As promised, part two of today's output from the Party's Press Team... Fiscal Phil's sticking plaster Budget Responding to the Chancellor's Budget, Liberal Democrat Leader and former Business Secretary Vince Cable said: This was all very modest stuff, with more in it for potholes than schools and the police. A standstill non-event. With growth remaining stubbornly low and Brexit weighing down our economy, it is clear the big problems are still to be tackled. It was a sticking plaster Budget, when major surgery lies ahead. If we are to see an end to austerity, then we need a proper injection ...
Budget Day always generates a lot of press coverage, and this year is no exception, but there have been plenty of other issues worthy of comment. Indeed, there has been so much that I've been forced to do this in two parts... Welsh Lib Dems - Budget a Golden Opportunity Ahead of the UK Government's budget, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have urged Chancellor Phillip Hammond to seize the opportunity the budget presents to end austerity and create a fairer, more prosperous Wales. The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling on the UK Government to stop Brexit, fix Britain's broken tax system, ...
He was also Bernard Woolley and Oscar Blaketon, but people of my generation will always be grateful that he was Mr Derek.
Latest from #FestivalOfBrexitBritain pic.twitter.com/KSAVHvWL73— Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers) September 30, 2018 There have been reports today that Twitter is considering scrapping its like button, though the Independent says it will not be happening any time soon. But, says Taylor Lorenz on The Atlantic site, it is not likes that are Twitter's problem: if Twitter really wants to foster more healthy conversation, the like button is a puzzling target. "Given so much hate and bile and disinformation and harassment on this website it's not an immediately obvious move to eliminate the heart shaped button people use to show each other support and ...
It's not that there's more for potholes than schools. It really isn't that I'm going to have to pay more for my wine. It's something that isn't really being picked up in the responses I've heard so far. Better off people, higher rate tax payers, are getting a much bigger tax cut than those on low incomes. That's right. If you are a basic rate tax payer, your tax threshold rises from £11,850 to £12,500. And while we're on the subject, this is the annual "Tories take credit for Lib Dem idea" day. Remember how David Cameron told Nick Clegg ...
[IMG: Rob Blackie on how the Lib Dems can win in London] How can we win in London? We're at a crucial moment in British politics. Brexit is the biggest threat we've faced in the 20 years I've campaigned for the Lib Dems. Which is why the... The post Rob Blackie on how the Lib Dems can win in London appeared first on FeministMama.
Liberal Democrats in Esher and Walton (current MP: Dominic Raab) have selected Monica Harding as their new Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC).
A few days back, mainly on 20 October, the much delayed Afghanistani Parliamentary elections were finally held. Here are some of the scenes from those elections which took place despite widespread violent threats against anyone who voted and the murder of at least 10 candidates in the run-up.
Senior Lib Dems have attacked the Budget as insufficient to end austerity. In a post on the party website, Vince set out what Lib Dems want to see in a "People's Budget": We would: Secure the future of our NHS, focusing on social care and mental health with an extra £6bn per year, funded through a penny in the pound on income tax. Improve living standards for 9.6m parents and children, by reversing George Osborne's cuts to the "work allowance" under Universal Credit, costing £3bn. Invest an extra £2.8bn in to the schools budget, by reversing the Government's proposed cuts ...
Not for the first time, the Shropshire Star wins our Headline of the Day Award. You may not be too astounded to learn that the metaphorically confused MP is Shrewsbury's Daniel Kawczynski.
[IMG: Latte] Leader of Ribble Valley Liberal Democrats Cllr. Allan Knox has slammed the Chancellors decision to drop the "Latte Levy" by refusing to tax single-use plastic cups Cllr. Knox said: "It is bitterly disappointing that the Chancellor has abandoned the Government's commitment to introduce a levy on plastic cups. "It proves the Tories are full of hot air and no credible action. It also proves what I have said all along, that headlines are more important to them than the environment. "Our Environment deserves better. Liberal Democrats will continue to fight for a ban all single-use plastic within three ...
Current The Vampire's Curse, by Mags Halliday, Kelly Hale and Philip Purser-Hallard Hybrid, by Shaun Hutson Baptism in Blood, by Jane Haddam Last books finished Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who, ed. Steve Berry Gentleman's Agreement, by Laura Z. Hobson Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson Earth Girl, by Janet Edwards Retour sur Aldébaran, tome 1, by Leo Next books Hardwired, by Walter Jon Williams Burr, by Gore Vidal The Prisoner and the Fugitive, by Marcel Proust
Mon 29th
14:43
Ludlow buses in chaos today as Shropshire Council reneges on a deal to allow them through road works...
Update: Shortly after I published this article I received calls from Shropshire Council and Keir. They assure me that buses can pass through the roadworks as planned. I have briefed the bus company and we see tomorrow how well this works. I am really angry about this. Sheet Road has closure for two days and traffic lights for a third (Wednesday). This creates huge disruption to the town bus routes. We worked out an agreement that buses would always be allowed through the roadworks (though they might be delayed). Did that happen? No. The town buses services were turned back ...
At an Extraordinary Council Meeting, held in Brussels, the ALDE Party announced the expulsion of its Catalan member party, PDeCAT, issuing the following press release; Delegates from more than one third of the ALDE Party full members convened in Brussels on 27 October 2018 for an extraordinary Council Meeting. With a majority of 2/3 of the votes cast, the Council took the decision to expel PDeCAT (Parti Democratica, Catalonia) from ALDE Party membership, effective immediately. This decision does not imply any position of the ALDE Party on internal Spanish political affairs. The ALDE Party keeps its door open to any ...
Welcome to the review of a rather longer week in the Lords... Our review starts, where else, with Monday, which was opened, after prayers, by Meral Ece, who wanted to know what steps the Government are taking to reduce youth crime in London. The answer, unsurprisingly, was that the Government are giving funds to support various small-scale projects. The decline in police numbers due to the loss of central support, not so prominent. The debate on the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill has already been covered in these pages, and the other legislation was the third day of the Committee ...
A mourner kneels outside the Pittsburgh Synagogue where 11 innocent lives were ruthlessly taken in a act of gross religious intolerance I have today written to the Merseyside Jewish Representative Council to express our regrets at the massacre of Jewish ... Continue reading →
Sun, 12:56: RT @Hanna_Jameson: There was a throwaway sentence in a textbook I was reading: "In 1793, the French actress Olympe de Gouges was guillotine... Sun, 15:40: .@Boswachter_Marc and a colleague. #arenbergfestival https://t.co/32Gr5bxtq1 Sun, 16:05: Last week a senior source from one of the EEA/EFTA countries told me very clearly that EEA/EFTA membership cannot b... https://t.co/pnNm0fPJsZ Sun, 17:35: RT @GautierMignot2: @Hanna_Jameson @nwbrux Nowadays she starts to be remembered and honoured as she deserves. A few days ago for the #Inter... Sun, 19:57: Walking in the woods https://t.co/3nfnvO42Qd Sun, 20:17: RT @JunckerEU: 100 years on from the birth of an independent ...
When I went on holiday to Europe this year I carried alongside my passport a small plastic card that guarantees me medical treatment if I should fall ill. Without this, the costs of any hospital treatment could well be prohibitive. The interchangeability of health care is a major benefit of membership of the EU and it was rather hoped that negotiations around Brexit would at least protect this for those living and travelling within the European Community. Alas that may well not be the case. According to the Independent, this scheme is at fresh risk after it emerged that emergency ...
Mon 29th
09:55
All Party Parliamentary Group on Land Value Capture calls for urgent action on housing crisis
Tacking the housing crisis requires a concerted cross-party effort at all levels of government from Downing Street to the parish council. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report Capturing Land Value for the Public Benefit to be published on 31st October 2018 says: There needs to be greater devolution of Land Value Capture mechanisms to mayoral and local authorities. Following the announcement by the Prime Minister of the government's intention to remove the cap on local authority borrowing, consideration should be given to a netting of land assets from existing prudential borrowing limits; reform of the 1961 Land Compensation Act, ...
Why would a relatively sane man like me (perhaps that is overstating the case) dare to risk tiptoeing back into questions of gender politics that got him so roughed up online last time? A good question. Because this time I particularly have something to say about men, in relation to women of course. Because despite [...] The post Where are all the men? appeared first on Radix.
Let us put aside for a moment the cries of greed, hypocrisy and astonishment at Nick Clegg's decision to take his job at Facebook and examine what it means for the cause of liberal democracy. Facebook, together with other social media outlets, is one of two new forces upending the world order and the way we think. The other is authoritarianism, led by China, where many countries now see government not accountable to an electorate as preferable to the muddled unpredictability of Western-style democracy. The Liberal Democrats have two of their most senior figures in each of those camps. Two ...
Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson Jenny Randerson has urged the Government to invest in "rail, low emission buses and electric charging points" as reports indicate the Government is set to announce new investment for roads in the Budget. Jenny Randerson said:"While it is welcome news that the Government will finally set aside much needed investment for our roads, their infrastructure plan lacks any future proofing."With climate change an ever greater threat, Liberal Democrats demand better. Ministers should be focusing on a model shift away from car use to public transport. That means investment in rail, low emission buses and electric charging ...
Responding to reports that the Chancellor is considering a tax on tech giants, Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable said: "Tech giants have got away without paying their fair share for too long. That is why I have urged the Chancellor on numerous occasions to introduce a new tax, and he has accepted the argument. "The Chancellor will know the EU has already indicated a new EU-wide agreement is doable. Instead of working in isolation, the Chancellor should be willing to work with our European allies and others around the world. Now is the time to deliver."
Mon 29th
07:44Welcome to my day: 29 October 2018 - after killing Jason off, and countless screaming Argonauts...
Yes, it's another week and, with just fifty-seven days until Christmas one hundred and fifty-one days until the cliff edge of Brexit, it's beginning to get slightly scary, just in time for Halloween. The Russians have formally objected to Government proposals to the World Trade Organisation, the Moldovans have objected to our participation in the global Government procurement grouping, so it's all going swimmingly. That is, as swimmingly as it would be if your flotation device was leaking and the water was full of sharks. It's all going terribly well, right, Dominic? Right? Oh and yes, the EFTA option was, ...
As many of you will know, 'Bonnie Dundee' is a group of volunteers that has been running for over 10 years and the clue is in the name - to keep Dundee bonnie! The team plant and maintain 68 planters, two garden areas and one large wildflower meadow in and around Dundee City Centre and the West End. Please support the great team of volunteers at Bonnie Dundee in their bid to the Aviva Community Fund. Full details of the funding bid and how to vote for the team can be accessed here. You only have until 20th November, so ...
The new episode of A History Of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up, on Louis Jordan and "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie", with detours into the Marx Brothers, Billie Holiday, Chick Webb, and an eighty-year-old jazz controversy. It should also ... Continue reading →
