A veritable floodtide of press releases today, so we'll take them in two parts for ease of access... Govt immigration white paper – an enormous red tape threat to UK businesses Property guardians caught in poverty trap Cable: GDP figures reveal the country is now fairly close to recession PM and Corbyn plot to deliver disastrous Brexit together Govt immigration white paper – an enormous red tape threat to UK businesses Responding to a report by Global Future which shows the deep costs to our economy of the Government's immigration white paper, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said: ...
The best news in today's BBC announcement about children's television was that The Demon Headmaster is to be remade with a super head of an academy school as the villain. But the media was more interested in the reappearance of Crackerjack after 35 years. I don't suppose it will match the glory days of Leslie Crowther and Peter Glaze, but at least young people will know how to respond when you say "Crackerjack". And today's publicity has reminded me of the existence of this clip from the programme.
Hang on in there everybody. The end of the week is in sight. Friday Who should I bump into in London today but our own Nick Clegg? Curious to know what he is doing with himself these days, I treat him to lunch at one of my clubs. He turns out to be full of his new job, telling me how Satan's chief operating officer Mephistopheles called him while he was walking in the Alps last summer and invited him to fly to Hell to meet Satan himself. "I said to them, if you're prepared to let me into the ...
Absolute scenes at Leicester's other university. On Friday the Leicester Mercury that Sir Ian Blatchford, the chair of De Montfort University's board of governors, resigned back in November. Today it was announced that Dominic Shellard, the university's vice chancellor had left his £350,000-a-year post. And then it was revealed that The Office for Students is investigating "regulatory matters" at De Montfort. This one, if local rumour is anything to go by, will run and run.
I'm just back from a nerd's tour of Washington DC and Baltimore, Maryland. I was fortunate to fit in about 20 visits to notable locations, mainly political. The highlight was numerous visits to the US Capitol, so much so that the police started saying "Welcome back" to me at the security check-in! In particular, I witnessed a vote in the House of Representatives, complete with a sighting of Nancy Pelosi. By the way, there is something quite spooky, but also quite thrilling, about being the only member of the public left in the huge, cavernous, marble-clad US Capitol late at ...
It is easy to forget that, for many of our Party members, Sal Brinton is the only Party President they have ever known. In that sense, they've been pretty fortunate, because (at least in my view) she's been a good one. But all good things come to an end eventually, and Sal is now in her last year before term limits kick in. Now I've heard rumours of possible candidates for the succession, and whilst I wouldn't want to name names just yet, perhaps it is time to start thinking about what members might want to look out for. So, ...
It's a common question about Lib Dem campaigning, especially when debating the virtues of online and offline campaigning: are we delivering too many leaflets?
One of the first aphorisms I learned when studying history and politics was: 'To govern is to choose'. It was Pierre Mendes-France's maxim when Premier of France in 1954-5, cutting through the morass of postponed decisions left by weak coalition governments and negotiating the withdrawal of French troops form Indo-China. Good government means taking decisions, even when they are hard decisions. Which underlines how appallingly incompetent Britain's current government is. It has raised the art of postponing decisions to an art form. If it could postpone presenting Parliament with a clear choice on Brexit until the afternoon of March 29th, ...
Hundreds of troops who joined the British Army after a targeted Commonwealth recruitment drive in 2016 are having to work second jobs in order to meet the Home Office threshold necessary to relocate their families.Commenting, Lib Dem Defence Spokesperson Jamie Stone said:"This is yet another example of the Tories' botched immigration policies. These soldiers were asked specifically to come and defend our nation and the government repays them with a hostile environment. It has all the hallmarks of the policies which caused the Windrush crisis."These people have responded to a call to serve the country and it is outrageous that ...
Responding to the news that the PM will seek to wait until the end of the month for a second attempt at winning the meaningful vote, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:"This is worse than irresponsible."It is deeply insulting to the country and to Parliament. It goes against what she has been mandated to achieve. I would not be surprised if she faces a massive rebellion by Conservative MPs."
Responding to the investigation by the i newspaper into property guardians , Liberal Democrat peer Olly Grender said:"This undercover investigation shows how desperately bad the housing crisis has become. More and more people are living as property guardians in buildings that are dangerous and insanitary and the law fails to protect them."Safeguards must be introduced before the Government has another tragedy on its hands such as Grenfell. This is a hidden crisis for people caught in a trap of poverty and lack of decent housing and needs urgent attention. "The fact these properties are unsafe and unhealthy to live in ...
Responding to a report by Global Future which shows the deep costs to our economy of the Government's immigration white paper, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said: "Conservative immigration plans represent the biggest red tape threat UK businesses have ever seen - far outweighing anything that came from Brussels. "Local hospitals are already struggling to recruit the doctors and nurses they need, and now the Tories would take millions away from front-line care to pay for the cost of navigating the Home Office's complex and bureaucratic immigration system. "These policies would be expensive and destructive for employers across ...
Sun, 22:59: What SF to read? Results of a Facebook/Twitter poll https://t.co/RDxAkLszrb Mon, 09:42: The European Commission's 60-slide deck explaining the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration. Clearer... https://t.co/te2N98CdyK Mon, 10:45: What fresh madness is this? #Brexit https://t.co/cai2OjUcVo Mon, 11:49: Day's novels usually don't work that well for me, unfortunately. Black's three novelisations are all good, and he g... https://t.co/xiZNljFbnk
Dear Luciana, As someone who spent many years as an activist in the Labour and trade union movement I follow developments in your current party closely. From what I can see you are being constantly hounded by people who currently have control of the Labour machine. You are being attacked both for your policy positions and your Jewish heritage. The recent attempt to put a motion of no confidence in you is as I am sure you realise is a vehicle to ensure that you cannot stand as the partys' candidate at the next General Election. I am afraid to ...
Another great concert from Maghull Wind Orchestra at Liverpool's iconic Palm House in Sefton Park yesterday. The place was packed out; here's a couple of shots of the concert:- I think it fair to say that the audience was delighted with the performance but not necessarily, somewhat bizarrely, with the venue's convenience or should I say inconvenience arrangements. The toilets were out of bounds to those attending the concert and a walk of some 5 minutes, for a fit person, was required through the park to another set of toilets where the gents were out of order anyway! How odd, ...
As a local councillor I am currently in the process of scrutinising Swansea's latest budget proposals. Like other councils we have been badly hit by cuts in funding, though we remain better off than councils on the other side of Offa's Dyke due to the protection offered by past Welsh Governments. Unfortunately the current Welsh Government has failed to pass on the 1% real term increase in its budget for next year, and that has added to the difficult decisions that are having to be made. But fear not, the Tories have promised to end austerity, and surely that means ...
I was fascinated by Peter Fischer Brown's suggestion that there are people in the Brexit camp who believe that a no-deal Brexit the hard way is likely to be as successful and unifying as our national escape from the Dunkirk beaches. This was, as I said in my book about Dunkirk, during the last Brexit [...] The post Dunkirk spirit? If so, Boris had better watch out... appeared first on Radix.
As the values of liberalism direct us towards what David Laws highlighted as the four pillars of liberalism - social, political, economic and individual, we must identify a fine balance between all four. The application of tax reform, of all kinds, must be utilised as a means to desirable ends. Here, we must also look to the reasoning of taxation, of which there are two prominent reasons; to collect money to fund social programmes and to discourage certain behaviours. The discouragement of actions by taxes is, of course, an uncomfortable idea, for why is the government so moral as to ...
[IMG: Could a Brexit casting vote go to Tory donors?] According to a report in The Observer, Tory donors are worried about a no-deal Brexit. Donors are warning that a no-deal Brexit could trigger a recession or 'insurrection'. Some have already reduced the amount that they would... The post Could a Brexit casting vote go to Tory donors? appeared first on FeministMama.
Mon 11th
06:34
I am calling for an immediate review of parking permits in Ludlow and across the county
The new parking regime across Shropshire is not working well. The most urgent agenda is that we are seeing an impact on future bookings for accommodation in Ludlow. Holiday let and B&B owners are saying that they can't let because the first question they ask is where can I park? The answer must be down by Tesco or Smithfield. The view official view of Shropshire Council is that visitors must park one kilometre away if they rent premium holiday and B&B rents in our historic town centre. On Wednesday, I will be asking Shropshire Council's cabinet to review the permit ...
A new episode of "A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" is now up. This one looks at "That's All Right, Mama" by Elvis Presley, and features acne, bear cats, a phone call to Castro, and a badly-flawed ... Continue reading →
