Ben Maguire is the Liberal Democrat in the North Cornwall constituency. Today he tweeted this endorsement from John Pardoe. A sweet young thing asks: Who is John Pardoe. My early Liberal heroes were David Penhaligon and John Pardoe, who both sat for Cornish constituencies. Pardoe won North Cornwall from the Conservatives in 1966 and held it until 1979. From 1970 until he lost his seat, he was the Liberal Party's treasury spokesperson, and was known for his pessimistic view of the prospects of the British economy. As it was the Seventies, he generally proved to be right. It's 45 years ...
"Between 2012 and 2019, austerity was responsible for an estimated 335,000 excess deaths. The rate of prescription of antidepressants in England has doubled since 2011: nearly 20 per cent of adults now take them. The average height of children who grew up under austerity fell relative to European benchmarks." William Davies on 14 years of Conservative rule. Guy Shrubsole analyses Labour's environmental policies. Naomi Fisher says we're in the middle of a cultural clash in the way that we understand mental health: "The way that we understand distress is deeply rooted in our culture and time, but it doesn't feel ...
As the English Young Liberals X/Twitter account recently pointed out we've been here before with MRP excitements.
It will come to no surprise to anyone that I wholeheartedly believe in the power of education. So when our manifesto was released last week, I was delighted to see such a keen focus on policies to support our wonderful yet undervalued FE colleges. For far too long our colleges have been underfunded and unsupported and the Lib Dem manifesto seeks to change this alongside highlighting the importance of lifelong learning. In the manifesto, we pledge to review of further education funding, including the option of exempting colleges from VAT. FE funding compares extremely unfavourably with both university and school ...
The woefulness of our own leaders' debate pales into insignificance compared with the calamity enacted overnight in the US. Nevertheless, here are some impressions. Judged as a debate I felt Sunak was the overwhelming victor. He was confident, assured , nimble and relentless as he hammered way with or without relevance on his two themes of Labours' tax plans and Starmer's deviousness. His great advantage is that he is not constrained but any adherence to the truth (In this area a humble imitation of Trump in the US and Farage at home). To be fair, his repeated accusations that Starmer ...
Usually council by-elections due to be held close to a general election will be scheduled to be on the same day (though the increasing variations in local election rules from those for general elections across England, Scotland and Wales makes this a less attractive combination than it used to be). However, the surprise nature of the general election timing means that some councils were caught out, and so some voters had to vote this week as well as going to the polls next week too. Across the three principal authority contests, there were two Lib Dem candidates, one up on ...
Tomorrow - Saturday 29th June - 11am - noon (doors open 10.30am). Essa Flett - The Selkie's Wife ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "A bewitching performance" - Binge Fringe Magazine From the creator of ROOTS (Fringe 2019) and cast member of the hit 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Bradán Theatre show My Lover Was A Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse, comes a 'bewitching' (Binge Fringe Magazine) new solo folk storytelling performance. Join Elisabeth Flett as she gives the audience a decidedly sapphic retelling of the Selkie tale- that is, she'll try to, if her own story would only stop getting in the way. A tour de ...
The Guardian reports that companies linked to Conservative donors have collectively received £8.4bn in public money since 2016, more than 150 times what the party has received in support. They say that government spending and political donation records reveal that key contributors have given £53.7m to the Tory party since January 2015, while controlling firms that have received billions in government and NHS contracts over eight years: An anti-corruption charity has called for a ban on parties accepting donations from companies with public contracts, which would bring the UK in line with the US and other countries in Europe. Rachel ...
