Great to see a full set of Liberal Democrat candidates in this week's set of nine principal local authority by-elections. Oxted and Limpsfield Residents Group GAIN Limpsfield (Tandridge) from Conservative. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) October 13, 2016
Labour seats (x2). Cause: resignations LD candidates: John Ahern & David Hancock To help, please contact Ross Shipman on 07890909486
Lincolnshire Independent seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Aaron Scott Smith
Conservative seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Vikki Slade To help please email Millie Earl at m.earlmdnplibdems@gmail.com or call 07791774672.
Labour seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Louise Sandra Stansfield
Labour seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Bobby Dean
Conservative seat. Cause: death LD candidate: Krish Shanmuganathan
LD seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Andrew Guy Jarvis
Labour seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Lucy Victoria Salek
LD seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Steve Rooke
Conservative seat. Cause: death LD candidate: Robert Edward Woodbridge
Conservative seat. Cause: resignation LD candidate: Sheelagh Diane Crampton
A news release from the Liberal Democrats brings this excellent news about Daisy Cooper: Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron and President Sal Brinton have appointed Daisy Cooper as the party's Candidate Diversity Champion, to drive forward and coordinate the party's action plan to improve the diversity of its MPs. Details of Lib Dem all-women shortlists plans released, and they're not just about womenLiberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has drawn up a motion that will be taken to the party's spring conference in York next month designed to broaden its representation in Parliament. more Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "I ...
Embed from Getty Images Following Music in Leicester, here is another slideshow using a new Getty Images feature.
Embed from Getty Images The government thinks it is on to a good thing. Brexit won a majority in the referendum, so if it carries it out then it will be popular with the voters. Except that public opinion doesn't work like that. Take the Iraq War. A Daily Telegraph article in July looked at new polling by YouGov. It was no surprise to find that there had been a major shift in opinion on Iraq. In 2003 53 per cent of voters thought the war was right. Now only 26 per cent think it was right. But more significant ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe as Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister, talks about the crossword he is trying to do.
Jasper Jackson writes in the Guardian: Mark Gatiss hopes to bring his dark comedy The League of Gentlemen back to TV screens, with Brexit providing the perfect excuse to revive the gruesomely insular characters of Royston Vasey. Speaking on BBC Radio 6 Music, the Sherlock and Doctor Who writer said he had talked to his co-creators about bringing back the show after more than a decade. "We're hoping to [do it again] ... We've talked seriously about doing something. We're not quite sure what it is yet but we'd love to do something, it is 10 years," he said. Referring ...
Earlier this week our central government overruled the the clearly expressed wishes of most of the residents of the Fylde, a coastal part of Lancashire, and of their elected county council representatives, and gave permission for private extraction companies to go ahead with fracking. Curiously, when local residents object to the erection of wind turbines in their area, they have the last word - the government does not have the power to overrule them. Some of the objectors to fracking, aware of the possibility of contamination of their water supplies, minor earthquakes, escapes of methane gas and the despoliation of ...
[IMG: theresa-may2] On the surface the language could be heard as optimistic, with talk of opportunity and investment and everyone benefitting, and "Hard Brexit" being tough but good. But the scarcely-concealed panic should be ringing alarm bells. Austerity abandoned, money to be borrowed for investment in housing and infrastructure. That sounds like a Keynesian reaction to an impending economic catastrophe induced by Brexit. Is that catastrophe what people voted for? It is worse than it seems beucase the world economy is not in good shape. Things have stabilised since the crash of 2008, but levels of debt are still very ...
Embed from Getty Images There's been a lot of coverage today about the Unilever/retailer wrangle, which has led to some ranges of famous brand products being out of stock on, for example, Tesco's website. Marmite seems to have been chosen as the leading talking point in this debate. Unilever appear to be asking for increases in prices for their products due to the fall in the value of the pound. Nick Ferrari was in explosive form about the issue on LBC this morning: Marmite, for instance, where you suppose that's made? Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire. It can have absolutely nothing to ...
Philosophers could help policy makers to ask the right questions. But to give this practical help, academic philosophy must take lessons from open science In a widely-discussed recent essay for the New Atlantis, the policy scholar Daniel Sarewitz argues that science is in deep trouble. While modern research remains wondrously productive, its results are more ambiguous, contestable and dubious than ever before. This problem isn't caused by a lack of funding or of scientific rigour. Rather, Sarewitz argues that we need to let go of a longstanding and cherished cultural belief - that science consists of uniquely objective knowledge that ...
This is the third and final part of my blog series about the development of green economics in the UK over the past decades, designed to mark the 30th anniversary of the New Economics Foundation and its relaunch this week. Two pieces of feedback first. One, an extra zero crept in yesterday - so I should reassure anyone who remembers 1986 that it wasn't actually 300 years ago, but only 30. Two, I'm reminded (thanks, Pete) that one of the books which kickstarted the kind of green economics, highly practical, which I am describing here, was Guy Dauncey's groundbreaking After ...
I am currently travelling for a year and am currently visiting India. This vibrant and growing economy has lessons for the UK. Everywhere you go there is building going on. New houses, new factories, new shopping complexes. In addition there is an ongoing repair programme for roads, public buildings, ancient monuments, temples. Sure, India still has slums, some schemes take an age to complete, but the thrust of the country is building for the future. The government – at national, state and local level – is funding a lot of this work, in conjunction with the private sector and heritage ...
[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] At ALDC, our usual by-election HQ has been taken over by supporters phoning for Witney – and what a positive experience it has been! Lots of our newer party members have used the Witney by-election as an opportunity for some training, and this has been no different on the phones. Last week we were joined by Sally who joined the Lib Dems only a few weeks ago and is now signed up to join us again for the remained of the campaign. With just a week to go, we need many more people to ...
The NSPCC have now announced the cancellation of the debate into the care of trans kids. At first, this seems like good news, given one of the speakers was to have been Sarah Ditum – known for her support of those practising conversion therapy. However, I am quite annoyed by the tone of their response which is at best disingenuous. Here is what they said: (I received the same text via email in response to my letter) However, the trans community have raised concerns and told us that they don't support the NSPCC hosting this discussion. We have listened, and ...
Stop the War have managed to make Boris Johnson a sudden beacon of virtue – not easily done. They have also forced me to take his side on something, which makes me rather grumpy. On Tuesday, Boris Johnson announced in the House of Commons that he would like to encourage people to protest outside of the Russian embassy in London on account of the atrocities committed by that country in Syria. Now, we could ask Boris why he as foreign secretary of one of the world's most powerful countries feels that calling upon protestors is the best means of achieving ...
What defines your LGBT+ life? This BBC documentary needs your help - Gay Times RT @GayTimesMag: What defines your LGBT+ life? This BBC documentary needs your help. Twitter Best. Tombstone. EVER. Chris Grayling should strip Southern of its catastrophic franchise - but civil servants must take responsibility for passenger fury too | The Independent RT @A_C_McGregor: Oh Hurrah - Norman Baker sensibly pointing out that Southern *isn't* a franchise, and that the problems are DfT's Twitter RT @LindsayRibar: From THE HANDMAID'S TALE, published over 30 years ago. I'll just... leave this here. Twitter RT @prodnose: 1977 Sex Pistols ad with ...
The British pound is now at its lowest effective (i.e. trade-weighted) level ever, according the Bank of England's 168 year index. There was a sharp initial fall after the referendum to leave the EU, and then a further fall over the last week after the prime minister's conference speeches pointed toward a quicker and harder exit ... Continue reading Does the fall in the pound presage a financial meltdown? →
I am too young to properly remember the famous quote from Harold Wilson that ultimately lost him the 1970 General Election. It was 19th November 1967 and the then Labour Government had just devalued the pound against the dollar by 14%. The decision had been taken after weeks of increasingly feverish speculation and a day in which the Bank of England spent £200m trying to shore up the pound from its gold and dollar reserves. In defending his government's decision, Harold Wilson very much foreshadowed sentiments being expressed by Brexiteers today. He said: "From now the pound abroad is worth ...
Following the news that the NSPCC had invited Sarah Ditum to a debate on trans kids, I sent them the note below regarding Ditum's support for those advocating conversion therapy against kids. Since I wrote this yesterday evening, Kellie Maloney (also an odd choice for this debate) has pulled out which means it may not go ahead, although Kellie's withdrawal appears to be because of concerns about personal attacks from Ditum rather than due to her controversial views on trans people. Dear NSPCC, I would like to thank the NSPCC for giving time to discuss the issue of treatment of ...
This photograph from Photopolis shows a Hunter Street of old, hugely different to today's Hunter Street 'link road' between Old Hawkhill and the Hawkhill by-pass :
Is There Any Precedent For A Trump Comeback? Er, not really. (tags: ) How brothers became buddies and bros Changing words. (tags: linguistics english ) English man spends 11 hours trying to make cup of tea with Wi-Fi kettle The future is here! But it doesn't work yet. (tags: technology )
The first Patreon-only comics review post is up. I review Lost Boys, Black Monday Murders, Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy, Britannia, and Resident Alien. These review posts are free to Patreon subscribers, as a thanks for their support.
I'll be doing comics reviews for Patreons soon, but for now, some links... Tim (still using that public name for now) at the Hurting writes one of the most powerful coming-out pieces I've read. I'm not trans myself, but the ... Continue reading →
