Liberal Democrat Newswire #201 came out earlier in the week 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 #201, which includes a special treat for you: a chapter from a great new book on politics by Phil Cowley. Along with a special 25% off offer for you to get your own copy of the full book. Before we get to the main part of this newsletter, congratulations to our councillors newly ...
I liked John Rogers' video on Fulham so much that I've gone back there with Jago Hazzard. He sets out the history of Fulham Broadway station on the London Underground. And, in passing, he gives us our Trivial Fact of the Day: the terraces at Stamford Bridge were built using spoil from the excavation of the Piccadilly Line. You can support Jago's videos via his Patreon page. And why not follow his YouTube channel? I know I do.
I am a patriot of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and a proud Englishman. Nevertheless, in one way or another, for pretty much my entire life I have been seeking – mostly through electoral politics – to improve our shared country, as well as the wider world. I have also spent a big chunk of my adult life, including my entire time at college and university, seeking answers to the most significant and intractable questions we can ask – including around ethics, justice, and economics. My only solid conclusion after all this time is that we ...
Depending on your preference for maritime references or classical musings, the national debt is weighing our economy down like an anchor and hanging precariously above the head of our GDP like the sword of Damocles, ready and waiting to kill stone dead the already sluggish growth that is crippling the economy. None of this is news to the politicians who look at the budget and to the economists and think tankers for whom it is prescient within their work. However, for one particular groupof people it sails past, untroubled to enter their psyche. That is of course, our political class. ...
The Lib Dems have the talent, knowledge, and electoral experience to win even bigger at the next General Election (GE) - even to help govern the country - thanks once again to the incompetence of another incumbent party in power. What could prevent us from succeeding? In a nutshell, the Reform party, whose leader is using Donald Trump's copybook to whip up emotions. Of course, the next GE should be a long way away and Farage's popularity could fade. On the other hand, the growing mis-steps of Starmer and internal dissent could induce him to call an early election which ...
Tue 16th
12:06
Labour and the British National (Overseas) visa policy: Why is it causing concerns among Hongkongers...
There's no doubt that Labour are concerned about the rise of Reform UK and their drum beat on immigration. Yet, PM Starmer's immigration white paper and his speech in July has caused a ripple effect on the Hong Kong (HK) community in the UK. One key area in Labour's new immigration rules was about extending the path to settlement to ten years. This could potentially affect Hong Kongers' resettlement in the UK under the British National (Overseas) BN(O) 5+1 route. Furthermore, additional and language requirements may affect the promise that all BN(O) passport holders have the opportunity to safely bring ...
Peter Jukes argues that Peter Thiel's name "now sits at the centre of a transatlantic web stretching from Epstein to Boris Johnson's Downing Street, through the NHS's largest ever data contract, and into Labour leader Keir Starmer's recent trip to Washington". "Federal Council turned out to be the worst committee that I've ever served on. And remember, I've been doing this for the best part of forty years."Mark Valladares has found the first three years of the Liberal Democrats' Federal Council to be an exercise in futility. "It's easy to condemn anti-migrant protests on moral grounds. What such condemnation misses, ...
Lord Bonkers may have hunted Trotskyists in his younger days, but there's no doubt he's on the side of the working man and woman. Friday Freddie and Fiona's friends will be popping champagne corks, but I think the resignation of Angela Rayner is a damned shame. For an outfit that styles itself "the Labour Party", the present government is notably short of people who give you the impression they've ever done a hard day's work. And given that half the last Conservative cabinet owned more houses then even I do, they should have kept their snoots out of the affair. ...
The Bournemouth 2025 conference app has now gone live. A tip: firstly make sure you delete the spring conference app in your phone, if it is there. Then go into your friendly App Store where you will need to search for "Lib Dem conference" and click on the spring conference icon which comes up. Yes I know. The app is brilliant this year, with all the documents in one place. You can use the timetable to add hall debates, fringe meetings and training sessions to "My schedule". You can also add your own bits to the "My schedule" so you ...
Before writing this article I searched Lib Dem Voice for articles on the economy, economic growth and the hot topic of "abundance". I was surprised how little the economy seems to be discussed or written about, at least as the main topic of an article. This contrasts with the uncomfortable reality that the UK is in a terrible economic position. UK real wage growth has been flat for getting on for nearly 2 decades. This is not news to anyone. It has had plenty of focus in the media, and from economic think tanks on the right and left. This ...
I settled down before the fire and read and flew. Imagined worlds, forgotten centuries, sustained me. I scratched my thoughts, I crafted words; small packets from a long journey. But where were you? And you? And all? In such narrow straits, I lost the thread.
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!
Yesterday, 15th September, was apparently the UN's World Democracy Day, though if any of our media mentioned it I didn't notice. The post 1945 new world order seems to have assumed that democracy is the preferred flavour of the future and leading democracies, including the UK and the US, have taken the view that all we need to do is establish elections for the governments of countries, by force if necessary, and, behold, a democracy has been created. But there's more to it than that. Yes, governments need to be chosen by" the people," but the elections need to be ...
Nation Cymru reports that campaigners have called for a £10,000 cap on political donations following controversy over a £200,000 donation that led to the downfall of former first minister Vaughan Gething. The website says that Gething, who broke no rules, was forced to stand down after accepting the donation from a convicted polluter's company during the 2024 Welsh Labour leadership race: Before resigning, the former first minister - who outspent rival Jeremy Miles by £254,600 to £61,800 - urged the Senedd's standards committee to look into reforming donation rules. Now, in evidence to the committee's resulting inquiry, witnesses have warned ...
