Lib Dems use Urgent Question to challenge Govt on DFID merger Govt must regulate big tech companies' use of COVID-19 app data Lib Dems call for Race Equality Strategy Lib Dems use Urgent Question to challenge Govt on DFID merger Liberal Democrat International Development spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain has today challenged the Foreign Secretary on the "wrongheaded" decision to merge the Department of International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In an Urgent Question in the House of Commons, Wendy Chamberlain blasted the Prime Minister's description of DFID as a "cashpoint in the sky". She also raised mounting concerns about ...
A new report from the all-party parliamentary group on cats calls for more research into the role that cat ownership can play in combating loneliness. It makes these recommendations:a pilot of cat ownership and interaction within a social prescribing contextimprovements to the evidence baseenabling renters to own or foster a cat more easilyprovision of information and advice about responsible cat ownership and its benefitscats to be incorporated into health assessments and personalised care plansAll good ideas, but you have to choose the right cat. I have known some that would do absolutely nothing for your self-esteem.
The Guardian is getting excited about the new Liberal Democrat publication Build Back Better: The Liberal Democrats could take a decisive shift to the centre left, shedding the final legacies from the party's period in coalition, under a new review of policy ideas overseen by leadership hopeful Layla Moran. A new booklet, Build Back Better, edited by the MP, is billed as a modern equivalent to the Orange Book, a 2004 collection of essays from Lib Dem figures - including the former leaders Nick Clegg and Vince Cable, and former cabinet minister David Laws - which pushed the party towards ...
Perhaps you know the Green Liberal Democrats are putting on a series of virtual events starting this Saturday - 20th June! - to replace our cancelled 'actual' Summer Conference. What you may not have seen yet, because it was only confirmed earlier this week, is that the most famous primatologist and anthropologist in the world - Dr Jane Goodall - has confirmed that she will be speaking to us on Sunday 21st June. Jane Goodall is to be our STAR guest on Sunday evening, from 6.00pm until 7.15pm - so please come and join us for that and the many ...
The Chinese and the Indians are at it again. To be more precise the Chinese are at it. They are once again pushing at the disputed 2,100 mile Sino-Indian border. This week 20 Indian soldiers died and tensions rose as Chinese soldiers attacked with sticks and stones. Tensions appear to have subsided – for now. But why is a border high in the sparely-populated Himalayas of any interest to the rest of the world? For a start we are talking about the two most populous countries in the world. They are both nuclear powers. They have the largest and second ...
The Clarke Award shortlist is out. Although (as I well know) it's a juried award, the leader on this table has won the award four years out of the last six. (2019, 2017, 2015 and 2014, but not 2018 or 2016.) Goodreads LibraryThing owners av rating owners av rating A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine 52359 4.17 564 4.11 The City in the Middle of the Night - Charlie Jane Anders 41307 3.56 481 3.77 The Old Drift - Namwali Serpell 24802 3.76 227 3.61 The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley 19034 3.97 265 3.86 The Last Astronaut - ...
Current The Complete Secret Army: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Classic TV Drama Series by Andy Priestner Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens The Wicked + The Divine vol 4: Rising Action, by Kieron Gillen etc The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov Dreaming In Smoke, by Tricia Sullivan Last books finished The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within, by Stephen Fry Modern China: A Very Short Introduction, by Rana Mitter Heaven's War by David S Goyer and Michael Cassutt (did not finish) The Ghost of Lily Painter by Caitlin Davies Laatste schooldag, by Jan Siebelink ...
Anyone who thinks that removing statues is rewriting history should ask who wrote the history in the first place. I wrote that sentence on Facebook this morning, having already (editorial privilege) read Paul Reynolds' excellent article, in which he discusses the very many omissions in the current teaching of history. My own experience of history in school was dire. I hated it, not least because of the way it was taught. The teacher spent almost every lesson dictating notes which we duly wrote down in our notebooks and attempted to remember for exams. At the end of the third year ...
In Lib Dem circles there has been much talk of the need for 'better education' as a necessary (but not sufficient) path to more enlightened social and governmental attitudes when it comes to race, perceptions of a colonial past, and 'neo-colonial' thinking. This is very positive; but education enlightening students about what, precisely? My proposition is that there are three areas where education will benefit from a bit of 'light shedding'. Those are, in chronological order, the histories of BAME communities in the UK; colonial histories related to those parts of the world to which many communities in the UK ...
I wanted to write this article because I wanted to follow on and add a different view point into the mix about the Young Liberals. I have been encouraged to see many articles by folk who want the very best for the Young Liberals and the party. I feel though that there are a few things that I want to add. I am going to let you all into a little secret – the Young Liberals are far from perfect. But I will say that everyone who holds a position in YL is trying their best even though we don't ...
By campaigning to immediately re-join the European Union, one would be campaigning for the destruction of the Liberal Democrats as a major political party in the UK. This is not to say membership of the EU should not be an ideal to progress towards in the long term. The EU continues to be an opportunity for the UK to participate in something larger than itself. I still hold ardent faith in the 'European Project'. Problems arise with an immediate return to the EU for many reasons, not least of all electorally. A majority of the UK are exhausted by Brexit, ...
What is it with the Conservative Party? They are the ones forever boasting about our past and present greatness, that this or that is "the best in the world and the envy of the world" when it patently isn't, and some "world class" other is actually third class, if that. (eg our managing of the coronavirus pandemic) The one thing we have which probably is the best in the world and the envy of the world is the BBC, yet the Conservatives are constantly sniping at it and threatening cuts in its funding. The wonderful World Service in particular is ...
In Wales we had 'Ieuan Air' (later renamed Labour Air), an expensive air service between Cardiff and Anglesey used mostly by politicians and civil servants, costing the taxpayer around £86 in subsidy for every one of the 65,073 passengers which used the service between May 2007 and April 2013, and introduced despite the Welsh Government's commitment to sustainability and tackling climate change, later immortalised in the rather vague but well-meaning 'Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. Boris Johnson is determined to go one further. Not only does he (and the Royal Family) have access to an RAF Voyager, an ...
Wed, 12:56: Wow. https://t.co/DPfOg1ehpE Wed, 16:05: Glorious. https://t.co/Wke7xYbRbX Wed, 18:10: November 2006 books https://t.co/Vf4JlcEY8P Wed, 19:18: This is bad, Julian. I am agreeing with you more and more often! https://t.co/umoJAjAdBr Wed, 19:51: RT @OxfordDiplomat: There is nothing more joyous then seeing Boris Johnson being called out like this. "Mr Speaker... this is turning int... Wed, 20:01: Commemorating Jo Cox https://t.co/iMN3aYbng4 #brexit Blog post from September 2018. Wed, 20:29: RT @SylviaObell: Some of y'all need to stop using the phrase "cancel" like it's synonymous with "critique." There's a difference b/w wantin... Wed, 20:48: RT @JenniferMerode: Black MEP makes complaint against Belgian ...
Over on the Liberal Democrat website you can now read about some of our best colleagues, volunteers who have been doing amazing things in their communities to help deal with coronavirus.
Hopefully come 2021 we will be in a position to hold elections again, which must mean a return of focus to our message in Scotland. What's our message and why is it both unique and important for the people of Scotland? In 1992, James Carville was a strategist in the successful Presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Carville hung a sign in Bill Clinton's Little Rock campaign headquarters that read: Change vs. more of the same The economy, stupid Don't forget health care We know fine well where both the SNP and Conservatives stand in their message going into next year's ...
I recently purchased this commemorative plate via ebay and as a Notts lad who loves cricket I'm delighted to have it for display in our house. Whether my good lady shares this enthusiasm is a different matter though! This was a strong side with Randall, Hadlee, Rice, Robinson, Hemmings, French and Hassan all being top class cricketers. Those who know me will realise how much I enjoyed watching Derek Randall bat and field but I always felt that Kenyan-born Basharat Hassan was often overlooked as a batsman of some considerable class on his day.
I ought to start today's piece with an invitation – a Returning Officer's privilege, I guess... Are you a member of @LGBTLD? Interested in being part of its Executive Committee? You should have received an e-mail yesterday morning inviting nominations, but if not, get in touch with #yourfriendlyneighbourhoodreturningofficer — Mark Valladares (@honladymark) June 17, 2020 Meanwhile, the Government took another beating in the Lords over the Henry VIII powers in the Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Bill, with the combined Opposition making the not unreasonable point that, if the point of Brexit was to repatriate powers to Westminster, then ...
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Shropshire Council still hasn't put the emergency into climate emergency - I despair at its slow pac...
Shropshire Council must have been taking lessons from Sir Humphrey Appleby. You will remember him as the permanent secretary who advised and cajoled the hapless James Hacker. When the politics of the moment were tough and when decisions were stalled by inaction and indecision, Sir Humphrey would recommend a review, a committee, anything that would not disrupt the inertia that drives all bureaucracies towards their natural state of inaction. That is all too often Shropshire Council's approach to the environmental issues of our day. The council declared a climate emergency in May 2019. But we learnt from Shropshire Council's scrutiny ...
A reminder about the excellent Gate Church Wellbeing Project​ : Has your family been affected by lockdown? Gate Church Wellbeing Project staff and volunteers are on hand to assist families in Dundee who require vital well-being support, providing support with: food shopping vouchers, baby supplies, toys, counselling and pastoral care. Call free on 0800 802 1646 or email wellbeing@gatechurch.co.uk
