Liberal Democrats score victory for access to justice The House of Lords has today passed a Liberal Democrat amendment to the Courts and Tribunals (Online Procedure) Bill that will protect access to justice for people at risk of being digitally excluded. The Government Bill brings a number of court procedures online. Liberal Democrat peers, led by Justice Spokesperson Jonathan Marks, have raised concerns that moving certain proceedings online may put those who struggle to easily access digital systems at risk of being excluded from access to justice. Lord Marks therefore tabled an amendment to the Bill to put a statutory ...
In her Scotsman column, Christine Jardine describes the pain of losing her husband during the election campaign in 2017 – which was then added to by attacks from internet trolls: Two years ago, at the most difficult time in my personal life, a political activist who thought they were clever decided it was OK to launch a nasty, and untrue attack. During the 2017 general election campaign, my husband had died from a sudden and unpredicted heart attack. The circumstances were particularly difficult. We were separated, he was living on his own and, because my name on his list of ...
Ed started the week by having a good go at Boris on Politics LIve Ed Davey: Boris Johnson's behaviour and language is "completely unacceptable for many of us" "This is a guy who was sacked as a journalist for telling lies, this is guy who was sacked from the front bench by Michael Howard for telling lies"#politicslive https://t.co/jSIJXOupoG pic.twitter.com/ffudH7nxGe — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 24, 2019 Ed's website is here and you can follow him on Twitter here.
Shopping in Leicester on Saturday I came across the Armed Forces Day Parade, which was led by the pipes and drums of the Seaforth Highlanders. As Captain Mainwaring would put it, he who holds Caffè Nero holds Leicester.
Monday started with Bollocks to Boris as well as Brexit- an article in The Times (£) How much hardship will now be endured to satisfy Boris Johnson's ego? How many families will find life harder for the sake of his ambition? How many patients will wait, propped up on plastic chairs in hospital corridors, for that £350 million a week he promised on the side of a bus? One thing is for certain, Boris doesn't care. Consequences are for other people. Just ask Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. And what do the Lib Dems offer? Britain needs leaders who are up front and ...
And you thought that pouring milkshakes over fascists was a modern idea. Friday A journalist rings to ask what I think of this modern tactic of pouring milkshakes over far-right politicians. I reply that the milkshake is an American import we could well do without and that if one is going to dispose of it then tipping it over a passing Fascist seems as good a way as any. Warming to my theme, I recall that I was once obliged to sit next to Oswald Mosley at dinner. Things were distinctly frosty between us from the get-go and when he ...
Flash floods hit Edinburgh this afternoon, and Christine Jardine paid the price of having a constituency office at the bottom of a hill on one of the busiest roads in Scotland. [IMG: ⛈] Powers off in my office as we've flooded...normal service will resume ASAP! [IMG: ⛈] pic.twitter.com/fRrJBWy5SI — Christine Jardine MP (@cajardineMP) June 24, 2019 * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary published in print or online.
The controversy over Carry Symonds, Boris Johnson and their neighbours put me in mind of the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Copper Beeches. In it, the great detective explains to Watson why he does not find rural scenes restful: "The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of ...
WATCH | Top Remainer Nick Clegg reveals that there's no evidence of Russian interference in the EU referendum & the Cambridge Analytica conspiracy theory is totally false. A dark day for tinfoil nutters @carolecadwalla @BenPBradshaw and @DamianCollins 😂pic.twitter.com/aqtprgAqW7— Leave.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) June 24, 2019For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
If I was in my house and could clearly hear a fight going on and a woman clearly in distress because of the behaviour of a man what is my duty as a citizen? I have absolutely no doubt that ... Continue reading →
Second paragraph of third chapter: Stung by the criticism and scepticism of his colleagues and peers, Travers accepted Walters' challenge. Together with John Mackay, he went in search of the Abominable Snowman - the fabled Yeti. And in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains in Tibet, he found it. I grumble sometimes that Justin Richards is either rather good or rather average in his Who writing. This is a good one. Published in 2014 (so covering the first Capaldi season), it looks at the classic and new monsters of Who, with chapters on the Cybermen, the Daleks, the Great Intelligence, ...
Sad news has reached the Liberal Democrat Voice team that Geoff Tordoff, a former President of the Liberal Party, and a retired member of the House of Lords, passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning after a short illness. Geoff was elevated to the Lords in 1981, having played a significant part in the rebuilding of the Liberal Party through the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in four years as Chairman of the Party, as well as a term as President during the Alliance years. He was highly respected in the Lords, and rose to become Chairman of Committees ...
Mass migration was a concern for many who voted to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum. There are three reasons for mass migration: 1) poverty, 2) conflict, and 3) natural disasters. Each of these causes of mass migration is being tackled under the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs aim to 'prevent conflict and maintain peace and security by ending poverty and ensuring access for all to basic services and human rights'. They were agreed in 2015 under the 2030 Agenda to improve on the progress made by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They take a more ...
Sun, 12:22: Just gonna add my own rather minor experience in this regard. Back in 1991, I moved back to Belfast, and lived in... https://t.co/kIaBQHxW3w Sun, 12:56: RT @violetimpudence: 📷 sparklywaistcoat: It's been entirely too long since someone posted this picture of Patrick Macnee in British Navy to... Sun, 14:48: RT @BBCPolitics: Liam Fox on Boris Johnson's 'GATT 24' #Brexit claims: "It isn't true, that's the problem" The trade secretary tells #Mar... Sun, 15:33: The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters https://t.co/Bo2PziFsVU Sun, 15:46: RT @BorderIrish: Blaming the neighbours when you're having a row in your own house is quite Brexity ...
A million Hong Kong citizens went on a peaceful demonstration in Hong Kong on 12th June 2019 protesting against the government's proposed Extradition Bill. Not only did the government refuse the demands of the demonstrators to retract the Bill, but they also described the movement as a "riot". The police used heavy handed tactics to disperse the crowds including deployment of tear gas and pepper water spray, cornering and beating up protesters with police clubs and the making of arrests. The government's tactics infuriated those citizens who had not joined the demonstration, including those residing in overseas. The death of ...
Nominations closed on Friday for the Northumbria PCC by-election. I am the Lib Dem candidate and, as expected, Labour and Conservatives also have nominations in. There is an independent as well. She has something of a Conservative past and was also involved with some anti-Lib Dem activity. For a short time, she worked for Ann-Marie Trevelyan, Tory MP for Berwick. I am assuming she has £5000 to
National Grid have written to residents who live along the power line which runs through this part of Whitefield to let them know that they are undertaking work on a 15km stretch of power line and pylons in summer 2019 and sprint 2020. The work will be completed in two phases: June to August 2019Spring 2020 They are undertaking work near to Kenilworth Avenue, Warwick Avenue, Warwick Close and Barnard Avenues in early July. Residents on these streets will have received letters to give the exact days for each street. There will be some minor road closures (including closing Kenilworth ...
Mon 24th
09:44
Jeremy Hunt's surprisingly punchy start to the Tory leadership final two and what that might mean
I have been very cynical about Jeremy Hunt's push to be Tory leader. I think he's been mostly absent in the debates, looking like he's marking time, and I figured he would mostly be BoJo's wingman in the final two. It almost seemed partially set up for this, with rumours of Johnson's whips amongst the parliamentary party trying to rig it so that Hunt was the man whom the former London mayor would face. Yet I have been impressed with Hunt's campaign so far. "This is an audition to be prime minister of the UK ... If Boris is refusing ...
I was taken by this article about how the political system works in Sweden (see link below) as it fits well with my own views about how we in the UK pour far too much money into our MP's pockets! We have in effect put MP's on a pedestal and made them a political elite disconnected from our real world. In turn this has created professional politicians with a sense of entitlement who govern in the interests of their political parties rather than the interests of the UK. Despite all the hype around the MP's expenses scandal of a ...
Responding to the the news that the Brecon and Radnorshire Conservative Association have reselected Chris Davies as their candidate, a Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: Over 10,000 people signed the recall petition and decisively rejected Chris Davies because they had enough of an MP putting Brecon and Radnorshire on the map for all the wrong reasons. By adopting Chris Davies again the Conservatives have demonstrated they can offer nothing more than an MP embroiled in controversy. People deserve better. This by-election is a clear choice between the same old broken politics from the Conservatives, or a chance to demand better ...
Soon we will have a new Prime Minister. In spite of much grandstanding, neither of the two remaining candidates have a credible plan of how we can leave the EU smoothly and without causing major economic and social disruption. That is not surprising. The new PM will find himself in an impossible position simply because [...] The post What might have been... appeared first on Radix.
'Do what I say, not what I do' could well be the new slogan of the Conservative Party. That is clearly the view of some campaigners, who have been calling for the liberalisation of Britain's drug laws. As the Guardian reports, marchers from the Anyone's Child group, who are walking along the Thames Valley and into London to meet MPs at Westminster on Tuesday, have branded Conservative politicians who have admitted taking drugs, as hypocrites: Rose Humphries, the mother of two young men killed by heroin, said she hoped revelations that the former Tory leadership candidates Michael Gove and Andrea ...
This week's episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up! This one's on Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel", and how wanting to take care of your parents can pay off... Patreon backers also have a ... Continue reading →
