This has to be the tweet of the day for me. It fair summed things up. Compare and contrast – two leadership campaigns and only one is speaking to The Country.#libdems #DemandBetter pic.twitter.com/usuTH17EhD — Foundation [IMG: 🔸] (@FoundationFND) June 10, 2019 I woke up to sunshine streaming through the window this morning and smiled. And then I remembered that 100,000 or so of the most reactionary people in the country are about to choose the next Prime Minister. That's a spirit-dampening thought if ever there was one. These are people who think climate change is a myth, who would remove ...
Ed reacted to the worrying economic statistics this morning: This is a really worrying indicator of the fragile state of our economy and should shame any Tory leadership candidate continuing to push for a no-deal Brexit. If just uncertainty can cause this shrink in manufacturing and our GDP, then it doesn't bear thinking about what crashing out of Europe with no-deal could do. These aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet, this is having an impact on the lives of people up and down the country employed in industries like car manufacturing who are already losing their jobs. Enough is enough. ...
Jo started the day by agreeing with Jeremy Hunt. No, really: Usually Jeremy Hunt talks rubbish – but on this he's 100% right. #libdemsurge pic.twitter.com/9vMOvvQU3f — Jo Swinson (@joswinson) June 10, 2019 In the Commons, Jo questioned Said Javid on a key civil liberties issue: In his remarks about facial recognition technology earlier, the Minister for Policing rightly spoke about the need to take the public with us. Does the Secretary of State recognise that the imposition of Big Brother-style surveillance and fining people for covering their face with their coat is no way to secure the public's trust? Will ...
Our guide on this wander through Barnes, Mortlake and Kew.is John Rogers.
I've been in the House of Commons today talking to a newly-established All-Party Group on Social Care. There can be no doubt that consistent under-funding of social care is leading us to a crisis where councils will have to turn ... Continue reading →
One of the things that makes me smile when I read political commentaries at present is whenever Brexit is framed as being "over with" sometime soon. This is one of the great myths of our current age. It is spread by those who think we can have a second referendum in the next couple of months, Remain wins and then everyone just forgets about Brexit completely; equally by those who think no deal Brexit means a couple of weeks of bumpiness and then we all forget about it and go on with our lives. One of the reasons no deal ...
Last Thursday, the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings was marked in Gateshead with a short service at the war memorial which included the playing of the Last Post.
In Brecon and Radnorshire, we present you with a potential number of new campaigning experiences. One is campaigning in a rural constituency covering the entire Brecon Beacons with endless accommodation for Liberal Democrats. A rural constituency with Young Farmers Clubs Rallies (for those aged between 10 and 26) with sheep shearing competitions, singing and dancing opportunities, and the infamous tug of war between warring clubs. A Welsh rural constituency with Eisteddfods for children and adults – competitions in the Welsh and English in recitation, choirs, duets and a unique Welsh cultural activity called Cerdd Dant. A Welsh rural constituency built ...
If you regularly drive that way, you will know that Gipsy Patch Lane has been closed at the railway bridge for the last week. This busy commuter route will be closed for about another three weeks for BT to divert underground cables - this is just preparation for an eight month closure from early 2020 for the railway bridge to be replaced, ready for the Cribbs Patchway Metrobus extension to run under it. During this first closure the footway will still be open for pedestrians and dismounted cyclists to get through. There have however been complaints about cyclists still riding ...
I videoed the opening and closing speeches by Jo Swinson and Ed Davey at the Newcastle Lib Dem leader hustings on Saturday evening. Each is included with this post.
Sun, 12:11: When was that then? https://t.co/50FR7hWSNe Sun, 12:36: RT @deeharvey: @nwbrux It was when he was with his girlfriend. You wouldn't know her. She goes to a different parliament. Sun, 12:56: RT @MSmithsonPB: The changing landscape of UK politics seen through the latest Westminster voting intention polls https://t.co/UtDDTMU1jy Sun, 13:38: I think this is optimistic about the strength of the Tory pragmatists. https://t.co/UdCEuLKstF Sun, 14:48: The Politics of Good Intentions https://t.co/KDotoUlYQ4 @patterson_henry on the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. Sun, 15:38: Bland Ambition, by Steve Tally https://t.co/D6gMgTHEFz Sun, 16:05: I want to hear the No Deal response to this ...
There was an inspection of Chase Park, Whickham, for the green flag award on 6th June. Volunteers had spend a great deal of time replanting many of the flower beds in the park. I hear the inspection went well but we are not expecting the announcement of the result for a few weeks yet.
The Old Assembly Rooms in Newcastle were packed out on Saturday evening for the Lib Dem leadership hustings meeting. Two candidates are in the running - Jo Swinson and Ed Davey. I will be happy with either though I am backing Ed Davey. Both spoke well at the meeting which I reckon must be in sharp contrast to Labour and Conservative meetings where blind panic and blood on the floor are common
Lib Dems in Gateshead are already planning for the local elections in May next year. On Saturday, we held our next strategy meeting. There was a wide ranging discussion on the selection of target wards and the criteria we apply to come into target status. Within that status there are a couple of different categories based on how far down the route of winnability a ward it. We will be defending
On 31st May a Tory think tank, Onward, published a report entitled 'Firing on all Cylinders' written by Neil O'Brien, a Conservative MP since 2017 who was previously a special adviser to George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer. O'Brien calls for a new fiscal rule "to keep debt to GDP falling gently in normal years when there is no recession." He suggests that the national debt to GDP ratio should be kept near to its current level of 83.3% and not be reduced to 73% in 2023/24 as planned. By doing this he estimates that the government would have ...
Back in the early days of The Independent Group, I took some of their rhetoric at face value and speculated that they could morph into something very different from a traditional political party: The key point, however, is simply this: election law provides a powerful way for candidates to cooperate at election time without having all to be in the same political party . An umbrella of the like-minded is a very plausible route to take. That sort of loose coalition is common in the politics of some other countries, where alliances are formed which don't require parties to merge or ...
Several years ago, I remember meeting one particular investment manager and asking him what his investment approach was. He said: ¨We avoid everything that the market thinks of as exciting¨. The strategy was based on investing in tried and tested companies that generated free cash flow. They did well. Lately, a new term has come [...] The post Story investment and political performance appeared first on Radix.
When the decision not to build an M4 by-pass around Newport was announced last week I argued that it had in any case been a very 'Cardiff-centric' scheme: The level of congestion and number of business-sapping accidents are as bad on the stretch of the M4 between junctions 37 and 45 as those around Newport, but there is no sign of a multi-billion pound scheme to tackle those problems. That is because it is not the Cardiff region economy that suffers from delays generated by these incidents. Now the BBC have very kindly reported on statistics that back up my ...
This short video is interesting as it shows the station in earlier days when freight trains regularly travelled through it plus steam hauled passenger trains to and from Southport as well. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5VxpwzBfc But look at it now, you would not believe it to be the same station as the one in the video:-
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 10 JUNE 2019 Blackness Road (Glamis Road to Blackness Avenue) - closed from Wednesday 5 June for 5 working days for carriageway patching and surface dressing works. Brook Street (at Edward Street) - temporary traffic lights for one week for SSEN work. Forthcoming Roadworks Antiques Roadshow - Saturday 22 June: Earl Grey Place West, South Crichton Street, South Castle Street and Earl Grey Place East closed for 2 days. Sunday 23 June: South Commercial Street, Riverside Esplanade and Tay Road Bridge (westbound off-slip) ...
For everyone, here's the new episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. This one's on "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins, and how talent can sometimes overcome terrible luck Also, for Patreon backers only, there's a ten-minute ... Continue reading →
