It is, occasionally, easy to forget that I first became Chair of Creeting St Peter Parish Council in 2018 and, apart from a brief intermission in 2022, I've been in the role ever since. My colleagues, a mostly revolving cast of lovely people, keep telling me how good I am at it (which is nice), although I deeply suspect that this is by way of ensuring that they don't have to do it themselves. And so, last night's Annual Parish and Annual Parish Council Meetings were, whilst theoretically an opportunity for someone to take over, I sensed that, despite my ...
Health Foundation mortality report: must be a "wake-up call" for Government to turnaround these "unacceptable statistics" Winter Fuel Payment: u-turn taking so long it puts "turning an oil tanker around to shame" Jamie Greene taking on additional role as transport spokesperson Lib Dems: UK Govt must ensure households compensated if worse off after RTS shutdown Rennie: Decline in college staff shows SNP neglect of further education McArthur comments on young offender death inquiry Greene responds to Liberty Steel news Cole-Hamilton presses SNP over failure to deliver Erasmus replacement Health Foundation mortality report: must be a "wake-up call" for Government to ...
A day later than usual, as I was busy being "gloriously" re-elected as Chair of Creeting St Peter Parish Council... Davey on UK-EU deal: "positive first steps" but PM must ignore Reform and Conservative "dinosaurs" Youth Mobility Scheme: UK needs "explicit details" not "woolly commitments" UK-EU deal: with "more ambition" economic benefits could have been "ten times greater" Scottish Water failure to follow up Holy Loch spilling "woefully complacent" Davey on UK-EU deal: "positive first steps" but PM must ignore Reform and Conservative "dinosaurs" Responding to reports that the UK and EU have reached a deal to be announced later ...
I've bloggedbefore about the Jesus Army, the cult that originated at Bugbrooke in Northamptonshire, and how compensation paid to survivors of abuse within it may reach £10m. And I've long wondered why this story has not received more media attention. That may at last be changing, as BBC2 is to show a two-part documentary, Inside the Jesus Army, on this scandal. I've not seen the transmission dates for them yet, but BBC Factual has page about the two programmes: Daisy Scalchi, Head of Commissioning, Religion and Ethics, said: "This is a shocking tale of abuse hiding in plain sight. Those ...
Cllr Tina Bhartwas, previously deputy leader of the Labour group on Hertfordshire County Council, has joined the Liberal Democrats. The Bishop's Stortford Independent reports: Cllr Bhartwas blamed a growing discomfort with some national Labour policies for her decision and said it was something she had been considering "for some time". She said that having experienced the "devastating impact" of welfare cuts herself growing up, she could not stand by "while this Government harms vulnerable people and scapegoats communities". She said she had hoped for changes during the local elections - but she said that had not happened and now she ...
I didn't plan to write this. I've just come through an intensive weekend, much of it spent in hospital. And it's from my bed, in the quiet hours between the beeping monitors and the routine checks, that I've had time to reflect not just on health, but on the health of this country. This is after I have witnessed two Filipino nurses spoken to and treated like something under a shoe. They did not deserve to be racially embarrassed in public, simply for stating they finished their shift three hours ago. Racism in Britain isn't always loud. It's often quiet, ...
The Liberal Democrats have overtaken the Conservatives have slipped to fourth place in a new YouGov opinion poll published today. We are in third place in the poll on 17 per cent, with the Tories in fourth place on 16 per cent. Reform tops the poll on 29 per cent, with Labour in second place on 22 per cent. All the usual caveats about making too much of one poll apply, but this still feels like a moment worth remarking. And it is a development that has been expected for some time, given recent trends in such polls. The Tories ...
This was all over the radio in 1970, but it wasn't a hit. Maybe people who liked Matt Monro didn't want to hear about demonstrations and people who went on demonstrations didn't buy Matt Monro records? But I've always liked it, and you did find the extra-parliamentary political culture of the era seeping into the charts. Think The Banner Man by Blue Mink or United We Stand by Brotherhood of Man. After I posted this song in 2009, I received an email from David Matthews, who wrote the music. He explained: "The lyrics were about the lives of my co-writer's ...
After a moment of epiphany, everything changes. Our brains get re-wired, and the world looks like a different place. Some people travel the world in search of these epiphanies, seeking spiritual guidance in some far-flung, lush, or exotic corner of the planet Me? My defining moment of epiphany struck in the West Midlands Town of Dudley, in an office block besides a roundabout off the A4123. I guess that's the thing about epiphanies: they tend to surprise you. The moment in question arrived during a Q&A session with Lord Chris Fox, at an event coordinated by the Lib Dem Business ...
Our West End surgeries take place later today. This week, they are as follows : Blackness Library (Tuesdays 5pm - every week during school term time) West End Campus (come to reception area of St Joseph's RC PS and Victoria Park PS) - (3rd Tuesday of each month at 5.45pm during school term time) All welcome - no appointment needed!
Whatever the Daily Mail, Daily Express and the other right wing press may be saying in sharing Nigel Farage's outrage, Starmer's deal with the EU is a welcome step forward in restoring some commonsense in our relations with the EU and in putting our economy back on some kind of track after the disaster that was Brexit. According to the Guardian, Number 10 Downing Street believe that this deal will add £9bn to the UK economy and lower food prices. That will have to be seen of course, but irrespective of the final impact, the deal does achieve some important ...
