Is there a Temple of Diana buried under St Paul's Cathedral? William Stukeley thought so and Christopher Wren looked for it.
Richard Kemp says the Liberal Democrat conference was right to reject the more fanciful elements on Vince Cable's supporters scheme - in fact they should never have been put forward. "If you are upwardly mobile from a poor background, you have to learn how to fit in. If you are posh, you don't. You glide from school to Oxbridge to the city or bar all the time surrounded by like-minded people so you know the rules. The upshot is that in the unusual contingency of ever being outside of that environment - as Cox was in Brussels - you put ...
I heard some pleasing news today. It seems the school students who protested in town on Friday over the lack of action against climate change were invited into the council offices. There they met the leader of the council and the leader of the opposition to discuss their concerns. Classily done. The leader of the opposition, of course, is my old friend Phil Knowles, a Liberal Democrat. Before the meeting he addressed the protesters. I am told that because he has the same bug as me, he hardly had a voice. So he borrowed a megaphone from the protesters. In ...
[IMG: Interview with Executive Producer of 'Mums Make Porn' on Channel 4] How did you come up with the idea of 'Mums Make Porn'? Emma Morgan: We were looking at porn statistics and its impact on the sex education of teenagers. We did a lot of research... The post Interview with Executive Producer of 'Mums Make Porn' on Channel 4 appeared first on FeministMama.
Mon 18th
16:32
UPDATED: Bercow rules out a third attempt by Theresa May to get her Brexit deal passed - how should ...
In dramatic scenes in the House of Commons, The Speaker, John Bercow, has ruled that Theresa May can't hold a third vote on her Brexit deal without major changes to it. This appears to leave only five options; No deal; No Brexit; Seek a long extension to allow time to negotiate a new deal; Prorogue Parliament to allow a new session in which the deal can be brought back, and; A General Election Here's some early reaction from the Party... Speaker rules that a third meaningful vote must be different to first two. He is clearly as bored with Theresa ...
Lib Dems: Revoke Article 50 if a deal isn't agreed The Liberal Democrats have today called for the Government to revoke Article 50 if no Brexit deal can be agreed a week before departure date. The proposal, debated and passed by delegates at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York today, comes after a week of key Brexit votes in the House of Commons in which MPs again rejected Theresa May's deal, ruled out no-deal and voted to extend Article 50. Speaking after the debate, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake MP said: It is absolutely clear that Brexit will ...
Now that the UK taking part in this year's European Parliament elections in late May is looking rather more likely, it raises an interesting challenge for The Independent Group.
It is a sobering thought that just under 2,000 years ago there were people gathered on this spot no doubt complaining about a treaty from Rome. ...with tiresome regulations about daily baths and straight roads; muttering under their breath that these legionnaires should go back to Gaul or Carthage. And you would have heard lots of people saying Interum sumo inferium. For those amongst you who don't converse in classical languages, that means: take back control! It then took them over 300 years to get their 'Rexit, when the Romans went home. That's the kind of timescale Theresa May seems ...
Mon 18th
12:05Is it time for Theresa May to admit that Brexit is impossible and retract the Article 50 notice?
If Brexit goes ahead in any form, it would need exceptionally-good government to address all the resulting challenges. The parliamentary chaos of recent weeks has shown a government a long way from this. Is it time to admit that Brexit can't be delivered? Theresa May has given it her best shot. It is hard to see anything else she could have done to make Brexit work. The game-changer of the last few weeks has been the sheer level of parliamentary dysfunction. It's now clear that Brexit can't happen on 29 March because of the sheer volume of legislation to be ...
Sun, 12:56: On the Lib Dem leadership. https://t.co/N6PRiemX6E Sun, 14:20: RT @joncstone: Brits buying halloumi is 6% of all Cyprus's trade https://t.co/wvbuUQQNx8 Sun, 14:48: Don't bet there'll be a third vote on Theresa May's deal https://t.co/dLocrDVuKZ Gawdddd..... Sun, 16:05: Wow. https://t.co/mEHYzk3wtE Mon, 09:55: RT @MichaelAodhan: @pmdfoster @SamuelMarcLowe We, NIRC, @Freight_NI and @ManufacturingNI, did the figures and under the backstop if we are... Mon, 10:10: RT @davidallengreen: One key to understanding Brexit so far is that EU27 has not dumped on Ireland in the way the UK would have done had th... Mon, 10:19: Awful news. https://t.co/7mphwAdOZw Mon, 10:24: RT @Usherwood: ...
On the first day of their Spring Federal Conference, the Liberal Democrats demanded the Conservative Government bring forward a Clean Air Act enshrining the legal right to unpolluted air.The proposals, set out at the Liberal Democrat conference in York, are based on World Health Organisation guidelines and would be enforced by a new Air Quality Agency. If successful, the Clean Air Act would also demand air pollution testing took place more widely and frequently, with warning signs displayed in pollution hotspots and sensitive areas, such as near schools. Speaking after the debate, Liberal Democrat Climate Change Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said: ...
Yesterday Liberal Democrat Spring Conference voted for the restoration of Legal Aid and a new legal right to access to justice for everyone.In a motion on Sunday morning, Conference asserted that access to justice is a crucial right and that cuts to Legal Aid have undermined it.Liberal Democrats voted for the restoration of Legal Aid for early legal advice, assistance and representation in benefit, debt, employment, immigration, housing and family law cases.Conference also voted to establish a new right to affordable, reasonable legal assistance with a new, independent Justice Commission to monitor and enforce it.Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Wera Hobhouse, ...
Theresa May might bring her Meaningful Vote back to the House of Commons for a third time on Tuesday. She will only do so if she thinks it's going to pass – one barometer of this will be what the DUP intends to do. To that end, May met with them this weekend to discuss how they might be persuaded that voting for the "deal" at the third time of asking is a good idea. Turns out they have two, tiny demands: A seat at all negotiations with the EU from now on.A promise that Northern Ireland can never, in ...
The Liberal Democrat federal conference approved a comprehensive plan to end the crisis on Britain's high streets The party's plans are set out in a motion - Town Centres fit for the future - passed on Sunday at Liberal Democrat conference. The motion calls for bold action to ensure town centres thrive in an increasingly digital economy, including: boosting support for local entrepreneurs; reforming local planning laws; developing local asset registers; and creating a new industry-led body to help brick-and-mortar retailers adapt to the digital economy. The motion also reaffirms the Liberal Democrats' commitment to replacing business rates with a ...
Following the Tax Payers' Alliance launch of their report attacking elements of UK aid, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Jo Swinson MP said: "The UK should be incredibly proud of what our aid budget has achieved across the world. Between April 2015 and March 2018 alone, UK aid provided humanitarian assistance to a staggering 26.8 million people, including at least 8.2 million women and girls. "Through the Department for International Development and its work with multilateral organisations, UK aid not only changes lives but does so in a transparent and effective way: DFID is consistently ranked amongst world leaders in ...
So, we had the big debate about a supporters' scheme on Saturday. I personally found it rather sad that the biggest attendance for a debate on the eve of the biggest round of local elections in England should be for an internal matter with no resonance with the public. So why am I sad that the vote went, with one tiny exception of the minor vote on membership of policy groups, my way? Because I believe it showed just how badly our Leader is supported and the bungling incompetence of the Federal Board and HQ. So, for the benefit of ...
I survived. Chaired a Q&A and a debate, co-hosted Glee, ran a training session which seemed to go over well, and voted in a couple of debates. The Supporters' Scheme has gone pretty much as I expected although not quite as I might have hoped: conference basically voted in favour of setting up a glorified email list and not giving supporters many of the huge swathe of rights the leadership wanted to give them. FPC has the option to let them sit on policy working groups if it wants to (they already had the option to put anybody they wanted ...
There is only one meeting scheduled at Blyth Town Council in April Tuesday 16th April, Governance Committee The meeting is due to start at 6:30 pm, at Arms Evertyne House
The Liverpool Echo has a story about it on its website – see link below:- I've had a good rant about this on many previous occasions and the problem is rampant across the country of course, so Sefton is sadly not in any way unique. But what really gets me is that between Councils and the Environment Agency there's far too little mobile covert CCTV coverage of sites where regular fly-tipping problems are the greatest. And I admit that in my time as a Sefton Councillor I failed to push the powers that be into more intelligent reactions to ...
Liberal Democrats demand a Clean Air Act The Liberal Democrats have today demanded the Conservative Government bring forward a Clean Air Act enshrining the legal right to unpolluted air. The proposals, set out at the Liberal Democrat conference in York, are based on World Health Organisation guidelines and would be enforced by a new Air Quality Agency. If successful, the Clean Air Act would also demand air pollution testing took place more widely and frequently, with warning signs displayed in pollution hotspots and sensitive areas, such as near schools. Speaking after the debate, Liberal Democrat Climate Change Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse ...
Mon 18th
08:28
We live in an growing biodiversity desert - Rocks Green developers are making it worse with hedge ne...
Over the last couple of weeks, green netting has been put over hedgerows at Rocks Green. The aim is to prevent birds nesting. It will not work. Hedge nesting birds will get through the gaps in the netting with ease. When I visited yesterday morning, I could hear birds within the netted hedgerow. I could not see any nests but I would be surprised if there were none. This is in breach of planning documents submitted by the developer that says hedges will not be removed during the nesting season. But that is exactly what they are planning. We live ...
In the land of pantomime, this government has led – maybe even forced – parliament to turn itself into a tragic farce. Last week's events in parliament were full of skits that would have made the Monty Python team proud – though even they might not have been able to imagine them. The government ended [...] The post Do we face Monty Python or Humpty Dumpty? We need to know appeared first on Radix.
Abertay University is holding a Cyber for Seniors Workshop on Thursday 28th March between 10am and 4pm at the Events Space, Abertay University, Kydd Building, Bell Street. Its purpose is to find out the challenges are that the elderly face with respect to cyber crime. There will be talks about cyber challenges such as security and passwords. The aim is to come up with solutions together to address some of these problems. Lunch will be provided. To book a space, please contact Karen Renaud, Professor of Cyber Security - k.renaud@abertay.ac.uk- or 308236 but please do so by close of play ...
If there was any doubt where the Labour leader's sympathies lie on Brexit, he dispelled them this morning in an interview on Sky News when he told Sophy Ridge on Sunday that he could vote to leave the EU if there is another Brexit referendum. The Independent reports that Corbyn told the interviewer that how he voted in any future referendum giving the British public a Final Say on Brexit would depend on the withdrawal deal which is on offer at the time. The paper adds that the Labour leader gave a heavily caveated answer when asked if he was ...
What do Rosemary Clooney's sister, Rita Marley, Andy Griffith, Louis Armstrong, and Perry Como all have in common? They all recorded songs by Gene and Eunice, who had the biggest hit of the fifties you never heard of. Find out ... Continue reading →
Another week, another massacre. Geography was one of the factors that made the Christchurch murder different. New Zealand a peaceful group of islands with no terrorist history. The terrorist came from the outside: a white supremacist from Australia who seems to have been radicalised overseas, possible in the UK. From the reaction of now-disgraced senator Fraser Anning, who wrote "The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allows Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place." it seems that Australia have their own share of bigots and supremacists. Fair play ...