By Andrew Allison, Head of Campaigns

I was interviewed this morning about a proposal to ban the use of disposable barbecues on the beach and in parks in the Brighton and Hove Council area. 

Whilst I appreciate that some people may find barbecues going on around them annoying, there has to be a better way of dealing with this than trying to ban them altogether, especially as many people in Brighton live in flats and do not have access to gardens. But as you will hear, even though a Green councillor thinks that the move would be "symbolic", the Greens will still try and paint this as a vital move to protect the environment. And a Labour councillor who doesn't eat meat finds the smell of meat "offensive" and therefore thinks that they should be banned. If I tried to ban everything which I didn't like, the list would be very long. Don't worry, I am not about to start! 

Responding to the announcement this morning that the Labour Party now backs a second EU referendum and will campaign for Remain, Andrew Allison, Head of Campaigns, said:

"Today's announcement is a betrayal of all those Leave voters who have stuck with the party through thick and thin, and is a betrayal of the promises the party made in its manifesto in 2017. 

I want to visit the Blighty UK Cafe at Finsbury Park. It sounds like a great place. It is decorated with model spitfires and has a statue of Winston Churchill. You can even drink your tea out of a Churchill mug, and one of the breakfasts on offer is the "Winston". If you are hungry, now is the time to skip the rest of this paragraph, because for £9.90 you will be served a traditional full English. The "Winston" comprises of British bacon, 2 fried eggs, Cumberland sausage, Yorkshire black pudding, bone marrow, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onion, thyme, homemade baked beans, and sourdough toast.

If you are a vegetarian, you can try the "Clementine", and if you are a vegan, you can tuck into the "Ghandi". The website states that they are serious about coffee and all the beans are sourced from Commonwealth countries - Rwanda, Kenya, India, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea and Malawi. What isn't there to like about this cafe?

The following is a guest post by the Rev Dr Peter Mullen, Hon. Chaplain of The Freedom Association. 

Theresa May’s brand of conservatism has been called “socialism lite.” This is unfair to her. Perhaps it used to be socialism lite, but it now shows every sign of turning into socialism ‘evvy.

The latest wheeze takes the form of a bribe as the Tories hope to grab the young voters by offering cheaper rail travel. But this is only a gimmick, a sideshow. Across the whole range of economic policies, the government looks increasingly left wing: not far off Miliband’s 2015 election manifesto and certainly well to the left of anything produced by Harold Wilson or Jim Callaghan in the 1960s and 1970s.

Luciana Berger, the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of abuse. Some people have, thankfully, been jailed after harassing her with the most disgusting anti-Semitic hate filled abuse (including death threats) that no-one should have to endure. Now she faces another fight - a fight that will define what the Labour Party is and what it will become.