The Lib Dem Education Minister for Wales, Kirsty Williams, is stepping down from the Senedd in May. She has just given her valedictory speech to the chamber, and here it is: Llywydd, It has become a little too fashionable to decry politics, to do down democracy, to undermine our own parliament and government. Well, I agree it might not be perfect. And I don't think we'd want a perfect system, empty of the debate and discussion which leads to real change. But what we have built, what we are building, is a democracy fit for all the people of our ...
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 Some travel this month, with a trip to Berlin to give a lecture, another to Moldova, and a lovely reunion in ...
This is my response on behalf of the Liberal Democrats to the publication of today's Inspection Report by The Government. Liberal Democrats response following the publication of the Caller report into Liverpool City Council. Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Richard ... Continue reading →
Tue, 18:34: My interview with Radio Free Europe on the challenges faced by the new government in Kosovo. In Albanian, I'm afraid - I did it in English, but they translated it for publication! https://t.co/DMx6wUtu0q Tue, 18:43: Bold As Love, by Gwyneth Jones https://t.co/DpKJ71NtEv Tue, 22:08: RT @thremnir: @Glasgowin2024 @terryandrob I fondly remember the fab after dinner speech he gave at BECCON87. As good fortune would have it,... Wed, 05:29: Four consecutive numbers with six factors 242 . 121 . 22 . 11 . 2 . 1 243 . 81 . 27 . 9 . 3 . 1 244 . ...
Willie Rennie has taken to running up a hill and recording a campaign video each morning. He'd be running up the hill anyway, but he's decided to show off to us all that he can do that and still have the breath left to speak to us. So, at a more civilised hour, here are this week's offerings: Monday: Trying to take the heat out of the poisonous atmosphere My take before the Salmond inquiries report this week #morningrun pic.twitter.com/VTsOgq6ozR — Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) March 22, 2021 * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary published in print or ...
Representing people should be a full time job. That should certainly be the case during a pandemic when many are struggling to make ends meet, having been furloughed or laid off, seen their businesses or those of their employer go down the pan, or losing moeny because of the need to self-isolate or through sickness. Unfortunately, not all MPs see this the same way. Over on the Open Democracy site, it is revealed that Members of Parliament earned almost £5m from second jobs and side hustles during the first year of the pandemic. They say that while huge swathes of ...
The Scottish Parliament is 22 years old this year, but it hasn't yet had a woman MSP of colour. This failure was explored by a Disclosure Scotland programme broadcast last night. In it women of colour from all parties talked about the barriers they faced in getting selected and elected. The Liberal Democrat representative was the brilliant Aisha Mir who stood for us in Edinburgh South West in 2017 and is on our Mid Scotland and Fife list for the forthcoming election. There is also some very insightful analysis from Talat Yaqoob, the founder of Women 50/50. She's done so ...
i) births and deaths 24 March 1935: birth of Rodney Bennett, director of three Fourth Doctor stories - The Ark in Space (1975), The Sontaran Experiment (also 1975) and The Masque of Mandragora (1976). 24 March 1942: birth of Lynda Baron, who performed "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" in the story we now call The Gunfighters (First Doctor, 1966) and played Captain Wrack in Enlightenment (Fifth Doctor, 1983) and Val in Closing Time (Eleventh Doctor, 2011) also 24 March 1942: birth of Stephen Yardley, who played Sevrin in Genesis of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor, 1975) and Arak in ...
Residents at the top end of Pentland Crescent have contacted me on numerous occasions about the regularly overflowing general waste Eurobin. This serves not just the top end of the street but is also used by some Pentland Avenue residents nearby. I contacted the City Council's environment management team about this and am pleased with the following helpful response : "I have discussed this with the area supervisor and there is adequate waste capacity, but we will put an additional bin in to determine whether this results in any improvement to the situation."
Unusually it appears that there is no alteration to bin collections in Northumberland this Easter. The Northumberland County Council website shows that the days for collections are unchanged for my house, so I can only assume that NCC are asking the staff to work on the Bank Holiday Easter Monday It may be worth putting the bin out on your normal collection day in case the website is correct. The week beginning 5th April is a "Green bin" ( ie non-recycled waste ) week
Embed from Getty ImagesThere was sad news yesterday. We learnt that Tony Greaves - Baron Greaves of Pendle - had died suddenly at his home in Trawden. Besides his service as a councillor and peer, Tony played two important roles in the development of the Liberal politics of his era. As a Young Liberal he helped develop the ideas behind community politics - it was he who moved the motion at the 1970 Liberal Assembly that saw the party vote to adopt the approach. Our huge advances in local government over the next 40 years owed much to this approach. ...
