Yes, it’s the end of the week again, and time once again for the attack sea otter to turn from the mysteries of double entry bookkeeping to the drama of what to publish on our humble website. So, what do we have…
Firstly, just in case you missed it, this week saw a Wednesday by-election, for the Sunbury Common ward of Spelthorne District Council, on the London fringes, where the sitting Liberal Democrat councillor had stood down due to ill health. And, despite the intervention of a UKIP candidate, Brian Spoor successfully retained the seat with 46.6% of the vote, with the Conservatives pushed into fourth behind UKIP and Labour.
Coming up next today is the third stave of our Christmas Carol, followed by something rather more liberal from Europe. We’ll then travel from the absurd to the ridiculous (yes, there are Tories involved, and Eric Pickles is only one of them) via UKIP (your call, not mine, as to which), before we return to Europe, with some ermine trim – not as nice as sea otter fur, but I’d rather they use a lower grade product.
So, enjoy your Friday, and don’t forget that the chocolate in your advent calendar is running out…
* Mark Valladares is the Friday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and works in Ipswich. But not today, he’s signing his will…
Follow @LibDemVoice on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
The Sun story about Chris Huhne that was a total invention (and which the other papers happily copied)
11 Liberal Democrat MPs vote for registrars to be exempt from marrying same sex couples
How Liberal Democrat MPs voted on same sex marriage amendments
Same sex Marriage: another Liberal Democrat victory
Opinion: Why Lib Dems should support the Referendum on the EU – and let’s have it before 2015
Opinion: Referendum debate is a sideshow: the countdown to Britain’s real EU vote starts today
The Independent View: An invitation to ORGCon 2013: the UK’s leading digital rights conference
Baroness Judith Jolly writes: new Social Care Bill focuses on people not systems
Opinion polls yadda yadda. OR “Does Nate Silver mean nothing to you? Did he write in vain?”
Welsh Government more interested in fighting UK counterparts than helping people
We can be 'listened at' but not 'listened to'...Mathew Hulbert writes for The Guardian!
Just how open is greater manchester's police and crime commissioner?
Silence of the lambs and howling of the wolves
Woolwhich: The counter narrative
Ealing Council Finds Councillor Dennehy Guilty as Charged For Offensive Blog
Tope's Hopes
The Beach Boys Live: The 50th Anniversary Tour
The strange case of Tory homophobia
New Musik to jog to
Paul Pettinger
Martin
A Social Liberal
Eddie Sammon
Alex Harvey
4 Comments
Sunbury is a great result for our excellent team there. However Sunbury is not ‘on the London fringes’ it is ‘in Surrey’.
London remains, of course, on the fringes of the south eastern counties
Neil,
It has London buses. It’s on the London fringes…
* gives thanks for being ninety miles from London *
“Brian Spoor successfully retained the seat with 46.6% of the vote, with the Conservatives pushed into fourth behind UKIP and Labour.”
The same thing happened in Birkdale ward, Southport, in May of this year. However I warn against complacency. UKIP support is born mostly from fear and anxiety spreading among parts of the electorate rather than political thought. The conditions which provoke fear and anxiety are likely to continue and escalate for some time. Although UKIP popularity provides a small electoral advantage for Lib Dems in contests with Conservatives, it is a tiger, upon the continuing clutching of whose tail we would be wise to not make too much reliance.
Tony Dawson is right to ask us not to be complacent. As a pro-european Lib Dem I am irritated by the latest edict which now requires ‘equality’ in insurance premiums for both female and male drivers. Why on earth should women drivers in general and younger ones in particular be penalised? Rather more to the point some other questions need to be asked. Are not such directives supposed to be scrutinised by national parliaments? Did not Government Ministers put up a fight wjhen this was first proposed? . And what part did the European Parliament play in this? And what of the British Insurance industry-or did they see an opportunity to stoke up their profits by a dramatic increase for woem drivers and a modest reduction for male drivers?