Out here in the countryside, the provision of some of the things that others take for granted isn't always obvious, as I discovered when I first became a Parish Councillor. Who knew that a Parish Council might be responsible for its own street lights? And why, given the costs of installation, maintenance and power? After all, I pay my council tax to Suffolk County Council to light other people's streets, why don't they light mine? It is, apparently, a historic thing, and there are plenty of villages like ours who decided to take the matter into their own hands in ...
Sunak at COP27: PM embarrassed by Boris Johnson's attendance Welsh Government Must Do More to Combat Fuel Poverty Matt Hancock should resign and trigger by-election Welsh Conservatives Dysfunctional, Divided and Ineffective Welsh Liberal Democrats - Welsh Government Must Change Their Mind on COVID Inquiry Sunak at COP27: PM embarrassed by Boris Johnson's attendance Responding to the news that Rishi Sunak will now be attending COP, Liberal Democrat Climate Change Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse MP said: This whole debacle has shown the environment is simply not a priority for Rishi Sunak. He's only going after being embarrassed by Boris Johnson's attendance. We ...
Paul and Rebecca Whiteiwck have discovered footpaths that do not connect with any other public rights of way. So how do you use them? In this video theytry to walk these mystery footpaths and look into how they have come into being. If you enjoy their videos, you can support Paul and Rebecca through their Patreon page.
"The idea of the 'illegal' asylum seeker is a falsehood that has been actively peddled by the Home Office and the Home Secretary in recent years. When people talk about asylum seekers coming to the UK 'illegally', what they really mean is asylum seekers arriving via informal and unofficial routes, such as crossing the Channel via small boat. However, asylum seekers are legally allowed to come to the UK even when making an 'illegal entry'." Amelia Susserott explodes the myth of the illegal asylum seeker. Peter Hain says British politicians have failed Northern Ireland: "What a colossal, devastating failure by ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has asked his Deputy Wendy Chamberlain to lead a Policy Commission on ending men's violence against women and girls. Wendy, as the only former woman police officer in the House of Commons, is best placed to lead this work. Back in March 2021, in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder, Scottish Liberal Democrats called on the Scottish Government to create such a Commission to look at all aspects of tackling this scourge on our society. Since then the Government has made little progress. Alex said: In 1623 John Donne wrote, "Any man's death diminishes ...
Alex Cole-Hamilton gave his first in-person leader's speech to Scottish Lib Dem Conference at the weekend. He talked about our success in the Council elections and announced his 150 rising strategy for the 2027 elections. He was emotional when he talked about people struggling with Long Covid, in particular his young constituent Anna. Ukraine, and the Scottish Government screwing up its support for refugees, the cost of living crisis, highlighting Lib Dems being the first to call for a price freeze, putting Wendy Chamberlain in charge of a Commission on men's violence against women and our vision for a federal ...
On Monday Keir Starmer had an interview with Mumsnet. He was asked the, by now, depressingly standard question on children and young people having access to treatment and support for gender identity issues. His incompetent response threw every under 16 in the country under the bus. "I feel very strongly that children shouldn't be making these very important decisions without the consent of their parents. I say that as a matter of principle. [...] We all know what it's like with teenage children, I feel very strongly about this. This argument that children should make decisions without the consent of ...
One of the achievements of Lib Dem controlled Councils has been a focus on building social and affordable housing – but it's not one the Party has made much of. Given that access to housing is one of the key issues in our society that seems a pity. In York for example the Lib Dem run council is focused on increasing the number of affordable homes – 447 have been delivered in the last 3 years – and the numbers are increasing year or year. The Council is planning to have delivered no less than 600 affordable homes in it's ...
There's a very good quotation that pops up on Twitter from time to time. It runs: The way a government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it. Almost invariably, these words are attributed to Tony Benn, but he did not say them. Rather, they were written by the Scottish journalist (and sometime Lib Dem Holyrood candidate) Neal Ascherson. The history of the quotation is as follows. In 1996 Ascherson wrote article an on the al-Masari affair in the Independent, where he ...
The Independent reports that HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has found a culture of misogyny and predatory behaviour towards members of the public, female police officers and staff, which is pervasive in many police forces across England and Wales. The paper says that their damning new report found police are not adopting high enough standards when screening potential officers and warned it is too easy for the "wrong people" to join or remain in the force: The watchdog, which analysed hundreds of police vetting files, discovered many cases where individuals should not have been permitted to become police officers, even including ...
Editor's Note: The LDV team has invited the three candidates for Party President to write an article for us. I eat tofu. I listen to podcasts. I've appeared on the BBC. I read The Guardian. I live in north London. Both my parents were immigrants. It's a good thing that Conservative Home Secretaries and Prime Ministers don't get a vote in our internal elections, as I'm really not the sort of person they like. And they certainly don't share my politics... because I want our country to be more liberal, more tolerant, more inclusive, and at the heart of Europe. ...
Tue, 17:07: Doctor Who: A British Alien?, by Danny�Nicol https://t.co/5LKG9Oj1yC Tue, 17:09: The last Belgian menhirs, dismembered remnants of a stone circle now in a schoolyard in Hasselt. https://t.co/XLHFRykryB Wed, 10:45: I vividly remember watching this as a kid. https://t.co/Cxitfwwde7 </ul
For the first time since Spring 2019, the Scottish Liberal Democrats had a proper Conference where we all met in person. The snap General Election put paid to our Autumn Conference that year. It was indescribably brilliant to see everyone. I feel a million years older than I did in 2019, but nobody else seems to have aged at all. The party was in incredibly good form. The Council elections saw us gain twenty councillors, with 255,000 new people represented by a Liberal Democrat. On Friday, four of them, Sally Pattle, our first ever councillor in West Lothian, Aude Boubaker-Calder ...
The autumn statement on 17th November will probably provide reassurance for the markets, but bad news in other respects. We don't yet know how the unpleasant 'medicine' will be mixed, but it will include higher taxes (including stealth tax rises through long term freezes to personal allowances), cuts to services and to government investment, and real terms cuts to some welfare payments. Elements of our response to the forthcoming statement are easy. 1 The Tories got us into this mess through the Truss shambles, through Brexit, and through the lack of policies to build a decent economy over many years ...
Fraser is pictured at the pavilion in Lochee Park. The Lochee Family Fun group is running its Dundee West Youth Club every Tuesday evening at the pavilion but has pointed out to us that the pavilion badly needs paintwork, new tables/chairs, kitchen improvements and external lighting. We have raised this with the City Council as the family fun group's activities deserve support and the pavilion must be an inviting space for local children in the darker nights.
