Yes. I remember Adlestrop— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.It would also be possible to write poems about stations in Devon, Bedfordshire, North Lincolnshire, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, Rutland. Northumberland, Shropshire, Suffolk, East Riding of Yorkshire, Norfolk, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Durham, Glasgow, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Edinburgh and Buckinghamshire.
Each week I review the five best and two worst things happening in and around the party over the past seven days. The verdicts are, of course, only my personal opinion: GOOD LAMB WON'T BE LED TO SUPPORT THE SLAUGHTER: This week the party took its worst decision since I joined by deciding to back the... More 5 Good – 2 Bad:My Review of the Lib Dem Week
From the Jesuits in Britain website: Sarah Teather has been appointed as the Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in the UK (JRS UK). Formerly the Member of Parliament for the London constituency of Brent Central, Sarah joined the International Advocacy team of JRS in June 2015. As an advocacy advisor, she has visited JRS projects all over the world, including Lebanon, South Sudan, Uganda, Macedonia and the southern coast of Italy where so many attempt dangerous crossings to Europe over the Mediterranean SeaCongratulations to Sarah on her new job. I blogged about her religion and likely future career last ...
I am really pleased to see that the new administration of the Council is proceeding with an idea commissioned and started by my Cabinet team a year ago. As the Council transferred its housing stock to an RSL in the first Council of B&NES it needed to find another solution. This creates that vehicle and as the press release says will bring in a good revenue stream. Bath & North East Somerset Council has agreed to proceed with plans to set up a new property company. The new company will allow the Council to operate as a commercial landlord and ...
A British exit for Europe is not just bad news for our Country it is potentially devastating for all those Brits who have taken advantage of the One Europe approach to life. The position of British citizens living in Spain would undoubtedly be adversely affected by a Brexit. Reciprocal healthcare is the most obvious immediate issue (and a source of real concern for large numbers of elderly British citizens who are, or will be, reliant on Spanish health and social care). Of course every visitor to the EU using the EHIC card to obtain emergency treatment will be similarly vulnerable ...
The latest email newsletter for Lib Dem members in Gateshead was produced recently. You can read it on this link.
One week to go to the closing date (11 December 2015). -- -- -- -- -- Cambridgeshire County Council is looking for the views of local residents on proposals to save money on street lighting. Cambridgeshire residents are being urged to have their say to join more than 60 other councils and further dim or turn off some streetlights at certain times to meet tough saving targets. Cambridgeshire County Council is faced with finding £41 million in savings next year and more than £100 million over the next five years with less money from Government and more demand on services. ...
It has been a particularly bloody few days for the Labour Party. Already riven by discontent between the Corbynistas and a swathe of their Parliamentary Party in the Commons, the last thing they needed was a Commons vote on whether to take military action in Syria. With a new leader and a membership swollen by people who think that they have, or can, end Blairism within the Labour Party, the moral dilemma that is interventionism has become less angst and rather more vitriol. I'm old enough to remember a time when the Labour Party was at war with itself, and ...
The Shropshire Star reports: Keith Barrow today resigned as both leader of Shropshire Council and as a councillor. Mr Barrow said he was stepping down as both council leader and councillor for Oswestry South "with immediate effect". In a statement, he said he was aware that "the people of Shropshire and my constituents are not getting all they can from me in terms of leadership of the council".But the truth seems to be that Shropshire has been getting rather too much of Mr Barrow. Andy Boddington, a Liberal Democrat councillor and blogger from Ludlow, tells us: Complaints have been made ...
Fri 4th
18:32
Goldsmiths University's LGBT+ SU Group Oppose... Erm... A Human Rights Campaigner #exmuslimbecause
Maryam Namazie is a well-known campaigner for human rights, who is best known for opposing Islamist attacks on Muslims and ex-Muslims alike. She can be quite forthright and, as a member of a Communist party, is hardly uncontroversial. However she doesn't threaten people and is always extremely clear that her problem is with radical Islamists not Muslims and she is clear that Muslims are usually the first and main victims of Islamism. So when she came to speak to the atheist and humanist student group at Goldsmiths University it was to be expected that the group representing Muslim students would ...
Disappointments of the year Reforming a band or a 'brand' can sometimes be worthwhile: when Iron Maiden 'reformed' - they never split up - with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, they have consistently produced high-quality material, so it will be no surprise to know I will mention them later. Sometimes though reformations just don't quite live up to past memories or expectations. Blur, The Magic Whip: I appreciate its musicality and the craftsmanship: yet the whole album leaves me with a sense of hmmm. It just seems too introverted and somewhat whining. a shame I wanted to like it. The ...
A recent book by Aldiss, collecting together several dozen short-short stories, of two or three pages each. Actually rather few of them have a beginning, a middle and and end; mostly they are just one or two ideas (sometimes, frustratingly, an idea and a half) explored at the length of a thousand words or so. But they are all unmistakeably in Aldiss's unique voice, more than vignettes, reflections of the world as his characters think it is. Mostly non-sf, at least as far as you can tell in the parameters of the story.
So with news reaching us that we are having a Metro Mayor imposed on us (although imposed with the endorsement of our local councils who did not consult us) and a 3rd rate devolution deal to go along with it, what next? Putting it bluntly will Merseyside elect as Metro Mayor anyone who Labour puts up as a candidate? Or exceptionally will a really credible candidate appear who can and will take Merseyside forward? Surely the rather unfortunate (for Liverpool), in my opinion, period of office for the City's first elected Mayor is something that we all need to learn ...
Firstly let me congratulate Jane Brophy and the team on an excellent campaign. If organisation and enthusiasm from activists was reflected in votes on ballot papers then we would certainly have finished a very strong second yesterday evening. However lets come back to that after we unpick the threads of what was a fairly fascinating... More Learning The Oldham West Lessons
More educative entertainment from Tom Scott:
On the night of the Syria debate I missed out on hearing Hilary Benn's speech and instead paid a visit to my local mosque. Evening prayers had just finished and I sat in a room at the back with Dr Haytham Alhamwi,Director of Rethink Rebuild Society - "the voice of the Syrian Community of Manchester". Tempting as it was to discuss the rights and wrongs of the UK bombing campaign, we didn't. It was clear that the vote would be won in Parliament. We were more interested in what happens next. Whether you think that the UK joining the international ...
It must be said that there are more obvious holiday destinations in the world than Venezuela. It has the second highest murder rate of any country not actually in a state of war (Honduras is, apparently, worse), the only country whose economy is declining faster is Syria, and it is strangely difficult to find an up to date guidebook - even Lonely Planet don't appear to offer a Venezuela guide (and they do offer Antarctica). Apparently, the main road from the airport has a reputation for crime, the Central Bank have stopped publishing inflation figures - estimates range from 159% ...
Most people wouldn't know that the large biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) just took place in Malta. The Telegraph made a quip about the 'Dictators Club', the Daily Mail twisted some policy announcements. The Independent had bits of coverage. The Guardian, surprisingly, stuck to rewording Government press releases. Tim Farron also intervened on the subject of LGBT rights. Paraphrasing: he said that the Government should be raising LGBT rights as an issue using its position of strength in the Commonwealth. This statement got coverage – the point was well landed! But when you think for a moment, you ...
I'm afraid I'm moved to resigning my long-standing Party membership. As both a "Tribal" and (hopefully) thoughtful member of the Party since the days when it was known as "The Liberals", I can't but feel the Party has lost its way and that hard-fought principles and freedoms are being jettisoned in the rhetoric of war and so-called Austerity. Like Jayne Mansfield, Alister and others on LibDemVoice, I see arial bombardments and a promised seat at the Top Tables of arms fairs and diplomatic machinations as hardly a basis for our consent to bomb (my I add my thanks for your ...
It had to happen and I am glad that it has happened sooner rather than later. Keith Barrow has resigned as council leader following years of concern about conflicts of interest over his business affairs. Complaints have been made and upheld through the council's standards procedure. More have been submitted in the last few days. [...]
So I've just steeled myself and sat and watched Russell Howard's Good News on t'iPlayer. And... I think Tim did good. The clip of him in his John Lennon specs aged about 12 at conference that they started with might have helped*. Russell Howard is still a shouty annoying berk, but I think Tim is worth watching. Anyway, while he was not-awful-but-not-great on HIGNFY last week**, he was much more like the Tim we all know and love on this, so I'm less hesitant about reccing it. Here you go: Tim's bit starts at 15.50. Oh, and Tim, if ...
On the night of the Syria debate I missed out on hearing Hilary Benn's speech and instead paid a visit to my local mosque. Evening prayers had just finished and I sat in a room at the back with Dr Haytham Alhamwi, Director of Rethink Rebuild Society - "the voice of the Syrian Community of Manchester". Tempting as it was to discuss the rights and wrongs of the UK bombing campaign, we didn't. It was clear that the vote would be won in Parliament. We were more interested in what happens next. Whether you think that the UK joining the ...
"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." General Norman Schwarzkopf The British Psychological Society introduces its resources on ethics by stating that they are "... central to everything we do whether in research or practice". They've certainly been front and centre for me over the ...
Also I have got lots of Stuff, and don't need more Stuff. But if you want to make me happy, rather than spending money on cards or pressies for me, you could donate to one of the three charities in my sidebar:- The Survivor's Trust helps people who are survivors of sexual violence - Citizen's Advice helps people in general, with all sorts of problems - Dogs' Trust will need the money after ChristmasMy daughter, however, is a bit less cynical than me, and if you want to buy her pressies, she's got an amazon wishlist. [IMG: comment count unavailable] ...
I have had at least three people ask me how I pitched Head of State, as Obverse Books currently have open submissions for their Faction Paradox range, and mine is the most recent Faction Paradox novel. My pitch was actually a bit different, as I had already come on Stuart Douglas' radar as someone who [...]
Interviews with Syrians of all faiths and sects have shown that, as with all of us, they wish to live in a pluralist society, as they used to. The want to return to the days when Christians and Druze were friends and all lived on the same street. The action we take must contribute to this aspiration Lib Dem MPs voted to support the government based on five criteria, or principles. Any action taken must be legal, there must be a diplomatic framework, we must ensure pressure is placed on the Gulf States and Turkey to re-engage and support efforts ...
Charles Kennedy's name has been invoked by some during the current Syrian debates with cast iron certainty that he would have been opposed to British air strikes in Syria. It's a curious cast iron certainty for two reason. One is simply that on many occasions during his political career, Charles Kennedy supported military intervention. His opposition to it in Iraq second time round was by far his most high profile foreign policy stance during his long, yet tragically short, political career. But he was not a pacifist nor a consistent opponent of military action. Rather his internationalism led to him ...
[IMG: The most disturbing part of the result? How young MPs are looking these days...] The most disturbing part of the result? How young MPs are looking these days... Just to provide some comparable insight into the result in the Oldham West and Royton by-election last night, here's how Labour did in held seat by-elections during the last Parliament. I'm looking at their vote in isolation to give us a picture of how they did across the Parliament regardless of the situation in different seats. You can get more details on all the by-elections during the last Parliament here. Oldham ...
It has been a pretty stressful few weeks to be a Lib Dem, let's be honest. It's good, then, that there is something to cheer us up. Tim Farron went on Russell Howard's Good News last night and came over really well – funny, decent and showing all signs of getting what actually matters to people. I'm not going to spoil it for you, because you need to watch it yourself. I will just make an observation that he probably never expected to be asked, way back in the 90s when he was speaking at Conference (clip shown) to be ...
This is my latest weekly diary over at LibDemVoice today... Honest doubt I wrote on Syria last week that I was "mystified by those who've already made their minds up with cast-iron certainty on either side". That's still the case despite, and probably because of, the eruption of passions leading up to and beyond Wednesday's vote. The UK is, after all, already involved in military action against Isis in Iraq. Sure, extending those airstrikes to Syria represents an intensification and, like any bombing campaign, requires serious consideration. But that is a question not of basic morality (if it were there ...
One of the highlights for me of this year's Labour conference in Brighton was Hilary Benn's speech at a Labour for Remaining In Europe campaign rally/launch. Alan Johnson was the star of the show, but Benn's speech was unexpectedly (to me at the time anyhow) fantastic. He spoke eloquently yet passionately about why Britain should remain in the EU. As a pro-European I took great comfort from the fact that Alan and Hilary would be at the heart of the Labour Remain campaign. I should also mention that the whole event had an almost inevitable anti-Corbyn feel to it. I ...
Honest doubt I wrote on Syria last week that I was "mystified by those who've already made their minds up with cast-iron certainty on either side". That's still the case despite, and probably because of, the eruption of passions leading up to and beyond Wednesday's vote. The UK is, after all, already involved in military action against Isis in Iraq. Sure, extending those airstrikes to Syria represents an intensification and, like any bombing campaign, requires serious consideration. But that is a question not of basic morality (if it were there should have been an equally strenuous efforts to cease attacks ...
One of my newer responsibilities is as a member of the City Regions Board of the Local Government Association – the body that brings all local councils, across all parties, together to fight our corner and learn from each other. On Wednesday I was down in London with colleagues from other councils to meet Greg Clark, the Minister who's taken over from Eric Pickles heading up the Government department responsible for local government. There were about 15 of us crammed into a small room on the seventh floor of Local Government House, Smith Square including LGA staff, councillors, the minister ...
Keith and the Lib Dem team have been very pleased to support the Gatley Village Partnership campaign on Northern Rail. There have been a number of issues with the way Northern Rail are treating law-abiding passengers who have not been able to buy a ticket, as we detailed here. This week Keith attended a meeting with Gatley Village Partnership and Northern Rail to look at the problems. As a result of the campaign, and the meeting, Northern Rail have made a number of commitments. These are Northern Rail have said they will: – check from ticket sales when ticket office ...
We didn't have much of our own to hold in Oldham, but we held it, which is not a bad thing. It compares with other by-elections in seats where we don't have a presence. You just so need that Liberal Democrat local government record to build on. Talking of local government, signs of a small #libdemfightback in Boleyn ward in Newham. We went from nowhere to second, albeit a fairly remote second. This is a place where they way the Labour vote, but Elaine Bagshaw has been leading some brilliant campaigning there since the General Election and mayoral by-election. Candidate ...
Do you face significant challenges in the publishing industry based on your gender? Doubts emerge over South Yorkshire devo deal - it'd be far easier to just give us a Yorkshire Parliament [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The Welsh Liberal Democrats and I are calling for the implementation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act to be delayed, amid concerns by a legal expert that they're being rushed. Luke Clements, Cerebra Professor of Law at Cardiff University, has repeatedly raised concerns about the "can and can only" eligibility criteria which would place onus on the individual to prove that their needs wouldn't be met by generic services to which they already have access. The Welsh Lib Dems were the only party to vote against the regulations. In a recent blog post, Professor Clements also criticized the ...
There are lots of reports following Wednesday's vote to commence bombing in Syria of Labour MPs being targeted by anti-war activists. Many of those who voted with the Government now fear that this activity will be stepped up. The Guardian reports that Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls to consider winding up Momentum, the grassroots group of his supporters, amid fears among Labour MPs that it could be used as a vehicle to plot against those who voted for airstrikes in Syria: MPs raised fresh questions about the intent of the organisation, which is separate from Labour, after it joined Stop ...
I am not going to sugar-coat it, the result in Oldham West and Royton is disappointing. It was always going to be tough. Liberal Democrats have never won this seat and the highest we have ever finished is third. But, nevertheless, I am hugely proud of Jane and the campaign the team has run. I cannot thank her, Claire, Nassar, Lisa and Chris enough. They went above and beyond. Jane worked tirelessly and was a great candidate for the party whether it was in hustings on the television. It is has been great to get back to pounding the streets ...
The result has just been declared Oldham West & Royton: the result. Labour HOLD. pic.twitter.com/h8gs97mHoa — Britain Elects (@britainelects) December 4, 2015 Jane Brophy and her team ran an energetic campaign and the party owes them a huge debt of gratitude. It's not easy facing a by-election in these circumstances and they did so with great spirit and energy. This was supposed to be a big UKIP moment. Didn't go so well for them. It was a disappointment for us, of course. At least our vote didn't fall, unlike the Tories. Best moment of the declaration: A lot, Sir Oink. ...
Over on Patreon, for my patrons, you can read my thoughts on the rather lacklustre last episode of Batman season 1, and on the season as a whole. Meanwhile, on Mindless Ones, those of you in the cheap seats can read my thoughts on Egyptology and student "riots", as we meet King Tut for the [...]
