Responding to reports that Theresa May is planning to leave the single market and the customs union Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP said: "This reckless behaviour by Theresa May risks our economy and jobs. Withdrawing from the Customs Union and Single Market is not in our country's interest. This is the real danger ... Continue reading Rennie: Reckless Tory Brexit Risks Economy & Jobs
Ilkley station still exists, but the buildings have been converted into a supermarket and new platforms have been built a little further out. Here it is in 1980 - at least I think it is Ilkley. If I am right, the hole in the back wall is where the line to Skipton via Bolton Abbey and Embsay used to run. And below is Ilkley Junction signal box, which I imagine has long since vanished. In those days if you hung around outside a box taking photographs and an intelligent interest, you had a sporting chance of being asked inside. I ...
I promise this will be the last post about the Sandhill by-election in Sunderland. I saw this Labour leaflet on Tuesday when I was there to help deliver Lib Dem election letters. "Keep faith with Labour" was the bit that instantly jumped out to me. Having looked at the campaign and the Labour campaign messages, they offered very little reason for people to "keep the faith" in Labour. There was
A new year and a new set of Focuses to deliver in Gateshead. Today I was in the Stella Riverside development in Ryton ward. Nearly 500 Focuses to deliver. I did it in 2 hours. I was very impressed by the view of the River Tyne from this estate.
Tim Farron confirmed that Liberal Democrat MPs will vote against the triggering of Article 50 unless the Government agrees to a referendum on the final deal. He added that Liberal Democrat peers would submit amendments calling for a referendum. He was speaking to Andrew Neil on BBC1's Sunday Politics. Here are ac couple of clips: "A hard Brexit is not the democratic choice of British people" says @timfarron #bbcsp pic.twitter.com/k2E06OFP7o — DailySunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 15, 2017 "Freedom of movement is a good thing" @timfarron tells @afneil #bbcsp pic.twitter.com/rjlpLawnHO — DailySunday Politics (@daily_politics) January 15, 2017 You can watch the ...
Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet, by Douglas Adams and James Goss See How Much I Love You, by Luis Leante Every Heart A Doorway, by Seanan McGuire Last books finished Jeremiah: Een Geweer in het Water, by Hermann Rhyme Stew, by Roald Dahl The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury The Palace of Dreams, by Ismail Kadarë Next books The Colour Of Magic, by Terry Pratchett The Other Islam, by Stephen Schwartz Rip Tide, by Louise Cooper Books acquired in last week Five Go On A Strategy Away Day, ...
Last night I was on a flight from Rome to London. A couple of hours into the flight I was bored and distractedly looking at photographs on my tablet. I came across a selfie I'd taken in May 2015. I've no idea why I took it (I suspect that I hadn't realised that I'd taken it), but it reminded me ... The post Lymphoma: facing change appeared first on ten pence piece.
Here's a new pair of videos from the Liberal Democrats about MP Norman Lamb's health and social care campaigning.
Brexit, we Britons have been told, means Brexit and it will be red, white and blue. Beyond that, we know very little about our government's plans. Theresa May's speech on Tuesday may change that. Then again, it may not. So if you want to know what the future may have in store, try the German press. Philip Hammond has given an interview to Welt am Sonntag in which he is far more forthcoming than any minister has been to a British newspaper: Hammond: We are now objectively a European-style economy. We are on the U.S. end of the European spectrum, ...
On many things I stay true to the title of this post. I set myself a target and follow it through to its conclusion. However there is one area where I constantly fail. My fitness and healthy diet. Since I ...
Hull is the UK City of Culture for 2017, which gives me an excuse to choose another track by one of my favourite bands. Incidentally, Hull beat Leicester in the contest for this accolade. The judges said the Leicester bid "lacked slightly in ambition and innovation".
From early English times we can find a value system and culture base on the 9 English values. They provide strength of: Self, Respect for others and your Community. The values below are as relevant today, as they were back then: 1. Courage 2. Truth 3. Honour 4. Loyalty 5. Discipline and Duty 6. Hospitality ... More The Little England movement
If it weren't for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the SNP Government would have nobody asking them awkward questions on civil liberties and forcing them to change policy. And so it continues in 2017. In today's Scotland on Sunday, Liam McArthur, our Justice Spokesperson continues the work by the much-missed Alison McInnes in demanding action on the Police retaining photos of people they arrest but who are never charged. From The Scotsman: In the report published in January last year, HMICS warned that there was no statutory framework or legislation in Scotland regulating how the police use or retain photographic images. ...
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Philip Hammond's interesting comments to a German newspaper - and what it hints at for Brexit
The chancellor of the exchequer has been supposedly one of the more single market friendly members of the cabinet, which makes his comments to the German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, this morning all the more interesting. He said that if the UK floated out of the single market it could abandon social democracy. Or as Phil put it, "European style taxation systems, European style regulation systems" will go. What does this really mean? For a start, Hammond is continuing May's strategy of coming out fighting pre-EU negotiations instead of trying to play nice. The theory is that if the UK ...
For the second time in a week, it was a joy to read the Journal, the North East's morning newspaper. At the start of the week, its front page was a story provided by the Lib Dems on the pressure on the NHS. Yesterday, the Journal reported on the Sandhill by-election result in Sunderland where, on Thursday, the Lib Dems went from 4% and 4th place to win the seat from Labour in a by-election with
Second paragraph of third chapter, with bonus Akkadian fable:The names of civilisations that arose in the ancient Near East now ring with the note of remote antiquity. Three dozen and more are known that flourished in the three millennia from the start of records c.3300 BC until the invasion of Alexander in 330 BC, among them such powers as Babylon, Assyria, Phoenicia, Lydia and Persia. They bring to mind visions of oriental absolutism, breathtaking ruthlessness and gaudy magnificence. Despite their many pretensions, their cultural fertility and sometimes truly universal power, they have left no heirs. Something of this was foreseen ...
I went through just about every emotion there is watching BBC2's new series Hospital which follows events and pressures at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington. Partly because some of what was shown is just a bit too close to my recent experience, partly because of the life and death decisions made every day with too few resources, I was in tears several times. One man awaiting cancer surgery is told at the last minute that they don't know if they will be able to operate because there isn't an Intensive Care bed available for him. This comes as every news ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP today revealed that over 60,000 attacks on NHS staff have occurred in the last four years, describing the figures as "utterly unacceptable". A freedom of information request by the Scottish Liberal Democrats has found that since 2012/13 there have been 61,360 attacks recorded on NHS staff. Figures ... Continue reading Cole-Hamilton Reveals 60,000 Attacks on NHS Staff
After months of waiting we might finally get an inkling of Theresa May's negotiating strategy on Tuesday when she makes her first public pronouncement on Brexit. The Telegraph says that the Prime Minister will gamble by siding with Eurosceptics, signalling she is prepared to take Britain out of the single market and customs union. They add that the speech risks exposing deep splits in the Tory Party over Europe as she finally details her vision for Britain's future outside the EU: In her speech, Mrs May is expected to say that Britain must: Be prepared to leave the customs union ...
I have just moved house, leaving London, settling in Chesterfield. London has been amazing, but it was time for change. In between that decision and the reality came the Sleaford and North Hykeham By-election: one of the campaigns that I shall forever be proudest of running. But Sleaford was a turning point for me, a junction when I decided to re-engage with front line electoral politics and take to the streets again. So last night travelling back to Stoke-on-Trent at short notice to scout the territory was a further development for me. Let me explain. I stood down from Stoke-on-Trent ...
I am sorry that Budgens is to close. I won't miss the store but it will lead to the loss of around 30 jobs and that I regret. We are also expecting One Stop to close once redevelopment of 9 Tower Street is approved by planners. This is bad news for local jobs and bad news for local retail choice. The end of Tower Street and the Galdeford corner is a significant retail site within our town. It is a place where many people do their daily shopping. We can only hope that another retailer replaces Budgens rather than the ...
Botanic Garden Education Centre Later today, the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden have an event taking place. David Rodley of the School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, will speak about "The energy landscape in Scotland." It takes place in the Botanic Garden Education Centre in the Garden at 2pm. Free to members of the Friends; others - donations welcome.
