John Rogers forsakes psychogeographic London and walks along the white cliffs from Dover to Deal. As his blurb on YouTube says: The glorious walk takes us over the famous White Cliffs of Dover. We get amazing views across the Channel to the coast of France around Calais. I stopped for lunch at South Foreland Lighthouse then strolled through St Margaret's Bay, Kingsdown Beach, Walmer with its castle and the site where Julius Caesar led the Roman invasion of Britain in 55BC. Our beautiful South Coast Kent walk ends at Deal. John blogs at The Lost Byway and has a Patreon ...
Embed from Getty ImagesOver on Twitter, the independent journalist Matt Kennard claims: A source within the UK civil service has seen briefing notes prepared for a private meeting between Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Israel's ambassador to Britain, Tzipi Hotovely, scheduled for tomorrow. Nandy will tell the Ambassador she believes the BBC is "institutionally antisemitic" and that "one mistake is an editing error but if you have multiple mistakes you need to look at the leadership". I don't know if this will come to pass, but the story does give me an excuse for remembering just how weak Lisa Nandy ...
On Saturday I spent the day just outside of Coventry, at the beautiful University of Warwick, at the Amnesty International UK Amplify Summit (incorporating its AGM and national conference). It was a fantastic day, full of fantastic speeches, workshops, and networking opportunities with hundreds of people who care passionately about the dignity and the human rights of all. By far the most impactful session that I attended was called 'Social Insecurity: Everyday Rights in 2025.' This wasn't about a situation in some far off place, which you may care a great deal about but doesn't necessarily affect your own community. ...
Embed from Getty ImagesRejected Reform UK candidates in East Thanet are being encouraged to apply again under what are described as a new set of "common sense" standards. Josiah Mortimer on Byline Times reports: A post on July 4 by Reform UK's official East Thanet Facebook page stated the party has adopted a new set of vetting standards as of July 7, which are "more proportionate than before". They claim to give more weight to "individual freedom of expression" - despite following a slew of scandals involving Reform candidates posting racist content online. In a call for candidates following the ...
It doesn't feel like 20 years since the 7/7 London bombings but it is now 2 decades since the worst terrorist incident on UK soil. Much of what happened still feels fresh in my mind. 20 years ago I was working for the Lib Dems in our then HQ, Cowley Street, as a policy officer. The policy areas for which I was responsible included local government. On 6th July, the Local Government
Mon 7th
16:29
ALS (MND) and the Mitochondria - what is the evidence that ALS is a mitochondrial disease?
Regular readers of my blog will have seen that I think there is solid evidence that some neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS (MND) and Parkinsons are caused by a deterioration of mitochondrial DNA primarily because of damage by free radicals (Reactive Oxygen Species - ROS) in the cells. This gradually causes the cells to fail to produce the right proteins and the cells stop working. I think
Just the last few days has brought Reform losing an MP, Reform's first-ever council by-election defences ending in failure, a Reform UK councillor being charged with assault and criminal damage, and a Reform council leader stepping down after only six weeks. Now The Doncaster Free Press reports: The City of Doncaster Council could soon hold a by-election following the resignation of a new Reform UK councillor... Sam Booth was elected for Reform UK in Bentley ward alongside Rebecca Booth and Labour's James Church at the May 2025 elections. A spokesperson for the Doncaster Reform UK group said Booth resigned for ...
Mon 7th
13:37
Beyond Neoliberalism: Rethinking freedom to create a post-growth liberalism fit for the 21st Century
The year is 1906. With the Conservatives failing to implement social reforms, people were desperate for change. Life under the Conservative government had significantly worsened – Booth's study found that at least 30% of London's population was living in poverty. Therefore, the British electorate responded with a landslide Liberal victory. But what sort of change would the New Liberal government bring? The New Liberal government recognised that the only way to move the country forward was to embrace radical change. Thus, New Liberalism was born. It was a philosophy which for the first time recognised that the state could have ...
Mon 7th
11:48Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine strongly oppose the Government's chilling extension of terrori...
Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine have issued the following statement about in response to the Government's decision to proscribe "Palestine Action". The Liberal Democrats are the party of civil liberties. We oppose government overreach and seek to defend the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The UK Government's decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation poses a grave threat to these fundamental rights and represents a dangerous expansion of counterterrorism powers. The definition of terrorism is intended to cover acts that cause death, serious personal injury or hostage taking. Palestine Action is a non violent ...
We can do pretty much everything virtually nowadays. We can send messages, hold meetings, attend events and buy clothes without at any point leaving the comfort of our own home. This applies as much to our work as it does to everything else. The wonders of Teams, Zoom, Google, Sharepoint, Slack and their counterparts mean that we truly can do business from wherever we like. It's all super convenient, of course. Especially for those of us who have commitments outside of work and can't necessarily leap onto a plane at a moment's notice. Or, at least, not without a series ...
People waiting over a year for Access to Work support as Lib Dems call on Government to scrap "gutted" welfare legislation Phillipson on Kuenssberg: Govt must give families reassurance on SEND support Baroness Maclean: Badenoch must confirm if she agrees with aide or apologise McMurdock investigation: Reform must come clean about what they knew More than 10,000 ferries cancelled due to technical faults People waiting over a year for Access to Work support as Lib Dems call on Government to scrap "gutted" welfare legislation Someone waited 393 days for a decision on their Access to Work application which offers support ...
Given the links between mtDNA damage, splicing, ALS (MND) and PD, an obvious thing to look at is Multiple Sclerosis. MS is a failure of the myelin sheaf. It has been thought to be as a result of an auto-immnue response, but an alternative perspective would be a failure of homeostasis. I thought I would ask chatGPT to look at both sides of the argument about splicing and this is the response:
Royal Victoria Hospital and Roxburghe House are currently looking for volunteer drivers who can help transport patients to their appointments. NHS Tayside offers mileage reimbursement and training. Come and join the wonderful and vibrant community of volunteers and staff. To find out more contact the team at tay.volunteeringroxburghedundee@nhs.scot or call 423128.
The Guardian reports that dozens of MPs have refused safety measures for their staff despite record levels of abuse and a spate of violent attacks, according to a group representing Commons workers. The paper says that staff employed by MPs have said that they have been put in "extremely dangerous" situations after a small number of parliamentarians "wilfully ignored" security advice: A confidential report sent to Commons authorities last year, seen by the Guardian, highlighted the concerns amid tension over the Gaza conflict and what it described as a rising number of "mentally and emotionally unstable constituents". One MP's constituency ...
