Responding to the Conservatives voting down a Liberal Democrat amendment to the National Insurance Bill that would have created a public register of beneficial ownership for businesses in UK freeports, Liberal Democrat Trade Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said: "Tonight the Conservatives have chosen to leave the back door wide open for Putin's cronies to keep stashing their ill-gotten wealth on UK soil. "It's hugely disappointing to see the Government have the chance to end the era of Russian interference in the UK for good, but fail to act. There is now a real risk that Kremlin-linked oligarchs and other economic ...
Members of the cast and creative team discuss Deborah Warner's new production of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes ahead of its opening at Covent Garden on 17 March. Tickets from the Royal Opera House site. It's a wonderful opera, but weren't the village gossips right about Grimes?
"Failures of investigation and enforcement by the National Crime Agency and other UK state bodies have led to flawed judgments by UK courts, especially regarding post-Soviet elites. Capable and expensive lawyers (hired by members of transnational elites or their advisers) defeat or deter the regulators' often weak and under-resourced attempts to prosecute politically exposed persons." A Chatham House briefing paper by John Heathershaw et al. details how the UK is ill-equipped to assess the risk of corruption from transnational kleptocracy, which has undermined the integrity of important domestic institutions and weakened the rule of law. Tarjei Svensen finds that some ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: Danach wurden der Frau fünf Kinder vorgeführt, unter denen sie tatsächlich eines mit bläulicher Aurafärbung zu erkennen meinte. Da natürlich niemand sonst im Studio diese Farbe sehen konnte, wurde ein zweiter Test gemacht: Der Frau wurden die Augen verbunden und dieselben Kinder noch einmal an ihr vorbeigeführt. Diesmal meinte die Frau, sie habe bei Nr. 3 einen stechenden Kopfschmerz empfunden. Obwohl Kind Nr. 3 nicht mit dem ursprünglich identifizierten identisch war, wurde dieses Experiment als irgendwie gelungen bewertet, zumindest klatschten die Zuschauer lange und begeistert, auch ein paar Zeitschriften brachten Artikel über die seltsame Fledermausfrau. ...
Yesterday, Conservative MPs voted against a law that would have made misogyny a hate crime. The House of Lords approved adding misogyny in the list of hate crimes last month. The vote comes days after a man pleaded guilty to the murder of Sabina Nessa and just days before the anniversary of the murder of Sarah Everard. Cross-party peers had added a clause to the Government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to make crimes motivated by hatred of women aggravated offences, so they are treated as seriously as crimes motivated by racial or religious hatred. Liberal Democrat MPs voted ...
So, the expected crunch has come in the Liverpool Labour where a lot of long-time dissidents have been joined by those who joined the Party 4/5 years ago because they were attracted by Corbynism. I'm not crowing about this. There ... Continue reading →
Stuart Whomsley mourns the sacking of Leeds United's manager and what it means for the club's future Leeds is a smaller place today. The big metropolitan sprawl of the city will be shrinking in on itself; the dark brooding moors looking down upon it in contempt; the dark satanic mills, more satanic than ever. The armour in the Royal Armouries will be tarnished. Leeds faced a test, and Leeds failed that test. Marcelo Bielsa is gone. Leeds should have shown more respect for Bielsa and what he did for them. Not only did he get Leeds up, but he brought ...
News from Cheltenham constituency, which the Conservatives held by just 981 votes at the 2019 general election: I'm delighted to have been reselected as the @LibDems candidate for Cheltenham. Now, I'm calling on people here to help me restore honesty and decency in politics, do the right thing by our environment and get our country back on track.https://t.co/3umcyAuthQ — Max Wilkinson (@mpmwilko) February 28, 2022
Mon, 17:10: February books https://t.co/2mOJAi03Bf Mon, 19:00: BSFA shortlists: Goodreads/LibraryThing stats, and links https://t.co/EPop24dnzV Mon, 19:10: RT @PippaCrerar: BREAKING: Russia expelled from World Cup by FIFA following Ukraine invasion - AFP Mon, 19:50: February books https://t.co/DJTUhosUxp Mon, 19:53: Hooray! This really brought a tear to my eye/ https://t.co/fYCA9kiIIG Mon, 20:48: With so much information flying around, this one really got to me. https://t.co/bHAYuMMlHa Mon, 21:52: RT @KofmanMichael: Long thread about how I think the first 96 hours have gone, still very early/incomplete impressions. The initial Russian... Mon, 22:25: RT @CombatJourno: BREAKING NEWS Finland 🇫🇮 announces it will send more military ...
Welcome to my email digest for news from the Liberal Democrats in London, combining official news stories from the region with those from London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon and the London Lib Dem MPs.
Responding to a rail fare increase of 3.8% today, Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said: "The annual Government-approved hike in rail fares hasn't been justifiable for years, but this one will be particularly hard to stomach for families feeling the pinch of the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. "The value for money people are getting from this increase is next to nought. It beggars belief that railgoers should have to fork out more to travel when timetables are still in flux. Meanwhile, passenger numbers have not recovered to pre-Covid levels and this contempt for commuters risks driving ...
Responding to the Government's announcement on additional Ukrainian refugees being offered refuge in the UK, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: "People across the UK are urging the Government to stand with Ukrainians and offer them sanctuary. Yet all Priti Patel has done is repeat the Prime Minister's vague and very limited earlier announcement. "Ukrainians are fleeing for their lives. They deserve far better than just more spin and confusion from our Government. "The Home Secretary should come back to Parliament urgently to announce a full refugee scheme to resettle Ukrainians in the UK. She should also ...
Responding to the news that a Russian-owned tanker will no longer be docking at an Orkney oil terminal, Liberal Democrat Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael said: "This is a victory for the people of Orkney who were prepared to step in and block the docking of a Russian oil tanker here if necessary. "Our community has stood firm with the people of Ukraine and forced major oil companies to act to stop more money flowing to Putin's bloodthirsty regime. "Grant Shapps must now ensure the Government's proposed ban on Russian ships docking in the UK is made enforceable and ...
The Liberal Democrats have criticised the Government for rejecting a law that would make misogyny a hate crime. Today, Conservative MPs voted against the law, which had been passed by the House of Lords last month. The vote comes days after a man pleaded guilty to the murder of Sabina Nessa and just days before the anniversary of the murder of Sarah Everard. Cross-party peers had added a clause to the Government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to make crimes motivated by hatred of women aggravated offences, so they are treated as seriously as crimes motivated by racial or ...
It turns out that the Home Secretary is so obsessed with maintaining as much of her racist and isolationist immigration regime that she cannot even bring herself to make any meaningful changes to accommodate the many Ukrainian refugees seeking to join their family in the UK, despite overwhelming public support in favour of offering asylum. The Independent reports that ministers have been accused of being "heartless and mean-spirited" after it emerged that a new humanitarian route for Ukrainian refugees amounts to only small adjustments to visa rules which will benefit only certain family members of British citizens: Home secretary Priti ...
Dear Sir, I support Independent Sefton Park Ward Cllr Andy Wilson's campaigning for Double Rating payments to be reinstated from Sefton Council to those parish councils who maintain their own parks and gardens as without it the council taxpayers of those communities are paying twice. When I was a Sefton Cllr. and Leader of Sefton Council I ensured that those payments were improved to reflect the real costs of maintaining parks and gardens in Lydiate, Maghull & Aintree Village. That was around 2007, but sadly in around 2013, after I'd stepped down as Sefton Leader, the payments were stopped altogether ...
This St David's Day, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have reiterated their calls for the day to become a public holiday in Wales. St David's Day is currently only a patron saint day and does not have any legal standing. Meanwhile, in Scotland and Ireland St Andrew's Day and St Patrick's Day respectively are already public holidays. Almost every country on earth has a national holiday, why not Wales? We already know the UK only has one of the lowest numbers of public holidays in the developed world at eight, compared to 13 in Germany and Spain, 15 in Sweden and ...
Residents recently highlighted to me the poor pavement surface on Hawkhill outside Sinderins Court. I have therefore reported this to the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership, requesting repairs.
Ludlow Town Council will today publish a notice of vacancy for Hayton Ward after the resignation of James Durnall. He was not a regular attender of meetings and his resignation comes as no surprise. A new councillor could be elected through a by-election, in which case ten signatures from the ward must be submitted to Shirehall by 21 March. If a by-election is not called by electors, a new councillor will be co-opted by existing councillors. Hayton Ward lies between Dodmore Lane, Henley Road and Weyman Road. Two councillors represent the ward. The new councillor will join Councillor Erica Garner. ...
Responding to the votes on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill today, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: "The Conservatives have struck another blow against our fundamental democratic rights, but the fight isn't over. "Priti Patel's Protest Crackdown Laws are dangerous and draconian. They are part of the Conservative Government's attempts to silence any opposition to its policies. "Liberal Democrats will keep fighting to stop these anti-democratic laws when the Bill returns to the House of Lords."
