What are you streaming tonight? The 1740s Rule Britannia with its jingoistic slavery era language? "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves. Britons never will be slaves." Or the slightly later Ode to Joy, an anthem that celebrates collaboration over conflict: "This kiss to all the world!"? Ode to Joy is the theme of a united Europe that has put wars within our continent behind it and is a force for good in the world. It's also currently No 1 on the UK download charts. Perhaps instead you are singing Auld Lang Syne, which reverberated around the European Parliament two days ago ...
It's an emotional moment for those of us who campaigned to remain in the European Union, the last moments during which we are part of something more than the sum of its constituent parts, a pooling of some national sovereignty in return for freedoms to live, love and work across twenty-eight nations. It is not a time to celebrate. It isn't a time to mourn either. If the United Kingdom is to go its own way, we need to be there, campaigning for a more liberal society, because if we don't, nobody else is going to do it for us. ...
Jane Dodds: Conservatives are backtracking on their commitment to end austerity The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling on the UK Government to apologise for backtracking on a key election commitment to end austerity just two months after the General Election. Prior to the election, the Conservatives had proclaimed on a number of occasions that "Austerity is over". Their 2019 manifesto, upon which this Government was elected, promised the same as well as pledged numerous increases in public spending. However, over the past two days, there have been numerous reports that the Government is, in fact, preparing to cut spending by ...
[IMG: Turning the clock back] Remember to get your old alarm clock out and set it back to 'Empire' time tonight as the countdown to Brexit gets underway. The post Turning the clock back appeared first on Ambitiousmamas.
In a few hours Britain will leave the European Union after 47 years of membership. This is a seismic moment in modern British political history, which will have an impact for years and decades to come. This brings to an end the first phase of the Brexit process with a transition period about to begin and the likelihood of a long trade negotiation with the EU ahead. While millions of Brexiters today may be happy, millions of other Britons are losing their EU citizenship, not to mention the impact on the 3 million citizens of other EU countries which currently ...
Today will go down in history. Not as a day of progress, joy, or unity, but as a day of ignominy. It is the culmination of state failure on a massive scale, exposing the gaping holes and inadequacies in Britain's shoddy political system and constitution, our dishonourable media, and our flawed political class. Put together, the combined errors of decades have culminated in three full years of tragedy and farce. They have also seen the birth of the EU's largest pro-European movement, with great passion, courage, and vigour – but it all came too late. The world looks on, scratching ...
Non-fiction: 6 Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain, by Charlotte Higgins Roots and Wings: Ten Lessons of Motherhood that Helped Me Create and Run a Company, by Margery Kraus Backstop Land, by Glenn Patterson About Writing, by Gareth L. Powell The Lost Worlds of 2001, by Arthur C. Clarke (in fact this is mostly SF but the non-fiction framing is key) In Praise of Disobedience: The Soul of Man Under Socialism and Other Writings, by Oscar Wilde (mostly non-fiction but includes several fantasy stories) Fiction (non-sf): 3 In the Heat of the Night, by Jon Ball Unsheltered, by Barbara ...
Here's the email that's gone out from me to party members today. If you've not received this email, or you know other members who haven't, I hope this troubleshooting guide will help. Given the number of important emails coming up in the next few months, such as over voting for party leader, it is well worth putting in a bit of time to help crack problems for anyone not receiving such emails. For the last four years, the Liberal Democrats have proudly fought to stop Brexit. I am immensely proud of everything we did. We stood up for our values. ...
So, today is happening. I thought before the referendum in 2016 that people as a whole were best off with Britain having full membership of the European Union. I thought that after 2016, through two General elections, seven Lib Dem party conferences, one European election, and hours of activism that I will never attempt to [...]
2020 sees us in a new electoral cycle with a more stable Government than we've seen for many years. With it comes a new set of challenges for the Lib Dems leading up to the next General Election in or before May 2024. As part of these preparations, the English Candidates' Committee (ECC) will very shortly be launching it's Post-Election Candidate Review. The purpose of the Review, which is conducted after every General Election, is to understand how candidates performed in the face of the various challenges of the campaign trail. This process will cover England only, with separate arrangements ...
Today is a horrible day and I feel overwhelmingly sad about the opportunities we are losing. We won't notice an immediate difference because of the transition period but there is no longer anything we can do if we don't like the changes that happen at the end of this year. We will no longer have the EU to protect our workers' rights from the worst excesses of our government. We won't have as easy access to the single market, so our prices will go up. The next generation's chances to live, work and study in the EU will be severely ...
The blame for today's polarised world is most often laid at the door of President Trump. He is credited with climbing to power on the back of colourfully-worded hate politics and of providing the inspiration for Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummins, Hungary's Viktor Orban and Germany's Alternative for Deutschland. But who inspired Trump? The answer is the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. Gingrich was—still is—a staunchly conservative Republican from the deep south state of Georgia who entered the political arena in the 1970s when southern Democrats were shifting to the liberal left in a vain effort ...
It would be fair to say that Suffolk has not been a bright spot for Liberal Democracy for some years, and West Suffolk has been weak even in that context, with no representation on the District Council or its predecessors since 2015. However, with a recent membership surge, the resignation of the newly elected MP for Aberconwy from both the District and County Councils offered an opportunity to get local members engaged. Our candidate, Jonny Edge, is a local school governor, and with support from some experienced old hands – many thanks to Tim Huggan and Ian Horner – a ...
Thu, 12:56: Belfast's Egyptian mummy 'may have died in violent knife attack' https://t.co/LlolKEOeb1 Wow. Thu, 14:23: RT @christinebelled: @nwbrux Very Heaney bog poetry. Thu, 16:05: RT @davidallengreen: Many good answers to this https://t.co/x0H6uzsO8t Thu, 17:11: The end of the affair: what next for Britain after Brexit? https://t.co/r9AgJo9qVW Long and thoughtful from @JeremyCliffe. Thu, 18:00: RT @YouGov: A new YouGov survey on Scottish independence has Yes in the lead for the first time since 2015, by 51% to 49%. @chriscurtis94 t... Thu, 18:06: "Home is the Hangman", by Roger Zelazny https://t.co/yeqYNbVVDs Thu, 20:11: RT @JenniferMerode: The Grand Place in Brussels https://t.co/e6ydhxEtH6 ...
Laura Gordon shows her fighting spirit with this tweet and begs the question – have you delivered your "thank you" Focus yet? Have I a) fallen off the wagon or b) got back on the horse? pic.twitter.com/ryeQhZBmiq — Laura Gordon (@LibDemLaura) January 30, 2020 PS. As of this morning, 85.8% say Laura has got back on the horse! * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
A good question from Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain in Parliament and a very welcome answer from the government, clearing up an issue that had been left hanging: Q: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether EU citizens (a) with pre-settled or settled status and (b) without it will be eligible to (i) stand as candidates in and (ii) vote in local government elections in England and Wales in 2020, including the London Assembly election. A: The UK Government has been clear that the issue of local voting rights of EU citizens living in the UK needs to ...
Two years ago, I wrote an article for The New European about how I thought that perhaps the country needed a hard Brexit in order to move on from the Brexit wars. That enough people were never going to turn against Brexit unless they experienced the downsides of it first-hand. Between then and the present day, I went through a phase of chucking this aside and hoping that Brexit could actually be stopped. This feels naive now for many reasons, not least of which was the fact that stopping Brexit would have been difficult even if we'd had a leader ...
It is one thousand, three hundred and seventeen days since the Brexit referendum. And I am still angry. There is no economic bonus to weakening links with your strongest trading partners. There is no benefit to sowing dismay and fear about their right to live in their own homes among EU citizens who have been in Britain for years. There is no upside to opting out of the largest conflict resolution project in history, which has reconciled France and Germany after centuries of war, and then provided a foundation for the reintegration of Central and Eastern Europe. It is a ...
Here are some EU last day thoughts from the Twittersphere: We tried to stop it. pic.twitter.com/eDFiyivq7R — Liz Jarvis (@LizJarvisUK) January 31, 2020 * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
jimhancock.co.uk/no-coins-or-bongs-for-me/ I've long had a soft spot for Jim Hancock's well thought out views on many subjects. Above you will find a link to his blog posting about our troubled relationship with Europe as we walk away from it for the foreseeable future. Yes I'm angry at the utter stupidity of what we have done to ourselves and future generations but I lost, Little England won. I'll leave it there with no further comment......
It was bad enough being lied to about the extra £350m a week for the NHS, a claim which still persists in some quarters despite its deconstruction within days of it first appearing on the side of a bus. However, it now transpires that the many promises of greater investment in public services made by the Tories in last month's General Election may also have been a tad over-egged. As the Financial Times reports, Boris Johnson has ordered all cabinet ministers to identify cuts of at least 5 per cent to their Whitehall department budgets, telling them to consider axing ...
In my initial write up of the brewery plans, I mocked up an image of the proposed balcony and veranda. Now, the brewery has provided a better image. Shropshire's Council conservation team has also said that it has no objections (19/05500/FUL). Shropshire Council Conservation comments The building is not listed nor in a conservation area but would be considered to be a non designated heritage asset worthy of consideration in planning decisions due to its age, traditional construction and historical association with the railway. The proposal involves the removal of an existing verandah type structure and replacement with a large ...
31st January, 2020 Day of shame, day of sorrow, day of humiliation. The day we detach ourselves from a serious attempt at civilised progress. A day our government of deceivers "celebrates" with the issue of a tin-pot 50p coin which, in my youth was worth 10 shllings (serious money) and is now the equivalent of a threepenny-bit.** Says it all. First, let's be clear about with what we're dealing. This is a coup d'état. We normally think of these being violent, or involving the military, but this is a coup nevertheless. A small group, but backed by enormous wealth and ...
Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Daisy Cooper has called on the Government to scrap "pointless" short sentences and end prison overcrowding, as new figures reveal record high levels of self-harm in prisons. The latest Safety in custody statistics, published yesterday by the Ministry of Justice, show that there were 61,461 self-harm incidents in prisons in England Wales in the year ending September 2019. That is the highest rate on record and a 16% increase since the previous 12-month period. The self-harm rate in women's prisons is almost 5 times higher than the rate in men's prisons. There were 3,007 incidents per ...
Two council by-elections this week, both in Suffolk and both caused by the same person – Conservative Robin Millar who became an MP in December (Aberconwy, not Suffolk) and has therefore stood down from his two council seats. Newmarket and Red Lodge, Suffolk Jonny Edge stood for the Liberal Democrats. He overtook Labour and moved up into second place: Conservative HOLD Newmarket & Red Lodge (Suffolk) with 50% (=) of votes. LDM were 2nd on 18% (+9), WSI 3rd on 14% (+3), LAB 4th on 11% (-5) & GRN 5th on 7% (+7). No UKIP (-14) as previous. pic.twitter.com/4rYTu3iTvQ — ...
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