The Joy of Six 1447Keir Starmer's digital ID project is a techno-authoritarian's wet dream, argues Carole Cadwalladr: "This is a policy that wasn't in the Labour Party's manifesto, that no party faithful campaigned for and that no voters were told about on the doorstep. Instead, after some brief ground softening by pet journalists in friendly newspapers, it appeared out of almost nowhere in late September." David Nowell Smith shows that accusations of "left-wing bias" against the BBC have a long history and arose from newspapers' fear of competition: "The first coordinated newspaper campaign against the 'Reds' at the BBC was initiated by the Daily ... (more) |
Moving onThese days we Liberal Democrats often divide ourselves, broadly and crudely, into "economic liberals" and "social liberals". Economic liberals tend to start from the market, prioritising entrepreneurship, low taxes and preventing state interference. Social liberals tend to start from human rights and social justice, usually assuming a greater level of taxation and regulation, and thus of state activity, than economic liberals. But there is a substantial overlap in belief, and the crude characterisation of the last two sentences by no means describes all liberals. The labels are as traditional as the idea, and I suspect have ceased to be useful ... (more) |
Argent: Hold Your Head UpI loved this when it came out as a single in 1972. Almost 40 years later, I saw The Zombies play Market Harborough and Rod Argent shaking hands with the front row of the audience after playing this keyboard solo. (more) |
West End street surgery tonight #dundeewestendWe are holding a Thursday street surgery tonight to speak with residents on any local issues or concerns they may have. Should you have an issue you wish to discuss with us, e-mail us at westend@dundeelibdems.org.uk or call Dundee 459378 and we will be pleased to meet you - many thanks. (more) |
How UK aid cuts have consequences for our securityThe Independent has an important opinion piece on the consequences of the UK cutting international aid and its impact on our soft power abroad. The article points out that major reductions in development funding from the US, Germany, France, and the UK mark the biggest contraction in aid spending in decades, adding that by some projections, aid spending by the top donors in the world will decline by $67 billion (£50bn) from 2023 to 2026, a drop of almost a third: This is driven primarily by Donald Trump's administration shuttering the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and cancelling ... (more) |
Beating the flu bugLast night we had the Gateshead West Lib Dem dinner at the Soho Tavern in Kibblesworth. Throughout the day I received a steady stream of messages from people apologising for not being able to make it to the dinner. The culprit was the flu bug that is circulating at the moment. Nevertheless, some of us made it to the restaurant. An excellent meal. (more) |
Three new Lib Dem Peers announced - and two more get to stayThree new Lib Dem peers have been announced today. Party Chief Exec Mike Dixon, Ed Davey's Chief of Staff Rhiannon Leaman and former MP and winner of an epic by-election in Brent East Sarah Teather will be joining our Group in the House of Lords in the very near future. Sarah was also Children's Minister during the first couple of years of the Coalition Government. In addition, two of our hereditary peers, who would otherwise have been kicked out, get to stay. Dominic Addington and John Russell, have also been granted life peerages so they can continue their important contributions ... (more) |
Taliban warn Afghans who wore 'un-Islamic' Peaky Blinders outfitsEmbed from Getty ImagesOnce again, BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award. (more) |
Federal Conference Committee reportThe newly elected Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met on the evening 8 December, following the most recent round of Federal Elections. I would like to begin by offering warm congratulations to all newly elected and re-elected members of the Committee. I look forward to working with you over the coming years. I also extend commiserations to those who were not not successful on this occasion, and a heartfelt thank you to members who were not re-elected or who chose to stand down. Their contribution to delivering our conferences over the last term has been exceptional. The new FCC members are: ... (more) |
Those Labour MPs who voted for (and against) the Lib Dem customs union bill in fullEmbed from Getty ImagesLabour List has helpfully printed the names of the 13 Labour MPs who voted for the Liberal Democrat customs union bill yesterday and the 3 who voted against. For the bill Sadik Al-Hassan (North Somerset)Fleur Anderson (Putney)Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower)Richard Burgon (Leeds East)Dawn Butler (Brent East)Marsha de Cordova (Battersea)Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch)Imran Hussain (Bradford East)Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme)Peter Lamb (Crawley)James Naish (Rushcliffe)Simon Opher (Stroud)Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill) Against the Bill Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool)Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) It's interesting that there are some old lags of the left on ... (more) |