2009 has been a difficult year for many folk in Rochdale. The recession has hit hard. This time last year Woolworths was closing its doors with over 600 jobs lost locally. Many other local companies have also been hit hard and unemployment, particularly for young people, has hit record heights.
Dundee LibDems - including John Barnett (Parliamentary Candidate Dundee West), Cllr Helen Dick (Strathmartine Ward) and Cllr Fraser Macpherson (West End Ward) - wish everyone in Dundee a Happy New Year - and every good wish for 2010.
Chelmsford needs REAL change in 2010. It needs an MP who will stand up for the area and its residents. It needs clean politics - radical change to the system, not just new faces at the top. Only the Liberal Democrats will deliver a fairer Britain (http://is.gd/5HLCu) and new, green jobs (http://is.gd/5HPhz) - says MP candidate Stephen Robinson.
Liberal Democrat campaigners Zahid Shah and Robin Lawrence have acted against trade waste dumping in car parks in the Dunstall area of St Peter's Ward.
I have a confession to make: 2009 tested my belief in politics to breaking point. I remember once looking round the House of Commons during another Punch and Judy session of Prime Minister's Questions. In the real world, youth unemployment had just reached its highest level ever, our brave soldiers were facing extraordinary dangers in Afghanistan, the bankers were still gorging themselves on bonuses, and the economy was in the middle of the worst recession in generations. And what were the politicians doing? Yelling and guffawing at each other as if the world outside didn't exist.
Cllr Yusuf Sidat,councillor for Queen's Park Ward has resigned from the Council. This follows his recent expulsion from the Liberal Democrat Group for not attending council meetings for many months. Cllr Sidat went to India but failed to return in a reasonable time and the Group expelled because he failed to meet the minimum standards expected of a Liberal Democrat Councillor.