I delivered a patch of Focuses in Saltwell this afternoon. They were all about the cabinet meeting at which Labour delayed a decision on the closure of leisure centres until after the local elections. I wonder why they did that!?
These arrived today - 5000 Focuses for Whickham South and Sunniside. Most have now gone down to Cllr Jonathan Mohammed's house where they will be bundled into patches. In the meantime, I am sorting my shoe leather ready to plod my way around the ward delivering a significant number of Focuses.
Welsh Lib Dems Respond to Welsh Dental Report Inflation Stats: Hard-working people are paying the price for Conservative incompetence British Gas profits: A betrayal for customers across the country Welsh Lib Dems Respond to Welsh Dental Report Responding to the publication of the Health and Social Care Committee report on dentistry in Wales, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said: I welcome the publication of this report and its recommendations. Since being elected I have made securing access to NHS dentistry one of my top priorities and the issue regularly fills my inbox. NHS dental provision in Wales is ...
This is just the sort of gentle humour at the expense of foreigners that I've always been a little too fond of. It could be worse though. Jerry Sadowitz was once knocked unconscious by a member of a Montreal audience after starting his act with "Hello Moosefuckers!" Thursday The morning post includes a gratifyingly large cheque drawn on a Toronto bank. I have long been a patron of the arts, and from time to time have dabbled on the creative side of things too. You will know of my part in the Rutbeat movement of the Sixties and perhaps of ...
Nick Cohen takes us to Tunbridge Wells in his latest substack Writing from London: Mike Martin is the sort of chap who used to be a natural Tory. He served in Afghanistan, where the army put his knowledge of Pashto to good use, and is a visiting fellow at the Department of War Studies at King's College, London. ... His grandmother was a Conservative constituency chairman. His parents met at a dance at the Richmond-on-Thames Conservative Association, and his father went on to be a Conservative candidate in the 1983 general election. Unsurprisingly, Martin has taken up the family tradition ...
The agenda and directory for Spring Conference has been published today. The first in-person federal conference since September 2019 takes place from 17-19 March. You can read all the details of the motions up for debate, fringe meetings, exhibitors and training here. If you read any of the motions and think, you know what, they've missed out this, or we should do this instead, you can submit an amendment with the support of 10 members, or an affiliated organisation like the Young LIberals by 1pm on 6th March. You can ask the Federal Conference Committee to advise you on how ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention poll from each pollster currently operating in Britain. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email: Understanding different polling firms You may find these posts useful: 'Waiting for Survation': a reminder of the value of checking the evidence. YouGov: is it biased to the Conservatives? Frequently Asked Questions Why isn't polling company X in ...
The Agenda and Directory for our March spring conference coming up in York is now out, with details of all the motions being debated, fringe meetings and more. You can register for conference (including an online-only option) here. Keep up with news about Lib Dem conference If you'd like to be notified by email when further posts about Liberal Democrat conference appear on this blog, just sign up here. (Note: if you're already signed up for a daily email alert with all my new blog posts, then there's no need to sign up for these alerts too as the ...
It is right that Cllr O'Byrne should announce today that she will not seek re-election in May. The question is, "why did she not do so when she received a large fine for a traffic offence when she was Deputy ... Continue reading →
Thu, 10:45: Nigeria Votes and the Race is Wide Open https://t.co/QipoAvuYTk Analysis of the biggest election ever held in Africa, by me.
The Guardian reports on the shocking news that the profits of the scandal-hit owner of British Gas have more than tripled to a record £3.3bn, boosted by soaring wholesale gas prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as many households in Britain struggle with the cost of living. They say that Centrica's "monster" profits immediately angered campaigners who are calling for tougher windfall taxes, lower bills and better treatment of vulnerable customers against the backdrop of the prepayment meter scandal. And quite rightly so. The company's profits for 2022 far outstrip the £948m made in 2021, aided by soaring profits in ...
Book a date! Climate Literacy & Action Training for Educators, Communities, Organizations, and Students CLT-ECOS, developed in collaboration with UN PRME and Carbon Literacy Project, starts next Thursday, 23 February, at 11:00 am GMT. Would you like to make an ... Continue reading →
Be careful what you wish for. The controversial deputy chairman of the Tory Party, former Labour MP Lee Anderson took umbrage at a Lib Dem leaflet highlighting his view on the death penalty, food banks, nuisance tenants and the death penalty joked on Twitter that if 48,000 leaflets were dropped off, he would deliver them himself in his constituency. He is trying to lose weight and delivering 48,000 leaflets would certainly help. In a cunning move, Liberal Democrat peer and councillor for Cleckheaton ward on Kirklees Council Baroness Kath Pinnock duly dropped off 48,000 leaflets at Anderson's constituency office. They ...
As residents will be aware, over a protracted period, we have raised with the City Council that, although real time bus information is working at bus shelters, paper timetables had been out of date since the bus companies altered services at the start of the COVID health emergency in 2020. Bus stops in our neighbouring authorities like Angus and Perth and Kinross have had timetables restored long since and we were given assurances that timetables in Dundee would start to make a reappearance. We asked for an update and the council's Senior Transport Officer updated us as follows : "We ...
