You have to hand it to Ed Davey. The poor man has had Covid since Monday but he hasn’t let it stop him contributing to and celebrating our historic by-election victory in North Shropshire.
He might have been stuck indoors but he maraphoned like a trooper.
Perhaps the only benefit of his self isolation is that he is unlikely now to get a Council Tax Bill from Shropsire Council given how much time he has spent there in the past month.
Covid is not much fun, even when you are fully vaccinated and boostered as Ed is, but he has stepped up to …
The news this week that for the third year in a row there are huge problems with financial control at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission raises questions not only about the future of its senior management but also about the paucity of political debate over its future.
There have only been three sets of annual accounts since the EHRC was formed – and each time the National Audit Office has refused to approve them so deep are the problems with the EHRC’s financial (non-)control.
It’s a perfect record: three sets of accounts, three sets of problems:
Last week, Lib Dem Voice commented on Lib Dem candidate Elwyn Watkins’ election petition against Oldham East and Saddleworth’s Labour MP, Phil Woolas. Watkins, who lost to Woolas by just 103 votes, believes that false claims were made in the leaflets, including allegations that he was trying to woo Muslim extremists, and claims about the financing of his campaign by a wealthy Saudi businessman.
Now the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has entered the row about the literature published on behalf of Woolas during the general election campaign. Former Labour politician Trevor Phillips described some of the language used in the party’s leaflets here as ‘not helpful’.
‘You’ll be found dead on the streets.’ That was the message I received a few weeks ago from an identifiable BNP supporter. Why? Because I was taking a stand against Nick Griffin. When someone writes this to you because you’re fighting as a Lib Dem in a parliamentary campaign against Griffin and the BNP, it makes you think very hard about your political opponent and the campaign they intend to fight. It also makes you think about how you should respond.
I reported the threat immediately to the police. They came to my house and have since referred the matter to …
Welcome to the Sunday outing for The Voice’s near-daily Daily View series. As it’s a Sunday, today it comes with a special Twitter sing-along. Oh yes.
2 Big Stories
Let’s skip past the latest round of “No really, this time we mean it, we’re going to do something really very soon, honest guv” talk of Labour MPs plotting to oust Gordon Brown (see most previous Sundays for the last 18 months) and move on to, er…, a story of a beleaguered leader surrounded by resignations but promising to stay on.
Equality chief urged to quit post
Equalities and Human Rights Commission head Trevor Phillips is facing calls to step down after a fourth resignation over his leadership in eight days.
Ben Summerskill of gay rights group Stonewall is the latest commissioner to go. He said Mr Phillips was damaging the cause of equality by staying on.
Auditors have criticised the commission for spending almost £1m on re-employing staff after giving them redundancy.
Mr Phillips will not be resigning, the commission said. (BBC)
Kurdistan goes to the polls
About 2.5 million eligible voters in the Kurdish region’s three northern provinces of Irbil, Dahuk, and Sulaimaniya will elect their 111-seat parliament and next president…
Since 2005, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has maintained a secure region that has been largely free of the violence seen in other parts of Iraq. But a lack of government transparency, corruption, difficulty in delivering basic services, and political rivalries continue to plague the KRG. (CNN)
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
Neil Fawcett doesn’t beat about the bush in his view of what some people are saying about the Norwich North by-election: Bloggers talk balls about by-elections.
Meanwhile, outside politics the Tour de France nears its end, getting far less media coverage than the stunning performances of British cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish (only in his second Tour and already the winner of more stages than any other British cyclist has won in their career) deserve. So here’s Stephen’s Linlithgow Journal on Saturday’s crucial stage.
Michael BG Simon R,
My point was that as rich people ignore their social responsibility there should be no surprise that those who feel excluded from the economic benef...
Mary Reid @Simon R. I think you will find it a fascinating read. The authors set up The Equality Trust https://equalitytrust.org.uk/ - which explores the ideas further....
Simon R @Mary: Thanks for the link to The Spirit Level. That looks an interesting read, which I have now just added to my Amazon wishlist :-) I do though tend t...
Simon R I totally agree with Alan's article. There's nothing inconsistent with being liberal and being patriotic, and liberals should feel able to be proud of their cou...
Hywel I came looking here as I'd not seen the party's response reported anywhere. I'm not sure it was worth the Mbps I used up to get it as it is so vague and could ...
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Raven (1977) - by the writers of Children of the Stones
Learning from the Zen masters
West End street surgeries tonight #dundeewestend
Will Trump's free speech demands endanger British children?
Michael BG 
Mary Reid 
Simon R 
Hywel 