I am so incredibly sad tonight. I woke up from a nap this afternoon to see the dreadful news that Neil Mackinnon, our first Press Officer in the Scottish Parliament, had died suddenly and unexpectedly. I know that many of our Scottish readers will share my shock and sadness. When I first came back to Scotland 24 years ago, Neil was one of the first people I got to know. He had a really funny dry wit and he was one of the wisest liberals. He was very good at sitting me down and trying to talk me round to ...
Truss: Conservative Leadership contenders must pledge to strip her of £115,000 allowance Scotland's trains are 'erratic and expensive' under the SNP Rennie responds to MUP rise Scot Lib Dems respond to Truss leadership claims Truss: Conservative Leadership contenders must pledge to strip her of £115,000 allowance Responding to Liz Truss's appearance at Conservative Party Conference, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said: Liz Truss's failure to recognise the economic vandalism that she oversaw is a kick in the teeth to all those who endured their mortgage rates spiralling and were worried about losing their homes as a result of ...
PurpleVision - follow him on YouTube for East Midland disused railway goodness - went to Wellingborough last week to look at the overflowing River Nene. He explored the Embankment area of town on foot - you can see it, swans and all, in happier circumstances in a post on this blog - and then filmed the wider area with a drone.
James Crouch argues that the greatest challenge the Conservative Party faces is a lack of unity among both its members and its remaining voters. "In their speeches to this week's Labour Party conference, Rachel Reeves mentioned it only briefly and in passing, and Keir Starmer not at all. It's absurd, especially as the guiding theme of both speeches, as of the government's entire incoming communications message, is that of the dire inheritance bequeathed by its Tory predecessors. Brexit can hardly be excluded from that reckoning."Chris Grey says there's still little sign Britain has accommodated itself to Brexit or has any ...
In his recent article, Buddy Anderson argues that the Liberal Democrats are not going to replace the Conservatives if our party moves further to the economic left. Of course, it is worth questioning the premise. Do we really want to replace the Conservatives? Nevertheless, if we take up the notion for the sake of argument, what would it actually mean? Buddy is of course right that just because an Orange Book Liberalism didn't thrill electors after 2010 doesn't mean it could never work. Quite so. However, the theory of Tory displacement Buddy favours, assumes a straightforward link between Conservative voters ...
Stuart Whomsley attempts to do what the frontrunner for the Conservative leadership can't. Robert Jenrick has recently stated that Englishness is under threat. However, he seemed unable to say what Englishness actually is. He knew the term had currency, but on enquiry he could offer no more. Like a patient trying to blag medication for an illness that they do not have because that medication can be sold on the streets. What are your symptoms? I have the symptoms of that illness. But what exactly are your symptoms? The illness symptoms. Jenrick, when asked, could not define Englishness; he looped ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2024 Seafield Road, Dundee - closed from its westmost end (in cul-de-sac) extending for a distance of no more than 20 metres in an easterly direction to facilitate a site access for a new housing development until November 2025. Blinshall Street (Douglas Street to 50 metres south) - closed until December 2024 for construction works. Douglas Street (Blinshall Street to Brown Street) - temporary traffic lights until December 2024 for construction works. Brown Street (south of Douglas Street) - closed until ...
One of the Tory party's big probems is their resemblance to the Bourbons - they have learnt nothing and forgotten everything. That much is apparent from remarks by Kemi Badenoch this morning, that must surely have sent some of her party's activists thinking back to the contest between Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom in 2016. Back then Leadsom was forced to withdraw from the Conservative leadership contest after she suggested in an interview with the Times that she would make a better prime minister than May because she had children, whereas her opponent had none. A firestorm ensued which threatened ...
