Lib Dem Highlights On Tuesday at 9:30 am, Sarah Olney holds a Westminster Hall debate on reports of misogyny and sexual harassment in the Metropolitan Police – a sobering start to International Women's Day. Also on Tuesday, Jenny Randerson has a question on funding for bus improvement plans. Westminster Commons Monday sees all the stages of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill which sets up a register of all those non UK people and entities who own property in the UK and strengthens Unexplained Wealth Orders. The Commons Library briefing explains the measures in more detail. While Labour are ...
NB: With Russia's unprovoked murderous assault on Ukraine, I am actively looking at alternative hosts for this journal, preferably those which will retain as much content as possible. I am very uncomfortable with being part of the Russian economic system at present, in however small a way. In the meantime: During my trip to America last month, I linked up with several descendants of my grandmother's paternal grandparents, William and Sarah Hibbard. Of course, there is another half to her family. Her mother, born Rebecca Wickersham, was one of eleven children by three marriages of Samuel Morris Wickersham (1819-1894); one ...
This week, Lib Dem Women and Equalities Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse spoke in a parliamentary debate on preventing violence against women and girls. She spoke about the need for age appropriate sex education to help tackle sexual harassment in schools, the need for local authorities to be given sufficient funding to help victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse, the failure of the criminal justice system in this area and the need to make misogyny a hate crime. She said: It is a real pleasure and privilege to speak in this debate. We have talked about this issue many times, and ...
Let's start with Belarus, key launch pad for the Russian invasion and now virtually no longer an independent state. Of course, it has been going that way for a few years and when the West imposed sanctions after the rigged 2020 elections dictator Alexander Lukashenko sold out to Putin's rouble in order to stay financially afloat. However, the Belarussian leader retained a fig leaf of independence by continuing to refuse to allow Russian troops to be based on his country's soil. Well, that has now ended with Belarus becoming a major launch pad for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On ...
This blog post is another work in progress. In it I intend to consider the research on HIF and what the possible models are that lead from varying partial pressures of Oxygen in breathed gas (and the time of exposure) and the various possible outcomes (HIF, NRF2 and NF-κB). I shall aim to write this for people who have some scientific knowledge with links to the research. If you are reading
Sat, 12:56: Odessa on the brink https://t.co/7PZt1BReRn My friend Hanna reports. Sat, 17:22: RT @IAPonomarenko: đŸ”¥Russians have been defeated in Mykolaiv, lots of vehicles and equipment left behind Sat, 17:34: So, local activists decided that our street needed a bee hotel; and the only safe place on the street with enough southward light is at the end of our drive. A team of volunteers (including, briefly, me) spent the afternoon drilling holes to make the bees welcome. https://t.co/gOW71de4Uu Sat, 17:44: The Departed https://t.co/iajiqKkepC Sat, 17:46: RT @Billbrowder: This is really funny. Now that Apple has left Russia, Apple Maps has ...
You can do it. You can hit the Russians where it hurts—in their pockets. Russian oil and gas is still flowing westward. This is because a strict embargo would hurt Europeans as much, if not more, than the Russians. Europe has to keep producing and trading to become Ukraine's arsenal for democracy. So the East-West energy trade has been compartmentalised—for now, and the money being paid for Russian fossil fuels is being used to buy artillery shells that kill Ukrainians. The continued energy trade smacks of political and economic common sense. But that does not mean that individuals—YOU—cannot use your ...
I'm regularly finding myself spending time on a form of political matchmaking, trying to help would-be new Liberal Democrat activists find the best way to get involved in the party. I've written before about how existing activists can best get newer people involved, but this process has also made me increasingly aware that there's a set of tips about how to get involved that pretty much no-one ever tells would-be new activists. So this post is an attempt to put that right. Do let me have your feedback on it; this post has and I hope will continue to evolve ...
Tne Sunday Times reports on the strange circumstances in which the Moscow-born son of an ex-KGB agent and media mogul ended up in the House of Lords. The paper alleges that the security services withdrew an assessment that granting a peerage to a Russian businessman posed a national security risk after Boris Johnson pushed ahead with the nomination of his friend Evgeny Lebedev, even after officials raised concerns: Johnson is said to have responded to advice to drop it by claiming: "This is anti-Russianism." In March 2020, the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac), which vets peerages, wrote to the ...
Ten days ago, Shropshire councillors agreed the council tax for Shropshire. For Band D properties in Ludlow, the charges from 1 April will be: Shropshire Council: £1,574.60 (+3.99%) Shropshire Fire Authority: £106.27 (+1.99%) Police and Crime Commissioner: £249.66 (+3.94%) Ludlow Town Council: £198.13 (+7.7%). Combined, the four taxes give an overall rise of 4.2% in for householders in Ludlow from 1 April. The Band D charge in Ludlow will £2,115.17 before the energy rebate and any discretionary relief. All Band A-D households will get a £150 rebate, with additional payments to the poorest households that do not pay council tax ...
The Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island had a while to think about their response to a Russian warship demanding that they lay down their arms. Several years in fact. There can't be much to do at such a border post, apart from contemplate your potential enemy and the day of reckoning that might finally arrive. So their response of "Russian warship - go to hell", or alternatively fruity translation, was spoken in full awareness of the potential consequences. We've seen similar awe-inspiring bravery and defiance from President Zelenskyy to ordinary pensioners berating Russian soldiers. And what for? What are ...
Many thanks to all the residents who recently reported an unfortunate spate of graffiti in streets including Pentland Crescent, Morven Terrace, Benvie Road and Pentland Avenue. I reported all these to the council's Rapid Response Team and grateful for the team's prompt response in tackling these.
