I've gone down with a cold, so I'll leave you in the excellent company of John Rogers: A London walking tour exploring the ancient village of Paddington, famous for its railway station (and Paddington Bear of course). Originating as an Anglo-Saxon village, Paddington has a long and rich history. We cross the Grand Union Canal, Harrow Road and the Westway to visit Paddington Green and St. Mary's Church. From here we have a mooch in Church Street Market and wander down Edgware Road. In Praed Street we see the place where Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin at Saint Mary's Hospital. We ...
Rachel Reeves is starting to make Danny Alexander look like a maverick economic expansionist, but maybe the reason they succumbed to orthodoxy lies in the Treasury rather within them. Michael Gove, stay with me, spoke to Jo Timan of the Manchester Evening News, and the interview is discussed in today's Northern Agenda email from Rob Parsons: Describing an issue that's all-too-familiar to Northern leaders, he criticised so-called "Treasury brain" in government​ ahead of a Budget due on October 30. On the way in which civil servants review investments, he said: "The way it works unfortunately means that the nominal return, ...
Almost 44 years ago the 39th US President left the White House. Quite incredibly that President is still alive and today he celebrates a very special birthday. Yes, today is the 100th birthday of Jimmy Carter. As a President it must be said he faced many formidable challenges, including an energy crisis, high levels of inflation and the Iran hostage crisis. Yet, just because he was a one term President it would be a mistake to overlook some important achievements. In 1977, Carter brokered two US treaties with Panama. The next year he presided over a round of meetings between ...
This morning's "Labour List" asked me to fill in a questionnaire on what I thought should be in the budget. I was asked for one "most important" item and then for two further suggestions. Off the top of my head, my responses were: Most important. End the Two Child Limit on Universal Credit. It is unconscionable that this very rich country should be punishing children via this immoral and ineffective piece of gesture politics. Next. Give a significant increase to the grants to local government, graded according to their needs ("levelling up," to coin a phrase.) Local government is responsible ...
We are five weeks away from Election Day in the US, and things have certainly been eventful in the presidential race, to put it mildly. This election may be American democracy's greatest test. With revenge in mind, and with a guide to converting the federal bureaucracy into a conservative vehicle and removing many checks on presidential power vis-a-vis Project 2025, a second Trump presidency would be dramatically worse than his first and may well signal the end of American democracy. Even in defeat, his refusal to accept the results in a tight race will likely instigate political violence as it ...
Two things strike me about this new data from YouGov: [IMG: The public view on Tory governments 2010-2024 - YouGov polling data] First, how big a deadweight the legacy of their time in office is for the future prospects of the Conservative Party. There is little positive in there, and the most positive legacy will be – let us all hope, regardless of our politics – irrelevant to future politics being as it was about a worldwide health catastrophe. Second, note how poorly Brexit rates, even among 20024 Conservatives and Reform voters. Though it tops the list for Reform votes, ...
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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.
Just when you thought that fracking was dead and buried in the UK, the Tories are proposing to revive the controversial method of drilling for gas. The Guardian reports that senior Conservatives are considering pushing for a lifting of the moratorium on fracking in England to become party policy. The paper says that Conservatives have criticised the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, for Labour's election pledge to end new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, and some are mooting a return to experimenting with drilling onshore for gas in an effort to lower energy bills: There has been a ...
