The Welsh Liberal Democrats have promised to undertake a trial of universal basic Income. The party's 2020 Senedd manifesto says: Our economy must support secure, well-paid work and good public services. It must recognise that work is not a guaranteed route out of poverty. We want to see an economy that ensures that work pays and that there is meaningful support for those that are unable to work, working with the UK Government to create a genuine social security system based on values of dignity and compassion.Jane Dodds, the party's leader, told Nation Cymru: "The Welsh Liberal Democrats will put ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

We recently published edition 155 of eFocus for the Whickham/Dunston/Swalwell/Sunniside/Lobley Hill/Marley Hill area. Key issues covered include:Leisure centres start to reopen;Whickham Library is now open for Ring and Read;Local elections to go ahead on 6th May;Poultry lockdown ends;Call to keep Gibside School as a centre for education;Make derelict Beggarswood golfing range into community

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

Responding to the news of the Treasury publishing the Chancellor's text messages to David Cameron regarding Grensill Capital, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Christine Jardine said: "There are now serious questions that the Chancellor must answer about the nature of these conversations. Yet again, the stench of cronyism emanates from this government. "We need full transparency on exactly what the Chancellor did and what David Cameron's involvement was in persuading him."

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

We have now launched our first election video in Gateshead, looking at Labour waste in the borough, including the central Gateshead traffic management plan (£500K), the new Quarryfield car park which is soon to be ripped up (£750K) plus other sums on refurbishing the Labour leader's office in Gateshead Civic Centre and repairs to crematoria equipment that was scrapped months later. We have lots

Posted by Jonathan Wallace on Jonathan Wallace

See how Liberal Democrats are standing up for your community, featuring Cllr Lisa Smart from Stockport, Josh Babarinde from Eastbourne, Cllr Ian Wharton from South Lakes and Cllr Sarah Nelmes, Leader of Three Rivers Council.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Second paragraph of third chapter: Een van de eerste maatregelen die gouverneur Agrippa had genomen, was het aanleggen van nieuwe en efficiënte wegen, zoals van de Gallische hoofdstad Lyon naar het militaire knooppunt Keulen. Zijn opvolgers lieten op hun beurt nog meer wegen aanleggen, tot uiteindelijk heel Gallië vlot over land kon worden bereisd. One of the first measures taken by Agrippa as governor was to build new, efficient roads, such as the one from Gaul's capital, Lyon, to the military hub of Cologne. His successors, in their turn, had even more roads built, until eventually smooth land travel was ...

Dear Avril, Alexandrine, Tumi, Yukteshwar, Rabi, William, Pramod, Tamara, Yeow, Ian, Afy, Alhaji, Flossy, Jacquie, Julliet, Lisa, Marisha, Nancy, Steven and Stuart, Thank you for your letter about the report of the Government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. I agree that urgent action is needed to tackle the injustices, inequalities and discrimination Black people face in the UK today. As you may know, in recent years our party has developed a large number of wide-ranging new policies to address these issues. At our Spring Conference in March 2019, members endorsed the paper 'Eradicating Race Inequality', produced by the party's ...

Posted by Wendy Chamberlain on Liberal Democrat Voice

I am, for reasons historic, a fan of the Cincinnati Reds. Since 1990, when my attention was first drawn to them, their successes have been few and far between. In that sense, they're like most of the teams I follow, broadly unsuccessful but enthusiastic.I've even managed to watch them play a few times, notably the afternoon in Denver when they beat the Colorado Rockies 24-12 (the most runs they've scored in a game since 1911), but never at their new(ish) ballpark, Great American Ball Park. I had intended to do that last year but... pandemic... Their Group Operations Manager very ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy
Thu 8th
12:27

Woke or Asleep?

I think we've reached a very interesting phase in our UK politics. The 'free' British press can write whatever they like as long as you're willing to pay for it. Brexit Britain is a place where expats living abroad voted leave and then are very surprised when their host government asks them to do likewise; where our great fishing industry has now escaped the dreaded EU red tape, to have replaced it with more excellent British Red, White and Blue tape that is now crippling a once thriving industry. Good job we 'took back control' when we did as I'm ...

Posted by Aidan Jenkins on Liberal Democrat Voice
Thu 8th
11:00

My tweets

Wed, 12:56: RT @UrsulaV: I thought there was a thing these guys were supposed to carry that would totally protect them from shooters...hang on, it'll c... Wed, 16:05: RT @luna_plath: Since learning about Jay Kristoff's 4 special arcs for his upcoming book, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss a ve... Wed, 17:10: RT @worldcon2021: It's official - DisCon III is moving 📦🚚 For the first time in Worldcon history, Worldcon will happen in December. ❄️☃️... Wed, 19:22: Titus Alone, by Mervyn Peake https://t.co/z809KAmKcU Wed, 22:03: RT @AlexTaylorNews: Let's just remind ourselves of what some UK newspapers👇said about EU ...

YouGov

After a significant Covid outbreak in which 50% of the near 400 residents of the Napier barracks site in Kent fell sick, multiple outstanding legal challenges, the closure of a sister site in Pembrokeshire and months of revelations over the suitability of the camp, one would have hoped that the Home Office had learnt its lesson. Asylum seekers are human beings fleeing war, torture, starvation, the effects of climate change and persecution, and they should be treated accordingly. However, the Guardian reports that a new intake of asylum seekers will be sent to the controversial Napier barracks from Friday, despite ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

On Christmas Eve, 2020, Keir Starmer faced a choice. Vote for the poor Brexit deal Boris Johnson had managed to get at the last moment or refuse to play ball and vote it down. He chose the former. Ever since, Labour have mostly been silent on Brexit, hoping the issue would fade into the distance. Yet somehow, it's like a wound they can't help but pick at ineffectively. On March 3, 2021, in his response to the chancellor's budget, Starmer couldn't resist, even mentioning the B-word straight out. 'And instead of putting blind faith in freeports, the Chancellor would be ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com
Thu 8th
08:30

Whoniversaries 8 April

i) births and deaths 8 April 1942: birth of Lovett Bickford, director of The Leisure Hive (Fourth Doctor, 1980) ii) broadcast anniversaries 8 April 1967: broadcast of first episode of The Faceless Ones. The Doctor, Ben, Polly, and Jamie land at Gatwick Airport to get mixed up in an affair of vanishing corpses; Polly is apparently brainwashed. 8 April 1972: broadcast of first episode of The Mutants. Geoffrey Palmer is the best thing in this story and he gets killed before the end of this episode; five more to go, folks... iii) dates specified in-universe 8 April 1809: birth of ...

Network Rail recently cut back the vegetation on one side of the rail line at Magdalen Green and residents asked me if the company intended doing this welcome work on the other side of the line. I contacted Network Rail and have had the following helpful response : "Thank you for contacting us about the vegetation on our land at Magdalen Green, Dundee. I can confirm that there are plans to cut back the vegetation on other side of the railway. I cannot give you an exact date for this, but it is in our programme of work to be ...

Out recording her Ramblings radio programme near Ross-on-Wye one day, Clare Balding came across what she described as an "enormous black cat". In the latest edition she talks to Rick Minter, who runs the Big Cat Conversations podcast. I have already praised it on this blog: What emerges from all this is a picture of sober country people and professionals coming across big cats in the countryside but not making too much fuss about it. They don't want the press or trophy hunters descending on them and they don't want officialdom snooping around their farms. As they walk through the ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England