Tayside Mental Health and Wellbeing websiteThe Tayside Mental Health and Wellbeing website aims to provide high-quality mental health and wellbeing services advice within GP Practices across Dundee. The key objectives include: + Accessible Support: Ensuring individuals can access the right support for their mental health and wellbeing when needed. + Multi-Disciplinary Approach: Offering a team-based approach that includes general practitioners, link workers, mental health nurses, support workers, welfare advisors, and volunteers. + Community Collaboration: Working alongside community partners, third sector, and specialist services to provide comprehensive care. + Guidance and Resources: Providing referral guidance and digital options for those seeking support for themselves or loved ... (more) |
Labour Minister under investigationThe Guardian reports that the solicitors' regulator has reopened an investigation into the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, over accusations he misrepresented his legal career. The paper says that the Solicitors Regulation Authority said on Friday it would look into allegations that Reynolds had incorrectly claimed to have worked as a solicitor even though he did not finish his legal training: The confirmation comes after the website Guido Fawkes revealed Reynolds had not qualified, despite his LinkedIn profile listing one of his previous jobs as "solicitor". The SRA wrote to Reynolds in January after becoming aware of the error on his ... (more) |
The Making of Gone to Earth 3With the world becoming a scarier place, it's time to return to the Shropshire hills and some more behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Gone to Earth. This is the Powell and Pressburger film adapted from the novel by Mary Webb. This video starts with Cyril Cusack baptising Jennifer Jones at Lords Hill Chapel, which stands above the lead-mining village of Snailbeach on the Stiperstones. Later there are shots of David Farrar on his horse, Jones chatting to local children who are extras in the film, and of a horse race. When this appears in the film, Ludlow Castle is ... (more) |
ALDC By-election Report, 20th FebruaryThere are 6 principal councils by-elections this week held across England and Scotland. Labour suffered big losses vote share wise but managed to hold 3 out of 4 of their seats, losing one to the SNP. Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Lib Dems also comfortably held their seats in their respective wards. In Brent LBC, Cllr Charlie Clinton comfortably held the seat in the Alperton ward while second place Labour's vote collapsed. Congratulations to Cllr Charlie and the team for the win and securing our place on the council! Brent LBC, Alperton Liberal Democrat (Charlie Clinton): 1743 (48.5%, +2.0%) Labour: 827 ... (more) |
Why did Labour lose two of the three seats in Leicester in the middle of a landslide?Leicester was an exception at last year's general election. Labour lost two of the city's three seats - one to the Conservatives and one to an Independent. Alistair Jones. associate professor in politics at De Montfort University, looks at those results and at Leicester politics in general in the current issue of Liberator: All three Leicester parliamentary constituencies have been treated akin to personal fiefdoms by previous Labour MPs, going back to the 1980s and 1990s. Consequently, the central and regional party had held little sway. In 2023 and 2024, the central Labour Party decided to reassert its authority, regardless ... (more) |
Latest voting intention and leadership ratings opinion pollsWelcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Techne 22% (nc) 25% (-1) 12% (nc) 7% (-1) 26% (+1) -1% (vs Ref.) 19-20/2 GB Find Out Now 20% (-1) 24% (+1) 12% ... (more) |
Biohacking Team withdraws from XPRIZE Healthspan - Team continues to work to improve people's healthThe Biohacking Team has withdrawn from XPRIZE Healthspan. We think the prize is a really good idea and the science behind the judging is really good. However, we are not willing to sign the competitors agreement. XPRIZE have asked that the competitors agreement be kept confidential and hence we should not give our reasons as to why we will not sign the competitors agreement. Signing the (more) |
Ten years on - it's time for changeTen years ago I wrote in Lib Dem Voice about the need for a governance review of the English Party. I urged consideration of what functions of the State party could be better delivered at a Federal level, recognising money and time are always in short supply (not much changes there then!). In that article I highlighted the Westminster candidate approval process as a function that should be coordinated Federally, with key State and Regional volunteers therefore benefiting from a more efficient, joined-up structure. More broadly I pointed out; "The current situation is a mess. Most members think they belong ... (more) |
Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour find a new inspiration: Elon MuskEmbed from Getty ImagesThis morning Elon Musk's attack on Volodymyr Zelensky was in the news. Here's the Independent: Elon Musk has accused Volodymyr Zelensky of "feeding off the dead bodies of Ukrainian soldiers" as the Trump administration continues ferociously lashing out at the Ukrainian president. The Tesla owner wrote on his X site, without evidence, that Zelensky is "despised by the people of Ukraine" in a post that refuted Kyiv's claims that the president has a 57 per cent approval rating. Earlier this week Trump had claimed that the Ukraine leader had an approval rating of '4 per cent'. "If ... (more) |
How do we defend liberalism from this attack?Liberal democracy is not the default setting for forms of government. Autocracy, or dictatorships, are. Liberal democracies, and the open and liberal societies on which they rest, have to be constructed through political struggle and persuasion, and defended once established through similarly vigorous activity. We can all now see how direct and determined current attacks on liberalism are: well-funded, by a cross-national coalition of hard-right parties actively supported by the Trump Administration in the USA. This week they gathered in London for the second conference of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, jointly funded by Paul Marshall (majority owner of GB ... (more) |