Laura Gordon
@lauragordon.bsky.social
Lib Dem based in Oxfordshire County Cllr for Kidlington North & Otmoor; Cabinet Member for Economy and Environment Elected Member of Federal Policy Committee Promoted by Oxon Lib Dems at Unit C5 Grange Court Business Park, OX14 3NB
Congratulations to everyone who ran! And early access entries are open if you're feeling inspired 🎽🏃🏻♀️🏃🏾♂️
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 12h ago15,000 runners of all abilities raced through the streets of Oxford yesterday for the fifteenth edition of the Oxford Half Marathon, raising over £1.3m for charity. Our photographer Roger Close was out on the course — can you see yourself? oxfordclarion.uk/oxford-half-...
Ok good, now open the train to Milton Keynes
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 12h agoAndy Burnham has announced that the Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor and the Northern Growth Corridor will be twinned to “connect leading universities, innovative businesses, and local leaders across different parts of the country”. www.gov.uk/government/n...
Absolutely insane policy if it happens. In the current environment decarbonisation IS defence!
Anthony Painter@anthonypainter.bsky.social · 14h agoI don't really know what to say about the fact HM Treasury can't seem to get its head around the fact that heat pump grants are industrial policy not household subsidy. It doesn't signal great depth of policy thinking. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Lovely day to be out 🔸 canvassing in Caversham Heights, with @lauragordon.bsky.social and @readinglibdems.bsky.social & @libdemsoxon.bsky.social
I don’t think I would trust a party that can’t add up a spreadsheet column correctly with running the country ever again! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Tories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet error
Exclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data
theguardian.com
Nice campaign road trip to help Salisbury Lib Dems with their must-win by-election - with control of Wiltshire County Council on the line!
In other words, a 10 percent contraction in one of Britain’s most successful exports. If it were steel or fish or other infinitely less profitable sectors, people would be having a meltdown.
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 4d agoVisa applications to study in the UK fell by 10.3 per cent for the key recruitment month of September, new Home Office figures show. @jgro-the.bsky.social reports #highered #visas #internationalstudents #edusky https://ow.ly/3LSs50ZVPAE
I have so many questions, mainly about our sheepy brothers in Sardinia
Simon Kuestenmacher@simongerman600.bsky.social · 5d agoHow sheepish is Europe? This map shows the distribution of sheep across Europe. Source: buff.ly/dSfHDOe
None of this makes any sense unless they're planning an early election. An early election would be an insane thing to do given the war in Iran etc. But apart from LGR and Devo, what are they going to do for 3 years? It doesn't make any sense!
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 6d agoMilburn report pushed to after budget because there is no money for his recommendations. Defence spending pushed back too. Spending review is going to be a nightmare.
So far the Tories are going to abolish stamp duty and massively cut inheritance tax (and reintroduce benefits to high earners which probably won't cost) all paid for by unspecified benefit cuts' - they need to be asked exactly which cuts if this is to be remotely credible (it isn't)
Obviously engaging with this stuff is a mugs game but most people don't live 2 miles away down 60mph lanes, most people live in cities, towns, and larger villages. If the people that can, walk, cycle and use public transport more, it frees up road space doe people that can't - so they benefit too.
Peter Walker@peterwalker99.bsky.social · last wk.Smith goes on: “My kids are all at school, but down a 60mph lane with no footpaths. Even if I could persuade them to do the 2 mile walk every morning, it would be monstrously unsaid to do so.” If only there was some sort of policy intervention that could make this route safer.
We introduced 20mph zones in Oxfordshire and the numbers of people killed and injured on our roads has gone down even as the same figures in surrounding areas have gone up. Sorry to be a soggy liberal but I think that's a good thing.
Peter Walker@peterwalker99.bsky.social · last wk.On the main stage at Conservative conference, the shadow transport team is discussing how to “counter” things like 20mph zones and bus lanes. The war on the motorist lives.
Strongly agree with this thread and especially this bit of it. Where cis Liberals did respond we've been able to push back eg the failed attempt by transphobes to take control of Lib Dem Women last year - but a lot of people did a lot of work to make that happen.
Tristan Grayford@tristangrayford.scot · last wk.This is also, fwiw, exactly why so many British institutions have fallen to transphobic control. Because the transphobes actually took taking control seriously! They, with actually very small numbers, absolutely dedicated themselves to that aim. Fluffy cis liberals didn't respond at all.
Hannah Fry is amazing but she's also had way too much screen time to survive (and is too good to have lasted much longer even without getting stitched up by Jerry) #CelebrityTraitors
Laura Gordon@lauragordon.bsky.social · 2w agoI reckon it's Amol Rajan going home, he's had way more screen time #CelebrityTraitors
The motion passed at Green Party Conf' actively undermines a 2-state solution, and does not address the rising threats of Islamophobia and Antisemitism here in the UK. This is a divisive motion that pours fuel on the fire of tensions in the UK, and will leave many British Jews feeling less safe.
Let asylum seekers work: it'll fix a few problems in our labour market, save taxpayers some cash and mean we don't need giant asylum sites like MOD Bicester. Or we could keep being performatively awful to asylum seekers for no benefit.
Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · last wk.I really don't think that what people want is more expensive takeaway and more listless men hanging around with nothing to do while their asylum claims are processed:
Just chatting to one of our local volunteers who delivers leaflets and also runs a draughts advice line where she advises people to, among other things, get better draught excluders on their letterboxes and honestly I think she's a saint (but talk about mixed feelings!)
I reckon it's Amol Rajan going home, he's had way more screen time #CelebrityTraitors
There's a lot of excitement about Burnham's speech today... but as far as I can tell it's all due to kick in after the next election. And the overarching context for that election remains grim.
Justin Wolfers@justinwolfers.bsky.social · 2w agoThe bond yield story just keeps getting starker.
And change needs to come this parliament, not next. There will need to be a tax solution to this also. The strain on local councils is huge and allowing their services to be stretched further only helps political opponents.
Ed Davey@eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 2w agoI really hope the PM is serious about fixing care, and he can show it by getting on with the cross-party talks we started in July. This can’t just be a series of No10 headlines with no real action. I’ll do everything I can to put family carers at the heart of any solution.
If only there was some sign that Andy Burnham ducks difficult decisions
Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social · 2w agoam I going mad or did Andy Burnham just tell Laura Kuenssberg that he won’t reform social care this parliament and it’ll merely be a manifesto pledge in 2029?
Show Me The Bodies was brilliantly done - inevitably a hard read but absolutely essential for anyone in local government. So of course I bought this the moment it came out in paperback and looking forward to reading it
Ok but why has it taken you so long to say it and what have you actually done about it?
Liam Thorp@liamthorp.bsky.social · 2w agoExclusive: I asked Andy Burnham about the gangs of masked thugs marauding around parts of our country and asked if he and his government should be doing more to call out their actions He called them ‘poisonous’ amongst other strong words. His condemnation was unequivocal. Full story here 👇
They've got rid of the diet coke option!!!?!?
👻 Jack Djinn Wail 🧞@jacktindale.bsky.social · 2w agoAbsolutely adore how random the new LibDem membership cards are. There's a Jo Swinson but no Jeremy Thorpe one, cowards. I'd obviously have to get the Dadabhai Naoroji (he lived down the road from us in Penge, his house has a blue plaque on it). www.libdems.org.uk/new-membersh...
Before we got gifs but we'd all come from twitter and had a massive mental gif library so we just wrote 'had me in the first half dot gif' and it was fine
TwoSense@twosense.bsky.social · 2w agoDear Bluesky Elders, Tell us stories of the days when Bluesky was fun.
Is there a rule somewhere that all bridges in West Oxford can't be open simultaneously or something 😫
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 3w agoAnother Oxford footbridge has been closed due to safety concerns. Inspectors identified structural problems with Swan Street footbridge, which links Osney Island to Ferry Hinksey Road and is used by pupils at West Oxford Primary School. Oxfordshire County Council is now assessing repair options.
