Embed from Getty Images On Sunday we had a visit from a relative in the garden at a two metre distance. On Monday they kindly returned and we hugged several times. The difference between the two days? A date ordained, probably wrongly, by the UK government related to private behaviour in our home (and garden). […]
Covid-19
India COVID disaster: Layla Moran calls for UK to begin donating vaccines through COVAX immediately
Embed from Getty Images The Liberal Democrats have written to the Prime Minister calling for the UK to begin donating vaccines through the COVAX programme immediately. The letter, co-signed by all the party’s MPs and spearheaded by Layla Moran, echoes calls the party made to join COVAX as part of a ‘parallel rollout’ back in […]
One year on from the first lockdown: still not out of the woods
Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a blog for Lib Dem Voice on the Government being behind the curve in introducing measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. Little did we know then what was coming then. By 21 March last year, there had already been more than 400 deaths from Covid in UK […]
Linking the Test and Trace scandal to local election campaigning
Conservatives despise local government. English local authorities have been starved of funds since the coalition government began, with a sharper downward curve since 2015. The one-size fits-all model of elected mayors has been imposed on successive ‘city regions’ – in the case of Yorkshire, against the settled preference of almost all the local authorities in the […]
NHS pay rise of a measly 1% is too little to reward the health heroes of our nation
We have stood on the streets and applauded our front line NHS staff. We have wondered at their resilience in the biggest health crisis of our lifetimes. We have sympathised with them when they have fallen ill and with their families when they have died. The reward health service workers will get for their efforts […]
Waiting for the all clear
It’s great news that our wonderful NHS staff and volunteers are storming forward with the UK’s vaccination programme. Still, I worry about people being lulled into a false sense of security once they have had their first and even second jab. Most of us will have had, or be getting, the AstraZeneca (Oxford) vaccine. It […]
The party’s latest advice for campaigners in the pandemic
Mike Dixon, the Chief Executive Officer of the Liberal Democrats, has recently written to activists about campaigning in the pandemic, as follows: In the last few days, anger has been growing about the Tories’ brazen attempt to skew the May elections and stop elected councillors and volunteers doing their jobs by safely delivering literature. Independent […]
Rabina Khan on BBC Newsnight on tackling vaccine disinformation in Tower Hamlets
Here’s a clip of Councillor Rabina Khan on BBC’s Newsnight discussing the steps we need to take to tackle vaccine disinformation. You can see Rabina and her husband going into their community, in a socially distanced way, to support local residents – addressing their concerns directly. Rabina Khan – Vaccine Disinformation from Liberal Democrats on […]
The Tragic loss of 100,000 lives to Covid
According to official figures, the UK became the first country in Europe to record (very unfortunately) 100,000 coronavirus-related deaths. Currently, the UK has the fifth-highest number of deaths globally, after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico (as a percentage of Covid deaths to population, the UK percentage is higher than that of the US). To […]
We need to talk about the Healthcare workforce – again
So what’s changed since my last piece for LDV on this ten months ago? – nothing and everything, in a phrase, it’s got much worse. Last March the fear of an unknown, rapidly spreading and possible deadly virus, the prospect of the NHS being overwhelmed; inadequate ventilators and ITU beds, terrifying pictures from Italy of […]