A Saturday evening in Edinburgh: A transgender manager of the Doctors pub in Edinburgh called the police on a group of women on Saturday evening. That much is fact. As a story, it now seems to have taken on a life of its own, like a Twitter version of Chinese whispers – if you'd believeContinue reading "Liberal Democrats and Trans Activism: Rational Voices Need to Speak Up"
Ed Davey has criticised Boris Johnson for failing to make any progress at the G7 summit today. He said: Boris Johnson has come out from this summit with nothing. Britain should stand tall in the world, but this Prime Minister falls short at every turn. He has failed on the global stage once more, and the consequences could not be more devastating. We abandoned all those who needed us in their hour of need; those who have put themselves in danger to protect British troops, vulnerable women and girls, and all those who simply fought to make their country a ...
This is the latest post in a series I started in late 2019, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days, I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia. My Georgia work culminated with our client winning the election. I have not agreed with everything he has done since, but ...
All complex thinking requires language; either words and sentences or symbols and equations. In conflicts we particularly need to think clearly. Our chosen words must pass two critical tests: A. Have we defined the enemy accurately? B. Will our words unite "our side" or divide it? In state warfare, the enemy's name is normally obvious. On 3 September 1939 Britain's Prime Minister accurately declared that "this country is at war with Germany." We called Germany's ideology Nazism; Nazi being an abbreviation for National Socialist German Workers Party. Our word choice passed both tests: A. There was no confusion about which ...
Mon, 18:38: The HAVOC Files 2, ed. Shaun Russell https://t.co/tmWPga3oGe #bookblog2021 #doctorwho Tue, 10:45: At the Edge of Hope https://t.co/P4PXahodBY Gut-wrenching on infertility from my old friend Fiona.
A couple of weeks ago Liverpool 18 was named as the most popular post code in the country. My ward (Church) is entirely in Liverpool but another 50% of the post code lies in 4 other wards. This 'title' was ... Continue reading →
The Guardian reports on the view of experts that the UK foreign aid cuts will have "devastating" consequences at a time when major recipient countries are at risk of becoming more politically unstable. They say thousands of activities providing life-saving support are being cut due to the government's decision to reduce aid spending to 0.5% of gross national income: Guardian analysis of the five largest recipients of these aid activities shows that four countries - Afghanistan, Yemen, Nigeria and Ethiopia - score worse in a "fragile states index" today than they did 15 years ago, while only one country, Pakistan, ...
Britain has stood in shock at events in Afghanistan, but how far has our party offered any meaningful solution to the evacuation crisis? While we can and should blame US foreign policy failings, is there anything our government could and should have done in the last two weeks to relieve the situation? This is not the first time Britain has faced the need to organise an emergency evacuation of Westerners and their allies from a foreign capital. There are many historical parallels - for example, could the 'Cairo Plan' of 1946 have pointed to a way of managing the evacuation ...
The Liberal Party leaflet scanned above is from the period of my party political awakening and as I've said before on this blog site I ended up joining the old Liberal Party on New Year's day 1980. I mention it now because my dear friend Peter Gibson presented me with the leaflet a few days ago as he thought I'd like and appreciate it. He was right. My original grasp at politics was with a small 'p' when I decided to become an activist in my trade union IRSF (Inland Revenue Staff Federation) in 1978 and it was only after ...
Some time ago, the council's administration group proposed changing the criteria for the adoption of unadopted pavements to widen it to include other unadopted assets that wouls allow some areas that had previously not met the criteria for adoption to be considered in the future, such as cul de sacs and some remote footpaths. My colleague Councillor Duncan from Broughty Ferry and I had no issue with the change in principle but felt it should be altered only after the current unadopted list had been honoured - indicative dates had been given in relation to streets on the "old" list ...
A wee treat for your commute today, or to have on in the background while you work from home. New Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton was the guest on this week's Political Party podcast hosted by Matt Forde. It's a brilliant chat, incredibly serious and moving in places, absolutely hilarious in others. At the start, Matt Forde warns us that it includes Alex's account of a man who died by suicide in front of him a few years back. It's one of the reasons he has been so persistent in questioning the Scottish Government on their lack of a ...
Responding to the new report from the Federation of Small Businesses, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Trade Sarah Olney MP said: "With furlough set to expire next month and countless small businesses still uncertain about their future, the Government should have already announced a cut to employers' NICs to support as many jobs as possible. Ministers should be using every tool at their disposal to support small businesses and avert a wave of job losses in the autumn. "And thanks to the Government's terrible EU trade deal, thousands of British exporters are struggling under a mountain of paperwork and red tape. ...
