One of the saddest days of he year for me is today, the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we remember those transgender people who have lost their lives over the past year just for being who they are, who died as a result of anti-transgender violence. You can read all their names, and the mostly brutal circumstances of their passing here. Jo Swinson marked the day by writing an article on the Lib Dem website: Trans people can't wait until it's politically convenient for them to exist. We need to sort this out now. Trans rights are human rights. ...
Today's big story has been, of course, the manifesto. But there was another story today... Lib Dems will freeze rail fares and fix broken ticketing system The Liberal Democrats have announced bold plans to freeze rail fares for commuters and season ticket holders for the next five years, while fixing the broken fares and ticketing system. A Liberal Democrat government would cancel the 2.8% rail fare increase planned for December 2018 and freeze commuter fares and season tickets for the entirety of the next five years. These proposals would save season ticket holders across the UK thousands of pounds. Projected ...
Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of 101 Ways To Win An Election, and the maintainer of the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. Welcome to a round-up of the latest general election voting intention figures from each of the polling firms currently active in the UK. Below the table, you'll find the option to sign up to email updates about new polls and also a set of answers to frequently asked questions about political polling. Although there were some quite wide variations between the pollsters only a few weeks back, they are ...
Jo Swinson launched the Lib Dem manifesto today. Here's her speech: And you can read the whole manifesto here.
So, I've been chairing Creeting St Peter Parish Council for eighteen months now, and the village hasn't suffered a plague of frogs, or forest fires so, on the whole, I'd count that as a success. But there is a danger that you allow things to drift - carrying on the way you always have because, well, it seems to be going alright, doesn't it? On Monday night, Parish Council met, and there were two key items on the agenda, the draft budget and our communications strategy. I would be the first to admit that our budget isn't very exciting - ...
This evening Jo Swinson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, launched the party's manifesto to stop Brexit and build a brighter future.
I see a lot of people writing blog posts etc about how the second decade of the century has changed their lives, so thought I would join in. (I saw a lot of people writing in similar vein about the first decade of the century ten years ago, but did not feel like it then.) (And I am not interested in hearing that the second decade of the century is "really" 2011-2020. These things are social constructs. If lots of people say it's 2010-2019, then it's 2010-2019.) This is the first picture I have found of me from the decade, ...
The Trussell Trust have emailed me today to say that they have distributed 1,018 three day food parcels between April and September this year in Newark, a 21% increase on last year. This is shocking. What sort of society are we creating where people can't afford to even feed themselves. For too long we have bought the lie that people on benefits are somehow scroungers when the reality is laid very clear by these figures. Poverty in the UK is real and desperate, and it is a disgrace. A situation which requires a 21% increase in food parcels is a ...
There are over 640 long term empty homes in Newark. This figure has been fairly consistent since 2004 at least. It is vital that we take urgent action to bring these back into use. Adding these houses to the housing stock would go a long way towards ending homelessness in the area. We can never settle for a situation where we have even one person forced to sleep rough, and bringing empty homes back into use is a key part of solving this problem.
I decided I had better things to do last night than to watch the Jeremy and Boris comedy show on ITV. I had a beekeepers' meeting to attend and when I got home from it, I had more of Parliamentary Campaigner to write. So there was no time to watch rubbish on television. From what I hear, neither side delivered a knockout blow to the other. That in effect meant Johnson won. Whether or not the
I had a chairs' meeting at 2pm of the corporate resource scrutiny committee which was called to check out the agenda and reports for the next committee meeting on 2nd December. Fortunately it was a short meeting as I needed to get away to deliver a patch in Gateshead constituency for Peter Maughan. Job done in an hour. I'm back home now but I've got another meeting back at the Civic Centre at
Jo Swinson is today launching the Liberal Democrat manifesto for the 2019 general election. Read it in full here.
Former Conservative Minister of State for Trade, Tim Sainsbury, is backing the Liberal Democrats this time.
Obviously it's a pity I only realised we'd reached this momentous milestone when I found the card she'd left for me before she headed off for work this morning. Continue reading →
Tue, 12:56: RT @RepStones: @AlexKane221b @NewtonEmerson @dmcbfs you election nerds might like this thread https://t.co/plANCc2qxV Tue, 16:05: RT @A_B_Evans: Interesting thread on what the local govt results may tell us about potential outcomes in Northern Ireland's 18 constituenci... Tue, 16:55: RT @APCOBXLInsider: We are looking to hire a Senior Consultant to join our Tech Policy Team that has: • 4-7 years of relevant work experien... Tue, 17:11: I've Seen Some Crazy Things In Ukraine. But Nothing Like The Impeachment Saga. https://t.co/Otab8mhSyE The view from the ground. Tue, 19:03: Tuesday reading https://t.co/s95tZlcRIE Tue, 20:48: RT @LilianaSegura: Yesterday I accompanied a woman ...
Today is International Transgender Day of Remembrance, held to remember all transgender people who have been murdered for who they are. I wonder if the Labour Party in Gateshead will be welcoming this day. Their attempts to pass a transphobic motion at Gateshead Council was to say the least deeply embarrassing for them. Their shameful illiberal position is sadly a stain on Gateshead. Though
For those of you who didn't watch the leader's debate on ITV, which hopefully was most of you, it was as dire as expected. Johnson just barked campaign lines in a chaotic, sometimes random way; he had nothing new whatsoever to say for himself. Corbyn looked tired and fed up and though he was a little better than Johnson, that's saying very little. Some are giving the victory to Corbyn on the basis of him being less bad and being perceived to be less bad than Johnson. The exit poll of viewers gave the nod to Johnson 51-49, yet given ...
President Trump is apparently to be told by Boris Johnson that the NHS is "off the table" in any negotiations with the UK Government over trade, but there are other ways in which a trade deal can be exploited by the USA, which will inevitably result in a higher drugs bill for the NHS. In February 2019, the USA published its specific negotiating objectives for a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK. They include the following: "Seek provisions governing intellectual property rights that reflect a standard of protection similar to that found in U.S. law". Intellectual property rights were then ...
Wed 20th
09:15
How Preston's transport plan could benefit Southport & the Ormskirk Merseyrail Northern Line
The graphic above*, which you will need to click on to enlarge for reading, is an extract from the recently published Preston City Transport Plan. It's an important document because it discusses much needed transport, in this case rail, improvements to the south and west of Preston. If you look closely the document is promoting the re-connection of the Burscough North Curve so that trains can once again travel between Preston and Southport. This is what the curves looked like when they were in place in the 1960's:- The Burscough Curves are in West Lancashire. This historic shot of them ...
"Socialism is the only ideology fit for the working class" These were the words I was told the day after the 2017 General Election- and to an extent, they were true. For as far as the eye could see across South and West Yorkshire, the only real option voters had was to vote for Labour. 'My patch' was nothing more than a patchwork quilt of safe red seats, Trotskyist CLPs, and statist, unambitious, complacent Labour-run councils. As you may have imagined, I rejected this dogma. I saw nothing optimistic about Corbyn's left-populism and his commitment to the growth of the ...
Missed the Liberal Democrat party political broadcast (PPB) this week? Or really liked it and want to share it with others?
Wed 20th
08:04
£10 billion for schools and 20,000 more teachers is an investment in our children's future
Today, the Liberal Democrats will announce plans to spend £10 billion more a year on schools and hire 20,000 more teachers by the end of the next Parliament. This comes ahead of the Liberal Democrat manifesto launch later today. A Liberal Democrat government will reverse frontline school cuts since 2015 with an emergency cash injection of £4.6 billion next year. By 2024/25, the party will spend £10.6 billion more on schools than in 2019/20. This is more than the Conservatives have offered in every year of the Parliament. Liberal Democrats will use this money to boost teaching numbers by 20,000 ...
The Guardian reports that Nigel Farage's Brexit party is being investigated for allegedly failing to answer requests for data it holds on some voters. They say that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is looking into complaints that the party did not hand over information through the subject access request system: The subject access requests were sent to the Brexit party earlier this year and typically take a month to respond to. Anyone can ask an organisation that holds data what personal details they might have relating to them. A Brexit party spokesperson told Sky News: "During the European elections, there ...
Partnering with Dundee Bairns in 2020, Revival Church is proposing to provide school holidays provision of breakfast/lunch for disadvantaged and low income families' children. This will take place at the church premises at 4 Taylor's Lane, just off the Perth Road - see below :
