Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie has today said that the Education Secretary must rebuild relations with trade unions and local authorities as he revealed that more than 210,000 staff days were lost to strikes in just 18 months. Freedom of information requests submitted by Scottish Liberal Democrats have revealed: In 2022/23, at least 170,049 school and council staff days were lost due to strikes, while a further 46,197 were lost between April and October 2023; Children missing out on up to a dozen days of education; Among the local authorities which responded, Glasgow lost the most days of ...
One of the things about working in the public sector is that, for the most part, what you really need is a clear, decisive steer on what is required of you. Applying an existing legal framework to that gives you a platform for delivering whatever it is that you are asked to deliver, and allows you to, hopefully, make effective use of your time and of public resources. And, if your leaders have a reasonably consistent and definable philosophy, even when you aren't given precise instructions, you can probably work out for yourself what they would want you to do. ...
"The party's organizing basis since the first day Trump took office has been to treat him as a civic emergency. This is the basis for demanding donations, volunteering, and sacrifice. If they are not willing to endure the relatively modest discomfort of a contentious intraparty debate to minimize the chance of a second Trump term, they'll have broken faith with their supporters." Jonathan Chait says the Democrats will be making a terrible mistake if they stick with Jo Biden. Paul Bernal warns against heeding Tony Blair's call for the introduction of digital ID cards. "Doing the right thing economically ... ...
The election may be over but we have picked up so many issues recently in Whickham South and Sunniside that we decided to produce an extra edition of Focus. I printed it on Thursday and we started delivery straight away. The lead story (which dictates the timing of this Focus) is the public meeting I am chairing on Thursday about the future of Sunniside Methodist Church. We therefore have
With the end of another, rather interesting, quarter, another update to PollBase, my database of British voting intention opinion polls since 1943 is now up. This time, as well as another quarter of polls and other minor updates and corrections, the update includes a new tab to explain the abbreviations used in the 'publisher' columns. As part of this the use of abbreviations for the same outlet across the decades has also been standardised. Enjoy! P.S. For the very latest polls, see my polling scorecard and for the history of polls, how to spot the good from the bad and ...
My goodness, Conference is going to be an absolute blast this year. Our annual jaunt to the seaside takes place from 14-17 September in Brighton will be so much sweeter after our spectacular General Election result. I wasn't going to go because of caring responsibilities, but I've managed to book a flying visit for 24 hours as I can't bear the thought of not being with the Lib Dem family in such a special year. I mean who wouldn't want to be around to congratulate 72 MPs and maybe get a cuddle with Jennie if she's off duty? And I ...
It's time for the Special Relationship to be extracted from the diplomatic cupboard and dusted off. Britain needs it. Europe needs it. And, although they are less keen to admit that they need help from any quarter, the US needs it to become the cornerstone of a new Transatlantic Alliance. For years the UK shared the "Special Relationship" tag with France and Germany. In fact, after Brexit, Britain probably slipped into third place in Washington's relationship arrangements. But French President Emmanuel Macron has politically castrated himself with the recent political elections and the dull and dreary German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ...
Dundee City Council is preparing a Play Sufficiency Assessment to comply with the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. This will be submitted to the Scottish Government as part of the evidence base for the next Local Development Plan. As part of this, an online survey has been created to gain insights from children and young people, parents and carers and those who work with them about where they like to play/hang out and why. This will be used to improve the quality and accessibility of outdoor play in Dundee. The Play Sufficiency Survey can be accessed at the following link - ...
