It always stuck me as odd that it should be MP Douglas Ross to take over the leadership, unopposed, of the Scottish Conservative Party in 2020. There are perfectly capable Tory MSPs in Holyrood who know the parliament and the lie of the land far better than Ross, who has only been the MP for Moray since 2017. So why didn't they through a hat into the ring when the unfortunate Jackson Carlaw stepped down? In May 2021, Ross also added the title of MSP to his list, so currently he is taking on the leadership of the Scottish party, ...
The Prime Minister gave his big speech on "Levelling Up" and as we discovered it is still a slogan in search of policies. The only positive was a half-formed idea around further devolution. If the pandemic has taught us anything from the separate policies of devolved First Ministers, Track and Trace to the spotlight on Metro Mayors, it is that effective policy can only be delivered at a local level. Our current constitutional settlement is obviously lopsided between Nations and the English Regions. What's worse, government fiat often dictates spending. It is time to recast our country and develop a ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:Another flash, dazzling and eerily silent.Another flash, dazzling and eerily silent.A retelling of Frankenstein from the point of view of one of the Scottish islanders, where Frankenstein creates a spouse for the mosnter. TBH I didn't really get it; I didn't find the use of dialogue convincing Scottish (let alone Frankenstein's use of German) and that rather threw me, and it was difficult to believe that early 19th-century islanders would behave as described. You can get it here. This was the shortest unread book on my shelves acquired in 2014. Next on that pile is Strange ...
We held the last of our summer meetings this week and now that the deadlines for motions for autumn conference have passed, we were able to focus squarely on thinking about our future plans. So there were fewer decisions, and mindful of FPC Meetings Reports Fatigue, I'll try and be briefer than usual! We've carried out Equalities Impact Assessments on all our recent policy papers. We now want to develop and strengthen this approach further and agreed a plan for doing this. Many thanks to Helen Cross, Lizzie Jewkes, Mohsin Khan and Tara Copeland for driving this forward. We have ...
The Guardian reports that internal emails suggest the government gave "VIP treatment" to a firm offering Covid testing facilities which had entered the system "informally" because Matt Hancock was "a good friend" of somebody working with the company. They say the emails between officials within the Department of Health and Social Care appear to contradict denials from that department and the Cabinet Office of the existence of a VIP or "fast track" process for firms with political connections seeking government contracts for Covid testing. The Animal Health Trust (AHT) had a laboratory based in Newmarket, in the then health secretary's ...
This post first appeared on the Radix UK blog... Like about half the UK population, I watched the football on the telly and went through the same mixture of emotions as everyone else who was watching. So let us just remind ourselves what they were - disappointment and also pride. What I particularly felt proud about - though it is unfashionable and probably horribly politically incorrect to say so - is being English. Thanks to the restrained calmness of Kane and Southgate. Of course, that was before the news about the violence and the muggings. In Sussex, most of the ...
At Lib Dem Voice we don't usually cover the results of political polls, because they do fluctuate. Also, paying too much attention to poll results can have unintended consequences for our party's campaigning. Liberal Democrats were riding high in the polls during the last elections to the European Parliament in 2019, and some people imagined that we could win a swathe of seats in the General Election later that year simply based on the polling data. Seasoned campaigners, however, know that we only win seats if we do a lot of work on the ground – the support shown in ...
Wed, 12:56: RT @BSFA: From Our Archive: Meetings With Remarkable Men By Christopher�Priest https://t.co/Sw7OZut53q Wed, 16:05: UK ministers need to read the NI protocol they signed https://t.co/e7DalpPzKO John Bruton lays it out. Wed, 17:11: RT @LordCFalconer: The government today just amended an absolute duty on it contained in an Act of Parliament by a motion in the Commons.... Wed, 20:48: RT @scarethehorses: The censoring of an artwork by a local council that sensitively draws attention to elements of local and national histo... Wed, 20:52: 2021 Hugo ballot: Best Novel https://t.co/8EA4a3WfDp </ul
This was my speech in response to the Conservative motion on SDEN: As you can see, our amendment fully supports the resolution to initiate an independent investigation into the issues noted in the motion. We are happy to do this because we have complete faith in the integrity of the modelling, the integrity and competence [...]
From the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden : The Illyria Outdoor Theatre Company is performing 'The further adventures of Dr Doolittle' in the garden this coming Saturday at 3.30pm. Tickets can be booked here. Bring your all weather wear just in case, and enjoy yourselves suitably socially distanced in the open air.
Lord Bonkers may be off on his travels, but we can still see what he was up to 30 years ago. Liberator 198 was dated July 1991 and in it we found that Lord Bonkers had got caught up with the New Age Travellers who were so alarming respectable opinion at the time. I suppose one can be an Anglican and a member of the Church of Rutland at the same time. Lord Bonkers has always been in favour of having it both ways. Friday On the morning of the summer solstice, what should the practising Anglican do but journey ...
