There's been a bit of a fuss made in the last week regarding the security checks for Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference 2011. Delegates are being asked to provide a passport/National Insurance/driving licence number and certain other details such as recent home addresses so that the police can carry out some background checks. I understand that these measures are in line with those which have been in place at Labour and Conservative conferences for some time, though of course the fact that they do it does not by itself mean that we must. For a summary of the reasoning behind the ...

Posted by Free Radical on Free Radical

I've had enough articles published in newspapers now to know that you can't blame the author for the often shockingly misleading titles that appear above their articles, so I will give Lord Steel the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is not so disingenuous as to actually baldly state that "The Lords needs reforming now, not in 2025". The article beneath the headline is a bit better. But only a bit. Where does one start? Well first of all, if he is serious about his package of interim reforms, then the simple answer is to put them into ...

Posted by James Graham on Quaequam Blog!
Sun 5th
23:49

Et in Rutlandia ego

 

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

I've written an article for Liberator about my experience on the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign.

Posted by James Graham on Quaequam Blog!
Sun 5th
23:00

Happy Birthday

 

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple

You may have seen the Antiques Roadshow earlier this evening and the discovery of a brooch by the Victorian architect and designer William Burges. The exciting news, courtesy of the Telegraph, is that it is to be auctioned in August by Gildings of Market Harborough.

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

"Radox – for men of the world (Japan)". Well done WCRS for creating this piece of genius.

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

Another week with Lord Bonkers, who was Liberal MP for Rutland South West 1906-10, comes to a close. For some inexplicable reason, the belief that Twitter is a recent invention is now widely entertained. Nothing could be further from the truth. Though of late it has made use of the latest technology, the service was in widespread use as early as the 1920s. Several times a day, the Twitter boy would bicycle up the drive here at the hall in his buttoned suit and peaked cap, bringing a short message from one of my friends: "OMG Winston Churchill has rejoined ...

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

Suzanne Moore, Guardian Columnist, writes an interesting piece on 'Chavs' in this week's Saturday Guardian on Chavs, that, while eloquent, entirely misses the point of the debate.Moore's take is aggressive and snide, and fails to come to any conclusions other than Chavs exist and the other classes don't like them.The UnderclassUsing the ubiquitous Lauren from Catherine Tate as a point of

Posted by Curious? on Political Parry

I was on the train on my way to Swansea on Friday morning when I heard the news via Facebook. At first, I thought that I'd got my wires crossed and that there must be two Andrew Reeves because the truth of the situation was so incredulous that it surely couldn't be true. My Blogging Mentor - Andrew Reeves But unfortunately, it is and his position within the party was such that it merited this BBC News article on this sad news. To die aged just 43 of a heart attack and just months after his civil partnership with Roger ...

YouGov

Firstly, I wanted to let you all know that the enquiry office at Histon Police Station and Sawston Police Station will be closed next week (w/c 30th June 2011). I have had a very busy week dealing with neighbourhood disputes incident reports and crime enquiries in Bar Hill. On Sunday, 22 May there was a report of criminal damage in Gladeside Bar Hill. The report came through as a of group of 8 youths were seen smashing up the playpark and then trying to set up fire to the climbing ropes. Police responded in less then 10 minutes, and found ...

Posted by Cllr Andy Pellew on Focus on Bar Hill

You don't hear much about him these days, but Dr Jonathan Miller makes what will be a welcome return to the limelight by winning our Snob of the Day award for his comments on the singer Alfie Boe. In the course of his appearance on Desert Island Discs, Boe admitted that, though he appears in it, he does not enjoy watching it. Step forward Dr Miller, as quoted in the Independent: "It's very peculiar. If Alfie Boe thinks opera is boring then it's very odd that he's in it at all. I've only worked with him once and he sings ...

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

Not the most standard of blog post headlines I'll concede but the evidence is out there. Yesterday whilst laying in bed busy a lazy so n so watching the cricket an advert for google chrome came on. The advert is below: Now the advert didn't make me want to go and download google chrome. Not one jot. So there must be another meaning behind the advert and the only thing that I can think of is tat it will make people want to have kids. Even the most hardened of souls who don't ever wants kids will be thinking about ...

Posted by admin on The Rambles of Neil Monnery

TweetI joined the Liberal Democrats as i've previously mentioned because of Nick Cleggs strong response to LGBT issues, but also our record on standing up for students, and most importantly civil liberties. I can't help but feel that is all slipping down the drain, and with it goes my faith in the party I once so passionately supported. In government, it feels like our values are often being lost. Dripping away down the drain of the establishment like the proverbial leaky tap. There are many things this coalition has done, that our party has done, like 75% of our manifesto ...

Posted by Andrew Emmerson on "The Yellow Bastard"

Given my obsession with Midsomer Murders, I thought I ought to note this from the Telegraph's Tim Walker: The future of Anglo-German relations rests in the hands of John Nettles. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, shares David Cameron's passion for Midsomer Murders in which the actor plays DCI Barnaby. When Merkel visited Chequers last year, a bright spark had the idea of getting Cameron to introduce her to Nettles. What a picture opportunity. A Downing Street spokesman tells Mandrake that there wasn't time and Nettles was never invited. Merkel did, however, get wind of it and had to be placated. ...

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

I know one or two of my readers are considering doing the Camino Ingles or another route to Santiago, so I thought it might be useful to make some notes on what I packed and what I would do differently next time. Feel free to skip if this isn't relevant to you. I started seriously thinking about kit for this trip about a year before we left. Next time, I won't need so long, but I'd recommend this approach if you haven't done much of this kind of walking before - and "this" means specifically walking long distances along tracks ...

Posted on singing my song

[IMG: Post Office logo] Liberal Democrat minister Ed Davey was one of the two guest speakers at Hillingdon Liberal Democrats earlier today and as his brief covers the Royal Mail and the Post Office, he understandably and rightly spent a fair part of his talk about the future of both organisations. One point I'd not fully appreciated before was the extent of Ed's enthusiasm for putting workers back in the driving seat, whether it is through employee share ownership (for the Royal Mail) or the possibility of turning the Post Office into a mutual. Worker ownership and democracy in various ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack's blog feed

The second year of Britain's Lib-Con Coalition government is going to be a tough one, especially in the wake of last month's local election results, which seemed to reward (slightly) the Tories for what the government is doing and punish (heavily) the Liberal Democrats for everything that is deemed unsatisfactory. Of course, the reality is ...

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

A mercifully shorter chapter at 44 pages, compared to the epic length of some recent ones, very largely drawn from the works of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, and describing in detail the functioning of the court and culture of the Byzantine empire of the ninth century.

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 224th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (29 May – 4 June), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. An ...

Posted by Helen Duffett on Liberal Democrat Voice
eUKhost
Sun 5th
18:57

Will this do ?

Liberal Democrat HQ wants a new photo from me for conference. It must be colour, light background, neutral expression, head and shoulders etc. I'm thinking of sending this snap from the Guardian of me at Sheffield, not actually bombing anyone when they took it.

Posted by David on Disgruntled Radical

I warmly welcome the news that Scottish Lib Dem Leader Willie Rennie will reposition the Scottish Lib Dems on minimum pricing of alcohol. The party opposed it in the last Holyrood parliament, much to the discomfort of many activists including me. I have said on a number of occasions that the smoking ban was Holyrood's finest hour but the collective failure to act on alcohol across party lines was its biggest shame. Now we will have a consensus in favour of this vital preventative health issue and Willie has ensured that the Lib Dems will be part of that.

Posted by Paul Edie on Paul Edie's Blog

After having recently watched Adam Curtis's The Trap and reviewed it here, I began to wonder if the documentary maker had missed something. His contention is that UK and US politicians, from both main parties, pursued policies to make people free that turned out to trap the individual and crush communities. He argued in the programme that the policymakers created a framework to ensure that people were free and that they believed this would lead to spontaneous stability. To do this they had to let the free market do its job, create incentives for people to respond rationally and not ...

Posted by Simon Goldie on Simon Goldie

"Good morning, Archie" "Hello. Where's my food? WHERE'S MY FOOD?!! I'd quite like some of those nice organic carrots for breakfast with a sprinkling of parsley please. I don't much care for greens." "Sigh. It's on its way. But you are going to have to eat your greens too. They're good for you. I'll put you outside in your run later if you like. It's going to be a lovely day." "But I'm a HOUSE RABBIT. I prefer carpet to that damp green stuff that's out there. The rug in the lounge tastes nicer, too. I do rather enjoy chasing ...

Sun 5th
17:46

Pinkham Way

Was out on Saturday morning petitioning against the proposals for a new, giant, waste processing plant at Pinkham Way. So many people worried and anxious: traffic, pollution, noise, disturbance to wildlife habitat for starters. In April, I asked David Beadle, the managing director of the NLWA to speak at a public meeting to raise awareness about proposals to build the waste plant and to listen to local concerns before the NLWA submitted the planning application to Haringey Council. He refused. That says it all really. Being at a public meeting and being prepared to listen to local residents, before submitting ...

Posted by Lynne Featherstone on Lynne Featherstone » Blog

Over the past five years we have actively campaigned to get the Council, University and Students' Union to work together to tackle the problem of excess waste at the end of University terms - in particular the summer term. With the introduction of fortnightly collection of household waste by Labour in 2006 the management of waste in student houses became an even bigger issue. We successfully campaigned to get the Council to introduce extra collections at the end of terms to reduce waste. We also planned to increase weekly collections in areas where waste managment remains a problem. I hear that Labour ...

Posted by Cllr Daisy Benson on Redlands Liberal Democrats

Here's what Paddy Ashdown said on The Andrew Marr Show this morning about House of Lords reform, and particularly the views of Lord Steel as expressed in an Observer piece today: Look, it is an affront to our democracy to have a House of Lords which is appointed on the basis that you're either a friend of the Prime Minister or your great-grandmother slept with the king. The truth of it is that we're a democracy and power should appear from the ballot box. I've always been ... I went into the House of Lords to get rid of the ...

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings
Sun 5th
16:36

Bounding Around Bonaly

I spent yesterday afternoon participating in an orienteering competition. We were competing up on Bonaly Hill on the Northern slopes of the Pentland Hills and just at the end of the number 10 bus route. Such is the close proximity of the country in our little city! I did a lot of orienteering at school and managed a wee bit last summer. Suffice to say after two hours of bouncing around the heather and trying to run up steep hills my legs are dead! I managed to stay clean which was better than I managed last year. I still have ...

Posted by Paul Edie on Paul Edie's Blog

[IMG: Twitter logo] A court in Malaysia has taken an unusual approach to twitter and defamation - by requiring someone to tweet an apology 100 times over three days. Fahmi Fadzil had claimed in a tweet a pregnant friend of his had been badly treated by managers at work. The company involved responded by taking out legal action. Using Twitter in this way is a neat way of taking the apology to the audience who would have originally seen the false claim - an important issue that often comes up in Britain, especially on the occasions when newspapers are criticised ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack's blog feed

In fairness, it's more that, whilst the information is out there, nobody appears to have noticed. However, it gives me great pleasure to announce the three nominees - two from the Lords, and one from the Commons. From the Lords, representing the constitutional wonk tendency (in a good way), Lord Tyler is the first of the two nominees. Paul has been leading calls for a complete overhaul of the Second Chamber for a very long time and is one of the Party's foremost constitutional experts. Given that he is firmly in support of the Government's proposed reforms - unlike some ...

We need to let the powers that be at Cowley Street and on the Federal Conference Committee know that we disagree with the illiberal stance taken on Conference Registrations going forward. In order to do this, we need as many ... Continue reading →

Posted by Spidey on Welcome to Spiderplant Land

"Oor Willie" north of the border has apparently signalled that Lib Dems in the Scottish "Parliament" will now support minimum alcohol pricing, having opposed it before there was a "government" that could implement it anyway without their support. With such a small group in the parliament, the Lib Dems could have held out and been a party of sensible protest again searching for truly liberal solutions to what is, I am sure they are right, a major national health problem (though they might try and understand why this trend has been down in the past couple of years before tinkering). ...

Posted by Jock on Jock's OXFr33? Blog

It may have escaped your notice (it almost escaped mine), but there is a by-election in West Belfast on Thursday, due to Gerry Adams having left to represent County Louth in the Dáil. The last time Sinn Féin got less than 50% of the vote here was in 1992, and the last time they got less than 60% of the vote here was in 1998. The result is therefore not in serious doubt. The candidates, and the votes each of their parties got in last month's Assembly election and last year's Westminster election, are as follows: candidate May 2011 May ...

Fabian Society looks at the failure of Yes to engage the Labour vote and the unions.

Posted by WhyWeLostAV on whywelostav

Look. We all pretty much agree that in an ideal world we wouldn't need any vetting procedure for the #ldconf. In fact I believe we don't need any even in this day and age. With bag searches and metal detectors et al the venue should be secure. Yes I know that it is relatively easy to sign-up with a fake name so nothing wrong with someone checking who you are via NI, Passport or Diving License. My problem is clearly that the police can vet who goes and as far as i'm aware they can turn you down without having ...

Posted by admin on The Rambles of Neil Monnery

It's my lovely Anna's 12th birthday today. 12 years since I couldn't get to sleep even after 23.5 hours in labour because I was so besotted with this gorgeous, blue eyed baby with a thick mop of brown hair and just wanted to look at her. Well, not much has changed in the past dozen years except that she's got bigger and can answer me back. I feel incredibly proud of her many times every day, whether it's because of a characteristic act of kindness, she's worked out a problem with her homework she'd been struggling with, singing in her ...

Posted by Caron on Caron's Musings

Silly me, I thought it was only Nick Clegg who broke election promises. Cameron stood for election promising 'no more top down re-organisations of the NHS'. Let us be clear. The NHS so called 'reform' debate has nothing to do with private hospitals or other care provision provided via private health insurance or by individuals. The issue is whether taxpayers money should be spent in those businesses. All the evidence shouts a resounding NO. Tory MP Nick de Bois is pushing for a YES. He has done nothing wrong but does not advertise that he is heavily involved with a ...

Posted by coldcomfort on grumpyoldliberal

Q: How does a new tax on bankers bonuses meet the financial requirements to build 250,000 new homes, fund higher education, tackle youth unemployment and increase welfare payments?

Posted by danielfurr on Too lib·er·al [adj.]
Sun 5th
15:37

What's next? Part One

Since missing out by 14 votes on being re-elected to Luton Borough Council on May 5th lots of people have been very kind in expressing their own disappointment at my loss and asking after my welfare. I am hugely grateful for the support people have shown. One of the commonest things I have been asked is "are you all right?". Sometimes this enquiry has been accompanied by an expression on their face that suggests they are either expecting me shout out in anger and rage at the unfairness of it all or breakdown and start sobbing on their shoulder. My ...

Posted by Andy Strange on Strange Thoughts

TweetAs we all know there is a growing storm over the registration process for Liberal Democrat Conference, members are unhappy about the registration process. I've blogged here, Spidey has blogged here, and perhaps most importantly @AuntySarah has blogged here about the issues she faces as a transwoman here However, it is not the issues I wish to write about here. Although I stand firmly against it, it is the nature of the debate which has disgusted me more than anything. So far in discussing this I have only met one polite dissenter. However, below is a slew of responses and ...

Posted by Andrew Emmerson on "The Yellow Bastard"

It's hard to raise the subject of Lembit Opik without somebody cracking a joke. He's certainly not loved by our own party's leadership and many see him as more of a celebrity than a politician. I can, however, name two other people who are hated by their party's leadership and seem to be two parts celebrity, one part politician, and they've both held the position of Mayor of London. Lembit has great recognition among people. My own unscientific polling leads me to believe that he isn't far behind Ken and Boris in who knows who he is, which is quite ...

Posted by Richard Clare on Liberal Democrat Voice

Social housing or the lack of it is a massive problem in the UK. Giving council housing tenants the right to buy their own homes back in the 80′s was a disaster for local councils up and down the country ... Continue reading →

Posted by Spidey on Welcome to Spiderplant Land

I read Anno Dracula when it first came out. It has since apparently acquired legendary status – something which slightly surprises me as I had assumed that the reason it had been out of print for so long was simply because it had been forgotten. Anyway, if you don't know, Anno Dracula is a counterfictional novel that explores what would have happened if, instead of being chased around Eastern Europe and eventually killed in Bram Stoker's original novel, Count Dracula had actually won? Newman posits that Dracula's intention was really to take over the British Empire – and the only ...

Posted by James Graham on Quaequam Blog!

I went to my first ever book signing on Friday. Iain M. Banks was at the Phoenix Square in Leicester as part of a mini-tour to launch the paperback of his novel Surface Detail. It was great timinng for me as I'd finished the book a few days ago, just as a friend alerted me ...

The thorny issue of changes to the Residents Parking Scheme in Reading is on the Council's Traffic Management Advisory Panel agenda next week. And already it looks like Labour councillors are saying one thing and doing another. A local campaign was started by residents opposed to aspects of the revised Residents Parking scheme which would split permits into two half days rather than one full day. We listened to the concerns that were raised by residents and had we still been running the Council we would have insisted that the number of permits was doubled to 40 at the earliest ...

Posted by Cllr Daisy Benson on Daisy's Campaign Diary

You may have seen that Southern Cross Healthcare are in danger of going bankrupt after announcing a huge £311m loss in the six months to March. Southern Cross are a major provider of care homes for the elderly, with several in Birmingham, including one in Acocks Green at 1079 – 1081 Warwick Road (opposite St Mary's Close). Southern Cross's problems stem from the business following a high risk strategy that has failed dramatically. Basically a previous (private equity) owner sold its care homes and then rented them back from their new owners. This meant the old owner was able to ...

Posted by rogerharmer on Roger Harmer

I don't like to think of myself as an uncritical supporter of the Lib Dem establishment, but over the furore about registration arrangements for party conference, I'm inclined to agree with Federal Conference Committee that the security precauations that are troubling some members are in fact reasonable and proportionate. Partly this is because Federal Conference Committee itself contains good Liberals, who I am confident will have been sensitive to the views of party members when dealing with the police over security arrangements. Secondly, I don't really think it unduly onerous that people attending conference should be able to show that ...

Posted by Iain on Eaten by missionaries

Well this really counts as one of the 'headlines I never thought I would write'. It really ranks alongside, 'Why I'm backing Eric Pickles for PM!' But every once in a blue moon a report comes from a source, no ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

I've felt for a long time that the Liberal Democrat group in the Scottish Parliament were maybe opposing too much for the sake of it. Two issues where I think we got it wrong were on minimum alcohol pricing, which I think, given our destructive relationship as a country with alcohol is worth a try, and on the release of the Lockerbie bomber. I was therefore thrilled to bits that Willie Rennie, our new leader, has signalled that we will be supporting the SNP Government's plans on minimum alcohol pricing. It's not just the actual policy, but more the fact ...

Posted by Caron on Caron's Musings

So there I am listening to the Radio 4 News at midday after half-listening to Desert Island Discs (who is Alfie Boe? Is is he someone who sings popular songs for young people?), while keeping half an ear open for an imminent episode of Just A Minute, and trying to decide (using my own version of the Alternative Vote) whether I do (or do not) fancy making a second pot of coffee. I'd already read the News on teletext, or whatever the BBC calls its red button service these days, earlier in the morning, while drinking the first (and, thus ...

Posted by Matthew Harris on Matthew Harris: And Another Thing

The report by UCL into the workings of the coalition government makes for interesting reading. It also backs up some of the things that many of us grass roots activists have been saying for quite a while. Lets look at ... Continue reading →

Posted by Spidey on Welcome to Spiderplant Land

Since I last posted the desperately sad news that Andrew Reeves, the Scottish Lib Dem Campaign Director and noted blogger, has passed away. Andrew was a long standing party campaigner, though good times and bad. He had worked in many areas of the country getting many candidates, who are now household names, elected. He had been working for the party in our Edinburgh HQ for the last three years. He kept the world abreast of the comings and going in his life through his "running blog" which was an excellent example of how to use this relatively new for of ...

Posted by Paul Edie on Paul Edie's Blog

My friend plok is apparently Officially Old today (I don't know how old, but those were his words) and has decided that for a birthday present he wants people to post YouTube videos of songs he asks for on their blogs. From me he asked for this – Gimme A Pig's Foot And A Bottle ...

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

The coalition is working well, but the Lib Dems could do better, is the overall message from the Constitution Unit's first report on how the coalition works in Whitehall and Westminster. We are conducting a 12 month study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, with a research team of five, including two former senior civil servants, and one senior broadcaster. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have authorised access to all the key figures in Whitehall, and so far we have interviewed 90 ministers, special advisers, officials, parliamentarians, and external interest groups. Everyone we interviewed in Whitehall says how much more harmonious ...

Posted by Robert Hazell on Liberal Democrat Voice

Again, thanks to the Hugo shortlist I have tried one of the great graphic novel writers for the first time, and while I was not as blown away by this as I was by the first two volumes of Mike Carey's The Unwritten, I am realising that I should look out for more Talbot. Grandville Mon Amour is set in an alternate London and Paris, where all characters (apart from a couple of human muggers) are anthropomorphised animals: Inspector LeBrock, the central figure, has the head of a badger. England has recently regained independence and declared itself a socialist republic ...

One of the first run of Torchwood novels, which I am just now getting into (just in time for Miracle Day). A fairly standard monster-of-the-week story, the monster in this case being an alien which poses as a lake creature and infects male humans with its offspring. I felt the writing style was a bit clunky at first but it seemed to get tightened up as we went on. The front cover and spine feature Burn Gorman as Owen, and he does get more exposure than the other four, but we get a fair bit of Jack and Toshiko as ...

An interesting little exchange on Twitter this morning made me decide to publish this little missive from my stash of posts that I had yet to publish. I saw a tweet from Stella Creasy, the Labour and Co-operative MP for ... Continue reading →

Posted by Spidey on Welcome to Spiderplant Land

Here are the 5 most popular posts from this blog in May. You'll notice that there's a bit of a theme... 1. 3 ways to restore Nicks popularity. One he should do, one he won't, one that will turn your stomach but would work overnight. It was also top of the Lib Dem Voice 'Golden Dozen' one week. I'm still blushing. 2. Olly Grender vs. Mark Pack FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT Second in the week it was published in The Golden Dozen. Which shows that Mark and Olly are very popular, but not quite as popular as Nick...but more popular than... ...

Posted by Richard Morris on A VIEW FROM HAM COMMON
Sun 5th
11:51

Dundee bus network map

dundeetravelinfo.com has recently published a useful Dundee Bus Network Map. You can download the map on the dundeetravelinfo.com website, click on the headline above or go to http://tinyurl.com/dundeebusmap. If you'd like a paper copy of the map, please e-mail me at transport@frasermacpherson.org.uk.

Sun 5th
11:47

Rumer: Come to me High

The Review Show, the new name for Newsnight Review, has never been the same since Tom Paulin retired. Now it comes from Glasgow they seem to have trouble getting enough interesting panelists - and trouble keeping the less interesting ones sober. But here is a gem from the show, broadcast a few weeks ago. Rumer (real name Sarah Joyce) will have to be careful not to be pigeonholed as the new Karen Carpenter or condemned to a life of recording Burt Bacharach standards. Because she is a considerable songwriter as well as the possessor of a distinctive voice, as this ...

Posted by Jonathan on Liberal England

A trip down memory lane; I was ready my first ever OP/ED for the voice back in 2008. Arguably the most controversial article to ever appear on that website. I was, at the time, an 'independent liberal' defending the Iraq ... Continue reading →

Posted by danielfurr on Too lib·er·al [adj.]
Sun 5th
11:28

Sunday song ...

The recent Dreams Beds TV advert has highlighted the excellent Stacey Kent version of Hushabye Mountain. The song was originally sung by Dick Van Dyke in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang :

Local MP and Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis has written an article in The Observer today setting out his latest thinking on Labour's response to government policy. Unfortunately, despite clearly opposing much of what the government is doing, again there is no sign about what Ivan or Labour will actually do differently. It's an article which, if party names were removed, could've ...

Posted by richardbaum on Richard Baum

1) If presented with a race that are manipulating humanity for their own, possibly sinister, ends, do you: a) Expose them to humanity, turning their powers against them so humanity can see them for what they really are and hopefully come to a peaceful settlement – but however they deal with them, humanity must come ...

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

We have had in the ward an ongoing problem with coaches parking overnight on Woodhead Drive. This has caused considerable disruption to the life of local residents especially to the cyclists who regularly use the road and have to cycle in the middle of the road due to coach parking. I've highlighted the badly affected bend on the map below;I have written to various companies who have been using the street for parking and persuaded them to use other places within the ward (basically the business park just off of King's Hedges road). Universally as soon as they've received a ...

Posted by Andy Pellew on Posts of Blog

As a party member I have recently tried to contact some of our ministers in their roles as our party's leading spokespeople. It's not easy. Their published contact details invite you to contact them either as a minister (in which case of course a civil servant drafts the response) or as your constituency MP (I live in Yeovil and my MP is not a spokesman). For example, here's Nick Clegg's

Posted by David on Disgruntled Radical
Sun 5th
10:55

Whoniversaries 5 June

i) births and deaths 5 June 1908: birth of Bill Fraser, who played General Grugger in Meglos (1980) and Bill Pollock in K9 and Company (1981). 5 June 1919: birth of Lawrence Payne, who played Johnny Ringo in The Gunfighters (1966), Morix in The Leisure Hive (1980), and Dastari in The Two Doctors (1985). 5 June 1917: birth of Anne Tirard, who played Locusta in The Romans (1965) and the Seeker in The Ribos Operation (1978). 5 June 1921: birth of Bill Sellars, who directed The Celestial Toymaker (1966). ii) broadcast anniversaries 5 June 1966: broadcast of "Flight Through Eternity", ...

The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Andrew Rawnsley has a thought-provoking article on the dream of a property owning democracy in this morning's Observer: The moment when an idea achieves universal consensus is often precisely when the concept starts to eat itself. The steep rise in values made British homes very pricey relative to income. Then came the financial bust and much tighter rationing of mortgages. A slew of surveys and reports has recently confirmed just how tough it has become to get a foot through the door. The average age of a first-time buyer fell to around 25 when Mrs T was in her pomp; ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

I've got two Liberal Drinks events to go to this week. Belfast Liberal Drinks – Pint the Sixth tomorrow evening at 7pm, followed by Pint the Fifth on Thursday at 7pm. Yes you did read that correctly, we had Pint the Fifth organised before a somewhat spontaneous one being organised yesterday evening for Monday. Why ...

Posted by Michael Carchrie Campbell on Gyronny Herald

I see the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) as a useful development of international law and I recently defended British action in Libya as an example of it. I admit that it may not be but I still believe the doctrine is a good one. Craig Murray has written an excellent article for the Independent about Libya and the coalition government's approach to foreign policy. The question

Posted by David on Disgruntled Radical
Sun 5th
09:44

Weekend bake: scones

I may have jinxed today's weather by planning to post my scones recipe. But we have just had some glorious weather, with the promnise of more to come. So here is my recipe – just remember to put the jam on BEFORE topping with the clotted cream. This recipe makes about a dozen rich, sweet scones. ...

Posted by Sara on Always win when you're singing

Below is a guest post from Walaa Idris who blogs at http://www.walaaidris.com/blog/ I am black and I am a Conservative and very proud of both. And although at first glance one has nothing to do with the other if we look closely the two are intertwined - have always been in harmony and very much complement one another. Black culture whether African, Caribbean or American is conservative by nature and in my case it's double because I am half Arab - so being a conservative comes natural to me as it does to most black people and the notion that ...

Posted by dazmando on Bracknell Blog

Well, it's "lamentable" in the sense that I felt like crying when I read his article in the Observer today. My first reaction was: "Shut up, why don't you?" It is so frustrating to have a former Liberal party leader arguing against the coalitions' Lords reform package. But then you read through Steel's arguments and you see that his position is built on sand. Lord Tyler brilliantly puts the opposite view here. Let's take Lord Steel's specific points: Yet its proponents cannot have considered what would happen if the votes of the future 20% unelected were outrageously to sway a ...

Posted by Paul on Liberal Burblings

Pinkham Way campaigning with Lynne Featherstone, Mike Tuffrey, Bridget Fox and others Was out on Saturday morning petitioning and delivering with colleagues from Haringey and Enfield (along with some faces from across London - hello Bridget! hello Mike!) about the plans for a massive waste centre on Pinkham Way. The plans would involve over 330 vehicle visits to the site each day - a huge amount of traffic - but so far residents have been given very little say in the plans. There is an online petition about the plans which you can sign, or if you'd like to find ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack's blog feed
Sun 5th
09:20

2011 Hugos: Best Novel

Really not difficult for me to rank these. 5) Blackout / All Clear, by Connie Willis. I have only read half of this but I find it hard to imagine that the second half will lift it off the end of my ballot - too padded and just not really very interesting. Alas, it will probably win the Hugo as it already (and inexplicably) has the Nebula. 4) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin. I note that I said I enjoyed this a lot when I read it over a year ago, and it has been widely praised. But ...

[IMG: New 5 on the 5th Banner] Thanks to Andrew at oneexwidow for drawing my attention to Stephen's 5 on the 5th project of taking 5 random picture around a topic, this month's topic is new. Here is the new Sainsbury's being built in Bangor. As you can see not ready for queues of shoppers just yet. However, it should be open before the new Titanic Museum, due to open next April. Of course while we were going on the Titanic Tour last Friday we also were recorded and made the News for the Centenary of the launch of the ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal
Sun 5th
08:59

Back from Scotland

Insert the usual stuff here: it was lovely, I won't be catching up on LJ/DW, etc etc. This entry was cross-posted from Dreamwidth, where there are currently comment(s). View DW comment(s).

Posted on singing my song

Having raved about the first volume of this series yesterday, I am equally glad about the second volume today, a collection of seven issues (I think), the first four taking Tom Taylor to a French prison where the governor reads Tommy Taylor books to his children and the Song of Roland makes an appearance, the next two taking Tom and his allies Savoy and Lizzie Hexen to Stuttgart in 1940 and a confrontation with Goebbels over the film of Jud Süss, and the last being a horrifying side story of a thug trapped in the form of a fluffy bunny ...

Next Tuesday (7th June) there is another in the series of "King's Hedges Eat and Meet" meetings at the North Arbury Chapel. These meetings are organised by King's Hedges Neighbourhood Partnership as a way of encouraging local groups and agencies to network with each other so that we can all work together to best serve local residents. I'll be attending as both your local County Councillor and Chair of Governors at the Manor. If there are any local issues you'd like me to raise, events you'd like me to highlight, or local groups you would like to see invited let ...

Posted by Cllr Andy Pellew on Focus on King's Hedges
Sun 5th
07:00

5 on the 5th - June

For this month's 5 on the 5th, the theme is "new"... and I must confess that I have not gone (or even attempted to go) with the theme. (I don't think the fact that all the pictures are new will cut the mustard.) I've chosen instead a series of pictures of Edinburgh Castle - taken from a variety of viewpoints and times. As ever, follow the link to Stephen's blog to see more 5/5th submissions! From Princes Street with Evening News kiosk and Irn Bru cab The Barracks, from Castle Terrace From Princes Street. At night. Obviously. From the Grassmarket ...

Posted by oneexwidow on the widow's world
Sun 5th
06:01

links for 2011-06-04

7 Resources Explaining The Learning Styles Myth (tags: education) The Myth of Learning Styles As an education student at a progressive education college, I am up to my neck in learning theory, including Gardner's nultiple intelligence theory, which makes highy intuituve sense to me. To this, I can just say 'huh'. (tags: education) Ten Mistakes Teachers Make Already guilty. Learning not to be! (tags: education) Kids who spot bullshit, and the adults who get upset about it - Bad Science If I could rewrite the school science curriculum, "How to assess science in the media" would be one of the ...

Posted by Debi on Thagomizer.net

LRB · Ross McKibbin · Can Clegg be forgiven? The first anniversary of the coalition government has been and gone, and - like its members, no doubt - we have no clear idea of what its future will be. The various elections that accompanied the anniversary didn't help. By general consent the Lib Dems had most to worry about after . . . (tags: ukpolitics)

With thanks to RedCafe.net.

Posted by Dan Falchikov on Living on words alone