Simon Roche
@simonroche.bsky.social
Pro-European, Cricket loving, Broxtowe Liberal Democrat 🔶️ and candidate for Stapleford South East, who likes a bit of science and history.
Congratulations on a fantastic result!
November 6, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Congratulations on a fantastic result!
Why else would they have given the World Cup to countries with governments who have terrible human rights records like Russia in 2018, Qatar in 2022, Saudi Arabia in 2034 and USA in 2026?
November 6, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Why else would they have given the World Cup to countries with governments who have terrible human rights records like Russia in 2018, Qatar in 2022, Saudi Arabia in 2034 and USA in 2026?
Where from? That's a bargain.....if it's from Edinburgh.
November 5, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Where from? That's a bargain.....if it's from Edinburgh.
Stewart Lee described Chris Philp well on 'Strong Message Here' on R4 last week. Like a dog with a firework tied to his tail, amongst other descriptions.
November 3, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Stewart Lee described Chris Philp well on 'Strong Message Here' on R4 last week. Like a dog with a firework tied to his tail, amongst other descriptions.
It shows that the direction Badenoch is taking the Conservatives in by abandoning their centre-right voters. She isn't picking up new voters, as why would anyone be inclined to vote for a Poundshop version of Reform, when they can vote for the real thing.
November 2, 2025 at 7:31 AM
It shows that the direction Badenoch is taking the Conservatives in by abandoning their centre-right voters. She isn't picking up new voters, as why would anyone be inclined to vote for a Poundshop version of Reform, when they can vote for the real thing.
Granted I didn't go the Leeds, but at University in the 1990's I would have got involved in politics, but being fairly centrist (even back then), there wasn't much on offer. The active groups on campus were on the far-left or some young Conservatives that still had a strange fetish for Thatcherism.
October 26, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Granted I didn't go the Leeds, but at University in the 1990's I would have got involved in politics, but being fairly centrist (even back then), there wasn't much on offer. The active groups on campus were on the far-left or some young Conservatives that still had a strange fetish for Thatcherism.
Reform are having a bad night! 4 Lib Dem wins so far, which is fantastic. Pleased to see Plaid hold off Reform in Caerphilly too.
The progressive parties have proved the can hold off the march of the far right.
The progressive parties have proved the can hold off the march of the far right.
October 24, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Reform are having a bad night! 4 Lib Dem wins so far, which is fantastic. Pleased to see Plaid hold off Reform in Caerphilly too.
The progressive parties have proved the can hold off the march of the far right.
The progressive parties have proved the can hold off the march of the far right.
Let's hope so, and we hear from Rachel Reeves soon about the start of talks with the EU to join a full customs union.
October 23, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Let's hope so, and we hear from Rachel Reeves soon about the start of talks with the EU to join a full customs union.
I get how bad Brexit was as I was part of the fall out. What is done is done, all we can do is look to the future and begin to persuade the EU we can be good partners. The start of that battle is with seeing off the rise of the far right, so we can back to stable politics again.
October 23, 2025 at 7:36 AM
I get how bad Brexit was as I was part of the fall out. What is done is done, all we can do is look to the future and begin to persuade the EU we can be good partners. The start of that battle is with seeing off the rise of the far right, so we can back to stable politics again.
I agree, we can't just waltz back in. It is is going to take a long time to rebuild any trust we had. We blew that by voting to make ourselves poorer and more isolated. All we can do is to start that slow rebuilding process now.
October 23, 2025 at 7:31 AM
I agree, we can't just waltz back in. It is is going to take a long time to rebuild any trust we had. We blew that by voting to make ourselves poorer and more isolated. All we can do is to start that slow rebuilding process now.
What Labour are doing is the bare minimun to keep things going in targeted area. There is still too much friction at the border, a lot of red tape, no freedom of movement. At the very least we need to join a customs union, at best rejoin the EU. Stop the pretence we can make Brexit work.
October 21, 2025 at 2:04 PM
What Labour are doing is the bare minimun to keep things going in targeted area. There is still too much friction at the border, a lot of red tape, no freedom of movement. At the very least we need to join a customs union, at best rejoin the EU. Stop the pretence we can make Brexit work.
Exactly, they have identified the problem and are doing nothing about fixing it. If they don't do something to fix it when they can, in my mind they become just a culpable as the fools who brought us Brexit in the first place.
October 21, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Exactly, they have identified the problem and are doing nothing about fixing it. If they don't do something to fix it when they can, in my mind they become just a culpable as the fools who brought us Brexit in the first place.
Because lies cost nothing to make up, proper journalism cost money.
October 21, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Because lies cost nothing to make up, proper journalism cost money.
Exactly, there are much cheaper solutions that already exist for the problem the government has outlined and that they say they are trying to solve. So what are real reasons for the government wanting to spend billions on digital ID?
October 21, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Exactly, there are much cheaper solutions that already exist for the problem the government has outlined and that they say they are trying to solve. So what are real reasons for the government wanting to spend billions on digital ID?
I'm not a Labour supporter but I find it extremely misogynistic. Still at least when someone says it, they give me warning about the type of person they really are.
October 20, 2025 at 8:02 PM
I'm not a Labour supporter but I find it extremely misogynistic. Still at least when someone says it, they give me warning about the type of person they really are.
I am not sure it is a widspread problem. 86.5% of the adult population has a passport to prove their right to work and provide ID. You would just need to put a mark on an ID card to prove they had a right to work. If an employer doesn't check ID now, they are unlikely to start if Digital ID begins.
October 20, 2025 at 7:53 PM
I am not sure it is a widspread problem. 86.5% of the adult population has a passport to prove their right to work and provide ID. You would just need to put a mark on an ID card to prove they had a right to work. If an employer doesn't check ID now, they are unlikely to start if Digital ID begins.
Then why not offer an ID Card similar to a driving licence. That would fix the problem. Why the need to do it digitally and start linking more systems to it? What happens if there is an outage like todays on HMRC? or there is an error and it mistakenly says you can't do something? or it is hacked?
October 20, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Then why not offer an ID Card similar to a driving licence. That would fix the problem. Why the need to do it digitally and start linking more systems to it? What happens if there is an outage like todays on HMRC? or there is an error and it mistakenly says you can't do something? or it is hacked?
This is why television news is becoming less relevant. It is kind of OK if you want to know what is happening in UK on a particular story the editor is interested in, otherwise it is poor. The internet means we are now becoming our own curators of the news we are interested in from around the world.
October 19, 2025 at 7:37 AM
This is why television news is becoming less relevant. It is kind of OK if you want to know what is happening in UK on a particular story the editor is interested in, otherwise it is poor. The internet means we are now becoming our own curators of the news we are interested in from around the world.
This government are well on their way to becoming as culpable for the harms caused by Brexit as Farage, Johnson and their ilk. They have a massive majority use it to do some good and start the process to rejoin the EU.
October 15, 2025 at 7:27 AM
This government are well on their way to becoming as culpable for the harms caused by Brexit as Farage, Johnson and their ilk. They have a massive majority use it to do some good and start the process to rejoin the EU.
This is exactly why you shouldn't 'invest' in cypro-currency unless you have inside information or you are happy to give your 'investment' to those that do. Completely unregulated and corrupted.
October 12, 2025 at 6:37 AM
This is exactly why you shouldn't 'invest' in cypro-currency unless you have inside information or you are happy to give your 'investment' to those that do. Completely unregulated and corrupted.
Dementia can affect short term memory. He probably just forgot he already had one this year.
October 10, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Dementia can affect short term memory. He probably just forgot he already had one this year.
It would be interesting to see how many of these 'gains' were by someone who was previously a Conservative, as with last Redcar's Reform winner yesterday. The Tory party members, and their voters, definately splitting into two groups. As Ed says, there is a home with us for One Nation Conservatives.
October 10, 2025 at 1:26 PM
It would be interesting to see how many of these 'gains' were by someone who was previously a Conservative, as with last Redcar's Reform winner yesterday. The Tory party members, and their voters, definately splitting into two groups. As Ed says, there is a home with us for One Nation Conservatives.
Absolutely. Apologies, if I sounded like I was praising her too much. She did a bad job but her successors made her look like the epitome of competence. She was definately more concerned about keeping the Tory party in one piece, though Boris soon saw to finishing it off anyway.
October 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Absolutely. Apologies, if I sounded like I was praising her too much. She did a bad job but her successors made her look like the epitome of competence. She was definately more concerned about keeping the Tory party in one piece, though Boris soon saw to finishing it off anyway.
I thought the same. Out of the 5 prime ministers between 2010 and 2024 she was probably the best (a very low bar, I know) and the only one who faced up to the awful position Cameron left Britain in with his advisory referendum.
October 9, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I thought the same. Out of the 5 prime ministers between 2010 and 2024 she was probably the best (a very low bar, I know) and the only one who faced up to the awful position Cameron left Britain in with his advisory referendum.
FPTP has to stop now. It wasn't acceptable in 2024 when Starmer got such a big majority with only a third of voters backing him and most certainly wouldn't be right if Reform get to inflict their awful ideologies on all of us with less than a third of the vote.
October 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
FPTP has to stop now. It wasn't acceptable in 2024 when Starmer got such a big majority with only a third of voters backing him and most certainly wouldn't be right if Reform get to inflict their awful ideologies on all of us with less than a third of the vote.