Labour must come clean about their Brexit plan – Lib Dems Responding to reports that Labour will only decide which way to vote in a People's Vote after a general election, Liberal Democrat shadow Brexit Secretary Tom Brake said: It is totally unfair of Labour not to be clear about their plan in government. Through choosing whether to support leave or remain after the election, millions of remain Labour supporters could help elect a leave government. Instead remain supporters must back the Liberal Democrats in a general election. Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit. ...
The Shropshire Star reports: Following in the footsteps of other councils across Shropshire including Shrewsbury, Clun and Ludlow, the Bishop's Castle Town Council declared a climate emergency at a meeting this week after a public led campaign.Going by my experience of Bishop's Castle, the important thing is that they got there before Church Stretton. A reader adds dismissively: You're just blogging this so you can post another photograph of Bishop's Castle.
West Side Story won the Oscar for Best Motion Picture of 1960, and picked up another nine: Best Director (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins), Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris as Bernardo), Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno as Anita), Best Art Direction, Best Set Decoration (Color), Best Cinematography (Color), Best Costume Design (Color), Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Sound; it lost out only in Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, to Judgement at Nuremberg. Jerome Robbins also won a special Academy Award, so you could count the total as eleven, level with Ben-Hur, Titanic and The ...
Quite what to make of Dominic Cummings has moved from an esoteric topic for political geeks to an issue of mainstream concern given his huge power in Boris Johnson's administration. So to mark our first live show for Never Mind The Bar Charts, Stephen Tall and I will be discussing this very subject with Polly Mackenzie, now heading up Demos and former Liberal Democrat special advisor – and so also former work colleague of one D Cummings. We'll be recording the show as past of Podcast Live: Politics, in London on Saturday, October 5th. You can buy your tickets just ...
I was a founding member of the Liberal Democrats and have worked for it as a volunteer ever since. Over 30 years, I have done everything from deliver leaflets to chairing the Women Liberal Democrats and serving on the Federal Policy Committee, the Federal Executive, the International Relations Committee and the ALDE Council delegation. I've been a Borough Councillor and stood in General and European elections. I am currently Chair of the East of England Region. I think you could say I'm a Liberal Democrat to my bones. I am also a barrister, practising from the same chambers I shared ...
Umunna: Thornberry must withdraw Taliban remarks Responding to the comments made by Emily Thornberry comparing the Liberal Democrats to the Taliban, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Chuka Umunna said: Emily Thornberry should withdraw her inappropriate remarks. Language counts – comparing the Liberal Democrats to a murderous organisation is no laughing matter. It is also grossly insulting to the 6 million people who signed the revoke Article 50 petition launched earlier this year, including many of the Shadow Cabinet's constituents. The Liberal Democrats are clear that every vote for us is a vote to stop Brexit.
If you're a newer member of the Liberal Democrats, you may well not know the history of some of the campaigns against the party which Tom Watson has run or been closely involved with. They included some of the most aggressive, illiberal and personalised smears I've seen in politics until the last few years. He and the Liberal Democrats have frequently been very much at odds, including over Parliamentary reform. He may have changed, he may have mellowed, and he may have become more liberal. Certainly, there have been some good causes he's worked cross-party on and I even did ...
Jo Swinson has talked to Alastair Campbell for GQ magazine. They met twice. Once on 27th August and then after the Parliamentary drama on 3-4 September. You can watch the whole thing on You Tube: The written transcript is here. but you need to watch the video to get the whole thing. It's well worth 47 minutes of your time to see a thoughtful conversation which ranges from Brexit to Scottish independence and why people are turning to the Liberal Democrats: Tens of thousands joined the Lib Dems since the start of May because people want someone that speaks to ...
Sat 21st
11:55
ALDE Party Congress, Athens 2019 - "Resolution on Transnational lists and the lead candidate process...
One of the things about the ALDE Party's Individual Members group is that it has a keen interest in what, to national parties, is rather esoteric. There is no "nation agenda" and thus they don't have an interest to protect, so to speak. The idea of transnational lists is not a new one, indeed, Andrew Duff has been championing the idea for some years now, seeing it as he does as a way of creating a "European demos". Resolution on Transnational lists and the lead candidate process The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party convening in Athens, ...
This is not one for members of our youth organisation, because you can' t take part if you are politically active, but it might be one to flag up with any young people who are interested in how the EU works. Renew Europe has the pleasure to announce that the tenth edition of the Young Volunteers Programme will take place from Monday 11 November to Friday 15 November. The aim of the programme is to offer an opportunity to those youngsters who do not have the connections or the means to be acquainted with the EU institutions and who have ...
Fri, 12:56: Climate, Power of Youth Leadership and New Corporate Activism: What to Look for at UNGA 2019... https://t.co/dnIxeShEM7 Fri, 16:01: Best tweet of an excellent thread. https://t.co/sGUcgKtX8w Fri, 16:05: For the first time in over 360 years, compasses at Greenwich are set to point true north. https://t.co/wRsm2xYFhy Wandering polarity. Fri, 17:11: RT @hammard_1987: Early women science fiction writers were awesome, example 221: https://t.co/XOOWK2Vu0b Fri, 17:45: RT @QuentinAries: BREAKING - The memo just sent to EU diplomats. Still no progress then. #Brexit https://t.co/SpgoLJZmOa Fri, 18:25: Doctor Who: 365 Days of Memorable Moments and Impossible Things, by Justin Richards https://t.co/cnSkRzGn5i Fri, ...
NOTE: Limited seating availability. Please RSVP now to book your place. Since the 2008 financial crash, monetary policy has played an outsized role in political economies around the world. Some credit decisive loosening of monetary policy for saving economies from the worst effects of the financial crash. Others complain that monetary policy has merely embedded economies' dependence on unsustainable debt levels while enabling poor fiscal policy and the lack of necessary structural reform. Yet others bemoan the distributional effects of Quantitative Easing (QE) as implemented, and the lack of political accountability by Central Banks as unelected, technocratic bodies that value ...
Liberal Democrat Newswire #128 came out last week, with a look at Lib Dem prospects in the next general election and some news about myself...
After reporting yesterday on the attempted abolition of Labour's student movement on the eve of a General Election and the week before freshers' fair, I am astonished that this appears to be just the start of Labour in-fighting, with a move by Momentum today to abolish Tom Watson's Deputy Leader post, effectively sparking a civil war within the party. As the Guardian reports, Jon Lansman, founder of the pro-Corbyn campaign group Momentum, tabled a last-minute motion at the party's ruling national executive committee (NEC) on Friday night calling for Watson's job to be scrapped. The chair of the NEC ruled ...
Sat 21st
08:41
There seems to me to be a lot of fantasy talk about Boris Johnson getting a "new deal" from the EU. ...
In the history of the Brexit debacle, one period really stands out for me. It was December 2017. I remember being confused about the relaxed mode the political media were in given it seemed to me like the Conservative party must be about to explode. Theresa May was on the verge of agreeing the parameters of a deal with the EU, including the backstop, that seemed certain to irritate either/both the DUP and the ERG. Yet every political journalist I spoke to seemed confused about my confusion. "It'll all be fine," they told me. And sure enough, it was. The ...
I have an unexplained fondness for Radicali Italiani, who tend to write very intellectual resolutions which read like academic texts. This is one of their more accessible efforts... A framework directive on soil protection The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party convening in Athens, Greece, on 24-26 October 2019: Is convinced that:soil is one of the irreplaceable resources for the life of ecosystems and of man and that it is a substantially non-renewable resource;soil conservation, which is one of the main reservoirs of organic carbon, is one of the tools to reduce the effects of climate change.Notes ...
Sat 21st
08:00
"Taliban" is a racist epithet: Thornberry's words were potentially harmful not just hyperbolic
On September 19th, the Shadow Foreign Secretary claimed, "The Lib Dems have gotten kind of like the Taliban, haven't they?". She was referring to a motion Autumn conference passed - and which Jo Swinson emphasised in her speech - stating that the Liberal Democrats would revoke article 50 if they won a majority at the next general election. As I tweeted at the time, the only people to refer to me (a person of colour) as "Taliban" are racists and now, Emily Thornberry. It is likely that Thornberry's comments will get lost in the everyday to-ing and fro-ing of political ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2019 West Marketgait (at Hawkhill) - northbound nearside off-peak (9.30am - 3.30pm) lane closure from Monday 23 September for 5 days for Virgin Media work. Forthcoming Roadworks Riverside Drive (Tesco roundabout to Bridgeview Café) - closed overnight (10.00pm - 6.00am) on Wednesday 2 October for bridge inspection works. SSEN Pitfour Area Cable Renewal - Phase 1: Pitfour Street (City Road to Roseberry Street) closed eastbound; Phase 2: City Road (Pentland Avenue to Scott Street) closed southbound. Phase 1 starts Monday 7 October ...
