"When a prime minister appoints the son of a former KGB agent, his own brother and a major Tory donor, all against the decision of the Lords Appointments Committee, the system is quite clearly broken." George Foulkes says that, when it comes to reforming the House of Lords, we should look to Europe for inspiration. Toby James give six reasons why the Tories' impending voter ID law is a bad idea. Jay Joseph looks back on "a century of failure and hype" in the search for a genetic basis for schizophrenia. "One example of an early public walk is the ...
I would like to thank @HannahK_LD for standing for the Lib Dems in 2019 and @LibDemLaura for encouraging me to get more involved and eventually to stand for Parliament. — Robert Reiss [IMG: 🔶] (@LibDemRobReiss) December 15, 2022
My favourite cricket podcast is Oborne and Heller on Cricket, which can be hard to find if you don't know about it as its home is The Chiswick Calendar. As the name implies, that's a site devoted to this desirable London suburb. In October, it had as guests Geoffrey Boycott and his co-author Jon Hotten, who between them have produced the book Being Geoffrey Boycott. As the extensive summary on the podcast's page for this edition explains:Geoffrey and Jon explain the scheme and origins of their "book of two halves". Geoffrey's is a detailed first-person diary from memory of every ...
The Italian political situation is very specific. Now is the time to bring together all the political forces that do not feel represented by the extreme right or even the extreme left – a nationalist right and a left that has lost its reformist connotations. Political forces such as Italia Viva and Azione are moving to build a larger political party that occupies the centre of Parliament. Another political entity is also moving in this context which intends to bring together all the liberals in a large umbrella organisation that includes the federation promoted by Azione and Italia Viva and ...
Fri 16th
13:28
Aberavon and Neath Lib Dems: Ban home repossessions and evictions over the Christmas period
Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to bring in an emergency ban on banks repossessing people's homes over the Christmas period. It comes as analysis by the party revealed a "nightmare before Christmas," with roughly 62,500 homeowners nationwide due to see their mortgage rate hiked between now and 31 December. Locally in Neath Port Talbot there were 21 possession warrants and 6 mortgage repossessions in the last 12 months. The Liberal Democrats are also calling on the Government to immediately bring in its long-promised ban on no-fault evictions to protect renters, along with an increase in ...
Nurses' Pay. Why don't the leaders of the nurses' union point out that, as a result of Brexit, the NHS is receiving an additional £350m per week? That works out at around £18bn a year: ample to pay the nurses what they deserve and plenty left over for other matters. Strange that his argument has not surfaced, or if it has I haven't noticed. Public Sector Pay. The government spokespersons repeatedly argue that public sector pay offers are made by Independent Review Bodies and, in the nurses' case, the government has accepted the recommendation. We need to look carefully at ...
The United Kingdom faces a series of interwoven crises simultaneously; double-digit inflation, among the highest domestic energy prices in the world, rising tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade with its major trading partner, an ineffective over-centralised bureaucracy, obsessed with contracting everything out, (which makes problem-solving and public investment very difficult to implement), and low skill levels and investment in R&D. The result is deep-rooted, seemingly inexorable, decline. The aggregated remedies of the last two decades seem to have run out of road; QE, low interest rates, and debt-funded economic stimulae. Quality of life is noticeably on the slide. The latest ...
The death of at least four people in the English Channel earlier this week was a tragedy. more importantly it was an avoidable tragedy, something that the charity, Care4Calais and the PCS Union have been keen to emphasise. The Independent reports that the union, who represent coastguards and Border Force officials, has called on Suella Braverman to resign as home secretary following these deaths in the Channel: The call from the PCS union comes after a refugee charity said the government had "blood on its hands" because of its failure to offer safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to ...
If we are to retain the Jury system, and I think we must, we need to make it a more rewarding experience for the 200,000 people a year called to perform it. The importance to our judicial system of having ... Continue reading →
I chose this because I used to enjoy singing it at school and it has the mix of pagan and Christian that makes a good Christmas. Yet it's popularity is a recent phenomenon. Here's Wikipedia: The song can be traced only as far as the early nineteenth century, but the lyrics reflect an association between holly and Christmas dating at least as far as medieval times. The lyrics and melody varied significantly in traditional communities, but the song has since become standardised. The version which is now popular was collected in 1909 by the English folk song collector Cecil Sharp ...
The City Council carried out a consultation on its housing allocation policy in late 2021. Due to the time lapsed since, it is now keen to re-engage with local people before looking to progress the policy changes which will be reported to a future council committee meeting in early 2023. Since the housing allocation policy was last reviewed in 2016, there have been several significant changes in legislation and guidance in relation to how social rented housing is allocated. The council has engaged with its common housing register partners (such as Hillcrest Housing Association) and finalised the consultation material to ...
