[IMG: Tom Sanderson and Ann Blackwell] Tom Sanderson and Ann Blackwell Huntingdonshire Liberal Democrats report: Widely respected District Councillors Tom Sanderson and Ann Blackwell (The Stukeleys ward) have joined the Liberal Democrats. The two previously independent councillors announced that they have joined the Lib Dems on Thursday, highlighting the values they share with the party and their priority to get things done for their residents in The Stukeleys... Cllr Sanderson and Cllr Blackwell are the fourth and fifth councillors in Huntingdonshire to join the Liberal Democrats this year, joining Cllr Cath Gleadow (St Ives South), Cllr Sally Howell (Yaxley), and ...
Years ago, I was on a rare passenger working through Toton. The ranks of stored wagons and locomotives made it feel like an elephants' graveyard, As Our History Underfoot- the new name for the old Trekking Exploration account - discovers here, the vast yards and loco depot Toton are largely derelict today. This was to have been the site of the East Midlands Hub for HS2, but that won't happen now. Besides Toton, we see the River Erewash and some of the tangle of lines that makes Long Eaton a railway labyrinth.
Following a Labour councillor joining the Lib Dems earlier this week, now two independent councillors have also joined the party: Two Swansea councillors have joined the Liberal Democrats in their second switch since being elected four years ago. Former maths teachers Sandra Joy and Allan Jeffery said they felt the party had momentum and they could have more impact with a Liberal Democrat team behind them. The two Uplands councillors were unveiled at an event alongside Cllr Sam Bennett, who is seeking election to the Senedd in May... Cllrs Joy and Jeffery were elected as Uplands Party candidates in 2022. ...
It was a relatively early start with letter delivery this morning. 200 letters to deliver in to my constituents in Sunniside. It took me about an hour and a half. The letters were the same as those I delivered elsewhere in Sunniside yesterday. I would have liked to get more delivered today but I had Gateshead Council's budget setting meeting to attend instead.At current rate of progress, delivery
Thu 26th
18:53
The Chagos Agreement will secure the Chagossians' right of return. The Liberal Democrats must suppor...
The agreement between Britain and Mauritius over control of the Chagos Islands has become one of the most controversial topics of this Parliament. This is a sorry reflection on the state of UK politics. In more normal times, the Chagos deal would be viewed as a diplomatic success story - an example of two states working together to uphold the rules-based international order for the benefit of all concerned. But these are not normal times. Ever since the government of Liz Truss announced in November 2022 (with the backing of the Biden administration) that it was opening negotiations with Mauritius, ...
The absurd headlines it gives to Alister Heath's opinion pieces are one of the most florid symptoms of the Telegraph's sad descent into madness. Now, thanks to The New World, you can generate Alister Heath headlines yourself. But be warned: it's hard to replicate the craziness of the originals.
For four years I worked in His Majesty's Prison Service. Most of my time was spent with two groups: vulnerable prisoners, often those convicted of sexual offences who couldn't safely be located on normal wings, and men struggling with addiction. What I learned there shaped my view on drugs more than any political argument ever could. The truth is uncomfortable. If you are born with a tough set of circumstances, poverty, unstable housing, parents battling substance misuse, you are statistically far more likely to face those same issues yourself. The data backs this up. Around 46% of people in prison ...
This took Jackie Trent to number one in May 1965 - she wrote it with Tony Hatch, to whom she was married for many years. Their suburban take on Bacharach and David is very effective here. The song owed part of its success to its use in the television series It's Dark Outside, which featured Oliver Reed among its cast. But the footage in the video does not come from that but the film Four in the Morning. This ominous downbeat piece of late kitchen-sink suggested it could be grim in London too - Billy Liar might have been no ...
Thu 26th
10:19
My latest article for Central Bylines... Paddy Logan: Harborough's radical Liberal hero
I've had another piece published on Central Bylines this morning. It looks at the career of J.W. "Paddy" Logan, who was Liberal MP for Harborough from 1891 to 1904 and 1910 to 1916. Here he is speaking in the Commons in 1897: In the Board Schools the children were not taught to curtsey to the squire or to the parson. In the Church Schools the children were taught to fall down and worship the great god of the Clerical party - the landowner. Hon. Gentlemen might laugh, but he knew what he was talking about. He saw it too frequently. ...
Labour started all this off, when they introduced a market economy into higher education, and now they are reaping the fallout from the way the Tories managed that system and their own failure to address the issue earlier in their administration, while making the situation worse by freezing the salary threshold for loan repayments. The Guardian reports that angry backbench Labour MPs have attacked ministers over the student loans crisis, saying graduates are being "outrageously scammed". The paper adds that during a Commons Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday, several Labour MPs joined calls for an urgent shake-up of the "unfair" ...
