Labour Party Conference 2024: Wednesday

 

On the last day of conference, I decided to get up and go home early in order to catch up with work. Since the weather was nice, I walked to the station to explore a little, this part of Liverpool. I came across a sadly ruined church (top right of collage) and was surprised to find out it once the highest building in Liverpool and was built by its Welsh community. It was known as the "Welsh Cathedral" or the "Toxteth Cathedral". Some 120,000 Welsh people migrated to Liverpool between 1851 and 1911. I can remember as a very young boy, visiting relatives in nearby Birkenhead who still spoke Welsh at home. 

On the train home I managed to get a seat with a table and the passengers opposite me had also been at the conference and worked in "media". They were openly discussing what they thought about the conference. One said to the other that they thought that Labour was rather "smug" at conference and that it had been pretty boring. Many of the new MPs had clearly not expected to win and at fringes were like "rabbits caught in headlights". Which I thought was rather unfair but could be worse. 

While I did not think it was that boring, I did recognise the "smugness" characterisation. But it has been a long 14 years since we were last in power. It was admittedly far more exciting previous years when the Tories seemed to be doing everything possible to bring about their defeat (Think "Truss and Lettice"). 

The row's over child benefit, winter fuel allowances, Gaza and "freebees" has certainly been very difficult but I still believe that the worse day of any Labour Government is far, far better than the best day of any Tory Government. 

No one voted for this.

Well said. Johnson withdrew probably because the economy is in such a mess and Truss is well gone but let no one forget that while Rishi is thankfully competent, he is a right wing rich posh boy. 

We need a General Election now but since Turkeys do not vote for Christmas then it seems very unlikely any time soon. But after recent political events who knows...

Liz Truss, lettuce and a lectern: 25 hours of chaos in three minutes

Love it but ashamed of our political system for allowing this to happen. Bring on slightly boring but competent Keir. We need grown ups in charge. 

Liz Truss' Record

Hat tip TUC. Nuf said

Liz is our leader

 

Weird day. Glad Boris is gone but what on earth will Truss be like? Love this tweet by sacked Tory Ministers wife about their new leader. Hope it is not fake :-)

Felicity Cornelius-Mercer

@mercer_felicity

He asked her ‘why would you do this, who is going to be better at this role than me, which of your mates gets the job, you promised a meritocracy?’ PM - I can’t answer that Johnny This system stinks & treats people appallingly Best person I know sacked by an imbecile

@trussliz

Chesham & Little Missenden walk & history

 

A fantastic collage from last Sunday's 9 miles walk with Gill around Chesham and Little Missenden in the Chilterns. 

I want to concentrate on this blog more on the history and politics of the places we visit, rather than the beautiful scenery, which I can post photos on Facebook. 

The highlight of the walk was stopping off for a Cream Tea at the 1000 year old Church of John the Baptist in Little Missenden. The vicar gave us a guided tour of the marvellous medieval wall paintings in the church which had been covered up by the puritans. 

There was also a fascinating plaque in the church, remembering money left by the wealthy in the 18th century, to pay for a loaf of bread every Sunday to the 6 oldest parishioners who attended that service. 

Hopefully, noone will tell Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak about this traditional tory approach to poverty or it will give them ideas...