Tag Archives: holidays

What have I learnt from my recent trip to Croatia?

It is important to switch off. It is important to take time out from our daily routines. It is also important to detach ourselves from news and leave our “social media life” behind. Holidays should be an important part of our lives.

This year, it was lovely to travel back to Croatia, my wife’s native country, where we had an opportunity to spend 2.5 weeks. It was an important time for our family, as my eldest daughter completed her 18th birthday while we were away. A huge milestone. For the first time in a very long time, I decided not to take any of my work/ Council laptops with me. I wanted to find a bit of “me” time and to look after myself, for a change. Did I manage? Not entirely as access to news and media is so easy today and some of the stuff couldn’t be simply ignored.

Speaking a few foreign languages, when you travel, makes a massive difference. The coffee tastes the same, however an opportunity for a proper “intercultural experience” is never the same. The topic of Brexit has still come up a lot. It is incredible that 8 years after the EU Referendum, people still ask about its consequences and reasons for leaving the EU, in particular in relation to the economy. It was very hard to read and watch the news about the riots. Many of our friends asked what has been the main cause of these community tensions. It is difficult to give a simple answer; blaming someone else for my problems, looking for a scapegoat or “visible targets” e.g. migrants, general misinformation, recent financial hardship, impact of social media. Our ethnic, demographic mosaic is complex and fast changing. How easy it is to jump into false (?) conclusions.

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A little Brexit quiz…

I am now back from my blissful trip to the Highlands. Yesterday morning I woke up to this amazing view. We had enjoyed a week of mostly sunshine and some really hot days. Nine hours after this photo was taken, we were heading home in temperatures struggling to reach double figures and driving rain.

While I was away, I went out canvassing with our top of the list in Scotland Euro candidate Sheila Ritchie in Inverness. It’s great to be welcomed on to doorsteps again. Our message that a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote to stop Brexit went down exceptionally well. Labour remainers were annoyed with their own party’s ambiguous stance on Brexit and were willing to lend us their votes for this election.

This is consistent with what others are finding across the country. Conservative remainers are exasperated with the failings of their party and are switching to us.

The prospect of another, imminent independence referendum is also making some SNP leaning voters think again about backing that party.

If there was ever an election worth throwing extra effort at, this is it. We can change the direction of our country and we should all be out there as often as we can over the next month.

Let’s get behind our brilliant candidates and make this a campaign to remember. If you haven’t been canvassing since the coalition years, get out there. You will notice a big difference.

Our prospects in the European elections will be improved by a good showing in the local elections on Thursday. We need to show that momentum so if you are in an area that doesn’t have elections, please go to somewhere that does or do some phone canvassing in the next few days or knocking up on polling day.

Getting lots more Lib Dem councillors is a good end in itself, but this year we have the added incentive of putting a stop to Brexit and establishing ourselves as the best option for remainers to vote for on May 23rd.

Let’s get to it.

But while you are having your breakfast, have a bit of fun with this Brexit quiz. We went to a pub quiz in Fortrose on Thursday night and were languishing in a pretty poor last place until the final round.  That round was one of these where you can get loads of bonus points if you can predict how many questions you will get right. And if you don’t meet your target, you end up losing half your score.

The subject was Brexit in people and numbers which was a bit more up my street than Michael Caine movies and tv crime dramas which had led to our last place predicament.

We stormed from last to fourth. It turns out we could have gambled more and come third.

How many of these questions would you get right? No cheating – you are not allowed to use the internet to help you.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Plymouth Rock

Take a moment to be thankful.

For your job, your friends, that you have food to eat and a place to sleep, for the air we breathe and the freedom we have. Be thankful.

The North American holiday of Thanksgiving was born of tragedy. The Mayflower, filled with settlers from England, docked in Plymouth, Massachusetts in December 1620. Of the 102 passengers and around 30 crew on board, only five women of eighteen survived the winter, and around half the men and crew.

The following spring, the Wampanoag, a …

Posted in LDVUSA and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 7 Comments

Holiday costs rise post-Brexit

 

Before the Referendum, Asda Money carried out a survey which showed that on average British families spend £1310 on their summer holidays, including spending money.

At the same time David Cameron was warning that a vote for Brexit could add £230 to that cost. He predicted that the pound could fall by 12%.  Predictably, Leave campaigners claimed he was scaremongering.

Both were wrong. The cost of a family holiday has increased since June by almost £300, as a result of the pound falling by 16% against the dollar and by 23% against the euro.

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The lessons we must learn for Nick Clegg’s next holiday

Nick Clegg’s two spells of holiday this Summer have been characterised by the Home Office in particular getting above itself in his absence. Both the party and Nick’s Special Advisers should have learned from the furore over the “Go home” poster vans. The Home Office pulled a fast one by implementing this pilot without telling the Liberal Democrats. The response from the Party was the right one – that they were “disproportionate, distasteful and ineffective” and Vince Cable saying a few days later that they were stupid and offensive. The problem was that the response came out by …

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