Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. For the record: my statement has no bearing on my opinion regarding trans issues. I've generally kept my counsel and plan on keeping it that way. I do absolutely despise tRump and everything he stands for.
Westminster parliament is set to debate the petition 'Immediately revoke all licences for arms sales to Israel' on the 16th of next month. I hope they remember the old maxim 'actions speak louder than words' - on Thursday, the UK was one of the 170 nations who voted in favour of the United Nations' "The Right of the Palestinian People to Self-Determination". I know a month is a long time in politics, but... please log in to view this image
Just what has the past decade done to the country? I have driven there, been to the shopping centre, and it seems prosperous enough. It came as a shock when I read this. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr9er220vdo
It's not just food, it's hygiene too - teachers having to do the kids' laundry. The Tories have a lot to answer for in England - and Labour don't seem to be any better. https://news.sky.com/story/teachers...niforms-amid-hygiene-poverty-worries-13254639
Petition calling for a General Election - over a million signatures so far. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700143?
please log in to view this image These are the electronic addresses of some people signing the petition above. Looks like Musk's army of bots is at work.
You voted 649 times BB? I just posted this on the Bristol forum as one or two are getting quite excited. It is all rather pointless. Debates on petitions are normally held in Westminster Hall, not the Chamber. See today when they are discussing school holidays during term time. Petitions are discussed as the law states they should be, but most of them finish without a vote, as there is no chance of the government of the day losing.
Just the once - but if I could have voted that many times I probably would have. I know it's unlikely the gov't would lose - but I view these petitions as a warning shot for politicians, just in the hope that they tone down their excesses. There must surely be one or two with a conscience who might stop and think about what they're doing.
I agree that there are things happening that could have been done differently. If the winter fuel payment had a cut-off point of say £20k or £25k, I doubt it would have created the same reaction. I lost mine under the last lot, and they give me a pension rise, then tax it. Petitions are becoming far too easily corrupted with information like this being put out on social media. With this floating around, it becomes easy to dismiss what might be something worth a proper debate. please log in to view this image
I fortunately do not need the Winter Fuel Payment BUT when PM May suggested that the payment should be means tested so it only went to those who needed it Starmer stood up in Parliament and raged she would be responsible for the deaths of thousand of helpless pensioners, that aged well
A well argued case from Russ. https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/...campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true
Rosie Duffield’s rather scathing letter of resignation letter from the Labour Party. She’s just saying what any decent person is thinking. Dear Sir Keir, Usually letters like this begin, "It is with a heavy heart..." Mine has been increasingly heavy and conflicted and has longed for a degree of relief. I can no longer stay a Labour MP under your management of the party, and this letter is my notice that I wish to resign the Labour Party whip with immediate effect. Although many "last straws" have led to my decision, my reason for leaving now is the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to, however unpopular they are with the electorate and your own MPs. You repeat often that you will make the "tough decisions" and that the country is "all in this together". But those decisions do not directly affect any one of us in Parliament. They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents. This is not what I was elected to do. It is not even wise politics, and it certainly is not "the politics of service". I did not vote for you to lead our party for reasons I won't describe in detail here. But, as someone elevated immediately to a shadow cabinet position without following the usual path of honing your political skills on the backbenches, you had very little previous political footprint. It was therefore unclear what your political passions, drive or direction might be as the leader of the Labour Party, a large movement of people united by a desire for social justice and support for those most in need. You also made the choice not to speak up once about the Labour Party's problems with antisemitism during your time in the shadow cabinet, leaving that to backbenchers, including new MPs such as me. Since you took office as Leader of the Opposition you have used various heavy-handed management tactics but have never shown what most experienced backbenchers would recognise as true or inspiring leadership. You have never regularly engaged with your own backbench MPs, many of whom have been in Parliament far longer than you, and some of whom served in the previous Labour government. You have chosen neither to seek our individual political opinions, nor learn about our constituency experiences, nor our specific or collective areas of political knowledge. We clearly have nothing you deem to be of value. Your promotion of those with no proven political skills and no previous parliamentary experience but who happen to be related to those close to you, or even each other, is frankly embarrassing. In particular, the recent treatment of Diane Abbott, now Mother of the House, was deeply shameful and led to comments from voters across the political spectrum. A woman of her political stature and place in history is deserving of respect and support, regardless of political differences. As Prime Minister, your managerial and technocratic approach, and lack of basic politics and political instincts, have come crashing down on us as a party after we worked so hard, promised so much, and waited a long fourteen years to be mandated by the British public to return to power. Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous. I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear. How dare you take our longed-for victory, the electorate's sacred and precious trust, and throw it back in their individual faces and the faces of dedicated and hardworking Labour MPs?! The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party. Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives' two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp - this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour Prime Minister. Forcing a vote to make many older people iller and colder while you and your favourite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events most people would have to save hard for - why are you not showing even the slightest bit of embarrassment or remorse? I now have no confidence in your commitment to deliver the so-called "change" you promised during the General Election campaign and the changes we have been striving for as a political party for over a decade. My values are those of a democratic socialist Labour Party and I have been elected three times to act on those values on behalf of my constituents. Canterbury made history when its voters elected their first woman, and only non-Conservative, MP since the seat was created in the thirteenth century. My constituents elected an independent-minded MP who vowed to put constituency before party, and to keep tackling the issues that most affect us here - Brexit fallout, funding for our universities, our desperately struggling East Kent NHS, dire housing situation, repeated sewage pollution and protecting our vital green spaces. I am confident that I can continue to do so as an independent MP guided by my core Labour values. Sadly, the Labour Party has never shown any interest in my wonderful constituency in the seven years that I have been in Parliament. But I am proud of my community and will continue to serve them to the best of my ability. My constituents care deeply about social issues such as child poverty and helping those who cannot help themselves. I will continue to uphold those values as I pledged to do when I first stood before them for election in 2017. As someone who joined a trade union in my first job, at seventeen, Labour has always been my natural political home. I was elected as a single mum, a former teaching assistant in receipt of tax credits. The Labour Party was formed to speak for those of us without a voice, and I stood for election partly because I saw decisions about the lives of those like me being made in Westminster by only the most privileged few. Right now, I cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them that anything has changed. I hope to be able to return to the party in the future, when it again resembles the party I love, putting the needs of the many before the greed of the few. Yours sincerely, Rosie Duffield MP
An article worth a few moments of your time. https://northeastbylines.co.uk/news...-nation-of-misinformation-and-disinformation/
