Responding to the rising tension in Jerusalem, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Layla Moran MP said:"I am alarmed by the growing unrest and violence in Israel and Palestine. "First and foremost, we need to recognise that Israel has broken international law with its evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and ignited a tinderbox. "The Israeli Government's decision to use airstrikes in Gaza will only make this conflict worse. Children have died. "Violence only begets violence. Hamas also needs to stop its attacks. "It has to stop. Enough is enough. "I call on the British Government to intervene in the strongest possible ...
We now have nearly a complete body, so the post-mortem is more convincing. What the elections show is that politics has been changed decisively by Brexit and the takeover of the Conservatives by Boris Johnson and his supporters. This new world offers challenges and opportunities for each of the five main political parties – the ... Continue reading All the main parties have opportunities and challenges
Second paragraph of third section:Port, five gods be thanked. Maybe.Another of the great sequence of novellas featuring novice sorceror Penric and his possessing demons, this time kidnapped by pirates and thrown together with two young parentless girls. Bujold is one of the very few genre authors who can convincingly take parenthood (in this case, surrogate parenthood) as a major theme of her stories, and makes the relationship between Penric and his unexpectedly acquired wards drive a well-structured narrative. I had forgotten also how complex the World of the Five Gods is, with varied languages and cultures. It's also, as usual ...
A lot of early evaluation of last Thursday's elections has written the obituary of the Labour party as the 'Red Wall' further fell to Johnson's populist Tories. There is a strong sense that a realignment is taking place in British politics and if so, Liberalism needs to be part of it. While the death of Labour is, I think, still premature, the implications of the realignment analysis should not be lost on Liberal Democrats preparing for the electoral battles of the decade ahead. Many commentators have confidently concluded that Keir Starmer's party has lost relevance and cannot recover now that ...
I am a bit late on this post due to other commitments. But you will probably have heard by now that all four of us, Viv Parry, Tracey Huffer, Richard Huffer and myself have retained our seats on Shropshire Council. Looking at the countywide picture, we look like an oasis of calmness as the Conservatives take a battering across the county and the Greens storm Oswestry. There was a big turnout for the one contested seat for Ludlow Town Council. A new face won more than 50% of the votes. It is pretty much all change at Shrewsbury and Oswestry ...
The UK is sliding into a major constitutional crisis. The future of the Union itself presents the most immediate issue, with rising discontent in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. And Johnson's casual dismissal of the conventions of constitutional behaviour, his insistence that as 'the people's government' (on 43.5% of the national vote in December 2019) he and his ministers can push back parliamentary scrutiny and sweep aside reasoned criticism, is taking us down the road from liberal democracy to authoritarian rule. Right-wing think tanks call this 'post-liberalism' - a kinder concept than authoritarian populism. Constitutional, deliberative democracy is at the ...
One more electoral administration story from this year's local elections, following the problems with ballot paper errors and people being asked to vote for the wrong ward. This one is from Peterborough where some voters were told they had one vote rather than two: Two seats were up for grabs in Fletton and Woodston in the Peterborough City Council elections, which were taken by Andy Coles (Conservative) with 997 votes and Imtiaz Ali (Labour and Co-operative Party) with 933. However in one polling station 87 voters were told only to choose one candidate rather than two – and with runners-up ...
Sun, 19:08: Giddy UUP: @BeattieDoug 's challenges as the next @uuponline leader #northernireland https://t.co/ZyIUpV2d38 Sun, 20:48: RT @lewis_goodall: NEW: Stonking result for the Greens in Bristol, they've won 13 seats, all of Labour. They're now in joint first place wi... Sun, 23:40: RT @nevillebagnall: @nwbrux @KeohaneDan @BeattieDoug @uuponline Strikes me as spot on. A liberal UUP might slow the drift of liberals to Al... Mon, 09:30: Whoniversaries 10 May https://t.co/dVdesT603S Mon, 10:45: RT @ChristiCorvus: Place your bets on how low turnout will go for the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner by-election now. The last by...
In my last blog I talked about my views on the Liverpool elections and in this one I have a look at the national picture. It's very clear to me that politics is working in very different ways in different ... Continue reading →
There are those who will try and spin Labour's results from last week's 'Super Thursday' elections as not all that bad. 'Look at all those mayors!' and 'It's early in Keir's leadership still!' will abound. But make no mistake – Labour are in the shit. The Hartlepool by-election result on its own was terrible enough, but it gets worse for Labour – so many of the places they lost seats in England are precisely the type of areas they need to be winning over and are clearly not. If these voters won't plump for Labour during a local election, it ...
American-style voter suppression is alive and well and about to come to the UK, at least that is what is now being proposed to appear in the Queen's Speech tomorrow, as the Tories are poised to insist that Britons will have to show photo ID to vote in future general elections. This proposal is being mooted in the absence of any evidence of electoral fraud in the UK, in 2019 there was just one conviction and one police caution for impersonating another voter. That does not seem to deter Ministers, especially as a major consequence of this 'reform' is likely ...
Yesterday, the first part of this review was a tale of Liberal Democrat disaster and Green triumph. Today, at least from a Liberal Democrat perspective, I offer you something a little more edifying... If ever there was a message that persistence pays off, Stowmarket South provided a tale of triumph for Keith Scarff at the fifth attempt. His first attempt saw him come third in 2005, 540 votes adrift in a respectable third place. By 2009, he'd got within 73 votes in second, and got even closer in 2009, losing by 40 but coming third in a knife edge contest. ...
I welcome guest posts on Liberal England and am happy to publish obes on subjects far beyond the Liberal Democrats and British politics. In fact I could do with some guest posts on what the Lib Dems should do in the light of Thursday's elections. I am now a full-time carer, which limits the time I have to write longer posts of that sort. If you would like to write for this blog, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. Here are the 10 most recent guest posts I have published: Unionism is making the Scottish ...
i) births and deaths 10 May 1998: death of Dalek operator Robert Jewell 10 May 2017: death of Geoffrey Bayldon, who played Organon in The Creature from the Pit (1979) and the alternate timeline Doctor-who-never-left-Gallifrey in Big Finish audios Auld Mortality (2003) and A Storm of Angels (2005). Also Catweazle. ii) broadcast anniversaries 10 May 1969: broadcast of fourth episode of The War Games. The Doctor and Zoe start to explore Central Control, and in a chilling moment the Doctor and the War Chief recognise each other. 10 May 1974: broadcast of fourth episode of Revenge of the Cybermen, ending ...
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Local Elections 2021: The county results - Nutting dismissed & opposition parties gain but fail ...
Elections can be thrilling, exhausting and disappointing all at once. That was certainly the case in the Shropshire Council elections last Thursday. Council leader Peter Nutting, the man who put Shrewsbury first in everything, was thrown off Shropshire Council and Shrewsbury Town Council. The Conservatives gained 11% more seats across England with the Boris Bounce but in Shropshire they lost 12% of their seats. For the first time, the Green Party showed strength across the county, taking four seats. Labour gained one seat and the Lib Dems two. There could not be a clearer message. Whatever is happening elsewhere in ...
It's been a tough decade or so to be a Liberal Democrat – losing sucks, and watching your friends and colleagues fight unsuccessful campaigns doesn't exactly raise the spirits. But this year felt a bit better, despite the losses in some places, some familiar faces were pictured smiling, and there were plenty of new faces doing the same. We've demonstrated some relevance and proven that, with hard work, spirit and persistence (and, occasionally, a fair wind), Liberal Democrats can win pretty much anywhere. That's not to say that the results are great. Caron, who knows far more than I ever ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 10 MAY 2021 BT Cable Renewal Programme - rolling off peak temporary traffic lights at various location from Monday 26 April for 2 weeks - streets affected in order are: Strathmore Avenue (at Hospital Street); Loons Road (at Gardner Street); Logie Street (at Ancrum Road); Glamis Road (at Ancrum Road); City Road (at Pentland Avenue); Charleston Drive (at Yarrow Terrace); Glamis Road (at Elmwood Road); Blackness Road (at Seymour Street) and Perth Road (at Pennycook Lane). Ninewells Avenue (Perth Road to Ninewells Drive) - ...
