This is the latest post in a series I started in late 2019, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023 Every six-ish days, I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia. The month started on a high note with the accession of Croatia to the EU, something I had helped with a ...
Two things that have happened in the past week have caused me to believe that now is the time for Liverpool Council to apologise to the thousands of people who have lost money in failed property investments in our city. ... Continue reading →
Sometimes in my browsing of family history I hit grimly interesting coincidences or anniversaries, and so it was this morning, when I realised that today is the 77th anniversary of the death of my second cousin once removed Gerard Ryan, aged 21, fighting in the Netherlands during the Second World War. His mother, Aileen Ryan née Grehan, lived to an old age; I don't know when she died, but she was born in 1890 and I remember her as an occasional presence at family gatherings in the 1970s. Her sister Magda married my great-uncle George (they were distantly related) and ...
I came across a graphic a few days ago that tries to define where Liberalism sits in the political landscape. Here it is, but you'll have to enlarge it for reading:_ One issue which sticks out for me is the supposed positioning of Liberalism between Labour on the left and the Tories etc. on the right. Well, where to start? How about the definition of Labour as a party of the left – really? Labour is a party of the working-class so it encompasses a very wide range of political opinions indeed from right to left and that is of ...
After a busy couple of weeks there were fewer by-elections on Thursday night. Polls were held in Surrey Heath, Harrow, Wigan, Billericay and Falkirk. On Surrey Heath Borough Council, Lib Dem candidate Jacques Olmo came agonisingly close to beating the Conservatives in Frimley Green ward. Well done to Jacques and the team for winning 47% of the vote. But sadly, they were just 19 votes shy of the Conservatives. Surrey Heath BC, Frimley Green Ward Conservative: 896 [48.5%, +19.6%] Lib Dem (Jacques Olmo): 877 [47.4%, -1.6%] Labour: 76 [4.1%, +4.1] In the Borough Council of Harrow, the Lib Dems achieved ...
Sat, 13:41: RT @duncan_morrow: Irish trade figures show what the real trade diversion effect of Brexit is: Imports to Ireland from GB being replaced ra... Sat, 16:02: Felaheen; Set This House in Order; Quicksilver https://t.co/waM9gs3ZPd Sat, 18:13: Just watching Gladiator for the first time. "Northern England", or as the locals call it, "Scotland". https://t.co/3YudjJINYE Sat, 18:26: RT @unamccormack: @nwbrux Lots of Englands have a Scotland... hang in that's not right... Sun, 10:22: RT @StevePeers: Mate, you're literally an unelected legislator
The Liberal Democrats have stated that, along with Labour, we will not contest the forthcoming Southend West by-election caused by the shocking murder of Sir David Amess MP on Friday. From the Evening Standard: PA news agency understands that Labour is set to follow the principle established after Jo Cox's murder in 2016 when parties which held Commons seats declined to select candidates in the subsequent Batley and Spen by-election, which was won by Tracey Brabin. As a result of that move five years ago, it is understood Labour will refuse to contest the by-election in which voters will be ...
The lack of transparency around the awarding of government contracts and the failure to rein in political donations have collided once more to raise further questions about the influence of those who give cash to government parties. The Mirror reports that a Tory donor whose father lends Boris Johnson his helicopter has won millions of pounds in government green cash. They say that Jo Bamford, son of JCB boss Lord Bamford, has set himself up in the hydrogen fuel industry - which will be big business at next month's COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow. The self-styled "green entrepreneur" bought ...
Family, pace Showaddywaddy and Kasabian, were the coolest band ever to come out of Leicester. And here they are performing on the German TV programme Beat Club in 1970. What is the song about? Wikipedia, after noting that this is one of Family's more straightforward songs. explains: Tt's about an old man asking for the "weaver of life" to show him "the patterns of my life gone by upon your tapestry". As the song gets underway, the old man recounts his childhood, his first love, and the day he took a wife; he wonders aloud how it looks on the ...
In this weekend's World Review, LDV's foreign affairs correspondent writes on the war in Ethiopia and warns that if the conflict drags on much longer then the almost certain danger is that it will spread throughout Ethiopia and then other countries in the strategic Horn of Africa. Northern Ireland and Poland's difficulties with the EU have a common stumbling block - the European Court of Justice. Have the Russians weaponised exports of natural gas to Europe? And Lebanon took another giant step towards failed state status this week when terrorists killed seven people. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has painted ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : We're pleased to announce that now that semester has started, our main museum venues are re-opening! The Tower Foyer & Lamb Galleries are open Monday to Friday 9.30am-7pm (we hope to resume Saturday openings in the future) and we've just created a new exhibition for the Lamb Gallery, entitled Drawn. Drawing is often seen as the fundamental basis of art, as well as being an important tool in other forms of creative thinking. This exhibition presents highlights from the University's wide-ranging collection of around 2,000 drawings. It includes ...
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award.
Giant's Causeway, managed by the National Trust, was the centre of controversy in 2012 when it became home to a creationist exhibit. Now an organisation hopes to influence the Trust's council elections in order to have a creationist elected to the governing body. Various national newspapers have become excited about an upcoming election - and we're not talking about the pending Highland Council by-election for the Fort William and Ardnamurchan ward. No, it's an election for the National Trust's governing council - something which takes place annually without ever generating any media interest. Or, indeed, much interest from NT members ...
Sir David Amess was a Tory which does not mean that I either did or should have hated him. There are many Tories that I do loathe and despise but he was never one of them. He'd been around for ... Continue reading →
These are the three books that won the BSFA Award, the James Tiptree Jr (now Otherwise) Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2004 for work published in 2003. I had read Felaheen and Quicksilver before, but Set This House in Order was new to me (though I largely enjoyed the TV series Lovecraft Country, based on another book by the same author). To start with the shortest, also the least popular on Librarything: Second paragraph of third chapter of Felaheen, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood:He called again. Just in case either guard was within hearing and then turned his ...
For much of the 1990s, David Amess's smile was one of the defining images of British politics. At 10pm on general election night, 1992 many expected John Major's Conservative government to be voted out of office. A huge recession and poor poll ratings pointed that way. Perhaps it would be a hung Parliament from which a Labour government emerged, but after three very comfortable Conservative election victories in a row, the end of their period of power seemed imminent, even to many in that party. The exit polls then seemed to point the same way. But then came the result ...
Fri, 16:05: End of pessimistic thread that is worth reading as a whole. https://t.co/QFdJBRDgJ9 Fri, 16:06: Crumbs. https://t.co/qHlxmGrsKH Fri, 17:11: Turns out it *is* common knowledge among those who really care about film lore. Still a great story though. https://t.co/yJvfb0rZL9 Fri, 18:07: Friday reading https://t.co/hRkg9ERBPZ Fri, 18:30: Reflected, ed. Peter de Rijcke https://t.co/FellrkYyRk Fri, 18:45: Two Gaiman shorts: Gods and Tulips; and Love, Fishie https://t.co/plnOwp3DFE Sat, 10:45: Woman rocked awake by meteorite chunk crashing into her bedroom https://t.co/MFSV1zgl4a Ruth�Hamilton�was sound asleep in Golden, B.C., last week when she was awoken by her dog barking, the sound of a crash through ...
The shocking death of Sir David Amess MP has reignited the debate about how best to ensure the safety of elected representatives and others in public office. That phrase, public office, is critically important to those that elect to run for election and then serve as MPs and councillors. But being public can also be dangerous. The police have declared yesterday's stabbing a terrorist incident. That does not mean we should ignore the growing abuse and antagonism between the public and politicians at all levels and between politicians in the House of Commons and elsewhere. PMQs has become ever more ...
David Amess was a kind, thoughtful and sensitive man. We may have been political opponents but he was a good friend to me and countless others, right across the political divide. He was a thoroughly diligent and distinguished Member of Parliament, who was unstinting in his commitment and service to his Essex constituents. I first met David in 1989 soon after I was selected by Labour to contest the election in Thurrock, Essex, a marginal Tory-held seat. David was then already Member of Parliament for Basildon, next door to Thurrock. (Later he represented Southend, also in Essex). We would sometimes ...
Like many others I am looking at the clueless, incompetent Tory government we have in power at the moment and asking why it is that they have a ten point lead in the polls. The answer lies in the fact that the main opposition party is just as clueless and is failing to project a convincing alternative narrative to that of Boris Johnson. And then of course there is this. The Guardian reports that Labour is spending significantly more of its cash on fighting its legal battles than on political campaigning, with party sources telling reporters that last year campaigning ...
The US Supreme Court has started one of its most difficult and important sessions in history. It will deal with two of America's biggest issues—abortion and gun laws. Their decisions will have repercussions on the future of the court, the American justice system and the nation's social divisions. First the cases: Abortion is one of the most divisive—if not the most divisive issue—in modern American history. The anti-abortion lobby has worked tirelessly to overturn Roe v. Wade since the moment it became law in 1973. The pro-life lobby has fought just as hard to retain it. Donald Trump's appointment of ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of SSEN cable diversion works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Riverside Avenue (between Apollo Way and A90 Kingsway), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 25 October 2021 for 2 nights (7.30pm to 6.30am). Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available Apollo Way / Explorer Road / South Road / Myrekirk Road / A90 Kingsway. For ...