Really good to see plans for a new Liberal Democrat Campaign Innovation Fund take off with the fund now open for applications. Grants of up to £500 will be given towards funding measurable experiments to generate new information about how to win elections. That might mean testing a new tactic or better understanding the impact of an old one. Successful bids will need to show how the proposed project will provide the party with new information that can help to win elections. Applications will be expected to cover: What is the purpose of the research project? How will the knowledge ...
Who is the youngest player to appear in first-class cricket in England? The answer is Barney Gibson, who kept wicket for Yorkshire against Durham MCCU in April 2011 at the age of 15 years and 27 days. I marked the occasion with a post on the long-defunct cricket blog The Corridor, but nothing has been heard of Gibson since. Thanks to a Cricketer article by Nick Friend we now know what happened to him. He chose "enjoyment and freedom". As a boy and young teenager he was on the books of both Yorkshire as a wicketkeeper and Leeds United as ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:I walked briskly through the empty dressing room to my locker. If I was going to have a chat with Dominic, I wanted to do it while I was wearing pants, and more heavily armed than it was possible to be in lace and petticoats. In addition to being a waitress and Ryan's girlfriend, Istas served as Kitty's costume designer, and she believed firmly in snaps and zippers and quick releases. Being a waheela—a type of Inuit therianthrope—meant she understood that sometimes people need to get out of their clothes in a hurry. That made them ...
BBC documentaries, when done well, are among the best in the world. And Jim Creagh's take on the role that the prominent Ulster Unionist, Sir Edward Carson, played in the downfall of playwright Oscar Wilde (available until 20th February on BBCiPlayer) is a memorable example. Too often Edward Carson, who defended the Marquess of Queensberry [...]
Tue 2nd
15:02
Gloucestershire police spokeswoman: "the activity of delivering leaflets does not contravene Covid L...
Gloucestershire Live today quotes a Gloucestershire police spokeswoman as follows: Last week we received a report from a member of the public about people dropping leaflets through residents' letterboxes. There was no suggestion that they were knocking on doors or engaging directly with the homeowners. Covid legislation states that there are exemptions that allow people to leave their homes. One of these exemptions is for the purposes of work or to provide voluntary or charitable services, where it isn't reasonably possible to do so from their home. Therefore the activity of delivering leaflets does not contravene Covid Legislation. The background ...
Responding to the news that the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office aid budget is to be cut by over 25%, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson Layla Moran MP said: "These deep cuts to aid spending are incredibly concerning. The Foreign Secretary has assured us of the Government's priorities, but I just don't see how we can continue to deliver for the world's poorest if FCDO's aid budget allocation alone is being cut by over 25% compared to 2019/20. "These cuts tell us what the Conservatives really think, and the lack of any detail on how these decisions were made and ...
Following the International Development Committee's calls for the cancellation of developing countries' debt due to the coronavirus pandemic, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Layla Moran said: "Developing nations are facing a deadly combination of crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic - between increasing food insecurity, stretched medical supplies, disrupted education and more. Cancelling developing countries' debt would provide much needed relief during this unprecedented time. "The Conservative Government must prove it is committed to helping the world's poorest, and leaving no one behind. "Liberal Democrats will continue to continue to advocate for the world's poorest and press the Government ...
The Guardian reports that the Conservative former immigration minister Caroline Nokes has accused the Home Office of using barracks accommodation for asylum seekers to make the country appear to them "as difficult and inhospitable as possible". The MP said asylum seekers should not be "segregated into a ghetto" in barracks accommodation, but instead placed in supported accommodation where they have access to a range of facilities: Nokes is among a group of backbench Conservative MPs with barracks in their constituencies who have raised concerns about their use to house asylum seekers. Others include Damian Collins, whose Folkestone and Hythe constituency ...
The party is running a campaign to increase the Carer's Allowance to £1,000 a year: During this terrible pandemic, our carers have been more important than ever. Yet carers are still often forgotten or ignored by those in power. Back our campaign to stand up for carers – starting by raising the Carer's Allowance by £1,000 a year [IMG: 👇] Carers - paid and unpaid, young and old - do a remarkable and important job. They deserve our support but are far too often forgotten and ignored. Liberal Democrats will stand up for carers and lead the way to a ...
Mon, 13:14: RT @archer_rs: Mad woman believes complex epidemiological viral infection risks can be eliminated by complaining. https://t.co/FQibIo2W4o Mon, 13:14: RT @thantmyintu: The doors just opened to a very different future. I have a sinking feeling that no one will really be able to control what... Mon, 14:27: RT @bbcdoctorwho: Remembering the Doctor's dear friend, Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, on her birthday 💄 https://t.co/GlKQx9... Mon, 15:02: A Soldier in Time: The Nicholas Courtney Memoirs The life of an actor is sketched in sufficient detail that I would give this as a present to any young relative thinking ...
Ed Davey has responded to Boris Johnson's refusal to lay out a timeline for a public inquiry into his Government's response to the coronavirus crisis: Boris Johnson says there will come a time to learn the lessons of the pandemic, but the public will rightly ask, if not now, then when? The best time to learn lessons and prevent the most deaths is today. The Prime Minister can't tell us exactly when schools will return safely, can't tell us when most of the country will be offered a vaccine and can't tell us when the current lockdown will end. ...The ...
Like, I suspect, many of my readers, there's always seemed to be something odd about the Far East concept of wearing face masks when out in public during the winter months. We tend to take for granted the idea that we can see people, when they're smiling, or nervous, or disinterested, without a barrier. Perhaps that what makes some people uncomfortable around Muslim women who are masked, although I fear that it's simply an excuse for intolerance. But I had spotted a report from Australia in late summer that suggested that there was a link between face mask wearing and ...
I have written this blog post because I found I could not copy text to a remote server using chrome remote desktop. I looked around the net and it was relatively hard to find the two steps that are needed. There are two things that need to be done. a) To enable insecure content on https://remotedesktop.google.com/ (this in in settings/site settings in the instance of chrome you are using)
Layla Moran, our spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, has spoken out against the coup unfolding in Myanmar: Myanmar's military must step back from the brink, end this coup and release all civilian leaders immediately. The UK should step up and lead the world in shining a spotlight on the plight of democracy and human rights in Myanmar Democracy and the rule of law need to be respected. The Foreign Secretary should use this pivotal moment to urge the international community to secure democratic and human rights of all citizens in Myanmar. Today's developments are yet another disturbing chapter in Myanmar's recent ...
i) births and deaths 2 February 1930: birth of Don Houghton, who wrote Inferno (Third Doctor, 1970) and The Mind of Evil (Third Doctor, 1971) 2 February 2011: death of Margaret John, who played Megan Jones, the Director of Euro Sea Gas, in Fury from the Deep (Second Doctor, 1968) and The Idiot's Lantern (Tenth Doctor, 2006), a 38-year gap which is unmatched for the main TV show (spinoffs allow some flexibility) ii) broadcast anniversaries 2 February 1974: broadcast of fourth episode of Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Sarah is indoctrinated by the People; the Doctor is framed as the man ...
Tue 2nd
08:05LibLink - Ed Davey: LGBT+ history month is a time to celebrate the lives and experiences of the enti...
Over on the party website, Ed Davey has written about LGBT+ history month, which has started: The fight towards equality is a long one and we all owe a huge debt to the activists and campaigners who have fought tirelessly for the freedoms so many are able to enjoy today. Let us celebrate historical figures like Alan Turing and Marsha P Johnson, as well as modern day activists such as Lady Phyll, founder of UK Black Pride. When we look back, we can celebrate legal milestones from repealing Section 28 to securing same sex marriage – and Liberal Democrats should ...
Feeling Strong, Dundee's youth mental health charity, has launched its new and improved mental health guides. There are three new guides which are for young people, children and guardians. Feeling Strong has been working with Dundee's young people on creating these new guides for a few months now, with over two hundred responses from young people about what they think matters most. The guides will help those who read it have a better understanding of Feeling Strong, other Dundee specific support and how it can possibly help young people. Feeling Strong has printed 2 000 copies of the guides which ...
There used to be a county-by-county series of videos like this on YouTube. I suspect that this is one of them. It has now reappeared on Dailymotion.
