Lib Dems: Brexit vote shows Tory and Labour talks are pointless Responding to the announcement from Downing Street that MPs will vote on Brexit legislation in June, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said: It is now clear that nothing whatsoever has come of the Tory and Labour Brexit talks. These negotiations are yet another example of pointless and irresponsible time-wasting by both the government and the official opposition. The Liberal Democrats have been fighting Brexit for nearly three years and are the strongest party who support remaining in the EU. To get our country out of this mess, orchestrated ...
Jack, do you never sleep - does the green still run deep in your heart? Or will these changing times, motorways, power lines, keep us apart? Well, I don't think so - I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.More on the Deptford Jack in the Green.
David Macdonald, an entrepreneur and independent councillor in East Renfrewshire, was at the top of Change UK's list for Scotland in next week's European elections. Today, standing alongside the Scottish Liberal Democrats' leader Willie Rennie, he urged Scots to vote Lib Dem instead to avoid splitting the Remain vote. Change UK,or The Tiggers as I shall always think of them, have already lost their top candidate for Scotland once after someone looked at the tweets Joseph Russo had been sending. It all adds to the impression that this new party is proving a flop. But I did enjoy Chuka Umunna's ...
The combined support for Labour and the Conservatives has fallen off a cliff as this dramatic graph of polling results since 1983 shows.
Here are just a few of the human stories behind the Liberal Democrat rise in the polls for the European elections, taken from Twitter.
Second paragraph of third chapter: Hordenza started. She'd been engrossed in the icefield analysis and hadn't realised the signal from Versimmon was getting through. 'Ah - Minister Hordenza here,' she said. 'Over?' This is a novel in the Bernice Summerfield continuity, set during the Road Trip audio sequence (not that you'd really notice). It's a short book set on a world with no native animals, entirely ruled by trees; Bernice and three other women from the human colonising power have to make sense of it all. Another reviewer compared it favourably with Ann Leckie; I wouldn't go that far, but ...
Subtitled Social mobility and our children's fading prospects, Duncan Exley's book explores the facts and myths around aspiration. Referencing many studies, linked with real-life stories of people who have moved from rag-to-riches, Exley asks how far the UK is from being an 'opportunity' society and whether social mobility should be a priority of policy-makers. Duncan Exley is the former Director of the Equality Trust. In his book, he delves into issues of equality and poverty, probing the real factors behind people not being able to attain the life they would like to live. Recently, I toured a secondary school in ...
Though this month's European elections were organised in great haste in the UK (and through gritted teeth by the Conservative government), an admirable number of public hustings has been taking place round London, including one last night at St. Anne's Church in Wandsworth, in which I took part. It was set up by the Putney [...]
[IMG: Seaside Award 2019] Keep Britain Tidy has today revealed the England's best beaches with announcement of Blue Flag and Seaside Awards for 2019 - and Sandgate is on the list for the SEVENTH year running! This year environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy is presenting 71 international Blue Flags and 137 Seaside Awards (12 more than last year). This includes the award to Sandgate beach, near Folkestone in Kent. Sandgate is the only beach in Folkestone and Hythe to win the Seaside Award, and one of only 11 in Kent. Learn more about Kent's award winning beaches. Sandgate beach has ...
Having taken a day off, I'm back with more ALDE achievements... Reform of the European Union's system of own resources ALDE has sought to increase the transparency of the current financing system of the EU budget, in order to reduce national contributions by EU Member States, by introducing new own resources income streams and ending rebates and corrections, without increasing tax burden on the citizens. Following the Parliament's position and the recommendations of the High Level Group on Own Resources, the Commission proposed a basket of new own resources, structured around European public goods linked to EU's strategic policy objectives. ...
Our family has used the NHS more this year than ever before – all five of us have seen consultants for a range of ailments. Yesterday my husband saw the Haematology team to be told his cancer was in remission. We left the hospital grateful for the good prognosis, and thankful that we lived in a country with high-quality health care. Over the course of his treatment, from hospital stays to bone marrow biopsies, from chemotherapy to scans, we have been impressed with the professionals overseeing his care. We have not been made bankrupt through high medical bills and he ...
David Macdonald, Change UK's lead candidate for the EU elections in Scotland, has switched to back the Liberal Democrats.
Wed 15th
11:41
May's latest move on Brexit makes no sense at all. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised any longer
After weeks of drift, finally an announcement from the government on Brexit. A new Withdrawal Agreement Bill will be put to the House of Commons to vote on during the week of June 3rd. Let's avoid the whole "but what is so different about this Bill which means the Speaker will allow it" debate since it is so tedious I can't bear it. Let's just assume it is able to come before the House for a vote. Why is May doing this? She has no more hope of the bill passing in early June than she does now. Why wait ...
Tue, 12:56: Eight EU airports among world's ten worst https://t.co/YCBhBcxytM I find some of these results surprising. Tue, 14:46: RT @Dorianlynskey: Perhaps it speaks to my current assessment of politics and human nature but I thought that Game of Thrones episode was e... Tue, 15:53: End of long thread, all of which is worth reading. https://t.co/ObivOdMkG1 Tue, 16:05: RT @simonjhix: Conservatives in 5th place in latest @YouGov #EP2019 poll. I have never seen a poll for any national UK election with the Co... Tue, 17:11: RT @IsabelHardman: Just realised it is #mentalhealthawarenessweek2019 (loooong hashtag). It's also pretty much bang on ...
Historically the Labour party has had a left and a right wing with the latter usually in the ascendancy. Much of that was down to the trade unions being led by moderates who were happy to use their block votes at Labour conference and in elections to the ruling National Executive Committee in favour of a leadership committed to a social democratic programme. In the immediate post-war period the leaders of the major unions (the Transport workers, Engineers, Miners and Railway workers) all had much more in common with Methodism than Marx. The landslide General Election victory of 1945 brought ...
When you are the self-styled voice of Remain, one of the things you have to do is be consistent in that voting that way is pretty darn important. You don't see Nigel Farage rail against the European Union and suddenly decide to vote for a party who thinks the EU isn't all that terrible. When you have a position where you don't want to compromise, compromising or indeed flat out u-turning is a strange move indeed. This brings us on to Femi Oluwole, who over the past few days shown that he's against Labour's position on Brexit but has given ...
Wed 15th
09:21
Shropshire Council want to cut planning committees because Tories can't be bothered to give up one d...
The South Planning Committee is safe from the latest Shropshire Council attack on democracy - for now. But council leaders are determined to merge the two committees that cover the Shrewsbury area and North Shropshire into one. The justification is very thin. The paperwork makes it clear that the council's ambition is a single planning committee for the entire county. They also want to make more decisions behind closed doors rather than in a democratic forum. And part of the justification is that Tory councillors are reluctant to give a day a month to serve on a planning committee. I ...
There are two stories in the news today. which causes one to pause and think about the impact of the Welsh Government and the need to shake things up. The first relates to the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015, which was hailed as landmark legislation at the time, but whose impact is still questionable. Certainly, when it was going through the Assembly and subsequently, there were a number of us questioning whether it had any teeth? Was it just posturing about the environment or would it really change the way the public sector does its business? The one thing ...
More than any other organisation on the planet, the European Union (EU) assembles countries whose democracy works well. When you travel in Europe from East to West and North to South, whether you are in Poland or Portugal, Ireland or Greece, and you talk to citizens, the vast majority of them will be able to [...] The post European elections that are no longer European appeared first on Radix.
The Where's Your Head At? campaign launched a Workplace Manifesto on Monday. As part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2019, this campaign is raising awareness of how employers and businesses can better support their employees' mental health and well-being. It is a straightforward manifesto which the campaign is calling all employers to sign. The principals, in brief, are: 1. Everyone has mental health 2. We need to build a diverse and inclusive workplace to lead to a happier and healthier working environment 3. We need to treat mental and physical health equally in the workplace 4. Employers need to turn ...
This lovely piece of artwork was produced for British Rail's London Midland Region in 1955 to promote Southport as a destination.
Residents in the Brook Street area and in Pleasance Court have drawn to my attention the problems they have ensuring the bus driver sees they are waiting at the bus stop on Brook Street's north side (opposite Brook Close), due to the lack of a bus bay and vehicles parked right across the stop. This also makes it a challenge to get on the bus, as passengers have to get through a line of nose-to-tail parked vehicles to get to the bus. I asked the City Council if a bus bay can be created at the stop and have had ...
