What’s the link between Queen Elizabeth II and sun spots? The production company RDF, according to Tony Juniper: I was more than a little interested to learn that both ITV and the BBC have decided to suspend the commission of programmes from independent programme-maker RDF Television. I came across this outfit back in 1997, when [...]
This week's selection of all that is best in British blogging can be found grazing in the lush pastures of Clairwil. Next week's Roundup will be posted here at Liberal England. If you would like to nominate a post to appear there, please send an e-mail to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com giving the link by next Sunday lunchtime. Any posting from a British-based blog or British-born blogger made this week can be be nominated. And, yes, you can nominate something from your own blog.
It has not made the Hereford Times yet, but Colin Ross reported on Friday that Paul has been discharged from hospital.
John The Teacher isn’t the only Bearwood Blogger escaping the rain this week. Expect no posts for the next week, here comes the sun!
Leeds fans have been laying flowers, scarves and shirts around Billy Bremner's statue at Elland Road as the chaos which surrounds the club continues. Players have apparently not yet been paid for June and there is no certainty as to whether or not the club will be granted the golden share for League One and so be allowed to start the season which begins on 11th August! The fans are understandably frustrated at this latest twist in a saga which has frankly been running for five years. We are now waiting for the outcome of talks which ...
The BBC website has an A-Z of British films (or rather some of them) with links to information about the places in which they were filmed.
As promised, a little more detail around the decision to make Fortismere a foundation school, which will take effect in September. I have already made some points in the comments section of the post I did on Friday, but I will go through some of the other main points that people might have questions on. I include some quotes from the Secretary of State's response to complaints about the consultation process at the end. Admissions A lot of the concern about the move to foundation status was around admissions and a fear that the school would become ...
I put in a couple of hours on the LibDem stall at the Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park this lunchtime. The weather was kind and there were sizeable crowds, of every age, shape and colour. As well as the fun rides and other family-oriented entertainment, there was a wide range of ethnic foodstalls, a cider tent [...]
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS INFORMATION CONCERNING THE ENDING OF THE LAST HARRY POTTER BOOK It's very fashionable, amongst some groups of people, to rubbish something simply because of its popular appeal. Nearly the entire so-called "indie rock" music scene is basically built around this cultural snobbery; it is genuinely believed, amongst some people, that the fact something has achieved mainstream popularity automatically renders it aesthetically generic and therefore worthless. It is the distorted form of a principle which once held some truth in it, warped by the same process of over-simplification that its proponents claim is the problem at ...
This morning I went to Beatrix Elizabeth Lawrence's Christening at the Cranmer Methodist Church. Beatrix is the third child of Lexi and Robin Lawrence and sister of my Godson Rupert. On arrival I was asked to do a reading, which was really nice.
I must say I'm not as appalled by reports that Oxford proctors are using Facebook photographs as evidence against students as many students (and liberals) seem to be. I want to leave aside the separate issue of whether the post-exam celebration penalties themselves are justified, and concentrate on Facebook-trawling as a method of evidence-gathering. Yes, it seems heavy-handed. But provided the proctors didn't gain access to the images by misrepresenting themselves, and there were no holes in the security system (if there were, Facebook and not the proctors are to blame), I have little sympathy for the ...
The BBC reports: A gay man has won his case for unlawful discrimination after he was refused a youth official's job by a Church of England bishop. The employment tribunal said John Reaney, 42, was discriminated against "on grounds of sexual orientation" by the Hereford diocesan board of finance. I am a bit late with this, as the news came out last Wednesday. But it is very welcome news indeed.
I really enjoyed my recent trip to Berlin. It's a very pleasant city, with wide open streets and a nice atmosphere. I was somewhat surprised by the temperature, with the 35ºC heat giving me an unexpected tan! It was at least as thought-provoking as last year's trip to New York, with the history sort of hanging in the air. As a 20th-century history enthusiast, I revelled in it, although of course it was poignant at times. Three things stick out in particular: Firstly, the Jewish Museum really brought home to me that the anti-Semitism ...
The only newspaper I have read today is the Sunday Telegraph and they were happily sticking the boot in on Cameron. Not surprisingly they were talking of what they regarded as a need to emphasise more traditional Conservatives issues rather than the empty stunts and spin of Cameron, following their disaster in last week's by-elections.The clear belief by the Conservatives that they could win in
It would be pretty standard for me to talk at length about the 2 letters of no confidence in David Cameron, the awful press on him today and references to him as the Conservatives no wait Cameron’s Conservatives Neil Kinnock but there’s one party I loath more than the “Cameron’s Conservatives” and that’s the BNP. Today we learnt that in the expectation of chaos following the peak oil crisis the BNP will implement their pre prepared plan. It will not to be to launch a coup against the Lib – Lab – Con alliance, it wont be to cleanse ... 
...but having one to quote does no harm (and why are the Lib Dems remaining silent?): "The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." Albert Einstein,1921 'My First Impression of the U.S.A.' (quoted in Transform's Report "After the War on Drugs") If you click on the link ...
The knives are out, the gloss has flaked away too easily from Mr Cameron and the some of the Tories have realised that if you take the outer layer away from a vacuum, you find nothing inside except an empty space. The more I speak to people about Cameron, the more colleagues and friends tell me about what they feel, then the more I feel he is an asset to the other parties. In simple terms, people view him as something of a toff who will say and do anything in order to gain votes whilst nobody knows ...
When you do good, do you do it to ; a) Genuinely make a difference. b) Make yourself feel good. c) Gain as much publicity as possible so that people think you are achieving (a) and (b) and so that people will vote for you. Personally I always thought you did good simply for reason (a). Lots of people I know, politicians included, do all sorts of good work and help worthy causes without ever seeking publicity for it, yet apparently the Tories good work in Africa requires a BBC reporter to go with them ? I ...
The world truly has gone mad when brainless self-publicists can puff themselves up to the point where the BBC and half the Liberal Democrats think they are the most insightful political commentator since Creation. BUT cast that unpleasant and vacuous naked emperor aside and turn instead to our own fluffy Millenium Elephant because this is both [...]
"Faustian" doesn't even begin to describe the relationship between political parties and their leaders. At least Faust knew which devil he was dealing with. A political party - with its broad spectrum of ideologies, its competing views for policy priorities, and thousands of ambitious, arrogant, opinionated individuals - is far worse than diabolic to satisfy. There is only one magical cure - the Philosophers Stone of political life. Success heals all evils, soothes all egos, and focuses minds away from controversy. However this quintessence is in short supply for Davvid Cameron at the moment. The Tory press is ... 
Two stories caught my eye last week. In the first, we heard the (cyclically repeated) concerns from about too few historical facts being taught in our schools. In the second, a 23 year old cashier was convicted for carrying out fraud having guessed a customer’s PIN as being 1066 after overhearing them say ‘Battle of [...]
Hilarious story in the Observer: A few miles from the historic southern Croatian town of Knin lie 1,100 hectares of farmland and a couple of abandoned buildings. A tributary from the river Krka runs through the lush countryside nestled close to the sun-drenched Adriatic coast. It is a tranquil place, one that would make an ideal spot [...]
Sunday: “There’s a leader whose future is more in question than mine,” said Sir Mr the Merciless this morning on the BBC. Mr Balloon is a bit rubbish. We all know that. He has a real problem with the idea of having policies and even when he gets some he usually flip-flops on them within a few days. He had a real opportunity to bring the Conservatory Party back from the BRINK of BONKERSDOM, but has turned out to be more interested in PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES and grabbing HEADLINES than doing the real, hard work of opposing ...
Andrew Rawnsley asks in this morning's Observer whether David Cameron might be the Tory Party's Neil Kinnock, a leader who does much to rescue and rehabilitate the party, but who can't deliver power. It is the Conservative Party's poor by-election performances on Thursday that has raised these sorts of questions. 'To be more competitive than they have been for the past decade,' Rawnsley tells us, 'the Tories need to be able to demonstrate that they can raise their share of the vote in Labour seats. The Tories should be squeezing the Lib Dems out of the picture, not the ...
Excellent analysis of Cameron’s woes in the Sunday Telegraph today. What I find endlessly fascinating is the Conservative Party’s almost limitless capacity for self-destruction. Even when Campbell was having trouble a couple of months ago, the limit of dissent was a couple of bloggers shooting their mouths off. By contrast, at least 2, possibly [...]
The Mayor of Lewisham decided on 17 July to appoint Teresa Fry as an LA Governor of Brindishe School, and Spiros Elis as an LA Governor of Hither Green Primary School (where I am also an LA Governor). This complements the partnership arrangements into which the two schools have entered.
I have just written to express my concern at the proposal to site an Orange installation on the rooftop of Lewis House, Lewis Grove, on the grounds that this is a residential street and the installation is potentially hazardous and unsightly for local residents. I also asked what compensation would be offered to residents.If others want to comment or ask for more information, they should contact: Rebecca D'Arcy Local Government & Community Relations Manager Harlequin Ltdon site.information@orange-ftgroup.com
After my London European candidate selection interview yesterday, I took the Oxford Tube to Magdalen College, for the annual Oscar Wilde Society summer lunch. This is always preceded by Pimm’s and a recitation of ‘Magdalen Walks’ in Addison’s Walk. Miraculously, the weather is always fine for this quaint event, and so it was again this year, [...]
This will mean nothing to anyone under about 45. But I was watching "I love television" or some such ITV confection last night and who should walk on but Mick McManus! My wife and I said in unison: "I thought he was dead!" But there he was, as alive as a live thing, as Baldrick would say. I've just looked him up. He is 79 years old! He has outlived both Jackie Pallo and Giant Haystacks. Note
Today's Sunday Times leader states: The political map is becoming a little clearer. David Cameron is not the transforming political force that his supporters made him out to be, or even the Tories’ Tony Blair. Mr Blair enjoyed large opinion poll leads from the day he took over as Labour leader; leads which lasted until late in his premiership.
The linked story is about a case where the intervention of Childrens Social Services has simply undermined a family. One of the state's reasons for taking the baby is that the father does not agree with what the Social Workers think.
In the Observer, Andrew Rawnsley writes: Fearful Tories have more reason to worry this weekend that he might turn out to be their Neil Kinnock, a leader who does much to rescue and rehabilitate the party, but who can't deliver power. Might this be David Cameron's ultimate fate? Could he be a leader who looks electable, but is never actually elected?
The Sunday Telegraph, under the headline "Tories call on David Cameron to quit" says that as many as six MPs have sent letters to the chairman of the party's 1922 Committee of backbenchers. The report runs: David Cameron faces calls to resign from a handful of Conservative MPs who have lodged formal requests for a vote of no confidence in his leadership. The bid to destabilise the Tory leader
It's been two months since I last blogged and for very good reason. I have been going through the selection process for the Truro and Falmouth parliamentary seat. It has been an amazing few weeks and due to selection rules I decided not to blog during the process (you have to get each one approved by the R/O and I thought my time was better spent knocking on doors). Anyway, it all finished yesterday and I came second - by 1 vote! After a number of nail-biting recounts the result was declared. I would like to ...
I began reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows outside Borders at Lakeside at 5:00 pm, and I've just finished it.... What do I think? I think that JK saved the best till last....
Wednesday: The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has warned that Great Britain needs a clear space strategy or we will risk FALLING BEHIND other countries! Fortunately, I happen to have one about my fluffy person! It's every child's dream: ride on the footplate of a steam train, drive a fire engine, or be an astronaut. We shouldn't ever lose those dreams. The aims of a British Space programme – which OBVIOUSLY should be called the British Rocket Group, and shame on you if you don't know why – should be Release ... | < | July 2007 | > | ||||
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