PM must come before MPs after IfG Brexit warning PM riding roughshod over our rights by restricting judicial review Liberal Democrats bid to block corporate lawsuits watering down protections post-Brexit Chinese treatment of Uyghurs amounts to genocide, Liberal Democrat warns PM must come before MPs after IfG Brexit warning Responding to a report by the Institute for Government which warns coronavirus has left UK firms unprepared for a no-deal Brexit, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: Boris Johnson is arrogantly setting the country down a path that threatens jobs and livelihoods, and this report confirms it. People deserve better. ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Quite the extract from a new TV interview with US President Donald Trump which starts with him referring to a mental acuity test he had taken.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Here are some photos I took on the way to the Judith Stone on Friday. Having checked on Google Street View to make sure there was a pavement all the way to East Farndon, I walked along the Farndon Road. Then I took the minor road that goes to Lubenham before taking the bridleway that passes through the field where the stone is. I tried what was meant to be a more adventurous route on the way back.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Including stories from Liberal Democrats all across Scotland, my email digest service is available for free and you can sign up to it here.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Pleasant memories can suddenly resurface too. Listening to Test Match Special this afternoon I remembered seeing Phil Simmons, now manager of the West Indies team, playing for Leicestershire playing at Grace Road. That dates the memory to between 1994 and 1998. Simmons was one of a group of Leicestershire players practising their slip catching before play. One chance went right through him and I was impressed that, rather than look around for someone less important to do it for him, he jogged to the boundary to fetch the ball. It had arrived right in front of me, and as he ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Sitting on the front bench, Tony Blair surveyed the massed ranks of his parliamentary intake and then lent over to Gordon Brown."It's weird," he said "but there's a guy back there who's the splitting image of the boy who does your photocopying." "That is him," Brown replied. "He's your new MP for Shipley."That boy was Chris Leslie. So good was his photocopying that he was parachuted into the safe seat of Nottingham East after he lost Shipley and eventually became Ed Miliband's shadow chancellor. Then he left Labour to join The Independent Group and scorned any thought of an electoral ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The Liberal Democrats have called on the Foreign Secretary to acknowledge that the Chinese government is "engineering a genocide of the Uyghur people".

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

This post will be regularly updated with links to recordings of Ed and Layla at the many hustings events that are taking place. I'll update it and re-post it whenever there is something new to add. First up, the very first formal hustings, with the Social Liberal Forum on Saturday 11th July. The first of the party's big set piece hustings, on jobs and the economy took place on Wedmesday 15th July: More events under the cut. First South Central from 11 July The economy and jobs national debate from 15 July The job interviews Ed Layla Devon and Cornwall ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

After the fiasco of residents not being allowed to speak at the planning committee meetings discussing Rockwood and the play area behind Meadow Mead - there is one bit of good news. We made a huge fuss and S Glos has finally agree to restore the right for residents to speak at committee on line. Something most other councils found no difficulty in keeping when they switched to digital meetings, but S Glos said they couldn't.But at the same time they have TAKEN AWAY the right of local councillors to refer planning applications to committee. At present as long as ...

Second paragraph of third chapter:The French commander, I see, enjoys his comforts. In the corner of the tent there's a bed with a crowning hill of silk pillows, and just by it on a French mahogany desk there sits a bottle of Champagne: a Veuve Clicquot, 1855, a very good year. I spot a six foot candelabra cactus in a pot and on the wall, next to a world map, there is a painting of a leafy forest. A Monet by the look of it; I recognise the clumsy brushwork.I got this on a whim at Novacon in 2013, and ...

YouGov

Alongside a variety of different formats for official party hustings, for the Liberal Democrat party leadership election we've also been encouraging those outside the party to put the candidates through their paces in different ways. One of the resulting appearances was a half-hour debate on the new Times Radio, hosted by Matt Chorley. His previous criticisms of the attitude towards the media shown by some Lib Dem MPs of the time had a lot of merit. Listen to hear what he makes of the two currently vying to be the party's most prominent MP as they discuss, amongst other things, ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

I've blogged about the The Dell and the trees growing in it previously but the issue came back to mind today following a significant bow of one of the trees breaking off and blocking Liverpool Road North. This very situation (a tree falling) has been what a local resident has been asking Sefton Council to deal with back at least as far as February of this year as my last posting on the subject makes reference to – see link below:- The photo at the head of this posting shows the scene earlier today as the tree surgeons were ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

It would appear that Barmy Boris Johnson, our much lamented Prime Minister, believes that a lot of us have been skiving. He's instructed us to go back to work in September to get the wheels of industry and commerce moving ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

Responding to ONS unemployment figures showing that the number of workers on payrolls has fallen by 649,000 between March and June, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:"Every single person losing their job reminds us that coronavirus is a tragedy that cuts across every aspect of people's lives. Managing this health and economic crisis demands the best possible leadership at the top of our country."The Conservative Government's shambolic handling of the pandemic has made the economic challenge we are facing far worse than it need have been. We need much better political leaders than Boris Johnson and Dominic ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

Responding to a report by the Institute for Government which warns coronavirus has left UK firms unprepared for a no-deal Brexit, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said:"Boris Johnson is arrogantly setting the country down a path that threatens jobs and livelihoods, and this report confirms it. People deserve better."Now is not the time to be playing politics. Our focus must be preventing a no-deal Brexit and ensuring business has all the help it needs to protect jobs."The Prime Minister must come before MPs before the summer recess to answer how he will address the calls for preparation support, sector ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats have launched an attempt in Parliament to block corporations from using secretive tribunals to water down environmental or worker protections, and safeguard human rights and transparency in post-Brexit trade deals.Liberal Democrat MPs have tabled an amendment to the Trade Bill - which is due to be debated in the House of Commons on Monday - to require the Government to assess each new trade agreement's impact on citizens' rights with regard to gender, age, race, class and economic well-being.With separate amendments, the Party's MPs will attempt to stop the Government from introducing controversial "investor-state dispute settlements" - ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

The assembled crowd looks singularly unimpressed, perhaps because the band's instruments aren't plugged in, but The Tremeloes reached number two in the UK singles chart with this in 1969. I detect the influence of The Beatles here, which is ironic. In 1962 Decca signed Brian Poole and The Tremeloes in preference to the lovable mop tops. Later. I meant to add that I recall a Where Are They Now? programme from 1973 which showed Brian Poole working as a butcher. His Wikipedia entry suggests he was still involved with the music business too.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The Liberal Democrats have called on the Foreign Secretary to acknowledge that the Chinese government is "engineering a genocide of the Uyghur people" and to come before Parliament before the recess to set out the Government's response.In a letter to the Foreign Secretary, the Party's Foreign Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael urged the Government to use the next round of targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for human rights abuses in China. The intervention follows the Chinese Ambassador to the UK denying on The Andrew Marr Show that the Uyghur people are being transported across China for forced labour in factories.Liberal Democrat ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

Responding to reports that the Government is planning to restrict judicial review, following a Court of Appeal decision against the Home Secretary, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:"Threatening to weaken the courts because of a judgment you disagree with is the act of dictators and despots, not democrats."With these plans, Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings are trying to enable the Government to run roughshod over people's rights and allow Ministers to break the law with impunity."Liberal Democrats will always defend individuals' abilities to challenge the Government and uphold their rights. We will not stand by and allow Johnson and ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats
Sun 19th
11:00

My tweets

Sat, 12:34: Etymology while driving through the Ardennes: the name must derive from a local Celtic cognate of Welsh ardd, Irish... https://t.co/TERvHLkL57 Sat, 12:56: David Shor's Unified Theory of the 2020 Election https://t.co/I0nEDLFKuy This is fascinating. (And demonstrates tha... https://t.co/VhaVHr07U4 Sat, 15:51: April 2007 books https://t.co/wftn2HjoKB Sat, 23:24: I saw the comet! Sun, 09:30: Whoniversaries 19 July: John Harvey, Sirens of Time, Lady Jane Grey, The Cleansing, Tanya moves up https://t.co/sxkd2wPBkR Sun, 10:45: Trump Could Save Himself in November. He Won't. https://t.co/ac8NYgZEx9 Laziness as the defining characteristic of the administration.

eUKhost

July 31st is not just my birthday, it's the deadline for nominations for the party awards. This is your chance to nominate a party member who has excelled in their service to the party or local government. The process of nomination is easy – you just fill in an online form. If you have someone you think deserves to be honoured in this way, imagine the delight on their faces when they receive their award at Conference. It will be a bit different this year, but I do hope that something will be arranged to bring the winners together in ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sun 19th
09:05

On Misfit Liberalism

A lot of people wonder what on earth binds the Liberal Democrats together. A lot of those people are Liberal Democrats – though it's also confusing to external observers. The glib answer is that liberalism binds the Liberal Democrats together, but this is also unhelpful for observers, because the Lib Dems' understanding of what "liberalism" [...]

Posted by jubalbarca on Thoughts of Progress

Last Sunday, Lib Dem Voice published my article on how the Scottish Liberal Democrats should promote polices that use the existing powers of the Scottish Parliament create a fairer, greener and more prosperous Scotland. Some commented that since Brexit has happened Liberal Democrats in Scotland should pivot to support for independence, or at least put the question back to the people of Scotland. I thought it might help to set out some of reasons why Scottish Liberal Democrats oppose a second referendum and want to keep Scotland in a reformed and federal United Kingdom. The preamble to our constitution commits ...

Posted by Fred Mackintosh on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sun 19th
08:42

The social care timebomb

I have blogged previously on how the UK government's draconian new immigration rules will hit health and social care, that as Ministers clap for key workers on their doorsteps, they are plotting behind closed doors to undermine those very people and denude key services of a valuable workforce. Now, Layla Moran has uncovered figures highlighting the impact of these policies on London, a disaster for social care services that will be seen in different degrees all over the UK. She has found that London is facing a "social care time bomb" due to its ageing population, with the capital likely ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

When I first did these posts ten years ago, I actually skipped 19 July because I couldn't see anything interesting about it. I now think that was a bit unfair. It's no 23 November, but the anniversary of The Sirens of Time is surely worth noting (and there are a couple of others as well). i) births and deaths 19 July 1982: Death of John Harvey, who played Professor Brett in The War Machines (First Doctor, 1966) and Officia in The Macra Terror (Second Doctor, 1967) ii) broadcast aniversaries etc 19 July 1999: release of the very first Big Finish ...

Sun 19th
07:00

Everyday Packs

Thanks to funding received from the Big Lottery Supporting Communities Fund Dundee Volunteer and Voluntary Action has been able to support a really good project for Dundee's older people. Working in partnership with Dundee Community Transport, HOPE - Helping Older People Engage, Grey Lodge Settlement and volunteers from GetLocalSupport.org it has put together 'Everyday Packs' for distribution to the older people's community in Dundee. The Everyday Packs will contain a small bottle of hand sanitiser and either a reusable washable face mask or 5 disposable masks. These packs are for those who are: • aged 55+• socially isolated - so ...