Chris Grey has good news: Brexit is coming apart at the seams. "It's been more than 100 years since the Commons took away the power of the unelected Lords to block legislation. Yet, here we are, still with an entirely unelected second chamber despite decades of tinkering. Johnson's largesse would make a Renaissance pope blush (Ian Botham, for services for Brexit; Evgeny Lebedev, for services to lavish parties; and his own brother, for services to Johnsons)," George Chesterton says Britain's absurdly undemocratic second chamber needs urgent attention. How are children coping with school closures? Surprisingly well, finds Peter Gray: "Forty-nine ...
This week's coup in Myanmar (aka Burma) is a warning of the dangers of Faustian pacts between politicians and the military. To be fair, the political manoeuvrability of human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi was severely limited. Her country had been under a brutal military regime for nearly half a century when she started talks with the generals. And she was negotiating while under house arrest. But the government which eventually resulted in multi-party general elections in 2015 and again last November was neither political fish nor fowl and thus inherently unstable. The Tatmadaw (the military's name for itself) ...
Current Koko Takes a Holiday, by Kieran Shea The Kappa Child, by Hiromi Goto Last books finished Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger Sugar and other stories, by A.S. Byatt The Last Manchu: The Autobiography of Henry Pu Yi, Last Emperor of China Next books The Autumn Land, by Clifford D. Simak A Buzz in the Meadow, by Dave Goulson
https://youtu.be/lgGmYeAm0jk It's not common for the deliberations of a Parish Council to go viral - in truth they're generally not that interesting. However, the unfortunate events during a Zoom meeting of Handforth Parish Council's Planning and Environment Committee have led to the video being watched more than a million times. Given that the population of Handforth was just over 6,000 in 2011, that's rather impressive. Unfortunately for the Parish councillors concerned, their struggles with technology and, in some cases, basic courtesy, have made it look like a bit of a shambles (I paraphrase in order to protect the innocent). In ...
Kirsty Williams, the Liberal Democrat Education Minister for Wales, has today been explaining the plans for the re-opening of schools in Wales. The youngest children will return after the half term break this month, joining the children of key workers and a few other groups of pupils who have continued to attend during lockdowns. She is also quoted in the Guardian: I think it's important we try to take a longer term view that allows us to plan more effectively. We know if we can take those decisions in advance it gives more time for professionals and families to plan. ...
Since the latest lockdown started on January 6th Liverpool Liberal Democrats have stopped all external activity and have moved online with regular online newsletters, phone calling to local residents to check how they are and using social media. However, today ... Continue reading →
1. Laughter. 2. More laughter.
The Government has confirmed today that local Council and PCC elections will go ahead as planned on 6th May in England, in spite of some lobbying to postpone them. The option of an all-postal ballot has been ruled out, and Councils are being given an extra £31million to install plastic screens and hand sanitiser. Voters will have to bring their own pens and wear masks. People who are shielding will be encouraged to vote by post. We have already learnt that the rules on proxy voting will be relaxed allowing anyone who has to self-isolate the opportunity to ask for ...
Thu, 12:35: Hooray! Congratulations @KClausing! https://t.co/NU5oJQflCv Thu, 15:30: Accursed, by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson Readers of a revolutionary cast of mind may ask why raising a supernatural army to destroy the British royal family and end colonial rule is necessarily such a Bad Thing. #nwbooks https://t.co/vwMSkLmXzk https://t.co/0GsXaWjU4j https://t.co/jYr2gaapIC Thu, 15:56: RT @pmdfoster: Good recap of why Article 16 isn't shorthand for 'junk the Irish Protocol' - for which, btw, there isn't an alternative. It... Thu, 16:30: Da Nije Bilo Oluje / Who Saved Bosnia, by Vitomir Miles Raguž I got to know the author while he was Bosnian ambassador ...
Brought together in one place, here are the various Liberal Democrat tools and services that I look after to help keep people informed, provide materials and prompt action. Hope you find them useful – and feedback on either the range of services or thoughts about individual ones are always most welcome. Do you want to keep in touch with what's happening in the Lib Dems? Your wish is my command... and here's the suite of email lists you can choose between for signing up to, from a daily email digest through to a monthly newsletter. Included in that list is ...
Even Carly Simon would struggle to find lyrics to do Boris Johnson's vanity justice, though her 1972 hit must come close. I was particularly taken with this section of the lyrics: | 'Well you're where you should be all the time And when you're not, you're with some underworld spy Or the wife of a close friend wife of a close friend.' The Mirror reports that the Prime Minister has been accused of splurging taxpayers' money on "vanity" after it emerged he has three different photographers working in Downing Street. This comes after a a new promotional staffer began work ...
broadcast anniversaries 5 February 1966: broadcast of "War of God", first episode of the story we now call The Massacre. The Doctor and Steven land in France; the Doctor wanders off looking for an apothecary, and Steven falls in with Huguenots. 5 February 1972: broadcast of second episode of The Curse of Peladon. Jo and the Doctor suspect the Ice Warriors, but they in turn suspect Arcturus; and the Doctor is condemned to death. 5 February 1977: broadcast of second episode of The Robots of Death. Poul suspects Uvanov and relieves him of command; the sandminer's engines are stopped and ...
So, what do we now know? A hybrid planning application was submitted for the Gateway 14 project a week or so ago, and the one hundred and fifty plus documents are awaiting our attention, with a current publicised deadline of 17 February for responses. As you might understand, that feels rather daunting. We now also know that Gateway 14 is intended to form an integral part of the Freeport East bid, centred on Felixstowe and Harwich, which is due to be submitted to the Government by Friday, February 5th (i.e. today). it even comes with a rather snazzy video... Does ...
I am giving my support to a cross-party effort at the UK Parliament to secure free-to-use ATMs. Led by Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone, a group of 26 cross-party MPs has called on the Payments System Regulator and the UK Government to take action on the interchange fee - allowing for ATMs up and down the country to become once again free to use. The decision from LINK to cut the fee paid by banks to ATM providers for every cash withdrawal has passed costs usually paid by banks onto consumers, resulting in the lack of free-to-use cash machines. 10 ...
Fri 5th
06:35
Local elections are scheduled for May 2021 - ministers are dithering about delaying but we do need n...
I don't think there is any choice. The May local elections must be delayed. Until the autumn. I don't want this. Elections refresh councils. Clear out ineffective councillors. Replace them with effective councillors. That's the theory anyway. All Shropshire parish and town councils and Shropshire Council were due for renewal on 6 May. I was looking forward to it. Elections are a lot of work for most councillors and wannabe councillors. But there is no doubt that most of our councils need refreshing. Our dithering government has yet to make a decision. It has banned political leafletting but has yet ...
