You know Britain's problems? Chris Cook argues that they are all David Cameron's fault. Stian Westlake says the Conservatives' new concern for declining towns has not been thought through: "The problem is not the politics: it's the economics. Many of the political pundits seeking to Make Towns Great Again have got themselves into a terrible confusion both about the economic problem they're trying to solve, and about what policies will work to fix it." "Italy has closed down its psychiatric hospitals, unlocked the doors of secure units, stopped restraining patients and recently became the world's first nation to end use ...
Hot on the heels of the Conservative election win last week, guaranteeing that Brexit will happen on 31 January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made clear that after leaving the EU, the UK will cease to be subject to EU rules and regulations. The government must know full well that this determination, if followed through, [...]
Sat 21st
21:10
It's Gauda Prime Day - so here is my write-up of the fourth and final series of Blake's 7
Today is the anniversary of the last episode of Blake's 7 being first shown on TV, and we hardcore fans refer to 21 December as Gauda Prime Day after the planet on which that last episode was set. It's the end of my revisiting the show - I realised actually that I had missed quite a lot of it first time round, so it's been a lovely journey of discovery as well as rediscovery. (If you want to see my previous write-ups they are here, here, here and here) 4.1 Rescue, written by Chris Boucher, directed by Mary Ridge Well, ...
Liverpool's bucket Fountain – Photo credit English Heritage The BBC has the story on its website – see link below:- www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50851709 Quote from BBC article – 'A moving water sculpture, a Victorian chemist shop and a World War Two observation post were among hundreds of historic places protected in 2019. Here's a look at some of the most eye-catching. There were 553 new protected historic buildings and sites on the National Heritage List for England in 2019, including a vertical spinning tunnel, a lido and a Turkish bath.' I've blogged about it previously – here's a link to my most ...
Trawling through the general election results, I see that the Liberal Democrats finished second in 91 seats. Disappointed they didn't finish first in all of these? Of course. Disappointed they didn't finish first in even 10 of these? Yes, that too. But the disappointment should be set in relation to the progress the party has made since 2015 and not just compared to expectations from earlier in the summer this year. For this, I've been crunching some numbers to see how Liberal Democrats have fared over recent general elections. Following the 2015 election, there was a general expectation that it ...
I am just catching up with this article in the Guardian, in which Labour leadership candidate, Emily Thornberry states that senior advisers should pay the price for the party's disastrous election showing, rather than the junior workers who are losing their jobs. The context is a decision which has generated anger among Labour employees that two senior figures, Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy, are still in their posts, while at the same time more subordinate staff are being laid-off. The row over job losses also blew up in the shadow cabinet, as some senior figures raised concerns that they had ...
Liverpool is and always will be a major European City. No matter what damage will be caused to our city by the irrational, half-witted and ill-informed decision by Parliament to leave the EU - a process which will only start ... Continue reading →
Change will come and change will go, but the Liberal Democrats just keep going. Hopefully, usually forward! We have been successful enough this year to attract both alarm and attempted derision from our rivals. Now we are being blamed for the defeat of the anti-Johnson alliance of smaller parties. Yet our leader did make us a force to be reckoned with in the Election by leading the anti-Brexit drive with the strong unique policy of possible Revoke. However, in the over-confidence Jo showed in suggesting she could be prime minister she fired a rocket which, like the November 5 ones, ...
Capacity reached.Information overload. Resources stripped bare.
Fri, 12:56: The Strange Death of Social-Democratic�England https://t.co/uyWHafGZHt Long read on how far Labour has to travel. Fri, 13:48: RT @hayward_katy: What do people in N.Ireland need to know about the #WithdrawalAgreementBill? (for reasons obvs to folk in NI, I won't use... Fri, 15:44: RT @BBCBreaking: MPs vote by 358 to 234 to back Boris Johnson's Brexit bill to leave EU on 31 January https://t.co/OpYtWBhSAI Fri, 17:18: RT @apcoworldwide: The US presidential election in November is set to dominate the geopolitical discussion in 2020, but there are other vot... Fri, 22:15: RT @ThisDayIrish: This day 110 years ago - 20 ...
If you are recovering from a hard fought campaign which did not produce the results you were hoping for, then you do not want to read 'how we did it this time' from one of the few successful constituencies. And this is not one of those posts. Instead I want to offer encouragement and hope, reflecting on our history. In Kingston & Surbiton, we've been there before and we got through eventually, but it was a long game. We first took the Parliamentary seat in 1997 on revised boundaries, which had worked in our favour. Lib Dems (and the Alliance ...
Welcome to my list of podcasts mainly from or about the Liberal Democrats. Do let me know of any additions or corrections; thank you! Lib Dem Podcast With John Potter from Preston and Richard Kemp from Liverpool, this podcast does what it says: covers the Liberal Democrats, especially with chat about how members can get involved and how to win elections. The Limehouse Podcast Returning in late 2019 after a long break, The Limehouse Podcast's name is a nod towards a key document in the creation of the SDP. Its shows include an impressive range of interviews with people from ...
Tom Scott nicely summarises the powerful arguments against electronic voting for public elections, and given his own expertise also makes the point that the problems with electronic voting look worse the more you really know about how computers and security really work.
Earlier this year, residents in the Brook Street area and in Pleasance Court drew to my attention the problems they had ensuring the bus driver sees they are waiting at the bus stop on Brook Street's north side - opposite Brook Close - due to the lack of a bus bay and vehicles parked right across the stop. This also made it a challenge to get on the bus, as passengers had to get through a line of nose-to-tail parked vehicles to get to the bus. The City Council agreed to my request to paint a bus bay here and ...
