Rishi Sunak (Photo: Yahoo News) The Rwanda bill was finally passed last night when the House of Lords meekly surrendered, meaning that summary deportation will shortly become law.  It is difficult to see any advantages to this scheme, other than perhaps saving Rishi Sunak's political skin. Even that seems temporary. The inefficient, immoral and frankly eye-wateringly expensive plan is not designed to "stop the boats" - it is too impractical to address the actual problem. Instead it is just another gimmick aimed at appeasing right-wingers.  In short, this is one of the most ..read more

Rabina Asghar stands beside George Galloway in a video that appeared on Twitter yesterday.   A Lib Dem council candidate has been suspended after being endorsed by George Galloway MP. Rabina Asghar, who was to contest the Spotland and Fallinge ward for the Lib Dems as she has three times previously, has been suspended by the party after the Workers' Party MP used a video to urge voters to support her in order to "Get Labour out" of Rochdale Town Hall.  In the video, he said: "In Spotland and Falinge I am backing Rabina Asghar who has grown her vote share from 7 per cent t ..read more

The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict. The wording of the resolution is significant. It calls for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan and demands the release of all hostages currently held by Hamas. The resolution is not binding on Israel, but it sends a very clear signal that Israel is becoming increasingly isolated. Perhaps more significantly, the US's decision to abstain from the vote rather than use its power as a permanent member to veto it - as it has on three previous occasions - would appear to su ..read more

From the official Israeli perspective, the war in Gaza has one aim - the elimination of Hamas. So far, it's not going particularly well.  That is not surprising. Despite the IDF being well-equipped and well-funded, a ground war is Gaza was never going to be a walk in the park.  Also, for reasons I previously explained in my post of 25th October entitled "How do you solve a problem like Hamas?", a war with a terror organisation is seldom won through conventional military means. As I pointed out in the early days of the war, "any 'solution' achieved purely through the use of force ..read more

Anyone watching business in the House of Commons this afternoon will have witnessed the undignified sight of the SNP, the Conservatives and the Labour Party using the plight of Gazan Palestinians to play an absurd game of political football. None of them come away with much credit from a charade in which party interests come before human rights.  Oh, what a circus it's all been... but the bottom line is that what is happening in Gaza appears to be of secondary interest to the players at Westminster than the usual political games we have come to associate with Opposition Day Motions ..read more

(Photo: Equaliteach) The preamble to the Liberal Democrats constitution reads: "The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity." It shouldn't really be too contentious that a party with such beliefs and values would be opposed to racism, sexism, or other forms of discrimination. And yet today it has been confirmed that a Lib Dem councillor - previously leader of the Lib Dem group on the loc ..read more

Last year, as I have every year since 2011, I made some predictions for the coming year. As always some were serious and some were... well, not quite so serious.  I did get quite a lot right, which has inspired me to have yet another go at looking into the future. Before I consider what may happen in the year ahead, let’s take a look at what I got right for 2021. Firstly, I talked of opportunities for the Lib Dems as local elections and by-elections returned after Covid restrictions were lifted. That was a pretty good call, with the party making net gains of 10 seats at local level an ..read more

I wouldn't have said I had high hopes for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. However, I was sufficiently optimistic to believe that world leaders would understand that time is running out, that COP26 represented an opportunity to put down some markers and that, at the very least, we should hear some bolder statements of intention. Alok Sharma, chairing proceedings, today told delegates "You all know that the world is willing us on to be bold - to be ambitious." Urging those present to support the draft plan published yesterday, he added: "So much rests on the decisions we collectively tak ..read more

If there is one think everyone in the UK is agreed upon at the moment it is that the Horizon scandal represents a terrible and devastating miscarriage of justice. The ITV drama Mr Bates v The Post Office follows events through the experiences of Alan Bates, a a former sub-postmaster who identified problems with the Horizon IT system in the early days and later helped to create a campaign group to highlight both the nature and scale of the problem – as well as the impact it was having on so many innocent people. Mr Bates v The Post Office has touched on politics, as it should. In referencing ..read more

In the last few days the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, has been the focus of questions about his role in the Post Office Horizon scandal. ITV's drama Mr Bates v The Post Office has, unsurprisingly, led to the expressions of anger at the miscarriage of justice and the dishonesty of the Post Office. It has also, less understandably, resulted in a focus on Mr Davey - who has been portrayed by some news outlets as a useless minister who refused to meet Mr Bates and naively believed Post Office management. Others, such as Kelvin McKenzie, have gone so far as to say Davey's "refusal to meet Mr Bates ..read more