I'm having problems with my internet connection at home. This is no bad thing, in that it encourages me to go to bed when I get back from caring for my mum, but it does mean blogging is likely to be light for a few days. In the mean time, you can always find me on Twitter and Instagram.
The 2011 Fixed Term Parliaments Act (FTPA) established fixed quinquennial parliamentary terms, transforming the means of dissolving Parliament from a prerogative power exercised by the Prime Minister to a parliamentary process requiring two-thirds support in the Commons. The major criticisms of the FTPA are chiefly about its shortcomings and the politics surrounding the act, namely for supporting the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition, propping up the lame duck Second May Ministry, and its argued status as a dead letter due to the 2017 and 2019 elections with the latter being held by circumventing the FTPA via a simple-majority one-line bill. Such criticisms ...
Thu 16th
19:24
Shropshire Council in Chaos (1): The future of Shrewsbury Shopping Centres is top secret - why?
Yesterday afternoon was to be the big announcement. Local media were invited to a briefing to hear about the future plans for redevelopment and repurposing and the Shrewsbury shopping centres purchased for a princely ransom of £15 million in 2018. But hours before the briefing it was called off. BBC Radio Shropshire's Joanne Gallagher said on air this morning that she and media colleagues were told that that the council paper on the shopping centres had been pulled. That was it. The story of the month was dead. Except it wasn't. When the council papers were published yesterday the shopping ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:The king's agent stood, now a Knight of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George.I thoroughly bounced off this, an alternative steampunky history, the fifth in a series featuring the madcap adventures of Algernon Charles Swinburne and Richard Francis Burton across various timelines. (On steampunk I sometimes sympathise with Marigold's dad in Questionable Content.) When I realised that on page 70 I still had no idea what was going on and no particular sympathy for any of the characters, I gave up. But you can get it here, if you want. This was ...
Setting out our vision for the country Our September Federal Conference has a key trio of debates on our vision for a Liberal Democratic society, our overall policy platform and the strategy to give us the political power to achieve those aims. Having spent the first part of this Parliament fixing many of the practical organisational issues that caused so many problems in the 2019 general election, we now need to shift up a gear to get the external aspects right too. Sarah Green's victory in Chesham and Amersham is a wonderfully inspiring example of what we can achieve when ...
Lots of useful stuff to digest in this new report from the team that first identified the 'yellow halo', the forerunner to what we now all call the Blue Wall. Breaching-the-Blue-Wall Sign up to get the latest news and analysis Email* Enter Email Confirm Email Name* First Last What would you like to receive?* Liberal Democrat Newswire: monthly newsletter Polling UnPacked (political opinion polling news): max 1 email per day Mark Pack blog posts and council by-election results: max 1 email per day Lib Dem news from www.LibDems.org.uk and the media: max 1 email per day Official Lib Dem news ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:I was always a solitary child. Back then, those white deserts at the top of the globe fired my sense of adventure. I read Willard Price, Jack London, Alistair MacLean. Other boys could reel off every player who ever scored for Liverpool; I could tell you about Peary and Cook, Nansen and Amundsen. I grew up, a lot of things changed but my dreams didn't. If anything, they were more urgent. The Arctic wasn't a place to prove myself, but to lose myself. Somewhere to escape to.Decent thriller set in a slightly fictional Arctic research centre, ...
The Independent reports on the views of Peter Ricketts, a former head of the Foreign Office, who believes that Boris Johnson's refusal to rebuild the UK's "dysfunctional relationship" with the EU is damaging foreign and security policy. Ricketts says the prime minister's "tactic" of trying to build closer links with national capitals instead "will not work" and must be rethought, with the bitter spats between London and Brussels since Brexit, making the task hugely difficult, and leaving trust is at a very low ebb: The warning comes after the UK rebuffed a European Union push to negotiate a defence and ...
A book about hydropower in Zambia might not make your list of "must read" titles, but if you care about the climate emergency, then there are two reasons to take note. First, we need practical and sustainable global solutions to power generation in the developing world. Second, "The Political Economy of Hydropower Dependent Nations: a case study of Zambia" is written by Liberal Democrat Dr. Imaduddin Ahmed and therefore worthy of your attention. This book makes grim reading for hydropower enthusiasts: climate change is causing drought and emptying reservoirs. Drought is therefore causing power supply disruption, making it hard for ...
Commenting on the Government cut to Universal Credit ahead of this afternoon's debate in Parliament, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Work and Pensions Wendy Chamberlain said: "The decision to rip support from millions of families across the country shows how completely out of touch the Prime Minister really is. "He claims that he wants people to live by their own efforts rather than welfare. So either he doesn't know that almost half of those receiving Universal Credit are already in work or he doesn't care. "Working people, many with young families, are struggling. Furlough is ending, costs are rising and the ...
Conference Motion F12, Tackling the Climate Emergency Our remaining carbon budget will probably be used up in less than 10 years at the current rate of consumption. If that carbon budget is squandered, our children will face a double problem. They will need to fight rising sea levels, desertification, violent storms, and unprecedented heat waves without the use of convenient and powerful fossil fuels. Yet we continue to squander fossil fuel. The most important decision ever taken by humanity is how to control fossil fuel use. Our precious carbon budget may need to last for hundreds of years until the ...
[IMG: Folkestone Channel Triathlon Medal (Channel Rotary)] Each year, Folkestone and Hythe District Councillors get £3,000 of grant funding that they can use to support organisations, activities and projects that benefit the area. One of the events that I backed with grant funding this year was the Folkestone Channel Triathlon, which went ahead in September. We've had a report from Co-ordinator Joe Sullivan on the 2021 Triathlon and how it went, which I publish below with his permission. You can learn more about the F&HDC Ward grant scheme and how to apply to your ward Councillor at: Please note ...
Wed, 18:06: Angel of Mercy, by Julianne Todd, Claire Bartlett and Iain McLaughlin https://t.co/L9NqwskZhT Thu, 07:45: RT @AFP: Wheels up: Bangkok protesters skate for democracy. Kickflipping Thai skateboarders are flipping the bird at authorities, joining... Thu, 10:45: Now, *this* is the sort of number-crunching I can respect! https://t.co/VgMw4QKrBl
I have today written to the new Communities Secretary, Michael Gove, asking him to think again about a decision to alter the Governance system in Liverpool made by his predecessor, Robert Jenrick. In my letter I give 8 reasons why ... Continue reading →
Dear Liberal Democrats, As you anticipate your digital conference gathering at the weekend, I thought I would send some heartfelt reflections on the party's progress and prospects. As the Director of Compass my main concern is with effective cross party working in pursuit of what we call a good society - one that is much more equal, democratic and sustainable. But the issue of a so-called progressive alliance gets us to the dilemmas and challenges facing the party. To have a change of government, and the only feasible/desirable alternative is a Labour led administration, requires extensive cross-party cooperation given the ...
Residents have highlighted with me the overgrown foliage around the Union Place car park and the need for a tidy up of the car park and surrounding area. I have raised this with the car parking and environment teams at the City Council, calling for a tidy up.
