A Liberal Democrat press release says... The Liberal Democrats have called for the police to investigate reports that over 100 Downing Street staff were invited to a "bring your own booze" party in the Number 10 garden during the first lockdown on 20 May 2020. Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: This garden party looks like a clear breach of lockdown rules at a time the public were being ordered to stay at home. Boris Johnson himself said just days after this party that the police should step in to stop people holding outdoor gatherings. It would ...
Last year we donated two goats - Sooty and Sweep - to Birkheads Wild Community Interest Company (CIC) which works with children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The goats are brother and sister and were born two years ago. I hand raised them as their mum rejected them. I first encountered Birkheads Wild at a school fair in 2019. I had 2 other goats there (and a stall selling homemade jam) and the
Responding to reports by ITV News that Downing Street staff were invited to a drinks party in the Number 10 garden during the national lockdown on May 20 2020, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: This is yet more evidence that while the vast majority of people were sticking to the rules, those in Number Ten were breaking them. It is a kick in the teeth for everyone who has sacrificed so much during the pandemic, from those who weren't able to visit loved ones in hospital to nurses left wearing binbags as PPE. To add insult to injury, on ...
While time (presumably) passes at the same rate for everyone, the way in which we observe the passage of this time is much more personal to each of us. Continue reading →
Mon 10th
17:17
Northern Ireland a Generation after Good Friday, C. Coulter, N. Gilmartin, K. Hayward, P. Shirlow
Second paragraph of third chapter:Prisoner release was probably on a par with policing reform as one of the most contentious issues that arose from the Good Friday Agreement (hereafter GFA). The political representatives of conflict-related prisoners such as Sinn Fein, the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) and the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) had sufficient influence to argue convincingly that the release of prisoners would advance the delivery of demobilisation and disarmament. While sitting at the heart of wider Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR)1 strategies at that time, the onset of decommissioning and disarmament has led to a decline in the status ...
[IMG: Mummy bag / sleeping bag (Smack, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)] On Friday 11 March I will join local business people and community leaders at a Folkestone sleep out to raise vital funds for Porchlight and local charities supported by Channel Rotary. Not only would I REALLY appreciate your sponsorship for taking part, but the Rotary and Porchlight would massively appreciate it too, as this event is designed to raise money for those two awesome charities. Over 9,300 people face homelessness this winter. Porchlight provides a pathway of services from street outreach and supported accommodation to education and employment ...
A very happy new year to all who may read this my first blog post of 2022, and the first I have made in a long time! Now I could give excuses about being too busy or something like that but the truth is I have not felt up to blogging for quite sometime now. [...]
Data acquired by the Liberal Democrats has revealed a growing dentist staffing crisis as almost 1,000 practitioners have walked away from the profession in the past twelve months. Official figures show there were 23,733 dental practitioners in 2021 – 951 fewer than the previous year, leaving more patients struggling to get the dental care they need. The information, first covered in the Express, was published in response to a Parliamentary Question by Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey, who is calling for urgent action to ensure people can get the treatment they need. Commenting, Ed Davey MP said: The lack of ...
There's been a lot of argument in the past few days about the corona pandemic i.e. acute, to becoming endemic i.e. something which continues to work at a low but containable level in our society. This is not a subject ... Continue reading →
Sun, 12:56: Will Britain Survive? https://t.co/fkh0rewrcP Great piece (as usual) from @TomMcTague. Sun, 14:48: RT @CateSpice: One month since the Self-ID Bill passed in New Zealand parliament! As yet we haven't seen a 'breakdown of the social contra... Sun, 16:31: Les Mondes d'Aldébaran: L'Encyclopédie Illustrée, by Christophe Quillien https://t.co/BaYSUQhOtf Sun, 17:59: Since @bohemiancoast asked: two answers on counting the Hugos - EPH and Best Dramatic Presentation https://t.co/FFqApnpR7k Sun, 19:36: RT @MSmithsonPB: Terrible numbers for the PM in YouGov poll of CON party members. https://t.co/7CPCN7qXqk https://t.co/mCmN63C6z3 Mon, 07:32: Wordle 205 4/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Mon, 10:45: Democracy Drinks: 'What better ...
There is some damning criticism of government ministers and their spending plans in today's Times. The paper quotes the head of the National Audit Office, Gareth Davies, who has concluded that Ministers and officials are spending billions of pounds on projects that are never properly evaluated. Mr. Davies says that too often the government has not learnt from its failures and has "little information" on "what difference is made by the billions of pounds being spent": In an article for The Times Davies, who took over at the spending watchdog in May 2019, says that he was concerned to see ...
Good morning, everyone, and welcome! Your day editor is a slightly wounded one today, as my right shoulder doesn't appear to have taken kindly to being fallen on three weeks ago. A sign of increasing old age, I fear. But the show must go on, and so it will... As the Government finds itself in a "cost of living" crisis, a series of decisions already made look like making matters worse. Freezing the personal allowance and tax rate thresholds will bring more people into the income tax bracket, and more into the higher rate bracket too, as noted previously. Perhaps ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 10 JANUARY 2022 Perth Road (between River Crescent and Riverside Place) - rolling 2 way temporary traffic lights from Monday 10 January for 5 days for City Fibre works. Forthcoming Roadworks Taits Lane - closed from 20 January for 2 weeks for footway resurfacing. Perth Road - westbound lane closure (off-peak) between Blackness Avenue and Windsor Street from Monday 24 January for 10 days for Road Safety works.
