This is quite interesting. In all the by-elections held since May's local elections, Reform and the Lib Dems are significantly ahead of the other parties in terms of seats won. Add the Conservative, Labour and Greens together and their figures still fall short of the Lib Dem total. Happy days!
It feels as though I have been on a Focus newsletter production line this month. So far I have written and put together five editions. These boxes arrived at the home of one of our councillors last week. An action day is fast approaching to deliver this Focus. I have one left to write for the current round and it's actually for my ward!
I was away from home for a couple of days last week. Sadly, Ann, my mother-in-law, passed away in September. Her funeral was in Kent.On my return home, my first job was to remove the sack of vegetation that have been left at Church Green in Whickham. Plant Up Whickham had stripped out all the flower beds while I was away. My job was to remove the sacks to my farm where we turn it into
"Left to her own devices, Reeves would not be contemplating potentially highly damaging tax increases when the economy is weak. Likewise, she would be cutting interest rates more quickly than the Bank of England has been doing. But those decisions are not in her hands."Larry Elliott argues that the UK's economic policy isn't decided by politicians, but by the OBR and the Bank of England. Adam Bienkov suggests the Caerphilly by-election result shows that Reform UK is much weaker than it looks. Peter Apps wonders if Zurich's housing cooperatives be the solution to the rest of Europe's housing crisis, "Wilson ...
It comes as no great shock to anyone who has followed the site's history, but the Central Co-op has pulled out of a deal that would have seen it pay £1.5m for the derelict Lawrence Shoe Factory in Desborough. It joins Aldi and Tesco in having planned to build a supermarket there and then decided against the idea. At one time it was also expected that 40 council houses would be built on the site. Now, reports the Northamptonshire Telegraph, the owners, North Northamptonshire Council are back to square one in their attempt to sell it. When I was in ...
I was out delivering leaflets in my Penny lane Ward on October 24th when someone asked me to come in to their home to discuss a problem that they were having. That is not unusual. What was unusual was that with more than two months to go to Christmas Day the house was fully covered with Christmas decorations. The tee was up although the lady that I was talking to said that they would not bring the presents down yet for under the tree because, although they mostly been bought, they had not yet been wrapped. Now, I must confess ...
I met the editor of Central Bylines for coffee while I was on holiday in Shrewsbury. "Did you know that The Mousetrap was inspired by a real-life case that took place in Shropshire?" I asked. So that's what my second article for the site is about. Too often victims of crime are seen only as victims, so I was pleased to be able to include this from a news report of the trial: Mrs Connop, who had previously fostered them and their younger brother Freddie in Herefordshire, described them in her evidence as "happy-go-lucky and harum-scarum, but nothing else" and ...
This may be the first record I can remember liking. It arrived in the British singles chart just before my fifth birthday and was to top it for a week. Born in 1936, Roger Miller was an Oklahoman who began his songwriting and then singing career while serving in the US Army. Country Reunion Music quotes his liner notes for his 1970 album A Trip in the Country: Before the days of Dang Me, King of the Road and such, I was a young, ambitious songwriter walking the streets of Nashville, trying to get anybody and everybody who would to ...
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves says Brexit has damaged the British economy. What a shocker! In case you didn't notice, the last sentence was dripping with sarcasm. Let me explain why. The Centre for European Research (CER) estimates that British trade with the EU (which remains Britain's largest trading partner) has shrunk by 10-15 percent since Brexit. There have been trade deals elsewhere, but analysts reckon that for every £10 of EU trade lost, the new deals have contributed only £1 to £1.50. Foreign investment (FDI) in Britain has been a major factor in Britain's economic success since ...
[IMG: Kamran Hussain profile picture] Editor's Note: 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 plus a maximum of one per week during the actual campaign. I have been told that Yorkshire folk are known for straight talking, so let me start there. I am not from Westminster and it's not the norm for me to be at think-tank lunches or in the shadow of Big Ben. My political training ground was the streets of Yorkshire, armed ...
As if it was not bad enough that flags are going up all over the country in one of the most passive-aggressice signals to immigrants that they are not welcome here, it seems that some Reform politicians have ditched their pledge to cut unnecessary expenditure in favour of splurging public money on yet more of these flags. The Independent reports that Reform UK-led Nottinghamshire County Council is splurging £75,000 on new flag installations, prompting criticism the money could be better spent on services for local people. The paper says that the 164 flags are set to be displayed across 82 ...
A great 1960s photo of Peddie Street, with thanks to Murray Nicoll. The properties nearest on this photo (the bottom end of Peddie Street on the east side) are sadly gone.
