As we hurtle towards local elections on 5th May (in Scotland, something that only happens every five years), I'd like to pause for a moment and have a think about 6th May. In many council areas across the country, we will elect Lib Dem councillors (Yay!) and in some of those areas the question will arise whether those councillors enter coalition to form an administration. In Scotland, thanks to the Lib Dem participation in early administrations in Holyrood, we vote by Single Transferable Vote in multi-member wards (again Yay!) and this means that single party administration in any council area ...
Winner of the North Shropshire by-election, Helen Morgan MP, has written to Tory MPs warning them to learn their lessons from previous sleaze scandals. MPs will vote tomorrow on whether to refer the Prime Minister for investigation by the Committee of Privileges following his repeated lies on partygate. Helen Morgan MP has written to 50 Blue Wall Tory MPs with slim majorities over the Liberal Democrats who are most vulnerable to a public backlash over their support for Boris Johnson. Helen gained Owen Paterson's constituency by overturning a massive Conservative majority with a 34% swing amid news headlines of Conservative ...
Keeping in touch and working for local residents ALL YEAR ROUND. No - there is no election on (that we know about!) but the latest edition March 2022 of Sandgate and West Folkestone Focus is through people's letterboxes now. Topics covered in this edition included the recent district budget, County Council bus funding cuts, Princes Parade, phone scams, new access ramps, graffiti clearance, hedges and new charging points! Gary Fuller and Tim Prater are always happy to hear from you - get in touch! No other area of our district has updates from their local Councillors as often as Sandgate ...
[IMG: Charity Boot Fair 2022 Poster] I've been happy to hep my friend Joy Austin for years in promoting the summer Charity Boot Fairs she has run for years at St Mary's College Playing Field in Shorncliffe Road, Folkestone. The profit on the pitch fees (after costs) goes to two charities close to Joy's heart: Macmillan Cancer Support and Cardiac Risk in the Young. The 2022 Shorncliffe Charity Boot Fair dates are; April 30th June 11th & 25th August 6th, 20th & 27th May 7th, 21st & 28th July 9th, 16th & 30th September 10th, 17th & 24th All dates ...
Last night, Tim Farron presented a Lib Dem bill on controlling sewerage charges. MPs agreed to allow the bill to progress and its second reading will be on 5 May after Farron said: Our lakes and rivers are our natural treasures, yet water company bosses are degrading those natural treasures to keep a hold of their own treasure. Last year, the water companies made profits of £2.7 billion and paid out £27 million in bonuses. Their chief executives earn seven-figure sums, yet they are free by law to preside over enormous numbers of dangerous discharges that damage our environment and ...
Boris Johnson broke the law. He partied while repeatedly telling us the importance of "staying home, protecting the NHS and saving lives". I have no issues with the laws of the time, as they were necessary to protect the immuno-compromised. What I have an issue with, however, is how we were lied to by our Prime Minister. He had the gall to stand in parliament and deliver an "unreserved apology", encouraging us to let the government "get on with the job". Correct me if I'm wrong, the person giving the apology doesn't decide when to move on, but rather the ...
This month's edition of Never Mind The Bar Charts features my recent appearance on another podcast – the UK in a Changing Europe's Brexit and Beyond podcast, talking about opinion polls and my new book all about them with the ever-excellent Paula Surridge. Take a listen here: Show notes The Brexit and Beyond podcast, complete with lots of previous excellent episodes to enjoy. Get your own copy of Polling Unpacked: the history, uses and abuses of political opinion polls.Paula Surridge on Twitter.Theme tune by Hugo Lee.New to listening to podcasts? Here are some tips on how to listen to podcasts. ...
Tue, 12:56: RT @Joannechocolat: Here's a little story from when I was a teacher. Bear with me awhile; it's relevant, and explains what I feel about Par... Tue, 16:05: RT @thehistoryguy: More Russian generals have been killed. Historically, dead senior officers are a really bad sign. Here's a thread. Tue, 20:48: My grandmother, the quiet radical https://t.co/kv6nDZu7YO Pregnancy and careers through the decades. Tue, 22:23: Eastercon 2022: Reclamation https://t.co/cgdftI9aL4 https://t.co/Bs3ETrhORF
Here's the party political broadcast from the Liberal Democrats, featuring Ed Davey talking about the need for a fair deal.
Sarah Olney, MP for Richmond Park, and Steve Mallen, co-founder of the Zero Suicide Alliance are the lead signatories in an open letter to Sajid Javid published in yesterday's Times. Olney and national charities have teamed up with Philip Pirie whose son Tom, a young teacher, took his own life a day after a counsellor determined that he was at "low risk" of suicide. An average of 17 people a day took their own lives in 2020. An average of five of these were in touch with mental health services and four out of those five had been assessed as ...
In his latest quarterly report into Liverpool's property market, City Residential managing director Alan Bevan warned that the Local Plan could prove to be the final "nail in the coffin" for many developers if it discouraged property investment. My response ... Continue reading →
The Independent reports on a 'crisis of honesty', after revealing that dozens of false statements have been made in parliament by Boris Johnson and his ministers over the past two years. The paper says that the prime minister has not lodged any corrections to the official House of Commons record, despite being reprimanded by the statistics watchdog and having his incorrect statements pointed out by opposition MPs and fact-checkers. This has led Labour to accuse the government of disrespecting the public with a "litany of lies and falsehoods", while the Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve says the figures suggest ...
