TL;DR - I've published something. It's hard. I'd like to do it again. I'm scared. You can help by suggesting what next. If you're occasionally interested in my writing, please consider it. Today's the fifteenth anniversary of the Doctor Who story The Long Game, and I've said something about it. Two other anniversaries of sorts have just flown by. I noticed today that it's now just over a year since I set up a Patreon, which up until now I have been too ashamed even to mention in public, and it's more than a month since I tried to prod ...
Doctor Who - The Long Game was first broadcast fifteen years ago tonight. In the future, fascists and media hostility to immigrants have turned society on itself, crushed asking questions and made life crap. Imagine. Russell T Davies writes; Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper star; Simon Pegg, Anna Maxwell-Martin, Christine Adams and Tamsin Greig guest. It's funny, scary, clever, political. And no-one loves it very much. This started off as a Twitter thread earlier today, which I've collated and polished and expanded here into something not quite an article, more than a set of Tweets, but it's much the same ...
Thu 7th
21:25
Keep the furlough scheme, and do not lift the lockdown until a proper test, track and treat scheme i...
Today Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey called on the Prime Minister to ensure communities do not face the hardship of mass redundancies as a result of the government stopping the furlough scheme.Ed also told the PM that the Liberal Democrats continue to support the lockdown measures and that a proper system of testing, tracing and isolating must be in place before the lockdown is lifted.Speaking after his call with the PM, Ed Davey said: "The Prime Minister emphasised the need for caution before lockdown can be lifted. Liberal Democrats certainly support an approach to lifting the lockdown ...
Michael Mullaney on a new group to champion the Liberal Democrats in the Midlands - and the Midlands in the Liberal Democrats. The cry often goes up from people living in the North of England, in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Devon and Cornwall that they are forgotten by a London and South East centric government. Here in the East and West Midlands many of us feel that too. We feel our services and infrastructure in the Midlands are often far down government's priority list. Whilst for Liberal Democrats in the Midlands, having had some tough general election results recently, ...
Following today's daily press conference and having spoken earlier today to the Prime Minister in his call with Opposition Party Leaders, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:"As Sunday approaches, many will be anxious about what the Prime Minister will announce."With the number of cases remaining alarmingly high in care homes and the fact that the Government still doesn't have a comprehensive plan to test, trace and isolate to keep people safe, there will be serious questions about the consequences of any significant relaxation of lockdown measures."For the public to have confidence in the Government's plan for relaxing ...
Eighteen months ago Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, visited Britain for a fortnight, and travelled round all four countries to meet officials and ordinary people and community organisations. After also studying all the documents that had been published on the state of poverty here, he issued a Statement. This document still makes very sad reading. It shows up serious societal problems which the political absorption on Brexit last year and on the health crisis this year have distracted from, and which a progressive party such as ours must surely address. He wrote in ...
All 12 of the main Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in County Durham will reopen on May 18th. The council will also resume its bulky waste goods collections from this day. Please be considerate. There may be more demand than can easily be catered for so initially at lease please only take waste to HWRCs if it cannot be stored safely at home and no alternative disposal options are available. Sites are expected to be extremely busy once the HWRCs reopen. There may be traffic management schemes where necessary. To ensure social distancing, people will be asked to keep two ...
Current The Complete Secret Army: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Classic TV Drama Series by Andy Priestner A Sacred Cause: The Inter-Congolese Dialogue 2000-2003, by P. E. Winter Black Wine, by Candas Jane Dorsey The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman Last books finished Riverland, by Fran Wilde Peanuts: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz, ed., Shannon Watters The Hunt for Vulcan: ...And How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe, by Thomas Levenson Joanna Russ, by Gwyneth Jones In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire Next books Sleepers of Mars, by John Wyndham Arthur ...
Theatre is one of my passions. Last week I wrote about the development of the Rose Theatre in Kingston, and I will return to that subject again, no doubt. I am no longer on the Board of the theatre, but I am an Ambassador, and I do still get involved in several ways. As a volunteer I turn up at least once a week in my natty uniform for Front of House duties – ushering, looking after the cloakroom or selling programmes. For many years I have also attended one or other of the many drama groups that come under ...
Tomorrow is VE Day and it will, as usual, bring out both the best and the worst of the people of the United Kingdom. Captain Mainwaring look alike Mark Francois MP will bring out the worst. With all the military ... Continue reading →
A recent webinar discussed policy, a market intervention and monitoring technology to help stop deforestation The Liberal International British Group together with the Paddy Ashdown Forum organised a webinar on 27 April 2020 hosted by BrightTALK on how to stop deforestation. 428 people registered for the event from around the world. The aim of the discussion was to learn how to stop deforestation in a socially just manner, given that the largest rainforests exist in parts of the world that are economically lagging developed nations that have already denuded their natural environments of tree cover. Jon Shepard, a director at ...
Liberals have long believed that wide property ownership, serving as a bulwark against state tyranny, is essential to the preservation of liberty. However, our pluralism has ensured that we have historically been committed to a diversity of housing models, including social housing. With the need for our party to engage with, and empower, communities who often feel forgotten, and deprived of real power over their lives, Liberal Democrats must offer a clear, distinctive, and liberal approach to social housing. What should this look like? In recent years, various local authorities have brought their housing stock under their direct control, replacing ...
One of the very few fortunate consequences of the coronavirus lockdown is that we shall be spared most of the excesses of flag-waving, military "shallahumps and shallahoops," and evocations of past glories which were planned for the 75th anniversary of VE Day. I was eight years old, going on nine, on the actual VE day in 1945. I don't remember remember much of it. With my parents and baby sister, we were on holiday in Scarborough, so it must have been Whitsuntide Week. My mother had an aunt who kept a beading house in Scarborough and that was our regular ...
This morning, Lib Dems should have been out delivering good morning leaflets, ready for the long slog through to 10pm when polls close. Instead, like all Londoners, we are staying home to save lives and the elections for our next Mayor and Assembly have been pushed back by a year. Nobody knows what the landscape will look like in May 2021, but it's clear that nothing will be the same. And that includes politics itself. The postponement gives us a chance to re-evaluate the London campaign. One thing is very clear - our capital is resilient and dynamic but it ...
Over at The Times, there is a disturbing report of the crisis facing many charities as a result of the lockdown. Many of the UK's 192,000 charities are facing an increase in demand for their services at the same time as a fall-off in income: Vicky Browning, who runs an organisation for charity chief executives, says that the worst hit are those that followed advice to develop new sources of income such as shops, letting premises and providing training. "Over the last ten or 20 years the sector has really been encouraged to professionalise, to not be so reliant on ...
A press release from the Liberal Democrats brings the news... A cross-party group led by the Liberal Democrats have set out a package of demands to protect workers from exploitation during the coronavirus crisis and prevent a rise in modern slavery, including classifying labour inspection as 'essential work' to enable inspectors to ensure workplaces are operating appropriately. The package of measures, supported by the charity Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX), also include adequate personal protective equipment for labour inspectors and emergency funding to labour market enforcement and advisory agencies to enable them to conduct preventative campaigns and monitoring, especially in ...
Wed, 12:56: End of an informative thread. https://t.co/W1d0gjlAjq Wed, 14:34: RT @Keir_Starmer: How on earth did it come to this? #PMQs https://t.co/Sj0kxzAvaC Wed, 15:33: RT @alexstubb: Good analysis by @MaduroPoiares @STGEUI @EuropeanUni. Recommended reading. Some Preliminary Remarks on the PSPP Decis... Wed, 15:33: RT @pisaniferry: Economists have their (mostly critical, rightly) view on the ruling by the German Constitutional Court on the #ECB. But wh... Wed, 16:05: Political journalists under fire https://t.co/DiKdHAVqZH Good piece. In general I am with the journalists and less... https://t.co/6o1M5CEal4 Wed, 16:39: RT @EndPolioNow: Vaccines are one of the best investments we can make in human ...
We published our latest edition of eFocus for the Whickham area (no. 133) earlier this week. Contents include: Gateshead Lib Dem group video about the pandemic and lockdown; Garden waste collection service returns; New service for patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital; VE Day 75th Anniversary celebrations; Exact change on Go North East buses; Councillors' surgery goes on-line; Bird watching
Despite the rhetoric, evidence might give us cause for thought. MPs and MSPs/Welsh Assembly Members seem to take precedence over the councillors who build up the party's base again and again. I would argue that we should be an integrated whole – with much more mutual respect and understanding. And of course, never forgetting the parish councillors and Lords who serve us so well. Councillors delivered excellent results last year, arguably giving the credibility which benefitted the party in the European elections. The party then extrapolated predicted General Election success from the latter; neglecting wisdom which cautions against using only ...
Today was the day that voters in London, Scotland, Wales and many local authorities across the United Kingdom would have been going to the polls, but democracy has had to be put on hold as a result of COVID-19. The elections will take place on the first Thursday of May next year instead. Already the [...]
B & Q have just put in a planning application to CLOSE their store, and turn half into an ALDI and half into a 'discount store' (no brand mentioned) . People would welcome an ALDI (though there must be a point at which we have too many supermarkets in the town centre) - but B and Q is the only large DIY venue for 8 miles in any direction...... though we do have our brilliant local independent hardware suppliers. If you have views, for or against this change you can log your comments at: https://developments.southglos.gov.uk/online-applications/ Then put in the application ...
Thu 7th
09:03
Ten years on from the 2010 general election. What were the long term effects of the Lib Dems going i...
Yesterday was the ten year anniversary of the 2010 general election. It wasn't an anniversary widely celebrated. Every corner of British politics had something to feel bitter about on the night. The Tories fell short of what many felt was their destined return to being the natural party of government; the Labour Party were chucked out of government after 13 years, by far the longest they had managed to keep hold of Number 10; the Lib Dems crashed and burned on the night, far short of where they had expected, actually losing five seats over all. What is the legacy ...
Thu 7th
09:00
Covid-19 five tests: By sleight of hand, the government seems to be trying to remove the spotlight f...
You would have thought that the government's five tests for moderating the lockdown have stayed the same, wouldn't you? Well, think again. Comparing Dominic Raab's reading of the five tests on Tuesday with his original announcement of them on April 16th, there is at least one significant difference: Goal 1. May 5th: "We must continue to boost NHS capacity, so that the NHS cannot be overwhelmed" April 16th: "We must protect the NHS's ability to cope. We must be confident that we are able to provide sufficient critical care and specialist treatment right across the UK. The NHS staff have ...
Steaming at Causey Arch Station Whenever I travel around the UK I like to seek out preserved railways and this one just south of Newcastle/Gateshead is a real treat. I came across this excellent footage of it on You Tube entitled 'Tanfield Railway Legends of Industry 2019' :- www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEpT6ttX1zc Thirsty work at Andrews House Station Here's a link to the Tanfield Railway's website for a bit of historical context:- www.tanfield-railway.co.uk/index.php?page=railways-history Both of the photos can be found amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
CGP Grey takes a look at what 'everyone knows about history' and is wrong. He starts with Vikings and includes my favourite fact about Napoleon...
2 big stories Who'd have thought it? The achievement of the testing target on 30 April is already looking deeply shady, with the inclusion of posted tests included in that figure, plus allegations that even those posted weren't actually usable. And now, subsequent data shows that the numbers are going backwards, not upwards. The solution, a new target. The distraction from failure – some relaxations in terms of going out and about. Meanwhile, the European Union is predicting that its economy will shrink by 7.4% this year, the worst performance since World War II, with the economies of Southern Europe ...
Council Advice Services and the Scottish Welfare Fund continue to provide essential services throughout the COVID - 19 crisis. The service will provide advice and assistance with: + Money Advice+ Debts+ Benefits+ Energy Advice and much more More details are available at
