Rob Blackie 🔶

Breaking Putin's censorship. Former London Lib Dem Mayoral candidate.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

@GHadjiyiannakis @sw16alex Thank you very much - you did a huge amount! Our 14th most active canvasser.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Congratulations to Alex Davies, our fantastic candidate and to the brilliant Lambeth & London Lib Dem teams!

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Lib Dems gain Streatham St Leonard's from the Greens in Lambeth!

This is a gain from third place coming from 14% Vs 48% for the Greens (their safest in Lambeth)

I believe this is also the first ever Lib Dem gain from the Greens in inner London.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

In today's Private Eye: Lambeth Greens promised to cut allowances then u-turned when they got the opportunity.

And then wasted £60,000 on two by elections, happening today, because two of their candidates immediately stood down on getting elected.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

The Mayor has utterly failed to get air conditioned tube trains: Not a single one has been added since 2017!

He became Mayor in 2016 so there is no excuse.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Zack Polanski lying here by saying the Greens have a majority on Lambeth council.

It's not a particularly important lie but it's part of a pattern I've noticed that he repeats things he's seen on social media without checking further.

[Alexander Ehmann @AlexanderEhmann]

I’m really concerned to hear @LBHF propose to scale-back their bid to the Structures Fund for Hammersmith Bridge. We need the ambition to get public transport reinstated on the bridge - not to to trap in aspic what we have today. Thats why I have asked to address H&F’s Cabinet.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Britain is a leading tech power in Europe. But Brexit now means that we can't participate in the EU's 5 billion Euro scale up fund - something that would hugely benefit us.

https://t.co/bstdQZM2ad

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

this year to moderate the rule.

We will soon have plentiful, and almost free, solar power during heatwaves - so there is no good environmental reason not to encourage air conditioning.

https://t.co/DlhQ6EDWiG

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Today is a good day to remember that Sadiq Khan's planning rules specifically rule out air conditioning as a way to cool down new homes. It's windows or you get refused planning permission.

I suggested this would be a bad idea during my Mayoral campaign - but it took until...

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Cheering England but wearing a Ghanaian hat.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

So we are now in the ridiculous position where the Prime Minister has made a pledge that is impossible to judge.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

In June 2025 Keir Starmer, and his then Defence Secretary John Healey, pledged:

"To create an Army which is ten times more lethal by 2035"

https://t.co/XiTRW9lXii

This raises the question of how this is measured.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

....because:

[W]e believe the release of this information would prejudice the overall capability and effectiveness of our armed forces.

The full answer can be found here:
https://t.co/u7zZhtncGt

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Joining the EU would make Britain stronger and richer.

But that's not happening quickly, because it is not fully in our control.

So it's great to see Ed Davey advocating for joining the single market - a big step towards EU membership.

https://t.co/WVs5XVb1j2

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

... Blocked by the British doing deals in what is now Zambia.

Caprivi also includes a sad rebellion in the 1990s that trained the rebels by watching Rambo, and proposed introducing the pound sterling.

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

@dcsandbrook a tiny fact check. The Heligoland territory swap gave Germany the Caprivi strip, not a bit of land in East Africa.... And on that note the Caprivi would be an excellent niche episode... The Germans wanted it to link up Namibia with Tanganyika... But were...

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

You can help Abdi by getting in contact at:

https://t.co/0bXnJmsNAV

[Rob Blackie 🔶 @robblackie]

Today I caught up with the brilliant Abdi Ahmed - who is the Liberal Democrat candidate in the North Acton by election - yet another London election caused by a Green councillor standing down.