Why the Lib Dem Defence Bonds plan is a bad ideaThe recent (and long overdue) release of the UK's Defence Investment Plan (DIP) has only intensified the long-running debate about how to fund an increase in the UK Defence Budget, a debate that has already cost the Labour Government two Ministers. Cursory examination of the Government's plans soon revealed that rather than being "fully funded", the plan actually requires a further £4.7bn of cuts to other departments and £10.7bn of "efficiency savings" in the next 4 years, neither of which have yet been identified. It also fails to provide any budget for 2030 onwards, with that can kicked down the ... (more) |
Centenary of Emily Hobhouse's death marked in CornwallEmbed from Getty ImagesThis is a letter published by the Cornish Times: On June 13, a special gathering was held at The Story of Emily to mark the centenary of the death of Emily Hobhouse, the British humanitarian and peace campaigner whose work exposed the suffering of women and children in the concentration camps of the South African War. It was a privilege to attend this commemorative event and to join others in remembering one of Cornwall's most remarkable daughters. Born in the hamlet of St Ive, near Liskeard, Emily Hobhouse dedicated her life to humanitarian causes and the pursuit ... (more) |
Reg Calvert, Oliver Smedley, Hayek and the nature of libertyWhen Oliver Smedley shot Reg Calvert, more was at stake than a row over a radio transmitter. According to a 2011 blog post by Adam Curtis- thanks to a reader for putting me on to it - theirs was a dispute about the very nature of liberty: A historian called Adrian Johns has written a brilliant book about Pirate Radio in the 1960s, called Death of a Pirate. In it he argues that Reg Calvert and Oliver Smedley represent two completely different kinds of "privateer". Reg Calvert was part of an old, unruly tradition of true independence and libertarian freedom. ... (more) |
What would it take for Capita to be banned from government contracts?The latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, is out and you can also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: Welcome to my latest update on work in the House of Lords, this time looking at the government's continuing willingness to award business to Capita. Capita and the case for exclusion Capita missed the promised end of June deadline for sorting out problems with the civil service pension scheme, a crisis that I've ... (more) |
Calling out the anti-asylum seeker nonsenseNation Cymru reports that a Plaid Cymru Senedd Member has called out the "bullshit" and misinformation being spread about the Welsh Government's Nation of Sanctuary policy ahead of a Reform-led debate. The news site says that in a video posted on TikTok by Kiera Marshall she said it was "time to call bullshit" on disinformation and myths circulating about asylum seekers and refugees living in Wales: The MS listed a number claims made about people seeking sanctuary which she said were false. Speaking in her social video, Ms Marshall explained that refugees and asylum seekers do not get priority access ... (more) |
An esoteric walk around Aleister Crowley's LondonLord Bonkers had no time for him, but Aleister Crowley has been crossing my path of late. So here's an esoteric walk across his London with John Rogers and Marco Visconti: This walking tour weaves a web of mystery and magick through a portion of central London forever haunted by the man known as The Great Beast. Starting at Cleopatra's Needle on the Embankment we head up to Charing Cross, St Martin's Lane to Watkins Bookshop in Cecil Court which has been on the site for over 120 years. We then follow the magic thread to Henrietta Street in Covent ... (more) |
Tears and celebrations as river 'wiggle' restoredThe judges have torn themselves away from England's World Cup game, and our Headline of the Day Award goes to BBC News. The headline stands above an encouraging story from Shropshire: An 18-month-long project to "re-wiggle" a river after more than a century has been successfully completed prompting "tears and celebrations". A section of the River Kemp, in south Shropshire, had been straightened by landowners in the 1800s, disconnecting it from its natural floodplain and reducing biodiversity. Now water is flowing in the meander again, after it was restored in a project led by Severn Rivers Trust and involved local ... (more) |
Vince Cable writes: Manchesterism and LocalismAndy Burnham's launch speech in Manchester raised hopes of a sustained plan to devolve power away from Whitehall. If the reality matches the rhetoric, that will be a massive achievement and will greatly improve our system of governance. But any Liberal Democrat who has been battling for decades for genuine local, community-based decision making and against the infantilisation of local government is entitled to some scepticism. My own formative experience is somewhat different: serving in the Coalition Cabinet which first launched the idea of devolving powers to elected mayors for city-regions broadly on the London model (prompted by a report ... (more) |
The Burnham Devolution.It is encouraging that Andy Burnham seems as enthusiastic about devolution now that he is likely to take over power at the centre as he was when he was just a regional mayor. Such consistency is to be admired. However, desirable as devolution is in our over-centralised state, it should not be confused with democracy. Devolution of powers from a central despot to a collection of local ones is an improvement, but will not necessarily be sensitive to the needs of the people allegedly represented, and very unlikely to engage them (us) in its administration. In my life- time local ... (more) |
William Wallace writes: What do Liberal Democrats have to offer the "left behind"?Regional redistribution from the wealthy South-East to Britain's poorer cities, towns and villages is a sensitive issue for Liberal Democrats. When Britain left the EU and English regions and the devolved nations lost their share of EU regional funding (part of the balancing gains to the UK that the Leave campaign successfully ignored) the imbalance of investment and funding between the wealthy south-east and the rest of the UK tipped further. Boris Johnson breezily promised to 'level up' the country, raising expectations that were shattered when he failed to follow through. Andy Burnham may be more serious about reviving our ... (more) |