Tag Archives: alcoholism

10 September 2024 – today’s press releases

  • Winter Fuel vote: Cut will be deeply worrying to millions
  • 589 people die from suspected drug death in first half of 2024
  • Alcohol deaths highest in 15 years
  • Cole-Hamilton: Supporting 168,000 Long Covid sufferers is vital economic investment
  • Rennie responds to Michael Matheson’s return to parliament
  • Rennie responds to Children’s Commissioner free school meals comments

Winter Fuel vote: Cut will be deeply worrying to millions

Responding to the vote to cut the Winter Fuel Payment, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions Spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain MP said:

Millions of pensioners will be left deeply worried about how they will get by this winter with this cut to the Winter Fuel Payment. So many pensioners are already facing another winter of a cost of living crisis and this will make things worse.

The damage left by the Conservatives to our economy is unforgivable but cutting payments to vulnerable pensioners is no way to bring about the change the country deserves.

Liberal Democrat MPs proudly opposed the Government today and stood up for the many pensioners across the country who are now at risk of an even bigger winter cost of living crisis.

We’ll keep fighting this cut tooth and nail anyway we can, we’ll continue to be a constructive opposition to the new Government and we’re fighting for the real change people want to see.

589 people die from suspected drug death in first half of 2024

Responding to new figures published by the Scottish Government which show that 589 people died of a suspected drug death in the first six months of 2024, including 269 deaths between April and June, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

This is nothing short of a national tragedy; my thoughts today are with all those who have lost someone from a drug death.

Scotland’s drug deaths crisis is worse than anywhere else in Europe. Despite deaths more than doubling over the last decade, the SNP government have chosen to freeze the funding for drug and alcohol policy, amounting to a real-terms cut to the budget for critical services.

When this issue comes before parliament later this week, I want to see ministers committing to fresh measures to stop people dying. This includes rolling out a full nationwide network of drug testing and safer consumption facilities- centres that are proven to keep people safe, prevent fatal overdoses and open up new pathways for treatment and recovery.

My party also wants to see a much stronger frontline response to synthetic opioids- including nitazenes, which are 50 times more powerful than heroin- through enhanced information, detection and treatment.

Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , , , , and | Leave a comment

Book review: Charles Kennedy: A Tragic Flaw by Greg Hurst

I had a chance to read this recently updated book while on holiday in West Africa. It is a remarkably fine volume. Painstakingly researched and impeccably sourced, it offers a skillfully balanced portrait of a remarkable and inspiring man. As the title suggests, the author does not hold back on the human frailties of its subject but these are, nevertheless, presented as part of a rounded, fair and endearing commentary. I feel this book helps us to inch forward a little further in understanding the rather enigmatic Charles Kennedy, while deconstructing a few myths along the way.

I’ll pick out a few parts of the book which particularly caught my attention:

Posted in Books | Also tagged , , , , and | 8 Comments

Chris Rennard writes…The inspiration behind Alcoholics Anonymous

Last week I was asked to speak to a group of charity fundraisers in Geneva. You can see my speech below this article on YouTube.

I was asked to inspire them based on work that I had done with the Liberal Democrats as a senior manager between 1989 and 2009 to help spend resources more effectively, raise substantially more money from large donors and make the party more electorally successful.

Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Yeovil Yokel
    I agree with almost every word of this, although Vince Cable does contradict himself somewhat by describing Trump as being both a “smart politician” but dis...
  • Mike Peters
    “Scotland has a particular patriotism problem” Really? You don’t have to agree with Scottish independence to believe that the people of Scotland have as ...
  • Robert Brown
    Well said, Alan. Liberalism should be a broad and generous politics which embraces our national and other identities. I have always thought that our vision of B...
  • Peter Wrigley
    Thanks for al your comments, critical as well as supportive. I do believe inequality has to be reduced. I remember an article in the Observer years ago (ro...
  • Jenny Barnes
    The SC judgement would seem to be only on a fairly narrow point of law. It has always been possible under the GRA for single sex services and spaces to declar...