I thought it was a joke at first, a spoof. We're encouraging schools across the UK to celebrate One Britain One Nation Day on 25 June, when children can learn about our shared values of tolerance, kindness, pride and respect.#OBONDAY21 @1Britain1Nation For more information:https://t.co/y7PQblUeDN — Department for Education (@educationgovuk) June 21, 2021 Liberal Democrat activists singing along at home may wish to insert the word "blue" into the Pink Floyd lyrics: "All in all you're just another brick in the blue wall..." * Simon Foster is a lecturer in Politics and Economics, and has published 23 books on Politics, PSHE ...
A leading Lib Dem politician was kind enough to embrace ideas l advocate to use the existing housing stock to create affordable, social, market tenancies. As for societising the economy using new corporate form, quite correctly he pointed out that social enterprise exists already. Result, disappear into a cosy bunker and write about the politics of society and develop a coherent narrative of market societism, a free-market economy which operates for the common good. As l approach my final chapter l determined to keep my own counsel, until yesterday when l read an article by Daniel Finkelstein questioning the point ...
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. December 2011 was the month that I had my single biggest lobbying success in my time in Brussels - there have ...
The Times operates a pay wall for its online content. I have been paying £10 a month to access it. So it was a bit upsetting when my email provider decided their newsletters were junk (while being happy with The Guardian and Financial Times). It was rather more upsetting that it took me over a ... Continue reading The Lib Dems after Chesham & Amersham: time to move to the centre
Leading Tory commentator and former MP Matthew Parris commented in his last Saturday's Times column on our party's appeal in the by-election to people he sees as decent, middle-of-the road Conservatives who have a 'distaste' for Boris Johnson. However, he complained that our party avoids hard choices, "wobbles off the highway into the ditch of localism, neighbourhood grumbles, government intervention and 'whatever your gripe is (its) ours too". He even rudely accuses us of having "a big yellow streak" beyond our orange bird, and says that to have a fighting chance at the next election we will need to "learn ...
No sooner are we past the so-called freedom day than the Johnson government finally starts believing in the vaccine programme, having systematically undermined it for the last two months by pretending that vaccinated people pose a risk, should not socialise, travel and must be treated in the same way as those who have not been vaccinated. This makes a complete nonsense of the vaccination programme and has sent the message to vaccine 'hesitants' that there is therefore no point in getting the jab and maybe even that there is something bad about vaccines we aren't being told. Quite why Chris ...
It's not often that you will see a comment like this this from me but today the Government has made exactly the right decision over their clampdown on advertising of products which have high levels of fat, sugar and salt. ... Continue reading →
It is impossible to run a political party or an election campaign without the necessary financial resources. Political parties have three major sources of income: member subscriptions, trade union contributions and donor support. The alternative to such sources of revenue is for the state to provide tax payer support, or for campaigning spend to be very strictly curtailed, or a combination of both. The first of these alternatives, particularly if substantial sums were involved, would certainly not be popular with the wider public. The second would require a major reform of political expenditure, and currently does not have the support ...
Assuming that we will at some stage be able to go on holiday in Europe again, many holidaymakers will be shocked to discover that they will now have to pay roaming charges on their mobile phones. As the Independent reports, customers of O2 have been told they will be billed £3.50 for every gigabyte (GB) of data used above a new limit of 25GB, from August. This announcement came exactly five years after the UK voted to leave the EU, and was made possible because the Christmas Eve trade agreement signed by the UK left open the option of the ...
Wed, 12:31: RT @po8crg: @nwbrux Dunno if you saw down-thread, but someone did an accumulator bet on it: https://t.co/XMH7FG3bFF Wed, 12:31: It is one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-six days since the Brexit referendum - exactly five years today - and I am still angry. https://t.co/Ssmiz5I2bY Wed, 12:56: Mike Oldfield - Portsmouth https://t.co/druIuJ6dgP My god. This has to be the most Seventies thing ever. Wed, 13:30: RT @BohemianCoast: @nwbrux All the comments about 'proper music' are very hilarious if you know the staggering production levels Oldfield b... Wed, 17:36: RT @cmioffice: Nobel Peace Laureate Martti Ahtisaari turns 84 years today. ...
i) births and deaths 24 June 1985: death of Valentine Dyall, who played the Black Guardian in The Armageddon Factor (Fourth Doctor, 1979), Mawdryn Undead, Terminus, and Enlightenment (all Fifth Doctor, 1982). And Slarn in Slipback (Sixth Doctor audio, 1985). ii) broadcast anniversaries 24 June 1967: broadcast of sixth episode of The Evil of the Daleks. Everyone is brought to Skaro, where the Emperor Dalek instructs the Doctor to transform humanity into Daleks. 24 June 1972: broadcast of sixth episode of The Time Monster, ending Season 9 of Old Who. The Doctor defeats the Master, but persuades Kronos to spare ...
Responding to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's statement, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Defence Jamie Stone MP said: "The report by a BBC correspondent that HMS Defender was "harassed" paints a very concerning picture. The Secretary of State must set out exactly what took place."Her Majesty's Government must ensure that a continuous global positioning livestream can publicly validate the true position of all our warships, at all times, in real time. This will help keep our warships safe and clearly identify acts of aggression based on false claims of ships' positions at any time."
Many thanks to the residents who contacted me earlier this month about damage to the wall at the residents' car park between Polepark Road and Lower Pleasance. I reported this to Neighbourhood Services at the City Council and the Housing Support Officer has since responded as follows : "(In response) to your enquiry sent 06/06/21 regarding the issue with the damaged wall at the car park adjacent to 45-65 Polepark Road ... a repair was logged on 08/06/21 to carrying out reinstatement work here. This is shown as completed on our system 11/06/21 so the issue should now be resolved." ...
