Lib Dems RSS feed for the Lib Dems tag
found 18 stories.
Comment
Bob Piper 3 Feb 11
Over the last week we have been treated to a media blitz by David Cameron to try to sell his health reforms to a skeptical public. These changes were neither in their manifestos, nor the coalition agreement.
The promise of no top-down reorganisation was in the manifesto, and putting it as blunt as possible… it was a downright lie to the people of England.
In his love-fest with the media Cameron relied on a series of myths about the existing state of the NHS and the nature of the reforms…
Comment
Cllr Ian Shires 12 Jan 11
Liberal Democats on Walsall Council succeeded in getting unanimous backing at Monday’s Full Council meeting welcoming government plans which will protect local Post Offices after years of closures by previous Labour and Tory Governments.
Speaking at the meeting Liberal Democrat group Leader councillor Ian Shires said that it was important that Walsall Council played its part by ensuring that it put as much business through the Post Office network as possible…
Comment
The Plastic Hippo 21 Dec 10
There comes a time when repetitive mockery becomes tedious and only so much scorn can be heaped upon the hopeless, the inadequate and the inept. So let us hear no more bile and invective directed at Walsall cabinet, Mike Bird, Serco, Tesco, the ring road, the bins , the grit and the absent political opposition until at least Boxing Day. But let us allow ourselves one last indulgence in a final hurrah for the Cable guy and the Liberal Democrats.
With seven months experience as business secretary under his belt, Vince seems to think he has the power to “bring the government down” by resigning from office. Like a rogue Coriolanus bestriding the world armed with “nuclear weapons”, he joins the patrician ranks to quell the unruly plebeian rioters. However, Coriolanus was dissuaded from destroying Rome and never made an arse of himself by appearing on Strictly Come Dancing. Vince and the Roman share a sense of self-importance and delusion and both are likely to share the same political fate…
Comment
Cllr Ian Shires 10 Dec 10
Unlike a great many, I have actually read through the arguments for and against the Coalition’s plans for funding higher education. My views have not changed, I don’t agree with what is being proposed.
I remain opposed to Tuition Fees in whatever form they appear, be they Labour; Tory or Coalition…
Comment
Roger McKenzie 16 Nov 10
A friend of mine recommended that I listen to a piece of music that she had come across on the Internet. The piece of music by Captain Ska is a protest song that calls into question, lets say, the alleged fabrication tendencies of a number of senior Coalition Governments politicians.
I must admit that I usually think twice when someone recommends that I listen to a protest song. It fills me with dread that I might be subjected to some of the so-called protest songs that I had to grin and bear or was coerced into joining in with at some of the social events, festivals and meetings that I have attended over the years…
Comment
Cllr Ian Shires 15 Nov 10
Earlier this year, before the General Election in May, I stood in front of students at Walsall College along with politicians from the other parties, to answer questions about what our parties stood for. One of the questions put to us was “What, if elected, would your Party do about Student Fees?”
For me this was a “no brainer”. If a Liberal Democrat Government was returned after the elections, Student Fees would be abolished.
Well the election has come and gone and no one party has sufficient MP’s to form a Government on their own. We haven’t got a Tory Government. We haven’t got a Labour Government and we haven’t got a Liberal Democrat Government…
News
Adam Lumley The YamYam 20 Oct 10
Voters in the Rushall-Shelfield ward go to the polls on Thursday 11 November in a Walsall Council by election resulting from the sad death of Albert Griffiths. The popular councillor died aged 73 following a short illness last August.
The Rushall-Shelfield seat was scheduled to be contested next May and it is thought that a “gentleman’s agreement” existed between the three main parties to leave the seat vacant until then. However, the Official Monster Raving Loony Party exercised its right to trigger the by election by responding to the “Notice of Casual Vacancy” which requires two registered voters in the borough to request an election.
Councillor Griffiths retained the ward in 2007 with a majority of 579 over second placed Labour. The BNP finished third and the LibDems came fourth ahead of Democratic Labour. In the elections last May, Councillor Rachel Walker (now Andrew) kept the seat for the Conservatives with a 900 vote majority. The LibDems came third with a creditable 956 votes.
The November by election sees the return of the BNP, the inclusion of a Monster Raving Loony candidate, UKIP and veteran Labour former mayor Richard Worrall. But the main talking point will be the decision by the Liberal Democrats not to field a candidate.
It is not clear if Walsall Liberal Democrats have been influenced by the partnership between the national leadership and the Conservatives in government but the 956 people who voted LibDem in the ward in May could turn to any of the others parties and overturn a healthy Conservative majority.
Leader of the Walsall LibDem group, Councillor Ian Shires stated that the decision not to contest the ward was taken by the constituency Aldridge Brownhills Association and gave his assurance that there is no “pact” between LibDems and Conservatives in Walsall.
Richard Worrall, the Labour candidate, told TheYamYam that “the glaring absence of one of the parties of government” was an indication of the reluctance of “LibDem hopefuls hurrying to come forward and face electors on the door-step at this particular time”.
The YamYam invited Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Aldridge and Brownhills Association, Bob Pearce, to issue a statement but none has yet been forthcoming.
The candidates standing in Rushall-Shelfield are:
Mark William Beech – The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
Tim Melville – UKIP
Lorna Jean Rattigan – The Conservative Party
Bill Vaughan – The British National Party
Richard Vernon Worrall – The Labour Party
Comment
The Plastic Hippo 30 Sep 10
Animal lovers will know the anguish and the heartache experienced when a dearly loved and cherished family pet passes on. The twinkle in the eye may still be there, but the legs and tiny brain have given up the ghost.
The time comes when a visit to the vets for the administration of a leathal injection becomes inevitable and we can reassure ourselves that it is in the best interests of the poor, suffering animal. The same can now be said of the Liberal Democrat Party in Walsall…
Comment
ThePlasticHippo 19 Aug 10
The coalition government’s list of achievements in its first 100 days.
Can you add any achievements missing from the list on the Hippo’s blog?
Comment
Daniel Barker 20 May 10
No more can voting Liberal Democrat be seen as a wasted vote.
Thanks to millions of people voting Liberal Democrat we now have a Coalition Government with Liberal Democrat Ministers in every Department and commitments agreed to introduce several Liberal Democrat policies.
It’s true that under our first-past-the-post electoral system not every Lib.Dem vote counted, but now we will have a chance to remedy that with a promised referendum on voting reform.