An unlikely move in Kingston upon Thames, even for the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Fri 9th
19:27

April Already!!!

So it seems only two minutes ago that I was writing a blog post about ' the year of COVID.' Well we now have just finished the first quarter of the year and on the surface at least nothing much seems to have changed!! At the beginning of January we entered yet another period of [...]

Posted by tompkin982014 on tompkin98blog

I confess I am disappointed. There are fifteen seats on Ludlow Town Council. But there are only two candidates for the 6 May election who don't already sit on the council. One is me and I am elected unopposed to Gallows Bank Ward, the area I live in. That makes sense to me as I deal with a lot of local issues already. Another new face is Alan Tapley, who will standing in Bringewood Ward. This will be the only contested election on 6 May. Everyone else is elected unopposed. No one is standing for Clee View Ward. Those two ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Can you imagine it? The cold beer brought to you in a tall glass so chilled there is condensation thick on the outside, obscuring the golden, frothy, elixir you've been waiting for. A hot sunny day, you are sticky but relaxed and it is the waiting staff that buzz around toiling. And the sound of people laughing and conversing, in groups (!), at tables all around you... and your friend leans in to deliver the punchline of a joke. Your whole table bursts into laughter. These days may be near upon us. From 12th April, we can meet in pub ...

Posted on justLiberals
Fri 9th
17:22

Friday reading

Current Kathedralen uit de steentijd, by Herman Clerinx Adventures in Lockdown, ed. Steve Cole Last books finished Worlds Apart, by Richard Cowper Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco Network Effect, by Martha Wells Kaleidoscope: diverse YA science fiction and fantasy stories, eds Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios Next books Le dernier Atlas, tome 1, by Fabien Vehlmann, Gwen De Bonneval and Fred Blanchard The Serpent Sea, by Martha Wells

Second paragraph of third section:The TCA is a basic trade deal that eliminated tariffs on goods that meet the relevant rules of origin but did little to reduce non-tariff barriers. If Scotland were to join the EU it would trade with England and Wales on the same terms as other EU member states do now, so new checks and processes would be required on trade across the Anglo-Scottish border. It would also mean that border infrastructure would need to be erected on the Anglo-Scottish border, across which there are 21 road and railway crossings.32 32 HM Government, Scotland analysis: Borders ...

Here is the full statement released by Buckingham Palace following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99 today: "It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. "His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. "Further announcements will made in due course. "The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss." Ed Davey tweeted: "Prince Philip dedicated his life to our country. We will always be grateful for his amazing service ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

I was truly heartened by the recent Spring Conference debate on support for autistic people. Progress has been made on diagnosis and awareness since the Autism Act. I want to argue, however, that autistic people need tailored support to help them thrive in the real world, not just a speedy diagnosis and societal awareness - those don't pay the bills. My personal experience shows the need for action at a political level to ensure that tailored support is provided for those on the autistic spectrum. My son was diagnosed, thanks to persistent health visitors, at the age of three. He ...

Posted by Catherine Dawson on Liberal Democrat Voice

Local elections will take place on 6 May, now just under four weeks away. Today, Shropshire Council has published the list of candidates for the 74 unitary seats up for grabs. Three candidates will compete in Ludlow South and Clee. There will be four candidates in Ludlow North and Ludlow East. The Lib Dems, Green Party and Conservatives are standing for all four local seats. Labour is fielding a candidate in Ludlow East and an independent is standing in Ludlow North. Our county goes to the polls on 6 May with elections for Shropshire unitary council and town and parish ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Responding to Scotland having passed 10,000 deaths from covid-19, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: "When I think of 10,000 deaths, I think of 10,000 broken families and friends. I think of the pain and the loss. "For their sake we must learn the lessons of what went right and what went wrong. "With one of the highest numbers of people dead in Europe, Scotland has a special responsibility to conduct an early public inquiry. That inquiry must look at the lack of testing for new care home residents, the lack of preparation in the summer for the second ...

Posted by NewsHound on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov
Fri 9th
11:00

My tweets

Thu, 12:56: What 'Sofagate' says about Charles Michel https://t.co/fX5KxmvjT7 Nothing good, according to @TimKingBru. Thu, 16:05: Hooray! https://t.co/mOQzi1spIL Thu, 17:11: Cracking the Case of London's Elusive, Acrobatic Rare-Book Thieves https://t.co/cX1soyEsGN An extraordinary story. Thu, 18:31: Romeinse sporen: het relaas van de Romeinen in de Benelux, by Herman Clerinx https://t.co/2aaBXH2uPX Thu, 20:48: RT @AlexStevensKent: Another cited author explains how their work was misused in the #SewellReport. This time, it's the UK's leading expert... Thu, 22:53: RT @Dahabalaylaali: So I have some pretty devastating personal news. After living in the UK since the age of 10 and spending a large portio... Thu, ...

Labour seem to have an imprint problem in Gateshead. Perhaps their literature skills are a bit rusty. We have local and Police Commissioner elections on 6th May. Labour therefore have come out of hibernation and have started to produce joint leaflets about the upcoming contests. But there is a problem. Inclusion of an imprint for the PCC is required if the literature refers to the PCC candidate,

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

I often wonder what could be done to reduce the cost of democracy, particularly now when the public finances are stretched to absolute limits and when the national debt is rapidly rising. When I was a serving Councillor, someone who originally comes from Poland, where the political system is different, I often questioned the election cycle in the UK and I never really understood why it is that we need to have elections every year; either to the Local or County Council. My "election cycle scepticism" was magnified when I was told that it cost annually on average £100,000 to ...

Posted by Michal Siewniak on Liberal Democrat Voice

Thirty-five or more years as a bureaucrat, both professionally and on a volunteer basis within the Liberal Democrats has, to be honest, taught me that the answer is no, not really. Given that, in my experience from five Local Parties, two Regional Parties, my State Party and a Federal Committee, most key administrative tasks are performed by busy people who, on the whole, would rather be doing something else, that leads me to wonder how vulnerable political parties are to organisational failure. Most people join political parties because they either want to be something or change something. If you're lucky, ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy
Fri 9th
08:30

Whoniversaries 9 April

i) births and deaths 9 April 1972: birth of Neve McIntosh, who played both Alaya and Restac in The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood (Eleventh Doctor, 2010) and Madame Vastra in later stories ii) broadcast anniversaries 9 April 1966: broadcast of "The Hall of Dolls", second episode of the story we now call The Celestial Toymaker. Steven and Dodo, competing with the King and Queen of Hearts, must find the two safe chairs to sit in. 9 April 2005: broadcast of The Unquiet Dead. The Doctor and Rose, with the help of Charles Dickens, investigate reanimating corpses in Cardiff in ...

Nominations have only just closed on the Senedd elections but already a candidate has walked into controversy, tweeting a billboard which riffs on the racist slogan used by the Tory candidate in the 1964 Smethwick by-election. Carrie Harper, the Plaid Cymru candidate for Wrexham, has managed to unite Welsh Labour, the Welsh Conservatives, Welsh Liberal Democrats and others with an appalling billboard, that manages to simultaneously reawaken an old racist trope, while playing on modern racist and political prejudices. At best it is negative and divisive politics, at worse it mirrors the language of the racist far right. This approach ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

The central African nation of Cameroon is better known for football, but its bloody, under-reported conflict deserves the attention of Liberal Democrats. The rights of minorities to determine their future, and the need for a new constitutional settlement based on devolution or federalism are key issues. A Liberal International British Group webinar on April 19th explores the issues. The former colonial powers, the UK and France, offer bland calls for the respect for international human rights law, but neither government will apply pressure on Cameroon to attend inclusive mediated peace talks Click here to register Background to the conflict: Cameroon ...

Posted by Rebecca Tinsley on Liberal Democrat Voice

I have recently had a number of concerns about the state of the road surface in Pennycook Lane, including this resident's comment : "I was hoping you could possibly find out if the many potholes that are now on the road leading to the car park would be getting filled in. They are worse than last year and bigger." I have therefore wrote to the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership requseting repairs and have now received the following helpful reply : "An order has been raised for repairs to be carried out."

Responding to the latest statistics on Provisional UK Aid Spend for 2020, published yesterday, Layla Moran MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Development commented: "These statistics remind us that there was always going to be a cut to UK aid spending due to the pandemic - that's the point of having a GNI target. As the economy shrinks, so does the development budget."The Government is acting unlawfully and dishonestly by reneging on the 0.7% of GNI spending commitment and cutting UK aid even further. Bilateral projects in Africa stand to lose the most. The Conflict, Stability and ...

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