The Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal - from Watford in Northamptonshire to Leicester - will be closed next week to conserve water, reports HFM News. This length includes the famous Foxton Locks near Market Harborough. The Canal and River Trust has taken the decision because the reservoirs that feed the canal, including Saddington Reservoir, are unusually low because of the drought. While drought will always be a problem for the canals, I get the impression that a backlog of maintenance, caused by the trust's financial position, was already leading to more closures than in a usual summer. Anyway, ...
Unsolved crime epidemic continues as shoplifting cases soar by 20% UK/India Trade Deal: Only a fraction of what we could get from the EU Ed Davey calls for UK airdrops to get aid to Gazans Welsh Lib Dems comment as waiting lists rise again Unsolved crime epidemic continues as shoplifting cases soar by 20% Following the release of new crime statistics, the Liberal Democrats have accused the Labour Government of not doing enough to tackle the "unsolved crime epidemic" left behind by the previous Conservative government. The statistics revealed that in the year ending March 2025, shoplifting offences soared by ...
Embed from Getty ImagesOn Tuesday Ralphie Albert, a left-arm spinner on Surrey's books, took 6-43 to give England a first innings lead over India in the second under-19 test match. Though Albert was again England's best bowler in India's second innings, taking 4-76, the game ended in a draw. He also played in the first test and scored a fifty. Trivia fans will be pleased to hear that Ralphie Albert is the grandson of the snooker legend Jimmy White.
At spring conference, Fraser Graham organised trans pride coloured stall mascots for most stalls in the exhibition hall. This was very popular, with many stall holders bonding with their beasties and most of them finding forever homes at the end of conference. Following the success of the various yarn beasties at Harrogate, several people asked us if we were planning on repeating it at Bournemouth next September. We are hoping the answer will be "yes, and..." Yes, and we'd like a calmer crafting experience. Yes, and now we know people want them, we can be clearer about expectations. Yes, and ...
Embed from Getty ImagesThanks to a nomination from a sharp-eyed Liberal England reader, The Standard wins our Headline of the Day Award. Appropriately enough, the judges had nothing to say about their verdict.
As a Liberal, I think it is always important to know where we stand on matters and, just as important, to know why we stand there. After 'do no harm', a very basic tenet of liberalism is that all people are free to do, say and think whatever they like, when and wheresoever they like, as long as, is so doing, they do not infringe anyone else's right to do the same. In our liberal democracy, this simple yardstick should be all that a government requires to ensure the freedoms of its citizens and to protect us from those who ...
Thu 24th
14:02
Lib Dems pick charity chief exec and environmental campaigner to top South Scotland list
Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced that charity chief executive Duncan Dunlop and environmental campaigner Ray Georgeson will top the party's list for the South of Scotland region at the Scottish Parliament election next May. Duncan was born in Kinloch Rannoch on the edge of the Scottish Highlands. After studying at Edinburgh University, he lived in many places across the world and the UK, before returning to Scotland in 2008. He is a keen rugby enthusiast and coaches mini rugby. Professionally Duncan is a qualified youth worker and an experienced chief executive who specializes in care system reform with over 25 ...
On Wednesday, 16 July, I attended my first Full Council meeting as a Deputy Mayor. I sat quietly next to the Mayor of Welwyn Hatfield. It did feel different. Did it feel strange? Yes, it did. Sitting at the "top table" means that we are no longer able to take an active part in Council debates, but we are here to Chair the Council proceedings. My role is "limited" further, as I am there to mainly support the Mayor. I would like to think that I have always been an active Councillor; not only outside of the Chamber, but also ...
"Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change," wrote neoclassical economist and free-market libertarian Milton Friedman. "When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around." This means that we need ideas. Furthermore, when we need them, Milton argues, we need them in a hurry. And so we need ideas 'lying around'. Ideally good ones. Milton knew a bit about ideas*. He was one of the intellectual leaders of the Chicago school of economics. He wrote books, academic papers and newspaper columns. His work brought monetary policy back onto the ...
On a recent summer evening, members of the Liberal Democrat European Group were able to join an online webinar, chaired by David Chalmers of our Federal International Relations Committee, to hear directly from our Georgian sister parties in ALDE. Representatives from Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Girchi - More Freedom, and Droa spoke openly and courageously about the deepening political crisis in Georgia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country emerged as a democratic state, but that democracy is now under attack, influenced by their Russian neighbours. The message from all of the parties was urgent: democracy in their country is ...
Thu 24th
07:50
Book Review... All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between by Mike Parker
This review appears in the new issue of Liberator. You can download it free of charge from the magazine's website. All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between Mike Parker Harper North, 2024; £10.99 The Welsh border is the most intoxicating landscape I know, and Mike Parker is a companionable guide to it. Immune to the tendency to complain that things aren't what they used to be - when were they ever? - he is interested in the towns and countryside as he finds them today. Parker made the journeys he describes in this book during the Covid ...
Lib Dems slam Govt for forcing through foreign state news ownership in face of "historic" cross-party resistance Cleverly on ECHR: Cracks in Badenoch's reshuffle starting to show Lib Dems slam Govt for forcing through foreign state news ownership in face of "historic" cross-party resistance The Liberal Democrats have slammed the Government's move to disregard cross-party opposition in the Lords and force through legislation allowing foreign states to own a larger stake in British news outlets. The Government has pushed through legislation that will allow foreign states to buy substantial stakes in UK newspapers in a "dark and dangerous" move for ...
Former Liberal Democrat leaders are often to be found at the Hall. There's Vince "High-Voltage" Cable, Gloria Swinson and Tim Farron, whom Lord Bonkers still suspects, on no firm evidence, of wanting to rip out the pews of St Asquith's and make everyone sing "Shine, Jesus, Shine". For reasons that are soon explained, Nick Clegg is a rarer visitor. Wednesday Another advantage of Meadowcroft being in Cornwall is that it's now safe to invite Clegg to the Hall. I'm afraid my gardener has never forgiven our former leader for setting light to the collection of cacti he spent so many ...
Although our usual Tuesday surgeries at local schools and Blackness Library do not take place during the school holidays, we are holding a Thursday street surgery tonight to speak with residents on any local issues or concerns they may have. Should you have an issue you wish to discuss with us, e-mail us at westend@dundeelibdems.org.uk or call Dundee 459378 and we will be pleased to meet you - many thanks.
While the debate as to what exactly Reform's policies are goes on, it is worth looking again as what exactly they are doing in areas where they control local government. The indications are that Reform are pretty much the sort of self-interested politicians we would expect, whose priorities are suspect to say the least. The first indication of this trend was found in Scarborough where, as the BBC report, Reform UK Mayor Thomas Murray, will be given a £3,500 allowance, after the authority's annual budget was approved last week, a 600% increase: According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a ...
