Tomorrow morning, Nick Clegg will launch the latest in his series of papers looking at the main issues around Brexit. He will be covering the issue of security and will look at things like the loss of the European Arrest Warrant and the impact on things like child custody cases and criminal record checks. This is the fifth paper he has put together as part of his Brexit Challenge to the Government since his appointment as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union in the Summer. The first three can be found here. He started off in July ...
Another video from Holden Webster, who runs the Shropshire Railways website. This one discovers the southern end of the Severn Valley Railway. The SVR was built to join Shrewsbury to Worcester with the link to Kidderminster coming later providing an East/West link across the South Shropshire border. His journey takes him through Stourport on Severn where the lines history is preserved with a public footpath nearly all way from the centre of Stourport to the junction with the main Worcester to Birmingham line at Hatlebury. The station at Stourport has sadly disappeared altogether into a modern housing development, but the ...
Wed 14th
20:58
Brian Paddick reveals that over a million days of police time were lost to mental ill health
Even with the best of resources, the job of a police officer is highly stressful. They deal with the most difficult of human circumstances – and often the most dangerous, too. You would hope that police forces would be mindful of this and would ensure that the mental health of officers was properly looked after. However, research carried out by the Liberal Democrats show that 1.4 million days of police time were lost in the last three years due to mental ill health of both officers and community support officers. This is worrying both in terms of the impact on ...
Embed from Getty Images Russia is helping Trump's campaign, yes, but it is not doing so solely or even necessarily with the goal of placing him in the Oval Office. Rather, these efforts seek to produce a divided electorate and a president with no clear mandate to govern ...Russia's desire to sow distrust in the American system of government is not new. It's a goal Moscow has pursued since the beginning of the Cold War. ... What is new is the methods Russia uses to achieve these objectives. Last month War on the Rocks published a report by Andrew Weisburd, ...
The name 'Aleppo' is in this week's news, but I wonder how many people really get what's going on there. They should, because - while it's impossible to know exactly what's happening - it looks like another round of genocide.And worse still, the events of the past few months - and probably the next few - mean that the perpetrators will simply get away with it because no-one is willing to oppose them.Despite the horror, there is something comforting about looking back on past genocides, because we try to convince ourselves that we have learned from them. The Holocaust is ...
Southwark's political parties have come together to demand that the Government guarantees the rights of EU residents living in Southwark via a motion I tabled at the recent full council assembly. This is aimed to help reassure residents by calling on the Councils Cabinet to lobby the Government and the borough's MPs to secure the right to remain for EU citizens living in the borough. Southwark Council in its role as a community leader, should join in fighting the corner of all our residents, so I'm pleased the Liberal Democrat motion received unanimous support from all councillors and parties. Thank ...
Malta assumes the presidency of the EU at the start of 2017. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, in setting out his priorities, has said the 'Irish Border' Issue must be settled before Brexit talks can begin in earnest, injecting some urgency given that talks are expected to get underway in April next year. Helpfully, the House of Lords EU select committee published a report this week titled Brexit: UK-Irish Relations. The report notes the special ties between the UK and Ireland and the friendship that has developed as the Northern Ireland peace process has advanced. Also noting that Ireland's common ...
'Huge thanks to the Mayor's Charity Committee in Crosby-ably chaired by Anthony Hill- for organising a fundraising coffee morning at CHET in Little Crosby. We were grandly entertained by the pupils of St Mary's Primary school from the village. They sang beautifully. There were lots of stalls from local groups including Crosby and Waterloo in Bloom, the Soroptimists, CHET and the Charity Committee. This is the Crosby Committees second fundraising event in recent weeks. Two of the Committee,Carol and Catherine, organised a dinner at 'This is Livin' Bar and Grill, 4a Carnegie Ave., Crosby for 63 people on behalf of ...
So how did we get to the point where women are committing suicide in the streets rather than face such vicious treatment at the hands of…
[IMG: LGA Liberal Democrat Group] We enclose some information about delays in much needed access improvements to many train stations. Our thanks to Baroness Randerson and to the London Assembly Lib Dem Group for the information. Launched in 2006, the Access for All programme is an important scheme to improve access across the country to the train network. Its programme [...]
[IMG: LGA Liberal Democrat Group] Cllr Richard Kemp, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health & Social Care at the Local Government Association has slammed the news that the Government is looking to deal with the care funding crisis by an increase in council tax precept, saying it will not be nearly enough to plug the gap and that full reform [...]
Thanks to the wonderful people at Aukey they've sent me some stuff to test. Next is the Aukey USB Wall Charger 50W / 10A 5 Ports. This 5 port UBS charger can knock out up to 10A, so around 2A per port, which is enough to get your iPad, iPhone, iPod, Google Pixel and Bluetooth Headphones charged. As it only requires one wall socket, it's ideal for taking on holiday where sockets can be sparse in the hotels, or on a desk when you have devices all over the place. Unlike other similar products I've not noticed any hum from ...
[IMG: LGA Liberal Democrat Group] School improvement may stall unless central government reverses its decision to cut £600 million from councils' Education Services Grant, Lib Dems have warned. The Government's 'Education Excellence Everywhere' White Paper set out plans for the Grant to end for schools in 2017. With councils historically having to top up this annual grant to around £815m [...]
Roger Roberts is pressing the government on the future of European citizenship this afternoon in a question in the House of Lords. In an article for Politics Home, he sets out the issues at stake: Our citizenship as members of the EU, is totally dependent upon the United Kingdom remaining a member of the EU. Once that is lost we, also, are denied that citizenship. There is a move in the EU Parliament to make citizenship available on an individual basis. We apply, pay our fee, and are granted a form of EU citizenship. The problem is that there can ...
[IMG: Tims card] The Christmas holidays are a good opportunity to find the time to do a number of important tasks so that your campaign is ready for a 'flying start' in the new year. Here are five key things worth doing: Send out a 'non-political' email or two Now is the right time to send out a Happy [...]
I wrote a few months ago about how much UKIP is dependent on European funding for its survival and how that is being threatened by Brexit. I have also alluded to the alleged breach of rules that has seen the EU seek to claw money back from the party. Now, as a result of that breach the Guardian reports that Ukip and its allies will be asked to provide bank guarantees in order to unlock a lucrative tranche of EU funds. The paper says that a UKIP-dominated group, the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe, will have to give the ...
[IMG: year-of-campaigning-web-image] We are producing more packs to help Liberal Democrat campaigners like you easily campaign in your local community. This pack is designed to help you campaign all year round with staple campaign elements to make sure you are maximising your chances of electoral success. For Liberal Democrat campaigners, 'Working Hard All Year Round' is so [...]
Some may have been surprised to read recently that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved three trials of MDMA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder – the final phase of validation required to turn the "dance drug" into a legal medicine. Surprised, probably, because we have been repeatedly told for over two decades that MDMA is a very dangerous drug and that "there is no such thing as a 'safe dose'". Doctors would surely never give a dangerous drug with no safe dose to someone just to aid therapy, so what's going on here? It has been known since ...
You know how it is. What with by-elections and all you simply haven't had time to sort out your Christmas gifts. Before panic sets in relax, don't worry, sit back and enjoy the LDV last minute gift guide. All the political pressies you could possibly want - and plenty you didn't! For children It simply has to be the "Tiger Tim" cuddly toy. Like our leader, his qualities and all round niceness speak for themselves and he even has a miniature bird of liberty T-Shirt. Yours for £9.50 from the wonderful Lib Dem Image. The Parliament Shop has also has ...
This article first appeared in the Ludlow Advertiser on 8 December 2016. In politics, it has been a long and curious year. When people who don't usually get engaged with politics turn out to vote, democracy can throw up unexpected results. A majority of people in the UK voted for Brexit, including here in Shropshire.... Continue reading Democracy has shown us the unexpected will of the people →
Twitter RT @gray: Accidental sci-fi epic from the @guardian. Great British High Street Awards: Reaction to Hebden Bridge's double triumph - Halifax Courier RT @Catherine_jane9: Great British High Street Awards: Reaction to Hebden Bridge's double triumph Mental illness and poverty: you can't tackle one without the other | Dean Burnett | Science | The Guardian In which @garwboy smacks it out of the park. Again. Boring Old Raphael Interesting discussion of what gender we expect things to be in cartoons Schoolgirls say FA paper on football treats them like 'brainless baby Barbies' | Football | The Guardian RT @CamilleSJacob: So ...
Wed 14th
09:01
We can see now that the vote in 2013 was one of the most shameful episodes in the history of British...
Yesterday, the House of Commons hosted an emergency debate on Syria. I wasn't sure whether to feel good about this or bitter about it. I could feel good in the sense that at least parliament could see that what is happening in Aleppo at present is horrific enough to warrant such a thing; bitter in that the Commons has realised the error it made in 2013 far too late to help the people of that besieged city. Alison McGovern, the Labour MP, was candid in admitting that she will live with her vote in 2013 for the rest of her ...
Taken at Rites of Spring at Leicester Guildhall in 2012.
Wed 14th
08:55Your last chance to have a say in how the party is run...Polls close in party elections at 23:59 ton...
Voting for the party's main committees, the Federal Board, Federal Policy Committee and Federal Conference Committee, Federal International Relations Committee, closes at 23:59 tonight. For the first time, all party members have a vote. Previously the franchise consisted of those who had been elected as Conference representatives by their local parties. Tim Gordon sent a reminder email to party members: The ballot for electing the party's governing committee members is open until 23:59 on December 14th. You will elect the people who will run our party for the next three years. Also, for the first time, every single member gets ...
On Monday evening, the council's City Development Committee considered the feedback to the public consultation on three appraisal documents on Conservation Areas. One of these is the University Conservation Area. You can download the appraisal document for the Conservation Area here.
Image courtesy of ClaraDon at Flickr.com A change is as good as a rest, as they say. So one might hope that a long rest followed by a change would be even better. Let's hope so. After a long hiatus in which I have blogged only very rarely, at least in part because of an unwillingness to keep my Drupal installation up to date, I figured it was about time for a relaunch. So, welcome to "Jock's Voluntaryist Review" my new whiz-bang WordPress blog. I can't believe I didn't move before now. Whilst I do love Drupal it is way ...
