PRESS RELEASE Citizens Advice County Durham Continues to Provide Advice during the Coronavirus Pandemic Citizens Advice provides advice on a range of issues - including things that are going to be on a lot of people's minds as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic such as benefits, statutory sick pay, housing and debt. Citizens Advice County Durham has had to take measures to protect the health and wellbeing of volunteers, clients and staff but is still able to provide advice, even during isolation. Stuart Dexter, Citizens Advice County Durham, Chief Officer said: 'Due to Covid 19 we have had to ...
We leave Lord Bonkers where we found him: self-isolating at Bonkers Hall. Unless the Wise Woman of Wing comes up with a cure for coronavirus, he will still be in that condition when we next meet him Sunday St Asquith's is closed for the first time since the death of Mr Gladstone, so I decide to worship Nature instead. I walk in the woods above Rutland Water, gazing out at my oil wells and a familiar wake that betokens the presence of my old friend the Rutland Water Monster. Here, beneath the oak and the beech and the ash and ...
I'm sure many of you have done political quizzes online to justify your political allegiances. Every so often, I do one just to check where I stand. I know my beliefs haven't really changed over the years, but parties do modify and fine-tune their positions. It doesn't matter how many times I've done it, even during the Brexit years, each time the Lib Dems came top. I'll let you into a secret - over the years some would consider me a political flip-flopper (I'm using a slightly more polite expression than some may) in the parties I have been active ...
I have not tracked systematically how good a guide this is to the likely winner of the awards, but it's a useful yardstick for how far finalists have managed to penetrate the general market. In each table I have ranked the books by geometric average of their number of owners on Goodreads and LibraryThing, and bolded the highest average ranking in each category. Best Novel Goodreads LibraryThing owners av rating owners av rating The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow 139037 4.11 647 4.14 Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir 73792 4.25 546 4.19 Middlegame, by Seanan ...
A statue wrapped up for the winter – but where? During a Zoom call the other day someone asked me what I most missed while being stuck at home. I actually couldn't come up with an answer on the spot. Ever since we decided to self-isolate (and long before the Government told my husband that he should isolate for 12 weeks) I was determined to enjoy the experience. I could see many benefits to our enforced holiday at home. Now I suppose I am lucky – I have always been a glass half full type of person. I can't claim ...
Referendums are famously divisive, as Britain discovered in 2016 when the UK's continued membership of the EU was put to a public vote. The Scots could be forgiven for being cynical about all the angst south of the border, not just because they had voted decisively to Remain but also because they had had their [...]
Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron is self-isolating as a precaution over coronavirus symptoms: I've had a fever and persistent cough since Saturday and so have been self-isolating as a precaution. NHS 111 have now advised that it's likely that I do have coronavirus and so I will continue to be in self-isolation for the rest of the week. (1/2) — Tim Farron (@timfarron) April 8, 2020 All best wishes to Tim and his family. If you sign up for my blog posts digest you'll get a handy one-a-day email with links to all the latest posts. You can also sign ...
Next week, being Easter week, the bin collections are put back a day. For example, if like us, your bin collection is normally a Tuesday then next week it is put back to Wednesday Next week is a blue bin ( dry recycling ) and brown bin ( garden waste ) collection week.
I hope that when we come out the other side of this current crisis, there are some lasting impacts on our politics and our system of democracy. As Liberal Democrats, we will be going through a process of transformation. The major issue that has dominated our message for the last three years has been resolved, at least for the moment. We will elect a new leader, who will have to oversee our re-engagement with the voters if we are to recover our support in the polls. One key discussion needs to be around what we stand for, and what our ...
The coronavirus holds a firm grip around the neck of liberty in this new world we have found for ourselves in. No longer can we shop, gather, meet family or friends, embrace those we love. We are living within the tight confines of the perfect dystopian novel. Although these measures are paramount to people's survival and the continuation of our public services, they must only serve short-term survival, not the long-term rule. Indeed, many of these global measures look to be the tools of authoritarianism, for example in China ( and Israel as well), who are using the location of ...
Wed 8th
14:19
Our bias toward pessimism - Sunder Katwala on reactions to coronavirus: Never Mind The Bar Charts S2...
In the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, I talked with Sunder Katwala from the British Future think tank. He raised the important issue of the human bias towards pessimism and its impact on our reactions to the coronavirus crisis.
Over the next eight days, in the UK and around the world, Jewish people will commemorate the liberation of their ancestors from slavery in ancient Egypt.
Wed 8th
12:26
Starmer and Labour will have to have an answer to the debt problem that is inevitably ahead
The right are clearly a little rattled by having a competent leader of the Labour Party in situ once again. It has been a long time since this wan't the case and they got used to living in a world where the head of the opposition was an open joke. Yet despite all that, Labour still faces a huge uphill climb. One of the problems it faces is how to respond in a post-Covid or even an ongoing, we have to live with CoVid world for a bit. This is not helped by the fact that portions of the left ...
Manchester – a city of equality and fairness. A place where the Tories homophobic section 28 had no chance without a fight. Known for our world-famous gay village, we aren't a city that shys away from ensuring that representation matters, are we? We are home to the largest group of Labour Councillors in the country and we, Liberal Democrats, were close to taking control of Manchester City Council at one point before the coalition. Yet, Manchester has never seen an openly trans politician. Ninety-six seats on our council and not a single openly trans, non-binary or gender diverse councillor insight. ...
Tue, 12:56: RT @scottygb: omg our favourite family have returned to bbc world news https://t.co/lP7vIqD37V Tue, 13:14: RT @bbcdoctorwho: "The Terror Of The Umpty Ums" A brand new Doctor Who short story by @StevenWMoffat . Now on the website. #DoctorWho http... Tue, 13:57: RT @thedemontowers: Spike from Buffy reacting to the Lockdown - A Thread: Tue, 16:05: The long road to independence https://t.co/dCdqDHP0gX Fascinating summary of what happened in Malta before the 20th century. Tue, 17:11: How Low U.K. Unemployment Masked Holes Exposed by Pandemic https://t.co/6eCM2XPXSe Forensic analysis. Tue, 18:31: My BSFA votes (big long post) https://t.co/QQ4lyW4N9Y Tue, 20:48: RT ...
There is a very interesting article in the Independent about what is happening in New Zealand which in turn, raises a number of questions as to whether the UK response to COVID-19 is adequate or not. The paper says that the country's elimination approach has turned the tide with the number of new cases falling for two consecutive days, despite a huge increase in testing, with 54 confirmed or probable cases reported on Tuesday. That means the number of people who have recovered, 65, exceeds the number of daily infections: How has New Zealand, a country I still call home ...
A little old now, but still a very funny round-up of 30 years of American politics in song form.
As a nation, we have spent the last month endlessly talking about PPE, testing and even ventilators, remorselessly picking over the technical details of things which most people still do not understand. The government is pleased for us to do this because it keeps us off the one topic they have no answer for; the elephant in the room of a totally inadequate healthcare workforce stretched to breaking point. Even with all the goodwill in the world, re-calling retired doctors and nurses doesn't solve it. There are many good reasons why the NHS is supposed to run at 85% of ...
The Prime Minister is still in hospital, and ill enough to put Dominic Raab in charge. It's all vaguely unsettling, not helped by a series of statements saying that he'll be alright "because he's a fighter". I'm not sure that his ability to fight isn't rather less important than the ability of the medical staff treating him... 2 big stories Is it now becoming clear that the government's initial strategy was simply wrong? If the concept of herd immunity drove its response in the early stages, who was behind that? And have the promises of a ramped up testing regime ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : Our museums and galleries may now be closed due to the current emergency but we're still working hard to ensure online access to our amazing collections and activities. Hopefully many of you have been following our social media posts on Facebook at UoDMuseums and on Twitter @UoD_Museums. We've now set up a webpage to bring together our various digital resources here. Here's a taster of what's currently on offer: • Short films by the curator exploring some of the highlights of our collections• Our popular colouring sheets from ...
The Liberal Democrat Chief Whip has today called for an urgent all-party meeting to discuss remote working for Parliament, including a special committee of MPs, chaired by the Leader of the Opposition, to scrutinise the Government's coronavirus response. In a letter to the Chief Whips of all parties in the House of Commons, Alistair Carmichael MP warned the necessary constraints caused by the spread of coronavirus mean "we must consider alternative arrangements." The letter follows confirmation from the Speaker of the House of Commons has backed calls for a "virtual" Parliament to allow MPs to keep on scrutinising the Government ...
Responding to reports that Public Health England and HM Prison and Probation Service have advised the Government that a reduction of 15,000 prisoners is needed to safeguard prisoners and staff during the coronavirus pandemic, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:"While prisons remain overcrowded, they risk becoming a crucible for coronavirus. The steps Ministers have announced to release some prisoners early are welcome, but - as prison governors are warning - they clearly do not go far enough."The Justice Secretary must publish the advice he has had from Public Health England and the Prison Service. If the Government has decided ...
