On Sunday 20th November, Scottish newspaper the Sunday Post outlined the most horrific failures of several public services towards Adrienne McCartney, a victim of domestic abuse who died by suicide earlier this year. The paper reports how the Police dismissed her calls for help and then arrested her, holding her in dreadful conditions, over a social media post. Then prosecutors did a deal with her husband to drop the most serious charges before failing to ask for a non harassment order. And then when she tried to get help for her deteriorating mental health, the NHS could not provide it. ...
I'm pleased to see Karl Popper back in fashion. Because he was an important critic of Marxist thought, he has generally lumped in with Conservative thinkers by the left and so ignored by the people who should read him. But there is a danger that those who like the sound of Popper from the image above, but have read no more of him, will misunderstand him. And I don't just mean that they will take him for a twinkly-eyed professor like Shorofsky in Fame. In reality, Popper was, by all accounts, not an easy man to deal with. His students ...
It's the season for black mould. It forms on window frames. Spreads to the ceiling. Forms on the skirting boards. Invades carpets. Grows out through vents and extractors. And it can lead to ill health. In this longer than usual article, we talk about some of the local issues we have heard about in the least few weeks. We won't name housing associations, landlords and tenants. We councillors are very concerned about black mould. Tenants have been worried for years but the issue has largely been on the backburner for housing associations. They have taken the view that black mould ...
Imagine you have just heard the news that every parent to be dreads – that you are losing your much wanted baby. Then, you have to give birth, or support your partner giving birth on the labour ward in your hospital. You can hear the sounds of newborn babies crying and the associated sounds of joy, intensifying the agony you are going through. When that happened to Louise Caldwell from Lanarkshire, she determined to change things. Her campaign for dedicated baby loss facilities has already been successful in her local hospital and the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Shetland where she ...
Tue 29th
14:34
'There appears to be a dog in court!': Lawyer's barking mad pet crashes Shrewsbury hearing
As it so often does, the Shropshire Star wins our Headline of the Day Award. And it has given me an excuse for posting another clip from Crown Court.
On Saturday the Lib Dem Councillors in Whickham held their monthly surgery. This time we decided to have it outdoors as well as on-line. It's a good way to meet more people. The key talking points with residents were building houses in Chase Park and the proposals to close Dunston and Gateshead Leisure Centres.As the surgery in December clashes with Christmas, the next surgery will be held in
Christine Jardine has been sharing her dream in her Scotsman column this week. And it isn't pretty: In this sleep-induced scenario, some Donald Trump sound-alike was holding court in Edinburgh, draped in tartan, surrounded by saltires and spouting endless meaningless slogans. Fortunately, they had stopped short of wearing a bright blue Tam O'Shanter bearing the motif "Make Alba Great Again". And people in the crowd which had gathered were not all there to cheer and applaud the separatist dream being espoused at the flag-laden centre of events. No. Many of those in the imaginary demonstration were instead calling for help ...
News of a batch of Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) selections in Sheffield: Shaffaq Mohammad for Sheffield Central Will Sapwell for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough Sophie Thornton for Sheffield South East Laura Gordon had previously been re-selected for Sheffield Hallam. See all the Liberal Democrat PPCs selected and publicly announced so far here. Keep up with news about Lib Dem selections If you'd like to be notified by email when further posts about Liberal Democrat selections appear on this blog, just sign up here. (Note: if you're already signed up for a daily email alert with all my new ...
"Sunak's U-turn on China is tone deaf, days after a British journalist was subject to terrible treatment by the Chinese authorities" - Layla Moran
Lib Dem Peers Sal Brinton and Paul Scriven helped inflict a defeat on the Government in the House of Lords last night. Their amendment to the Procurement Bill would ensure that the NHS came under the provisions of the Bill and would not give the Health Secretary the power to make up their own rules at their whim. Sal told Peers: The Health and Care Act adds new Section 12ZB to the National Health Service Act, which says: "Regulations may make provision in relation to the processes to be followed and objectives to be pursued ... in the procurement of ...
Rishi Sunak was absolutely right when he used his first foreign policy speech as Prime Minister to warn of the creeping authoritarianism of Xi Jinping's regime in China, including throwing his support behind protesters by condemning Beijing's crackdown on civil disobedience and the assault on a BBC journalist. However, I have yet to hear a government spokesperson, let alone a government minister, condemn the arrest and detention of a documentary photographer, a press photographer and two reporters, who were covering an eco-protest by Just Stop Oil on the M25. As the Press Gazette reports, these journalists were arrested and detained ...
Sunak China speech is remarkably tone deaf Responding to Rishi Sunak's speech on China, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Layla Moran said: In the summer, Sunak talked tough on China – now he's U-turned at the first possible opportunity. Rowing back on his previous stance is remarkably tone deaf given it comes just days after a British journalist was subject to disturbing treatment at the hands of the Chinese authorities. The British public will be rightly concerned that the Conservative Government looks set to continue its record of failure when it comes to holding China accountable on everything from ...
As part of West End Christmas Fortnight, at 7pm tonight - 'Christmas With The Stars' - an on-line astronomy talk with thanks to Lifelong Learning Dundee. Brian Kelly, LLD's popular tutor on astronomy and former City Astronomer at the Mills Observatory on Balgay Hill, will give this 45 minute talk specially for West End Christmas Fortnight. For more information contact lifelonglearningdundee@gmail.com
