Commenting on the newly announced rules for visa application, Susan Kramer, Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Secretary, said: "Britain should be trying to attract more tourists and highly-skilled workers, these new rules make it less likely they will apply. "The Conservatives manifesto pledge to reduce immigration to the tens of thousands is at best delusional but at worst experts have warned that trying to achieve it could cost us £6bn. "Theresa May is putting party politics ahead of the country's well being and she should be ashamed."
Not the business, the building. BBC News reports: An acclaimed bookshop that was in danger of collapsing under the weight of its own books has experienced a huge revival, its manager has said. Owners of Scarthin Books, in Cromford, Derbyshire, were told in 2015 that "emergency work" was needed to preserve the 150-year-old building. It prompted a crowdfunding campaign which led to £12,000 being raised by people all over the world. Manager David Booker said the shop had a 20% sales increase after the appeal.Meanwhile, my scheme to move the Houses of Parliament to Arkwright's Mill at Cromford appears to ...
Tue 30th
22:05
Election notebook #14: a personal U-turn; Paxo's stuffing; Labour's offer; more LibDem pre mortems
Six weeks ago, when this joyless election was called, I thought it would be good for all the main parties. The Conservatives' inevitable landslide would cement Theresa May's authority. Labour's drubbing would enable sensible, moderate Labourites to oust Jeremy Corbyn. The Lib Dems would reap the electoral dividend of a Brexit backlash. And the SNP would continue to reign supreme in Scotland. Thankfully, I did at least add a caveat: 'elections have a funny habit of throwing up tricky unforseens'. Because, as it stands, all my expectations look set to be overturned. The Conservatives will, of course, win; but Mrs ...
All five North West Durham General Election candidates will take part in a TV Debate on Friday night at 8.00 p.m. The debate is being filmed by Made in Tyne and Wear, and will go out simultaneously on Sky 117, Freeview 7, and Virgin 159 as well as on Made in Tyne and Wear and Made in Teesside.
The more I think about it, the more I'm jealous of them back in 1974. Not for the fashions, the power cuts, the endemic racism and sexism and the three day week, but for the fact they got the general election campaign over and done with in three weeks from it being called. We could have done it twice over in that time, and yet here we are with still more than another week to go. For those of us who've been obsessing over it, the election has been on for ages, but for a lot of people it's only ...
Tue 30th
21:18
Immigrants pay more in taxes than they take out in welfare and use of public services - new study
As Ian Dunt highlighted on Twitter: LSE election analysis on immigration dismantles almost every anti-immigrant lie one by one https://t.co/4Lq50L4hNe pic.twitter.com/7Z5HYGlm4r — Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) May 30, 2017 Note in particular: Immigrants pay more in taxes than they take out in welfare and use of public services. UK-born individuals, on average, take out more in welfare and benefits than they pay in taxes. So immigrants help to reduce the budget deficit. There is little evidence that immigrants have negative effects on crime, education, health or social housing. The study also goes on to point out: Any falls in EU immigration ...
"As we knock on doors around this area, it is very clear that people want once again the kind of MP that Simon was and will be again" - Tim Farron
Embed from Getty Images The Guardian reports the former Liberal Democrat leader's comments at the Hay Literary Festival today: "My next book is about the German resistance to Hitler, so I'm knee-deep into research of the 1930s and I am horrified by the parallels. I'm horrified." ..."The way that we have retreated from internationalism to ugly nationalism in Britain. The way that we have retreated from international trade to protectionism. The sense that somehow or other democracy is failing. "The habit of lying in our public discourse. What was it Goebbels said? Tell it often, tell it big ... stick ...
Embed from Getty Images The Conservatives clearly believed that Jeremy Corbyn's history of links with Irish Republican terrorists was there trump card against him. For that reason they held off playing it before the general election and even before the final two weeks of the campaign. It has not turned out quite like that, but that has far more to with the passage of time than it has to do with the virtues of Jeremy Corbyn's reaction to the revelation of those links. The point that commentators have missed is that such views were wholly commonplace, in fact almost obligatory, ...
Tanya (Vivian Oparah), Charlie (Greg Austin), Quill (Katherine Kelly), April (Sophie Hopkins) and Ram (Fady Elsayeh) defend the world A good Who trivia question: can you name all of the spinoff series? Most fans (and not just of Doctor Who) will be able to name Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures; a bit more headscratching will generally get you the 1980 K9 and Company; a very few will be dimly aware of the Australian K9 series. I fear that last year's Class is likely to end up at the lower end of the awareness scale, not really through any fault ...
Peter Sloman makes an important point: "If centre-left politicians are ever to regain support for progressive and internationalist policies, they will have to find new ways of engaging with provincial Britain - with its economic needs, its sense of place, and its estrangement from the corridors of power." "Every day in Dacre's paper, the people who make up the population of Britain, the people who teach your children and bandage your wounds, drive your trains or clean your floors, are described as aliens and forgers and scum." Andrew O'Hagan skewers the Daily Mail and its editor. CNN and Fox News ...
Yup, this window display in Bath sums up the course of the 2017 general election so far pretty accurately: Sums it up. Weak and Wobbly. Reboot! @Wera_Hobhouse @joerayment91 pic.twitter.com/Jd5LZJ8eCX — Gavin Irvine (@gnirv) May 30, 2017
Liberal Democrats are rightly proud of the fact that the NHS exists and the role of Liberals, especially Beveridge, in its creation. But I find there is a lot to be concerned about in the way it is run. From the point of view of a patient I often feel more like a player in an elaborate board game. When I call my local surgery for an appointment I am invariably told nothing is available for 2 or more weeks. It's always longer if I want something early or late to minimise the disruption to work. But I am always ...
The Huffington Post has the story on its web site – see link above Well just look what the Tories are trying to slip through in their manifesto, an extension of our appalling electoral system that gives us governments which less than 40% of those who voted have supported! Yes I know that many Labour people back the First Past the Post too because it gives them parliamentary constituencies where they are also guaranteed a win. Trouble is the FPtP system gives the Tories far more of such seats. Time to wake up and smell the coffee Labour. Oh ...
miss_s_b | Batten Down the Hatches and Brace for Impact I don't expect to be seen much for the next week or so [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Brian Paddick has written a piece for the Huffington Post about the Liberal Democrat ideas to tackle terrorism in the wake of the appalling atrocity in Manchester. At times like this received wisdom is that Liberals should stay quiet and allow others to offer tough solutions and new laws to eradicate violent extremism and terrorism. Us bleeding-heart liberals have nothing to say and should stick to hand-wringing. That is wrong. If we want to continue to live in an open, democratic society that values freedom and civil liberties we must accept that we can never be 100% safe, but that ...
Last night's Sky/Channel 4's leaders debate did not go down as I had expected beforehand. I thought May would be solid but slightly dull, focusing more on the "coalition of chaos" stuff and less on the "strong and stable" tranche of her campaign thus far for fear of sniggering. She was dull; I'll give her that much. She also looked tense without it humanising her. Gone were the endlessly repeated slogans, to be replaced with the prime minister getting lost in endless detail. It got bad enough for the audience to actually laugh at her, she only managing to turn ...
Frank Little, Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for Neath, writes: Yesterday, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron laid down 15 questions for prime minister Theresa May to answer on the big issues of national security, schools, health and social care, welfare and their manifesto. He has attacked the Conservatives for "hiding their real agenda from the public." About the questions, Tim said: "The Tories seem to think - if we ignore any difficult question - we don't have to tell the public the truth. If they cannot tell us even the most basic things why should we trust them at all. "Theresa ...
As an Orange Book adhering Lib Dem, a big highlight of the reign of Clegg & Cable was a very simple, yet very effective thing – that our economic policy was clear, empathised, and well known. We knew where we stood, we knew where we were going, and quite frankly, the economic policy that we pushed in the coalition, reflected that fact. The Liberal Democrats were a party that knew how to manage an economy. So, looking back at that highlight, I fear that, something may have been rather overlooked this campaign; our economic plan. Indeed, more importantly, what exactly ...
The next Harris Academy Former Pupils' Association Lunch is on Monday 5th June at 12 noon for 12.30pm. It will be held in Invercarse Hotel on Perth Road and the cost per person, payable on arrival, will be £16.00. More information is available from the FPs' Treasurer Freida Soutar on 562788. You can read more about the Harris Academy Former Pupils' Association here.
I think it is common wisdom that the Tory victory in 2015 was built on scare tactics propagated by David Cameron's team that Labour might form a coalition government with the SNP, and facilitate the break-up of the UK. Voters were relentlessly sold the message that the only way to stop such a disastrous pairing and save the union was to vote Conservative. It is also one of the reasons why the Conservatives started off this election campaign talking about Jeremy Corbyn's 'coalition of chaos', a tactic that led to the Liberal Democrats ruling out any coalition after the election. ...
