The new issue of Liberator is out and can be downloaded without charge from the magazine's website - it's issue 421. Lord Bonkers has told me I shall start posting his latest diaries tomorrow, so today let's look at the Radical Bulletin section, which is the magazine's answer to Private Eye. There you will find the latest on two disputes that threaten to rival Jarndyce v. Jarndyce. They are the one between former chair of the Liberal Democrats' East of England region Jo Hayes and the party over her expulsion, and the one between Sutton Liberal Democrats and David Campanale ...
It's less than 5 weeks till Liberal Democrats gather in York for what could, but possibly won't be, the last Conference before the General Election. The agenda and directory have now been published and you can read them here. We have been amusing ourselves seeing how many target seat PPCs we can see proposing or summating motions. We will see plenty more giving speeches across the weekend, too. It's a real opportunity to show your potential constituents that you are supporting things that will make their lives better. In his foreword, Ed Davey is keen to say how well we ...
Since the murder of Brianna Ghey last year, her mother has been calling for a ban on social media use by children under the age of 16 and this, reportedly, is being considered by the government. Some have even called for those under 16 to be banned from phones. But are these proposals enforceable? Are they liberal in nature? What can actually be done if not? Esther Ghey has, understandably, called for under 16's in this country to be banned from social media platforms such as Instagram, X and TikTok. Any ban, I think, would be intended to protect children ...
Liberator 421 is out and you can download it for free here. You can sign up to be emailed when each new Liberator comes out here. What's in this issue? Find out the news in Radical Bulletin, Lord Bonkers' thoughts in his Diary, plus Commentary and Letters PRETTY VACANT Keir Starmer has a shadow cabinet of nonentities poised to deliver nothing very much in government. It's a long way from the Blair era, says Jon Egan LETTERS POTENT Chris Bowers organised the letter to the Guardian on the Lib Dems identity crisis which led to an intemperate outburst from Ed ...
Embed from Getty ImagesWith the arguable exception of Derek Underwood, Graeme Swann is the best English spin bowler of my lifetime. And, a decade after he retired from cricket, the England set up has finally decided it might be a good idea to draw upon his expertise and experience. In an interview with cricket.com, Swann explains how England have apparently been able to produce two test-class spinners out of nowhere this winter in the shape of Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir: Numbers-wise, there were a lot of 'better' candidates, but according to Swann, the management were clear about the fact ...
Mark Pack's report for February: A familiar trio By now, you're most likely very familiar with the idea that we are concentrating our campaigning for the next Westminster general election on the NHS, the cost of living and sewage. You may well have heard that on Zoom calls with our Chief Executive, seen it in leaflets you've delivered or said it yourself in conversations with voters. The prime reason for this trio is the humility that's essential for a political party in an electoral democracy: the humility to listen to voters and to take their concerns as the starting point ...
At last, Ministers are to ban bonuses for water company bosses in England and Wales who fail to prevent illegal sewage spills that pollute rivers, lakes and seas. The Guardian reports that this new policy, which many campaigners - including Labour and the Liberal Democrats - have been lobbying the government to implement, is to be introduced by the government following public outrage over the impact and scale of recent illegal raw sewage discharges: The environment secretary, Steve Barclay, is proposing to block payouts to executives of firms that commit criminal acts of water pollution, starting with bonuses in the ...
Fraser's weekly ward surgeries take place later today and every Tuesday during school term time. They are as follows : Tuesdays at 5pm prompt - Blackness Library Tuesdays at 5.45pm prompt - Ancrum Road Primary School All residents welcome - no appointment necessary.
