Scottish Liberal Democrats set out radical plans to end ferries fiasco for good Lib Dems call for a fair deal for rural Scotland Scottish Lib Dems back proposals to support night-time economy Lib Dem conference backs new plans for dementia support Scottish Lib Dem conference backs measures to tackle violence against women and girls Scottish Liberal Democrats set out radical plans to end ferries fiasco for good Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow has today backed plans put forward by West of Scotland MSP Jamie Greene to end the SNP"s ferries fiasco for good. It follows a consultation run by ...
Embed from Getty ImagesAnne Scott-James was the women's editor of Picture Post during most of the second world war. This photograph of her dates from 1941 and was published as part of a feature with the headline Should Women Wear Trousers? I don't know if this was a serious piece on wartime clothes rationing or just a bit of fun, but it's a wonderful photo. Throughout my boyhood Anne Scott-James was, together with Dilys Powell, Frank Muir and Denis Norden, one of the regular panellists on the BBC Radio 4 quiz show My Word. She was the daughter of the ...
"The study, which examined nearly 300 child-arrangement case files and observed over 100 hearings, found that domestic abuse featured in almost nine in ten (87 per cent) of cases. Yet judges routinely treated it as background noise. In over half of those cases, courts ordered unsupervised overnight contact between children and alleged abusers." England and Wales's family courts aren't just failing survivors, they are complicit in state-sanctioned abuse, argues Zoe Grunewold after a reading a report by two academics from Loughborough University. George Foulkes says broadcasters are warping our politics by failing to subject Nigel Farage to the scrutiny that ...
This week, tributes to Ming Campbell were made in Parliament. We always knew how well respected he was across the political spectrum and it was quite emotional to see his wisdom and kindness universally recognised. Clive Jones' contribution tells of Ming's solidarity with someone whose journey to the Commons was similarly long: Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sure that Ming would have been delighted with the tributes paid to him today by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) and many others. Just as importantly, I think ...
Why is there not yet a cross-party policy toward the way Britain handles China? After all, we have cross-party support on Ukraine and Russia. Like oil and water, intelligence does not mix well with public debate, and the current spy case would be better handled with less damage behind the scenes by mature politicians. The Labour government is still finding its feet. The Conservatives snap around like playground bullies. The Liberal Democrats could take a lead here by making clear that the security of the nation stands way above political scalp hunting and click-bait sound bites for the 24-hour news ...
I have been gloriously re-appointed as Suffolk's member of the National Assembly of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), representing our county on the national stage in the town and parish council sector, and I ought to thank my fellow colleagues on the Board of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils for giving me the chance for what may be one last go-around in the role. I do have another set of roles to decide upon, which offers some interesting questions. NALC elects its officers and committees for a two-year term, something that I will not be able to ...
Today, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton will use his speech to his party's autumn conference in Glasgow to say that his party is on the brink of an electoral breakthrough and urge voters to back Scottish Liberal Democrats on the peach regional ballot at next year's election in every corner of Scotland. Mr Cole-Hamilton is expected to say: The opportunity is such that we could be standing on the threshold of a historic breakthrough for our party across Scotland. But that breakthrough is not inevitable, we are going to have to work for every single vote. Our message is ...
I was a bit too quick yesterday when posting about the by-elections held on Thursday. More results came in after I wrote the blog post. Thankfully HQ have inevitably produced a bar chart of the overall results. We made gains from Labour, Conservatives and Greens and topped the poll in 7 by-elections.
Peace in Gaza has hit a snag. Actually it has hit three, but one is bigger than the others. This is not surprising. No one but a total naiveté could have thought that total peace and harmony would have descended once Donald Trump had spoken. There are decades of mistrust, hatred, violence and lies to overcome. In fact, more than a century if one goes back to the Balfour Declaration and the Jewish settlements of the 1920s. But back to the present day when both sides have been accusing the other of bad faith and breaches of the ceasefire/peace agreement. ...
We recently received complaints that the roadway at the entrance to Ancrum Place at the junction with Ancrum Drive was badly deteriorated. We raised this with the roads maintenance partnership and have been advised : "The roads inspector has raised a Category 3 repair for this with a timescale for completion of thirty working days or sooner."
Having featured Vernon Watkins six weeks ago, I thought it might be an idea to mention Swansea's other famous poet, Dylan Thomas. Chief amongst the Dylan Thomas landmarks is his birthplace at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in the city's Uplands district, which is available to visit (as Johnny Depp did in 2023), and you can even stay there if you wish. The house has its own website here. The site records that Dylan Thomas was born in the front bedroom of the house in 1914 and continued to live at Number 5 until his parents moved out in 1937 of his ...
