Patients waiting up to three years for heart care Worst November on record at A&E More than 800,000 still stuck on an NHS waiting list Greene responds to Constance breaking ministerial code Patients waiting up to three years for heart care Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has raised concerns over long waits for cardiology services as he revealed new data showing patients waiting more than three years for care. A freedom of information request submitted by Scottish Liberal Democrats shows: At least one patient in NHS Lothian has waited more than three years for a cardiology outpatient appointment. 611 ...
My interest in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at Stratford East and obsession with the original London production of Sweeney Todd meet in this video. And it's all true. Here's R.B. Marriott reviewing the first West End performance of Make Me An Offer for The Stage (24 December 1959): Sheila Hancock, who originally made a personal hit in the production, repeats her success, and on the first night stopped the show with her singing of "It's Sort of Romantic". Miss Hancock is now unlikely to be in need of work in the theatre, but I hope that her originality, talent and ...
Other transport modes such as aviation and railways have become almost accident free as a result of improved safety measures and better technology. Yet, motor vehicles have moved in the opposite direction. The long term improvement in casualty figures as a result of, for example, seat belt legislation and reduction in drunk driving has stalled because cars are becoming more dangerous - not for their occupants but for those outside them. So writes Christian Wolmar in his latest Substack post. He says road casualty deaths in the UK have remained annually at around 1600-1700, but the number of pedestrian fatalities ...
Like most of us, I really like traveling, and I am not talking about simply going on holidays, that's easy, but if possible, moving abroad, learning the language and challenging ourselves. I had a chance to do it quite a few times, and each experience taught me a lot and shaped me as a person. I remember so well that, when I was studying in Croatia, I had to regularly "check-in" at the Police Station as a foreign student. Yes, it was necessary, however it felt uncomfortable and at times, intimidating. Although many of us might be a bit short ...
Warmth. Welling deeper... My true nature surfaces; Public shame awaits
In the first decade of the twentieth century the relationship between the British and German Empires fell apart. Britain had tacitly supported the unification of Germany under Prussian leadership, to the point of sacrificing the Kingdom of Hanover in 1866. This friendly relationship reached its apogee with the short reign of Kaiser Friedrich III in 1888. Liberal, open minded and generally pro British, by virtue of his marriage to Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Vicky, it seemed that Germany under the new Kaiser was poised to become a progressive ally of the British Empire that would spread democratic rule and liberal ...
Two Conservative police and crime commissioners - Marc Jones in Lincolnshire and Alison Hernandez in Cornwall and Devon - have announced that they are leaving the party and will serve out their terms as Independents. The interesting thing is that neither of those news reports give the impression that the PCC is about to jump ship to Reform. Both are in their third term as PCC, which means they joined the Conservative Party before it abandoned Conservatism to became an English Nationalist party. So perhaps these resignations are symptomatic of a flight of sensible people from the party (though a ...
Liberal internationalism is under pressure from two directions. On one side sits an authoritarian right that treats power as its own justification. On the other side sits a left that increasingly defines foreign policy by opposing the West rather than by supporting democracy, human rights, and self-determination. Neither approach offers a serious answer to a world shaped by war, authoritarianism, and competing imperialisms. Some of the most serious challenges to camp politics have come not from liberalism, but from dissident strands of the socialist left that insist imperialism is not a Western monopoly. That insight warrants serious consideration. Consistency is ...
A debate has been ensuing on X/Twitter about Programmed aging in which unsurprisingly the question as to what is programmed aging came up. I thought I would ask chatGPT, Claude and Gemini for an answer. These are the answers: The prompt was: "what is the definition of programmed aging?" chatGPT: Programmed aging is the idea that aging is an evolved, genetically regulated process—more like a
Review of "Liberal Crusader – The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair" by Gerard J. De Groot published by Hurst and Company. In a companion post, Sir Ed Davey summarises the role of Sir Archibald. I have recently read "Liberal Crusader" about the life of Sir Archibald Sinclair. Gerard De Groot provides an engaging tale which leaves one with great admiration for the nobility and hard work of this leader of the Liberal party from 1935 to 1945. The first chapters give a very personal picture of the subject's early life – an orphan, on the one hand, and the heir ...
This is a companion post to a review of "Liberal Crusader – The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair". Sir Ed Davey recently spoke to Liberal Democrat Voice and provided this tribute to Sir Archibald Sinclair and his colleagues: In my office in Westminster I have pictures of every single Liberal leader going back to the 19th Century and Archibald (Sinclair) is there – and it's quite humbling actually that people like Archibald Sinclair kept the Liberal party in the dark years and we should pay tribute to them, people who flew the Liberal flag when it was difficult, you've got ...
The Guardian reports that four local authorities where Reform UK has a majority or is the biggest party are proposing to hike council tax by the maximum allowed to them of 5%, despite promises during the local election to reduce taxes. These are Derbyshire, North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire and Leicestershire county councils. The paper says that in addition, a 5% council tax rise has not been ruled out by leaders at Reform-led Lancashire and Kent county councils, as well as in Warwickshire: The increase in council tax in Derbyshire is expected to raise about £29m this financial year and will ...
Lib Dems demand release of Venezuela legal advice as Starmer again refuses to say whether Trump breached international law Cole-Hamilton: Scotland deserves better than old divisions Cole-Hamilton responds to World Cup bank holiday Lib Dems raise alarm after Conservative Shadow Minister hints they would cut free bus passes for over-60s in Wales Lib Dems demand release of Venezuela legal advice as Starmer again refuses to say whether Trump breached international law The Lib Dems are calling on the Government to publish any legal advice it has received on breaches of international law by the United States in its strikes on ...
Back in the day, Norman Baker was my favourite Liberal Democrat MP. So it's good to see he's alive and kicking, even if his lens could do with a clean. There's a lot to be said for a constitutional monarchy, but Norman makes a good case that there's a need for ours to be funded with less secrecy and a clearer sense of what belongs to the royal family and what belongs to the nation. The title of his new book - Royal Mint, National Debt -- is drawn from an observation of William Cobbett's: You can tell a lot ...
In my capacity as finance portfolio holder for my beloved Parish Council, over the years I've been preparing what I tend to think of as cautious budgets, designed to meet our ongoing spending needs and avoid drastic year on year increases in the precept. That hasn't always been easy. When our Clerk resigned a few years back, it proved necessary to employ both a Clerk and a Responsible Finance Officer, increasing our required spend quite significantly. Luckily, I was able to manage the situation thanks to a lengthy period without any professional staff at all - I was, for a ...
The arrest and removal of Nicolas Maduro by the United States is a moment that should chill anyone who believes in international law, the rules-based order, and liberal democracy. Let's be absolutely clear from the outset: no one is defending Maduro. He presided over a brutal, corrupt, authoritarian regime that crushed dissent, hollowed out democratic institutions, and inflicted immense suffering on the Venezuelan people. His removal from power will prompt relief in many quarters – understandably so. But relief cannot become amnesia. What matters here is how power is exercised, not simply who wields it. The unilateral seizure of a ...
According to "Labour List" (1st January) Sir Keir Starmer has appointed a new chair of the Labour Party. She is the former MP Anna Turley, who writes that she is so proud of "everything we are doing to change the lives of workingpeople across Britain." (my italics) Those words "working people" are the first reason why Labour is not liberal. Liberals exist to represent the needs of all people: children, students, carers, home makers, disabled people, the retired , criminals (yes indeed, no one should be held in inhumane conditions,) academics, innovators, migrants and asylum seekers, SME entrepreneurs, - what ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton today set out his party's plans to fix how the NHS trains and retains the doctors, nurses and other staff needed to end long waits for treatment and reinvigorate local health services, and urged voters to use their second, peach-coloured ballot paper to back them at May's election. The Scottish Liberal Democrats' strategy will: Launch a rolling 10-year NHS Workforce Plan. Create an early warning system by presenting a detailed annual workforce report for debate in the Scottish Parliament, identifying staffing issues and addressing past failings. Establish a Health and Social Care Staff Assembly, ...
"What the US needs to understand is that hybrid warfare isn't simply a weapon used between and against states. It's a strategy being deployed by your very own government. This is both kinetic warfare - bombs and missiles - and information warfare - false constructs, false narratives, false justifications." America is not our enemy, but it's a danger to itself and the world, says Carole Cadwalladr. Rowan Williams reminds us that migrants are at the heart of our culture: "Many of the most characteristic forms of western medieval architecture ... owe their development to the to-ing and fro-ing of engineers ...
Liverpool Lib Dems Spokesperson on Governance, Cllr Richard Kemp, has written to the Home and Community Cabinet Secretaries of State suggesting that when the position of Elected Police Commissioner is abolished in April 2028, they should be replaced with new Police Liaison Committees made up of representatives of the local upper tier or unitary councils in the areas that they cover. Lib Dems campaigned against their establishment and welcome their abolition for the same reasons. They are pointless, costly, confusing, are inadequately scrutinised and lack the gravitas to push innovative ideas forward. There are two ways forward, the attachment of ...
Does post-growth economics belong in the Liberal Democrats? Questioning the principle of eternal economic growth is such a heresy to the orthodox economic order, that by most it is rejected outright. We live in a world so addicted to growth that envisioning a world that exists outside this paradigm is seen as almost impossible. We are currently experiencing a social-ecological polycrisis: rising inequality, climate change, it is all driven by the economy transgressing several planetary boundaries. Green growthers respond to this by rightly identifying that green investment and a path to net zero is essential to tackling the climate crisis. ...
The Independent reports on a poll which finds that British voters want to be part of the European Union more than their French and Italian counterparts. The paper says that the YouGov survey, carried out in six European countries, shows 50 per cent of voters in the UK would vote to be an EU member if there was a referendum now, compared to 45 per cent and 46 per cent in France and Italy. The numbers were higher in Germany (62 per cent) Denmark (75 per cent) and Spain (66 per cent): It also found that in Britain, just 31 ...