The Liberal Democrats have slammed Liz Truss spending £500,000 on a private jet to Australia as a "staggering" waste of taxpayers' cash and demanded she apologise to the public who are facing a National Insurance tax rise in April. Analysis by the party shows that the money spent on Liz Truss' flight would cover the tax hike faced by almost 2,000 people. Liberal Democrat Business Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said: "This is a staggering waste of taxpayer's cash at a time many families are feeling the pinch. "Once again we see just how out of touch this Conservative government truly ...
Yes, really. I sat down and did the calculation a couple of weeks ago, being vaguely aware that it was around now. And fifty-four years (fourteen of them leap years), nine months and one day takes you from 26 April 1967 to 27 January 2022. In better times, I would have planned an unbirthday party for the evening; but local conditions don't quite allow for it at the moment. So instead, I've looked back through my life at thousand day intervals. 1000 days: Tuesday 20 January 1970 I was two and three quarters, living in Belfast. The Troubles were going ...
Hina Bokhari, Lib Dem London Assembly Member, has been interviewed in The Guardian along with other female Muslim politicians. This is in response to the report that Nusrat Ghani MP was sacked as a minister because of her "Muslimness". Hina says: I had never experienced racism until 9/11: I was walking home when someone shouted: "[P-word] go home" not far from my doorstep. After that it got more frequent. During the 2018 World Cup, a drunk man got right in my face saying: "Listen [P-word], go the fuck home." I've had problems on the job, too. When I was campaigning ...
Working my way through my thoughts on the different housing sites the council is proposing for Winnersh in the Local Plan Update, today we arrive at the land behind the Bulldog Garage. For those of you wondering, this land is basically the gap behind the BP petrol station and the body shop and showroom on Reading Road and the railway. The allotments and some paddocks used to be behind there, but the new North Wokingham Distributor Road has been built and now there is just a pocket of land left over from that. The council think they might get 25 ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:I was the youngest child of one of the oldest families in Penang. My great-grandfather, Graham Hutton, had been a clerk in the East India Company before sailing out to the East Indies to make his fortune in 1780. He had sailed around the Spice Islands trading in pepper and spices, and came to befriend Captain Francis Light who was searching for a suitable port. He found it on an island in the Straits of Malacca, on the north-western side of the Malay Peninsula and within comfortable reach of India. The island was sparsely inhabited, thick ...
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. #HolocaustMemorialDay is an opportunity to pause, reflect and remember. We must never forgot the stories of those persecuted or murdered in the Holocaust. We must learn from this dark time in our history and continue to fight against anti-Semitism and hatred. #HMD2022 pic.twitter.com/6G1YnYPpO2 — Ed Davey MP [IMG: 🔶] [IMG: 🇬🇧] [IMG: 🇪🇺] (@EdwardJDavey) January 27, 2022
It always seems to take me a day to recover from a Liverpool City Council full meeting. Last night's is no exception. It seemed to me that for 95% of the time we were all agreeing 95% of the agenda ... Continue reading →
I'm really very tired of having my identity questioned. There's a very binary way of thought which has gained credence across the UK media and other institutions which we rely - and that is that you're either a man or a woman. Full stop. That's it. No other options. Ah, they say - you can [...]
Were you as incensed as I was at reading the latest Government move against some of the most vulnerable people in our society? The scheme is called "Way to Work" and according to this report, jobseekers will have only four weeks (reduced from three months) to find work in their preferred sector. After that period they will be forced to widen their job search to other sectors. If they turn down employment or don't make "reasonable efforts" to find work then they will be sanctioned and lose some of their Universal Credit. I do understand the context. There are 1.22 ...
Responding to today's quarterly crime stats, which show that sexual offences are at their highest level recorded within a 12 month period and rape offences are at their highest annual number on record, Liberal Democrat Justice and Women & Equalities Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse MP said: "These appalling figures lay bare the disturbing truth that violence against women is endemic in our society. "Survivors deserve justice. They deserve to be properly supported to come forward and be listened to when they do. What they don't deserve is to be failed by a Government that sits on its hands and allows far ...
Primo Levi arrives at Auschwitz. ". . .[T] whole process of introduction to what was for us a new order took place in a grotesque and sarcastic manner. When the tattooing operation was finished, they shut us in a vacant hut. The bunks are made, but we are severely forbidden to touch or sit on them: so we wander around aimlessly for half the day in the limited space available, still tormented by the parching thirst of the journey. Then the door opens and a boy in a striped suit comes in, with a fairly civilised air, small, thin and ...
Wed, 18:59: 680 days of plague: Erlend, and pig bronchus https://t.co/e5RBsUNvj6 Wed, 20:48: My Year of Reading Every Ursula K. Le Guin Novel https://t.co/UOlI7znjq3 Yep. Wed, 23:03: RT @therealjomartin: TWO YEARS AGO today I BECAME A DOCTOR👀 I'm still pinching myself 😬 https://t.co/Yj2bEISf7q
The latest poll from Kantar gives Labour (only) a four point lead over the Conservatives, noticeably lower than the Labour lead in recent polls from other firms. Here is Kantar's explanation for the difference: A four-point Labour lead is smaller than most other recent voting intention polls. Other polls from the last two weeks have shown a larger Labour lead (ranging from +7 to +13 points). We think this disparity is due primarily to a methodological difference between our poll and other polls. In particular, we do not provide the option to answer 'don't know' to the party choice question, ...
It's nineteen years since the Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003 became law, and seven years since mandatory reporting of cases was introduced in 2015. So how are we doing? – and is FGM still an issue? – short answer, we are making some progress but it is still very much an issue affecting thousands of girls living here in the UK on the same streets as us, and millions of girls globally. February 6th will mark the 10th anniversary of the International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) with all UN agencies moving towards elimination by ...
There have already been falls on icy pavements around the town this winter. A couple of weeks ago, a police officer sent the town council a memo on a fall by an elderly man on the sloped footpath from the Library to the Foyer. He had fallen on the icy path and had banged his head, causing a deep cut and extensive bleeding. He was concussed and it was possible that his hip was broken. He was cared for by the police officer and members of the public until paramedics arrived an hour later. Shropshire Council claims it grits priority ...
The Mirror reports that Boris Johnson has once more been accused of lying after bombshell emails revealed he did personally intervene to get animals and staff from a charity airlifted out of Afghanistan after the Taliban took Kabul. The Prime Minister said at the time it was "complete nonsense" the Government stepped in to help Paul 'Pen' Farthing and members of his Nowzad charity flee Afghanistan: The Government was accused of putting animals before people after Mr Farthing was able to evacuate 173 cats and dogs from the country in August using a plane funded by donations from a high ...
Thu 27th
08:51
Ludlow Town Council votes to oppose spending on North West Relief Road and Civic Centre
The North West Relief Road (NWRR) is possibly this county's most controversial project. Conceived 40 years ago, the four mile road skirting around the edges of Shrewsbury is the sort of road that might have been build 40 years ago. It will bulldoze through precious biodiverse landscapes and confirm the commitment of Shropshire Council to the fossil fuelled era. Although the plans for the road are not within the remit of Ludlow Town Council, it was asked to comment on Shropshire Council's budget for 2022/23. Shropshire Council is having to raid its reserves to balance books, while facing a liability ...
From the City Council - but please note that I have further information from Scotland Gas Networks and should any resident have a query, please e-mail me at fraser.macpherson@dundeecity.gov.uk : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of SGN maintenance works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Riverside Approach (between Riverside Drive and Magdalen Yard Road), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Saturday 29 January at 10pm until Sunday 30 January 2022 at ...
