Well said, Tim: Lib Dem MP Tim Farron: 'If you believe in human rights then you have to believe in them for everybody, not just people like you.'@IainDale | @timfarron | #CrossQuestion pic.twitter.com/cUcPVAAnfu — LBC (@LBC) October 18, 2021
Hunting with hounds is back in the news. In a short space of time we have seen video footage of Beaufort Hunt staff killing dogs and we have seen Mark Hankinson, a director of the Master of Foxhounds Association, convicted of conspiring to break the law in a deliberate and systematic fashion. Leaving aside the law breaking for the moment, let us consider the arguments for and against hunting with hounds. The key argument is ethical. A lot of other stuff gets mentioned, but none stands up to scrutiny. One argument is that hunting creates jobs. It does but they ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:'Are you OK?' Melissa asked in an undertone, reaching over to squeeze my hand.A rather good novel about young folks in an extended contemporary Dublin middle-class family, who find a mysterious death from ten years ago coming back to haunt them. The somewhat clueless narrator is very well portrayed; as a straight man, he is oblivious to the challenges faced by his two cousins, one gay and one a mother of two, and only gradually develops a clue. It's weird to realise that Gen Z have always been deep into social media as part of their ...
Reacting to the Government's new low carbon heating announcement, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change Wera Hobhouse MP said: "These plans are a kick in the teeth for families across the country facing soaring energy bills this winter. "These proposals will do nothing to lift people out of fuel poverty and hardly make a dent in the emissions produced from homes. And they will help around just 1 in 300 homes, whilst millions of households face record high bills due to rising gas prices. "We urgently need an emergency programme of investment to better insulate our homes, cut ...
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has warned that the Government's new Net Zero Strategy is ignoring the "elephant in the room" by failing to include measures to stop investment in fossil fuel industries through the City of London. The former Energy and Climate Change Secretary is calling for new oil, gas and coal companies to be banned from the London Stock Exchange and for urgent action to stop the UK hosting the world's fossil fuel investments. Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: "The UK must be net zero as soon as possible - Britain's economy needs it just as much ...
In the Scotsman, Christine Jardine MP has written about MPs' safety in the light of the murder of Sir David Amess: It is a risk which we must minimise, but continue to take for the sake of our democracy. (Last Friday) was one of those days that you hope never to see, or that anyone you know will have to endure. Christine goes on to write: ...My office is secure, I avoid going to meetings on my own, and we have a rule that staff are not alone in the office regardless of the level of protective devices and structures ...
The Liberal Democrats have called for the Government to speed up the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines over half term after new Department for Education figures reveal over 216,000 pupils are absent from school for Covid-related reasons. The figures, released today (12:00pm), show infection rates in schools are rising at a concerning rate and this is having a huge impact on young people's education – with 2.6% of pupils absent for covid-related reasons over the last two weeks. Across the UK schools are grappling with soaring case numbers, which has seen institutions like Eton bring in a wave of new strict ...
Shaking out the wrinkles – from our clothes, but not our skin –needing to reduce, somehow,the mass of people we don't know;If we were to recognise and even greet vague fluttering freedom,pallid from confinement, weakened by disuse,what would we see? Having swallowed whole the scattered lies of charlatans –puffed full of empty, hollow, self-congratulation –we [...]
Mon, 12:44: Well, we'll see. I am waiting for a package which has been in Belgium since 15 September; spoken to @bpost_nl three times by phone, but nothing has happened. https://t.co/iPcospMcvT Mon, 12:56: The UK Media Has Seriously Bungled the Kathleen Stock Story https://t.co/VhP2n6ee5w Very good corrective in case you wondered what was really going on. Mon, 16:05: RT @law_and_policy: Lord Chancellor, there is already a mechanism for the law to be changed: it is called Parliament Why Raab's proposal f... Mon, 16:32: RT @CBSNews: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has died due to complications from COVID-19, his family ...
Some good news for transparency and accountability with the Guardian reporting that the UK government has been ordered to reveal which companies were given "VIP" access to multimillion-pound contracts for the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the early months of the Covid pandemic. The paper says that The Department of Health and Social Care has previously refused to disclose the names of 47 companies that had contracts awarded through the privileged, fast-track process allocated to firms with political connections but, thanks to a ruling by the Information Commissioner's Office, that may be about to change: A report by ...
During yesterday's House of Commons tributes to Sir David Amess, our leader Sir Ed Davey made this moving speech. To a hushed chamber, Ed showed great sympathy to David Amess' Concervative colleagues. He quoted from local Lib Dem councillors in Southend constituency. And he recalled the killing of Andrew Pennington and the injuring of Nigel Jones. It is a very moving, dignified and heartfelt tribute. Today I joined MPs across the House of Commons paying tribute to Sir David Amess. pic.twitter.com/PQcY4TinrF — Ed Davey MP [IMG: 🔶] [IMG: 🇪🇺] (@EdwardJDavey) October 18, 2021
Is the biggest news in town the opening of Sainsbury's on 30 November? Or is it the arrival of Greggs on King Street? Or the current construction of 400 new houses around the town with a few hundred more to come before the decade is out? As everyone can see, out town is changing. After a couple of decades during there has been little expansion to our town, development is going ahead with gusto. The developments bring benefits including more retail and much needed new housing but will also increase the pressure on our roads and the increase strain on ...
I have today slammed a recommendation that will come before the council's City Development Committee on Monday 25th October that, if approved, will axe all the Blether Bus services in Dundee that assist elderly residents who have difficulty accessing the main bus routes. These include services in the West End but also services in Stobswell and Lochee. If approved this would be a really bad decision for the elderly folk who rely on the service. There are older residents in streets in my own ward who cannot manage uphill to the main bus services and, after the SNP axed their ...
Tue 19th
00:49
The Tories took back control of a blue wall council on Thursday and no one will admit it
On Thursday we failed to hold a Liberal Democrat seat in Surrey Heath with the result that the Conservatives won overall control of the council. But you wouldn't know it from the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors' report on Lib Dem Voice: On Surrey Heath Borough Council, Lib Dem candidate Jacques Olmo came agonisingly close to beating the Conservatives in Frimley Green ward. Well done to Jacques and the team for winning 47% of the vote. But sadly, they were just 19 votes shy of the Conservatives. You would be somewhat better informed by the post on the blog written ...
