One in two Brits not confident police would turn up if their home was burgled Poll reveals almost one in two adults would not be confident the police would turn up if their home was burgled or they were the victim of a car theft Some Brits are putting off calling the police because they worried it will take too long for them to arrive or they won't take the incident seriously Lib Dems warn of "crisis in confidence" in police and call on government to restore public trust in policing Nearly half of people say they are not confident ...
Catching trains is usually a fairly straightforward affair, especially in suburban stations. There are two platforms, one 'down', one 'up', usually corresponding to the usual rules of the road. And, when you have platform indicators telling you when trains are coming and which track they'll be one, it should be pretty foolproof, you'd think, right? But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. Pre-COVID, when we were last in the Metro West suburbs of Boston, there was a really good local pizza place called "Volturno" which, amongst its various delights, included an octopus starter which Ros and I both rather ...
Thu 2nd
20:50
Well done to Charlotte Cane for being an officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Classics
When I posted a short blog supporting the teaching of Latin in state schools, I ended it: A few weeks ago, Liberal Democrat MPs were posting about their belief in choice in education as a way of justifying their opposition to VAT on school fees. If choice is good for those who can afford private education, then it is good for everyone. So I hope to see them posting in favour of giving state schools the freedom to offer a diverse curriculum - including natural history and Latin. One of those Lib Dem MPs I noticed making such posts was ...
Embed from Getty ImagesThe British media now have the story, but the American website Semafor claims this as a scoop: Meta is revamping its global policy team, with President Nick Clegg stepping down and being replaced by Joel Kaplan, his deputy and the company's most prominent Republican, people familiar with the matter said. Kaplan, who was White House Deputy Chief of Staff under George W. Bush, has been one of the most forceful voices inside Meta against restrictions on political speech, arguing internally that such policies would disproportionately mute conservative voices. Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister and ex-leader ...
Twenty Labour members of Broxtowe District Council in Nottinghamshire have resigned from the party. The Guardian report says: In a statement, the councillors - who will now sit as part of a new Broxtowe Independents party - said: "It is with a heavy heart that we can no longer be in a party that has abandoned traditional Labour values under Keir Starmer's leadership." They were particularly critical of the cut to the winter fuel allowance, the bus fare increase and Labour's plans to scrap two-tier county and district councils, which are to be merged to create large unitary authorities. Radulovic ...
Come 20 January 2025, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the President of the United States, again. This is not an outcome that we Liberal Democrats desired, but it cannot go unrecognised, particularly as it was part of an anti-incumbency wave that characterised the 'year of elections'. However, it does not mean that we should accept the actions of his incoming administration without question or complaint, especially those which have a direct impact upon the United Kingdom. Several newspapers, principally of the right of the UK's news landscape, have reported two prospects that would constitute likely hazards. The first is ...
Overdue Reform of the House of Lords Talk about reforming the House of Lords has been going on for many decades but in 2011 a cross-party draft bill proposed 300 members, 80% elected and 20% appointed. The bill was dropped in 2012, and there has been no political commitment to implement such a major change to its constitution since then. Currently, Keir Starmer is legislating to remove those left in 1999 when hereditary lords were removed, leaving 92 of them to remain "until further reform is proposed". However, Starmer is claiming that future Lords reform will take place step by ...
With thanks to SJ Bogue and Dundee Memories, crowds in the City Square celebrate the arrival of the new year back in 1993.
Four wrongly accused post-masters may well have been honoured with OBEs in the New Years honours list but the failure to bring the matter to a conclusion by paying out sufficient compensation remains extant. The Mirror reports that almost three quarters of the cash set aside to compensate postmasters hasn't been paid out. The paper says that a damning report has called on the Post Office to be kicked out of the process to put the Horizon IT scandal right, with just £499million of the £1.8billion assigned for payouts to victims having been paid out, meaning 72% is unspent: MPs ...
Over 1 million people were unable to contact their GP in the past month 1.1 million people who attempted to contact their GP in the past month could not get through, accounting for one in 20 of all people who tried, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. Analysis of the latest ONS survey on health care by the Liberal Democrats found that in just one month, 4.8 million people who tried to reach their GP could not make contact on the same day. This accounts for close to a quarter (23%) of all people who tried. Of these, 2.2 ...
