Responding to new Office for National Statistics figures that show real term (adjusted for inflation) pay has fallen, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said: "People up and down the country are facing one of the biggest squeezes on their incomes in a generation. "This will only get worse as the Conservatives plough on with their unfair National Insurance tax hike that will clobber families. "If Boris Johnson had any compassion he'd scrap the tax hike and support those set to be hit hard as the cost of living crisis worsens."
The end may be in sight. Other countries have moved a bit quicker than Belgium; I don't really begrudge the authorities here their caution, but I'm very glad that restrictions are going to be drastically reduced from Friday. I won't be here for it. I'm going to the USA on Thursday for a week and a half, first to Gallifrey One in Los Angeles, reprising my last big trip before everything went wrong in 2020; then I hope a day in Vancouver, and a weekend in Seattle with an old friend, before getting home on the 28th. So I've been ...
Sad news from the Liberal Democrat team in the Lords: We are so sad that our own David Chidgey died peacefully earlier today following a period of illness. A good man, and a formidable campaigner, he won a stunning by-election in Eastleigh in 1994 and spoke passionately on a range of issues in both the Commons &Lords. RIP, kind sir. pic.twitter.com/QRl4H33EEn — Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) February 15, 2022
Those who want more fully to understand what is going on in the Russia/Ukraine dispute could do worse than listen to this excellent "podcast," https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox?projector=1 but should take a deep breath first and be prepared to emerge mentally exhausted. My sincere hope is that a diplomatic solution will be found (see earlier post) and that not a singe young Ukrainian nor a singe young Russian sheds his or her blood to satisfy the egos of posturing politicians. It is encouraging to see that, on the surface at least, the search for a diplomatic solution is coming from the Europeans, last ...
Dive down the JFK assassination rabbit hole and you will find that anti-Castro Cubans, who felt the President had let them down over the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, are among the favourite candidates for conspirators. Fall deep enough and you will come across the name José Sanjenís Perdomo. Wikispooks describes his career: After working in the Cuban police under the command of Batista, Perdomo went into exile in the US after Fidel Castro took power. He joined the CIA, to whom he gave lists of skilled and like-minded people who could be trusted enough to take part in Operation ...
Mon, 12:56: RT @wake_oliver: Terry Nation's work on Doctor Who, Survivors and Blake's 7 is well-known, but his earlier science fiction work which led t... Mon, 18:21: The Complete Debarkle: from 1880 to 2020, by Camestros Felapton https://t.co/e0QunSjEtZ Mon, 21:16: RT @SkyNews: Former Prime Minister of Finland Alexander Stubb says Putin has already "got what he wanted", adding "the world is right now f... Mon, 21:55: RT @Ianblackford_MP: This is just awful. @Keir_Starmer has has death threats and yet @BorisJohnson shows no empathy or appreciation that he... Tue, 10:45: RT @castlvillageman: To remind people that you needed a travel permit ...
Our party has come a long way since the devastating general election defeat of 2019, when we lost many people including our then leader, Jo Swinson. As someone standing in a Northern Leave-voting seat, I saw firsthand the effect of the mistakes that cost us so dearly in that campaign and which Dorothy Thornhill's post-election review documented so clearly. We must not make the same mistakes again – and that means fixing the party systems and structures that let us down in 2019. Since 2019, we have already made a number of changes that make fighting in areas like Barnsley ...
The climate and ecological emergencies are among the greatest challenges of our time. The Federal Policy Committee's Natural Environment Working Group is developing new policy proposals to help make sure that the Liberal Democrat plan for protecting and restoring nature is agenda-setting and ambitious. We would love to hear your ideas. First of all, we want to hear what our long term vision for nature should be. We have a policy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, but what is the equivalent for nature? What is the most ambitious pathway possible for reducing our impact on nature internationally, restoring the ...
Tue 15th
09:10
Covid Watch 176: Omicron cases at last fall locally and nationally after double peaks in January
The good news is that infection rates have been falling rapidly across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. A surge in infections followed the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant in December. A second lower surge occurred in early January after the schools returned. In the week to 5 February, an estimated 99.7% of Covid-19 cases in Shropshire were one of the three Omicron variants. Infection rates in Shropshire have been plummeting since the end of January and are getting closer to the England average. In England, the current rate of infections over the last seven days is 425 per ...
It could be argued that the Metropolitan Police Federation were a tad unlucky to launch their attack on the London Mayor on the same day as it was reported that a senior Metropolitan police commander, who wrote his force's current drug strategy, faces the sack after being accused of taking cannabis, LSD and magic mushrooms, but then that is how the cookie crumbles sometimes. The Federation's problem of course, lies in the fact, that there have been so many reports in recent months of issues within the Metropolitian Police, that it would have been fortuitous if they had been able ...
I recently received residents' complaints about some potholes on the road surface of Rockfield Crescent. I raised this with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have had the following helpful feedback : "An order has been raised for the repair of two potholes."
