I had a meeting this afternoon in Gateshead Civic Centre. My colleague Cllr Ian Patterson was there as well. So when the meeting was over, I gave him a lift back to Pelaw. Such car rides can often turn into useful catch-up sessions during which my group members can tell me all about what's happening in their ward. So Ian used the opportunity to update me on the plans for replacing the Heworth
In Gateshead we are in the unusual situation of having council house rents that are higher than those in the private rented sector. There has also been a rise in the number of vacant council properties. At the start of April, there were 502 vacant council properties compared to 441 at the start of April 2016. 124 of these empty homes (25% of all vacant properties) were located in four tower
The Liberal Democrats have accused David Gauke of burying his head in the sand as he announced the roll-out of Universal Credit will go ahead despite concerns over delayed payments. It comes as the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions showed that almost a quarter of new claimants to Universal Credit did not receive their full payment on time. Stephen Lloyd MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Work and Pensions, commented: "Ministers continue to bury their heads in the sand over the shocking impact the rollout of Universal Credit is having on thousands of people's lives "For David ...
The Liberal Democrats have said that Theresa May's refusal to deny that Boris Johnson is un-sackable - in contrast to previous interviews - shows that she has "gone from being a lame-duck prime minister to a sitting-duck prime minister". Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake MP said: "If Theresa May is now too weak to slap down the ever more erratic Boris Johnson, it shows she has gone from being a lame-duck prime minister to a sitting-duck prime minister. "Make no mistake: Boris Johnson is now driving the car. For the British people trapped in the back, this is a ...
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has said that Boris Johnson should call in the Spanish ambassador and tell him that the police response to the Catalan independence referendum is unacceptable. Reports suggest 337 people have been injured by the police.Vince Cable said:"Police in a democracy should never drag people violently out of polling stations, whatever the arguments for or against holding a referendum. The police response looks to have been brutal and completely disproportionate."The Foreign Secretary should break off from conspiring against the prime minister and call in the Spanish ambassador to tell him that this is completely unacceptable."
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has said that the government should consider taxing big American on-line travel agencies such as Trip Adviser and Booking.com to pay compensation to holidaymakers left out of pocket by collapsing travel companies. His intervention comes as 100,000 British passengers have been left devastated by the collapse of Monarch, with some potentially being charged to be brought home. Vince Cable said: "It is scandalous that many British holiday makers will miss out on compensation. It is also unclear whether the government will seek to charge people who are brought home if they have booked through big ...
Responding to Philip Hammond's conference speech today, Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable said: "Philip Hammond has proved himself a master of irony in accusing Labour of putting the economy at risk for an 'ideological experiment.' "The Tories' ideologically-driven hard Brexit will do serious damage to people's living standards and deprive our crucial public services of the funding they need. "Likewise, how can Hammond praise Margaret Thatcher's legacy when his party is committed to quitting perhaps her greatest achievement - the European Single Market? "Far from being fundamentally strong as Hammond claims, wages are failing to keep up with inflation, growth ...
Taken from The Evening Standard in London
The last few days have involved a broken pipe necessitating some midnight DIY and a plumber's visit, a trip to the vet for the Wonder Dog, a malfunctioning CPAP machine, and assorted other minor crises, all at the same time ... Continue reading →
We're closed, please come back at election time has, to be fair, a certain honesty about it from Central Bedfordshire Conservatives.
Mon 2nd
19:09
Whyte backs DUP shock: my input to the Northern Ireland Boundary Commission secondary consultation
Dear Commissioners, 1. Thank you for your placing the results of your first round of consultation online for comment. I must say that reading through them has been an educational process and I have changed my mind on a couple of key issues as a result. Specifically, I am no longer convinced that removing a seat from Belfast is inevitable (I never felt that it was desirable). 2. Before I get into the detail, however, I must admit that my own zeal for engagement with this phase of your review has been somewhat diminished by the outcome of the June ...
Our second update from the LDV Fantasy Football League. Congratulations to Vee P, our Manager of the Month for September, and overall leader. Their City Wanderers scored an impressive 306 points, a little way ahead of Stephen Kelly's Roger Squadron (298) and Celyn Ashworth's Politic Thistle (294). Here's the current top 10 table: There are 200+ players in total and you can still join the league by clicking here and using this code: 926270-223363. * Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.
I'm no fan of Neighbourhood Plans as I think they are far too limited in what than can achieve for a community. However, Maghull Town Council is one amongst a number of local parish councils that is presently trying to pull one together. But today a Maghull resident (folks still think I represent Maghull on the Council – I have not since May 2015 but had done for 30 years prior to that) got in touch with me to ask my opinion on what had just been posted through their door today the 2nd October. This is what they said:- ...
(Dear god, that moustache...)
Alongside the marked shift in public opinion towards favouring a referendum on the Brexit deal once we know its terms, there is a smaller and more fragile shift on the question of whether or not last year's decision was right: UK: Majority of voters regret leaving the European Union (YouGov poll). #Brexit pic.twitter.com/uAQA9j4P8R — Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) September 30, 2017
The aftermath of the Hope & Glory Festival which trashed our City's reputation and left trade creditors, including the Council, £900,000 out of pocket I have just written written to Cllr Wendy Simon, the Cabinet Member for Sport and Culture ... Continue reading →
CrossensSaturday, 14th October, St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens, from 11am to 12 noon.Churchtown Thursday, 26th October, BoxTree Kitchen for Queenscourt cafe, Manor Road/Cambridge Road, roundabout, from 10:30am to 11:30am.
Few presentations have challenged my thinking more than Roger Liddle's talk at the meeting of the Social Democrat Group, reported earlier on LDV. Delivered with an almost Churchillian eloquence, it set out why a long term perspective may pay off in the end. The clever thing about the two year transition period requested by Theresa May, he points out, is that it renders the exit itself painless. By means of this "Brexit now, pay later" ploy, the huge cost is kicked well into the future and the electorate robbed of an immediate reason to protest. But the good news, Liddle ...
Yesterday I attended a Pro-EU demonstration in Manchester to coincide with the first day of the Conservative Party conference. It was great fun. There were some 30 000 of us (according to one of the meagre pieces of press reporting); lots of EU flags along with some Union Jacks; plenty of balloon, horns and whistles; and loads of bonhomie and enthusiasm. It was an all-and-none-party affair with some fantastic speakers: a former Conservative who used to serve on the same council as Theresa May; Bonnie Greer, whose father celebrated his 21st birthday in Britain as a member of the US ...
Sun, 12:51: So, Indo-European *h₁ek´w-o-, meaning "horse", derives from Caucasian *ɦɨ[n]tʃwi (~ -e). Fascinating. https://t.co/5WnjFUu2he Sun, 12:56: How Science Saved Me from Pretending to Love Wine https://t.co/7F63Qtc3x6 This is brilliant. Sun, 14:52: RT @EuropeElects: Spain (Catalonia): Indy Ref Turnout Today (13:00): 39,4% Last referendum (13:00): 22,1% #CatalanReferendum Sun, 14:57: RT @LoeningMarkus: Spanish police must stop violence immediately, #EU shld not side w/ central gvmt but be honest broker @ALDEParty #Catala... Sun, 16:16: RT @glblhumanrights: Independent investigation will look into human rights abuses in Yemen https://t.co/ytkncUx4Er #yemen Sun, 18:35: RT @StephenFarryMLA: Confrontation & state violence in Catalonia is unacceptable & counterproductive. ...
miss_s_b | So you know I've been saying for about 2 years now that we ought to have Awkward Squad T-shirts? In which I actually make some movement towards that goal Tories to give private firms like G4S and Serco POWERS TO ARREST people in shocking £290m privatisation deal This is a genuinely terrifying slice off the salami of civil liberties The pragmatic case for moving Britain's capital to Manchester There's a lot of sensible, well-thought-out points in this article. It's just.... Manchester? Eurgh. Infographic: The Everything Bubble Is Ready to Pop Crikey. This is really scary. miss_s_b | Filling ...
Mon 2nd
10:47
Prominent US statue of Philip Randolph - #2 in a journey through African American history
This is the second of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them. Back Bay metro station in Boston, Massachusetts, is a very prominent and large underground railway station, serving a particular busy and affluent part of the city. As I moved through it, I couldn't help noticing that the passenger transit area is dominated by a very large statue of a man ...
Writing the Telegraph article the week of the Florence speech should have been bad enough to earn Boris a sacking. The fact that he is continuing to cause problems for May tells us that he is almost certainly looking to get sacked. May should give him what he appears to want, and as soon as possible too. Why Boris hasn't been shown the door already is that a). she is worried this will upset enough Tory MPs that they call for her head and b). that even if this doesn't happen, Boris will cause endless problems on the backbenches, freed ...
The Left have come up with a new phrase to shame centrists with: Centrist Dad. I have to admit, they nailed it this time. Having spent ages trying to tar centrists with "Blairite" or even "Tory", they have figured out what most centrists hate to be associated with - middle-aged timidity. The idea is that [...] The post Centrist dads: why centrism is in so much trouble right now appeared first on Radix.
If we thought that the 'No' campaign during the Scottish referendum campaign was clunky, ham-fisted and counter-productive, then compared to the response of the Spanish authorities to the Catalan plebiscite it was a masterclass in how to deal with an independence movement. The reaction of the central authorities to the Catalan vote on secession was not just disgraceful, it was an outrageous negation of democratic principles. The violence perpetrated by federal police on ordinary citizens who were just trying to cast their vote was more reminiscent of the Franco regime than a democratically elected government sitting within the European Union. ...
Mon 2nd
08:46The Fourth Industrial Revolution- The need for a full social and economic strategy to thrive in an a...
At the Labour conference the Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, announced a review into the effects of automation and disruption on our future economy. What made this interesting is that in her speech she mentioned the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" which is the title of a book written by Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. In his book Schwab argues that the Fourth Industrial Revolution we are entering is fundamentally different from previous ones because it is characterised by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds and impacting all ...
The Punch Bowl Pub Now this is an odd one I'll admit but not so long ago whilst listening to a talk at Crosby Library about the Registers of Sefton Parish Church I recall the speaker referring to the Punch Bowl as being known as 'Harsnops' many years ago. Punch Bowl Pub It stuck in the back of my mind and then driving through Sefton Village the other day was brought back to the front. Some research was required. Vintage Inns who presently run the Punch Bowl say this on their web site:- Thought to be about 200 years old, ...
There has been a bit of a fuss in the media recently about the House of Lords. This is a perennial discussion and this time it was triggered by a BBC documentary "Meet the Lords", which apparently portrayed the upper chamber as a bunch of out of touch scroungers. I say "apparently" because I have not watched it. I know many members of the Lords, and certainly that description does not hold true for the ones I know and I don't much feel like watching something I know to be inaccurate. That may be because the Lords and Baronesses I'm ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017 Riverside Esplanade/Riverside Drive (Tay Road Bridge off ramp to 75m along Riverside Drive) - westbound nearside lane closure for 10 weeks to facilitate V&A construction works. A85 Riverside Drive - prohibition of right turn from westbound lane of Riverside Drive into Riverside approach and prohibition of right turn from Riverside Approach in to Riverside Drive for 10 weeks for works to the sea wall. Prohibitions will only be in place when required. South Marketgait (at Railway Station) - northbound nearside lane closure ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41463719 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above For anyone who has a respect for democracy the events in Catalunya are deeply worrying, it's as though Spain has retreated back to the Franco era in its clumsy attempts to stop Catalans expressing their wishes via the ballot box. Yes I'm sure Spain does not want Catalunya to leave and become independent but to use the Police to stop a ballot taking place is no way to win over the separatists, indeed the actions of the Spanish state can only have hardened attitudes and the ...
