Another day, another SNP-inspired complaint about the election expenses of a Scottish Liberal Democrat falls apart. Following the news about Jo Swinson, comes the news about Alex Cole-Hamilton. The MSP for West Edinburgh said, I learned this morning that the Electoral Commission has concluded an investigation into my 2016 election spending and found no irregularities with my return. Members of West Edinburgh SNP had made an allegation to them immediately after a 15-month police investigation (which the SNP also initiated) determined I had no case to answer. All told, the SNP have seen me subjected to two tax-payer funded investigations ...
I completed the newsletter for Gateshead Lib Dem members yesterday and then emailed it out. Most of it is about the party's Brighton conference but there was also a section about the consultation on turning the Lib Dems more into a movement and one about advertising for candidates to come forward for the local elections next year. You can read it on this link.
Five decades since she first appeared as Emma Peel in The Avengers, says the blurb on YouTube, fans of the show still approach Dame Diana Rigg to express their gratitude. Here she joins BFI curator Dick Fiddy to reflect on the influence of Peel on real-life women and acting with Patrick Macnee and Ian Hendry.
East Midlands Liberal Democrats are holding their autumn regional conference in Long Buckby, Northamptonshire, on Saturday 3 November. Click here to book a place or book a stall. That page also has details of a local party dinner taking place that evening at nearby West Haddon.
Suddenly people are questioning the idea that the future involves all of working harder for ever and ever. Frances O'Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said recently: "In the 19th century, unions campaigned for an eight-hour day. In the 20th century, we won the right to a two-day weekend and paid holidays. "So, for the 21st century, let's lift our ambition again. I believe that in this century we can win a four-day working week, with decent pay for everyone. It's time to share the wealth from new technology, not allow those at the top to grab ...
Donald Trump's foul rants about Christine Blasey Ford and his assertion that it's a scary time for young men in America are not the random uttering of an unpredictable, mercurial leader. It's much more calculating than that. It's a carefully targeted message to the Republican Party's white male base that they are under threat. He wants their votes in the midterms in 4 weeks' time. Portraying Brett Kavanaugh as the victim of a nasty leftie Democrat plot is all part of that strategy. It must be a lot scarier for young women thinking about coming forward with allegations of sexual ...
This year's World Mental Health Day focuses on young people in a changing world. Half of all mental illness begins by the age of 14, but most cases go undetected and untreated. Depression is one of the most common diseases in teenagers and suicide is the leading cause of death for people between 5-19 years old. Being young can be difficult, with changes in every part of your life. From exam pressures, social media, getting to grips with dating, to moving away to uni or getting a new job, young people deal with many different pressures while growing up. Often ...
ITV's Granada Reports WW1 Roadshow will be at Bury Market at 9am on Wednesday 17th October. To mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, Granada Reports reporter Paul Crone, a camera crew and a team of historical experts will be on hand as part of a special show to be televised on Granada Reports. The team wants anyone with photos and medals of relatives or loved ones who fought, died or survived from 1914 to 1918 to come down to the market with their mementos and stories. Filming for the road show will take place in ...
Tue 9th
16:08
While it's easy to enjoy the schadenfreude involved in the Chris Williamson deselection story, there...
Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North and amongst Corbyn's biggest supporters, is one of the major cheerleaders for the mandatory re-selection of all sitting Labour MPs as well as deselection of MPs critical of the leadership. He is now apparently under threat of being deselected by his own CLP. This is most likely a direct result of Williamson trying to cut the unions out of the whole process, which has gone down rather badly. It is easy to enjoy the schadenfreude involved in this news. But watchers of the Labour Party should note that something very serious lies underneath ...
The founder of Pimlico Plumbers, Charlie Mullins, is to be congratulated for not submitting to pressure from (Labour) Lambeth Council to remove the giant sign over his company HQ saying Bollocks to Brexit! He has argued persuasively that Britain's leaving the European Union — which it is scheduled to do on 29 March next year) [...]
The postponed roadworks on Sundridge Park, Yate have been rescheduled for Monday 29th October until Tuesday 6th November 2018, 8 am until 5 pm each day. On the days that clash with school term, the work will take place from 9.30 am until 5.30 pm.
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 08-10-2018 I posted The Blood is the Life for 08-10-2018 to my dreamwidth blog Graham Linehan given police warning after complaint by transgender activist Some stellar both-sidesing from the Grauniad here. Linehan doxxed her, and is trying to claim this doesn't count as even contacting her, never mind harrassment. I'm hoping this creates a precedent for someone to go after Pricky Gervais. An interesting theory as to why Jodie Whittaker is a fab Doctor Thought-provoking! The World a Senate Committee and #WhyIDidntReport Extreme content warnings on this, but it's so, so important. ...
Mon, 12:56: Greek Cypriots seem blithely unaware of risks in a non-solution https://t.co/alZmsaqgN0 Wise words from @EsraAygin. Mon, 16:05: Divided kingdom: How Brexit is remaking the UK's constitutional order https://t.co/6Lqv7PTNmf @A_Sloat reports for @BrookingsInst. Mon, 18:57: Monday reading https://t.co/Ay2IOUcrfi Mon, 21:01: RT @mrjamesob: Are the people who insisted that we had to threaten 'no deal' as a negotiating tactic about to be undone because they made i... Tue, 10:45: Benefits assessor visited woman, 22, with stage 4 cancer and no hair during chemo treatment and said she was 'not s... https://t.co/knhk6ty6BI
At a recent event organised by the Spectator, Matthew Goodwin, an academic who has made his name with studies of the far right, suggested that the European Union was falling apart, and that in time Brexit, for its trauma, will be seen as the right move for Britain. Supporters of the EU are so mired ... Continue reading Three things the EU needs to fix, and one that it doesn't
Today the People's Vote campaign set out how we get to a People's Vote on the Brexit deal. In a report, they set out that Article 50 is revocable, that Parliament has several ways of securing a People's Vote and discuss what would be on the ballot paper. It's really important that people understand that we can get out of this mess so it's good that they have set out how exactly it could be done. They set out options for a straight deal vs no deal or deal vs remain or no deal vs remain or all of the ...
We are a big country. With a big economy, huge markets and some of the biggest global enterprises. As the saying here goes, Go Big or Go Home. Observers of American thinking and behaviour may already be well aware that to Americans, bigger is virtually always better. The extent to which this notion permeates various [...] The post Letter from America: the strange business of going big appeared first on Radix.
The BBC has the story on its web site www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45750384 What struck me about the BBC piece is that the writer of it uses almost the same words as I did when they describe the timescale for governments not to address this most vital of issues. My blog posting on the subject was on 29th September and here's a link to it:- This is what I said – This is a crisis that needed to be faced up to by politicians in government 20 or more years ago, the fact that it still has not been is testament to ...
I have today launched my October 2018 Update to West End Community Council. Subjects covered include: • West End Christmas Fortnight 2018 • Seabraes bridge lift • Hawkhill by-pass The Community Council meets this evening at Logie St John's (Cross) Church Hall at 7pm - all residents welcome. You can download my Update here.
The fact that Universal Credit is flawed and needs to be reformed is widely accepted by anybody who has come into contact with it. That though does not alter the fact that the when it was introduced the concept of a combined benefit, which incentivised people to find work, had cross-party support. This article in the Independent, however, indicates that Labour has now undertaken a complete about-turn on this position and want to abolish the benefit altogether. They say that John McDonnell has confirmed that Labour would scrap the universal credit benefit system saying "it's just not sustainable, it'll have ...
