"Some people believe that support for the war comes out of the propaganda itself. In a way, this is true, of course. But why do people believe it? The formulas work because people can use them for their own ends. The public are the victims of propaganda but, at the same time, it's made-to-order just for them." Shura Burtin asks why Russians support the war against Ukraine. Sean Kippen reviews This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain by William Davies. "By marginalising the empowering role of institutions in Savile's crimes, both the Netflix documentary and official inquiries ultimately ...
Local Liberal Democrats are in discussions about the best way to make progress following the result of last Thursday's elections.
Denied the use of village school halls by the Tories, my hero J.W. Logan took his own building around with him. I had imagined that it was some kind of tent, but an account in the Leicester Chronicle of 7 December 1889 shows it was far more than that: On Saturday evening Mr. J.W. Logan, the Liberal candidate for the Market Harborough Division, addressed crowded meeting at Church Langton in his new portable building, to which has been given the appropriate appellation of Free Speech Hall. The building is an exceedingly neat and commodious wooden structure of oblong shape, being ...
This Morning, Charles, Prince of Wales delivered the Queen's Speech. Among the many measures to be introduced by the Conservative government is a bill to ban conversion therapy, referring to the immoral pseudoscientific practice of trying to change a person's sexuality from homosexuality or bisexuality to heterosexuality, or trying to change a person's gender identity from transgender or non-binary to cisgender. There is one main issue with this pledge, however; the government has already failed to ban gender conversion therapy, and fully ban gay and bisexual conversion therapy. The Conservatives have faced controversy on this issue previously, reneging on their ...
Fresh from the news of Liberal Democrat council election gains in Dominic Raab's Esher and Walton constituency comes news of Monica Harding's re-selection.
Norman Lamb has been interviewed by the Institute for Government for its Ministers Reflect series. You can see a short clip from it above and read the full transcript on the IfG website. (The interview took place in March 2020.) As the Liberal Democrats could find themselves part of a coalition government after the next election, it's important that we learn from our unhappy experience between 2010 and 2015. So this interview makes useful reading. But it may not make happy reading for Danny Alexander, who does not come out of it well. Here, for instance, is Norman Lamb talking ...
Ed Davey has said that the Queen's Speech does nothing to help rural communities: This Queen's Speech does nothing to help the millions of families and pensioners facing soaring bills and eye watering inflation. The Conservatives have failed to deliver a cut to VAT that would have saved families an average of £600, failed to help pensioners and failed to help the most vulnerable in our society. "The Conservatives are continuing to neglect rural communities. There was nothing in these plans to support farmers on the brink, to tackle soaring ambulance waiting times and GP shortages, or to stop the ...
Responding to the Queen's Speech, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: "This Queen's Speech does nothing to help the millions of families and pensioners facing soaring bills and eye watering inflation. The Conservatives have failed to deliver a cut to VAT that would have saved families an average of £600, failed to help pensioners and failed to help the most vulnerable in our society. "The Conservatives are continuing to neglect rural communities. There was nothing in these plans to support farmers on the brink, to tackle soaring ambulance waiting times and GP shortages, or to stop the dumping of filthy ...
It's going to be a very strange Queen's Speech today, delivered by Prince Charles. The Queen was well over everyone else's retirement age quarter of a century ago and it has been amazing that she was able to continue with this ceremony until last year. There is no doubt that the words Prince Charles will deliver, written for him by the most illiberal Government of the Queen's reign, will be utterly vomit inducing for most people reading this site. Protest rights and human rights under threat, absolutely nothing to address rising poverty and hunger in this country. Alistair Carmichael had ...
It is now becoming increasingly clear that Boris Johnson's government are prepared to unilaterally ditch the Northern Ireland protocol, which he negotiated and hailed as a massive success for the UK in December 2019, in the pursuit of an impossible Brexit dream, and in doing so plunge the island of Ireland into a crisis that could unravel the whole peace process. The Times reports that the foreign secretary has concluded that there is little point trying to reach a Brexit deal with the European Union and will move as soon as next week to scrap large parts of the Northern ...
Our weekly West End surgery takes place again today at 3.30pm prompt at Blackness Library. All welcome and no appointment is necessary! Following the recent election, we will be reviewing surgery arrangements in the coming weeks to cover more West End venues and will keep residents updated.
Responding to the Government announcement that they will try to revive some proposals that were rejected from the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill in a new 'Public Order Bill', Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP: "These dangerous and draconian plans aren't about stopping guerilla protestors - the police already have the powers to stop them. Instead, this is yet another desperate attempt to distract from a failing Government that is running out of steam."Last week, millions of people across the country sent a signal to the Conservatives that they were fed up with being taken for granted. ...
