Ed Davey has sent this email to party members: Munira Wilson MP and I have just returned from a meeting at COBRA with senior officials in charge of managing the Coronavirus response. As a party that believes in listening to experts and scientists, we continue to support the approach of the Chief Medical Officer and his team, whilst doing our job of asking reasonable questions. Like many of you, we wanted to understand why the Government isn't following our European neighbours – including Spain, Denmark and France – by implementing more stringent social distancing measures. The Government must be more ...
News of the delay in this May's local elections by a year is a sign of just how serious the coronavirus outbreak is. It also means that for many candidates, agents and campaign teams who were gearing up for May, there's now an unsettling vacuum in their political lives. What was going to be a peak of effort, with big impacts on the lives of people who are or aren't elected, is now suddenly put off. There's also the weird situation that some councillors – along with their families – find themselves in. Those who were expecting to retire in ...
Fri 13th
17:59
We are underestimating the threat of antimicrobial resistance; where is the "Clean New Deal"?
It can be very soundly argued that if someone was to objectively look at the biggest issues facing humanity today then antimicrobial resistance (AMR) would be easily considered one of the greatest. According to the World Bank, AMR is likely to cause a 1.1-3.8% fall in Global GDP by 2050, with the damage to get continuously worse in the following years. For scale, this is an economic effect potentially larger than that of the 2008 financial crisis, and also larger than some estimates of the damage that global climate change would inflict over the same time period. Let us not ...
The BBC reports: Local and mayoral elections in England will be postponed for a year to May 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Downing Street said it would be impractical to hold the elections as planned, as they would come during the peak of the spread of the virus. Polls were due in 118 English councils, the London Assembly and for seven English regional mayors. Voting was also due to take place for the London mayor and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales. Responding to news, Ed Davey said: It is the right decision to delay local elections ...
Quarantine strikes close to home for us. The foundation where our two girls live told us today that we cannot visit them until 3 April (and I am sure that won't be the end of it). Of course, it's for the protection of the vulnerable people who also live there, and of course B won't really notice (U will wonder why she isn't going either to school or coming to see us, but she can't really express that). I know intellectually that it's for the general good, and many people have worse consequences than we do. But it hurts. This ...
The Government has just announced that local and mayoral elections will be postponed from this May until the following year. See the BBC report here. * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames where she is still very active with the local party.
Up until the Second World War the United States was an isolationist country. It stayed out of the European-led imperial carve-up to concentrate on developing its own contiguous empire. The country briefly emerged from its shell in World War, and then promptly pulled up the drawbridge, lowered the portcullis and retreated back into a continental shell protected by two ocean moats. After World War Two, US involvement in world affairs was essential for holding off the Soviet Union and world stability. Then came Donald Trump. It was not clear at first whether the New York property mogul and his "America ...
ALDC (Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners) has updated its advice for canvassers and campaigners in the light of the Government's announcement yesterday. CAMPAIGNING ADVICE A lot of members have asked us for advice about campaigning in the light of the COVID-19 virus. This is our current advice. This may change if Government, NHS and professional guidance changes at which point we will issue new guidance. DO - KEEP CAMPAIGNING Our current advice is that we should keep campaigning the normal ways that Liberal Democrats campaign, including delivering leaflets and knocking on doors. DO - TAKE SENSIBLE PRECAUTIONS When campaigning you ...
Well, Day 2 is bringing a mixed bag of emotions and news. The Prime Minister's announcement brought no real information and, for me, has sewn more seeds of confusion. On the one hand we as a Nation are being told that we are moving to Phase 2 of the Government plan which is "Delay" Basically "Keep calm and carry on." In the same breath the Prime Minister is saying that "many more will lose loved ones before their time" So is this really that serious? The Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that this is a ...
The Mould effect: 0% to do with politics, polling or the media, but 100% fascinating and fun.
Well there's a headline I had never thought I would write but as I have looked at the recent press and public relations work undertaken by both of them I not only think this but feel that we should all ... Continue reading →
No-one was more disappointed than we were that our Spring Conference was cancelled - although that it was undoubtedly the right thing to do. The reasons in full are here [https://www.libdems.org.uk/spring-conference] The Conference Office has today sent a message out to everyone who registered setting out their options for their registration fee. The choices are: 1. Donate your fee to the Conference Fund for the Liberal Democrats. Please note that the event insurance that we had does not cover any of our costs for conference - contagious diseases are now a standard exemption from all event policies, 2. Obtain a ...
Thanks to the speedy hard work of the Lib Dem conference team, the party has been able to announce today that the spring 2021 federal conference will be held in York. This decision and announcement has been speeded through because for people with accommodation booked for this weekend's cancelled conference, it may be possible to transfer bookings to new dates even if a refund is not available. Here are the details, along with other information on reclaiming conference fees: As you will know, the Federal Board took a decision to cancel Spring Conference earlier this week. You can find its ...
Fri 13th
13:13
Why the way the Democratic primaries are unfolding should worry British Tories, never mind Trump
Only a few weeks ago, the Democratic primaries were looking to unfold in such a chaotic way that Donald Trump's re-election began to look inevitable. The way that Sanders was fighting with not only every other candidate but with the Democratic Party itself seemed designed to help Trump remain in the White House. And yet here we are, mid-March, and Biden has emerged as not only the frontrunner to get the Democratic nomination but the favourite to win the presidential election. Things have swung massively in such a brief period of time. Part of this is down to Coronavirus and ...
Well it certainly should be so labelled. I have been studying economics for over 60 years now, and have throughout that time felt that budgets are grossly overhyped. There was a time when some MPs wore top hats on Budget Day, (Rees Mogg prototypes?) and the newspapers, Guardian included, play up to the hysteria with speculation about what might be announced and then follow up with embarrassing tables on how the incomes of households of different sizes and ages will be affected. Full disclosure: according to one of this year's tables my income will increase by £4.05 a week, which, ...
An email has just been sent to everyone who had booked for Spring Conference. As you will know, the Federal Board took a decision to cancel Spring Conference earlier this week. You can find its statement setting out the reasons here: https://www.libdems.org.uk/spring-conference We appreciate that you were looking forward to conference, as were we. Under the circumstances, we would like to offer you the following options with regards to your conference registration fee: 1. Donate your fee to the Conference Fund for the Liberal Democrats. Please note that our event insurance will not cover any of our costs for conference ...
Sadly, I have just had to agree to the postponement of the events to mark the 75th anniversary of VE day, due to take place on 8th and 9th May, at Sunniside Methodist Hall. The events were to be run jointly by Sunniside History Society (of which I am chairman) and Sunniside Methodist Chapel (who have also cancelled the craft fair due to be held on 28th March). Hopefully we can rearrange the
Huge congratulations to Ollie Patrick who held on to Parrett in South Somerset with 52% of the vote and to Manuela Perteghella who gained Welford-on-Avon with 43%! Parrett (South Somerset) result: LDEM: 52.0% (-12.5) CON: 21.8% (-13.7) IND: 21.5% (+21.5) GRN: 4.7% (+4.7) Liberal Democrat HOLD.https://t.co/OlkOrfIH3K — Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 12, 2020 There was also a by-election in Skye but the result hasn't been declared yet. * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames where she is still very active with the local party.
Thu, 16:01: 40 hours left to nominate for the 2020 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards, and the 1945 Retro Hugos! Time to get... https://t.co/wFzwTsMqba Thu, 18:07: Thursday reading https://t.co/aXtJBgh7WF Thu, 20:48: 'I have realised how powerful technology now is': an Italian lawyer's take on Covid-19 https://t.co/topLg7AWsQ Very interesting. Fri, 01:27: RT @CrisiscenterBE: Update 12/03 #coronavirus #covid19: samen moeten we de verspreiding van het virus afremmen en kwetsbare personen besche... Fri, 02:00: 30 hours left to nominate for the 2020 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards, and the 1945 Retro Hugos! Time to get... https://t.co/PIOD5MOGYY Fri, 07:38: Some great replies here. https://t.co/354zJXkggY ...
There are more reports to follow from the packed public meeting last night in Yate with the police - who spent over 2 hours listening to residents and councillors from the Focus Team - and working with us to tackle some of our current local problems. Amongst other issues, Alan Monaghan reported back on the new FREE graffiti service in Yate. Thanks to Alan and the Focus Team's initiative, the Town Council now provide a FREE graffiiti removal service to households living in Yate. To register to get graffiti removed call the town council on 01454 866506.
As if the corona virus was not bad enough, the Independent reports on an imminent life-changing crisis facing all of is over the next few years - accelerating climate change. The paper tells us that, according to the most complete picture of polar ice-sheet loss to date, the polar ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet are melting six times faster than they were in the 1990s. They say that the high melt rate corresponds to the "worst case scenario" model for global warming set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and means that without sweeping curbs ...
The BBC has the article on its website – see link below:- www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-51636642 I'm no fan of the BBC's news and current affairs output of recent years yet this piece on its website makes me realise how lost we'd been without the BBC. This is excellent writing by Kirstie Brewer and it makes me all the more sad that at times BBC news output is so superficial, unbalanced and seemingly biased towards politicians who seem to have a great deal of difficulty telling the truth. Brexit exposed the BBC horribly and it's coverage lacked the grit needed to expose the ...
