Time for a complaint to the regulator, IPSO: I would like to make a complaint about a story produced by the Telegraph in print and online. The online version is at and states, "The ComRes survey for The Telegraph found that 54 per cent of British adults think Parliament should be prorogued to prevent MPs stopping a no-deal Brexit." However, the data provided by ComRes itself is different. The data has been published at – Table 53. This data shows two important differences from what the Telegraph reported: (1) Telegraph: "54% of British adults...", ComRes data: 44% (a ...
So there I was on Melton Mowbray station this afternoon waiting for a train back to Leicester, when I saw where the next train was going. There is one passenger train a day in each direction that takes this route, presumably because it is regularly used for diversions and so drivers need experience of it. It is a line of tunnels and viaducts, so much so that it is known as 'the Alps' among railwaymen. Its chief landmark is the magnificent Welland Viaduct - the longest masonry viaduct in Britain. You can see the shadow of its arches in the ...
Responding to Boris Johnson's announcement on investing in prison security, Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said:"This is yet another hollow move by Boris Johnson to seem tough on crime, but yet again fails to tackle the causes of crime."The further funding announced is still not being used to rehabilitate people to stop them committing crimes in the first place."Boris Johnson can lock people up for longer or search people on their way in and out of prison, but none of this bravado will actually make our streets safer."Instead of just talking tough, it's time Boris Johnson looked at the ...
Back in 2017, LDV held a fringe meeting at the Bournemouth Conference where we talked about the areas that could be most harmed by Brexit – the Irish Border and Gibraltar. We heard that the manufacturing process for some products could involve crossing that border five times. You can just imagine the chaos Brexit brings to that process. Today, Jo Swinson, who has barely had a break since being elected leader 3 weeks ago, headed to the Irish Border to hear from the people who would be amongst the worst affected by any Brexit. She went one better than Boris ...
From, inevitably, the Shropshire Star: Liberal Democrats in Telford have bought 175 trees to offset the carbon footprint the party built up during this year's election. The party decided to make the purchase through the Eden Reforestation Project, which seeks to plant a minimum of 500 million trees each year and to offer hope through the employment of tens of thousands of people in countries where extreme poverty is rampant. The idea was brought forward by Telford & Wrekin Young Liberals through their chair Molly Morgan. Party chairman Councillor Greg Spruce said: "We want to help achieve carbon neutrality in ...
After the first big Brexit Postponement, the Euro elections and all that excitement, the day job in No10 became somewhat dull. There are limits to what an administration that is definitely, unavoidably, finished can do (for another blog). Life was dull, unlike the polls, and so with some extra hours on my hands I decided [...]
The 13th edition of eFocus for Pelaw and Heworth was published this evening. Issues covered include: Northumbria Police launch scheme to help those with dementia Fly-tipping in Gosforth Terrace reported Supporting local groups Treating Japanese Knotweed Gateshead Housing Company told to improve Got an issue? See Ian and Paul! Council u-turns on plans to cut special needs provision You can
Second paragraph of third chapter: One is a log cabin in a deep, wooded hollow at the end of Walker Mountain. This stoic little log house leans noticeably uphill, just as half the tobacco barns do in this rural part of southern Appalachia, where even gravity seems to have fled for better work in the city. Our cabin was built of chestnut logs in the late 1930s, when the American chestnut blight ran roughshod through every forest from Maine to Alabama, felling mammoth trees more extravagantly than the crosscut saw. Those of us who'll never get to see the spreading ...
Mon 12th
17:05
Do you have problems getting a resident parking permit in Ludlow's Red and Blue Zones? Let me know
I have recieved several complaints from town centre residents who cannot obtain on-street parking permits for the zone in which they live. Residents ring MiPermit, the Shropshire Council contractor to deliver parking charges. They are then told their property is not on the database and they are denied a permit. This hasn't happened before. Residents would simply contact the council, supply proof they lived at a property, pay a fee and the permit was in the post. But if you live in some addresses on Broad Street, Corve Street, Lower Galdeford, Market Street and other streets you are now denied ...
Today, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson has challenged Boris Johnson to visit the Irish border following her own visit there this morning. Johnson failed to go to the border on a recent visit to Northern Ireland and also failed to visit during his time as Foreign Secretary.Speaking after her visit, Jo Swinson said: "Boris Johnson never visited the Irish border as Foreign Secretary, and he hasn't visited as Prime Minister. If he had, he'd have heard first hand what a disaster his Brexit plans are for peace and prosperity."The people of Ireland and Northern Ireland know what a ...
Responding to the confirmation by the Government that a rapid rebuttal unit has been set up by the Cabinet Office to monitor reports regarding Britain's departure from the EU, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said:"The British public deserve the truth about the realities of what a no-deal Brexit will entail, but this is not what Gove's rebuttal unit will provide."It will be nothing more than a spin machine trying to mask the danger and chaos a no-deal Brexit will cause, with the cost coming out of the public purse. "Rebuttal units in the past have been nothing more than ...
Stacks of ice once blue: nature pressed by its own weight; broken free from cold Advertisements
[IMG: The Epstein Conspiracy theories will long continue] Rich man who 'facilitated' sleazy and sordid parties (or whatever euphemism), Jerry Epstein, is found dead in his solitary cell while awaiting an uber high-profile trial at which some household names were, allegedly, to be... The post The Epstein Conspiracy theories will long continue appeared first on @ambitiousmamas.
It's not only former Conservatives joining the Liberal Democrats. Former Labour people are too, at this latest example from Bolton shows. It features Cllr Debbie Newall, a Cabinet member on Bolton Council who then fell out with the Labour Party over how it did (or rather, didn't) investigate bullying accusations in the party: Cllr Debbie Newall, who represents Breighmet Ward, left the Labour Group in 2018 after the party repeatedly failed to sanction a Labour councillor for many instances of bullying and abusive behaviour towards other councillors and residents. Since then she has sat in the chamber as an independent, ...
Sun, 14:09: Excellent thread. Though personally I think Boris Johnson is already committed to no-deal Brexit and the rest is pl... https://t.co/VXapqVBFhu Sun, 14:48: Great thread as ever on why Ireland should not and will not back down on backstop, of which this is the key point. https://t.co/HYtKaw2I0Y Sun, 15:52: Under the Molehill: An Elizabethan Spy Story, by John Bossy https://t.co/uxZ0y6vV1Y Mon, 09:17: The actual state of Brexit no-deal preparations. Not sure how they will get Dublin "back to the table" though. https://t.co/ienMck3piA Mon, 10:15: I just played GeoGuessr and got 25000 points, can you beat me? https://t.co/2CloZEXIPM Mon, 10:45: ...
On Saturday Gateshead Lib Dems held another action day, this time in Bensham. The aim was to deliver selected areas in Bensham though we ended up with an inadvertent surplus which we decided to deliver in Saltwell. Some members also carried out a survey of residents. Apart from some patches off Bensham Bank, we achieved everything we set out to do. I have some of the Bensham Bank patches to do.
Mon 12th
09:43
The best satire of media and politics that you've probably never watched: A Face in the Crowd
Its satirical bite is still highly applicable, from the way media titans influence politics right down to a throwaway comment about dodgy product placement.
News reaches me that Sefton Council is likely to remove a street tree in Coppull Road due to it leaning over and obstructing the pavement. Now as a life-long tree-hugger this worries me but having looked at the tree I have to admit that something needs doing and removal looks to be the only safe way forward – with a replacement tree being provided too of course.
Responding to the reports that the Home Office has had a £500 million surplus last year from charges levied for British residency and citizenship, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said:"It is unacceptable for the Home Office to be profiteering from outrageously high application fees, which are far higher than the actual costs of administration."No one should be prevented from exercising their rights simply because they can't afford these fees - especially children who have lived here all their lives and members of the Armed Forces who have served this country for years."People who are unable to pay the ...
Responding to Boris Johnson's announcement of an extension of stop and search powers and the creation of new prison places, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said:"Boris Johnson isn't tough on crime - or tough on the causes of crime."Far too many young lives are being destroyed by an epidemic of serious violence, and Johnson doesn't have any answers. He just wants to repeat the failed policies of the past."This announcement today will not make our streets safer."He tried a big increase in suspicion-less Stop & Search when he was Mayor of London, but his own Government's analysis shows ...
Sherlock Holmes said: "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." It's a mug's game to predict what's going to happen in British politics. However, one very likely scenario is that some Remainer Tory MPs will either defect to the Lib Dems or resign from their party or vote for a no confidence motion against the government, in order to stop no-deal Brexit. As the government now has a working majority of one, it won't take many of them to bring it down. Except this won't stop a no deal Brexit ...
With the school summer holidays for pupils not ending until tomorrow, I don't have my usual surgeries at Harris Academy and Mitchell Street Centre today, but surgeries start again with my Thursday one at Blackness Primary School (staff room) on Thursday at 6.15pm. Details of my three weekly surgeries are below : Mitchell Street Centre (The Base) - Mitchell Street. Mondays - 4.20 pm prompt (except school holidays) Harris Academy (Reception) - Perth Road. Mondays - 4.50 pm prompt (except school holidays) Blackness Primary School (Staff Room on ground floor) - Pennycook Lane. Thursdays - 6.15 pm prompt (except school ...
Episode forty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino, and at how the racial tensions of the fifties meant that a smiling, diffident, cheerful man playing happy music ended ... Continue reading →
