A reader sent me the link to this 2001 radio documentary about the great Viv Stanshall. As was inevitable in that era, it was presented by Stephen Fry. Imagine my pleasure when Steve Winwood came on to talk about his songwriting collaboration with Stanshall. That's one of this blog's heroes talking about another.
Mon 16th
21:50
I can see James MacCleary now the Rain has Gone: Lord Bonkers' foreword to the new Liberator Songboo...
Journalists have been clutching their pearls for several days, but only now are Liberal Democrats gathering for the Conference Glee Club. The event is nothing without a Liberator Songbook, and - or so the old brute tells me - a Liberator Songbook is nothing without a foreword by Lord Bonkers. So here's the one he's written for this year's edition. Bonkers HallRutland Tel. Rutland 7 Planning the Bonkers Hall International Arts Festival takes up much of my time over the summer, falling as it does just before the Liberal Democrat autumn conference. (For myself, I tend to fall at or ...
One of the great pleasures of Talking Pictures TV is spotting, with or without the aid of IMDb, British actors in their early years. Take this vicar and silly-ass curate from the opening of Live Now Pay Later, a 1962 film that was shown the other day and is currently on the channel's online catch-up service. The vicar (on the left) is unmistakably Andrew Cruickshank, but who is his curate? The answer is John Wood, a celebrated stage actor who paid the bills by taking small parts in a dozen British films of this era. He then made an unexpected ...
I opened my clasped hands to see a little bird which stretched and sang, which rose and danced in vital fire... Released, its spirit waxed and soared on heron's wings; reborn with fresh élan, a phoenix in the flame whirling to the mystic
BBC Politics has a clip of that incredibly moving part of Daisy Cooper's speech in which she describes the moment she was told she needed major surgery or she had four days to live. And then the further blow that she was so ill that she would likely never work again. "I lay in my bed on the 13th floor of that hospital and I sobbed. I sobbed and I sobbed and I sobbed for 17 hours straight" During a speech to her party's conference, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper reflects on being diagnosed with Crohn's diseasehttps://t.co/BGLrmJA0gI pic.twitter.com/tEakVFKV3p — ...
Mon 16th
12:42Lord Bonkers' Diary: Conservative members are now attacking their real enemy... each other
Quite who Lord Bonkers' scouts and agents are remains a mystery even to me, but there's no doubt that the old boy is very well informed. The Rutlandshire trot-hound cropped up in one of the first of these diaries. It's a hunting dog noted for its stamina and very small ears - the latter mean that it cannot be made to fall into a deep sleep by its quarry reading left-wing pamphlets at it. Friday Labour members, my scouts tell me, are not happy with the early weeks of their government. Tipping buckets of cold water over old age pensioners ...
As The Independent reports: Sir Keir Starmer has made a mistake by ruling out Britain rejoining the EU single market, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said. Piling pressure on the Labour leader to u-turn on UK membership of the single market, Sir Ed Davey said "if you're going to rebuild our economy and get growth, you have to go further ... "I just don't think he is going far enough. The fact that he's ruled out going back into the single market, I think is a mistake for those negotiations and for the vision of getting more investment ...
Post-General Election, there has been a slew of articles, in Lib Dem publications, about our strategic direction. Three interlinked commonplaces come up time and again. All, in my view, are wrong. Let's take them one by one. 1. There are not many plausible targets left. In fact, there are twenty-five plus seats where we are in obvious contention. The majority are located in our southern heartlands and adjoin existing seats, easing the use of regional organisers and help from other local parties. But twenty-five isn't many, you may say. Here is a short list of our best General Election results ...
I arrived last night at Brighton just in time for the local government /Ed Davey reception. A bigger room would have been useful as we were packed shoulder to shoulder. Afterwards I headed out for food and then returned to the hotel, feeling rather knackered. After all, 7 weeks solid on the Bridges by-election, running the farm, days of prep for the Bowes Agricultural Show and a journey to
Wendy Chamberlain gave her keynote speech to Conference on Saturday. Enjoy: * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Mon 16th
09:26
Welcome to my Conference day: 16 September 2024 -"who are all these people, and where did they come ...
Next month, I'll have been a Liberal, and then Liberal Democrat, for forty years, something I occasionally find hard to credit, but my body reminds me of from time to time. I've seen a lot, and met a lot of people in that time. What that means is that there are plenty of people that I run into at Federal Conference who I know, or who know me, and it's always nice to find out what they're up to, running councils, or doing serious things elsewhere. But what's noticeable is the astonishing number of people who I don't know, and ...
Here's Monday's events in the main hall. We have keynote speeches from Daisy Cooper and Welsh Leader Jane Dodds, policy motions on bereavement support, supporting musicians, the Israel Gaza conflict, prisons and international development and a consultation session on the General Election Review. You can find full details in the agenda here. Don't forget about the Lib Dem Conf app too - available on your app store. If, like me, you are stuck at home, you can watch all the main hall action live here. 09.00-09.45 F29 Policy motion: Fair Votes Now 09.45-11.05 F30 Consultative session: General Election Review 11.05-11.20 ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2024 Seafield Road, Dundee - closed from its westmost end (in cul-de-sac) extending for a distance of no more than 20 metres in an easterly direction to facilitate a site access for a new housing development until November 2025. Blinshall Street (Douglas Street to 50 metres south) - closed until December 2024 for construction works. Douglas Street (Blinshall Street to Brown Street) - temporary traffic lights until December 2024 for construction works. Brown Street (south of Douglas Street) - closed until ...
No, not the Liberal Democrats conference. The event I am currently attending is packed, fringe meetings are lively and exhibitor stands numerous. Session are high-spirited and the number seventy-two pops up in every speech and every venue. They even had it in lights at the rally. It is the Tories who appear to be struggling. The Guardian reports that low interest is challenging organisers of the Conservatives annual get-together, with business day tickets still not sold, speakers reluctant to engage and attenders dialling back their time: The experience of losing power is a brutal business. The ministerial cars disappear, the ...
So, I've come to the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference here in Brighton. Admittedly, that's because I'm a Liberal Democrat, but also because I've got things to do. As a member of Federal Council, it's important to me to talk to members and find out what's going on, but I'm also here in my new capacity as the apparently prospective new Chair of the Smaller Councils Committee of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), talking about the importance of our sector. And given that many of our new MPs represent parished areas, we want to encourage them to work with, ...
