Gateshead Civic Centre about how the council is planning for Brexit. As I was the person who had repeatedly called for this meeting, it was hardly surprising that I was there with a long list of questions. The key point to come out of the meeting, unsurprisingly, was that the council are trying to plan while staring into the darkness. We can't say

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

You know if you're about to do make a really major change to your life, like, for example, get married or divorced, or leave your job, or pack up and move to run a bed and breakfast in the northern highlands (I wish), you should have a sense of certainty that it is the right thing to do. You might feel nervous, but you should also feel a bit excited about the opportunities of your choice. This country is far from excited and optimistic about Brexit. In the face of overwhelming evidence that any form of Brexit is going to ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

Just how bad is the drinking culture in Westminster? Well according to one of the candidates for Speaker of the House of Commons and current Deputy Speaker, it is so bad that there is a need for counselling for MPs and staff in the Palace of Westminster who abuse controlled substances and alcohol. As the Guardian reports, Lindsay Hoyle believes that Parliament has a drink problem and may well have a drugs problem too: During an intense debate over Bercow's decade in the role and how to improve the House of Commons, Hoyle was asked by the Guardian if there ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

In an article for Politico, Deputy Leader of Britain's Lib Dem MEPs Luisa Porritt argues that the behaviour of the British Government is damaging democracy in this country. A British government that is threatening to march the country out of the European Union because it claims its institutions are "undemocratic" shut down its own country's parliament last month. Prime Minister Boris Johnson uses incendiary language and accuses those who disagree with his Brexit policy of "terrible collaboration" with the EU. Britain today is increasingly out of step with the basic principles of democracy it once would have championed. The Brexiteers, ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice

So here's a thought. Those organisations who will be the most successful in the future are those that do not let themselves be totally captured by the promise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is the latest hype. It's supposed to make everything more efficient. It will replace millions of jobs. Machine learning algorithms will become the new masters of the universe. Those who make a living out of selling AI products are busy telling every organisation that they stand no chance unless they start, and start now, investing millions in data collection and machine learning in every nook and cranny ...

Posted by Joe Zammit-Lucia on Radix Think Tank

The shocking article, from the BBC's website, available via the link below sadly highlights how poorly people with disabilities are served at times (probably far too often) by public transport operators. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-49972687 I don't know about you but I was appalled to read the article; treating people with disabilities like this shames our whole society. It may well be the case that disciplinary action is being taken with regard to bus drivers involved but the bus company itself should be subject to sanction too. No excuses; disability access issues on public transport have to be sorted. I've heard too many ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus
eUKhost

 

"Cannabis rules criminalise children and put them at increased risk of harm" says former Health Minister Last year, 1584 children were unnecessarily dragged through the courts for possession of cannabis, with four out of five being found guilty, resulting in criminal records that will haunt them for their whole lives. This is a key finding of research published today by RADIX, the think tank for the radical centre, in conjunction with drugs advocacy organisation, Volteface, in support of a paper by Sir Norman Lamb MP, former Health Minister, which calls for cannabis to be legalised. Lamb produces evidence that a ...

Posted by Norman Lamb on Radix Think Tank