Today in Belfast of all places there was a small protest of about 40 idiots. The protest was against the arrival of refugees. They has a banner which read "Ulster says no to refugees" followed by "charity begins at home" there was another banner saying "Muslims don't integrate they want to dominate" The same should be said for integration starting at home. After all their were marching in a city that still has 47 peace walls because the people seem incapable of integrating. And that is merely with people of the same race, mainly following the same religious book and ...
Nick Cohen gets it right in the Observer tomorrow: The Corbynites' real enemies are not Tories, whom they rather respect for standing up for the interests of their class, but Labour MPs who fail to show the required radical virtue and betray the leftwing cause. They don't mutter darkly that there will be "no hiding place" for Tory MPs who voted in favour of bombing Isis. They don't scream that Conservative women are "witches" and "cows". They don't deliver death threats to David Cameron. Their virtuous hatred is righteously reserved for their own side and its ugliness will destroy the ...
This blog was meant to follow Barrow Affair (3) but was held back by the news yesterday of Keith Barrow's immediate resignation from Shropshire Council. The Dutton Report made extensive reference to an Oswestry based company called Peakfast. Several people have since asked me: "What is Peakfast?" This blog outlines why Peakfast was featured in [...]
At some stage between now and the end of 2017 voters in Britain will be able to have their say on whether they wish the country to remain a member of the European Union or to leave. One had hoped that by now David Cameron would have announced the date, so the referendum campaign could [...]
Living in London in the late 1970s, I often whiled away a Sunday afternoon by going along to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. It gave, and continues to give, fantastic enlightenment and entertainment. The speakers aways varied from highly articulate, sensible speakers, to the passionate and the entertaining. Some had huge crowds enraptured for hours. Others spoke to thin air. There were a good share of rather bonkers people speaking. But it was always fantastic and there was one speaker who was aways there and made the whole thing really special: Lord Soper (pictured above). Donald Soper was a Methodist ...
This had somehow passed me by - a pastiche of Dickens by Pratchett, with no sfnal elements at all as far as I can tell, introducing us to the Dodger and his elderly Jewish friend as heroes rather than villains, caught up in an international political plot which involves a beautiful foreign princess, Charles Dickens, Sweeney Todd, Benjamin Disraeli, Sir Robert Peel, and a host of other historical figures from the early years of Queen Victoria's reign. It's good but not great; I felt that Pratchett couldn't decide between being didactic about the situation of London in the period, smart ...
Even our supposedly neutral BBC seems determined to distort the true state of our politics. Labour had "retained their set at the Oldham by-election, but with a reduced majority," we were told yesterday bulletin after bulletin. Only as though as an afterthought did they add "but with an increased share of the vote." What a different impression it would have created if they'd put it the other way round. "Labour has won the Oldham by-election with an increased share of the vote." Much more upbeat. There seems to be a law to downgrade any success of the progressive side of ...
[IMG: Tim Farron Russell Howard's Good News] One of the joys of being a parent is that you get introduced to all sorts of TV programmes which your children love to watch. If you miss anything, you also get the chance to watch the same programmes again. And again. And again. Tom & Jerry, The Teletubbies, Family Guy, Friends, The Simpsons – these are all series of which I have a detailed knowledge, thanks to parenthood. Another, more recent, one is Russell Howard's Good News. I have watched umpteen episodes of this show, mainly on BBC Three. He's hilarious. And ...
Sat 5th
14:43
Comments: Don't write something that would lead the Queen to set her Corgis on you - from our archiv...
Liberal Democrat Voice has a fantastic archive of posts going back to our establishment in 2006. Here's an interesting article from our Founding Editor, which was published in November 2006. You can read the post in its original form here: As happens on all blogs, there's been a collective bout of grumpiness in the past few days in the comments. I've just gone through the blog and deleted the variously abusive, rude, and fundamentally pointless messages. Please think before you post comments, it's not in anyone's best interests that comment pre-moderation gets switched on, or that I have to force ...
[IMG: The Kingsway School band playing at St Mary's Church] The Kingsway School band playing at St Mary's Church Thank you to everyone involved in making Cheadle's Victorian Christmas Market such a success. Yet again, the event spread across the village centre, from the funfair behind the White Hart to the Makers' Market on the Green, from the music in St Mary's Church to the craft fair in Trinity it was a great event. The Park & Ride at Kingsway worked well (I'd recommend giving it a try if you didn't this year – much quicker and less hassle than ...
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 ...
We've heard a lot about the Commons debate on the expansion of UK air strikes into Syria. There were also some very good speeches on the subject in the House of Lords, during a discussion held at the same time as the Commons' one, plus good peers' input elsewhere. You can browse the Peers' debate here both in video and text form. I just want to highlight two contributions from our peers. The first comes from Meral Hussein Ece via a comment on one of LDV's posts this week: I along with many of my colleagues in the Lib Dem ...
Dear Lucy, I'm very happy to give you some thoughts on what 21st-cetury Doctor Who books to nudge towards your LotR-appreciating 11-year-old. There are some quite good 20th-century Who books out there as well! But I shall stick to my remit. (I'm assuming that you have already got this year's annual - the Doctor Who annuals have been of consistently decent quality since your 11-year-old was born.) The three 12th Doctor and Clara novels that came out this year - Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale, Royal Blood by Una McCormack and Big Bang Generation by Gary Russell - look like ...
Here's a petition I heartily encourage you to sign: We call on the David Cameron's Government to ensure Britain does our bit to help alleviate the refugee crisis, including: Support Save the Children's call for the UK to take 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees immediately Take our fair share of refugees as part of an EU wide quota scheme Offer funding to allow councils to resettle refugees You can sign the petition here: change.libdems.org.uk/refugees
[IMG: Half empty glass. Plus cows.] Lost deposit, same vote as at the general election and a fourth place: what to make of the Liberal Democrat result in Oldham West and Royton? Another way of looking at it is that unlike a long-run of previous by-elections, this is one where the Liberal Democrat vote did not get squeezed even further, one where the Lib Dems finished comfortably ahead of the Greens and a joke candidate, and one which saw many new members help a good candidate and team. That isn't enough even to make the glass half-full, but at least ...
There is a lot of fuss on social media and in today's Western Mail about the decision by the Welsh Conservative's board of management not to allow their candidates in next year's Assembly elections to fight both a constituency seat and stand on the regional list. This is despite the fact that the Tories, along with the Liberal Democrats removed the dual candidacy ban in the last Government of Wales Bill. Those suggesting that these two positions are incompatible are missing the point. The injustice was in restricting candidates from making a choice and preventing them engaging in what are ...
So the UKIP breakthrough some people feared/hoped in Oldham West and Royton completely failed to materialise. Labour won by more than 10,000 votes on Thursday. In an article I wrote on this site in late-October, I said that this by-election would be a barometer of where UKIP stand electorally at the moment. On the basis of this week's result, the answer is: they are clearly not doing well. To add insult to injury, the UKIPers acted amateurishly in the wake of the heavy defeat. Farage himself claimed that the result had been rigged, citing supposedly dodgy postal votes. Even if ...
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting the Old World Centre to hear about the latest work being undertaken by the centre. The One World Centre works to promote global learning, dedicated to social justice and learning for sustainability. It was good to hear about the recent developments in supporting local schools to engage in global citizenship through active learning through the Global Learning Programme Scotland. You can read more about the centre's work here. Also yesterday, I participated in the latest meeting of the City Council's Local Economy Monitoring Group. As well as a useful presentation on progress with ...
The Chinese Star Wars poster has edited out the non-white characters ICYMI, I posted about Our Glorious Leader @timfarron on t'telleh "But I thought he was a nice guy?!" - on rape and rapists. CW. Quiz: How happy are you really? - apparently I'm really happy, despite the clinical depression Oh boys... Bruce Dickinson on seeing the Iron Maidens. How disabled benefit claimants are being set up for sanctions The mask slips: Oldham result brings out the real Nigel Farage This is almost certainly the most terrifying thing to have ever featured on Pointless Letters GCHQ accused of 'persistent' illegal ...
Congratulations to Paul Revell, whose Sock Monsters continue to lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 14. But it really is tight at the top — just 29 points separate the top 5. Who were the managers of the month for November? Take a bow: Benjamin Moody's Atletico Diabetico (213 points), Kye Dorricott's Footy (212), and Ed Stradling's Unbelievable Jeff! and Jamie Lawson's Bogdan's Babes (both 211). [IMG: ldv 14] There are 219 players in total and you can still join the league by clicking here. * Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from May 2007 ...
Xi Jinping meets President Omaba in Paris (tags: languages China ) The £100,000 cost of sacking the sysadmin Which company *could* this have been??? (tags: work computers )
