The Liberal Democrats' new spokesperson in the House of Commons on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues is Jo Swinson. At 27 Jo is one of the youngest MPs in the house, winning the new seat of East Dunbartonshire in 2005. She was appointed Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland after Ming Campbell's election as party leader last year, and now takes on the Women and Equality portfolio which includes LGBT rights.
In this week's Liberal Democrat reshuffle, Ming Campbell has moved Lorely Burt from the Shadow Women & Equalities post - which covers lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues - to work alongside Lembit Opik on business, enterprise and regulatory reform.
The Conservatives running Surrey County Council have thrown out Liberal Democrat proposals to increase public involvement in its affairs by agreeing in principle to the webcasting of meetings. They also vetoed proposals to permit members of the public to address meetings of the full Council.
Various news items in Eaglescliffe Ward
At his first Prime Minister's questions, Gordon Brown was challenged by Menzies Campbell over his promise to bring change to government. Sir Menzies asked the new PM if he would announce a withdrawal timetable from Iraq, re-open the inquiry into allegations of corruption over arms sales, or announce a renegotiation of the one-sided extradition treaty with America. Mr Brown declined to do any of these. Sir Menzies then asked Mr Brown if he would abandon his "headlong rush" to new nuclear power stations, link tax more to pollution or scrap the council tax. Once again the new PM refused to make any of these changes.
The threat of terror attacks has been dropped by official sources over the last day or two, but Shepway residents and businesses and being urged to remain vigilant and to call an anti-terrorist hot-line if there are real concerns about any potential terrorist activity.
