"I was also lucky in being rescued by people I barely knew, friends and my family. I can never repay that debt but I can help others." Andy Boddington, a Liberal Democrat councillor from Shropshire, talks about his own experience of homelessness and about combating it in Ludlow. Harry Pearse considers the arguments against giving children the vote and finds them wanting: "The fact that adults don't need to show franchise credentials or an independence of mind shows that voting is not a privilege of competency, but rather a right of citizenship." "He disliked cars, perceiving correctly that the post-War ...
Elizabeth Hewitt wrote in National Geographic last year: Data released by Wageningen University researchers in April shows that the forests host a range of animal and plant species. Across the 11 Tiny Forests in the study, volunteers observed 636 animal species. They also identified 298 plant species in addition to the original species planted in the plots. Maintenance of the forests occasionally involves thinning out aggressive weeds, but in general new plant species, such as wildflowers that appear, are allowed to grow.
Britain has an ageing population. Manchester, for instance, has 4.3 per cent fewer people aged 18-34 than it had in 2011. But this isn't true of every constituency. In a Twitter thread, Patrick English provides a list of the seats where voters are getting younger - what he calls "Benjamin Button" seats. And nestled amongst them is Harborough, where there are 1.1 per cent more voters under 34 than in 2011. In his thread, English quotes James Kanagasooriam as saying: "Around 80-90 per cent of why certain seats vote for certain parties is explained by the demographics of the area." ...
Let's compare the first and last polls of the year from pollsters who had national voting intention polls in both January and December of this year.
Fri, 10:45: This time yesterday, I don't think I had ever heard of #AndrewTate. Wow. Karma is a bitch!
It was Nick Clegg who introduced free school meals for all 5 to 7 year olds, while the Conservative partners in the coalition, notably George Osborne, resisted the proposal. You might be surprised to learn that school meals date back over a century, although access and the quality of provision was variable until the 1944 Education Act. That required all Local Education Authorities to provide school meals for all, free to those who met certain poverty criteria, plus free school milk for all. It also laid down nutritional requirements for the meals. Since then the requirements have been gradually eroded, ...
Huge thanks to all my guests and listeners for Never Mind The Bar Charts through the last year. The two most popular episodes during 2022 were: What does 2022 hold for the Lib Dems? With Ed Davey and Mike Dixon – a tie-up with the ever-excellent Lib Dem Pod. Birthday cake versus demographics: which will determine the future of British politics? – a podcast with Professor Rob Ford, juggling the short and long term factors shaping our politics. An extra thanks to all the guests who took part in those episodes and made them so popular. Back in 2021 outside ...
The TES reports: New analysis from the Liberal Democrats suggests 234,500 pupils entitled to FSM [Free School Meals] in England are not registered for them... The Department for Education has admitted that more than one in ten pupils who are eligible for a FSM are not registered for them. The party's analysis suggests 132,988 of these will be in primary school and another 92,344 attend state-funded secondary schools. However infant-aged children, from four to seven-years-old, who have not registered for FSMs would still be receiving lunches under the universal infant free school meals scheme, introduced in 2014 by the Coalition ...
The Dundee Youth Fund is now open for applications. If you are part of a community group or organisation that works with young people, this fund may be for you. Please see poster below with more information about the fund and contact details/QR codes on how to apply. The maximum bid is £2500.
