A few years ago, I wrote a book called Broke to look back at recent history to see why things were going so badly for the middle classes. This was not, as some commentators suggested, because I had some kind of disdain for the working classes or because I thought life had been uniquely tough on the middle classes - I think nothing of the kind - but writing the book led me down some strange byways. For example why house prices had risen so much since 1979, and how the decision was made to launch that process by abolishing ...
Musing about the hard left stance on the EU. As I understand it, they want to leave because the EU is a capitalist neoliberal club governed on behalf of the global elite. The more intelligent left wingers realise that the UK is also a capitalist neoliberal club governed on behalf of the global elite. But they reason that they have more chance of turning the UK into a socialist state than the EU. Are they right? Well, I think that, like Marx, they are right with a lot of their diagnosis, but wrong - catastrophically so - with the solution. ...
Congratulations to Norman Lamb, the newly-elected Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, who overcame competition from fellow Lib Dem Jo Swinson. In seeking the role, Norman pledged to offer "sound guidance, leadership and authority" to the Committee and ensure that science and technology are "fully considered in Brexit negotiations", all while emphasising the importance of science for the UK's future prosperity. The new role gives Norman a great opportunity to hold this Government to account on a whole range of issues covering science, technology, research and innovation. This is especially important in today's political landscape, because ...
Second frame of third chapter: An autobiographical narrative about a young girl growing up in the last decade of Communist Poland - very vivid on the intersection of politics, religion, family, friends and school, and perhaps an honest preservation of a world that has now disappeared, changed mainly (but not entirely) for the better. This was my top unread comics book in English. Next up is the Moomin collection by Lars and Tove Jansson.
The National Portrait Gallery in London has put on some blockbuster exhibitions in recent years but the show The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt, which opens tomorrow, conquers in a more subtle way. The Old Master European portrait drawings, ranging from Leonardo's study of a male nude to Rembrandt's sheet of figure studies is both [...]
Readers will know that we keep a careful eye on, and campaign for, some of the local road lights threatened with removal under the Street Light Energy Reduction Pavement. After representations by a number of people, ourselves included, some lights have been saved on the Consett bypass (Rotary Way) stretch between the Villa Real and Delves Lane roundabouts. It's the lights marked with the red crosses marked on the map that will be saved (mostly up to and around the Thomas Swan entrance)which have been reprieved, whilst the red dots will be removed.
Over the years, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have been responsible for a number of changes in policing and civil liberties policies in Scotland. After we led the opposition, the Scottish Government had to abandon plans for a super ID database that would have made Labour's look like a champion of civil liberties. Alison McInnes, when she was Justice Spokesperson in the last Parliament, successfully fought both routine arming of the Police and indiscriminate stop and search. That record continues as the Lib Dems have now ensured that Police Scotland has deleted records of half a billion numberplates captured under numberplate ...
Come and join in this Sunday 16th July in Brinsham Fields from 1.00pm till 4.00pm. Bring your dogs along for a 'Fun Dog Show', 'Tempation Alley' and a Tug of War, free treasure hunt for all the children and other activities. See you there?
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 11-07-2017 I posted The Blood is the Life for 11-07-2017 to my dreamwidth blog Racists no longer bothering to say 'I'm not a racist, but...' [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The rioting in Hamburg on the occasion of the meeting of the G20 this month highlights the oftentimes violent confrontation that exists between alternative theories of capitalism and socialism, as represented by the established orthodoxy and those that would seek to tear it down. At the heart of this conflict lies differing interpretations of economic theory, often depicted simplistically as left v right; Keynes v Hayek; socialism v capitalism; social liberalism v economic liberalism; or progressives v conservatives. Henry George's Progress and Poverty envisioned a capitalism that would allow all people to own the product of their labour, but that ...
Ministers may well be deep into negotiations on the terms of the UK's exit from the European Union but many businesses are not waiting around to see the outcome. As the Independent reports, one American bank with 16,000 UK staff has warned that up to three-quarters of its workforce could be transferred to EU countries after Brexit. The Chief Executive of JP Morgan has warned that he can see thousands of its bankers moved across the Channel once Britain cuts ties with Brussels: Jamie Dimon said current plans allowed for "several hundred" of the bank's UK jobs to move to ...
Today, MPs elect their Select Committee chairs. The Liberal Democrats are to chair the Science and Technology Committee. The House will have the chance to choose between two of our MPs, Norman Lamb and Jo Swinson. Each has produced a statement in support of their candidacy: Jo Swinson Statement "more collegiate than tribal" - Telegraph Collegiate Even the Telegraph said I'm collegiate, and they're not known for their love of Lib Dems. If you've been in Parliament for many years, I hope you agree that I engaged constructively with MPs regardless of party when I was a Minister: from pubs ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above Quote from the article – 'The giant Water Street landmark was built by Liverpool-based Martins Bank to become an iconic headquarters. It is one of the greatest buildings of its era surviving in Britain.' This is a magnificent building and we must hope that a sensitive process of turning from a bank into a hotel will make the building once more accessible and of use in the present day. I recall that when I first came to live in Maghull's Sefton Lane in 1968 our ...
A resident recently advised : "I live in the flats next to Tesco in Riverside Drive. Opposite my flat there is a car parking area with waste bins. The council workers clean this area almost every day and do a magnificent job, however their task is exacerbated by the gulls, who find it easy to pull waste from the bins while looking for food. The mess they make can be awful and really detracts from this beautiful area. A simple solution to this problem might be to replace the bin lids to ones that the gulls cannot dip in to, ...
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