May's Govt has treated victims of child trafficking appallingly Following reports that hundreds of child trafficking victims have been refused the right to stay in the UK, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said: Theresa May said that modern slavery is the greatest human rights issue of our time, but these revelations show that her government has treated victims appallingly. The Government has a clear moral obligation to support children who have been trafficked to this country and held in slavery. The Conservatives' failure shames our whole country. The Liberal Democrats demand better protections for vulnerable people. Anyone who ...
The second of three parts of Bob Trubshaw's series on little-known Leicestershire and Rutland.
Perhaps the most common mistake in politics, made both by those who are participants and those who report on it, is to forget how little attention the public pays most of the time. Even in the midst of a general election campaign in 2017, 1 in 5 could not name the Prime Minister and less than 1 in 5 could name the governing party's election slogan. Plenty of people still don't know what the Liberal Democrat line is on Brexit. The public know as much about politics as I know about contemporary* music. And almost without fail anyone who says, ...
The next edition of eFocus for the Whickham area has just been published. It features former Whickham Police Chief Superintendent Andy McDyer's backing for me in the PCC by-election, Ravensdene Lodge care housing plans approved, £500 raised for Whickham's Christmas lights, Marley Hill planning applications, road works at Sunniside, Whickham School fair and Sunniside Chapel now available for
Wed 17th
20:38
Ludlow gridlocked for the morning and not a moment's work during Severn Trent Water's blockade of Co...
Welcome to Shropshire in 2019. Severn Trent Water arrived without notice to block off the Bullring at the top of Corve Street just after 9am this morning. The work was declared an emergency so no notice was given to Shropshire Council or anyone else. But it was only a leaky stopcock. Buses stopped. People missed their trains. I learnt that the only way that one bit of Shropshire Highways can contact another bit of Shropshire Highways is to ring the customer call centre and wait for up to forty minutes to get connected. You couldn't make it up. After two-and-a-half ...
A guest post from the Liberal Democrat Director of Campaigns & Elections, Shaun Roberts: There are just two weeks until polling day as I write this from our by-election HQ in Brecon. There's a tremendous buzz here amongst the team and the activists who have been coming from all over the country. We have a brilliant candidate in Jane Dodds who would make a fantastic addition to our growing Parliamentary Party. Our campaign is being superbly run by James Lillis who masterminded our last by-election win in Richmond Park. The Tories are fighting hard. The Brexit Party is fighting hard. ...
Wed 17th
17:44
Von der Leyens promises to address some of the UK's direst needs: Poverty, Social Security, Clean Ai...
The speech by German minister Von der Leyen (VDL), the proposed president of the European Commission, appealing to the sceptical centre parties (Liberals, Social Democrats, Greens) in the European Parliament, brought the Brexit Party MEPs to howls of both approval and anguish, according to Dutch media. When she regretfully accepted that the UK appears on the way out, Farage's bench applauded wildly. But when she added that she is ready to extend negotiations beyond Halloween, those cheers instantly turned into jeers. And in his response, Farage again trotted out the "EU = Soviet Eastern Bloc" trope, to which VDL responded ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: Bland's appearance befitted his name to the letter. He was tall and fair with ice-blue eyes and a bone structure that was singularly without peak or trough, giving him an oddly flat, even face. Bullied as a youngster both at home and at school, Bland had vowed to never again experience the same powerlessness as an adult that he had had to endure as a child. Bland was a corporate man with the ear of President Nixon, or Dickie as Bland called him. Everyone was afraid of Bland, and no one stepped out of line ...
Councillor Gary Poole (St Mary's ward, Islington South) tweeted his resignation from the Labour Party.
The RSA Food, Farming and Countryside Commission has published its final report, setting out radical yet practical ways to improve food production in the face of current challenges. They say The actions we take in the next ten years, to stop ecosystems collapse, to recover and regenerate nature and to restore people's health and wellbeing are now critical. Our Future in the Land makes fifteen recommendations. First, under the headline "Healthy food is every body's business", they suggest a greater commitment is needed to growing our own food using sustainable agricultural practices. Increasing UK food production would help reconnect people ...
Responding to the publication of the Domestic Abuse Bill on Tuesday, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said: "Two million people experience domestic abuse every year, and they urgently need the Government to take action. "This Conservative Government has failed these people by delaying this vital legislation. Theresa May first promised it more than two years ago. Now that it has finally been published, the Liberal Democrats will be demanding that the new Prime Minister takes it forward without further delay. "We will also be fighting to strengthen the Bill to make sure it protects everyone affected by domestic abuse ...
Tue, 12:54: At @BrusselsNI for City of Belfast Youth Orchestra concert - 34 years ago I held the glorious status of CBYO Second... https://t.co/8zjLt5wvSn Tue, 12:56: #takingbackcontrol https://t.co/Ujo6Q7CE26 Tue, 13:30: RT @ChairmanYaffle: @nwbrux @BrusselsNI Second percussionist perhaps but second fiddle to noone... Tue, 16:05: Good thread and this is the crucial point. https://t.co/Xx3GGSCjfY Tue, 17:11: A bit more complexity in Northern Ireland: the rise of the 'Neithers' https://t.co/mQ0jJIGpSh Digging into the polling data. Tue, 17:21: RT @JP_Biz: Ivan Rogers tells the Foreign Affairs Ctte that the PM wasn't too happy when he explained her Brexit Ireland policy consisted o... Tue, ...
There are liberals in every community across our country. There are Remainers in every community. But there are not Liberal Democrat councillors. Getting more Liberal Democrat councillors elected means more councillors working hard to create communities where people feel their views matter and where liberalism wins out over extremism. You'll know that for many years I've been encouraging people to take the first step to winning by standing candidates in every contest. It's great to see the way the culture in the party has been changing on this. But even in this May's fantastic local elections, the party stood candidates ...
Following reports that hundreds of child trafficking victims have been refused the right to stay in the UK, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said: "Theresa May said that modern slavery is the greatest human rights issue of our time, but these revelations show that her government has treated victims appallingly. "The Government has a clear moral obligation to support children who have been trafficked to this country and held in slavery. The Conservatives' failure shames our whole country. "The Liberal Democrats demand better protections for vulnerable people. Anyone who has been a victim of modern slavery should be ...
Almost a generation has passed since the Islamist attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington. At the time, because of a comparable number of American victims, analysts around the world compared this attack to that of 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbour. But it took the United States less than four years [...] The post The resistable rise of violent fundamentalism appeared first on Radix.
I am pleased to announce that the former Whickham Police Chief Superintendent Andy McDyer is backing me in the by-election for Northumbria Police Commissioner. Andy was based in Whickham back in the late 1990s. He then served as a senior officer in both the Northumbria and Humberside forces and is now retired. "Jonathan brings experience, knowledge and determination to get the job done - all
Whickham School summere fair will be held this Saturday. Lots happening on the day. It's going to be tight for me however as I am also on the Pride parade in Newcastle on the same day!
The name of this committee is just fabulous: The Committee for Measuring the Attraction of Hills.
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine has written in the Scotsman of her memories on the first moon landing fifty years ago. She writes, For many of my parents' generation, it was the ultimate fulfilment of John F Kennedy's promise to explore the stars and send a man safely to the moon and back by the end of the decade. That generation had lived through World War II as children, endured the fear and tension of the Cuban missile crisis as young parents and the grief of lost opportunities with the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King. And ...
Yate Heritage Centre is running a wide range of events aimed at young people during the school holidays: 7th August -Traditional Wash Day 10.30am—4pm Free drop in sessions. Children to be accompanied. Free Children's Holiday Workshops 10.30am or 1.30pm Booking essential. Children to be accompanied. 8th August - Civil War Doctor & Craft 14th August - Heraldry Workshop 15th August - Roman Clay Workshops
If Boris Johnson and his Brexiteer supporters believe that taking us out of Europe without a deal is going to secure a victory in a General Election, then they may well have failed to account for the impact of such an approach on ordinary voters. One such consequence could be the end of cheap foreign holidays, with the Independent reporting that the average cost of staying at popular European destinations could soar by £225 per person in such a scenario. This became clearer as Tory leadership hopefuls Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt came under fire over hardline promises to scrap ...
Many Lydiate folk will know Ray from his many years as a Sefton Borough councillor for Park ward in the 1980's and 1990's and also from his time on Lydiate Parish Council. I thought it apt to mark Ray and indeed his lovely wife Hazel (also a former Lydiate Parish Councillor) leaving Lydiate to live in West Lancashire. I was talking the other day to my old chum Andrew Blackburn who also knew Ray well from his councillor days and he reminded me of the 'Ray Hughes Point'. What he meant was that Ray was always finding things to point ...
As residents are aware, I have long campaigned for further road safety improvements in the West End including "Twenty's Plenty" in residential areas where there is local support for this and use of vehicle activated speed limit signs. There are currently two such signs in the West End on Blackness Road (east of Balgay Park) and Perth Road (near Clovis Duveau Drive) and I have campaigned for more of these at the request of residents - for example on City Road and Perth Road east of Harris Academy. I highlighted at the council's City Development Committee recently that the council ...
At the most recent full Council meeting of Bury Council, your Liberal Democrat team of councillors asked a number of questions regarding rubbish and recycling. Questions and Answers below: Councillor Cristina Tegolo asked about the number of households that have had their bins removed by the Council: "Could the Leader inform members how many households have had recycling bins removed in the current financial year and previous two years?" (Answer) The following numbers of bins (of all colours) have been asked tobe picked up or removed by residents via the Contact Centre: 2017/18 706 bins 2018/19 584 bins 2019/20 176 ...
THE Northern Care Alliance NHS Group Council of Governors Elections have opened and the organisation is looking for dedicated Trust members who are passionate about health and social care to join the council as public Governors. The Northern Care Alliance brings together Salford Royal Hospitals, with Pennine Acute Hospitals and runs Fairfield Hospital and at the moment North Manchester hospital. From 1 July 2019 it also runs community health services in Bury. Governors are the direct representatives of staff and public member interests. They play an important role in making sure that health and social care services continue to improve. ...
The mood is changing on buses. For many years, rural bus services have been cut back. They are threatened with more cuts as council finances dwindle. Now Shropshire Council has said it will roll back some of the planned bus cuts after a consultation produced an unprecedented response from bus users. But the council still lacks an up to date bus strategy and a plan for long term investment in the bus network. Bus campaigners are stepping into the gap. At the end of last month, the Foundation for Integrated Transport (FIT) has published a report on Shropshire Rural Buses. ...
