Today MPs today set a new low standard for democracy in the UK. Conservative MPs voted to maintain an image of sleaze against promoting an image of integrity. Instead of suspending Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, they suspended Commons Committee on Standards instead. The House of Commons has lost its moral compass. Boris Johnson, boosted by his role as host of COP26, is currently a superhero in Invincible mode. He ordered "his MPs" to vote to protect his ally, Owen Paterson, against allegations of lobbying for companies for which Paterson is a well paid consultant. They didn't all obey. ...
Commenting ahead of the House of Commons vote today that saw Conservative MPs, with a few notable exceptions, move to block the suspension of former minister Owen Paterson, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said: "Owen Paterson's focus on the Commissioner herself rather than the office has been reprehensible. The Government supporting him in that is shameful. This was a committee with a Conservative majority of MPs that clearly concluded he had broken the rules. The report agrees that there were deliberate rule breaches and no rescue amendment should be supported today. "Climate change and coming out of the ...
Responding to the Government's plans to ask large UK firms and financial institutions to show how they intend to hit climate change targets, Liberal Democrat Leader and former Secretary for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey MP said: "If we do not force fossil fuel money out of the City of London, we will never stop climate change in the UK or the wider world. "The Chancellor's plan, that net zero is not to be mandatory for the world's largest polluters financed in London, is a serious mistake. "Billions of pounds of the world's fossil fuel money flood through the ...
Last night, the Liberal Democrats joined with peers from across the political divide to defeat the Government's decision to ditch the pension triple lock. The Conservatives pledged to maintain the triple lock in their 2019 manifesto. The commitment ensures that the state pension will rise in line with inflation, wage growth, or a base 2.5% - whichever is higher. However, they have since reneged on their promise - a move which will mean the average pensioner loses out on between £370 and £485 a year. This is in part due to inflation being expected to rise to between 4-5%. The ...
Conservative MPs have responded to a ruling against one of their own by voting to scrap the system and set up a committee under their control to come up with a new system: This is a shameful move by Conservative MPs to rewrite the rules to look after one of their own. This stitch up is something you'd expect in a tin pot dictatorship, not the home of parliamentary democracy.#OwenPaterson https://t.co/BPrrWV3mjT — Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) November 3, 2021
The newest Lib Dem MP, Sarah Green, had her debut PMQ today. The headquarters of the Epilepsy Society is in her constituency of Chesham and Amersham so it was fitting, during COP26, that she highlighted the need to fund research into the effect of climate change on people with health conditions like Epilepsy. Thank you to our MP @SarahGreenLD for raising the issue of the cost of #climatechange to human health, including to conditions like #epilepsy, in #PMQs today. Learn more about the global Epilepsy Climate Change (#EpiCC) initiative here [IMG: 👉] https://t.co/PtWGdsq5jI [IMG: 💚] [IMG: 💜] #COP26 pic.twitter.com/Wzbvn1vzcC — ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:Dark Water is a ghost story, a tale of post-mortem communication and animate skeletons with a horrific conceit at its centre, while Death in Heaven is an elegiac story of mourning and self-sacrifice, and of the heroism of the dead. As these are two halves of a single story, however, elements of both celebrations - which in any case overlap in images of graves and in a heightened concentration on the dead - permeate both episodes.Fourth in the series of Black Archive books about Doctor Who, old and new, this was published within a year of ...
Carers UK today release a report showing that one in five unpaid carers fear they may not be able to cope financially over the next 12 months. And along with that, carers face increasing strains on their health and wellbeing. From the report: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen 81% of carers take on increasing hours of care, often with less or no outside support. This has had a significant and detrimental impact on carers' health and wellbeing; over two-thirds of carers (69%) reported that their mental health has worsened, and 64% of carers said their physical health has got worse ...
but it's work enough just to avoid causing damage In the wake of the recent Budget, I was asked the impossible question: what does this mean for UK growth? Has the Chancellor unveiled something that will boost Britain's economic prospects? Impossible, and quite reasonable. The question is the counterpart to the demand you see commentatorsContinue reading "No, the Chancellor cannot just 'unleash growth'"
Tue, 12:56: Just seen this fascinating and grim interview with a key People's Vote campaigner. Clear on failures of his own side. Lib Dems in particular screwed up in late 2019 (others did too, of course). https://t.co/c7KsNaomX7 Tue, 16:05: RT @Mij_Europe: Fr/UK relations are in bad shape Senior French officials tell me Macron - who once thought he could establish chummy relat... Tue, 17:53: City of Miracles, by Robert Jackson Bennett https://t.co/u77D7uhsDN Wed, 05:58: RT @khalafroula: Breaking news: https://t.co/p3nHxaHnIr is free to read tomorrow, and we're showcasing many of our climate change news, ana... Wed, 10:45: There really is nothing ...
Wendy Chamberlain and Ed Davey represent the Liberal Democrats in a new video for the Make Votes Matter campaign: It would be really good if we got the Parliament we asked for. Boris Johnson wouldn't have had a majority to inflict a destructive Brexit on us. In fact, David Cameron wouldn't have got the majority to have the Brexit referendum in the first place. Margaret Thatcher wouldn't have had the votes for her destruction of public services in the 80s and Tony Blair would have had a hard time getting parliamentary backing for the Iraq war. As Wendy says, ...
It's not fun to wake up this morning to discover that Virginia has elected a Trump-endorsed Republican as its governor. Glenn Youngkin is projected to defeat former Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe by 2.7%. What on earth has gone wrong? It's a bit of a perfect storm made up of a new way that the Republicans have found to frighten people into voting for them and the failure of Joe Biden to deliver what would have been a very popular series of measures, including paid family leave, mainly because of the failure of two right wing Democrat Senators, Joe Manchin and ...
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LibLink: Christine Jardine: Days before COP26, Tories and SNP let us down on climate change
In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine looks forward to COP26, but highlights how both Scotland's governments have mucked up on climate change: First there was the mic drop moment when the SNP at Holyrood teamed up with the Tories at Westminster to back a third runway at Heathrow Airport. A move which will increase carbon dioxide emissions over that part of the country by a mind-boggling 183 billion kilograms by 2050, once you take into account not just the flights but the construction. I am no expert but that's a lot of CO2. And this must be uncomfortable ...
From Sheena Wellington : Lunchtime Recital with Alan Brown, singer - online at 1pm today! Alan Brown is a singer and songwriter with a wide experience of folk clubs, festivals, concerts, ceilidhs and competitions (winning the Scottish Folk Directory 'Songwriter' award on two occasions.) His parallel careers have included teaching, journalism (Scots Magazine, Irish Music, Living Tradition), compering, radio presenting and ceilidh band calling. He is also a published novelist. Born and brought up in 'The Old Dundee' he lives near the historic village of Dull (yes, the one paired with Boring, Oregon) in Highland Perthshire. A free event and ...
According to the Guardian, the Bank of England and other banks are facing criticism over the way they are conducting climate stress tests, with politicians and campaigners warning that a lack of penalties for dirty assets will give banks little incentive to clean up their act. They say that the Bank of England has come under fire for so far refusing to publish data for individual firms, and stopping short of introducing immediate capital requirements, which would make it more expensive to offer loans and services to fossil fuel companies and high carbon projects: The Bank of England is not ...
Embed from Getty ImagesHere's another story I've failed to cover: Claudia Webbe's conviction for harassment As the Guardian reported: Webbe, the independent MP for Leicester East, who was elected as a Labour candidate in 2019 but had the party whip withdrawn, was accused of harassing Michelle Merritt, a friend of her partner, with threatening phone calls. The trial was told she had called Merritt a slag, threatened to "use acid" and said she would distribute naked pictures of Merritt to her family. Webbe, by all accounts, was imposed upon the Labour Party in Leicester East by the central party, then ...
