I met a black swan in a strange year: beautiful, delightful and enchanting, who knew such wonders beyond the reach of ordinary men; with whom trust at first was all-sustaining but at last became corroded, its flaws exposed at altitude to fail us unsupported like a broken wing While she hid a dagger's breath of silent tongues in her voice so eloquent, so intimate, that never deigned to speak except a softly-whispered treachery of unintended lies: Oh, just immediacy and circumstance, she'd say: familiar words admitting her neglect, striking home how open her abandonment would be I was naive that ...
Writing up this list is bringing home to me quite how untypical many of the songs I've listened to the most this year are of my usual preferences. Perhaps the realisation that I am not far off 60 years old has made me feel wistful and nostalgic and led me to play tracks that nurse that sentiment. At the start of this year, I would have been shocked to think I had listened to anything by Sailor, let alone that one of their songs might be among my top listening material this year. I was vaguely aware of their 1976 ...
Ed Davey used the final PMQs of the year to ask the Prime Minister for more support for young carers. Keir Starmer's response combined warm words with no promises of action and a bit of gentle teasing about Ed's Christmas single. At PMQs today, I urged the Government to provide more help and support for young carers. And I'm glad that the Prime Minister had the chance to hear Love Is Enough performed live on his doorstep this week! pic.twitter.com/nFNLFtIRMG — Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) December 18, 2024 The text is below: I join the Prime Minister in his praise and ...
If I were to ask anyone how you would define yourself, I wonder what would be the answer. We all have layers of identity and it is almost impossible to "box" us in one category. I am Polish, European, and a believer. But I am also a volunteer, language enthusiast but more importantly father and a husband. We run businesses, save lives, we sing, we dance, we contribute in a number of ways, we work and pay taxes, we paint, we teach, we even write (!), we are your friends, partners, work colleagues and neighbours. I have always been proud ...
Over the past 48 hours, the government's proposed plan for devolution has sparked significant concern. The experience in Watford and Hertfordshire serves as a warning for what could soon be faced by communities across the country. Splitting Hertfordshire into two blocks—east and west—and scrapping councils like Watford Borough Council (WBC) is not an isolated issue; it is emblematic of a broader strategy that risks undermining local democracy nationwide. This plan is not just a restructuring of local governance; it's a fundamental threat to the democratic principles we hold dear. Councils like WBC play a vital role in our communities. They ...
Amy Browne is director of stewardship and deputy head of sustainability at CCLA. She joined the investor coalition's sustainability team in 2020. Air pollution has major impacts on human health, the environment and the economy. As a growing business risk, it's an issue that IROs cannot afford to ignore. Some 99 percent of people breathe air that exceeds World Health Organisation (WHO) limits and one in six deaths worldwide is caused by air pollution. The global cost of health damages from air pollution in 2019 was estimated to equal around 6 percent of the world's GDP. Despite these impacts, air ...
You know when politicians stand there with pledge boards and cosy up to campaigning organisations promising certain things if they should get into government? And then don't deliver on those promises? It doesn't tend to end well. We in the Liberal Democrats know that more than most. It took almost a decade of hard slog for us to recover from the damage to our reputation from the tuition fees debacle. We learned that voters have long memories when they feel betrayed. You can't do something bad in the first few months of an administration and get away with it. Hot ...
Embed from Getty ImagesThis is Snailbeach as I first saw it. The white heaps of spoil from the lead mines made it a miniature version of the china clay country in Cornwall. That was on 3 June 1989 - I can date it so accurately because I remember it as the day England best Poland 3-0, the unexpectedly comfortable victory doing much to secure our qualification for Italia 90. This photograph was taken in 1995, which I suspect was the year the bulldozers moved in to landscape the tips. You can read more about Snailbeach in the old days in ...
Memory is a strang things in politics. One minute you are in opposition promising a group of people that you will right the wrongs they are suffering, the next you are in government and have forgotten everything you signed up to. I can certainly rememeber my then local Labour MP, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Work and Pensions Minister and even Keir Starmer joining protests pledging to compensate women who had lost out due to a failure of communications over their pensions, and yet, once they are in power with the ability to come good on all they campaigned ...
Last week, we brought you news of a consultation on the party's internal election regulations which opened in mid December and closes on 3 January. It's clearly Consultation Season in the Party because members have had an email inviting them to contribute to the Federal Policy Committee's Policy review by 6 January. In the email, Ed Davey says: In July, millions of people put their trust in the Liberal Democrats, many of them for the first time. They have handed us an exciting opportunity and a humbling responsibility. So now we must continue to lead the way, with big, bold ...
Having long campaigned for roads improvements in Marchfield Road and Marchfield Crescent, we were pleased that the council agreed to these and feedback from residents has been positive. Whilst any pavements and roads improvements are welcome, the current budget is wholly inadequate and far too few roads and footpaths are being upgraded. At the council's revenue budget earlier this year month, the Liberal Democrat Group proposed an additional £2 million next year for roads resurfacing, £1 million on pavements resurfacing to properly tackle the state of many footpaths and road surfaces that we get so many complaints about. Unfortunately the ...
