[Tubby Isaacs]

The career railwayman who represents Didcot and Wantage is Olly Glover, but I had to look him up. He could do a decent job for them on his specialism.

I hadn't heard of Mike Martin. He's one you'd think could have been put to work as the Defence spokesman, but I see he's on the Defence Select Committee. Seems like they're missing a trick there. He thinks Defence spending should rise to 3% ASAP, so perhaps that would create an impression they don't want to give of tax rises.

I expect when the manifesto comes out in the next election, Davey will pull some tax rise rabbits out of hats. The trouble with these is that governments have usually thought of them and rejected them as a source of easy money. They can be good politics though, helping you balance (at least on a spreadsheet) spending with taxes. They did that in the last election with capital gains tax reform (extra £5.2bn raised). Have you heard them mention that since? I haven't. Which makes me think they didn't really mean it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I think Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston were big losses to the Lib Dems. I noticed that both had similar backgrounds in that they didn't have a background in party politics, and seem to have gravitated to the Tories as the party that people like them supported. In time they found out that people like them were increasingly disenchanted with the Tories, with Brexit being a particularly prominent example of why.

Both good media performers. I miss them.

[Killer Whale]

The Chadwick one in Brecon?

David is his first name, apparently.

His Wikipedia page appears to have been vandalised, since it has this to say about him:

At the age of 19 he was accepted into the Army Intelligence Corps, but had to drop out due to "over-training". He then went to study international studies at Leiden University.

In 2012, he was hit by a car, which split his leg in two, which took 3 months to recover from. When in 2014, he decided to move his studies to Argentina, he had yellow fever vaccination which triggered a rare condition called Guillain-Barré syndrome. This caused him to become "totally paralysed".

[The Weeping Angel]

The only Lib Dems I can name are mainly based in the West Midlands, such as Helen Morgan and others such as Layla Moran.

[Youngian]

I hadn't heard of Mike Martin. He's one you'd think could have been put to work as the Defence spokesman, but I see he's on the Defence Select Committee. Seems like they're missing a trick there.

Came across Martin publishing a paper via Twitter he'd written about the potential consequences of Royal Navy patrols vacating the sea space between Scotland and Greenland. Mystic Mike predicted convincingly it could herald instability in that region.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I have to praise my LibDem MP, Bobby Dean. Sorted out the DWP for me after they had me as dead (2nd time) and stopped paying my pension...

[Youngian]

I have to praise my LibDem MP, Bobby Dean. Sorted out the DWP for me after they had me as dead (2nd time) and stopped paying my pension...

Once is shocking enough! Did you discover why they thought you were dead?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

A man of the same name and age in County Durham - incompetence at the DWP - they just cancelled the name without checking the address. I ended up being owed several grand, when you die they don't tell you, I suppose they assume that either you know or knowing is no longer applicable...

I only found out I was no more when they offered widow's allowance to Mrs A, but it's a long (years) and frustrating story.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Glad it got sorted out.

I see Ed's come up with something better to talk about than animals on bank notes.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... vey-to-say

Britain should have a completely independent nuclear deterrent as it can no longer rely on the US, Ed Davey is expected to say on Sunday.

In a speech at the Liberal Democrats spring conference, the party leader will argue that the UK should manufacture and maintain its nuclear weapons in Britain, a move that Davey acknowledges will cost billions.

Steady on, Ed. Is that a tax rise?

Apparently not.

However, he will add that instead of “handing billions of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash to the American defence and technology industry” the money should be invested in the UK.

“Let’s invest in British science and manufacturing, build up our defence industry, and guarantee a fully independent deterrent we can truly rely on, no matter who sits in the Oval Office,” he will say.

Run that one past the IFS. There's a reason the UK buys kit abroad sometimes. It's not just to keep Donald Trump happy. By all means make that case as part of a strategic pivot, but don't insult our intelligence on the funding.

[davidjay]

A man of the same name and age in County Durham - incompetence at the DWP - they just cancelled the name without checking the address. I ended up being owed several grand, when you die they don't tell you, I suppose they assume that either you know or knowing is no longer applicable...

I only found out I was no more when they offered widow's allowance to Mrs A, but it's a long (years) and frustrating story.

The DWP went through my mum's dealings to make sure she didn't owe them anything., which is understandable. Six months later I asked how long they would take as technically I couldn't distribute the estate until they'd cleared it. The reply was that it had all been sorted within a couple of weeks, zero balance and in such cases they'd didn't inform the executors. Which was okay for me but wouldn't be very helpful if the will was more complex.

[Youngian]

Run that one past the IFS. There's a reason the UK buys kit abroad sometimes. It's not just to keep Donald Trump happy. By all means make that case as part of a strategic pivot, but don't insult our intelligence on the funding.

A post US alliance may see a Czech-Canadian-Swedish consortium produce the best uniforms, helicopters, armored trucks or whatever at a cost effective price compared to an inferior UK proposal. Then get on with it and deliver Barrow in Furness or where ever the bad news. I'm sure Britain will benefit on its own merits but if European states piss about pork barreling, Moscow, Bejing and Washington will laugh at us.