There were three big winners from the EU elections in the UK – The Brexit Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. Clarity of message won. The total and frankly criminal lack of leadership and direction from the Conservative and Labour parties has resulted in the worst showing for our main two parties in history.… Read More »
I wrote last week on this blog about the leadership of Barnsley council attempting to stifle scrutiny and accountability in the chamber of the council by altering standing orders. I explained that last year a councillor was elected in Penistone West (Cllr Hannah Kitching) which made the ruling group and opposition uncomfortable. For the first… Read More »
The local government association states that one of the key roles residents expect their councillors to fulfil is to “represent their views at council meetings”. So what do you do when you are the leader of a council with an overwhelming majority and a councillor has been elected who starts doing just this – asking… Read More »
Almost 3 years ago the UK held a referendum on their membership of the European Union. By a margin of 52% to 48% the UK voted to leave the EU. At that point our country split and all of a sudden instead of politics and society being a spectrum of opinion, it became a binary… Read More »
Last week I tweeted a video of an interchange between Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield and Prime Minister Theresa May near the end of Prime Minister’s Questions. You can view the interchange here. In it Mrs May parrots one of the oft parroted ‘statistics’ the government often quote when challenged about education spending about record… Read More »
Last year I wrote a post for my website promoting the concept of Universal Basic Income. This came after listening to ex-Green party leader Natalie Bennett talking about it as part of the Skeptics at the Pub programme in Barnsley. I’m currently reading a very interesting book Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman which makes… Read More »
Ten years ago today the MP ‘expenses scandal’ hit the headlines when the Daily Telegraph began publishing details of some of the bizarre (duck houses, moat clearing) and illegal (mortgage fraud) claims made by MPs on expenses. In the 10 years since this, our opinions of politicians and politics seems to have sunk to an… Read More »
I’ve had about 10 days now where I’ve been housebound and effectively bedroom bound. This has given much time for thought, though I have to admit the thought hasn’t been as focused as it could be nor organised nor particularly constructive and helpful …. work to do here then over the coming weeks! One thing… Read More »
Yesterday saw the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting and I’d like to wish any observers of Ramadan best wishes for the month to come. At this point there will be a certain type of person sighing and saying there goes another do-gooder liberal apologist for Islam. The point of this post… Read More »
There is an interesting piece in today’s Yorkshire Post from the Sheffield City Region mayor and Barnsley Central MP, Dan Jarvis (read the full piece online here), reflecting on what he has achieved at the first anniversary of his election to the role of South Yorkshire Mayor last May. The above is, for me, a… Read More »