As part of the my Interview series for
@insidecroydon.bsky.social I'm speaking to candidates to be Croydon's Executive Mayor
For my second interview, the Lib Dems' Richard Howard gives his view on restructuring council management & what he learned as an Army Major
insidecroydon.com/2026/03/12/l...
And you can listen to the first interview - with Labour's candidate Rowenna Davis - here:
bsky.app/profile/fish...
As part of the my Interview series for
@insidecroydon.bsky.social I'm speaking to candidates to be Croydon's Executive Mayor
For my second interview, the Lib Dems' Richard Howard gives his view on restructuring council management & what he learned as an Army Major
insidecroydon.com/2026/03/12/l...
labour market flexibility for thee, generous employment rights and severance packages for me
This was a really brave speech by @charlotte2153.bsky.social on the Courts & Tribunals Bill
And really glad someone said this, and so powerfully:
“experiences like mine feel like they’ve been weaponised and are being used for rhetorical misdirection”
Curtailing jury trials is not the answer.
Opinion | 'Dog licensing could end up taxing Britain’s 13 million dog owners'
🖋️ Andrew Fisher
Read more: trib.al/OjG4oEb
If Mandelson was still ambassador to the US he'd be working round the clock to drag us into this insane war. As well as being corrupt and nonce-adjacent he was also extremely politically dangerous and wrong
I mean she literally spells it out in the link.
Big news from Unite union which has voted to cut its Labour affiliation by 40% (£580k a year)
Sharon Graham not mincing her words
"Unite members are coming to the end of the line as far Labour is concerned… whose side are Labour on, who do they really represent, because it certainly isn’t workers"
The Greens should not imitate anyone - let alone a set of policies that will be 12 years old at the time of the next election.
Manifestos don't affect me in that way.
Polling yes. That is not focus grouping.
Focus groups can have their uses, but the purpose of the polling was to know how policies landed with different demographics. You can't get that reliably from focus groups.
It really isn't. It's a socialist wanting the Greens (who are doing great - as a I say in the piece) to sharpen up ahead of the next election.
And I don't advocate focus grouping (though they can have their use), but hey if it makes you feel better ...
Very bad news for Labour ahead of national and local elections in May (already hit by plummeting membership revenues)
But entirely self-inflicted. The Birmingham bin dispute could have been resolved months ago.
Full comment from @unitetheunion.bsky.social at: www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/...
Big news from Unite union which has voted to cut its Labour affiliation by 40% (£580k a year)
Sharon Graham not mincing her words
"Unite members are coming to the end of the line as far Labour is concerned… whose side are Labour on, who do they really represent, because it certainly isn’t workers"
The Employment Rights Act? No it wasn't because employment law isn't devolved.
Coming soon to a podcast platform near you... @fisherandrew79.bsky.social with his latest interview.
Exclusive content for subscribers, sign up here to support real journalism from the heart of Croydon: www.patreon.com/c/insidecroy... #Croydon #LocalElections2026 @eddavey.libdems.org.uk
With the Greens flying in the polls and Polanski in the ascendant, he has an opportunity to "scrape the barnacles off the boat" ...
My new column for @theipaper.com on the Greens' policy problem
inews.co.uk/opinion/star...
You can opt out of paying into the affiliated fund, without leaving the union.
Not liking Labour is not a reason to leave yourself without representation at work
With the Greens flying in the polls and Polanski in the ascendant, he has an opportunity to "scrape the barnacles off the boat" ...
My new column for @theipaper.com on the Greens' policy problem
inews.co.uk/opinion/star...
Well you'd hope not ... he is the Liz Truss of football management
Looks like 10 Labour rebels on the Courts and Tribunal Bill, with nearly 100 abstentions...
10 rebels were: Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Kim Johnson, Ian Lavery, John McDonnell, Bell Ribiero-Addy, Jon Trickett, Nadia Whittome
"David Lammy received deserved praise for his landmark review into the criminal justice system... jury trials were found to be one of the few parts of the system consistently free from racial bias"
@kimjohnsonmp.bsky.social on the importance of defending jury trials
labourlist.org/2026/03/lamm...
Hope all Labour MPs will vote against the Courts & Tribunal Bill today.
Limiting jury trials won't reduce the court backlog, and will diminish justice.
There is also no mandate for it. It wasn't in the manifesto.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
"Reform blames scrounging migrants. The Greens blame the rich" - to the Economist those two points are equally bad
And what does the Economist offer to boost growth? Failed 'centrism' - welfare cuts and planning deregulation
It is precisely this failing 'centrism' is fuelling the rise of both
So we should have come to Iran's aid when attacked in breach of article 51?
"Fuck VAR" the Wrexham fans chant.
Speaking for all of us.
Article 5 is a NATO agreement. Not sure any country bombed by Iran is in NATO so couldn't invoke it.
This whole 'Starmer has stood up to Trump' thing is really weird.
Starmer originally said the US couldn't use UK bases, then u-turned. How is that 'standing up to Trump'?
UK public opinion is overwhelmingly against and Starmer still capitulated.
Reform offers an acceleration of 'centrist' decline - more austerity for the many and tax cuts for the few.
The Greens are offering a break with this failure - and that's why (despite the smears) they're surging in support.
This article's thesis is that the rise of the Greens and the rise of Reform are symbiotic
But the rise of both is in a symbiotic relationship not with each other but with a 'centrism' that has been failing for years
The leader writers of The Economist are has clueless as the leaders of Lab & Con
