In his column for The Voice, Andrew George (Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives) writes: The annual international campaign to end violence against women and girls kicks off on November 25 - "16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence" - running till December 10, Human Rights Day. I've reflected on my (small) role supporting the early days of Penzance Women's Aid, and creation of first refuge, 33 years ago! It's provided essential, lifesaving and enhancing protection for women and their families fleeing domestic violence ever since. What caused me to reflect was the realisation that I had been wrong. Wrong, ...
IFS family farm tax: Government needs to swallow their pride and axe the tax Responding to the IFS suggesting that the Government changes its proposals to farmland inheritance tax, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP said: The Government hid behind the IFS to try and justify this disastrous policy. That very same organisation is now telling them that their own proposals need an overhaul. It would be beggars belief for the government to continue to push forward with these stupid plans. They need to swallow their pride, realise the damage this family farm tax will do and axe the ...
Today is the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls which kicks of the annual 16 days of activism against gender based violence which goes through until International Human Rights Day on 10th December. Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed by an intimate partner or family member. Violence against women and girls must end. We all have a role to play in preventing it. More from @UN_Women on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. [IMG: ⬇] #16Days — United Nations (@UN) November 25, 2024 The text is below: As the ...
The last week in November is, for me at least, packed with signifiant anniversaries and birthdays. Doctor Who and occasional Lib Dem Voice contributor Stephen Harte (come to think of it has anyone actually seen them in the same room together?) on 23rd, Christine Jardine on 24th and, on 25th our much missed Charles Kennedy. Today would have been Charles' 65th birthday. So many of us will have memories of him that are special to us. He was someone who the people of this country respected and listened to. He was one of the few calming voices during the torrid ...
I may have mentioned that our hotel in Tirana was part of the Air Albania Arena. What I have hitherto failed to mention, and discovered rather late in the day, was that the Albanian national football team were due to play a home UEFA Nations League fixture whilst we were in town. I did think about buying tickets, but they had officially sold out and I wasn't wildly keen on spending significant sums of money on the grey market to see a game between two teams I don't really know. In fairness, the "mystery" element doesn't phase me that much, ...
On the UK Parliament e-petitions webpage, a petition has been created calling for an early general election to be called, with its creator stating that: I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election. At time of writing, it has garnered more than five times as many signatures than the 100,000 required for a parliamentary debate to be held on the subject, with the UK Government not yet issuing a response. Following the repeal of the 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act, the prerogative power to call general ...
Little Bowden's River Jordan burst its banks last night. At one time it flowed past the village church and around the green, so perhaps it was looking for its old course. The roads affected were reopened this morning. I live near the Jordan, but if my road floods it's because a little stream is unable to flow into the river and backs up until it spills over. Later. After posting this, I went for a walk. The floods on Kettering Road, shown in the video above, had vanished, but the mud and debris on the pavement suggested that the stream ...
A friend has sent me a copy of an article Will Hutton wrote in 2022 for Prospect Magazine on an assessment of the state of the UK economy after 12 years of Tory-led small-state doctrine, deregulation and low taxation. Early in the article Hutton provides a useful list (in no particular order): 1. Poor productivity; 2. Threadbare welfare services; 3. The menace of predatory finance; 4. Inadequate human capital; 5. Systematic aversion to risk-taking; 6. Paucity of public investment; 7. Carelessness about who owns our national assets; 8. Lack of economic resilience in critical sectors (ranging from energy to water); ...
Young people, so says the DWP Secretary, must 'learn or earn' or lose benefits. Be warned, dear reader, this is an angry post. This announcement by Liz Kendall has put three things in my mind. Firstly, never underestimate the excessive power of rhyme in policy creation. Secondly, the authoritarian parties will never resist the temptation to hammer young people with a mixture of higher expectations and the threat of less money. Thirdly, it reminded me of one of the formative experiences for my liberalism. I have worked with young people during a couple of periods in a varied career. The ...
Next week HMS Prince of Wales, the largest ship in the British Navy, will be in Liverpool to receive the Freedom of the City. I will be honoured to take part in the ceremonies. Next week Liverpool will receive a visitor that will dwarf even the biggest cruise liners that we regularly host. On 3rd December the aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, will arrive in Liverpool for a one week stay. It will be a crowded programme with civic events and Mayors and Leaders from all over the North West and the Isle of Man paying a visit. The ...
Normally, when we go places, I take special care to organise dinner on Friday and Saturday nights because, you know how it is, places are busiest and you really don't want to be in a strange city, walking from restaurant to restaurant in the hope that they'll have a table free. I might have been happy enough to wing it in my twenties and thirties but not now. And, in most places, you can make reservations online and relax in the confidence that regardless of what else happens, you've got a decent meal to look forward to. Guidebooks will suggest ...
There are three Bills before their Lordships' House this week: the Mental Health Bill – intended to amend the Mental Health Act 1983. the Football Governance Bill – establishing an independent football regulator as well as licensing of football clubs the Water (Special Measures) Bill – strengthening Ofwat and to create the means to put failing water companies into special measures It's a good week for Liberal Democrat Oral Questions, with one on each day; On Monday, John Russell asks the Government for its plans to increase the number of homes fitted with solar panels Jonny Oates asks what representations ...
I was, I admit, somewhat surprised when Creeting St Peter's county councillor, Keith Welham, noted last Monday at our Parish Council meeting (which reminds me...) that the prospect of a unitary authority or authorities for Suffolk had reared its head again. It shouldn't come as a complete surprise, I guess, because the argument that multiple tiers of government are less financially efficient than one has been around for a long time. But it's a brave government that commits itself to a major reorganisation of local government, especially this early in its mandate. And, having read the article in The Times ...
We looked along our littoral for purpose: We'd reached a sparse landscape, low and north-lit, swept by thin rain whose squalls smoked off the sea, waiting for spring tides to ease a passage through its channels. A firth of dirty salt, its bleakness masking any scant value... While we whiled away our hours with vague exotica: allured by dreams, to prospect amber buried in the flats, to wake and polish memories of memories from sunlight trapped in resin, with an insect or small fragments and minuscule air bubbles that had-not-quite-escaped... Until we found, as gibbous waters rose to overflow inertia's ...
Three in five Brits expect food prices to rise because of family farm tax Wendy Chamberlain appointed carer's charity Vice President Three in five Brits expect food prices to rise because of family farm tax Shocking new research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats reveals that almost 60% of Brits expect food prices to rise because of the Family Farm Tax announced in the Budget. The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment to reject the government's Finance Bill, given the impact of the budget on family farms. The ways in which Brits are planning to cope with the price increase are ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 25 NOVEMBER 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 ...
The Guardian reports on comments by the historian, Joe Mulhall that it feels like the UK is "going backwards" after four events promoting his new book have been cancelled due to fears of far-right violence: Joe Mulhall, an expert in far-right extremism, told The Independent venues had been forced to call off events after getting calls and emails from members of the far-right. The cancellations happened after the leader of the National Front Tony Martin turned up at his book launch at Waterstones in central London, he said. Mr Mulhall, whose new book is called Rebel Sounds: Music as Resistance, ...
