Market turmoil: Reeves should hold emergency summit with banks to reassure mortgage holders Scottish Government forced to climb down on ministerial power grab of legal profession Market turmoil: Reeves should hold emergency summit with banks to reassure mortgage holders Following the cost of government borrowing continuing to rise, exceeding the near 30-year high it hit last week, the Liberal Democrats have called on the Chancellor to hold an emergency summit with the banks to reassure mortgage holders that they won't see a major spike in their mortgage costs. It comes as experts warn that mortgage rates may rise in the ...
No Hiding Place was a police drama that ran on ITV between 1959 and 1967. Some early episodes were broadcast live - obviously including this one. Press play, and we cut from a studio set, to a clip of pre-recorded film and then to another studio set... only to find a member of the crew wandering through it carrying a script. "Get out of there!" hisses the director. And on we go.
Concerning, as Elon Musk would say: [IMG: Elon Musk YouGov polling] It's worth remembering too that earlier polling showed even Reform voters are not that keen on him intervening in British politics. Opinium and Ipsos also have recent negative poll findings about Musk: [IMG: Jim Pickard and Ben Page tweets about Musk] Get the best of polling summarised, weekly Sign up here if you would like to receive The Week in Polls, a weekly round-up and analysis of the latest British political polls: Get the essential polling book [IMG: Polling UnPacked book cover and Sunday Times review quote]
The Farron Review is an excellent piece of work, the east option as a party would have been to paint a glowing image of success following our General Election. Yet the review does not shy away from asking some difficult questions of our structures and what we can improve going forward. The main area singled out for criticism is our candidates process. At the moment, our candidates process is that people who wish to stand for any office above that of a local councillor, must attend and pass, an approval day (think grad scheme assessment day). Once they have done ...
Three hours before the deadline for General Election nominations on June 7th, 2024, I resigned as a Labour councillor and as Chair of the Bromsgrove Labour Party. I stood as an independent parliamentary candidate, secured 1561 votes, while Labour lost by 3016 votes to the Conservatives. I have since joined the Lib Dems as I explain below, and we are now the main opposition on Bromsgrove District Council. Why did I leave the Labour Party and stand against its official candidate? I had poured my heart and soul into leading the Labour Party in Bromsgrove, transforming it from a gathering ...
The Liberal Democrats have published a review of their performance in last years general election - you can read it here. There's a lot in it to digest, but one thing that struck me is the pull on us of two different views of a political party. One view is put forward by Tim Farron, who chaired the review, in his foreword: Community politics is in our blood, yet we take it for granted and at times some of us can be sniffy about it: it's small beer, it's just pavement politics, it's just a dolled up set of election ...
January has produced the annual bout of media chatter about New Year Resolutions, with prominent among them this year losing weight by injecting drugs, which if bought privately cost from £139 to £299 pcm according to a quick Google search. According to a BBC panorama programme to be broadcast tonight (13/01/25) if the drugs become available free on the NHS they will cost £10bn a year and bankrupt it To save the NHS, and anyone interested the private cost, the dangers and the side effects of the drugs I'm pleased to publish below a "memoir" I wrote 25 years ago ...
Thin spirits erode winter light seeps cold and pale life has suffering
Reading Michal Siewniak's interesting article on public transport provision, I stopped to think more generally about public transport in this great country of ours. Specifically, I thought about the rail network. I use the train almost every weekday. As a resident in Greater Manchester who works in Cheshire - and doesn't drive - I rely on the trains to get me to and from work. I'm up early in the morning, and my departure from work is usually timed around when the next available train should be. I say should be, because we all know the situation as far as ...
Record 518,000 trolley waits of 12 hours or more last year – up 400-fold in less than a decade Rennie comments ahead of Glen Sannox first crossing Record 518,000 trolley waits of 12 hours or more last year – up 400-fold in less than a decade Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP has urged Wes Streeting to produce an emergency plan to tackle "shocking and dangerous" A&E wait times as the government "looks to be asleep at the wheel". Last year there were a record 518,000 waits of 12 hours or longer in A&E from a ...
I took in a movie at the weekend and, somewhat unusually, I was given reason to ponder about my liberalism and what I do to aid its cause. "Conclave" is a film based on a fictional selection of a new Pope and, whilst not wanting to give anything away, from the perspective of a Catholic Liberal Democrat Returning Officer, I was reminded of many of the dilemmas that I face in that role and in my wider "liberal bureaucracy". I am by no means an active Catholic. I feel vaguely guilty about that, but not so guilty as to do ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 13 JANUARY 2025 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 April 2025 for construction works. Douglas Street (Blinshall Street to Brown Street) - temporary traffic lights until April 2025 for construction works. Brown Street (south of Douglas Street) - closed until ...
Heather Stewart in the Observer suggests that the state of the UK's finances are so dire that despite the promises, Labour may have to either put up taxes again or initiate unwanted public spending cuts to meet the targets set out by Chancellor Rachel Reeeves in her budget. She says that last week's market moves, which drove 30-year gilt yields to their highest level since 1998, probably had more to do with the chaos to come in the US than Reeves's budget plans, but whatever the cause, if it is sustained, the jump in yields will push up the interest ...
