Embed from Getty ImagesI didn't get time to plug the latest Liberator when it was posted, but you can download it free from the magazine's website. If you then swipe to the Radical Bulletin section you will find this item: CODE RED The party owes quite a debt to lead adjudicator Neil Christian who has had to deal with an unexpected flood of cases since the new disciplinary code took effect in July 2019. His annual report states there were 967 cases - so around 1% of the total membership - and "it is worth noting that the number of ...
The Chancellor has given his Autumn Statement setting out the Conservative government's spending priorities for the next year. Mental health care services, however, have been short changed and neglected once again. The Government's own budget research states that "Mental health and wellbeing have suffered during lockdowns, and anxiety and depression levels are now consistently higher than pre-pandemic averages". Despite this, the Chancellor made no reference to mental health support in his speech and no new money for mental health services, let alone extra money to tackle the mental health crisis facing children and young people. Hundreds of thousands of young ...
At the Lib Dems Abroad first-ever Global Conference successfully held last weekend, I announced that a flight took off from Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan that morning carrying around 200 Afghan female judges and their families bound for Athens. A first flight of Afghan female MPs arrived in Athens a few weeks ago. Another flight is expected to take more Afghan female judges and their families bound for Abu Dhabi. However, these are the last flights envisaged for Afghans trying to flee their country in the face of the Taliban and also vengeful criminals released from prison by the Taliban who seek ...
Wed 27th
18:31
"Spend our Money properly" Lib Dems demand as Liverpool Council starts budget consultations
I wrote yesterday to the Mayor of Liverpool as consultations begin on next year's budget to say that 'the budget is not for one day a year but every day in the year. My Liberal Democrats and I have laid ... Continue reading →
Following today's budget, Ed Davey has slammed the Chancellor for giving twice as much away in tax cuts to bankers as extra catch-up funding to help children make up for lost learning during the pandemic. Analysis by the Liberal Democrats shows that reducing the banking surcharge will cost the Treasury over £3.8 billion over the next four years. This compares to just £1.8 billion of additional catch-up funding in today's Budget. That is the equivalent of £1 of extra catch up funding per child every school day, compared to a £6 a day tax cut for each banker. Liberal Democrat ...
Edinburgh based Locogen Consulting is in the initial stages of a planning application for a second solar farm on Squirrel Lane. The 21-hectare scheme will generate around 12Mw of electricity and on conventional calculations, that will supply around 2,800 homes and avoid around 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. If approved, it will be located opposite the current scheme on good quality agricultural land. It could also destroy 0.5km of biodiverse hedgerow. It is early days on this proposal. Locogen has taken advice from Shropshire planners on the scheme. It is currently asking whether an environmental impact statement ...
The Committee on Standards has concluded that Conservative MP Owen Patterson broke Parliamentary rules when he used his position as an MP to benefit to firms that were paying him as a consultant. The report details 14 occasions where his behaviour was problematic: Mr Paterson has been a paid consultant to Randox, a clinical diagnostics company, since August 2015, and a paid consultant to Lynn's Country Foods, a processor and distributor of meat products including 'nitrite-free' products, since December 2016. The Commissioner found that Mr Paterson had breached the rule prohibiting paid advocacy, set out in paragraph 11 of the ...
Tue, 18:45: 2021 Hugo short stories https://t.co/1apEyueS1D Tue, 19:05: RT @CrisiscenterBE: Overlegcomité - mondmaskerplicht, Covid Safe Ticket en telewerk in strijd tegen herfstgolf. Meer info 👉 https://t.co/VC... Wed, 10:45: RT @WarOnTheRocks: In December 2019, Alexandra Hall Hall resigned from her post as Brexit counselor at the British Embassy in Washington, D...
Research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that a full-time worker paid the National Living Wage will see nearly half (44%) of the proposed increase wiped out before it even reaches their bank account due to tax and the increase in National Insurance. Currently, an employee working 40 hours a week and paid today's so-called National Living Wage of £8.91 an hour, takes home £16,264.50 - after income tax and the current rate of National Insurance (12%). Once the Government raises the National Living Wage to £9.50, and National Insurance to 13.25%, that worker will see their take home pay ...
The Guardian reports that masks are being made mandatory again for all parliamentary staffers - but not MPs - amid concern over the recent rise in Covid cases and the safety of workers in the Palace of Westminster. The paper says that it is the first reintroduction of measures by the parliamentary authorities since restrictions were relaxed over the summer an dthat those who refuse to wear a face covering will be told they must leave the estate: New guidance was issued on Tuesday in advance of Rishi Sunak's budget speech on Wednesday. It said that "all face-to-face meetings with ...
As residents are aware, over a protracted period, I have raised concerns about the deteriorating state of the former Queen Victoria Works in Brook Street (the rear of the site backs onto Lower Pleasance). I have recently received further concerns about the security of the site and the very poor condition of it and I raised this again with the planning team at the City Council. I have now had the following feedback : "There has not been any recent engagement with the planning authority in respect of this site. I have passed the concerns about site/building safety onto colleagues ...
A hippo yesterday The Guardian wins our Headline of the Day Award.
Another walk in the company of the amiable John Rogers. He describes it thus on YouTube: The River Pinn rises on Harrow Weald Common and flows through Pinner, Ruislip, and Uxbridge to make its confluence with Frays River and run into the River Colne. It is one of the three main rivers of the old county of Middlesex. The Celandine Route starts at Bridge Street near the junction with Pinner High Street where the Pinn was dammed during WW2 to provide water to put out fires. We deviate from the course of the river to walk through Pinner Memorial Gardens ...
