It's been a pretty hectic year as Chair of my small, but perfectly formed, Parish Council. The impact of the pandemic on our community has been challenging enough, but a string of controversial planning applications affecting the village have made life that bit harder. I was therefore slightly perplexed to receive an e-mail via our Clerk offering a meeting with the two members of the newly formed Communities - Planning and Engagement team, who wanted to talk to us about the Gateway 14 project and planning application. A bit late in the day was my initial thought, and there was ...
Wendy Chamberlain, Lib Dem MP for North East Fife, spoke today in Parliament's International Women's Day debate. She called for action to address domestic abuse and misogyny and reflected on her own experiences as a police officer dealing with sexual offences. Here is an extract: Here is her speech in full: International Women's Day is supposed to be a celebration. But even before the last 24 hours, given, for example the progress of the Scottish Parliament's enquiries into the handling of harassment complaints, and more generally the notably more negative impact of the pandemic on women across so many areas ...
Nearly 200 Lib Dem activists signed up to join the "How to win with UBI" online event on Tuesday night, organised in partnership between Lib Dems for Basic Income, the Social Liberal Forum, and the Compass-hosted Basic Income Conversation. The overall message was summed up by the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London, Luisa Porritt, who reminded everyone that: "this is a moment where people are really open to new and big ideas. They understand that the pandemic has fundamentally disrupted our world, our society, the way that we live and work."
This is the latest post in a series I started in late 2019, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia. July 2010 was quite a heavy travel month for me, starting with Kosovo (in advance of the ICJ ruling), a day-trip ...
It was the person who commented on Facebook that really gave me pause for thought: "I get that you may be working abroad," he wrote, "but this might be a bad image to project upon people who are severely pissed off and stuck in what was once a great country." I was on a business trip to Australia. Anyone who knows what I do professionally (I'm a tennis commentator) would not only have known it was a business trip and not a jolly, but my commentary could be heard across the UK. I had recorded a county elections campaign video ...
Yesterday the Welsh Liberal Democrats published a party broadcast featuring their Leader, Jane Dodds. Enjoy!
Thu 11th
12:59
Alistair Carmichael MP writes...Electoral reform can happen, but it will take concerted action
When I joined the Liberal Party in the 1980s, I was optimistic that the UK would replace its unrepresentative voting system in the not too distant future. Fast forward to 2021 and we remain stuck with First Past the Post and, at first glance, little reason for optimism. The current set-up has never been ideal for the UK or indeed any modern democratic society. First Past the Post results in governments elected by a minority of voters, with policies supported by a minority of the electorate being imposed on the majority. This leaves far too many people feeling excluded and ...
A year ago Boris Johnson promised that his government would undertake the most fundamental review of the UK's international priorities since the end of the Cold War. He promised that this would be the biggest review of our foreign, defence and development policy since the end of the Cold War, designed to maximise our influence and integrate all the strands of our international efforts. Next Tuesday, March 16th, the first part of this 'Integrated Review of Foreign and Security Policy' will be published - several months later than planned. Changes in those responsible haven't helped: David Frost was made national ...
Thu 11th
11:11
Putting recovery first: how the Lib Dems work for a better, fairer and more caring society
Here's the new Welsh Liberal Democrats party political broadcast, featuring Jane Dodds and colleagues.
Wed, 12:56: RT @BrigidLaffan: This is a facts based balanced thread on the Northern Ireland Protocol. https://t.co/jupcMKC02e Wed, 17:11: Brussels lobbying business picks up despite pandemic https://t.co/FekxTNuNGZ It's true. Wed, 18:23: Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves https://t.co/Qgu2FOVJgL Wed, 20:20: RT @pmdfoster: April 21 the EU is introducing new rules on composite foods (pizza, chocolate, crisps etc) that are goi... Thu, 09:30: Whoniversaries 11 March https://t.co/wclLwrgdvR Thu, 10:45: Society of Editors chief quits after row over Meghan racism statement https://t.co/XIdEZLM0tz ...but it is not clear that the lesson has been learned.
Just when I thought that I could safely get on with our own Lib Dem campaign for the local elections I have again been inundated with questions and requests for comments from the media about the comrades in the Liverpool ... Continue reading →
Lots and lots today, including two significant events on 11 March 1967... i) births and deaths 11 March 1945: birth of Graeme Harper, director of three Old Who stories (including a large part of Warriors' Gate, for which he was not credited), ten New Who stories (counting Time Crash) and three Sarah Jane Adventures stories 11 March 1952: birth of Douglas Adams, writer of The Pirate Planet (Fourth Doctor, 1978) and Shada (unbroadcast but would have been Fourth Doctor, 1980), co-author of City of Death (Fourth Doctor, 1979) and script editor for Season 17 (1979-80); best known, of course, for ...
I recently received complaints from residents about the road condition in Jedburgh Road. I raised this with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now received the following positive response : "An order has been raised for pothole repairs to be carried out."
