There were two local by-elections yesterday. Both were in Conservative-held seats and the Conservatives lost both of them. The results also pose questions about the practicality of and need for a "progressive alliance". Take the by-election in the Frensham, Dockenfield and Tilford ward of Waverley Borough Council in Surrey. Here, Labour and the Liberal Democrats stood down to give the Green Party a clear run against the Conservatives. The Tories lost all right, but it wasn't the Greens who won. The victor was David Munro, an Independent who used to be the Conservative police and crime commissioner for the county. ...
Australians are one of the worst-hit victims of climate change, and their government's policies are having a detrimental impact on them and rest of the world. Federal elections scheduled for next weekend will do little to save the situation. The two major parties appear united in putting financial gain before survival. Climatologists predict that temperatures Down Under are set to rise by nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. The bushfire season is already nine months long and the flames have so far destroyed 14.6 million acres – territory roughly equal to twice the size of Pennsylvania. ...
We're winning What an amazing outcome from this May's local elections: Three more Liberal Democrat majority councils, taking us back to where we were before going into Coalition in 2010; A net gain of 224 councillors, making this the fourth set of net gains in a row, something we've not achieved since the Iraq war; 19% vote share (the national equivalent vote share, i.e. what it would have been if there were elections everywhere); and The lovely bonus of seeing our sister party in Northern Ireland, Alliance, gaining seats and votes to move up to such an impressive third place. ...
Wera Hobhouse has been writing for The House Magazine under the headline "A green mortgage drive could upgrade our leaky homes and slash household bills". She writes: With household bills soaring, those hit the hardest are families living in the leakiest homes. Green mortgages could combat the UK's leaky homes and bring down household bills in the long-run. Research shows that households living in homes with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D or worse will be paying an average of £470 per year more than homes rated EPC C or better. That's more than the average annual UK ...
Thu, 12:56: RT @AntonSpisak: I feel strongly that every comment on the NI Protocol must start from a simple statement of fact: When Johnson agreed to... Thu, 14:16: RT @peterdonaghy: Absolutely no way this move might possibly backfire. A strategic gambit of unparalleled genius. The electoral upsides are... Thu, 14:59: RT @GavinBarwell: Just to be clear, the EU did not create trade barriers between GB and NI. The trade barriers were created by the Johnson... Thu, 16:05: RT @pholmes8: 1.Why would Liz Truss even think of cancelling the Northern Ireland protocol right now? Especially there is have a better ide... ...
Just before polling day the Bank of England published the May Monetary Policy Report as well as increasing the Bank Rate to 1%. They expect the Bank Rate to continue to increase and peak at 2.5% by "mid-2023". They state, "That predominantly reflects the significant adverse impact of the sharp rises in global energy and tradable goods prices on most UK households' real incomes and many UK companies' profit margins." They expect unemployment "to rise to 5½% in three years' time". They state, "CPI inflation is expected to peak at slightly over 10% in 2022 Q4, which would be the ...
The Independent reports that the British government has refused to reveal whether intelligence agencies expressed concerns about the decision to award a noble title and a seat in Parliament to a newspaper owner whose father was a KGB agent. The paper says that lawmakers voted earlier this year to order the government to release documents related to the appointment of Russia-born newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords. Opposition politicians want to know about Prime Minister Boris Johnson's involvement in the awarding of a place in Parliament's unelected upper chamber to Lebedev, whose oligarch father Alexander Lebedev is ...
As far as I can see we are still building new communities and housing estates so they're car-dependent when clearly we should be doing just the opposite! I've been trying to get my head around another green initiative called 'Low Traffic Neighbourhoods' and here's a good explanation of what they are from Sustrans:- Car drivers often get very angry when there are suggestions/plans to reduce car use. Their often irrational response is because they're addicted to their car which they use for virtually every journey. Indeed, their whole life has been built around them being car-dependent and they want ...
Two principal authority council by-elections this week, both losses for the Conservatives, though only one Lib Dem candidate: Peacehaven West By-Election, Lewes Labour GAIN Lab: 55% (+55) Con: 40% (+14) Green: 3% (-15) LibDem: 3% (-14) New Council: 18 Tory 9 LibDem 8 Green 4 Labour 2 Independent — English Elections Centre (@EnglandElects) May 12, 2022
Here's the latest tally of seats changing hands in principal authority council by-elections held since the last May round of local elections.
I was pleased to be asked recently by Liverpolitan, a new online news service in Liverpool, to write an article for them in response to another article about young councillors. As someone who was a young councillor but certainly isn't ... Continue reading →
It is early days yet but the Lib Dems are firm favourites to win the forthcoming Tiverton and Honiton by-election. A hattrick of Lib Dem wins could be in the offing. One betting odds checker puts our probability of winning at more than 70 per cent. The probability of Boris Johnson's demoralised Tory party winning is given as 25 per cent. Mike Smithson of Political Betting said: "The pace and the betting has been quite extraordinary given that at GE2019 the LDs came in third 46% behind the Tories." A focus group for Times Radio earlier this week, reported in ...
Yesterday, Fraser had the pleasure of meeting with Linda Brownlee, President of Dundee Art Society, at the Roseangle Gallery to view "Perth Road - a personal history" - a private commission for a West End resident. It is superb and in two canvasses measuring 9ft by 4ft features well-known Perth Road landmarks and the surrounding area. It will be on display in the gallery from 4th to 11th June and thereafter for a few weeks in Mennies. Linda will have her first solo exhibition in August at EAStudios in Broughty Ferry where she'll have 60 Dundee artworks on show - ...
