7/7/77 - who could resist launching a James Bond film on double double sevens? The Spy Who Loved Me opened 43 years ago tonight. Though it's the first Bond I remember seeing advertised - kids at school had the car-submarine toy! - I was much too young to see it on the big screen. We finally did three years ago, in a UNICEF Benefit double bill with For Your Eyes Only (the first Bond I did see at the cinema) celebrating the life of Roger Moore. They made an unexpectedly successful pairing. When we got in from our night at ...

Posted by Alex Wilcock on Love and Liberty

Davey: we need a devolution revolution to drive the green revolution Govt decision on arms sales to Saudi Arabia shows lack of humanity Govt green recovery plans do not match ambition of other countries Davey: we need a devolution revolution to drive the green revolution Today Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey has delivered a keynote speech to the Local Government Association outlining his plan for a devolution revolution to drive a green revolution. Ed Davey called for the government to make £45bn new funding available to local authorities over three years alongside a range of new powers ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

You remember Ryan Coetzee. He was Nick Clegg's special adviser and then director of strategy for the Liberal Democrats' 2015 general election campaign. That was the campaign that saw the party reduced from 57 MPs to eight. Nothing daunted, he then served as director of strategy for Stronger In, the official pro-remain campaign in the EU referendum. After that, he went a bit quiet. But today's Guardian brings us up to date with his career:Hong Kong has turned to the former director of strategy of the UK remain campaign in the Brexit referendum to revive its reputation, amid further scrutiny ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Well, 50 years ago this month, because I have seen various release dates quoted for Traffic's LP John Barleycorn Must Die. It began as a Steve Winwood solo album, but he soon decided he needed to get the gang together. The critics like it:"Winwood. Traffic. Here is some group," raved Circus magazine, when the group reconvened for the John Barleycorn Must Die album. "There is no better," drooled their reviewer Jonathan Eisen. "It is not Cream or Blind Faith. It is not Miles Davis. It is not The Beatles. It is not the Traffic of yore. It is merely the ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

One of my reading programmes is to go chronologically through the winners of the BSFA Award for Best Novel, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Otherwise Award (formerly the James Tiptree Jr Award). In order to keep up momentum, I've decided to do all the winners of a given year simultaneously, for a better comparison. So this takes me to the awards made in the year 1999 for work done in 1998: the Clarke Award went to Tricia Sullivan's novel Dreaming in Smoke, the BSFA Best Novel to The Extremes by Christopher Priest, and the Tiptree, very unusually, to ...

A Liberal Democrat press release brings the news: Responding to a written statement from the Secretary of State for International Trade confirming that the UK will resume selling arms to Saudi Arabia, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: The situation in Yemen is horrific, with Saudi Arabia persistently violating human rights and the rule of law. Arms sales to the regime should be banned until further notice. Last year the Conservative Government breached the Court of Appeal ruling on the licensing of arms for use in Yemen and now they are trying to make out as though Saudi ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

I had been seeing a friend and was on my way out when she picked up a book and said - you must read this. I found it a shocking revelation. Diane Reay published Miseducation Inequality, and the working classes in 2017. The eldest of eight children, her father a miner, she is now an Emeritus Professor at Cambridge and visitor professor at the London School of Economics. Diane writes that her book is intended to provide an understanding of the working class experience of education together with her sadness and need to make sense of the resulting damage. There ...

Posted by Katerina Porter on Liberal Democrat Voice

Add caption Plans for 2 houses and a bungalow in the woodland behind Station Lodge have been refused. Yate Councillors objected and this time the planners backed them - because of the impact on the woodland, wildlife and the important listed buildings around it - the Station Lodge and the raised history footpath for reaching the old station.This week we have reported on some cases where planners have now backed locals, here is a case where they have listened to local objections.

Tue 7th
12:00

#Putney: A C Grayling

As our media concentrate almost entirely on the coronavirus pandemic the government is working outside the glare of publicity to bring about an exit from the European Union way beyond anything that was suggested in the Referendum Campaign or promised in parliamentary debates before and after. The "easiest trade talks in history" look headed for collapse and a No-deal Brexit The establishment of customs posts between Britain and Northern Ireland, something which "no British prime minister could ever contemplate" were discussed by a minister (of the Northern Ireland executive, I think) on Radio 4's "Today" programme this morning. Concerned as ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal
Tue 7th
11:29

Onto the blame game

It appears that the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic is the blame game, where the government tries to get in its excuses ahead of a public inquiry so that all their mistakes can be attributed to somebody else. We have already seem ministers lining up the scientists in this regard, arguing consistently that they are following the science, when in reality they are making decisions on the basis of a large range of information, some contradictory, and in some cases putting off decisions at a huge cost. The Guardian reported only a few weeks ago, for example, the view ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black
YouGov

The haunting theme tune of what would have been a long forgotten TV series 'The Life and Times of David Lloyd George' sprung to mind as soon as I heard of the death of Ennio Morricone. There's a link to this now iconic theme tune on You Tube below:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajI2OPRfTps I recall buying a 45rpm single of it back in 1981 and if you were around at the time you'll recall it became quite a hit, possibly quite unexpectedly so. This is a scan of my copy of the record:- RIP Ennio Morricone a great composer Here's a Wikipedia link ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

On a quiet evening recently I watched the 2015 film "Carol" which is set in the 1950s and based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith. The "Carol" of the title is a wealthy middle aged woman in a marriage that is breaking up, who has a four year-old daughter she adores. On a pre-Christmas shopping trip she meets a young shop assistant, Therese, and they have a connection. Carol's husband, who she is divorcing, knows that she has had same sex relationships in the past and uses this as part of a custody battle – citing her 'immoral behaviour' to ...

Posted by David Warren on Liberal Democrat Voice
Tue 7th
11:00

My tweets

Mon, 18:16: De dag waarop de bus zonder haar vertrok/ ze haar vlucht nam, by B�ka, Marko, and Ma�la Cosson https://t.co/cbxz4te3PP Tue, 09:30: Whoniversaries 7 July https://t.co/P67GZ5Q6RW Tue, 10:45: RT @garethharding: Good news for dad-dancers: In #Belgium you can invite 50 people to your wedding, but they cannot dance. Only the first d...

Cllr Liz Makinson the Lib Dem Spokesperson on Education in Liverpool has urged that Liverpool schools should not fine parents in September if they decide to keep their children at home. In her statement Cllr Makinson says: "The Government's position is ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

I figured that last weekend would be a bit crowded in pubs, so I reserved time in my (not-so)busy diary to visit the pub yesterday. Monday is the new Saturday. All went well. The pub I visited seem to have lots of measures in place, and well-trained staff. I enjoyed an excellent couple of pints of a local brew (Loddon Brewery's Citra-Quad, since you ask). I had a meal which was obviously well-familiar with the inside of a microwave but still, as they used to say, "filled a hole". So far, so uncontroversial. ....Until I tell you the name of ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice
Tue 7th
08:30

Whoniversaries 7 July

i) births and deaths 7 July 1919: birth of Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor, star of the show from 1970 to 1974; the first Doctor I can remember, the gentleman wizard who spends a lot of his time on Earth. 7 July 1948: birth of Mat Irvine, responsible for many of the special effects on the show in the late 1970s. He wrote a book about it. 7 July 1985: death of Ewen Solon, who played Chal in The Savages (First Doctor, 1966) and Vishinsky in Planet of Evil (Fourth Doctor, 1975). 7 July 1997: death of Royston Tickner, who ...

The Liverpool Echo has the article on its website – see link below:- I've previously blogged about the architect of the North Western Hotel, Liverpool's very own Alfred Waterhouse, back in March 2019 – Here's a link back to that posting:- Let's hope that the present refurbishment is finished and that this iconic listed Liverpool building has many more years in front of it.

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus
Tue 7th
08:00

Damn you. Layla!

I had determined to stay out of the leadership election. Part of that was undoubtedly because, to be honest, I'm still really sad that we don't have Jo any more. I really didn't want to have this contest and there ... Continue reading →

Posted by caronlindsay on Caron's Musings

Further update - for Tuesday 7th July - from Councillor Fraser Macpherson (West End) and Councillor Craig Duncan (Broughty Ferry) PHASE 3 AND 2 METRE GUIDANCEAt the end of this week, we may enter phase three of the routemap. In general, the 2-metre guidance will remain in place, but hospitality, retail and public transport may be allowed to operate on 1-metre if they agree to the implementation of measures such as improved ventilation; perspex screens; customer flow and seating plans. It would also include the collection of names and addresses of customers, to help with contact tracing. However, until then ...