Simon Mostyn

Trump’s Efforts to Control Information Echo an Authoritarian Playbook

Trump’s Efforts to Control Information Echo an Authoritarian Playbook www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

I reported this discoloured and slightly twisted street name plate to the relevant team at the district council on 16th March and am now advised that all works have completed.

*class of the man

To give such a statement hours after being sacked shows the class has the man! #thankyouAnge

It certainly won’t be the Prime Minister on the evidence of today’s deeply disappointing speech. Perhaps the recruitment of Natalie Elphicke was an early warning sign of what was to come. Starmer should realise that you don’t beat the threat of Reform by aping Reform rhetoric.

And the third and final part.

Here’s Part 2

🎹🎶🚂 Honky Tonk Train by Mead Lux Lewis - Part 1

Congratulations to Herts Lib Dems - now the largest party in the county! The exact makeup of the new administration is uncertain, but 30+ years of one party Conservative rule are over.

As we mark Yom HaShoah, we take time to remember the millions of Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.

We recommit to fighting antisemitism and standing up against hatred and division.

Before the election, I warned that there is no safe haven under authoritarianism.

If they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a foreign prison—accused of no crime, with no trial—they can do it to anyone.

Americans of conscience must stand against this now.

Let us know you've voted! Let us know you've voted by filling in this form

If you are a postal voter, don’t forget to tell us once you have cast your vote so that we can target our resources more efficiently come polling day. www.libdems.org.uk/voted

Happy Passover

Wishing Jewish communities across the UK and around the world a happy and healthy Passover.

Chag Pesach Sameach!

Enjoying the beautiful Bushey weather canvassing for our amazing Bushey North candidate Laurence Brass. How could I turn down the opportunity when they named a road after me?

Good to drop by The Quadrant earlier to support the cake sale in support of the amazing St Albans Community Pantry. Looking forward to sampling the vegan chocolate cake later. Still time to support this great cause - but do be quick, the sale closes at 14:00.

Lovely sunny spring morning for park run at Oaklands College. One of the marshals asked me if I was likely to complete the course in <18 minutes #lovetheoptimism

The UK must talk tough and not cower in the corner hoping that Donald Trump isn't mean to us. That starts by preparing for retaliatory tariffs and, in trade talks especially on services having other options on the table to show we're prepared to walk away.

Daisy Cooper MP #bbcqt

Good to be back in Marshalswick delivering leaflets this weekend. i visited the New Greens Wild Garden earlier this afternoon and had a lovely chat with inspirational project lead Danielle. Many thanks also to my colleagues Helen and Sinead for their support of this wonderful community asset.

Lovely to be back at Verulamium Park this morning in the ☀️☀️ for my first #StAlbansParkRun of the year. Even if “run” was doing quite a lot of heavy lifting in my case.

Right now, Kemi Badenoch is doing more to defend JD Vance than the US is doing to defend Ukraine.

Many congratulations to my colleagues Sinead Howland and Ed Moore on this.

This is thuggery from Trump and Vance, plain and simple.

They are bullying the brave true patriot Zelensky into accepting a deal which effectively hands victory to Russia. Unless the UK and Europe step up, we are facing a betrayal of Ukraine.

On 15 March 1939 Hitler and his deputy summoned the Czech President to Hitler’s residence in Berlin and then bullied him to submitting to a German invasion of his country.
They drove him to the point of physical collapse, threatening him until he eventually signed his country’s death warrant.

The right outcome - in stark contrast to misconceived Conservative plans to cut community grants, remove benefits, reduce headcount and slash the training budget for our hard-working council officers. www.stalbans.gov.uk/news/council...

Council - Wednesday 26 February 2025, 7:00pm - St Albans Webcasting Council - Wednesday 26 February 2025, 7:00pm - St Albans Webcasting

Details of the agenda items in question, my speeches and those of other councillors can be viewed at agenda items 10 and 21(a) here stalbans.public-i.tv/core/portal/... (6/6)

I also rose to support my colleague Sinead's motion to abolish prayers before Council meetings, my view being that the proper place for prayers is either in private reflection or in the church, gurdwara, mosque, synagogue or temple - not in the Council Chamber (or Parliament for that matter). (5/6)

This would have entailed a cut in real terms of between 25 and 36%, depending on whether CPI or RPI is taken as the measure of inflation. Do we want only the wealthy to be councillors? Had the Conservative amendment passed, it would have adversely impacted the diversity of the councillor base. (4/6)

I spoke to oppose a Conservative Party amendment which proposed - against the recommendations of the IRP (and if councillors go against their findings, what is the point of having an IRP in the first place?) - to re-set allowances to 2019 levels. (3/6)

I spoke in a couple of debates. My first contribution was in relation to councillor allowances (pay). As it is improper for councillors to mark our own homework, our recommended allowances are set by an Independent Remuneration Panel ("IRP"). (2/6)

A short 🧵. Challenging family circumstances have meant that I haven't recently been as active in my councillor role as I would have liked. So it felt really good to be back in the Council chamber last night. (1/6)