On Saturday 15th July David and I got married. Thanks to the change is the law that was guided through Parliament by the then Lib Dem Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone, same sex marriage could take place from 2014. After 38 years of knowing each other, we decided to tie the knot. Apart from the rain just before the wedding, everything went to plan. Gateshead Registry Office did a great job
I was in Newcastle yesterday for the Northern Pride parade. Gateshead Lib Dem councillors on the parade in addition to myself were Leanne Brand, Amanda Wintcher, Ron Beadle and Vicky Anderson. Sadly the rain also joined the procession which led to the event on the Town Moor being cancelled. Nevertheless, Pride is something we continue to need. Look at some countries such as Uganda, Malaysia and
"This mess was, of course, both predictable and predicted. That's why I've been struck, visiting the UK this summer, by the curious political taboo against discussing how badly Brexit has gone, even among many who voted against it." Michelle Goldberg has found that no one in the UK wants to talk about the disaster of Brexit. Neil Schofield-Hughes warns Wales to be beware of Keir Starmer's attack on devolution in London over ULEZ. Mark Lilla says we need a post-identity liberalism: "By the time ... [students] reach college many assume that diversity discourse exhausts political discourse, and have shockingly little ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: Three by-elections, two published, public opinion polls. How did their results match up against the election results? Find out more by reading this edition of The Week in Polls here, and you can sign up below to receive future editions direct to your email inbox:
After Labour's surprising defeat in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, Mayor Sadiq Khan's ULEZ policy is very much in the news. But the problem with the policy isn't about being green. It's about not helping people enough through the transition to being green. What he should have done – and what he still could do – is take on board what the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly proposed: Our message on ULEZ has been consistent. Sadly Labour rejected our amendment on the scrappage scheme and longer lead in time to make ULEZ fairer. If you have feel let ...
There's just over a month to get your nominations in for the party awards which will be presented at Autumn Conference. You need to get your nominations together by 24th August. All the information you need about how to do this is here. The awards being presented in Bournemouth are: The President's Award Eligibility: open to any Party Member elected to public office and who has demonstrated excellence and commitment. Criteria: the winner will be recognised for outstanding commitment and service to the Party. Local, regional, and state parties should be seeking to nominate people who deserve recognition for their ...
Consisting of Sarah Nixey, Luke Haines (of The Auteurs), and John Moore (formerly of The Jesus and Mary Chain), Black Box Recorder were an indie band who flourished around the turn of the century. The English Motorway System is a track from their 2000 album The Facts of Life. Jude Rogers tells us what's going on here: Another Ballardian beauty from the band, taking Kraftwerk's love of the autobahn and capturing its peculiar hypnotic qualities as we find them on home turf. A song about a couple about to break up, it also perhaps the band's most tender and least ...
Back in 2004, before Tony Blair had won his third election, I blogged: Conrad Russell died last week, an irreplaceable loss to the Liberal Democrats and to Liberalism in general. There were worthy obituaries in the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. I remember his saying once, rather overgenerously, that I did for the party what Matthew Parris does for the country. I also remember his asking me, as his wife had always wondered, why Lord Bonkers talked about Earl Russell and his Big Band. I explained that as there were band leaders called Count Basie and Duke Ellington... When I ...
As MPs head off on their Summer break, which will often include weeks of visiting every community in their constituencies, the House of Commons Library has produced a sort of "end of term report" which shows how much they have contributed in this Parliament from December 2019 to the beginning of this month. To access the data, you need to go to this page and put in their constituencies. You will then see the four graphics for each of them. You can see how many debates they have taken part in, how they voted, how many questions they have asked, ...
What a weekend it has been and it is not over yet with Bastille performing tonight. The town centre has been buzzing with visitors from in and around town and much further afield. For once, the town has been buzzing with younger people, though many older people enjoyed the events also. Those who couldn't get a ticket were jigging in the market and on Whitcliffe. Many sat out in their gardens. Maybe not on Saturday evening when the rain barely let up. There were of course, complaints about noise. Not just from the town centre, which bore the brunt of ...
Further to the vandalism of the footbridge over the rail line south of Harris Academy some time ago, we advised residents recently that the council's City Development Committee had approved the tender to allow works to proceed to repair and re-open it. We recently asked for an update in the hope it can re-open by the end of the school summer holidays and we also asked about the possibility of a cycle ramp to be added during the repairs, as requested by residents. The City Engineer (Design & Property Services) at Dundee City Council has now responded as follows : ...
