Swinson: Sturgeon and Johnson have more in common than they realise Commenting on Boris Johnson's visit to Glasgow today, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson warned against the divisions profered by the new PM and SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon. Jo said: The best way to strengthen the United Kingdom is to stop Brexit. Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson have more in common than they realise. Both are failing to listen to Scotland with their respective ideological pursuits of independence and Brexit. When it comes to working with our closest neighbours, we have been clear: our future is best served ...
Talgarth, Powys – What's not to like? I arrived at Brecon this morning. After parking, I wondered round to find the Lib Dem HQ (the whereabouts of which I vaguely remembered from my visit back in June). As I was walking down the street, I was aware of a hubbub. There was the sound of people talking and generally great activity coming out of one shop front. Well blow me down! It was the Lib Dem office in full swing as volunteers arrived to be given their marching orders. As if that wasn't enough, I was witness to a full ...
The political news coverage over the last few weeks has been predominantly dominated by an utterly childish leadership contest in the Conservative Party, in which 0.138% of the population voted for this current sitting Prime Minister. In this volatile political climate, and with thousands of people joining the Liberal Democrats in the last week, it has become clear that the country is crying out for a liberal alternative. We are at a crossroads in British politics where we are faced with the choice between a populist right led by the likes of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, and no credible ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: 'What's what?' The last (so far) Bernice Summerfield novel, published in 2014, this is apparently tied into an audio box set that I haven't yet heard. I didn't mind. It's set on a spaceship called the Adorable Illusion, with Benny disguised as a disgraced fellow-archaeologist for Reasons and a motley assortment of crew and other passengers regarding her with more or less justified suspicion. Then about two thirds of the way through the book, there is a massive plot twist, and it turns out that we do actually care about everyone on board - very ...
[IMG: A leaked porn video can destroy lives] Imagine this. You and your partner have videoed yourselves carrying out intimate acts together. You think that this is for your private viewing. You wake up one day and discover that umpteen (make that millions)... The post A leaked porn video can destroy lives appeared first on @ambitiousmamas.
Anyone who spectated upon Boris Johnson's Cabinet reshuffle last Wednesday would have got the message: Britain is on a fast track to the far-right. Priti Patel, who has previously backed the return of capital punishment, is now in charge of the Home Office, overseeing crime policy and immigration. Dominic Raab, who abandoned his responsibility as Brexit Secretary to pursue his own leadership ambitions, is the new Foreign Secretary, where his views of feminists as obnoxious bigots will be represented on the world stage. Whilst Theresa May attempted to bring her depleted party together in her Cabinet, Boris Johnson has wiped ...
Modernity crouched, constrained, the superheated pressure at its heart encased against itself to further power; Created in a symbol of the New, the turbine hummed, its power haunched to overcome resistance until it whispered into life... A mill-wheel of the giants, spinning under sight – its screams have spawned across the world, gorging on our hunger [...]
There's a whole set of advice, support and training available for any Liberal Democrat member who wants to become a Parliamentary candidate. Once you are selected as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC – a piece of jargon explained here), however, it all rather drops away unless you are in a target seat. So here are my nine tips (updated from an earlier list of eight) on what to do immediately after you've been selected. Congratulate yourself: being a PPC can be difficult, tiring and arduous. It's also a brilliant service to the party and to liberalism, with a good chance ...
I'm saddened to report that former Ryton Lib Dem Councillor Norman Callender passed away last week. Norman was a member of Gateshead Council for nearly 20 years and was a tireless proponent of Ryton. He will be greatly missed. The funeral will be held next Monday at Holy Cross Church, Ryton, at 11.15am, followed by a service at Mountsett Crematorium. Norman pictured above with former ward
We now need to prepare for what is almost certain to be a Parliament with no one-Party majority, following a General Election in the next few months. In local government we have a lot of experience in dealing with this sort of situation. Currently in England alone we are involved in Government in more than 70 Councils. In some we have overall control and at the other extreme in others we have passively let another Party take minority control on the basis of some assurances. There seem, however, to be five things which make arrangements work: 1. A clear manifesto ...
Sun, 12:56: RT @DLidington: Whatever view you take on Brexit or on No Deal this is an accurate account of how the Commission and Member States see the... Sun, 14:48: RT @kevinhorourke: I'm not sure everyone realizes how irreversible the decision will be to leave without a transition period. https://t.co/... Sun, 15:00: 90 hours left to vote in the 2019 Hugo Awards and 1944 Retro Hugo Awards! Sun, 15:23: The making and Remaking of the Good Friday Agreement, by Paul Bew https://t.co/E04Eo0X66r Sun, 16:05: RT @pmdfoster: So. Co-ordinated "we're really, serious" about 'no deal' #brexit in papers this am. Is ...
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A look at Boris Johnson's policy announcements thus far - and what that tells us about what he's pla...
Whatever you want to say about Johnson as PM, he's certainly not wasting any time. He's come out with several big policies already. One is 20,000 more police officers on the street. Another is a high speed Manchester to Leeds railway line. More money for social care and schools has been pledged. These are all excellent policies, made to seem even greater by the fact that policy-wise, everything that the Conservatives and Labour Party have come out with for the past three years have been absolute filth. They are also very difficult for the opposition to combat. Someone could ask ...
Creativity can be a cruel affliction. The number of writers, painters and other creatives who struggle with depression, battle with drink and drugs or have completely chaotic private lives is beyond count. The beautiful Norwegian blonde Marianne Ihlen, who was living on the Greek island of Hydra with her young son Axel in the 1960s, [...]
A colleague at Radix frequently dismisses the Green Party as a single-issue party. On the other hand, a friend of mine did not vote for them because he found that most of their policies had nothing to do with the environment. In the recent European elections, the Green Party beat the Tories, the French and [...] The post Why Green policies go beyond the environment appeared first on Radix.
When I read that the Brexit Party bus had come off the road and been abandoned in the middle of Powys over the weekend, my first thought was that it was a pity it did not have the aborted promise of an extra £350m a week for the NHS painted on the side. Three years on and that promise has not just been discredited and shown to be a lie, but it is becoming increasingly clear that Brexit will in fact be disastrous for our health service and for the public finances on which it depends for its funding. As ...
"Brexit is the will of the people. We need to get on with it" Whoever "the people" were they certainly didn't include me. Brexit wasn't my will, I didn't want to get on with it. There was nothing in "the will of the people" that acknowledged the people who voted remain: presumably we'd all mass-converted to the cause of Brexit. Nevertheless I maintained my stance of Remain but was frustrated by the response: "You're anti-democratic" "You lost. Accept it." "Remember it's the will of the people" I circled round and round the same arguments, finding few people who felt Brexit ...
The building of houses at the end of Maghull's Turnbridge Road has proved to be hugely controversial not least because of access difficulties to the site through narrow residential roads. The Turnbridge Road site in May of this year after construction had started This site is also odd because whilst the access to it is via Maghull all the new properties will actually be in Lydiate as the Maghull Brook which runs at the end of Turnbridge is in fact the Maghull/Lydiate boundary. Building on the site is now well advanced and this posting is not meant to be rehearsal ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : Dundee has an exceptional collection of over 500 sculptures, murals, mosaics and other forms of public art. Since 2018, the University of Dundee Museum Services have been leading a major project to research, catalogue and promote this unique resource. This exhibition showcases photographs of artworks past and present as well as unique behind-the-scenes material such as models, design sketches and installation images. In particular, the exhibition explores the pioneering history of the Blackness Public Art Programme of the early 1980s, which attracted international attention for its ground-breaking approach. ...
The latest episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is up! This one's on "I Gotta Know" by Wanda Jackson, and the borders between rockabilly, Western Swing, and the Bakersfield Sound. There's also a Patreon backer-only ... Continue reading →
