Ed Davey raises in the House of Commons the government's failure to respond properly to the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
A Pakistani man working on the roads in the heat, felled by heatstroke. A disorganised at best response to his emergency, with no medical treatment. His body hauled into the back of a truck, dead like so many other migrant workers in his position. That was what my mum saw one day when she lived in Qatar and unfortunately, that man's story is not unique. Just like many migrant workers in Qatar before him and many since. Since that day, the World Cup has been awarded to Qatar, and last year the Guardian has reported the deaths of 6,500 workers ...
Wed 9th
17:30
Council Tax Precepts in Folkestone & Hythe District Council Area 2019-2023 by Town / Parish Coun...
[IMG: Calculator] As they are hitting doormats (and increasingly email inboxes) across the country at this moment, Council Tax bills are a fairly hot topic. Below, I do a bit of number crunching on the most local element of the tax in Folkestone & Hythe District: the Town / Parish Council Precept. Every Council Tax demand is made up of a number of elements. In the Folkestone and Hythe area, they include: Kent County Council Folkestone & Hythe District Council Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority Town and Parish Councils Folkestone Parks and Pleasure ...
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: Second frame of third section of Scherven: Chris: "It's about time you had a wee chat with her." I picked this up on spec last year from one of the local comics shops. It's a story of young Dutch people in the occupied Netherlands during the second world war; after ...
Last conference, I moved a vote to reference back the paper on the Nature of Public Debate. Referring a paper back - a procedural move that returns the paper to a federal committee for six months' reworking before the next conference - is designed for cases where conference believes that the broad approach of the paper is correct but that there are notable flaws with the detail that need reworking. That was the case here, with a number of issues around the thorny issue of regulating speech on the internet that needed working out or tightening up. In my speech ...
It was a shocking and sobering sight just a few days ago to wake up and see a photo of Kira Rudyk, the leader of a sister liberal party of ours in Ukraine holding a gun and preparing to fight. It was also a reminder of the importance of our liberal values – and the need for internationalism to support fellow humans, rather than to try to hide away within our own borders as if the rest of the world doesn't exist. Viruses, climate change and dictators don't stop at borders, and nor should our compassion for other people. The ...
Tue, 12:15: RT @APCOBXLInsider: On International Day for Women's Rights we remember how everyday situations do not always feel safe or fair for everyon... Tue, 12:56: Stunned by the reaction to this. When did it become acceptable to mock other people's mental health, even if you disagree with them? https://t.co/lP8VEfSIM9 Tue, 17:35: RT @bbcdoctorwho: "She was the universe" ✨ Wishing everyone a happy International Women's Day! #IWD2022 https://t.co/OVj7HybdUw Tue, 17:36: RT @APCOBXLInsider: On International Day for Women's Rights we remember how everyday situations do not always feel safe or fair for everyon... Tue, 17:54: Where do we go from here? ...
Having borrowed £130 million to build a so-called state of the art arena and coastal park, Labour council chiefs in Swansea are slapping themselves on the back and bathing in their own adulation. Whether this arena will bring the footfall and jobs to the city centre it is claimed, has to be seen, but there is no doubting that it is an impressive addition to the city, even if, as a result, council borrowing is set to hit £800m, with all that entails for future council tax rises. That level of investment in the city's failing roads and pavements should ...
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was given the unprecedented opportunity to address a packed Commons yesterday by video link. You can see his speech here if you missed it. His speech echoed Churchill's oratory: We will fight at sea, we will fight in the air, we will protect our land. We will fight everywhere... and we will not surrender. He received a standing ovation, which again is very rare in Westminster. That appearance fully justifies Ed Davey's call to award him an honorary knighthood. Ed said: At this dark moment, we must be offering President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people not just our ...
