Ed Davey calls for UK airdrops to get aid to Gazans Davey urges PM to pressure Trump on ending the humanitarian disaster in Gaza Doctors strike: Lib Dems call for patients to be sent to private hospitals to ease impact Lib Dems call on RAF to 'lead the way' on Gaza airdrops Lib Dems call for Family Farms Tax U-turn as record number of farms close Ed Davey calls for UK airdrops to get aid to Gazans Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on Keir Starmer to launch a UK airdrop operation over Gaza, in response to the reports ...
John McEvoy reveals that the government was advised Palestine Action is "highly unlikely" to advocate violence and that officials struggled to produce evidence the group posed a national security threat. "The might of the MATs give them a power within the DfE that smaller schools do not have, highlighted here in a 2019 Schools Week article reporting that an academy leader boasted that he 'flicked away safeguarding concerns' raised by a whistleblower."Pam Jarvis explores the dark side of multi-academy trusts. "Just in case anyone reading this doesn't have an inkling of the relevant law, this is horseshit of the highest ...
In Berkhamsted, we secured an overwhelming victory, successfully defending this seat. Well done to Cllr Will Jankowski and the local team for ensuring this seat remained in Liberal Democrats' control. Dacorum BC, Berkhamsted West Liberal Democrats (Will Jankowski): 643 (56.4%, -2.0) Conservative: 357 (31.3%, +8.5) Green Party: 99 (8.7%, -0.4) Labour: 41 (3.6%, -6.1) Liberal Democrats HOLD Turnout: 24.47% In Rutland, the Conservatives were able to secure victory, gaining this seat off the Green Party. Well done to Jonathan Nichols and the local team for ensuring that we finished in second place. Rutland Council, Barleythorpe Conservative: 209 (35.9%) Liberal Democrat ...
Central banks raise interest rates to control inflation. UK debtors have paid a ballpark £500 billion since rates began rising in November 2021, mostly through higher mortgage and credit card payments, averaging 7% of GDP each year. The banks keep a chunk, and the rest goes to their clients, with taxes collected along the way. The average UK saver is getting a few hundred pounds in interest each year but the vast majority of that half trillion (and rising) is going to the already rich. Yet over half of UK owner-occupation is outright ownership. Their savings grow from any interest ...
In November party members will be voting to elect our next Party President. At Lib Dem Voice we welcome posts from each of the candidates – one to launch their candidature (like this one) plus a maximum of one per week during the actual campaign. Populists are on the march across Britain. Reform are surging on the basis of exploiting people's fears and offering snake oil solutions for their own political gain. The Conservatives – still a formidable opponent of ours – have become little more than a Farage tribute act. And Labour are increasingly dancing to this dark tune; ...
Seven principal authority council by-elections this week and it is great to see a full slate of Liberal Democrat candidates, two up on the last time these wards were up. The results continue a recent trend of a cooling in the Reform performance. Still making gains, but also now missing out regularly too in contests up against Labour or the Conservatives. (They had already regularly been missing out in contests up against the Liberal Democrats.) As an example of that: Llanrumney (Cardiff) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 39.2% (-17.6) [IMG: ➡] RFM: 33.2% (New) [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 14.6% (+9.5) ...
Liberals have a proud record of opposing state intrusion into daily life. I learned the story of the Liberal role in liberating UK citizens from compulsory ID cards after the end of the Second World War when I was first a student Liberal. That was, after all, a form of 'Stop and Search', giving police and other public officials the right to demand that any one of us walking along the street or coming into an office can prove who we are. Harry Willcock, who refused to show his ID card to a policeman and afterwards tore it up outside ...
Fri 25th
08:16
Councillor and environmental campaigner tops Edinburgh and Lothians East regional list
Scottish Liberal Democrats have today announced that local councillor and environmental campaigner Sanne Dijkstra-Downie has been selected as the party's lead candidate for the Edinburgh and Lothians East regional list at next year's Scottish Parliament election. Sanne has lived in Edinburgh for 23 years. In her professional life, Sanne raises money for charities that provide educational opportunities, and helped to establish an ocean protection initiative. She has a strong record of community action, speaking out to secure better cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, more protection for Wardie Bay and to protect the Roseburn Path. In 2022, Sanne was elected as an ...
Fri 25th
08:05
The Jesus Army: A column for the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy
There is a long read on the Jesus Army in today Guardian, and on Sunday the BBC beings showing a two-part documentary series called Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army. I have been blogging about the Jesus Army several times in the last three years and devoted one of my quarterly Sighcology columns in the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy to it. Sighcology: The Jesus Army Somehow Bugbrooke isn't the sort of place you expect to spawn a dangerous cult. People with well-paid jobs in Northampton, a few miles to the east, search for houses there. It ...
No, Lord Bonkers is not pleased that Freddie and Fiona have bought a weekend cottage on the Bonkers Hall Estate. I foresee Hilarious Consequences. Thursday It was a downturn in world pork pie prices that led me to sell off some of the Estate cottages, one of which is currently occupied at weekends by Freddie and Fiona. I now bitterly regret that decision, as these properties are not available to more useful people, such as gamekeepers, itinerant philosophers and wintering county scorers. Still, I don't suppose F&F will live here for ever - at least, not if I have anything ...
We received concerns about the road surface deterioration in Eton Street - see photos. We therefore reported this to the roads maintenance partnership who gave us assurances that an Order for repairs had been raised.
Nation Cymru reports that Welsh Senedd members have recommended concealing information about politicians giving jobs to their family and friends despite a clear conflict of interest. The news site says that when the Senedd expands to 96 members next year, politicians will be banned from giving jobs to their own family members - which has been commonplace over the past 26 years. But a loophole will remain allowing politicians to employ each other's family: More than 15 of the current 60 Senedd members (25%) have employed family members, directly or indirectly, in the past and ten (16%) currently do so. ...
