Archive for the ‘British current affairs’ Category
Crewe derails New Labour project
May 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
For Labour, the result of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election was about as bad as it could be. Just weeks after Labour’s poorest local election results in 40 years, the Parliamentary by-election saw a Labour majority of 7,078 turned into a Conservative majority of 7,860 – a 17.6% swing from the 2005 General Election. The […]
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A new version of Prime Minister’s Question Time
May 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Gordon Brown is offering to answer questions from the public via YouTube as you’ll see here. It won’t do anything to reverse his spectacular fall in popularity but, if it helps some people to engage more in political debate, then that can only be a good thing. Of course, it would have been a little […]
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How much does Labour care about inequality?
May 17th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
In my posting on the day of the recent local elections, I affirmed my belief in a fairer and more equal redistribution of power and wealth in our society. Given this belief, I found myself in full support of a letter which my friend Jeremy Mitchell wrote recently to the Secretary of State for Business, […]
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Beyond our Ken
May 3rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Two days ago, I did a posting about the London elections. In the event, Ken Livingstone did not come that close to holding on to the post of London Mayor and now we have at least four years of Boris Johnston in the top seat. It will take some getting used to – but he […]
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The London elections
May 1st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Ever since I obtained the right to vote at the age of 18 – almost 42 years ago – I have never failed to vote in an election and I have never failed to vote Labour. This may make me predictable and old-fashioned but, if (as I do) one supports a fairer and more equal […]
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10p or not 10p? – that is the question
April 23rd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
After weeks of controversy, the Government has today announced that there will be a compensation package to deal with the effects of the abolition of the 10p tax rate on certain low income groups.The compensation deal will be unveiled in the autumn and backdated to April. As a result, Labour MP Frank Field has withdrawn […]
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The closure of post offices
April 9th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The last two months has been one of the toughest periods of my professional life as I have experienced the wrath of customers faced with the likely closure of their post office in London. Some 169 offices – one in five – is scheduled for closure and I have spoken at many public meetings attended […]
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In what country is Berwick?
February 28th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
The location of Berwick-upon-Tweed might seem to be a simple matter. It’s in the UK, right? Yes, but which part of the UK? Between 1147 and 1182, it changed hands between England and Scotland no less than 13 times. Although it has been part of England for five centurie now, a local poll found that […]
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Fuel poverty growing worse
February 24th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I am now a member of the Board of the New National Consumer Council which, in October, will take over Energywatch, Postwatch and the current National Consumer Council. So I’m really concerned by the recent rises in UK fuel prices to consumers. Fuel poverty is defined as occurring when a household spends more than a […]
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Post office closures
February 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This is proving to be a particularly busy week with meetings morning and afternoon every day. What makes it especially challenging is the publication of the Post Office’s plans to close 169 post offices – around one in the five – in the capital. As Chairman of the Greater London Region of Postwatch, the consumer […]
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