Ed Davey made his keynote speech to Federal Conference this afternoon. We'll have the video when it is up but in the meantime, here are the words: Good afternoon Conference. Our country is hurting right now. One hundred and twenty-five thousand lives have been taken by this cruel virus. One hundred and twenty-five thousand mums and dads. Brothers and sisters. Sons and daughters. One hundred and twenty-five thousand empty chairs at our kitchen tables. So many families, mourning the loss of a loved one. Even those who have been spared the agony of bereavement... Even they are suffering enormous hardships. ...
My next three reviews will be of the winners of the Tiptree, Clarke and BSFA Best Novel Awards published in 2000 and winning in 2001, starting with Tiptree winner The Kappa Child. Second paragraph of third chapter:The temperature inside our station wagon was unbearable. We might have cooled our bodies by turning on the heater full blast. Past the point of bickering, my sisters and I stuck helplessly to the vinyl, too hot to bother avoiding the gluey smear of skin on skin.A complex novel of a Japanese-Canadian girl whose family moves from British Columbia to the harsher landscape of ...
Willie Rennie compared the SNP's plans for Scottish independence as like "Brexit on a rocket to Mars" – ie It would take a lot of energy, the journey is very long and there is no way back. In his keynote speech to Liberal Democrat Conference, Willie set out the Scottish Liberal Democrats' plan to deprive the independence supporting parties of a majority with our plan to put recovery first by investing in mental health, jobs and education. He also highlighted our idea for a Commission to look at ways of preventing violence against women and girls in all its forms. ...
"Let's put recovery first, and let's get to work for our communities - building the fairer, greener, more caring country we all want to live in" - Ed Davey
Conference overwhelmingly backed the right to protest today in a passionate debate which showed the party at its best. It's so important given that the Official Opposition's first instinct was to abstain on this draconian legislation and had to be shamed into opposing it. We called on the Government to drop the proposals set out in the Police, Sentencing and Courts Bill and reaffirmed our support for the Human Rights Act. You can read the motion here. I've done a Twitter thread summarising the main points that were made in the debate: Absolutely superb debate at #ldconf on defending the ...
Today's conference appeal was the first from our new federal Party Treasurer, Tilly McAuliffe. Here is my piece for the party website welcoming her to the post.
Image Source: hypnosistodaywithgloria Do you ever find that your brain is so full of thoughts that it's difficult to sustain the thread of any one of them? Like a half-made knitting pattern, that gets so tangled up that you can no longer tell where it starts, finishes, or what it was meant to create in the first place? That's how my thoughts have been feeling for quite some time - and I wonder if it's partly because I've not done much (if any) writing recently. All of my mental focus and energy has gone into work, and by the end ...
Sat, 12:56: RT @DrBenLitherland: Spiked are getting attacked for being woke because they did a reasonably fair summary of Jordan Peterson which upset h... Sat, 14:48: Houston Dairymaids sends cheese into space for NASA astronauts https://t.co/b7eY8gU7Qc Not just any cheese, but *Belgian* cheese! Sat, 15:08: Dances with Wolves https://t.co/TnnhjZz6UQ Sat, 16:05: RT @pmdfoster: From Prawns to Pork to the NI Protocol it's clear that the biggest issue from #brexit is caused by EU plan... Sat, 20:54: #LockdowninOudHeverlee 1: St Anne's Church https://t.co/He54CnzbNi via @YouTube A year ago - the first of my lockdown videos. Sun, 09:30: Whoniversaries 21 March ...
For many years I have groused that Conference makes celebrities of our MPs but ignores our Council Leaders, many of whom exercise far more power than their Westminster colleagues. Ed Davey gets that, not least because some of us in Kingston have been bending his ear for years. He notably asked Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Council (which Lib Dems have held for 35 years or so), to summate on the Carers motion, which was so close to his heart. And he frequently references his wife, Emily, who is the portfolio holder for Housing on Kingston Council. I am unashamedly ...
Sun 21st
10:11
Creating a sovereign wealth fund and boosting small business: Ed Davey speech previews
There's a double dose of media coverage featuring previews of Ed Davey's speech to the Liberal Democrat spring conference: The billions of pounds being raised by green energy auctions should be used to set up a sovereign wealth fund and invested across the UK, Ed Davey will say... "Just last month, an auction for the right to build windfarms off the coast of England and Wales attracted bids far, far higher than anyone expected - raising £9bn, with more to come," he will tell his party at the gathering, which is being held online this year because of Covid-19. "This ...
Firstly, I bet that most folks have never heard much, if anything, about Local Enterprise Partnerships let alone know the purpose they are meant to serve. I recall when they were being set up as an alternative arrangement to the out of favour Regional Development Agencies (by the Coalition Government) and thought at the time that I was at best sceptical about LEP's. That's not to say the Regional Development Agencies were the right model for encouraging economic development but they were regional and therefore at about the right scale to promote economic activity in my book. The old NWDA ...
Anybody who questions what the Liberal Democrats are for need only look at the accomplishments of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Education Minister, Kirsty Williams. Not only has she continued and expanded the Pupil Deprivation Grant in Wales, set up by the Welsh Liberal Democrats as part of a budget deal in the previous Assembly to help under-achieving pupils on free school meals, she has done much more. This includes maintaining free school meals during school holidays, giving new starter teachers an 8.48% pay rise, delivering smaller class sizes, introducing super fast internet for all schools, announcing a £30 million investment ...
Sun 21st
09:27Working out how to rejoin the Customs Union, Single Market and EU: Lib Dem conference motion passes
As Layla Moran has written on the party website: Liberal Democrat members have voted to update our party's policy on Europe and reaffirm our commitment to a closer relationship with our friends and neighbours on the continent. The motion they've passed: [IMG: ❌] utterly condemns Boris Johnson's Brexit deal [IMG: ✔] thanks Liberal Democrat MPs for voting against the deal [IMG: ✨] commits us to working to strengthen ties with the EU in the short term, including Customs Union or Single Market membership. I am proud that as a party we have always had the courage of our convictions when ...
Turns out white blues was not just British phenomenon, though this track dates from as recently as 1998. Jimmie Vaughan is a Texan, a Republican and the older brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Think of this track as a warning on the perils of raising your consciousness.
Sun 21st
08:47
Covid Watch: Almost no new Covid cases in South West Shropshire but it is not time to party yet
The local news is good. South West Shropshire is coming close to Covid free. Shropshire and Telford cases of Covid-19 are now low. In the week to 15 March, there were fewer than three coronavirus cases identified in each of the Ludlow, Bishop's Castle, Cleobury, Church Stretton and Craven Arms areas. Across the Channel, it is not so comfortable, with new lockdowns announced in France and Poland. Cases are rising in north Herefordshire though they are not yet at a high level. Nationally the R Number is dropping and on Friday R was estimated to be between 0.6 and 0.9. ...
The primary responsibility of every government is the protection of its citizens. The wannabe federalists of Europe have dismally failed at fulfilling this obligation with their handling of the coronavirus vaccine programme. And to compound their errors they have tried to cast Brexit Britain in the role of scapegoat at a time when they should be trying to develop a positive relationship with the UK. Instead Brussels has unfairly claimed that the Johnson government is behind Astra Zeneca's failure to manufacture and deliver sufficient vaccine doses in a timely fashion. To compound the mistake they attempted to tarnish the vaccine ...
i) births and deaths 21 March 1915: birth of Ian Stuart Black, author of The Savages (First Doctor, 1966), The War Machines (First Doctor, 1966) and The Macra Terror (Second Doctor, 1967). 21 March 1923: birth of Peter Pratt, who played the Master in The Deadly Assassin (Fourth Doctor, 1976). 21 March 1936: birth of Roger Hammond, who played Francis Bacon in The Chase (First Doctor, 1965) and Dr Runciman in Mawdryn Undead (Fifth Doctor, 1983). 21 March 1944: birth of Hilary Minster, who had two rather minor roles as Thals - Marat in Planet of the Daleks (Third Doctor, ...
Last summer, it was good to report the provision of a new picnic table in Lochee Park. This has been well-used and, at the request of residents, I asked the City Council's environment management team some time ago if further picnic tables could be provided. I am pleased to advise I had a positive response to this and recently asked for an update on timescales. In the past week I received the following feedback : "Picnic tables are ordered and should be coming next week. We will look to install as soon as we can."
