Gateshead's annual council meeting was held earlier this month and we saw at it the results of what could be a coup on the Labour benches. Deputy Leader Catherine Donovan was spotted sitting in the second row of the council chamber. This is the area for those who hold no office other than being on the cabinet. Her seat of the past 9 years on the front bench was occupied by Cllr Gary Haley. Well,
Thames Water must be turned into a public benefit company Prepayment Meters: victims must see compensation before the winter and debts fully written off Defra cuts: Government treating rural communities with "gobsmacking contempt" Police chiefs letter: police and criminal justice systems need "real leadership" say Lib Dems Scot Lib Dems call for new treatment pathways for neurodiversity McArthur writes to MSPs as France backs assisted dying Jardine calls for the scrapping of the Two Child Cap Thames Water must be turned into a public benefit company Speaking on the £122.7m fine handed down to Thames Water, Lib Dem Environment, Food, ...
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award. The case continues.
Someone on Conservative Home has come up with a bright new idea to save the Conservative Party. It's a pact with the Liberal Democrats. Peter Franklin, an associate editor on UnHerd, has noticed the straits the Tories are in: Poll after poll shows Conservative support on less than 20 per cent. Thanks to the cliff-edge effect in the electoral system, we'd lose most of the 121 seats we clung on to last year. In short, we're on the brink of extinction as a major political party. And a pact with the Lib Dems is his recipe for saving them. Why ...
My family loomed so large for me; a core where our integrity was in the blood. Fireworks and flares and massive, true solidity. Although it is a small thing in the world its marks cut through me like a brand, striped dark and raw below thin skin; seared muscle under faded scars Our shared blessing and misfortune The birthmark of morality still whips up dissonance that strikes against artful urbane facades we've drawn, reworked and built; rebuilt so nothing but a wraith remains. A skeleton of who we were that haunts each corner every day
Nick Clegg, is arguably the best modern Liberal Democrat British Politician by virtue through taking the party into power in 2010. You may be thinking why does he need defending within our own party? That is a good question considering if he was in the Conservative and Labour Parties, he would be feted (apart from Tony Blair due to Iraq) for taking the party into Government for the first time since the Second World War. Yet Mathew Hulbert suggests it would be wise for him to make fewer public interventions as possible, despite being a former Deputy Prime Minister. Why ...
May's local elections confirmed what opinion polls had been indicating for several months: that England now has five political parties attracting between 10% and 30% of voters. Nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales make six serious parties: an even more crowded field. Of course it's possible that over the next four years UK politics might return to its traditional two-party model. But that doesn't look likely. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives any longer command the automatic support of a large proportion of voters, nor the mass membership that used to provide local organisations throughout the country. Other divides apart from ...
"We are not yet a year on from the appalling events in Southport and the violence which followed. That violence was largely based on misinformation and lies and a campaign of mendacity which polluted social media. ... It is in this context that Merseyside Police took the virtually unprecedented step of identifying the ethnicity of the suspect within hours of the incident taking place - a 53 year-old white British man, local to the Liverpool area."Lewis Goodall says the far-right voices complaining about this decision by Merseyside Police are the same ones that made it inevitable. Fintan O'Toole explains why, ...
One day you wake up and find you own1 albums by Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. You don't remember buying them, but they are there. Congratulations, you are a grown up.2 The Last Time I Saw Richard is the final track on Joni Mitchell's Blue, and is the best song about disillusionment I know. Notes Of course, young people don't own any music, as one day they may discover to their cost.What does this tell us about Canada?
In just under a year, Wales will go to the polls to vote in the Senedd elections. These elections will determine the composition of the new 96-member Senedd, with polls currently indicating either a Labour minority government (Survation and Nation Cymru) or a Plaid Cymru minority government (YouGov). Regardless of which party becomes the senior partner in government, every poll positions Reform just single digits away from forming a minority government themselves. Survation and Nation Cymru place them joint-second with Plaid, while YouGov ranks them outright second, only 5% behind Plaid; the party's prospects appear promising. Each poll also suggests ...
Liberal Democrat Newswire #197 came out over the bank holiday 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 #197 and before we get stuck into this edition, congratulations to our councillors newly elected since last time, along with their agents: Mark Harding, Lisa Webster, John Shepherd, Louise Potter, Tim Martland, Darren Gratton and Michael Skelton. This time's edition includes an exclusive extract from Ed Davey's new book along with news about ...
EMERGENCY ROAD CLOSURES - we have received these two emergency traffic orders yesterday following water mains issues currently being tackled by Scottish Water : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14 (3) 1. THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that there is a likelihood of DAMAGE TO THE ROAD hereby PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Shaftesbury Road (between Hyndford Street and Seymour Street), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Wednesday 21st May 2025 for 2 weeks. A diversion is available via Hyndford Street / Speed Street / Seymour Street and in reverse. ...
Nigel Farage and his limited company may consider themselves to be disruptors and that could well be getting them good poll ratigns, but with success comes scrutiny, and that is going to hurt. The Guardian reports that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said Reform UK's plans to raise the threshold for paying income tax to £20,000 would cost between £50bn and £80bn: PA Media reports Stuart Adam, a senior economist at the research institute, said the announcements on winter fuel and the two-child benefit cap were "dwarfed" by the tax policy. He told BBC Radio 4's World At One ...
