Thanks to Augustus Carp for his latest bulletin on local councillors changing parties, though I'll have him know that I lived in Hemel Hempstead between the ages of 3 and 13. Well, it's been three months now since the General Election, and in Parliament we have seen several expulsions from the Labour Party together with a rather sudden resignation. In my innocence I had assumed that people would have left their political parties before the election, rather than in the immediate aftermath, but the evidence shows that resignations have continued apace amongst our local councillors. Since July, there have been ...
Sat 5th
21:50
ALDE Congress in Estoril: A Rallying Call for Liberal Values and International Cooperation
I don't know how many ALDE Congresses I have visited over the last few years, but the one in Estoril, Portugal, was similar to most of them. The 500+ delegates, including around 20 from the LibDems, provides a platform to discuss global challenges, affirm our commitment to mutual liberal values, and outline strategies for the future. The first day was dominated by the elections to the ALDE Bureau, with the election of a new President and six new Vice Presidents. German MEP Svenja Hahn was the only candidate for the Presidency. She's known to many Liberal Democrats as a former ...
Al Pinkerton, the new Liberal Democrat MP for Surrey Heath, posted a thread on Twitter last night that gave a perspective that had been missing from the day's heated debate on the Chagos Islands. It was that of the Islanders themselves. Here is the full thread: A few weeks ago, I became a member of the Chagos APPG, Vice Chair of the APPG on Gibraltar and the Secretary of the Falklands APPG. It would be fair to say I have more than a passing interest in U.K. Overseas Territories and a fair bit of accumulated knowledge. A few key points: ...
I wasn't supposed to be at Parish Council this time. The original date clashed with Federal Conference, and I had advised Council that I wouldn't be present. But work commitments and ill health conspired to cause the postponement of the scheduled meeting, and so, having just recovered from another dose of COVID, I made my way to Creeting St Peter for another opportunity to catch up with events in my beloved village. The big news, I guess, is that the Speed Information Device that we ordered has arrived. It wasn't cheap but, thanks to generous grants from our County and ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls – indicates that party didn't feature in the polling questions separate from 'Others' or that the data is not yet available. Numbers in brackets show change ...
The Gaza War has escalated to become the Middle East war and Israel is winning – for now. But the problem is that the Israeli government's strategy is based entirely on total military victory over Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and their backer Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – pushed by his ultra-orthodox allies – has left no room for political compromise or any consideration of the wider consequences. At the UN General Assembly this week, the Israeli Prime Minister declared: "There is no place" In the Middle East that Israel's "long arm cannot reach." He then left the ...
Urban ReLeaf is a city-wide citizen-science initiative that engages the community to share their observations and perceptions of greenspaces across Dundee. The goal is to enhance the benefits of these greenspaces and ensure they meet the diverse needs of the community. The collected data will help shape local strategies and policies and will be available for other organisations to use. Parks and greenspaces are essential for health and wellbeing and will be increasingly important for the city's resilience to climate change. Urban ReLeaf aims to create a large, citizen-generated dataset on park usage, what helps people benefit more from greenspaces, ...
I havent seen this in the Welsh media, but one national newspaper, which is normally keen to publish Welsh Tory press releases claims that the Welsh Government spent a dizzying £1.5 million on hospitality between 2022 and 2023, including £15,000 at a swanky New York restaurant. They say that the Welsh Government used procurement cards to spend £1,494,599, 81% more than the £821,871 racked up the previous year. The official figures show bills included £7,949 and £15,933 at Zou Zou's in Manhattan, where dishes include a lobster kebab at £39 ($51) a pop and fire-roasted lamb, costing £99 ($130). Other ...
