When a delusional young black pseudo-religious leader in Miami called Moses is intent on fomenting revolution against white capitalist society — with the aid of just four disciples, a horse and a battered old yellow school bus — he attracts the interest of the local chapter of the FBI, who have had little success in [...]
Jane Dodds: TV License changes detrimental to dementia sufferers Swinson: Queen's speech is a charade Fifa and UEFA must take action against racist abuse of players Jane Dodds: TV License changes detrimental to dementia sufferers Jane Dodds, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, is calling on the Government to restore BBC funding in order to protect free TV licenses. The BBC recently announced that, due to budget cuts from the UK Government, they are moving to scrap the blanket free TV licenses for over-75s and instead only offering them to people claiming Pension Credit. These licenses have been provided by the ...
This is the video I shot at the North East Lib Dem regional conference on Saturday. It includes parts of Tim Farron MP's speech, regional awards and the Presidential hustings.
I was in Lobley Hill today armed with 250 of our Gateshead Lib Dem tabloids. All delivered in under an hour and a half. The tabloid is gradually hitting the streets across the borough. There are however still tens of thousands to deliver.
The death of Stephen Moore at the weekend - and the celebration of his career that followed - revealed that he recorded two singles in the character of Marvin the Paranoid from The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. Here is the first of them.
What if the opinion polls are right? Yes, Corbyn did much better in 2017 than anyone expected, but what if Labour finds itself struggling to beat the Liberal Democrats into third place at the next election, much as Michael Foot struggled to outpoll the Liberal/SDP Alliance in 1983? You might think that would mark the end of Corbynism and a long march back to the centre ground n Labour's behalf. Don't bank on it. Here is Tony Benn's reaction to Labout's catastrophic (the Tories had a 144-seat majority) defeat in 1983: "The general election of 1983 has produced one important ...
Jo made us all look up today. Wearing a dress the colour of sunshine, she showed the country a brighter future away from the relentless grind of Brexit. Certainly, she told Boris Johnson in no uncertain terms how damaging Brexit would be for the country and exactly why the Liberal Democrats would not be supporting his Queen's Speech. But she went beyond that and painted a picture of much more pleasant future once Brexit has been stopped. "The Queen's speech is predicated on the UK leaving the EU in just over two weeks – and analysis after analysis shows that ...
Mike Dixon, currently Chief Executive of Addaction, a mental health, drug, alcohol and young persons charity, has been appointed Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats. He will start his new role next Monday, 21st October. He was previously Assistant Chief Executive at Citizens' Advice. Mike said: I'm delighted to take on this role. We've just had our best ever European election results and new members are joining all the time, taking us to record levels of membership. Millions of people want the country to stop Brexit and focus on things like the climate emergency, investing in schools and people's mental ...
Many people will be puzzled. Why is the Northern Ireland (NI) issue so difficult to resolve in the Brexit negotiations? When recently questioned about it, and the limitations NI imposes on the Brexit process, the UK Prime Minister gave a telling reply. It was along the lines that, as a sovereign country, the UK should have the right to leave the EU if it wishes to, and to do so without having to break up its component nations or create borders between them. As with much that the Prime Minister says, the statement is superficially appealing (and guaranteed red meat ...
An idyllic view of Rimrose Valley Country Park Highways England are to run 2 information sessions about their plans to build a road through this beautiful Country Park. Details of the events are on the Rimrose Valley Friends website – see link below:- Tuesday 22 October 2019 between 2pm and 8pm at the SING Plus Centre, 53 Cambridge Road, Seaforth, Liverpool, L21 1EZ; and Thursday 24 October 2019 between 2pm and 8pm at The Park Hotel, Dunnings Bridge Road, Liverpool L30 6YN
A production company are planning to film at the Road to Nowhere on the 28th October between 8 am and 5 pm, so access may be limited. They intend to film driving sequences. The majority of the shoot will include static car shots, exterior and interior. One vehicle will be involved.
A party press release brings then news of Nick Harvey's successor: The Liberal Democrats have appointed Mike Dixon as the party's Chief Executive. He joins from his current position as Chief Executive of Addaction, a mental health, drug, alcohol and young persons charity. He was previously Assistant Chief Executive at Citizens Advice and will start in the role on Monday 21 October 2019. Mike Dixon said: "I'm delighted to take on this role. We've just had our best ever European election results and new members are joining all the time, taking us to record levels of membership. Millions of people ...
The 1965 single-episode Doctor Who story Mission to the Unknown is unique in a number of ways. It is the only single-episode story of Old Who. It is the only episode of TV Doctor Who ever in which none of the then current TARDIS crew (then William Hartnell as the Doctor, Peter Purves as Steven, and Maureen O'Sullivan as Vicki) actually appears, though William Hartnell does get credited as the Doctor. Less unusually, it is one of the episodes that was wiped from the BBC archives; it was never shown abroad, so there is little chance of an copy appearing ...
I'll begin by making two things clear. The first is that Trump's sudden decision to pull US troops out of eastern Syria is self-evidently irresponsible and very foolish. The other is that Turkey's invasion will cause yet further civilian suffering and I suspect it will ultimately solve nothing. But now I've made these two admissions, I want to share some uncomfortable thoughts about the way this new conflict taking place within the borders of Syria is being perceived. While Turkey's invasion has hit the headlines, the regime bombing of Idlib and attacks on the ground receive almost no attention by ...
In 'normal times' Westminster's high ceremonial, the Queens Speech, is intended to showcase the government's agenda for the coming term. Today it's quite the reverse, with the Monarch and Black Rod employed as an eye catching distraction from the main business of the week. Rather than mighty Monday with its set piece tradition, parliament watchers are all focussed on the less predictable choreography of what's quickly become dubbed 'super' Saturday. Although, given what's at stake I'd prefer solemn Saturday. Of course the government is quite within its rights to offer up a new programme. It must appear to have a ...
One of the great things about the Liberal Democrats is that whatever you're interested in, there's a group of like-minded people you can join to talk about it and exchange ideas with. Interested in the environment and climate change – join Green Lib Dems. Interested in Europe – join the Lib Dem European Group. Business your area? Join the Lib Dem Business and Entrepreneurs Network. From the Humanist & Secularist Lib Dems and the Lib Dem Christian Forum, all the way to the Lib Dem Friends of Vegans and Vegetarians, and the low-intensity Swiftian battle between the Lib Dem Friends ...
Sun, 12:56: RT @ChrisGiles_: If we're moving towards a fudged NI backstop Brexit deal with a standard UK free trade agreement, thread on the economic e... Sun, 14:21: I have added @Mjj_Europe to my short list of must-read twitter accounts for understanding Brexit (the other three a... https://t.co/Ewy1khkxqY Sun, 14:42: Correcting misspelling: I have added @Mij_Europe to my short list of must-read twitter accounts for understanding B... https://t.co/tIvXFqzxS5 Sun, 15:05: Dordrecht part 2: a Biblical robot, more Art, history and food https://t.co/X0mSpCms9r Sun, 19:11: RT @AlbertoNardelli: NEW: EU27 ambassadors have been updated on this weekend's Brexit talks. Main points: - ...
Mon 14th
10:28
How Brexit being reduced to nothing whatsoever may soon become official government policy
In the 1969 film "Putney Swope", directed by Robert Downey Snr (yes, Robert Downey Jnr's father), the chairman of the board of an advertising company dies in the first scene. The board thus need to elect a new chairman. Putney Swope, the only black man on the board, is elected by accident – since the rules stipulate that you can't vote for yourself and all of the other members of the board loathe each other, they unanimously vote for Swope since they reason that no one else will. A strange version of this has happened at most large scale UK ...
I sent our local newspaper a letter giving ten points for Remain; they published it on 1st October with the heading "Ten reasons for us to have a new vote". That is because I prefaced it by saying "Let me express my joy should there be a public vote to remain." My reasons were affected by my responding to Brexiteers' previous letters expressing joy at leaving. I am showing this here because I think we need to be saying much more of this. So many people are unfortunately no longer interested in what goes on in Parliament but their reaction ...
Over at The Times, there is an interesting comment piece from Clare Foges, who believes that, although the Tories are perceived as having a 'women problem', it is in fact Labour who have most to answer for on this issue. Foges points to Labour attempts to paint the Conservatives as anti-women, pinstriped chauvinists, the party of misogynists and Alan Clark throwbacks who care nothing for the rights and troubles of women. She refers to Labour making mountains of hay out of Johnson using the phrase "girly swot", Diane Abbott finger-jabbing at last week's prime minister's questions that the government was ...
I have seen the future, as they say – and so, I believe, did everyone else visiting Westminster over the past week. It was more than refreshing walking through St James' Park in silence, without the smell, sound and sight of traffic. It wasn't just the fault of Extinction Rebellion, it was also the police cordons which made this vision possible. And I am a convert as a result: any group which can attract every generation, find themselves arrested more than a thousand times, and still attract demonstrators against them from the left – who don't like their determinedly non-violent ...
Labour's renationalisition plans set to cost billions Responding to the analysis by the CBI that the cost of Labour's renationalisation plans is estimated to be £196 billion, Liberal Democrat MP Chuka Umunna said: The Tories are pursuing an ideological hard Brexit, depriving the Exchequer of much needed revenue, whilst Labour plans to do the same with a Labour Brexit in addition to spending billions of pounds with no idea how they will pay for it. The only sensible alternative to these two broken parties is to stop Brexit and use the resulting Remain bonus to invest in people and public ...
As reported recently in the Courier, over the summer, I again raised numerous residents' complaints about the smell problem caused by the composting operation at the Riverside Civic Amenity site adjacent to Riverside Nature Park. The problem appears to be particularly noticeable during shredding as part of the composting operation and the wind changes direction. Staff attempt to ensure the operation happens only when the wind is to the south, away from the residential housing along the western part of Perth Road and in adjacent streets like Riverside Place, Millbay Terrace and Gardens, Clovis Duveau Drive, Millhall Crescent, River Crescent ...
Responding to the analysis by the CBI that the cost of Labour's re-nationalisation plans is estimated to be £196 billion, Liberal Democrat MP Chuka Umunna said: "The Tories are pursuing an ideological hard Brexit, depriving the Exchequer of much needed revenue, whilst Labour plans to do the same with a Labour Brexit in addition to spending billions of pounds with no idea how they will pay for it. "The only sensible alternative to these two broken parties is to stop Brexit and use the resulting Remain bonus to invest in people and public services - the Liberal Democrat choice."
