Campaigning for the 2017 general election has been very different from previous years. This time the Liberal Democrats are on the offensive. I certainly am here in Edinburgh North and Leith. Since 2014, the local party membership has almost tripled and with more volunteers, more donations and more resources, more is being done. Liberal Democrats are growing once more.This election has been called on Brexit and it is that I will be talking about in this blog. That is not to say that the Liberal Democrats have nothing else to say. Our flagship policy is to raise income tax by ...
This article is a summary of comments made by the four candidates for the Ludlow constituency in the three hustings hosted by BBC Radio Shropshire and St Laurence's Church. The candidates discussed Brexit and whether to hold a second referendum. They set out their party's positions on those EU nationals who live and work here after the UK leaves the European Union. Labour and the Lib Dems say EU nationals in the UK will have a right to stay. The Greens and Conservatives say it will be down to negotiation. The Greens and Liberal Democrats want a new referendum on ...
Britain's electoral system is broken, in a fundamental way. The vast majority of seats never change hands, and the government we've had for the last two years — a "majority Government" — was a party that was only voted for ... Continue reading →
Channel 4's independent Factcheck team has been taking a look at what the political parties are offering on Brexit. Their conclusion?
Second paragraph of third chapter:Unaware of the care the Count had taken in the composition of his letter, which had been preceded by intense family debate, and not allowing for the fact that the Count was writing in a foreign language, Whitfield considered the letter pompous, lacking in warmth and disappointing. He had held out his hand in friendship. In return the Count sought to place in his own hands control over the pace of the reconciliation he sought. But on rereading the letter he considered there were perhaps two positive aspects. The remarks about the pursuit of peace in ...
Liberal Democrat Newswire #98 came out last week, focusing on Prime Minister (for the moment, at least) Theresa May, including the far from careful and considered origin of her signature immigration policy.
I've not written a blog for a while. There are all of the usual excuses about life, being busy, working hard, not enough time, etc. But I've also not been able to coherently express my thoughts as I watch the maelstrom of political discourse that has been taking place. So, in the absence of a properly composed blog, to demonstrate why my writing skills have suffered, here are couple of things that have already baffled me just this morning. This is what the inside of my head has been like: 1.Image Source: twitter.com The Tory party have begun to accuse ...
Is June the end of May? Well, in straightforward terms; yes, it is every year. We have May 31st, followed by June 1st (and a few weeks in, we have my birthday, but I digress...) However, the annual passage of the seasons, delineated by months, has, this year, provided a slogan for our times. Image Source: twitter.com I said, right at the start, that, while I think the Tories will win (unfortunately), I don't think they'll get the huge majority May seemed to think they would. I spoke to a couple of friends about this as well (a few of ...
I got a "new" (second-hand) laptop (an old HP Probook) last month, and installed Debian on it, and I use it for all of my writing and much of my music-listening, but I've encountered a weird issue and I'm wondering ... Continue reading →
Considering that the Tories called this election one would have thought they would be better prepared. Instead their whole campaign has been one disaster after another. If it is not bad enough that the Prime Minister will not debate with other leaders and is too frit to even appear on Woman's Hour, their manifesto has been almost as big a disaster area as Labour's. In fact it is worse as it seems we should be entitled to expect competence from the Government of the day. Instead we have had the dementia tax and its associated U-turn, no costings and now ...
The Liberal Democrats have launched a mock estate agent named "Theresa May and Co", in a scathing attack on Theresa May's plans on social care, widely referred to as the "Dementia tax". It is described as "Westminster's finest estate agents – dealing exclusively in selling vulnerable elderly people's homes to pay for the care they desperately need." It comes after Liberal Democrats including Ed Davey led a protest outside Conservative HQ against the dementia tax with 'Theresa May and Co' placards. Watch it here: The party has called on Theresa May to come clean on the cap that would set ...
And you said you knew / how the supports all worked / though they were engineered and unobtrusive You bastard! How you indulged your agony / of misplaced confidence, at best / or a flow of fresh mendacity, stinking in the sun / spilling over purpose, one step off the curve / a vision out [...]
Candidates in elections tend to find themselves very busy with lots of things to do. It is, therefore, necessary to prioritise things to ensure that the important things are dealt with. To me the issue of homelessness and rough sleeping is an important issue. Therefore, when Birmingham's Faith Leaders group contacted me to ask me what I would propose and whether I would work with them to make
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 02-06-2017 I posted The Blood is the Life for 02-06-2017 to my dreamwidth blog Twitter Instagram photo: Let's play "how many colours can we spot on Jennie's arm after her accident at work yesterday" So... [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
See this fantastic video put together by John Leech's team to celebrate the achievements of his career. It showcases his tenacious support for a pardon for Alan Turing and other men convicted of homosexual acts and his audacious opposition to Manchester's Labour council. It can't be easy being the only opposition councillor in the room, but he gives them some grief and gets stuff done. Enjoy! In an email to supporters, John said: On the 5th May 2016, I was elected back to Manchester Council as the only opposition member – and it's been non-stop. If Labour thought they were ...
There has been a lot of speculation as to why the Lib Dem campaign has failed to launch. I stick to my assertion that it got off to a good start, but I think it was always doomed for many reasons. One which I didn't expect to see arise has been the degree to which presidential politics has been a factor. I knew it would be with Theresa May, but it's interesting to see how, in the latter stages of the campaign, Labour have started to put Corbyn more to the fore as well, somewhat by default and with mixed ...
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Lib Dems have a strong message on energy and climate change, but there are still unanswered question...
Reading through our manifesto last week, I was pleased to see us champion the UK's green credentials with a strong set of energy and climate policies. While the environment isn't a hot topic in this year's campaign, it's good to see Tim writing in Business Green about the need to change Britain's future and clean up sectors like power, heat and transport. Our manifesto will see the UK use renewables to generate up to 60 per cent of electricity by 2030; invest in solutions like energy storage, carbon capture and storage, and grid infrastructure; and pass a Zero-Carbon Britain Act ...
Good news for the Liberal Democrats in Sheffield with Labour member Danny Smith deciding to switch parties. Here is why he made the switch: I have voted for Labour in every election that has happened since I turned 18 – General, Local, EU, Welsh Assembly and Crime Commissioner — Danny Smith (@DannyShaneSmith) June 1, 2017
I have received residents' complaints about the deteriorated state of the paths network within the Ninewells Village residential area within the hospital grounds. In particular, the paths running up Lister Court are in poor shape - see right : I raised this with Netlatch (who have responsibility for maintenance within the Ninewells Village grounds) seeking improvements and I am grateful for their prompt response confirming this will be done.
The Guardian has the story on its web site – see link above Quote from the article:- 'This nasty, Ukip-inspired version of Brexit will isolate us from our European neighbours, threatening our security and our prosperity. I believe we all should have the right to decide whether it's a deal we want for Britain. We should be given the chance to vote in a second referendum once the full terms of the negotiations, and the implications for our country, become clear. Advertisement Only the Liberal Democrats are offering a second referendum, which is why I am delighted to be ...
At the St Laurence's hustings last night, the candidates were asked to introduce themselves. My notes are on what the candidates said about themselves not the statements they made on their party's ambitions, track record and leadership. You can hear the candidates' full statements on the audio recordings. (My apologies that the recording quality occasionally has background noise, including a mobile phone and someone bumping into my sound recorder!) Lib Dem, Heather Kidd. I have lived in the constituency for 30 years. Teacher by professional, governor at two local primary schools, also a long-term governor at a secondary school. I ...
