A full slate of Liberal Democrat candidates for this week's principal authority local council by-elections.
Responding to the news that Cressida Dick has quit her role as the Met Commissioner, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: "Boris Johnson must have no role in choosing Cressida Dick's successor to lead the Met. A man under criminal investigation by the Met should not be able to choose who's in charge of it. "I would like to thank Cressida Dick for her years of dedicated police service, but a change of leadership in the Met is long overdue. "Met police officers who work incredibly hard and risk their lives to keep us safe deserve better. They urgently need ...
A Twitter thread by Kate Long lays bare Primark's hugely sexist messaging on children's clothing. Paddy Briggs knows West Kent's golf clubs and therefore understands Nigel Farage and the world he sprang from better then most commentators. "The most direct way in which politics affected the nature of club cricket in England came with the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979. Thatcher's economic changes caused a marked reduction in the number of cricket grounds supported by public bodies with the intention of encouraging good health for the nation. Council cutbacks brought further slippage, and changes in education ...
Responding to a new poll from Money Saving Expert, which shows 57% of bill payers would opt-out of the Government's planned 'energy rebate' if they could, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said: "The Chancellor's botched energy loan scheme is playing a game of Russian roulette with people's finances. The public have given their verdict - they don't want to be forced to take on this energy debt for years to come. "Rishi Sunak needs to understand this is about more than numbers on a spreadsheet, it is about people's lives. "Rather than clobbering people now and in the ...
A lovingly produced tribute to a lost branch line that once crossed rural East Hertfordshire. An unexpected feature is the appearance of David Niven and Spike Milligan - the line and its stations turn out to have been popular with the makers of post-war British film comedies. This video was produced by Rediscovering Lost Railway group, who would love you to follow them on Instagram.
Lydiate Station after closure – From Neil Reston Collection A look back at the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway by Keith Hick, published with the OPSTA Connexion Magazine Issue 155 – Feb 2022 There's a great supplement to the OPSTA magazine for Feb' 2022 in the form of a pamphlet written by locally renowned railway historian Keith Hick which, if I've understood things correctly, will form a part of a larger piece of work about the history of Southport's railways in general. Having checked with OPSTA I've scanned the 12 pages of the supplement and present them here. You ...
Second paragraph of third chapter of The Three-Body Problem (first half of third paragraph in the English translation): 她听到有个男声在轻轻叫自己的名字。 She heard a male voice softly calling her name. Second paragraph of Part III of The Dark Forest: 罗辑从冬眠中醒来。 Luo Ji awoke from hibernation. Young F kindly got me the second volume of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy for Christmas, having correctly noted that I already had the first and third, and I decided to reread all three to give me the full sense of the narrative. Then the BSFA long list came out just as I was about to ...
Here's a funny thing about this week's Party Political Broadcast (PPB) from the Conservative Party: Last night's Conservative party political broadcast had: 2 photos of @Keir_Starmer 2 photos of @EdwardJDavey 0 photos of @BorisJohnson It's almost as if CCHQ doesn't think the PM is a vote winner any more... — Mark Pack [IMG: 🔶] (@markpack) February 10, 2022
Today's Express runs an article featuring Wendy Chamberlain who speaks on work and pensions for the Lib Dems. She accuses the Conservatives of breaking their manifesto promise to protect the state pension, especially for poorer pensioners. "The Conservatives have plunged older people into the depths of a cost of living crisis." Their paltry support doesn't even begin to drag them out of it, failing to cover what millions have had to endure over a cold and bitter winter. Pensioners are among the most vulnerable people in our society. This out of touch Government has left them out in the cold, ...
So I saw this tweet from the esteemed John Rentoul and thought it worth pushing back a little. I remember the mid 1990s very well; they were a formative time for me politically, as I voted Conservative in 1992 and New Labour in 1997, I felt part of a very big movement indeed. (obviously watchContinue reading "I don't think John Major was more unpopular than Johnson"
Thu 10th
15:22
Sex, gender and everything in between: why we need new language to help people understand trans righ...
I am a trans ally. Trans rights are human rights, and we should be doing everything that we can to ensure that they are enforced and everyone is given the respect and dignity they deserve. Unfortunately, all too often when engaging in this area one of the first hurdles is getting past inaccessible language. First of all, there is the term "assigned". People are "assigned a sex at birth". That's a really misleading phrase. What we actually mean is that they were assigned a description of their sex - typically male or female, based on characteristics that they have. But ...
Price caps and similar mechanisms are simply a sticking plaster on a broken system. Continue reading →
The Liberal Democrats have tabled a motion to allow MPs to point out when the Prime Minister makes misleading statements, without being thrown out of the Commons.
The Good Law Project reveal that the government misled the National Audit Office about how many companies were given "VIP" treatment for Covid contracts. As reported in The Times, leaked internal documents have revealed a list of 68 companies referred to as VIPs. This despite the fact that in November the government made public a so-called exhaustive list of 50 companies given preferential treatment for contracts to supply personal protective equipment through a "high-priority lane" or so-called VIP lane. The extra 18 companies received almost £1 billion in PPE contracts between them: Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, ...
Wed, 12:56: In 1922, a Novelist Predicts What the World Will Look Like in 2022: Wireless Telephones, 8-Hour Flights to Europe & More | Open Culture https://t.co/LUhdLmjPRi Missed this when I was doing my list of sf set in 2022! Wed, 16:05: Disputed Presidential Elections and the Collapse of Constitutional Norms by Matthew Seligman https://t.co/CaqvYdaCJV Wow. Detailed and rather horrifying. Wed, 17:11: Why Scottish nationalism is simultaneously safe and stuck https://t.co/mo3LJXaq38 "unlike Ukraine or Ireland, Scotland isn't so much a cause as a complaint" Wed, 18:27: February 2015 books https://t.co/pXpGic4dKY Wed, 20:48: RT @BySteveReilly: We researched some of the biggest ...
Thu 10th
10:55
New £79m plans for Shrewsbury Riverside will starve the rest of county from public investment
Next Wednesday, Shropshire Council's cabinet will discuss plans for redeveloping the riverside area of Shrewsbury on Smithfield Road. This follows a public consultation a year ago, which highlighted the need to prioritise pedestrian and cycling access and to tackle climate change. The proposals from Shropshire Council involve spending £77m building 270 homes, a multi-agency hub and offices with 500 spaces for workers, the Pride Hill Leisure Centre (cinema etc.), offices, a hotel and a Transport Hub (a multistorey car park with bike racks to you and me). Smithfield Road will be closed and become a green park alongside the River ...
The Liberal Democrats have tabled a motion to allow MPs to point out when the Prime Minister makes misleading statements, without being thrown out of the Commons. The motion, tabled by Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey, would amend Parliament's standing orders to allow MPs to say in the Commons Chamber why they believe "the Prime Minister has misled the House." Under current rules, doing this would be deemed as "grossly disorderly conduct" which would lead to the Speaker having no choice but to evict an MP from the chamber. The Liberal Democrats are calling on Conservative MPs and opposition parties ...
Embed from Getty ImagesAt the end of last year this blog discovered Freda Jackson and Henry Bird - Northampton's power couple of the arts. We also discovered that they had a son, Julian Bird, who, after a career as a psychiatrist, trained as an actor in his sixties. Julian Bird spoke about his new career with Paula Cocozza in the Guardian: It is tempting to wonder what his mother, who died in 1990, would have made of his career change. He has worked in TV and theatre for the past 15 years. "I would have loved her involvement and appreciation," ...
