By Helen Duffett
| Fri 30th September 2011 - 7:54 pm
Gwynedd UA, Penrhyndeudraeth
PC 515 (61.4; +2.9)
Llais Gwynedd 233 (27.8; -13.7)
Ind 91 (10.8; +10.8)
Majority 282
Turnout not known
PC hold
Percentage change is since May 2008.
Gwynedd UA, Diffwys and Maenofferen
PC 210 (57.9; +16.7)
Llais Gwynedd 153 (42.1; -7.2)
Majority 57
Turnout not known
PC gain from Llais Gwynedd
Percentage change is since May 2008.
Watford Borough Council, Nascot
LD Jeanette Aron 1021 (48.5; +2.8)
Con 818 (38.8; +2.5)
Lab 134 (6.4; -5.3)
Green 133 (6.3; 0.0)
Majority 203
Turnout 34.29%
LD hold
Percentage change is since May 2011.
Shropshire UA, Bishop’s Castle
LD Charlotte Barnes 801 (53.4; +5.7)
Con 544 (36.3; -4.3)
Lab 80 (5.3; +5.3)
Green 74 (4.9; -6.8)
Majority 257
Turnout 51.3%
LD hold
Percentage change is since June 2009.
By Helen Duffett
| Fri 23rd September 2011 - 6:53 pm
Barwell Parish Council, St Mary’s
LD John Cullinane 302 (57.5)
Ind 130 (24.8)
Lab 93 (17.7)
Majority 172
Turnout 14.35%
LD hold.
Fenland DC, Staithe
Con 228 (42.0; -13.1)
Lab 166 (30.6; +1.8)
LD Robert McLaren 90 (16.6; +16.6)
UKIP 39 (7.2; -8.9)
Ind 20 (3.7; +3.7)
Majority 62
Turnout 28.8%
Con hold
Percentage change is since May 2011.
Wisbech TC, Staithe
Con 223 (41.1)
Lab 171 (31.5)
LD Nicky Smith 97 (17.9)
UKIP 52 (9.6)
Majority 52
Turnout 28.9%
Con hold
By Helen Duffett
| Sat 17th September 2011 - 10:35 pm
What’s loosely termed the awards “ceremony” for the 2011 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards has just drawn to a glittering close. As the last firework fades in Birmingham’s night sky, I’m delighted to announce the winners:
It’s been a big task, and a fun one, to distil so many excellent examples of Lib Dem blogging and e-campaigning into lists of the five best.
Congratulations if you’ve been shortlisted, but if you haven’t: remember that the shortlists are based on the judges’ subjective opinions. The awards are intended to be a fun way to celebrate the talent in the Lib Dem blogosphere, whilst introducing you to some blogs you might not have read before.
First, a reminder that the winner of the Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog category will be decided by a public vote here on Liberal Democrat Voice, so please have a read of the nominated blogs and then head on over to the sidebar to cast your vote.
Next, a plug for the awards ceremony itself. If you’re coming to party conference in Birmingham, do come along to the Andante Suite, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Birmingham, from 9.45pm on Saturday 17th September.
Now, without further ado, here are the shortlists: (Drumroll, please)
By Helen Duffett
| Thu 15th September 2011 - 12:53 pm
Why not get our latest headlines by email? Hundreds of Lib Dem Voice readers already do.
Some people like regularly visiting Lib Dem Voice to see the latest stories. Others like to look out for us on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed and check that way. And some even read us on their Amazon Kindle.
But if you prefer email, you can sign up for our daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice. It has convenient links to click through to the full article, and a note of how many comments each post has got.
By Helen Duffett
| Mon 12th September 2011 - 4:43 pm
Yesterday’s Observer had a piece on future stars from the youth wings of the three main parties: Liberal Youth, Conservative Future and Young Labour.
The young people from all the parties are an inspired and inspiring bunch, but it’s striking from the magazine article’s photos that Liberal Youth are the huggiest and most diverse. Ranging from “crisp-shirted” to “he of the elongated fringe”, the Liberal Youth contingent are a mixture of ages and backgrounds. Sadly the Liberal Youth photo only made it into the print edition (magazine front page, no less) so the online version features the …
By Helen Duffett
| Mon 12th September 2011 - 11:53 am
Nick Clegg has paid tribute to David Griffiths, former Chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal Finance Committee, Treasurer of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, who died earlier this month:
David Griffiths who had served the Liberal Democrats loyally over the years passed away aged 70 on the 3rd September 2011.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the many years of dedicated service David gave to the party. His many varied roles included being Chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal Finance and Administration Committee and Treasurer of Liberal International a role which reflected
Following Chris Fox’s decision, announced today, to stand down as Chief Executive at the end of November, Nick Clegg and Tim Farron have praised the transformation he has brought to the party organisation.
Chris Fox took over the role of Chief Executive in July 2009. During his time in the role he has led on strategy and the air war and headed up the executive team during the General Election. Since then he has focused on modernising the party which culminated in a move to new high tech headquarters in the heart of Whitehall a week ago.
Jonathan Fryer, Chair of London Region Liberal Democrats emails party members in London with the news:
The count has just been completed in the ballot for the Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidate for 2012.
The selection contest turned into a really close race, reflecting the excellent choice of candidates London members were presented with.
I would like to congratulate Brian Paddick warmly on his victory, and all of us at Team London look forward to working with him and our GLA candidates over the next eight months to ensure the best possible result in May.
Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat Mayoral Candidate for 2012
Time’s ticking till close of nominations for the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2011, so here’s a reminder of the categories and an exhortation to vote!
Nominate up to 3 favourites in any or all of these categories:
Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2010)
Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)
Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat
Best posting on a Liberal Democrat blog (since 1st September 2010)
North Ayrshire UA, Saltcoats and Stevenston
First preference votes:
Scottish Labour Party 1914 (48.7; +13.9)
SNP 1306 (33.2; +1.2)
Scottish Conservative 284 (7.2; -0.4)
All Scotland Pensioners Party 211 (5.4; +5.4)
Independent 114 (2.9; +2.9)
LD Gordon Bain 56 (1.4; +1.4)
Socialist Labour Party 43 (1.1; +1.1)
Turnout 25.42%
Lab hold
Percentage change is since May 2007.
Labour elected at Stage 5.
For full details use the link:
http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/NewsArticles/InfoZone/ByElection2011%20result.aspx
Bolsover DC, Shirebrook South West
Lab 200 (47.8; +15.6)
Green 103 (24.6; +24.6)
Con 72 (17.2; +11.1)
BNP 43 (10.3; +0.7)
Majority 97
Turnout not known
Lab gain from Ind
Percentage change is since May 2011
As the sun sets on Cowley Street, Lib Dem Chief Exec Chris Fox emails party members with the HQ’s change of address and a brief look back, before taking “another big step for the party and our ambitious modernisation programme”. (He also includes a handy list of contact details for other parts of the party.)
Nick Clegg writes this evening at Comment is Free on the need for the British government to uphold human rights at home as well as abroad. He describes the strengths of British human rights laws, and reminds that the Liberal Democrats will continue to support them in the face of the Tories’ rhetoric or moves to renegotiate them.
Britain has a proud history of international leadership on human rights. It was our political leadership and legal expertise that led to the creation of the European convention on human rights in 1950, a convention modelled on centuries of English law.
As announced last week, it’s time to nominate your favourite bloggers, campaigners and social networkers in the BOTYs – the sixth annual Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards.
The Liberal Democrat Group in the Local Government Association has announced the results of its elections to group positions and the various LGA commissioners, boards and panels. Those elected are listed below with the results available here and the full breakdown of the results by stage available here.
Group Executive
Group Leader – Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Portsmouth (Elected unopposed)
Deputy Leader (Policy) – Chris White, Hertfordshire (Elected unopposed)
Deputy Leader (Political) – Dorothy Thornhill, Watford
Group Chair – Jill Shortland, Somerset (Elected unopposed)
Group Whip – Howard Sykes, Oldham (Elected unopposed)
See the full list of those elected at the ALDC website …
Nick Clegg has given a speech on the Arab Spring today at the British Council. He also included a passage on last night’s dramatic events in Libya:
The advances made by the Free Libya Forces in Tripoli would have been unthinkable just a few months ago. Unimaginable, even, for the generations of young Libyans who have never known a world without Qadhafi. Now, that world is within their reach. The momentum for change is breathtaking and, for the cynics who said change wasn’t possible, who had written off the Libyan uprising, written off the Arab Spring, clearly, they were wrong. The
Shirley Williams, now Baroness Williams, returns to her childhood homes in London’s Chelsea and the New Forest. Her mother was the writer, Vera Brittain, whose most famous novel – Testament of Youth – was a best-seller when Shirley was a child in the 1930s. Her father, George Catlin, was an academic and and an instinctive feminist whose own mother had been an early suffragette, ostracised by Victorian society. He was a
The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run by Lib Dem Voice, are back for their sixth year. As usual, they’ll be awarded in a budget lavish ceremony at the party’s autumn conference in Birmingham.
Click on the following links to see last year’s Shortlist and the Winners.
Why not get our latest headlines by email? Hundreds of Lib Dem Voice readers already do.
Some people like regularly visiting Lib Dem Voice to see the latest stories. Others like to look out for us on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed and check that way. And some even read us on their Amazon Kindle.
But if you prefer email, you can sign up for our daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice. It has convenient links to click through to the full article, and a note of how many comments each post has got.
Nick Clegg spoke to party members yesterday (Saturday) in Liverpool and Manchester, discussing last week’s riots and their aftermath.
His speech featured the announcement that the Government is commissioning independent research into the riots, (including research into gang culture) and cautions against “overnight policy” and “instant announcements”.
Nick’s speech in full:
This has been a traumatic week.
Traumatic for the nation; for police forces around the country; and above all for the innocent victims who have lost their homes, their livelihoods and even, in the most tragic cases, their lives.
The images of burning buses, looted shops and wrecked homes will not fade quickly. But
Islington LBC, St Peter’s
Lab 1167 (52.5; +17.5)
LD David Sant 440 (19.8; -9.6)
Con 381 (17.1; -9.1)
Green 176 (7.9; -1.4)
Ind 59 (2.7; +2.7)
Majority 727
Turnout 24.78%
Lab hold
Percentage change is since May 2010.
Windsor and Maidenhead UA, Eton and Castle
LD George Fussey 208 (47.4; +19.6)
Con 182 (41.5; -23.7)
Lab 32 (7.3; +0.3)
UKIP 17 (3.9; +3.9)
Majority 26
Turnout 24% LD gain from Con
Percentage change is since May 2011
North Devon DC, Fremington
Ind 501 (46.9; +5.2)
Con 308 (28.8; +16.2)
Ind 196 (18.3; -13.6)
Green 64 (6.0; +6.0)
Majority 193
Turnout 29.99%
Ind hold
Percentage change is since May 201
Dawlish TC, Central and North East
Ind (Voice for Dawlish) 323 (45.6)
LD Judith Robins 311 (43.9)
Green 75 (10.6)
Majority 12
Turnout 16%
Ind …
Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown has emailed Lib Dem members to appeal for urgent donations to help with the famine in the Horn of Africa:
As I write this, there is a crisis in the Horn of Africa that is claiming the lives of thousands of children. Famine has been declared. Millions face starvation. In Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia we are witnessing the worst humanitarian catastrophe in a generation.
It is a crisis that has unfolded slowly, so much so that the media has found little drama to force it to top of news bulletins – which have instead been dominated
’ve only been Scottish Convenor of SWLD since 2nd July and I want you all to be wild: wild about the appallingly low number of Lib Dem women MPs, wild about dropping to 1 female MSP in May but wild with enthusiasm to achieve our 3
Enfield LBC, Bush Hill Park
Con 1108 (44.5; +6.1)
Lab 668 (26.8; +2.0)
Ind 230 (9.2; +9.2)
LD Paul David Smith 177 (7.1; -12.3)
Green 100 (4.0; -6.5)
UKIP 70 (2.8; -4.1)
BNP 61 (2.5; +2.5)
Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship” 45 (1.8; +1.8)
The English Democrats – “Putting England First!” 29 (1.2; +1.2)
Majority 440
Turnout 23.83%
Con hold
Percentage change is since May 2010.
Blackburn with Darwen UA, Beardwood with Lammack
Con 1097 (63.8; +3.4)
Lab 572 (33.3; +0.1)
LD Salim Lorgat 51 (3.0; -3.5)
Majority 525
Turnout not known
Con hold
Percentage change is since May 2011.
Harrow LBC, Stanmore Park
Con 1395 (58.1; -0.4)
Labour 509 (21.2; +0.7)
Independent 299 (12.4; +12.4)
LD Sylvia Warshaw 98 (4.1; -9.4)
Green 53 (2.2; -5.3)
UKIP 48 …
L’Oréal has been forced to pull ad campaigns featuring Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington, after the advertising watchdog upheld complaints by Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson that the images were overly airbrushed.
Swinson, who has waged a long-running campaign against “overly perfected and unrealistic images” of women in adverts, lodged complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority about the magazine campaigns for L’Oréal-owned brands Lancôme and Maybelline. The ASA ruled that both ads breached the advertising standards code for exaggeration and being misleading and banned them from future publication.
Business Secretary Vince Cable writes today at the Mail on Sunday on his own reaction to the “Murdoch mania” press coverage and his experiences of News International during his first year as a Cabinet Minister:
My own direct experience was as the Minister with responsibility for competition and takeovers.
I had to take a decision on whether to approve or refer the bid from News International to acquire the remaining (just over 60 per cent) shares in BSkyB that it did not already own.
My involvement started with a courtesy call from James Murdoch last summer telling me of the bid
Wokingham UA, Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe
Con 850 (65.9; +0.6)
LD Martin Alder 272 (21.1; -7.1)
UKIP 55 (4.3; +4.3)
Lab 94 (7.3; +0.7)
Green 19 (1.5; +1.5)
Majority 578
Turnout 29.38%
Con hold
Percentage change is since May 2010.
Gwynedd UA, Glyder
Plaid Cymru 207 (39.4; -25.1)
LD Doug Madge 194 (36.9; +1.3)
Con 65 (12.4; +12.4)
Lab 60 (11.4; +11.4)
Majority 13
Turnout not known
Plaid Cymru hold
Percentage change is since May 2008.
Truro City Council, Boscawen
Con 469 (40.7)
LD Kate Tregunna 322 (28.0)
Lab 246 (21.4)
Mebyon Kernow 114 (9.9)
Majority 147
Turnout 24.59%
Con gain from LD.
David Allen A clear, credible, principled strategy from the Yorkists! Makes a welcome change.
Sadly, followed by twenty below-the-line posts, providing nearly twenty ve...
Simon McGrath so we get a permanant increase in costs for these subsidies based on ( alleged ) windfall profits. Its another big increase in spending -how is it to be paid ...
Peter Davies @Kira CollinsThat assumes we want to help people more with their energy bills than with all the other bills they may be struggling with. There is no reason why ...
Rob Heale Agree that we need to focus on strategy and have clearer messaging:-
1. We MUST prioritise membership recruitment in all we do, including PPB's, most leaflets...
Kira Collins Disappointed. The most obvious means of reducing energy bills is to remove VAT. Relatively straightforward to do and does not adversely impact on the attractive...
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The pine martens of Shropshire
The shame of Liverpool Labour councillors taking their allowances but not turning up to do the work
Should Labour reconsider the Brexit red lines?
David Allen 
Simon McGrath 
Peter Davies 
Rob Heale 
Kira Collins 