Tag Archives: larry the cat

Mathew on Monday – ‘Patriotism’ should build communities- not police them

The government has today announced plans for a “patriotic renewal” of Britain’s communities. Ministers say the policy is about strengthening social cohesion and promoting the “shared values” that unite us as a nation.

Fine words, for sure. But what exactly does it mean in practice? Because when politicians start talking about patriotism in this context, it can sometimes feel worryingly close to the language of the populist Right. Too often “patriotic renewal” becomes shorthand for cultural suspicion – a politics that encourages people to look sideways at their neighbours and ask whether they quite belong.

That isn’t renewal. It’s division.

If the government truly wants to renew our communities, the starting point should be far more practical-and far less rhetorical. For over a decade before the last election, Britain experienced the hollowing-out of local life. Libraries closed. Youth clubs disappeared (something I have consistently rallied against, in speeches at Lib Dem Conferences, meetings at Parliament, and so on). SureStart centres were stripped away. Community centres were sold off. High streets declined. The public spaces where people naturally come together were slowly dismantled.

That is where the real damage to community happened. Because communities are not built by speeches about national identity. They are built in the everyday spaces where people meet one another as neighbours and citizens. The library where children discover books and older residents escape loneliness. The youth club where teenagers find friendship, guidance, and opportunity. The SureStart centre where struggling parents receive the support that helps families to thrive.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments

Mathew on Monday: Why are we sitting on the fence on America’s strikes on Iran?

Sometimes our party or, at least, its leadership, leaves me with my head in my hands. This past weekend and, indeed, today is one such occasion.

On Wednesday at Prime Minister’s Questions, or deputy PMQs as it was as Starmer was at the G7 in Canada, our own deputy leader Daisy Cooper reminded the House of Commons of the Lib Dems brave and right leadership of the opposition to the Iraq War back in 2003 and warned against the UK once again backing another United States misadventure in the Middle East.

Well all I can ask is: what happened between Wednesday and Sunday? Did we think the UK should oppose action against Iran when it was only a theoretical idea? Has Ed overruled Daisy? Or have our leadership as a collective had a case of the jitters and (as always, some might argue) are they running scared of Tory voters in the shires?

The statement our leader put out yesterday managed to basically use up quite a number of words to absolutely nothing at all.

Do we support the action? No answer.

Do we oppose it? No answer.

We are sitting on the fence, yet again, when we could be, in the spirit of Charles Kennedy, leading the opposition to a President of the United States who is chaotic, unhinged, and who is riding roughshod over Congress and the usual way things are conducted.

A convicted felon who cares not one jot about checks, balances, and due process, who cares only about himself and his agenda. He apparently doesn’t even care about his own MAGA base to whom, pre election, he made very clear his opposition to American military participation in other people’s wars and who stridently made clear that, in his view, America should not act as the world’s policeman.

Then again, Trump is using the American military against U.S. citizens using their first amendment right to protest his disgraceful stances on immigration including ‘deporting’ U.S. citizens (which is rightly being challenged in the courts).

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 11 Comments

LibLink: Jonathan Calder – Larry the cat is no true blue

Over on the Guardian’s Comment is Free site, Liberal Democrat blogger-in-chief, Jonathan Calder, turns his attention to one of this week’s most important political stories: the arrival of Larry, Downing Street’s newest resident (who also happens to be a cat). It was, of course, Downing Street’s rodent problem (no, actual rats, thank you Harriet) that necessitated Larry’s presence, and Jonathan even has time for a brief history of Westminster’s rodential (yes, that really is a word) residents, as well as its feline ones.

Here’s an extract:

You could argue that his arrival marks a much-needed victory for Nick Clegg. True, Larry is

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