I care a lot about my friendships. Friendship is a central philosophy of my life. They are the most critical interactions in my life. However, when I say that, I'm thinking of the top 8 friends. Those eight people in my life who make it worth living. These people understand all the elements of me and accept me regardless. The eight people have been with me for years, some longer than others, but all longer than four years. They held me together in some of the darkest and hardest times of my life. They are my closest advisors, and I ...
The Pentagon Papers (at least some of them) were published by the New York Times and Washington Post in the summer of 1971, just before I set off — for the second time — for Vietnam, to cover President Nguyen Van Thieu's re-election (he was the only candidate; he won). Though the explosion caused by [...]
Rob Marchant says the Labour Party needs to talk about Momentum and antisemitism: "Moderates everywhere should be concerned, not least because they are now at the start of a long process of being gradually squeezed out, constituency by constituency." In America the far right is using cyberharassment against academics. Joshua Cuevas will tell you all about it. "Within six years Salford had 200 play streets. The pilot was so successful that they were passed into English law and 700 were created across England and Wales by the 1950s. But by the 1980s they were all but forgotten." Neal Keeling rediscovers ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 503rd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (14 – 20 January, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven 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. Liberal Democrats hold Council seat ...
[IMG: The benefits of keeping your ageing parents at home] There are some serious advantages to choosing to forego the usual retirement home for your parents. Have a look at what home-based care can offer. Reasons to Let Your Mom and Dad Stay Put If... The post The benefits of keeping your ageing parents at home appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
Embed from Getty Images ESPN wins our coveted Headline of the Day Award.
We will all have some contact with the social care system at some point whether it is for ourselves or for someone we love. Social care policy is devolved to Scotland and the Liberal Democrats have a proud record. Despite what the SNP tried to tell us in their party political broadcast this week, it was the Liberal Democrats, in coalition with Labour, who introduced it back in the glorious days of the early 2000s. Things aren't going so well, though, as an ageing population puts huge pressure on the system. At any one time, around 1,000 patients are stuck ...
[IMG: Don't ignore the warning of severe chills] So this is what that has happened to me this week. I ignored all the warning signs and ended up in an ambulance on Friday. I started to feel abnormally cold at work and was... The post Don't ignore the warning of severe chills appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
Welcome to the latest in my little explainer video series, trying to demystify a little some of the things the Liberal Democrats get up to. Today's video is about postal voting and why it makes sense to encourage supporters to sign up for a postal votes.
Sun 21st
16:55
Want to know more about what Lib Dems are up to? Then Liberal Democrat Newswire is for you
Liberal Democrat Newswire is the free monthly newsletter I produce about what's going on in the party, how the party is doing in elections and polls, the latest campaigns and policies and what the plans are for the future.
Our latest action day in Gateshead was held in Dunston Hill yesterday. We shifted all the Focuses that needed to go out though one patch was collected by one of our members on Friday to deliver later this week. He was helping in the Pallion by-election this weekend, hence the delayed delivery of his patch. Boots were needed during delivery. The snow was still lying on the ground.
... will be forthcoming when the results are no longer embargoed; I have typed it up though, because there was a lot of stuff I wanted to get down while it was fresh in my mind. There were some really difficult decisions - we had far far more motions than we could possibly have accepted - and I didn't agree with the way all of the decisions went, but that's the way of committees, isn't it? One thing I can, and will, say now, though? A lot of our decisions were made immeasurably easier by some of the submitted motions ...
We dramatically misunderstand mental health. Why? Because it is a war within yourself. Physical illness or injuries are for the most part caused by something external, whereas mental illness is internal. Anxiety and depression are traitors trying to push you to the edge and in the extreme circumstances, over into the void. It is a war we cannot win, but we can contain it. We all do that by having coping mechanisms in place for when those traitors come whispering lies in your ears about your family, friends, and every other aspect of life. You have your techniques ready. Here ...
Second scene of third episode:2. PROFESSOR LITEFOOT'S DINING ROOM. (LEELA peers out of the window. She hears the front door shut, then turns around.) LITEFOOT: Nobody out there now! Fellow must have got wind of .. . (He breaks off mid-sentence with a groan. There is a rustling sound in the hall.) LEELA: Professor? (She goes towards the door.) Are you there, Professor? (She is almost at the door when it swings open. MR. SIN is standing there, a knife glinting evilly in his hand. He moves purposefully towards LEELA. For a moment she is frozen with fear, then she ...
After Carolyn Fairbairn, the Director General of the CBI, called for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU, our Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said that this poured cold water on the Government's plans: This is an important intervention from the CBI, and pours yet more cold water on the government's idea that they can rustle up a trade deal that in anyway compares to the economic benefits of being in the EU and maintain the red lines they have set. The Conservatives are making a monumental mess of Brexit. The approach Theresa May has adopted so ...
This is from the 1952 US Presidential election, animated by Roy Disney, nephew of Walt. Quite fun - and also a healthy reminder about slipping into believing that politics now is awful compared to an imagined previous Golden Age of rational debate based on voters making detailed analysis of contrasting policy positions.
Goal 1: make a positive political difference: ✓ Positive political differences made: 3, depending on how you count. And my report back from FCC is written and will be posted when it's no longer under embargo. Goal 2: Dog walking: ✓ The dogs have had all their walks this week. I missed one due to brain wesels and three-and-a-half due to being in London (they came to meet me at the station for their evening walk last night, hence three and a half) Goal 3: House Cleaning: sporadic I did some of this, was unable to do some due to ...
Vince has been talking to occasional LDV contributor York Membery for the Sunday Times. The interview focused on personal finances. He says he is definitely better off than his parents: Undoubtedly, although they were pretty comfortable by the end of their working lives. My parents, Len and Edith, were factory workers and left school at 15, like most people of their generation. But my father was strong on self-improvement. He became a lecturer at a technical college and through a combination of hard work and savings we progressed from a terraced house with an outside loo to a detached house. ...
Back in the 1990s there was an ITV rival to Top of the Pops in the shape of The Chart Show. It was screened on Saturday mornings and - for better or worse - I associate it with this record, which reached number one in the UK in 1994.. Doop were a Dutch techno group and I remember an interview at the time where they said the record grew out of their noticing how close mellow house music was getting to 1920s dance music.
Sat, 12:56: Puerto Rico is not following the Tennessee Plan, but it may work regardless https://t.co/HzBDVLwx9k How PR and DC c... https://t.co/TlWFOiuZf6 Sat, 13:14: RT @emilyfdeath: Enjoyed the section in today's @POLITICOEurope Playbook on secret UK plans the dastardly EU keeps trying to pretend are th... Sat, 15:45: You Can't Take It With You (1938); and play by Moss and Hartman https://t.co/Wgb5jyBMhr Sat, 16:05: The Evolution of "Sesame Street" on HBO | The New Yorker https://t.co/joldgP3Mu3 Awwww. Sat, 21:59: Both Patrick Troughton (Player King) and Peter Cushing (Osric) were in Laurence Olivier's 1948 Hamlet. Is there ano... https://t.co/IyHKEIJvuE Sat, 22:25: ...
It was lovely to hear that the Prime Minister of New Zealand is pregnant. What more extraordinary proof that women can have it all. Even for political minnows though going back after six weeks as she plans is a tall order. Hopefully her eminence means that she will have a fantastic support system in place. For those of us small fry activists who have to write our own leaflets, print them, pay for them and deliver them delivering a baby at the same time and fending off the hostility for having "deserted" our post is pretty tough going. It is ...
Any illusion that Theresa May might wish to conjure up that she has the support of business in her pursuit of a hard Brexit has been quickly dissipated this weekend with reports of a forthcoming speech by Carolyn Fairbairn, who is head of the CBI employers' organisation, suggesting that Britain should stay in a customs union with the EU long after Brexit, even if that means that the UK could not strike its own trade deals with third countries: In a challenge to Eurosceptic cabinet ministers, Ms Fairbairn will argue that Britain should remain in a customs union with the ...
Sun 21st
10:25
Three interesting facts about this year's Scottish Liberal Democrats' Spring Conference
For various reasons, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have been later off the mark than usual at announcing the details of their Spring Conference. However the cat is well and truly out of the bag now. For the first time since 2008, the party is heading to Aviemore to the Macdonald resort in the highland village. It's a great venue that can be combined with a family break. I absolutely love it there. It's in April You wouldn't normally expect to have a Conference in April because there is usually some sort of election to get ready for. For the first ...
Good news slipped out in a written ministerial statement on a Friday afternoon. New Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Esther McVey announced that the Government would not continue its appeal of a High Court judgement that its changes to entitlements to Personal Independence Payments for those whose mental ill health affected their ability to get around were unlawful. Ms McVey said: On 21st December 2017 the High Court published its judgment in the judicial review challenge against regulation 2(4) of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 S.I. 2017/194. The Regulations reversed the effect of the ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42698981 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above That Boris is off on one again is no surprise to anyone but what on earth are the Brexit backing Labour Party up to? They are either with Boris or against him; can't they make up their minds? On votes in Parliament Labour nearly always back our Bluekip/DUP Government over Brexit yet they then attack the very same Brexiters they vote with over the appalling consequences of us leaving the EU. What a mixed up and muddled world the Labour leadership must live in. With thanks ...
Residents contacted me recently following reports that the completion of the work to improve the flood defences on Riverside Drive was possibly going to be delayed by passing trains causing vibration that was stopping the cement from setting properly. To get clarification of the extent of the issue, I contacted the City Engineer who has made clear to me that this is "a minor localised construction issue" and adds : "At this particular location the traffic is currently running on the temporary lane and there is slight dip in the road and when traffic travels over this, some vibration can ...
Today I'm not very well — I've had what is either three separate extremely bad colds in close succession or one lingering infection that dies down and comes back, since Christmas, and today is one of the bad days, so ... Continue reading →
