Here we are again, with the body politic latching on to another -ism that lacks definition yet carries allure for those of us desperate to see devolution and real localism really spring into life. I say this as a Mancunian now resident in the Scottish Borders, so perhaps you can forgive my instinctive pleasure at the notion of Manchesterism. When, as Andy Burnham pointed out in his gently jocular manner, even the Mayor of Liverpool was applauding when he said "This is Manchesterism" when setting out his first policy platform, you know that something is happening. Pleasure at the notion ...
Our report on last week's by-elections is a little late again. This is because there were an unusually high number of by-elections last week. There were 24 principal authority by-elections or countermanded election, across 23 wards, with several again counting on the Friday. It was a mixed set of results for the Liberal Democrats. In many places we didn't get the result our local teams deserved for all their hard work, but we still registered some strong results in seats that are up for election again next year, and we also achieved one excellent hold which is where we start: ...
What do you love now, that you hated when you were younger? I am very fond of a glass of wheat beer: German hefe weiß or Belgian wit, or a New England IPA. Had someone offered me a cloudy beer when I was young, I would have laughed at them. You live and learn...
I don't tend to be the type to give more qualified people lectures about what to do and think, however in this case I feel it is of the utmost importance. As a party it feels that we forget what our politics is really about, Liberalism. We chase headlines and create policy as a result of emotion and popularity rather than using our liberal roots to form it. Whether it's Ed complaining about a banknote or a hapless policy of moving departments to Birmingham, we seem to lack core liberal ideas. As a young person I can see what issues ...
The latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, is out and you can 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, sign up now: One of the powers open to Parliamentarians is to submit written questions to the government. Although there are plenty of ways that questions can be dodged, when there is a request for a clear piece of statistical evidence, it is harder for the government to obscure matters. Here's an example of what can ...
It is an ambitious agenda, one that many Liberal Democrats would endorse. Yes, there are some omissions, in particular closer union with the EU by rejoining the common market to promote economic growth and introducing fair voting for general elections, but the idea of decentralising power to spread wealth is very much a welcome one. The Guardian reports that Andy Burnham plans to set up No 10 North as the "nerve centre of a rewired Britain" to oversee a devolution of power and resources across the UK that he said would deliver the change the country desperately needed. The paper ...
In the Sixties there was more than one way of getting it together in the country. You could, like Traffic, have your own cottage out in the wilds, or you could get a place at Reg Calvert's boarding school of rock. Pete Clemons explains: Reg Calvert started to promote rock n roll shows, but then he quickly hit on a difficulty. The best acts were not to be found in and around Southampton. And it was at this point he decided he needed to up sticks again and find somewhere in the Midlands. He found Clifton Hall near Rugby and ...
Mon 29th
18:27
A shocking abuse of the legal system where the rich try to bully the weak and poor into submission
The article below is reproduced in full from the Byline Times where it was originally published. They are champions fighting for journalistic integrity within a system where the cards are too often held by the wealthy. The rich can threaten journalists just by the threat of litigation. They can afford to lose what is to them just a trifle. To the other side it could mean their house and integrity. Wherever you are in the world, independent journalism is under threat. I subscribe to Byline Times partly because their articles are well researched and worth reading but also partly because ...
Andy Burnham's major speech today contained a message that deserves to resonate well beyond Labour politics. His call to put place at the heart of government, to deliver "good growth in every postcode" and to devolve power away from Westminster is one of the most compelling ideas to emerge from British politics in recent years... likely because it echoes much of what we Lib Dems have been saying/calling for for years now. For too long, Britain has been governed as though every problem can be solved from Whitehall. The result has been an increasingly centralised State that often fails to ...
Andy Burnham's political appeal is easy to understand. At a time when Westminster appears remote, ineffective and disconnected from much of England, his call for devolution speaks directly to a widespread belief that power is too concentrated in London. Burnham's argument addresses a genuine problem. Britain is one of the most centralised democracies in the developed world. Decisions affecting communities hundreds of miles from Westminster are routinely made by ministers and civil servants with little understanding of local circumstances. The frustration this creates is entirely justified. Yet supporters of constitutional reform should be careful not to confuse devolution with democracy. ...
"I am speaking out today because many more asylum-seeking children are at risk due to plans to withdraw support and forcibly remove children whose families have failed asylum claims." The children's commissioner Rachel de Souza says no child should be made destitute to enforce harmful immigration rules. Zoe Grunewald finds that Brexit has made worse the very problems it was promised it would solve: "What comes in the next decade depends entirely on whether Britain's mainstream politicians can finally do what it has spent the previous decade refusing to: tell the truth about what Brexit did, who bears the cost, ...
Whatever the naysayers claim about the 1976 heatwave, the recent extreme hot weather is of a different scale to the one-off event I remember as a teenager. For a start the temperatures are higher, but also what we are experiencing now is not an exception, it is part of a trend stretching over a number of years and likely to continue in the future. This is not a question of people just getting on with it. People and animals hae died as a result of the heat, while there is a clear knock-on effect for day-to-day life, with schools closing ...