Lib Dem MPs back motion to block Winter Fuel Payments cut Swinney should launch new term by ending support for Heathrow expansion Cole-Hamilton speaks ahead of SNP conference Lib Dem MPs back motion to block Winter Fuel Payments cut Ed Davey announces plan to force vote on government's cut to Winter Fuel Payments for 10 million pensioners Analysis reveals pensioners facing a £670 hit this winter from rising energy bills and slashing of support Liberal Democrats call for a "rethink" so that poorer and vulnerable pensioners continue to get the support they need Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has announced ...
Stewart Lee on psychogeography, being adopted, the history of comedy and the decline of regional differences between audiences. Seeing him so engaged and amused reminds you that his stage persona is not the real man. John Robb runs Louder Than War.
Sir Keir Starmer promised us "Change" but the political debate is drifting dangerously towards what my father used to call "The same old over again." Minister after minister sends most of her/his interview time on the media telling us what a mess the Tories have left behind, Conservatives distort the debate with dubious claims about "two tier Keir" (the fatuous suggestion that right wing demonstrations are more strictly policed than left wing ones) and that a lord and Labour donor has paid for Starmer's suits and glasses during the election campaign (which,even if true, is hardly comparable to the VIP ...
The Lib Dem conference starts in Brighton on the Saturday 14th September. Not in the conference programme - because conference hasn't started yet - is the Social Liberal Forum (SLF) pre-conference dinner on the Friday evening, 13th September. Details are on our website: Pre-conference dinner 2024 – Social Liberal Forum. If you have decided to arrive in Brighton on the Friday so that you can attend conference when it opens on Saturday at 9am, then you might want to consider going along. But you need to book around now (the early bird rate expires on the 1st September). You can't ...
Ed Davey tells BBC Breakfast he wants MP's to vote on government plans to end automatic winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners: A party press release has more detail: Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has announced his party is tabling a motion to block the government's proposed cut to Winter Fuel Payments as soon as Parliament returns from recess next week. All 72 Liberal Democrat MPs have backed the party's 'prayer motion' to block the cut to Winter Fuel Payments and ensure MPs are given a vote on the changes before they come into force on 16th September. It ...
The 2010 BBC profile of Steve Winwood, English Soul, was enlivened by the appearance of his former Traffic bandmate Dave Mason as a black-hatted bad fairy. Winwood, according to Mason's account, was jealous of his success as a songwriter and threw him out of the band as a result. Fourteen years on, he is no more reconciled to those events. Today's Guardian has a interview with Dave Mason by Jim Farber about his memoirs Only You Know & I Know, and he's still complaining about them. Not just for that reason, he doesn't come over as particularly likeable. My impression ...
In a Liberal England first, our Trivial Fact of the Day comes from Bluesky. Many thanks to Joanna Wyld over there. (You can find me on Bluesky too: @lordbonkers.bsky.social.) The composer Gustav Holst was born Gustavus Theodore von Holst in Cheltenham in 1874. He had a younger brother, Emil Gottfried, who enjoyed success as an actor in the West End, New York and Hollywood under the name Ernest Cossart. His greatest hour in London came when he appeared in the world premiere of Bernard Shaw's Too True to Be Good. In films, where he found regular employment in the 1930s ...
Despite the lack of publicity and opportunity for discussion, toward the end of 2023 we became aware of possible closure of pharmacies in Newcastle. First, Lloyds announced their closure of several branches including a busy one inside a large Sainsbury's, which was popular with wheelchair users due to flat access. Then Boots announced closure of five local branch pharmacies, affecting several neighbourhoods. I and dozens of my Ward residents would be personally affected by at least one of these closures and, as word spread about them, residents began voicing their concerns via local social media. They were not happy at ...
I really thought that the Afghanistan Taliban couldn't do more harm than they have already done. But earlier this week I was shocked to the core to read their latest rulings. They have now banned women from speaking in public places. Yes, you read that correctly - women are not allowed to speak when out and about. It's not about public speaking, which they were already banned from doing, but rather the simple act of using their voices. It was already horrendous for our sisters in that country. They are forced to wear a burqa when out of the home ...
Ten years ago, in the summer of the penultimate year of the coalition government, I wrote a couple of pieces about how the Liberal Democrat party organisation and also our messaging on Europe needed to change. Looking back on them now, I find it interesting to see how much they foreshadowed large parts of what we got right in the 2019-24 Parliament and need to continue to get right in this one. Different Parliaments, different detailed circumstances and so different specific implementations of the lessons, but the same lessons. On organisation, I highlighted how we needed to bring on a ...
Michael's surgeries take place today and every Thursday during school term time. They are as follows : Thursdays at 5.45pm prompt - West End Campus (come to reception area of St Joseph's RC and Victoria Park Primary Schools) Thursdays at 6.30pm prompt - Harris Academy reception area All welcome - no appointment necessary!
The Independent reports that Keir Starmer has been criticised for lacking ambition in his bid to reset relations with the EU, after he rejected the idea of free movement for under-30s and rejoining the students' Erasmus scheme even before talks got underway. The paper says that the prime minister made it clear he was not open to a deal that would make it easier for young people from the UK and the European Union to travel, when he held a joint press conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday: Despite Sir Keir having described the renegotiation as "a once-in-a-generation ...
