Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Aug 9, 2011, 11:53 am
Gloom. It's literally given me a headache just thinking about the amount of individual horror stories in the aftermath of the riots, and I very much doubt it's over yet. I'm tucked away in a quiet corner of Wales. Lucky me. Many friends of mine, and members of my family, are not so fortunate. And fu... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Nov 4, 2010, 10:57 am
You know, if the NUS pledge was that much of a priority for you, the time to mobilise yourselves, campaign and demonstrate was six months ago when the programme for government was being drawn up. As I recall, you were all more interested in dressing in purple and shouting for fair votes.
Right now,... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Aug 12, 2010, 8:33 am
I just re-read Fever Pitch. Two thoughts: first, holy crap 1992 was actually a really long time ago now; second, I know something else these days that engenders almost identical tribal devotion. Yes, some of my friends in the Liberal Democrats have a kind of dogged loyalty to the party that makes th... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Aug 4, 2010, 12:16 pm
I've been pointed at a story about the "last great supermodel", Gisele, and her bizarre proclamation that people should be banned by law from bottle-feeding their children.
Here we have a woman who is world-famous for having a pretty face and a great body. Nothing up with making the most of those f... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Aug 3, 2010, 4:41 pm
There's a huge problem in this country, that pervades pretty much all counties, rural and urban. It leads to fear, depression, and misery. It's something that the Conservatives of the 1980s made much worse, bizarrely making themselves popular with a quite significant section of society in the proces... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Aug 2, 2010, 9:18 am
Jonathan Calder has written a lovely little observation on Sarah's Law this morning. I agree wholeheartedly when he says the idea that every contact between adult and child needs to be licensed or policed by the state seems to me a totalitarian fantasy.
I adore my seven-year-old daughter, I would o... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Jul 29, 2010, 8:01 pm
Well, now I believe him. Wow.
The 'Citizen's Income' model of benefits is something I've idly talked about as a lovely, lovely theory with politically-minded friends on more than one occasion.
Did you know there are 58 benefits an out-of-work person might claim, each one requiring its own mammoth f... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Jul 27, 2010, 8:15 pm
This article in The Scotsman has been doing the rounds on twitter this evening. It's the tragic story of a talented writer who has been having a savage time, and killed himself because his benefits were to be cut.
As a left liberal, the progress of the parliament is troubling me. I am finding the c... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Jul 15, 2010, 6:39 am
So the Prime Minister is seemingly furious about the public sympathy for Raoul Moat, as expressed on a facebook group. I can't believe he could think ordering facebook to remove the group (as requested by Chris Heaton-Harris MP, unsurprisingly a keen brand new Tory safe-seat occupying backbencher) i... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Jul 13, 2010, 8:29 pm
I don't know how many people in the UK currently or have ever used prepayment electricity meters. It's not like it's something people will readily admit as it carries a certain amount of shame. It's a dirty secret, being poor. I have one. I have it because it's the default state of things in social ... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Jul 8, 2010, 9:08 am
I was half asleep as usual when the Today programme was mumbling on at me out of my radio alarm clock today... they were talking about food labelling. I'm quite sure I wasn't dreaming when I heard someone try to make a case for a traffic light food labelling protocol by saying that tables of nutriti... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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May 9, 2010, 7:55 am
In the leaders' debate, Clegg's performance was gold
He was gentle and brave, he was gallant and bold
In agreeing with Nick, both the others seemed bland
With warmth and with valour he spoke to the land
No Ashcroft had he, and no press on his side
Just fair honest policies gave him his pride
But the... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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May 8, 2010, 6:44 am
Nadine Dorries. The name is known to many. She's the Conservative MP who cheated on the Channel 4 programme Tower Block of Commons, which aimed to give MPs a taste of living in the same conditions as the poorest of their electorate, by hiding £50 in her bra. But her repulsiveness doesn't end there.... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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May 7, 2010, 6:12 am
Is Dave the new Dizzy?
Sure none of you remember 1867, but I'm willing to bet a few of you know what happened then, when Benjamin 'Dizzy' Disraeli was running scared at the helm of a minority conservative government and bowed to pressure from the Whigs to introduce reform and enfranchise more people... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Apr 21, 2010, 6:39 pm
Right, I've kept very quiet on here about this election. Not a murmur when the funny-til-you-realise-it's-true Labservatives campaign started. Not a peep as the warm and real man I have sat at a table with took to the podium last Thursday, to get a fair crack at airtime to explain who the Lib Dems w... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Feb 11, 2010, 6:03 pm
How much honesty and integrity would you have as a politician-would you "toe the party line"? Name three policies of the Libdems/things that any Libdems stand for that you disagree with?
I really can't foresee any great desire to be 'a politician'. I have far more fun being a gobshite party member. ... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Dec 31, 1969, 7:00 pm
Fair question I suppose, but one I find really tricky. I suppose the answer is no, but I'll elucidate.
When I was little, I used to watch Prime Minister's Questions with my grandad, my mum had given me a basic grounding in who did what in the commons before I went to school, politics was always some... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Dec 31, 1969, 7:00 pm
According to the BBC, Merthyr Tydfil has the highest rate of pregnancy (73 per 1000) among 15-17-year-olds for the whole of England and Wales, with Rhondda Cynon Taf coming second. And is anyone surprised?
What really irritated me, though, was the same tired response as we always get to these stori... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Dec 31, 1969, 7:00 pm
For those of you who remember the Welsh Liberal Democrats' last Assembly Election manifesto, you may remember it included a commitment to making St David's Day a public holiday in Wales. It was also a commitment of Plaid Cymru, but as they haven't seen fit to bring it about or even bring it up thus ... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Dec 31, 1969, 7:00 pm
So, the BBC, ITV and Sky will be holding live televised debates in the run up to the General Election, and they are only inviting Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg to take part. This news has left Plaid Cymru (and the SNP) very cross and frustrated and you can kind of understand why.. they ... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Dec 31, 1969, 7:00 pm
Taken from the comments on this page of Nick Clegg's frankly AWESOME 'Your Freedom' government website, where members of the public are invited to suggest which draconian, unnecessary laws they want to see scrapped. I hope this one makes it onto the bill, and if it doesn't I might well see about a m... Comment - Like
Steph Ashley posted an article on
Dib Lemming
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Dec 31, 1969, 7:00 pm
I don't want to get Matt Smith *too* excited, given what he said on his Formspring profile about his political crushes, but I am full of admiration for Plaid Cymru's Bethan Jenkins this week.
This is Eating Disorders Awareness week, and as I've had a family member struggle in the past with anorexia,... Comment - Like
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