Overnight, the snow kept falling, which did lead one to worry a bit about how easy it might be to drive out in either direction. Early reports that the road to Stowupland was blocked by snowdrifts were, fortunately, replaced by word that one of our local farmers had been out with tractor and JCB. And yes, the road conditions weren't ideal, but people were getting away with caution. I had a couple of stray newsletters to deliver, so I took the opportunity offered by a slight lull in the snow to sneak up the farm track towards Roydon Hall Farm, ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy

Embed from Getty ImagesThe Leicester Mercury wins our Headline of the Day Award.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The Heywood Foundation Public Policy Prize has got me thinking about some of the big problems facing our society. The prize is explicitly COVID-19-related, so this issue doesn't fit there, but this is something I've had in my head for a while, soI thought it worth putting into the world. England has a well-established housing ... Continue reading Redesigning right to buy to encourage house building →

Posted by jfefleming on Whatever's Left

This is the latest campaign from the Scottish Liberal Democrats: Bin the Referendum Bill! Today I received an e-mail from the party with a link to a petition. The petition reads as follows: We call on the First Minister to Bin the Independence Referendum Bill. The Scottish Government should put recovery from the pandemic first. In the lockdown last year, the First Minister suspended all government work on independence, but she has refused to suspend that work now that the country is in lockdown again. Thousands have lost their lives, many more have lost their job and the NHS is ...

Posted by Andrew on A Scottish Liberal

Second frame of third page: Lancelot: Get back, I'm going to break the door down! I got this because it won the Prix Saint-Michel in 2009 for best comic by a Dutch-speaking author. Linguistically I feel a bit cheated; the book was originally published in French as Kaamelott, tome 3: L'Énigme du Coffre, and won the prize because Dupré's native language is Dutch. That seems to me a bit of a stretch. I note that this category has been dropped for the most recent years of the Prix Saint-Michel. Alexandre Astier created the TV series Kaamelott and starred in it ...

The covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the unacceptable health inequalities faced by people with a learning (or intellectual) disability. This has been brought home by the JCVI decision not to prioritise them adequately during the vaccination programme. It is estimated that only about 250,000 adults are registered as having a learning disability (LD) with their GP's, although there are estimated to be c.1.5 million people in this country with this particular diagnosis. One of the serious indications of LD is an inability or difficulty in reading the written word, a difficulty shared by many more who don't meet all the criteria ...

Posted by John Kelly on Liberal Democrat Voice

The government's proposals, leaked over the weekend, to re-reform the NHS raise some interesting questions. First, credit where credit is due. The proposals recognise that "in practice, the NHS has not operated as the market intended by the 2012 Act. " So, whereas the 2012 Act (aka the Lansley Reforms) built on earlier ones which tried to introduce market practices by talking about "purchasers" (roughly the the GPs) and "providers" (the hospitals and specialist services) by forcing different branches of the NHS to compete with each other, along with the private sector. The new proposals intend to reduce the role ...

Posted by Peter Wrigley on Keynesian Liberal

The Liberal Democrats are committed to the inter-connectedness and prosperity of all peoples across our United Kingdom, which is why we were shocked and dismayed when a local businessperson contacted us to share their new experience of post-Brexit trading. Not one of the fishing companies that seem to have stolen all the recent headlines, nor a company trying to send parcels to France or Italy. This is a company that only sells in the United Kingdom. So what's the problem? Well, for over four decades this company has expanded throughout the United Kingdom. Since Brexit was implemented on 1st January, ...

Posted by Ellen Nicholson on Liberal Democrat Voice

If somebody had told me a week ago that a Parish Council sub-committee meeting would go viral, and that the senior official of a County Association of Local Councils would become a celebrity, I would have offered a quizzical glance before returning to my planning application problems. It's a funny old world... There's no doubt that the events at Handforth demonstrated that, regardless of which tier of government you're in, the scope for egos to rampage across the scenery is always there. It can be a Chair who has gone power-crazed, a Clerk who believes that councillors are merely a ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice
Mon 8th
11:00

My tweets

Sun, 13:12: RT @ianjamesparsley: The DUP is literally entirely at fault for the Irish Sea Border. Its MPs held the balance of power when the crucial d... Sun, 13:14: RT @Simon4NDorset: I'm afraid the learned Prof's conclusion is based on academic theorising rather than real life and political imperatives... Sun, 14:48: RT @acatherwoodnews: Gove: 'I think the people of this country have had enough of exports' https://t.co/mNhNA79J9I Sun, 16:04: RT @BrigidLaffan: Not often I read something @Telegraph that I feel has to be taken on but Vernon Bogdanor's opinion today is one such piec... Sun, 18:59: Who votes in referendums ...

YouGov

The Liberal Democrats have been arguing for some time that immigration actually adds value to our economy, so it is good to see this study reported in the Independent, which has concluded that British towns with the most immigrants and highest levels of diversity tend to do far better economically than areas with little. The paper says that an analysis of local authorities in England and Wales shows a strong link "between rising prosperity and rising diversity" - with diverse areas doing better "almost regardless of which metric you use". It concludes that "growing diversity is an inevitable part of ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

And the snow lay round about, crisp and deep and even... Welcome to a wintry Creeting St Peter this Monday morning! For a rare change, we're getting some of the worst of the conditions here, but the wood-burning stove is doing its job, there's no shortage of coffee, and I can still get out for a walk, so service should be as normal. We bring you today a story of a company that didn't export anything, but has been caught up in the administrative nightmare that is Brexit. I used to handle double taxation certification back in the day, and ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

i) births and deaths 8 February 1962: birth of Malorie Blackman, co-writer of Rosa (Thirteenth Doctor, 2018). It is sometimes claimed that she was the first non-white writer of a TV Doctor Who story; however, I have checked directly with Glen McCoy, who wrote Timelash (Sixth Doctor, 1985), and he tells me that he is Anglo-Indian. ii) broadcast anniversaries 8 February 1964: broadcast of "The Edge of Destruction", first episode of the story we now also call The Edge of Destruction. The Tardis behaves strangely after an explosion; so does Susan who attacks Ian with scissors. 8 February 1969: broadcast ...

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2021 A991 West Marketgait (Hawkhill to Guthrie Street) - northbound nearside lane closure on Monday 8 February for roof inspection works.