The council by-election pace picked up this week with seven contests - three for Labour seats, three for Conservatives seats and one for an independent seat.
The blurb on Getty Images says: Two boys outside the London School of Economics during a student riot, 6 October 1968.
At Welland Park College, Market Harborough, in 1973 and 1974, those of us who received free school meals had our names ticked off in a register before we chose our lunch. I have never been able to convince myself that this served any purpose beyond public humiliation. What really makes me sad, though, is that this sort of thing is still going on today. Going hungry? - a 2012 report from the Child Poverty Action Group - found that, in most secondary schools and some primaries, children receiving free school meals did not receive a meal but an allowance to ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:I pulled the window open and checked that the half-litre I had left out on the sill was still there. I could have kept it in the freezer of my fridge but there's something pleasing about the thought of vodka chilled by the elements rather than electricity. Not that I drink any more, not since Chinara died. I fished out a tumbler from the chaos of the sink, rinsed it, poured a good-sized shot. I stared at the glass for a long time, remembering the days when I drank, the reason why I stopped. A sort ...
A press release from the Liberal Democrats brings the news: Responding to reports that the Conservative government will not seek to participate in the European arrest warrant as part of the future relationship with the EU, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said: The first priority of any government should be to keep people safe. Instead, the Conservatives are robbing our police of a vital crime-fighting tool, and making it easier for thousands of dangerous criminals to evade justice. Boris Johnson's reckless decision to cut the UK off from the European Arrest Warrant will make our country less ...
Today I learned about the 'anti-Greta', a 19 year old climate change denier that is being promoted by right-wing think tanks in an attempt to diffuse, equivocate and derail the traction that Greta Thunberg and her message has gained in the global press. This is a proven tactic and there is a right-wing network that is engaged in this strategy all the time. There isn't anyone doing it on behalf of liberalism and that's a major reason behind why we're losing. The recent Australia bushfire crisis is a case in point. There have been several reports that show mainstream actors ...
At its meeting on 25 Feb Yate Town Council adopted a "declaration of climate and ecological crisis and commitment to action" - and agreed its action plan. The action plan covers every aspect of council work to deliver net zero carbon by 2030 - but with an emphasis on doing as much as possible as soon as possible. As a very simple first step the Council is abolishing paper at meetings. Just by doing that a whole box of paper was saved by not printing papers for Tuesday's meeting - so as a symbol of the commitment councillors gathered round ...
Earlier this month we published a post by Sal Fulcher about her play "A Westminster Story". I was intrigued by this so booked a ticket and went to see it yesterday evening. The venue was new to me. The Waterloo East Theatre is a delightful 100-seat studio theatre located under one of the arches beneath Waterloo East station. Occasional low rumbles from the trains overhead only added to the atmosphere – especially for this play set in contemporary London – and didn't overwhelm the actors' voices at all. Sal is a scriptwriter and psychotherapist who has written for Hollyoaks and ...
Friends of the Earth has the article on its website – see link below Rimrose Valley Country Park. The FotE court victory is very welcome news indeed but it immediately got me thinking about the potential knock-on effects of the ruling for other transport projects in the pipeline which need to be rethought because of the Climate Emergency that has been declared. Unsurprisingly my thoughts have turned to the Highways England plan to build a road right down the Rimrose Valley Country Park to create better freight access to the Port of Liverpool and I'm sure I'm not the ...
For tribal politicians the primacy of one's party is an article of faith but the 2019 election must give many loyal Lib Dem a dose of political agnosticism, if not atheism. Even the most committed party member should be asking themselves what the party is for or if it still serves any purpose at all. At the least it must be a mouthpiece for liberal ideals of openness, inclusivity and justice. But it must be more than just a cry in the wilderness. Politics need to deliver change, either directly in government or indirectly by influencing others. At the moment ...
Wed, 12:56: A Vaccine Won't Stop the New Coronavirus https://t.co/1rUQr9eZPN Most of us will probably get it. But most of us will probably be OK. Wed, 16:01: 400 hours left to nominate for the 2020 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards, and the 1945 Retro Hugos! Time to ge... https://t.co/TwGrHy3jNo Wed, 16:05: How not to say the wrong thing https://t.co/jTffZkPPtD Wise words. Wed, 17:11: What did it mean to be an Irish teenage girl in the early 1990s? https://t.co/4QHwfUS3dB Lovely piece. Wed, 18:17: Wednesday reading https://t.co/d129u4hEW8 Wed, 20:32: RT @SimonFRCox: "what he calls unkind is being told he's wrong" Lawrence Fox, ...
Our latest meeting covered a range of policy issue discussions and future planning items. One of our main discussion items was on potential topics for future policy motions and spokespersons' papers beyond the scheduled policy papers being developed through our working groups. The Federal Policy Committee is keen to support and encourage other parts of the party to develop policy motions to enable a range of current issues to be taken to conference. Recently we've worked in collaboration with spokespeople to take forward motions on tourism, rehabilitation of offenders, and rail. We considered a range of policy topics including modern ...
Earlier this week former Liberal Party leader David Steel announced he has left the Liberal Democrats and will be leaving the House of Lords: David Steel has quit the party and the Lords after an inquiry said he "turned a blind eye" to claims of child abuse. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse [IICSA] criticised political groups for not acting on complaints. It accused Lord Steel of an "abdication of responsibility" over accusations against the late MP Cyril Smith. Lord Steel said he was quitting because he wanted to avoid "distress" for his family and "turmoil" for his party. ...
Thu 27th
09:57
How the government is starting to remind me of the Yes to AV campaign - and that certainly isn't goo...
Long time readers of this website will have known me to compare things in politics with the Yes to AV campaign a fair few times in the past. All I can say is that the Yes to AV campaign was such a perfect distillation of how not to do politics, that rare example of the perfectly terrible political campaign, it echoes through the ages. Whenever something reminds me of it, I know it will almost certainly end in tears. In the immediate aftermath of the 2010 general election, electoral reformers spotted an opportunity. It looked like the Lib Dems, longtime ...
The UK Government's commitment to building a third runway at Heathrow will come under intense scrutiny this week when the Court of Appeal rules on Thursday on whether the approval of expansion was unlawful because ministers failed to properly consider the impact on the climate and the environment. But as the Independent reports there are other strong reasons why this development should not go ahead. They report on a study by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), which concludes the third runway, approved by MPs in 2018, would see the UK pumping out an extra 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. ...
A resident recently contacted me about the bus stop in Blackness Road near the Ashbank Road junction, indicating : "As an elderly resident of Ashbank Road I suffered heavy rain and very cold wind for nearly ten minutes waiting for a no. 22 bus. As there are bus shelters at the next couple of stops is it not possible for one to erected at Ashbank Road?" This is a good point and I have asked Dundee City Council if it can consider a bus shelter at this location.
