40 new hospitals: Shoddy attempt to bury bad news on day of Trump's inauguration Farm incomes in Wales fall by 34% – Liberal Democrats call for Government reset Trump inauguration shows importance of close ties with Europe 40 new hospitals: Shoddy attempt to bury bad news on day of Trump's inauguration Responding to the Health Secretary's announcement that there will be significant delays to the completion of the New Hospital Programme, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: This is a double betrayal. The Conservatives shamelessly made promises they never intended to keep to countless communities ...
Peterborough Cathedral has launched an emergency appeal to raise £300,000 by the end of March to avoid running out of money. It costs over £2m a year - almost £6,000 a day - to run. About 15 per cent of that, says the Guardian, comes from the Church of England , and the remainder must be raised by the cathedral through events, rent, grants and donations. Nothing comes from the government. The cathedral's dean. the Very Rev. Chris Dalliston, tells the newspaper: "There have been three or four years of erosion of our reserves. Post-Covid, visitor numbers were low and ...
News reaches us that Article 19.7 of the Federal Constitution has been triggered by the likelihood of a by-election in Runcorn & Helsby given that the sitting MP, Mike Amesbury is to be sentenced on 24 February having pleaded guilty to common assault on Thursday. If you're an approved Parliamentary candidate, and you're interested, time is very short, as applications must be received by 6 p.m. tomorrow evening (21 January). For more details, all relevant information can be found on the Cheshire West and Chester Local Party website.
The new Liberator - that's issue 427 - is out today. You can download it free of charge from the magazine's website. Among the articles this time is one on the evolving politics of Leicester by Alistair Jones. The city saw both the only Conservative gain of the 2024 general election and a shadow cabinet member lose to an Independent who campaigned on Gaza. On the other hand, there's also Lord Bonkers' Diary. We join him a couple of days before Christmas. Monday For the past fortnight, the larger part of the car park at the Bonkers' Arms has, without ...
In Downing Street, I was once lobbied to support a £200m per annum cut to beer duty, because it was "the best growth policy I could ask for". You see, that £200m would go into drinkers' pockets, generate some 50m more pints, and with each barman serving 50 pints a day, call it 10,000 a year, that's a 5000-job creation scheme right there. I forget the exact numbers. The lobbyist was convinced: if you are too, probably best not to read on. Here is an article about the cost of the Death Star instead. There are countless, variously questionable methods ...
Liberator 427 is out and can be downloaded for free here: In Liberator 427 we have Commentary, news in Radical Bulletin, Letters, Lord Bonkers' Diary and: NOW'S OUR CHANCE The age of Trump and Starmer needs a radical liberal response based on defending the NHS, rejoining the single market and developing an appeal to working class voters. Paul Hindley explains how to do this AFGHANISTAN : A COMPLICATED COUNTRY Keith House and Tonia Craig travelled to one of the world's least visited countries as tourists in December to see Taliban control in practice UNSAFE AS HOUSES Crises over homelessness and ...
The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts saw Paula Surridge return to the show, talking about the impact of political values and of perceived competence on recent general elections. We got into some surprising similarities between Tony Blair and Nigel Farage, as well as ways in which Boris Johnson and Gordon Brown were the same. Take a listen to find out how on earth we ended up there: Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it. Show notes "Values in the Valence Election: Fragmentation and the 2024 General Election" by ...
A popular app enjoyed by 170 million or more Americans went 'dark' on Sunday after the Chinese-owned TikTok was banned in the USA as a perceived threat to national security. I am not a user. My interest is as a 'China-watcher' worried about the deteriorating relationship between the world's two superpowers. I was however surprised to see that there was no outburst of rejoicing from the legion of China 'hawks' that this evil weapon of the genocidal Communists had been so effectively shot down (and shut down). Indeed, the originator of the ban (President-elect Trump) and its dutiful implementor (President ...
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award.
Before I move onto this week's report, I should take this opportunity to congratulate the new intake of Liberal Democrat peers, Shaffaq Mohammed and our former editorial team colleague here at Liberal Democrat Voice, Mark Pack. Mark will be introduced to the Lords on 13 February, although the Parliamentary calendar doesn't indicate a date for Shaffaq yet. Oh, and, Mark, do you fancy taking on this column? I should also say a few words about Jenny Randerson, who is sadly missed. I had the pleasure of working alongside her in the Party's international work, and she was an astute observer ...
The past week has seen a series of Liberal Democrat interventions, boldly calling for stronger links between the United Kingdom and Europe. Ed Davey reads every word I write, apparently... But seriously, it's nice to see our Party making the weather on Europe, and interesting to see the media response. And it's not that there's any sense of desperation – we are, after all, the largest third party in Parliament for a century or so – but the approach is consistent with our core beliefs over decades. In the absence of a credible centre-right political force in this country (and ...
The Guardian reports on a new report which concludes that the Welsh government is failing to halt the "alarming" decline in nature, putting iconic species at risk. The paper says that Labour ministers have been accused of overseeing "delays, undelivered commitments and missed deadlines" by the Senedd's cross-party climate change, environment and infrastructure committee, with one in six Welsh species threatened with extinction: The Welsh parliament committee called on the government to publish firm proposals for how it intended to save nature, saying it currently lacked "a plan, action and investment". Conservation organisations who gave evidence to an inquiry set ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 20 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 ...
