Copeland is a UK parliamentary constituency that I still associate in my mind with Jack Cunningham, MP, rather than his successor, Jamie Reed, who has resigned, thereby triggering another by-election. Mr Reed says he feels he can serve people better working in the nuclear energy sector, where he has headed. Ah, yes: Sellafield. Not a [...]
Karl Popper was the most important liberal philosopher of the 20th century. The best introduction to his thought is the short book Bryan Magee published in the Fontana Modern Masters series.
Conservative seat. Cause: death. LD candidate: Richard Cole.
When the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act was just a Bill being rushed through Parliament with indecent haste, the pros and cons were hotly debated on this site.Today, the European Court of Justice ruled that the general and indiscriminate collection of data was illegal. Now, this was a Bill passed by the Coalition Government with Liberal Democrat consent So shouldn't we be feeling a bit embarrassed by this ruling? I guess we need to look at the position we were in at the time. Even if we'd told the Tories that we wouldn't support the legislation, there would have ...
Third story (depending how you count) in full:Nicholas Was... older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die. The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories. Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves' invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time. He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus ...
They're calling Copeland, soon to have a by-election after its MP decided to go work at Sellafield, a three way marginal between the Tories, Labour and UKIP. Maybe in old money it would have been, but that was before Brexit. Now those three can fight over whose Brexit is bigger and harder, giving us a unique position. The 38% who voted to Remain, and a good chunk of the 62% who voted to leave in June may well be attracted by the thought of a vote on the final deal, a chance to legitimise what is being done in their ...
See the archive of Liberal Democrat general election manifestos, including not only the text of them but also their design and associated documents such as costings supplements.
Our Secretary of State for Local Government. and Communities, Sajid Javid, is toying with the idea of making all civil servants and local government employees, and maybe all migrants as well, take an oath to uphold British values. This seems to me to be gesture politics at its daftest. The "British" values Javid is keen to promote are not yet strictly defined but might include: tolerating the views of others;believing in freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from abuse;a belief in equality, democracy, and the democratic process; respect for the law.The implication that these values are uniquely or even ...
Labour MP Jamie Reed, a fierce critic of his party's leader Jeremy Corbyn, today quit parliament to take up a new post at the Sellafield Nuclear plant. It means a by-election will take place in his Copeland constituency in Cumbria early in the New Year and presents Scottish activists with a campaigning opportunity much closer ... Continue reading Reed Resignation Sparks Crucial New Year By-Election in Cumbria
Second paragraph of third story ("The Sale", by Tendai Huchu): He entered the tall glass building, formerly the reserve bank building, and told the heavy at the door that he had an appointment. A lift took him up to the top floor with sweeping views of the city. A TV screen in the lobby was tuned to the Voice of Truth. The PA for the Minister for Native Affairs, Anna Kansasian picked up her apparat, spoke into it, and told Mr. Munyuki that the minister was going to be tied up much longer than anticipated. His appointment had been rescheduled ...
What's the problem? The Conservatives are trashing the coalition government's green legacy, slashing subsidies for renewable energy while spending billions subsidising Hinkley Point. The Government's own impact assessment has predicted up to 19,000 job losses in the wind and solar sector. And what about in regards to Peterborough? Last year the Mark Group, one of [...]
Scottish Liberal Democrat energy spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has taken aim at the Scottish Government by criticising their "wrongheaded" plans for a multi-million tax break for the aviation industry. It comes as SNP ministers published their bill to abolish air passenger duty in favour of an air departure tax. SNP ministers plan to spend £250m ... Continue reading McArthur: 'Aviation Tax Break Is Wrongheaded'
Rail passengers in Aberdeen, Dundee and Fife have been warned that they face service cancellations and shorter trains from next year unless there is a last minute change of heart from rail operator CrossCountry. Scottish Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Mike Rumbles has warned passengers that they have only a few days to act in response ... Continue reading Rumbles Slams CrossCountry Over Cuts
Headline of the Day goes to Metro. It's nice to see a science story being recognised in this way.
Given the lack of will of the Polish government to put an end to the paralysis it has imposed on its own Constitutional Court, the ALDE Group in the European Parliament urges the Commission to move from dialogue to action and trigger article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union. ALDE Group leader Guy ... Continue reading ALDE Urges EU Parliament: 'Move From Dialogue To Action on Poland'
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] Do you sit on your local authority's pensions committee? If so, please email Rob Banks from Local Government Association Liberal Democrat Group, rob.banks@local.gov.uk.
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] The Local Government Finance Settlement offered no extra money for local government. In case you haven't seen the full detail, read the LGA briefing. The big story was over no extra money for social care. While it is recognised that the social care precept on council tax will bring in some more money, it is [...]
If Britain does undergo 'hard Brexit', what do we do next? If said 'hard Brexit' results in a consistent and high-reaching economic growth, what do we say? "Unlikely", "highly implausible", "outright impossible" might be the instinctive or well-thought through response of an expert (of the armchair or academic variety). But humour me. If something happens contrary to our expectations, how do we respond? It's a relevant topic, given the year we've had. The idea that the referendum would result in Brexit was surprising (though, for me personally, not shocking). The idea that Donald Trump would be elected President of the ...
I stopped listening to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 in the mornings quite a while back as I got sick to hearing the hectoring confrontational interviews that some of the presenters seemed to revel in. I got the impression that the BBC was just out to create a row rather to get to the bottom of the subject at hand and before breakfast particularly it was just too much. But recently I have drifted back and generally it has been a bit better, that is until I came across John Humphrys interviewing Bernard Hogan-Howe the Met Police Commissioner ...
What's this about then? As a result of a decision taken by the #ToriesAtTheTownHall tenants at St Michael's Gate, Parnwell are being evicted by Stef & Philips, with the council then paying the private firm nearly £1 million a year (thousands of pounds a day) to use the properties as temporary accommodation for the city's large and [...]
Andrew Duff His article deserves to be widely read and reflected on: at a time when the public discussion seems to veer between squabbles over who has the authority to give notice under article 50, the eurosceptic part of the media painting a wildly optimisitic vision of Brexit and a steady stream of stories highlighting the damage, it is very encouraging to see some serious reflection from the House of Lords, and from Andrew Duff. Under the coalition government the Lords Europe Committee undertook a thorough review of the balance of competences between the UK and EU, only to see ...
Well, actually, it wasn't, so 'scuse the click-bait headline. But the worse politics has looked (at least to those of a usually sunny, liberal disposition who don't enjoy pointing an accusatory finger at foreigners for all the wrongs of the world) the better have been the prospects of the Lib Dems. The party's unpresidented unprecedented success in local council by-elections this year and rapid membership growth were straws in the wind for the typhoon that was the Richmond by-election triumph. It's hard to imagine that six months ago 41% of the public people would be predicting 2017 would be a ...
Full Council in Gateshead last week: I asked Martin Gannon, leader of the Council, for an update on devolution to the North East. Our region entered negotiations through the all-Labour North East Combined Authority with the Government for a devolution package. Labour mishandled the whole issue and frankly they have been a shambles. The plans collapsed and Labour in the region are split over the
The day after the US electoral college chose Donald Trump to be their new president, Huffington Post ran an article on his use of digital campaigning, where Brad Parscale, the digital director of the campaign explains: We never fought for the popular vote. There was no economic reason, and there was no reason based off the system of our constitution to do so. We needed to win 270 [electoral college votes], and to do so we needed to win in certain states, and we needed to target registered voters that had a low propensity to vote and a propensity to ...
2016 has been one of those years; pretty chaotic. Pretty much everything that has happened, has. If you had been a betting person in 2015, you would have made a lot of money out of 2016. //giphy.com/embed/137TKgM3d2XQjK?html5=true via GIPHY Yet, through the smoke of chaos the Liberal Democrats have a lot to celebrate and a... Read More Rutsch ins 2017 (Sliding into 2017)
[IMG: Tims card] The ALDC office is closed from the end of 23rd December 2016 and will reopen on the morning of Tuesday 3rd January 2017. If you need urgent advice whilst our office is closed, we will be monitoring the ALDC member-only Facebook Group and the online advice service, which can be reached at advice@aldc.org. There will be contractor support for [...]
Last April, while delivering Focus leaflets for a by-election, I had a slight disagreement with a member of the canine community. I came off the worst, resulting in a trip to the local minor injuries department and a spectacular dressing on my finger. Ever since that incident, I have at last listened to wiser heads who have advised using a Focus delivery tool. If you can find the right tool, it avoids the risk of a canine incident, as well as speeding up delivery and ensuring a less "screwed up" leaflet reaches the resident. At first I used a wooden ...
When darkness chokes
Nigel Farage's tweet yesterday, about the terrible events in Berlin was straight out of the Trump playbook. He posted: 'Terrible news from Berlin but no surprise. Events like these will be the Merkel legacy.' Even if scapegoating an entire group of people from one incident was legitimate, the problem is that the assumptions behind that tweet were completely erroneous. Firstly, he assumed that the asylum seeker who had been arrested was the perpetrator. That proved to be incorrect and the person concerned was released without charge. Secondly, it is clear that the German police do not know who carried out ...
Twitter RT @ThatSabineGirl: 'Straight'? HT @shonfaye for the screencap The BAFTAs Set New Diversity Standards For Film Awards | IndieWire RT @tauriqmoosa: Holy shit - new BAFTA rules: Films must show that they have worked to increase representation of minorities. Twitter RT @nickreeves9876: @BenedictAshton @david_standing Section 6 of the #EURef Briefing Paper says if the ref were mandatory a super-major... Best of media corrections, 2016 edition - Poynter RT @rhysblakely: Strong contender for correction of the year from The Times Twitter RT @rhysblakely: Strong contender for correction of the year from The Times Twitter Full of spoilers, but very apt ...
Five years ago, the Liberal Democrats ran Cardiff with 35 of the 68 seats on the Council. In May 2012, they lost more than half their seats, mainly due to a backlash against the UK coalition government. Then Council leader Rodney Berman lost his seat. There are signs of a reversal of fortune, though. In September, Robin Rea saw a huge increase in the Lib Dem vote to win a by-election in the city's Roath ward. Every council seat in Wales is up for election in May and Rodney has just been selected as the candidate for the Penylan ward. ...
This statue, says its inscription, was: Presented to Portmeirion and its Founder, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, by his friends and collagues on his 90th birthday, May 28th 1973.
Back in September, South Glos Council asked Network Rail to install traffic calming measures on Dodington Road. Highways officials were concerned about reduced visibility caused by Network Rail raising the parapets on the bridge ready for the electrification of the railway line. The work will be carried out by the council but Network Rail will pay for it. There is a legal process to go through to install speed cushions and the consultation on the proposals has now started. You can view the plans and comment online until 11th January 2017.
Edinburgh Western MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton wrote a blistering column in yesterday's Daily Record in which he lambasted the suggestion that public officials in this country should swear an oath. It's as passionate and liberal as you would expect from Alex. My column in today's @Daily_Record on the cold irony of a Government demanding that its citizens swear an oath to tolerance @scotlibdems pic.twitter.com/g9nCgGWfHc — Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) December 20, 2016 Some of the highlights: I'm sorry, but ask anyone associated with the Black Lives Matter campaign in the States (a country which makes its citizens swear allegiance before they draw ...
The opening of the contest to see who will be the next Unite general secretary has led to an interesting look at the current state of the Left. It seems the idea that freedom of movement is kosher while freedom of capital is bad extends way beyond Corbyn and his inner circle. This problem here is that this is a very, very silly position to take up. I can see where it comes from. Globalism creates winners and losers and the Left wants to have a go at this. Yet it does not want to stigmatise immigrants, or indeed, admit ...
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You can now recycle a partridge in a pear tree (also Christmas and New Year recycling dates in Ludlo...
As usual, kerbside collection dates have been changed over Christmas and the New Year. The one to watch out for is that next Monday's collection of waste and recyclables has been brought forward to this coming Saturday. Remember you can now put out cardboard in the blue bag - so that's an excuse to open... Continue reading You can now recycle a partridge in a pear tree (also Christmas and New Year recycling dates in Ludlow) →
Varieties of Brexit @jonworth's taxonomy. (tags: ukpolitics brexit )
