"Putting a transformative agenda of levelling up at the heart of an electoral and governing agenda in 2019 should have represented a lasting realignment, rather than a passing electoral flirtation. Fundamentally, if a Tory prime minister wants to win the next election, make the realignment permanent and leave a positive legacy, they should follow a One Nation agenda with levelling up at its heart." David Skelton says Red Wall voters want more spending not tax cuts. David Renton looks at what Eton taught Boris Johnson: "The school tells new pupils that they should aspire to be intelligent, hard-working and self-disciplined ...
The Southern Planning Committee this afternoon approved plans to convert No 50 Broad Street, which has the Golden Moments restaurant on its ground floor, into a town house. The vote was near unanimous with one councillor abstaining. Most committee members were enthusiastic about the proposal. Councillors thought it would be better as a town house, including Viv Parry who said: "I really want this to go back to a residential house". This decision is damaging to the retail and economic health of the town centre. Planning committee members had no regard for the popularity of the venue, or the fact ...
Earlier today I had a meeting with the Chair of the Alder Hey Trust, Dame Jo Williams and her Development Director. I did so because it seemed to me that relationships between the community and the Trust had broken down ... Continue reading →
David Laws' Coalition memoirs tell how Liz Truss's stubbornness as a junior minister became part of the Tory-Lib Dem mudslinging fest by Michael Gove I would like to point especially new Lib Dem members to the memoirs of David Laws on his experiences at the heart of the 2010-2015 Tory-Lib Dem Coalition government. Laws tells us about Liz's first steps as a junior Education minister, and her characteristics and policymaking attitudes which shone through. On Saturday, Andy Boddington reported on a Times article in which Neil Fawcett, now a Federal Board member and Oxfordshire County councillor, said that Liz in ...
Green MSP Gillian Mackay is running a public consultation on her Private Member's Bill which would implement 150m "buffer zones" around sexual health clinics so that anyone accessing abortion services is not subject to intimidation and distress from pro-life groups holding up upsetting images and shouting at them. This Bill has cross-party backing and is likely to pass. Scottish Lib Dem Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has voiced strong support. You don't have to live in Scotland to respond to this consultation. Evidence of people's experience from across the whole of the UK, or even internationally, is more than welcome. Last night ...
David Boyle introduces us to Wellesley Tudor Pole: He was a former major in the British army, who had been on Allenby's staff in Jerusalem in 1918 and had gone to great lengths to make sure that the British protected the life of the mystic 'Abdu'l-Bahá, one of the key figures in the start of the Baha'i faith. Later in life, be bought the site of Chalice Well Gardens at the foot of Glastonbury Tor. His proposal to Churchill was that, with the help of anyone of goodwill, he would build a psychic barrier against Nazi invasion. For one minute ...
Shorter than the headline on this post, for one thing: A five letter press release? Come on, @LibDemPress – I'm sure you can go shorter than that. https://t.co/p0Xd30uDlv — Mark Pack [IMG: 🔶] (@markpack) July 26, 2022
With Parliamentary selections picking up across the country, especially given the possibility of an early general election, there's never been a better time to volunteer to be a Liberal Democrat Returning Officer.
Mon, 21:40: RT @SJAMcBride: David Trimble's Nobel Peace Prize lecture is striking for its eloquence & self-criticism of his own tribe. Trimble's flaws... Mon, 22:35: RT @iainjclark: This is about as reassuring as watching two people down the pub competing for who gets to be your next dentist. Tue, 04:44: The Unofficial Master Annual 2074, ed. Mark�Worgan https://t.co/OhWFtF4fau </ul
It should come as no surprise that the Metropolitian POlice, of all forces, might be practising preferential policing, after all their failings in other areas are numerous and just reinforces the need for root and branch reform. However, at a time when they are under severe public scrutiny, you would think that they might make the effort to practise some equanimity. The Guardian reports that anger over the Partygate scandal has been reignited after Scotland Yard confirmed that it did not send questionnaires to Boris Johnson before deciding against fining him for attending two Downing Street lockdown gatherings. The paper ...
The press release from the Lib Dem Press Office just after the BBC debate between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak last night was very short. Lib Dems respond to BBC Tory leadership debate Responding to this evening's BBC Tory leadership debate, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "Eurgh." ENDS While it lacked in words, it summed up the feelings of much of the country, although I still think it was a bit generous. Neither the participants nor the BBC covered themselves in glory. Other Lib Dem reaction included: Well this is an hour of my life I'll never get back.#BBCOurNextPM — ...
Blether Tay-Gither is the Dundee Storytelling Group. From Sheila Kinninmonth, Blether Tay-Gither's secretary : Once again we are meeting tonight in the historic Dudhope Castle where we have been offered the use of a lovely space. It is a little out of the city centre but there is plenty parking and the 28 bus goes in that direction - there is a bus stop just a couple of minutes walk from the castle. Time : 7.00pm - 9.00pm Our Theme this month if you need one is "Spinning Tales and Weaving Words." We are exploring stories of weaving, spinning, fabric, ...
I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. Not only that: I'm happy to publish ones on subjects far beyond the Liberal Democrats and British politics. If you'd like to write something for this blog, please send me an email first so we can discuss your idea. Here are the 10 most recent guest posts on Liberal England: The Brexit hustle - Stuart WhomsleyCarry On up the Brexit - Stuart WhomsleyWhy the Progressive Alliance is irrelevant in Batley and Spen - Matthew PennellIs a Yellow Wall emerging? - Matthew PennellWe need a new generation of Liberal Clubs - Matthew PennellSaving Church ...
Blogging about Leicester's Willow Brook, after seeing it emerge from beneath Belgrave Circle to enter the canal, I suggested it offered "the possibility of some urban river walks of the sort I post here by John Rogers". I tried the first of those walks on Saturday, heading upstream. The pictures above shows the brook flowing towards me as it approaches Belgrave Circle. The stream is contained in a concrete channel - a contrast with its natural appearance on the other side of the roundabout - but at least there was a brisk flow. I next caught up with the brook ...
