Well, I guess I’m off to Siberia or Outer Mongolia by Christmas as wannabe prime minister Andrea (Mother) Leadsom calls for pessimists to be banished. She doesn’t say how long the banishment or exile will last, but I expect it will last longer than 6 months; so bang goes my council seat on Uttlesford. I’m not […]

I have declined to publish or have edited on my blog several comments that have been so offensive against individual people and groups of people that they would be counter-productive and also add no value in any debate. An article today by Alex Massie from the blog of The Spectator magazine encapsulates my wider concerns about […]

Two weeks ago today I was asked by Stansted’s Business Forum to put the case for the UK remaining in the EU. The following are my personal reasons that I offered to forum members over breakfast. ……………………………………….. When I lived and worked in Indonesia in the early 1980s I was often asked “Where do you come from”? […]

This merry band of #INtogether campaigners for staying in the European Union stormed the centre of Great Dunmow this morning. Eight Liberal Democrats spent two hours today talking to Saturday shoppers in Dunmow. A Labour Party team also joined in. Compared with shoppers in Saffron Walden last Saturday there were more people for OUT but a […]

I’ve been a bit lazy with my blog in recent weeks, so I promise an update soon. In the meantime, here is a report of Saturday’s discussions with shoppers in Saffron Walden about June’s EU referendum. Amongst our all-party and no-party team were Conservative MEP Vicky Ford (see photo.) and Conservative MP Alan Haselhurst. I have […]

There is nothing like a few pending crises to bring people of normally differing views together. Yesterday started with both the Dunmow Broadcast and the Saffron Walden Reporter featuring two Conservatives, Sir Alan Haselhurst MP and Cllr Howard Rolfe, lining up with me, a Liberal Democrat councillor, to promote the benefits of our country remaining […]

Who wants the freedom to jump off the deck of an ocean liner, without a lifebelt, in a force nine storm? (*) It seems to me that’s what Brexit supporters are content to risk for the United Kingdom. Worst still, they are prepared to put the very existence of the United Kingdom on the line in their wish […]

The following letter that I wrote to the Dunmow & Stansted Observer was published in Thursday’s edition. Sir I have noticed several recent letters from readers opposing the UK’s continued membership of the European Union. I cannot imagine a worse possible time for the UK to be casting itself adrift from its near neighbours. The Middle […]