Ed Davey sews a blazer in Stockport and plays chess in HullMost Liberal Democrat MPs, and most of the limited number of target seats we have yet to win, are in the South of England, with inevitable consequences for the policy positions we adopt. So it's good to see two reports on BBC News about Ed Davey visiting areas in the North where we hope to do well in next month's elections. One is about a visit to Stockport, where the report says we are "eyeing full control". Ed also spoke of the party making gains "in places like Preston and Manchester and Trafford". He is pictured sewing a blazer at ... (more) |
Drink-drive ban for alcohol-free bar's general managerLike Alanis Morissette, the judges are amused by irony, so BBC News has strolled away with our Headline of the Day Award. (more) |
The irony of it!I wonder if Labour spot the irony in this banner. The issue at hand here is the closure of the Gateshead flyover which, a year and a half ago, was found to be in a poor and dangerous state. The resulting closure has added to the congestion next to a zone where Labour's one way system has itself added to congestion in the town centre. "Brought to you by Gateshead" - the words are really (more) |
Watch our party political broadcast for the local electionsAnd here it is: * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems. (more) |
The bleak prospects for our future cost of livingThe Independent reports on warnings by a senior MP that Britons could face higher household bills for years to come - even if the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East holds. The paper says that Graeme Downie, a Labour MP who sits on the energy select committee, has warned it "will still take a long time for prices to return to normal" and the full impact of the crisis on the cost of living could be felt "until 2027/28 at least": His comments follow warnings from experts and industry figures that the two-week ceasefire - which is already in jeopardy ... (more) |
9 April 2026 - today's press releasesCole-Hamilton sets out plan for a skills revolution Scot Lib Dems call for investment in affordable housing in Mid Scotland & Fife Cole-Hamilton sets out plan for a skills revolution Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today set out plans for a skills revolution as he met with young scientists at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh today. The Scottish Liberal Democrats will: Create a new industrial strategy that focuses on what we're really good at and what we can be good at, and throw the weight and levers of government behind businesses that can help us achieve greater success in ... (more) |
Lord Harborough's Curve and Oscar Wilde's first biographerLord Harborough's Curve: photo by John Sutton Many railway enthusiasts will know the story of the Battle of Saxby and Lord Harborough's Curve, told here by the Leicestershire Museum Collections site:In mid-November 1844, railway surveyors were making their way slowly through the Leicestershire countryside. George Stephenson had sketched out his preferred route for the Syston & Peterborough Railway and now they were taking the levels. Four miles east of Melton, near the village of Saxby, they reached the estate of Lord Harborough, whose ancestral home of Stapleford Hall stood nearby. His Lordship hated the very idea of railways and had ... (more) |
His father knew Lloyd GeorgeOn the 9th April 1917, Easter Monday, the poet Edward Thomas was killed in the Battle of Arras. His family were Welsh, and his father Philip was an active Liberal and attendee of the National Eisteddfod in 1906. He was a friend of David Lloyd George long before Lloyd George became President of the Board of Trade. In 1936 David Lloyd George, prime minister Stanley Baldwin, and poet laureate John Masefield signed an appeal to create a memorial to Thomas, and on 2nd October 1937 it was unveiled on the Shoulder of Mutton hill in Hampshire. 'Adlestrop' is probably Edward ... (more) |
It is time for a new social democratic chapter in Lib Dem thinkingThe Liberal Democrats have a habit of arguing through books. The Orange Book, the Little Yellow Book, the Green Book; each tried to say something important about the future of our party. But taken together, they still leave one tradition unnamed: liberal social democracy. These books aren't just publications, but attempts to define what kind of party we are. The Orange Book laid out a deliberate statement of intent in 2004. It was a serious effort to restate one kind of liberalism and carve out a path that distinguished us from the Conservative and Labour Parties at the time. The ... (more) |
Improving our food resilience is essential to managing food price volatilityFood prices have become one of the biggest pressures on family budgets in Britain. Yet behind the rising cost of the weekly shop lies a deeper problem: a food system that is failing households, farmers and the economy alike. In the past decade, we have experienced the highest food price inflation in 40 years. UK production of some of our most nourishing foods, such as beans, fruit and vegetables, is stalling as they no longer offer a viable livelihood for farmers. Domestic fruit and vegetable production has dropped by 16% since 2015, and we see the largest trade deficits for ... (more) |