It would be fair to say that, in terms of corporation tax, I've been around the block a time or two. There was a time in my career when I spent my days dealing with starting rates, small company rates and basic rates, with marginal rate relief and associated companies. For a mathematician, it was actually quite fun to do, especially when dealing with accountants who, for want of a better phrase, weren't quite as numerate. But that was, supposedly behind us, with one rate of corporation tax. Not any more. We don't have a starting rate - that was ...
This post first appeared on the Radix blog. I had my covid jab on Friday and it turned out to be the Pfizer version. Which meant, apparently, that that we all had to sit in the surgery for 15 minutes in case we collapsed immediately afterwards. I had no idea that this had happened to anybody. So let me take this opportunity to repeat that I don't think it helps the pro-vaxx cause to treat anyone who discusses side-effects like some kind of Trump supporter. There is no doubt that, for a few individuals, vaccinations can be a bit of ...
Thu 4th
19:19
Shropshire councillors warned not to make political announcements during council meetings or adjust ...
The legals at Shropshire Council have accepted my complaint that manifesto commitments must not be announced during council meetings. That is a long standing rule but the Tories decided to announce their manifesto commitment to highways at the Place Overview Committee on Tuesday. There was a bit of argy-bargy with the Chief Monitoring Officer who initially supported the statement by deputy leader Steve Charmley as being nothing more than a contribution to the debate. No one agreed with that position. Today we councillors got a correction and instructions that this must not happen again. This not a Tory council. It ...
Jane Dodds, the Leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, has been selected as the top name on the Mid and West Wales list for the Welsh Parliament. At the last Senedd election in 2016 we came very close to winning a seat in this region. Jane was briefly MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, winning a by-election in 2019, but sadly lost the seat in the bloodbath that was the General Election later that year. Congratulations! Meet your new Mid and West Wales Regional Team! [IMG: 👏] [IMG: 👏] pic.twitter.com/4giuCOsWru — Welsh Liberal Democrats (@WelshLibDems) March 3, 2021 * Mary Reid ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:From a very young age I kept newts and common toads in tanks in my bedroom, and this went atypically well. The toads in particular made great pets, seemingly taking to captivity and providing great entertainment by hoovering up mealworms with their extending, sticky tongues. When I grew bored of them, or ran out of mealworms from the supply that I bred in a box under my bed, I could simply release the toads back into the garden. However, I longed to have some more exotic amphibians, and eventually I badgered my parents into buying me ...
As you grow older you see things differently. Way back in 2003 as the new Chair of Tim Farron's Campaign Committee I thought that, before we started campaigning, we should set out a few areas like education, health and housing where we needed some clear thinking. Though Tim was reluctant, we pulled together a few sensible people and we talked the issues through. It is probably a good time for some more clear thinking now. Where to begin? Well let us start with the most pressing problem facing mankind – that of global warming. Last year I thought the problem ...
Last year, the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee (FPC) kicked off a consultation on the next steps in refreshing how we talk about our principles and values to meet the current times. As part of the follow up to that, the FPC is asking members what it means to us to be a Liberal Democrat: This exercise is important because a strong and identifiable set of values can help bind us together strongly as a party, can help us become more clearly identifiable to voters and potential new members, and can help distinguish us from others when elections come along. ...
Hallo again today.Alone Again OrI started there, stayed here;I left them all behind. Exceptthe drumbeat of incessant thoughtsagainst my windowpane... Is it time for coffee yet? Hot frothed stimulus, swallowed whole;...it is the drug and I need to score...The grown-up stimulus shield is uselessagainst an other rusty tang, like radiation –relentless, hanging springing in the air [...]
I have long believed that we British make far too much fuss about the annual budget, as though at the micro level a few extra bob a week per family is going to transform our lives into ecstasy and a few less will plunge us into misery and destitution. Nor at the macro level can the direction and efficiency of the economy be changed overnight by a few deft "touches of the [fiscal] tiller." At the level of political perception most budgets are cheered by the party in power and their supporters on the day of delivery, the holes appear ...
For the last 9 years Merton Lib Dems have been campaigning to help some of the poorest paid and hardest working people in our community - those who look after people who need care. We started 9 years ago with a question from a member of the public - me - at a Council meeting about the Council paying its staff the London Living Wage (LLW). The answer was that it would cost £275k and would cause all sorts of difficulties. A few months later the Council announced that it had decided to pay all staff at least the LLW: ...
Yesterday Rishi Sunak, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer (though that job title belongs to no other country so far as I know), showed why is considered to be the country's top performing minister after Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister. It was Budget Day; he got most things right, while putting off a lot of ... Continue reading Rishi Sunak shows a sure touch with 2021 Budget
Nobody is pretending that the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not have a difficult job yesterday, but the least we could have expected was some sign of the Brexit dividend Boris Johnson has been promising for the last five years. Alas it did not materialise because it has never existed. The main concern arising from this budget, other than the pork barrel politics of pushing new spending towards Tory held constituencies, was the impact on the low paid and the unemployed. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has warned that the chancellor risks plunging 500,000 people into poverty if the government presses ...
Tory-held constituencies have received more Covid vaccination jabs than others according to the Times this week. There are a lot of factors to unpick (such as which demographics have more 'vaccine hesitancy', or which seats have elderly or high priority residents), but the Tories have been constantly embroiled in scandal and outright 'illegality' since Johnson took the helm - and at least some of that has been linked to wooing voters. Patterns may now be emerging of another scandal. The Times reports that "86 per cent of over-80s living in Tory-held seats have been vaccinated compared with 79 per cent ...
I was challenged by one of our readers, having opined on the Shamima Begum situation, to apply a similar logic to the question of vaccine passports and whether or not they should be mandatory. And I suppose that my answer is a fairly straightforward one – that they shouldn't be made mandatory. That's the simple answer. A more complete answer is rather longer. Throughout the pandemic, there has been a sense that politicians, and the Government in particular, are following public opinion rather than taking a lead. And I suspect that, with regard to a vaccine passport, public opinion is ...
A final series of engagement sessions on the replacement/refurbishment of Shotley Bridge Hospital are taking place. To book in and share your views please email my.view@nhs.net or telephone 0191 389 8609 to give your details and preferred dates. In addition to these clinical questions everyone can share their thoughts on what boils down to two possible sites; either a refurb of the existing building or a new-build at Puddlers Corner (the open space at the "Morrisons Roundabout"). If you can't, or don't want to, get to one of these sessions you can still complete an online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SBCH_Phase2 The ...
i) births and deaths 4 March 2016: death of Terence Woodfield, who appeared in two different First Doctor stories in 1966: as Celation in the story we now call The Daleks' Master Plan, and as Maharis in the story we now call The Ark ii) broadcast anniversaries 4 March 1967: broadcast of fourth episode of The Moonbase. The Doctor defeats the Cybermen by using the gravitron to make them float away into space. 4 March 1972: broadcast of second episode of The Sea Devils. The Doctor and Jo escape the the nearby sea base and discover that the Master is ...
I am grateful to the resident who recently advised me as follows : "We have at least 2 drains blocked with leaves and debris in Millers Wynd. This is resulting in large pools of water at the bottom of the lane." I raised this with the City Council and have now been updated as follows : "(The local inspector) ... has raised an order for these gullies to be cleared."
Thu 4th
06:33It's census time again - help is available - what are your stories of census days of old?
There are many ways of measuring how old you are. The number of censuses you have completed is one of them. You should by now have received your invitation to take part in the 2021 Census. It's online but you request paper and there is support for completing the questionnaire from Shropshire Libraries. I said it's an invitation. It is not. It's compulsory. But is one of the most important surveys we complete in our lifetimes. Please complete it. Please don't be Jedi. And share you experiences of censuses of old in the comments section below. There is a sound ...
