Liz Truss's legacy: Dossier reveals damage done in 50 days of failure Sunak speech fails to reassure public worried about winter ahead Reshuffle: Stop "revolving door" payouts to Conservative ministers Liz Truss's legacy: Dossier reveals damage done in 50 days of failure 932,000 people seeing their mortgage rise 176,000 more people on NHS waiting lists 365,000 hours of sewage discharges The Liberal Democrats have published a dossier on Liz Truss' legacy, showing the damage done to the country during her 50-day premiership. The analysis shows over 930,000 people saw their mortgage rise due to the Government's botched mini-budget, the number ...
Embed from Getty ImagesThe teenage American chess player Hans Niemann has filed a lawsuit seeking $100m in damages from the world champion Magnus Carlsen and others who have more or less explicitly accused him of cheating. He has accused them of colluding to blacklist him from the strongest tournaments. If you are interested in his chances of success, listen to the latest edition of Perpetual Chess Podcast, where a law professor gives his views. He feels that Niemann may face an uphill struggle to prove his case. In the mean time, Niemann has answered his critics with a strong performance ...
At full council in Gateshead last week, the Lib Dem group submitted a motion for debate welcoming Labour's new found support for proportional representation (as agreed at their conference) and calling on the Labour group to support its use in both local and general elections. In the debate I pointed out that back in the 1980s, when both myself and Martin Gannon, current leader of the council,
Today, 25 October, is the feast day of the twin saints St Crispin and St Crispinian. Jacob Rees-Mogg couldn't resist dating his resignation letter "St Crispin's Day" - Crispin's twin never gets the same coverage. The two were martyred in 285 or 286 in Northern France, and a local tradition holds that they lived for a time at Faversham in Kent. St Crispin's Day (his twin doesn't get the same coverage) is famous as the date of the Battle of Agincourt and for the king's speech in Shakespeare's Henry V. My favourite piece of cricket commentary dates from March 1977 ...
Watch my video to find out why I'm running for re-election as Liberal Democrat Federal Party President.
This will warm the cockles of your heart, dear reader. The Guardian has a regular feature called "How we met", where couples recall the early days of their relationship. This week, they feature "Nicky, 37, and Simon, 40". They found love at first sight when they both got up to close a window together at a Lib Dem training weekend in Derby! They subsequently talked all evening and found they had a lot in common: " As well as sharing the same political values, they'd both studied European law." The next weekend, Simon joined Nicky in Oldham at a by-election ...
The past few weeks since Boris's resignation offer us some of the most valuable lessons in the history of British politics. What we learn from these turbulent times will be instrumental in shaping our party, and will have a profound impact on our performance in the next general election and every other election afterwards. Over the past 15 years, I worked with national and international organisations, and a current head of state. I witnessed history being made, in the Middle East and US. Alas, I also saw expertise, professional and ethical standards undermined across much of Europe and in the ...
It sounds as though Jacob Rees-Mogg will not feature in Rishi Sunak's first cabinet, which suggests our new prime minister has better judgement than his two predecessors. As a consolation to his admirers - I know, but say something disobliging about him on Twitter and you will meet them - here is an unexpected glimpse of him in the first series of 24. If you can't spot him first time, have a look at the television screen at 0.15.
1. Rishi Sunak "kisses hands" with King Charles (a first for both) this morning and Sunak becomes Prime Minister. I think he doesn't actually kiss. 2. It speaks well for the UK that we have a prime minister of South Asian heritage. I think one of his parents was a Kenyan Asian. As far as I can remember the only party to welcome the Kenyan Asians was the Liberals. Both the Conservative and Labour parties tried to wriggle out of any commitment to take them in. He owes us. 3. It also speaks well of the UK that we have ...
Mon, 12:56: RT @DUPpeterweir: Blonde female whose tenure has not been universally popular, gives us key long standing role in British life this weekend... Mon, 15:04: RT @PennyMordaunt: https://t.co/w76rEvJdyQ Mon, 16:05: RT @sacha_dhawan: 💃🏻 🕺 💃🏻 🕺@bbcdoctorwho https://t.co/sAwtaLyi2s Mon, 18:31: August 2018 books https://t.co/Gg90awtNjX Mon, 18:49: RT @AMadmanNotABox: #DoctorWho The Legacy of a Lifetime. And almost sixty years. William Russell, Jodie Whittaker, @JamieMagStone, Bradley... Mon, 20:48: RT @NaomiOhReally: Leo Varadkar is set to take over as Taoiseach in December, so if Rishi Sunak becomes PM the photo of their first meeting... Tue, 10:45: RT @andyscott78: With William Russell's scene in ...
When I was a member of the Welsh Assembly, one of the preoccupations of Conservative AM, David Melding was the Welsh Government's use of Henry VIII powers. These are clauses in a bill that enable ministers to amend or repeal provisions in an Act of Parliament using secondary legislation, which is subject to varying degrees of parliamentary scrutiny. In David's view, and it is one I share, these clauses were undemocratic as they enable laws to be changed without debate and without the consent of elected parliamentarians, and when the secondary legislation enabled by these clauses do come up for ...
Here's my own take on this: This morning feels like waking up from a bad dream – the Truss premiership. After Truss and Johnson, it will be welcome to have a PM who at least tries to be competent. Keeping up with the Tories farcical, and highly damaging, soap opera has been like being inside a washing machine going round at full pelt for several years. It shouldn't be like this. Imagine, say, Canada being in the situation where the PM resigns and then saying "Well, let's ask a tiny section of the population to decide the next PM". We ...
Residents will recall that Fraser repeatedly raised the really deteriorating state of Riverside/Northshore House through graffiti and vandalism over many years. It had been vacant since call centre firm Sitel left the city more than a decade ago and sits on a very prominent site in the Technology Park looking onto Riverside Avenue at the entrance to the city. Following Fraser raising this with planning enforcement at the City Council, the building's Northern Irish owners started work transforming it into modern office facilities last year. We are very pleased at progress since with the restored Riverside/Northshore House now complete and ...
