Bank of England: Ministers need to set out steps to Trump-proof economy McArthur urges MPs to back assisted dying bill McArthur expresses delight as UK Parliament backs Assisted Dying bill Bank of England: Ministers need to set out steps to Trump-proof economy Responding to the Bank of England's fiscal stability report which warned of the potential impact of the impending Donald Trump Presidency on the economy, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: After years of Conservative economic vandalism our economy has seen sluggish growth and people have been hammered by spiralling mortgage rates. The incoming Trump administration could ...
One of the things about getting older is that the NHS tends to take more interest in you. Now, given that I believe that preventative medicine is a thoroughly good thing, I can hardly object to that. And so, when I received an invitation from my surgery to come in for a free NHS Health Check, naturally I thought that taking this up might be a good idea. After all, what's the worst that could happen, right? Hmmm... well, actually, quite a lot, I guess. I am, after all, the far side of sixty. And whilst the Senior Railcard is ...
It was a long list of holds for this week's by-elections as only 1 out of 10 seats switched hands, where Lib Dems snatched a seat out of Labour in Sheffield City Council. Labour defended their other 7 seats, albeit losing a hefty amount of votes in almost all seats; the Lib Dems also defended the 2 remaining seats. For the only gain this week, the young Cllr Willis Marshall brought the Lib Dems from fourth place to first in the Woodhouse ward in Sheffield City Council. Coming from the single digits, Willis and the Sheffield team more than quadrupled ...
Fri 29th
19:33
Mike Brearley: A column for the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy
A piece of unashamed hero worship from the JCPCP. You may recognise some of this from posts on this blog, but then I have always regarded one function of a blog as being acting as a writer's notebook. Such was Mike Brearley standing in 1981, his last summer as captain of the England cricket team, that the writer of a letter to the Guardian claimed to have seen him set the field and then "look up at the sun and indicate that it should move a little squarer". For me, it was a wonder to have a representative of liberal ...
Congratulations to Wendy Chamberlain who has won one of the MP of the Year awards from the Patchwork Foundation. [IMG: 🏆] Community Champion: Yvonne Lawson MBE of @GLFoundation_ [IMG: 🏆] Special Recognition: Office of @Patrick_Hurley [IMG: 🏆] Newcomer: @marykfoy [IMG: 🏆] @UKLabour : @AfzalKhanMCR [IMG: 🏆] @Conservatives : @_RobbieMoore [IMG: 🏆] Other Party: @wendychambLD [IMG: 🏆] Young People: @RhonddaBryant [IMG: 🏆] Overall MP: @aliciakearns pic.twitter.com/Q6XG6R6syU — Patchwork Foundation (@UKPatchwork) November 27, 2024 The Patchwork Foundation describes itself thus: We promote, encourage and support the active participation of young people from disadvantaged and minority communities in British democracy and civil society. ...
Shop my sale at: For handmade gifts, crochet, original art and cards. Click on logo for link. 29th November to 2nd December 2024. https://patriciarustart.etsy.com
Christmas came early for Sheffield Liberal Democrats yesterday with Willis Marshall's win in Woodhouse – site of much of the battle of Orgreave – by 10 votes ahead of Reform, gaining the seat notionally from Labour. The vacancy was brought about by the sad death of Councillor Paul Wood of Sheffield Community Councillors, the group that split from Labour after defying the whip on a vote on the local plan, but was largely made up of the previous Labour leadership, ousted by a Campaign Improvement Board against the wishes of local Labour members. Willis and the team put in a ...
The question of the Bonhams Carter* and their hyphens is not a simple one. Helena Bonham Carter doesn't have one, but her grandfather Sir Maurice 'Bongie' Bonham-Carter, Asquith's principal private secretary, did. I knew a member of the family when I lived in Kew in the Eighties, and he had one too. * Lord Bonkers assures me this is the correct plural - cf. courts martial. Thursday To Bloomsbury for the launch party of Precipice- Robert Harris's novel about those terrible days before the outbreak of the Great War. He proves chiefly interested in Mr Asquith's dalliance with Venetia Stanley, ...
[IMG: ALDC MP cards gift photo] Five Christmas, birthday, wedding, graduation, driving test pass, citizenship acquisition or candidate selection victory gift ideas for that special person you know. (And more tasteful than some festive options.) Top Trumps the Lib Dem way No need to be bored with Monopoly this Christmas. Get a set of 72 Top Trump style cards, one for each and every Liberal Democrat MP, from ALDC. Give the gift of knowledge Polling knowledge, that is, with a gift subscription to The Week in Polls. Read by pollsters, journalists, politicians and thousands of voters, my weekly newsletter gives ...
As Caron reported on Wednesday, Ed Davey is performing on a Christmas single by Bath Philharmonia and its Young Carers' Choir. We can now reveal it in all its glory. We held it back because downloads only count from today. The BBC has some words to say about it: As far as we can tell, Sir Ed is the first leader of a major political party to release a Christmas single (although in 2017 Lord Buckethead put out his festive song, A Bucketful of Happiness). ... Those hoping to hear Sir Ed on lead vocals in the new single may ...
[IMG: Willis Marshall photo from X] There is a new Lib Dem councillor in Sheffield, Willis Marshall. Nine principal authority council by-elections this week for ten seats, and a full slate of Lib Dem candidates, up a very welcome four on the last time these seats were up. The contests include a clutch where I was recently campaigning in myself. Let's start with a dramatic result from Sheffield with just 10 votes in it between first and second: Woodhouse (Sheffield) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 33.0% (+26.8) [IMG: ➡] RFM: 32.7% (New) [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 21.1% (-36.8) [IMG: 🌳] ...
It is now a regular feature of the political opinion polls that Lib Dem Ed Davey has the best net leader ratings of the major parties. But now that he's topping the polling charts, he has set his eyes on topping another set of charts – the music charts. As the BBC reports: The Liberal Democrat leader is teaming up with the Bath Philharmonia's Young Carers' Choir to release the charity single, Love is Enough. The song was written by six young carers and former carers, and celebrates the bond they have with the people they care for. Proceeds from ...
There's an action-packed first weekend of this year's West End Christmas Fortnight ahead! Saturday 30th November 9.30am and 10.30am - Children's Craft events. For young school age children, these 2 one hour free workshops are led by the wonderful Lisa Earl of 'Create ... Kids Create Crafts'. Takes place at Blackness Library. The 9.30am and 10.30am one hour sessions are each restricted to 25 children who must be accompanied by a parent or carer who must stay with their child throughout the session. Completely free of charge. Booking details on the West End Christmas Fortnight Facebook page. 10am to 1pm ...
Nation Cymru reports that a major trade union has launched legal action against the UK Government over the Chancellor's decision to means test winter fuel payments. The website says that Unite claimed the Government did not follow the correct procedure in making the decision, which will see around 10 million pensioners miss out on the benefit: The union had threatened legal action earlier in November and announced on Thursday that it had applied to the High Court for leave to proceed with a full judicial review after receiving an "unsatisfactory" response to its demand that the Government reverse its decision. ...
