I was sorry to learn earlier this month that Philip Latham had passed away just 10 days short of his 80th birthday. He was my agent in Hexham constituency way back in 1992, my first parliamentary election. It wasn't just through politics that I knew Philip. He was a beekeeper as well and when I started keeping bees back in 2011, he was there to advise us.Philip was involved to the very end in a
If you thought you'd heard the last of No Room at the Inn, you were mistaken. This was the play by Joan Temple that, like Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, was inspired by the death of Dennis O'Neill, a 12-year-old foster child, in 1945. After No Room at the Inn had cleaned up in the West End, it went on a national tour, though without its star, the awe-inspiring Freda Jackson. As there were so many children in the cast, the company needed a tutor for them to make up for the schooling they were missing. That role was taken by ...
One of Mark Pack's initiative in his first term as Liberal Democrat president was to ask the party's disciplinary subgroup to produce a definition of transphobia. It was duly produced and adopted by the party. You can find the text and links to useful additional material in a Lib Dem Voice post from 2020. Since the definition was adopted, doubt has been expressed about how legally watertight it would prove if the party were to use it as the basis for disciplinary action. For that reason the party has commissioned an opinion from Guy Vassall-Adams KC, You can read it ...
An investigation is under way into allegations made by the executive committee of Derby's Liberal Democrats, which has led to the resignation of committee members. The resigned committee has written and appealed to senior figures in the Liberal Democrat Party urging them to take control of Derby City Liberal Democrats "to avoid further damage to party reputation, as well as its mental and physical well-being of its members". So Derbyshire Live (the website for the Derby Telegraph) reported earlier this week. The paper says the committee's letter lists eighteen grievances and it prints seven of them. Its report ends: Derbyshire ...
This week's net migration figures have driven the Government to set their sights on reducing the numbers of international students. Suella Braverman has had them in her sights for a while, saying last month: "We've also got a very high number of students coming into this country and we've got a really high number of dependents. So students are coming on their student visa, but they're bringing in family members who can piggyback onto their student visa. Those people are coming here, they're not necessarily working or they're working in low-skilled jobs, and they're not contributing to growing our economy." ...
In the last couple of years, I have been taking a break from active politics. Unfortunately in life, politics does not return the favour. Predictably, following the hardest possible Brexit introduced by the Conservatives, people in the UK are getting poorer and standards, of regulations, of political ethics and accountability, and of living are getting lower and lower. This blog however is not intended to indulge in party politics. Sitting back and viewing the current field, I don't think any of the UK's political parties have covered themselves in glory recently. So, I am going to ask the big question: ...
Whoever thought that excluding overseas students from "low-quality" degrees as a means of controlling immigration was a good idea, needs to go back to school. The Independent reports that the suggestion that non-British students would only be allowed a place at an "elite" university, could mean only London, Cambridge and Oxford will be able to enroll them from now on. However, the chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, who is also a King's College professor, has pointed out that foreign students keep many universities afloat in less prosperous places, a point that is obvious to anybody who understands university finances: ...
It's been great fun doing a burst of in-person Liberal Democrat regional conferences, Scottish conference and annual dinners in the last few weeks. So it's great news that registrations are now open for our first in-person federal party conference* since 2019: Exciting news! Registration now open! We can't wait to see in person at the Lib Dems Spring Conference in York: 17-19 March! https://t.co/xX7isjL8Lb Participate in lively debates, fringes & training events, vote on policy, network-and more (Members £70, first timers £35). #LDConf pic.twitter.com/mDvBVQC230 — Lib Dem Conference [IMG: 🔶] (@LibDemConf) November 25, 2022
Just a reminder that West End Christmas Fortnight starts today! There a huge load of events - around 50! - taking place during Christmas Fortnight. You can download the brochure at or pick up a brochure in local shops, Blackness Library, West End Community Fridge, Discovery Point, Verdant Works, sheltered lounges and a whole host of other West End locations. We look forward to seeing you at the many events taking place.
