Govt must leave no one behind in the fight against coronavirus Record low in retail sales demand reform Self-employed must not be left behind Education Sec has failed to listen to teachers and parents through this crisis – Moran If he's broken the guidelines, Cummings will have to go – Davey Govt must leave no one behind in the fight against coronavirus Responding to ONS statistics which show the highest monthly borrowing on record, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said: These figures show the devastating impact this crisis is having on our economy. People and businesses across ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

This unique line operated between 1893 and 1956. Click on the image above to view a film about its final days on the British Film Institute site. It closed because years of salt spray off the Irish Sea had left the owners with a vast repair bill. But there was also a suspicion that the line had annoyed the powers that be by surviving in private hands after the nationalisation of the railways in 1948.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Find me here.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

In the most expensive care homes, recent TV footage showed, both staff and residents have been protected from the virus, and nobody died. But in the run-of-the-mill homes shown, as our party leaders have been protesting, staff have not had the personal protective equipment they needed. With old people returning from hospital to their care homes, and care workers coming in and out without adequate PPE, what chance was there of the weakest being saved? We all know now the awful figures of mortality from the care homes. Meantime the Office for National Statistics has shown that deaths from the ...

Posted by Katharine Pindar on Liberal Democrat Voice

Second paragraph of third chapter of Black Wine:After that it did not struggle, even though its body was still as warm, its feathers as stiff and soft. Horrified at what my intervention had done, I ran away, and never wanted to go near that tree again, though it was near the path and difficult to avoid.An intricate, interesting novel, which actually reminded me of some of Iain M. Banks' work more than anything, with interlacing narrative perspectives in a dangerously diverse but mimimally portrayed world. There is good sex, and very bad sex, and power wielded against those who are ...

I haven't been commenting much on the news of the day in my diary – which is rather odd, given the way I usually closely follow political comings and goings. Whilst living in this bubble of safety in my home, I have been very carefully controlling the impact of external information on my equilibrium. I do read a newspaper very day – we still have one delivered – I watch the BBC news throughout the day and usually catch up on the No 10 briefing, so I'm not missing out on much. But the unending tales of death and suffering ...

Posted by Mary Reid on Liberal Democrat Voice

You may just have heard that Ed Maxfield and I have written a book, now on to its second edition, about how elections are won. If you've not yet read it, here are six reasons to give it a whirl...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

 

It has taken a little while to get new systems in place to pay government grant money to local businesses. But matters seem to have been resolved. Except the biggest issue. More than 1,500 businesses have not yet applied for the money. A minority of these may not be eligible for grants under EU rules. But it is still puzzling that one in five Shropshire businesses had not made a claim by last Wednesday. Up the road in Telford and Wrekin, almost all businesses have received the money they are due. That is an extraordinary difference. I can't explain it. ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

It is difficult to tell who is winning the Sino-American Coronavirus diplomatic battle. Two weeks ago I would have put the US in the lead. They had successfully poured ice water on Chinese claims to have successfully suppressed the spread of the virus in China. It is now generally accepted that the Chinese statistics are extremely dubious. This week the pendulum has swung the other way. The reason is the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly which – unsurprisingly – was dominated by the pandemic. The pendulum received a gentle push from the European Union which successfully proposed a ...

Posted by Tom Arms on Liberal Democrat Voice
YouGov

I'm feeling a lot better this Monday after a weekend of recuperation. Here's what I had to say earlier this month when the TV crew from #Unspun came to my office. They asked me what was the most trouble I'd even gotten into. pic.twitter.com/uHiHZwsCwD— Jamie Stone MP (@Jamie4North) March 26, 2018Jamie Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has just tweeted this clip from 2018. If I know Lord Bonkers, he will immediately call for Jamie to be made leader on the grounds that this is just the sort of experience you need in a hard-fought ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
Fri 22nd
12:55

Bank Holiday capers

The government is apparently considering creating a new Bank Holiday "sometime in October." It's not clear whether this is to be a permanent one, of or just for this year to compensate us for the ones we've had but have not been able to enjoy to the full because of the lockdown. Neither is it clear whether this is to be an additional holiday, or to replace one of those that occur at this time of the year, when there are three: Easter Monday, the May Bank Holiday, and the Spring Bank Holiday. The Spring bank Holiday was originally a ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal

[IMG: Classroom] - so every single parent and individual schools can make an informed decision about the risks. This is our lives, our families, we should have the information we need to control our risks. For more info about what we are doing locally to try to get it published go to

Photo from Jan shows one of your Lib Dem councillors, Chris Willmore campaigning to get repairs speeded up Church Road is closed for up to a fortnight. Work has at last begun on carrying out the proper resurfacing that your Lib Dem Focus Team Councillors have been fighting for. Lib Dem Councillors got them to agree to put it in their programme 18 months ago - as everyone was fed up with the patching - this will be a proper job not patching. They got the council to agree to do it whilst schools were closed...... unfortunately officials have not ...

I found myself unexpectedly disappointed by the General Election Review. Given the presence of a number of respected and experienced colleagues, I anticipated an analysis that spoke to the acute disappointment with the national campaign felt by the hundreds of barely functioning constituency associations which had struggled to raise the cash deposit and in many cases had just managed to pay for the one Freepost leaflet, but there was no solace in its winsome words. Couched in elegant prose one has to read between the lines to discern any critical comment. Anyone would think that the party had fallen slightly ...

Posted by Michael Meadowcroft on Liberal Democrat Voice

Having left it a while since Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) started to reopen its recycling centres I realised I had wood, metal and and a huge amount of garden waste to recycle. So what to do? Check which recycling centres are open, what's the waiting times etc. Well the internet was not a great deal of help other then telling me which ones were open. No live waiting times, no web cams of waiting vehicles, nothing to help me or you assess whether a journey to a recycling centre is worthwhile. Ho well, fill up the car and let's ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus
Fri 22nd
11:00

My tweets

Thu, 12:40: RT @alanbeattie: I'm off work this week and only skim-reading stuff but my top-line conclusion from the UK's post-Brexit tariff schedule is... Thu, 12:56: Thirty-six Thousand Feet Under the Sea https://t.co/HZxF2WdDaU Long but compelling story of the man who wanted to v... https://t.co/GGJUBEBq50 Thu, 13:36: RT @j9fingers: @nwbrux Who wants to write about drab lockdowns, erosions of civil liberties, mass unemployment, and the resurgence of fasci... Thu, 15:02: RT @davidallengreen: "Mon centre c�de, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque." Thu, 16:05: RT @Mikepeeljourno: Re-upping this on how the lockdown-lifting conundrum is very acute for big low and middle-income ...

Fri 22nd
09:50

Ramadan reflections

Once again, I find myself wondering where the days and weeks have gone as we approach the end of Ramadan! The end of Ramadan brings the day of Eid, usually a day of joyous celebrations, congregating at the mosque and each other's homes. In their excitement, my children have been busy putting their artistic skills to good use in creating decorations for the big day! A slight ease in lockdown means perhaps seeing my mum at her doorstep from a distance, but beyond that there will be no congregations or visitations this year. Instead, we are doing our best to ...

Posted by Hina Bokhari on Liberal Democrat Voice

I've been writing this blog for over six years now. In that time, I have put out articles that fall into distinct categories. The most common type is me commenting on something politically relevant to the moment; this kind of article garners 90% of its hits in the first 48 hours, and often most of that is in the first 24. Another sort of thing I do here is when I write about some facet of popular culture that has less immediate impact but a long tail. For instance, one of the three most read articles ever on this site ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

The National Lottery Community Fund are delighted to confirm that the Government's new Coronavirus Community Support Fund will open for applications at 10am on Friday 22nd May. This new funding stream makes available £200m in Government funding that will be aimed primarily at small to medium organisations in England. The Fund has two key objectives: to increase community support to vulnerable people affected by the COVID-19 crisis, through the work of civil society organisations and to reduce temporary closures of essential charities and social enterprises. Read the press release here

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple
eUKhost

2 big stories Speak softly, but carry a big moral stick, seems to be the lesson to be drawn from the Government's u-turn on the question of the NHS surcharge for migrant health workers. All credit to Keir Starmer for putting the issue in such a way as to give backbench Conservatives cover to press Al and Priti to axe it. And yes, the NHS surcharge is just another way of extorting money out of people who already pay their taxes plus visa fees for the right to work in this country, doing jobs that mostly aren't attractive to locals, ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Today, the council is publishing its proposals for roads and pavements improvements planned for this financial year across the city. Obviously with the health emergency situation, emergency road work is prioritised at present so much of the planned resurfacing work may be later in the financial year. However, it is good that the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership is making clear what it plans to upgrade and improve during 2020/21. The following roads work in the West End is in the carriageway programme : Glamis Drive (resurface), Greenbank Place (resurface), Newhall Gardens (main loop - surface dress), Ninewells Avenue (Perth Road ...

Fri 22nd
06:00

Farage all at sea again

When the history of this pandemic is written I am sure that there will be a special footnote entitled 'The misadventures of Nigel Farage'. The Brexit Party leader has already been visited by officers from Kent Police, who advised him on the restrictions on travel in place to tackle coronavirus, after he travelled more than 100 miles to Dover to film a video rant about migrants during Britain's lockdown. Now he has been condemned as "callous and heartless" for making a boat trip into the Channel to monitor migrants arriving in the UK. The Independent reports that posted on Twitter ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black
Fri 22nd
05:37

Bin Collections

Don't forget that Monday, 25th May is a Bank Holiday. Bin collections for the week are all put back a day, so if your normal collection is a Tuesday, it will be on Wednesday next week, etc Our council bin men ( or waste operatives if you prefer ) are among the hidden heroes, continuing to work even in these difficult times. To maintain appropriate distancing one of the crew has been following in a van but continues to work as a part of the team. In contradiction to rumours being put about, this is NOT a council officer doing ...

Posted by Alisdair Gibbs-Barton on Alisdair Gibbs-Barton