T_i_B
T_i_B's JournalI always felt sorry for Dugdale
She came to the role much too early in her career, and she was always going to get slaughtered by all sides no matter what she did.
I do hope that Labour has somebody decent lined up to replace her, who can stand up to the Tories, the SNP and even Jeremy Corbyn on occasion!
The reason why they can get away with it right now....
....is that quite frankly the Conservatives don't look like a potential party of government either!
Politics in 2017 has degenerated into a contest to see who can bugger up the least! Pretty awful when you think about it.
Corbyn has already made many mistakes!
However, in the general election Theresa May made far more mistakes than Corbyn, and her party has paid the price for failing to make her more accountable.
It worries me greatly appreciate that British politics has degenerated into a contest to see who can f**k up the least, but that is where we are. On the eve of the most important negotiations since the end of WWII as well! 
Really bad news
Even worse that it's over what should be a non-issue. Even if Farron didn't handle the subject well during the election.
The coalition was only 2 years ago, and that continues to hurt the Liberal Democrats far more than nonsense about whether or not gay sex is a sin. And the Liberal Democrats options to replace Farron have either been in parliament for about 5 seconds or carry baggage from the coalition that Tim Farron did not.
The Liberal Democrats platform this year was a colossal improvement from 2015. In a way it was quite disheartening to see people moving away from the Liberal Democrats and Greens towards inferior quality Labour candidates. Especially when Labour tended not to return the favours of tactical tactical voting, letting in Tories like Zac Goldsmith.
But more work needs to be done for the Liberal Democrats. Both in terms of rebuilding the party at grassroots level and fleshing out their platform with other positive policies besides opposition to the madness that is leaving the EU. The party is currently struggling to make it's voice heard against Corbyn's Labour, but sooner or later things will change. Farron stepping down will make that process much more difficult IMHO.
There is a lot to dislike about the Tory campaign
Suffice to say that if William Hague had campaigned this badly in 2001 he would have been slaughtered by many of the same people now lauding Theresa May.
One major issue I have with the Tory campaign is how centered it is on Theresa May. It's bad enough to make me stop taking pot shots at Corbyn fanboys!
It also affects the local campaign with Tory literature and those big signs you see in farmers fields proclaiming that Tory candidates are "Standing with Theresa May". This makes Tory candidates come across as little more than lobby fodder and will make it very difficult for them to challenge the executive as MP's. And we need more MP's to start holding the government to account for a change!
Still, could be worse than Lib Dems.....
My Labour MP has written a 4 page statement in favour of fracking locally and sent it to everyone in my postcode. This arrived through my letterbox inside a free glossy mag. It was the main topic of conversation at the pub quiz I attend, with people who are pro and anti-fracking being equally perplexed by the decision of the local MP to do this in the middle of a general election
https://nataschaengel.com/fracking/
This is of course in direct contradiction of Labour policy. In an area with considerable opposition to fracking, in a marginal seat and with the Tories clearly divided on the issue between local opposition and the national parties strong support for fracking.
And we have yet to see a proper general election leaflet from Labour!
Banking is a very important issue....
...because of the current drive by banks to shut local branches and make everything automated.
It's been driven by how the banks got stung over mis-selling PPI. The thinking being that if people mis-sold payment protection insurance in a bid to hit sales targets then the solution is to cut out the people.
This approach does cause problems for the customer. Many people, especially the elderly much prefer dealing with a member of staff face to face and don't trust online banking very much. A lot of people still don't have access to online banking.
Another issue here is financial advice. What happens when you need it? In times past you would have simply gone to your local bank manager. Now you are more likely to end up with independent financial advisers, who are not cheap, or in some cases going towards services such as payday loans that people would otherwise be dissuaded from using.
It's worth remembering what tourism is about
It's about enjoying yourself and relaxing. That's why we go on holiday. Being messed about at customs is neither relaxing nor enjoyable. And the possibility having to endure that sort of nonsense is a very good reason not to go on holiday to a nation that messes visitors about like that.
Local government & Mayoral elections on 4 May
It's that time of year when I do a thread about upcoming elections. This year we have local government elections, including county council elections and also a number of mayoral elections for places like West of England and Liverpool City Region.
http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/elections-and-referendums/upcoming-elections-and-referendums
Where I live, the election of the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority mayor has been postoned due to legal action involving Derbyshire County Council and Chesterfield Borough Council. The whole "Northern Powerhouse" thing in the area where I live has become something of a farce.
The election we are getting in my local area is for the county council, where I am afraid to report that there is a good chance of Labour losing control of the council to the Conservatives. I must admit at this point that my Labour county councillor is actually quite good, but my worry is that people will be turned off by the mess that Labour is in at national level.
The big issues in my local area are proposals for fracking by INEOS (predictably hugely unpoular) and also proposals for building new houses, including building on a golf course which have not gone down especially well with local residents.
So, what local elections are due in your local area? And what are the big local issues where you live?
One thing I do see happening....
...is newspapers copying the worst aspects of websites like Breitbart and The Canary, so we end up with a vicious circle of clickbait headlines and porky pies. 
It makes it increasingly difficult to make good decisions at the ballot box when there is so much misinformation about and you can't trust what the media is telling you.
An example of this that's local to me is fracking. INEOS are seeking permission to explore for shale gas in my local area, and it would be nice if more scientific facts on the subject were readily available. The trouble is, information on the subject is all too often presented from extremely biased standpoints on both sides, so you end up mistrusting both sides! It also doesn't help that at this stage in the process residents are being urged to focus on very NIMBY-ish objections such as traffic levels in order to block the proposal rather than the more serious concerns such as groundwater and subsidance, so the bigger concerns that people might have about fracking are not being addressed.
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