Well. There's a danger to thinking that Donald Trump can't get any worse. He will inevitably disappoint you by sinking even lower. Tonight's row with Zelensky in the Oval Office was a case in point. It was always going to be a set-up for the brave Ukrainian leader but I don't think any of us had quite anticipated the appalling scenes we saw. How he managed to handle himself with such calmness and dignity in the face of that barrage is beyond me. One of many lowlights from Trump was him saying that he couldn't condemn Putin because he couldn't ...
The blurb on the Court Above the Cut YouTube channel - like, subscribe and tell your friends - explains what's going on here: Digging a new line of canal at Malswick near Newent. This exciting project from the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire canal is on land next to the old line and Gloucester & Ledbury railway. Join us as we explore the area and look into what's happened, is happening and what will happen in the future. The line ran from the River Severn in Over through Newent, Ledbury and on to Hereford taking in three tunnels including the Oxenhall Tunnel. ...
The new London Review of Books has a substantial article by Peter Geoghegan on SDP researcher turned right-wing media mogul Paul Marshall. It takes us through his career, from researcher to Charles Kennedy in Kennedy's days as an SDP Alliance MP, via his own candidacy in the 1987 general election to his take over of the party's ailing think-tank Centre for Reform. He relaunched this as CentreForum, with a far more right-wing agenda. Then it's on to The Orange Book, which Geoghegan, unlike many of its critics and adherents, appears to have read: Many Lib Dems still remember Marshall primarily ...
We celebrated 2 principal council by-election wins this week. Thank you to everyone who stood and campaigned for us. We enjoyed some fantastic results. In East Suffolk DC we held Woodbridge ward with a spectacular 25% increase in our share of the vote. Congratulations to Cllr Ruth Leach and everyone who supported the campaign. It is our best vote share increase of the year so far. East Suffolk DC, Woodbridge Liberal Democrats (Ruth Leach): 1023 (53.6%, +25.4%) Conservative: 391 (20.5%, +1%) Reform: 274 (14.4%, new) Labour: 219 (11.5%, -8.4%) In Westmoreland and Furness Council we held Eamont and Shap ward ...
I was very interested in the recent article on NHS procurement. As a small business owner I have had multiple dealing with state procurement systems in all their awful grandeur over the years. They may seem dull but in a wholesale reformation of them lies a method of unlocking a massively more efficient and productive state. UK procurement rules were originally set up to align with EU Directives and with the laudable objective of providing a level platform for competitive tendering for major projects. However intention and execution rarely coincide with regard to British bureaucracy and, while European governments seem ...
Here is how it goes. Let's say it starts with the Government doing something bad, like raise a tax by £20bn., to fund a bunch of stuff. People don't like tax, according to science, and so those affected complain. There are plenty of ways that they might complain: to the journalists ringing around asking for views on the Budget, on social media, in response to surveys, and so on. They report it to the Treasury officials tasked with calling them up to find out how the Budget went down, who then say things like "badly" to the anxious ministers and ...
Embed from Getty ImagesBoris Spassky, former world chess champion, died yesterday. His match against Bobby Fischer in 1972 put the game on the front pages of the world's newspapers. He was brave and fluent player, who made you feel that you could play attacking chess like that too. He was equally at home playing king's pawn and queen's pawn openings as White - a novelty in those days, but now something expected of every grandmaster. I'm reminded of the way W.G. Grace revolutionised batting in cricket by being able to play off the front and back foot. There's a good ...
Five principal authority council by-elections this week and although there were only three Liberal Democrat candidates, at least that was the same number as the previous time these seats were up. Let us start with a ward which very much had a Lib Dem standing and is in Tim Farron's constituency: Eamont & Shap (Westmorland & Furness) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 67.2% (+1.5) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 20.5% (-13.8) [IMG: 🏘] PCF: 6.5% (New) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 5.8% (New)Liberal Democrat HOLD.Changes w/ 2022. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2025-02-28T00:28:38.853Z
Liberal Democrat Newswire #193 came out last week and you can now also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, just sign up now: Welcome to Lib Dem Newswire #193 and before we get stuck into this edition, congratulations to our councillors newly elected since last time, along with their agents: Josie Mullen, Chetna Jamthe, Richard Wilson, Liam Pollard, Helena Goldwater, Peter Wilkins and Charlie Clinton. A reminder also that if you are moving over to using Bluesky, you can find a Starter Pack ...
Ed Davey has been writing a book entitled Why I Care: And Why Care Matters, which has been taken up by the publisher HarperCollins. Note that this is a holding cover ... The Bookseller has an article about it, although it is incorrect in stating that it is Ed's debut – in 2001 he wrote Making MP's Work for Our Money: Reforming Parliament's Role in Budget Scrutiny, and he has contributed to several other volumes. The Bookseller give us a quote from the Editorial director for HarperNorth Jonathan de Peyer: Ed's story, which he has so bravely made a key ...
Last night (27th Feb 2025) I ventured to Sunderland to enjoy the delights of the Sunderland Lib Dem annual dinner at the Roma Italian Restaurant. I was placed next to the contingent from Newcastle which gave me the opportunity to quiz them about the disintegration of the ruling Labour group, which is now technically without a majority. The guest speaker was Lord John Shipley who spoke about
The closure threat to public libraries across Scotland has highlighted a major flaw in the funding of local authorities. Chronic underfunding over the last 14 years, has resulted in a year-on-year hunt around budget time to find services to cuts. No where is this better illustrated than in the situation around public libraries, that have been seen as soft targets, and those servicing rural and coastal communities are seen as fair game for savings. In urban areas where there may be several library branches within a city or large town it is an issue, but in the rural and coastal ...
Yesterday, Dundee City Council set its revenue budget for 2025/26. There were three proposals - LibDem, SNP and Labour. The Liberal Democrat proposal was for the lowest increase in Council Tax of 4.94% but the SNP administration won the vote (15-5 against us) and their proposal for an 8% increase was passed. Cllr Fraser Macpherson, Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader, said : "Many of the possible cuts proposals in the council's recent budget consultation were totally unacceptable and our starting point was to listen to the feedback from Dundee residents in their concerns about many of the proposals. We totally ...
There is no doubt in my mind that the decision to increase spending on defence to 2.5% of GDP and more is the correct path, but like a number of other people I perturbed at the fact that it is being funded by cutting internatioal aid. It seems that there is not unanimity within the government either. The Guardian reports that cabinet ministers including Ed Miliband have raised concerns over Keir Starmer's decision to slash overseas aid to pay for increased defence spending, while dozens of Labour MPs from all wings of the party have also expressed alarm at the ...
