One of the Lib Dems' most effective campaigners on Tyneside passed away on 30th December. Gerry Keating was elected to the former Tyne and Wear County Council in 1981 and then to Newcastle in 1986. Despite some breaks from the council, he served as a councillor for over 30 years. Knowing his health was deteriorating, he decided to stand down as councillor for North Jesmond in 2024. Gerry was
So, the fireworks have gone off, and a new year has begun. I gave up making public announcements of resolutions made a long time ago - why broadcast your failures? - and this year is no exception. But I can be fairly sure that some things will happen in the coming year. First, it's my firm intention to bring my leadership of Creeting St Peter Parish Council to a close in May. Now, I acknowledge that I've been trying to do this for a while though, and there may be some resistance - either I'm making the job look harder ...
[IMG: Prad Bains and local Liberal Democrats on the Hamble Foreshore] Prad Bains and colleagues on the Hamble Foreshore. News from the local Liberal Democrats: The Liberal Democrats are delighted to announce that Prad Bains has been re-selected as the Lib Dem candidate for the Hamble Valley Parliamentary constituency. In the 2024 General Election, the Lib Dems achieved 14,869 votes in the newly created Hamble Valley constituency, resulting in the Party now needing a swing of just 2,402 votes to win this seat at the next General Election. The seat is now also in the top 10 closest constituencies for ...
In his The Folklore of Shropshire, Roy Palmer quotes a letter by a John Noakes recording the belief that it was unlucky to have a female come first into your house of New Year's morning: So generally does this absurdity prevail, that in many towns young lads "make a good thing of it" by selling their services to go round and enter the houses first that morning. The folklorists Iona and Peter Opie noted in the 1950s that a boy of about 10 banged on a door at Pontesbury and recited: Happy New Year! Happy New Year! I've come to ...
So 2025 is over. How was it for me? Well, not a bad year actually. Our farm was productive. We've sold lots of livestock. The hens played their part in the success by producing a mountain of eggs. The apple crop was gigantic. Meanwhile, two of our milking goats have produced a lake of milk even though one of them failed to produce any kids this year. On the downside, the hot dry weather, combined
At the beginning of December, I thought I had a bad case of flu. This surprised me as I had already had my flu jab. Of course, it was just a case of that scourge of illnesses, man flu! I had a really bad barking cough and was almost incapable of speech. This is a really sad thing for a politician. So, I was quite sensible for a mere man and went to the Green Lane Pharmacy. I did not really need to describe the symptoms but after a brief chat I was given an off the shelf medicine. Within ...
The Guardian reports that UK manufacturers are to be hit with mountains of Brexit-style paperwork in January on £7bn worth of exports to the EU after the government failed to secure an expected exemption from new green taxes. The paper says that the UK had hoped to secure a carve-out by Christmas on the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), but EU commissioners have confirmed this is not going to happen: UK Steel says the exemption is unlikely to be in place before Easter, resulting in detailed paperwork for exporters in a repeat of Brexit when they were hit with paperwork ...
Happy New Year from Liberal England. January Man was written by Dave Goulder and can be found on Martin Carthy's 1971 album Landfall.
