For years Alex Jones spread the lie that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, were a government hoax and the victims' families were paid actors. This led to online harassment and death threats for the parents of children who died at Sandy Hook. Last week in Austin, Texas, a jury ordered Jones to pay $4.1m in compensatory damages and $45.2m in punitive damages to the parents of Jesse Lewis, a six-year-old boy killed in the shooting. Interviewed for Democracy Now, Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times says: The reason why the families have brought this suit, ...
The latest Conservative leadership hustings has been taking place tonight in Cheltenham, a seat our Max Wilkinson is in a very good position to take at the next election. At the local elections in May, the Lib Dems crushed the Tories 57% to 28% locally. It was previously held by Liberal Democrats Nigel Jones and Martin Horwood. Max has been commenting on the event on Twitter: Liz Truss obviously hasn't been canvassing in Cheltenham during her visit, or she might not be quite so confident. https://t.co/AedW01qN6e — Max Wilkinson (@mpmwilko) August 11, 2022 After the event, Max said: This debate ...
Warming up the audience at the Darlington hustings for the Conservative leadership on August 9th, Tom Newton Dunn as compere asked if Boris Johnson had been responsible for his own misfortune. Cries of 'the media' came back; and Liz Truss commented 'Who am I to disagree with this excellent audience?' Conservative activists thus showed their acceptance of the conspiratorial myth that enables Liz Truss to present herself as an insurgent against a dominant establishment. The idea of a dominant liberal elite, entrenched in the BBC, the civil service, universities and state schools, extending into the 'lefty lawyers' in the courts ...
While many of is are calling for a windfall tax on the excessive profits of the oil companies to fund targeted assistance with energy bills for struggling familes, the UK government appears to be taking the opposite approach. The Independent reports that energy giant, Shell received more than £100m from the UK taxpayer in 2021. They say that the payment was revealed in a Shell report, which showed that the company had paid out a total of £17bn in taxes and royalties to governments around the world last year. State subsidies outweighed charges in only a handful of countries, and ...
Writing in the Express today, Ed Davey called for parliament to be recalled to pass legislation to halt the increase in energy prices that are driving much of the cost of living crisis. With food prices rising and set to rise further, the Lib Dems are calling for a broader package. Davey said we should double the Warm Homes Discount and extend it to more people. Double the Winter Fuel Allowance to give 11 million pensioners up to £600 off their bills. Raise Universal Credit by £20 a week. And thinking longer term, he says the government should begin an ...
Sometimes much of what we do as Councillors is just plain boring or worse. However, uniquely, this 24-hour period has presented me with two opportunities to recognise the work of three people who have made unique contributions to the City ... Continue reading →
