From the British Council website: The British Council Film Collection is an archive of over 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940s designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played. Preserved by the BFI National Film Archive and digitised by means of a generous donation by Google, the films are now yours to view, to download and to play with for the first time. ... Today, we are beginning to make the whole Collection available right here, not simply as a fully catalogued resource available to watch once again, but to download ...
[IMG: IMG_0947] [IMG: IMG_0946] [IMG: IMG_0945] Just been into my local polling station – and found those That's for Newcastle City Council, Kenton Ward @MERA Hall, Wyndley Place, Montagu Estate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 4QR Pictures taken around 9:30pm These pictures absolutely belong to me, and may not be reproduced without my permission. Any media sorts wanting to contact me, please email Andrewalanemmerson[at]googlemail[dot]com
The polls have closed, so where are we? England Elections have been held for 128 councils. In most cases one third of the seats were being contested. Altogether 6706 seats were up for election, of which 1170 were held by Liberal Democrats. Ten English cities have been holding referendums on whether to have a directly elected mayor. They are Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. Doncaster was voting on whether to abolish its directly elected mayor. Three cities – London, Salford and Liverpool – have been electing a mayor. London: 7 candidates, with Brian Paddick ...
OK, any Londoners reading; before you sit down with a cup of tea and this cheering tale of your city facing nuclear destruction, have you voted yet? No? Then get out and do so (and here's why)! Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll try to put a stop to that with this cosy catastrophe. It's a thoughtful, understated but tense 1950 political thriller, so it may threaten London's complete annihilation but, on the plus side, doesn't have Boris or Ken in it. And though not science fiction, it was hugely influential, not least on Quatermass, The Avengers and Doctor Who, ...
The option to put a photo next to your comment is open to everyone. In addition, if you're a party member you can also have this indicated when you post a comment. It's very simple. You just need to register for our online forum and get a username and password. Then in future before commenting, login with your username. (On most devices for accessing the internet, you can turn on the setting for your login to be remembered so you do not have to do this each time.) You will then see the party logo appearing next to your name ...
From today's Leicester Mercury: The man in charge of holding Leicester's city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby to account has been ousted from the role after a delivering a series of stinging criticisms. Former council leader Ross Willmott has chaired the panel of councillors which scrutinises the decisions of the mayor since last May's election. However, after making public criticisms of Sir Peter on various issues, he has been replaced by Ted Cassidy.And who did the ousting? Step forward the dominant figure in the Leicester Labour Party, Sir Peter Soulsby. If an elected mayor can remove the chair of the committee ...
Having basked in the afterglow of a successful midterm exam for a little while, I returned to week 8 of the course on Sunday. The lecture sequences were on step, ramp and impulse inputs to RL and RC circuits, followed by a sequence on digital memory. The first sequence of week 8 (S15) is a good example of a part of the course which really needs revising for online consumption before it's presented again. The video lectures for this sequence were overly long and repetitive – making the whole experience boring (rather than "fun" or "amazing" as we're always being ...
Harborough Town will collect one of the Football Association's Respect Awards at a ceremony before the FA Cup Final at Wembley on Saturday. The FA website says the Awards were introduced in 2010 to help promote Respect at all levels of the game and to recognise the army of volunteers that spend hours each week ensuring that participants have an enjoyable experience of playing the game. Harborough Town is commended as "a genuine community club with 36 teams which promotes Respect at its registration day, introduced the use of pitch side marshals for all age groups and established a Respect ...
There's a BBC radio programme called "The Unbelievable Truth" in which contestants make up improbable stories which contain a number of facts which are actually true, which other contestants are challenged to spot. However, with surprising regularity "facts" which seem absurd emerge from our highly sophisticated democracy, allegedly in the hands of the best and most highly educated brains in the country for decades, which would challenge the inventiveness of these radio comedians. Last week we learned that policemen involved in public disorder incidents give written evidence on what they have observed but cannot be questioned on their statements. This ...
There are no ballot papers, there are no voters, yet I am here in an official capacity. But - and those who know me will expect a 'but' - I'm in Brussels. To be precise, I'm in "Les Postiers', a bar near the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, nursing a glass of Rochefort, the trappist beer, rather than the cheese, as the culmination of nearly six months of bemusement approaches. Readers may recall that I had sought the Party's nomination for a place on the reconstituted Financial Advisory Committee of the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR) during its last Council meeting ...
His correct spelling of my surname must be progress of a sort (see below). I have spent years campaigning, privately and publicly, for a negotiated two-state solution that would bring peace, justice and security to Palestinians and Israelis alike. Such a negotiated two-state solution is not only right in itself, but also happens to be Liberal Democrat party policy. According to Mr Ali, my consistent support for this policy amounts to my "hiding behind clever little words" and is a "lie". What would be my motivation for telling such a lie - what would I get out of it? Actually, ...
Yesterday, some residents of Dunheved Road had their black bag rubbish collected for the first time in over a month. The bags had piled up to more than five feet high. When I asked the council to explain the reason for the problem, I was told that the new contractor - Cory - wasn't aware of how many properties (like this one) needed a narrow vehicle to access. To my mind, this is yet another example of the incompetence of both Cory management and Cornwall Council when it came to implementing this new contract. Surely as part of the pre-contract ...
Have you voted yet? The ballot boxes are open until ten for local councils up and down Britain and, where I voted this morning, for the combined London Mayor / Police and Crime Commissioner and for all the London Assembly Members to hold him to account. I'm proud to have voted positively for the Liberal Democrats and Brian Paddick - a Liberal London, fairer, greener, and safer, a serious team and a Mayor with thirty years of police experience. Both in London and nationally, Lib Dems get tough on real crime by stopping wasting police time on petty political targets. ...
It was encouraging when voting earlier today to see the number of people actually turning up to the polling station. Not quite a queue all the way out of the library, but a steady stream of people arriving to place an X on their ballot papers. Second preference votes will be crucial in the mayoral ...
Number of calls for area: 210 in total Number of community related calls: 76 Alcohol seizures:-None Common areas/Locations:-N/A Dwelling Burglaries:-2 reported Location:-The first related to a first floor flat at Southernwood that has been entered by a window being forced, Crime Team investigating. Also an investigation ongoing into a daytime burglary at Berry Edge Road, where three males have broken a patio door to gain entry and steal items, awaiting forensic results. Burglary (other) - 1 reported - where a door was forced to gain entry in Consett Probation Office and tools stolen, an investigation is also ongoing in relation ...
Via The Guardian: Nick Clegg has said there are "big question marks" about Rupert Murdoch's fitness to run News Corporation in the wake of a damning House of Commons report on the phone-hacking scandal. The deputy prime minister said the report, published on Tuesday, raised "serious questions of basic corporate governance in the Murdoch empire", which allowed its journalists to engage in illegal invasions of privacy on an "industrial scale"... During a visit to Fife before local council elections, Clegg threw his weight behind the culture committee's central findings: "What's striking about it is how much full, cross-party consensus there ...
My piece from yesterday's New Statesman. Proving quite popular. Do pop over to see the comments... And all the very best to all our candidates today, especially my local GLA candidate Munira Wilson, Leader of the Lib Dems on Richmond Council Stephen Knight (second on the GLA party list) and Jane Norman in the North Richmond ward By-election. I love the ceremony of voting. I like the stroll down Lock Road to the polling station, the good natured hello's to the party folk, friend and foe, at the door, the hushed librarian tones of the officials, the crispness of the ...
Yes, yes, I'm doing these again. It's almost like I've decided to try being a blogger again for a while, isn't it? Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&'s Sake! – A wonderfully angry rant about what rich people get away with in American. The rise of gernotocracy? – (pdf file) A report from the Intergenerational Foundation on the democratic deficit between different age groups, with suggestions for how to combat it. Whether you agree with the recommendations or not, there's a lot of food for thought within it. Bill Hicks on Freedom of Speech – Wonderful letter from the late, ...
The Murdoch and News Corporation scandal wasn't about Conservative Party sleaze - but it is now - Telegraph Great polemic in Telegraph. (tags: ukpolitics )
Today is Election Day and as usual I shall be spending several hours at the polling stations and many more hours at the count this evening. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of Kew Liberal Democrat activists for their hard work during the last 12 months and in particular during the run-in to the election. Maureen Fearn is our candidate but she cannot win an election on her own. Unlike our main opponents we do not receive donations from wealthy individuals and the rich and powerful unions. We depend on time and effort given by our volunteers ...
Crouch: Constituents before Government I'd spent the best part of last Tuesday's free time reading through Hansrad trying to get to the bottom of the amendments and proposals to do with the Legal aid Bill and the Mesothelioma amendments. I gratefully received a lot of very useful information from Harry Collins and drafted a rough blog post and statement for the Medway Libdem exec committee meeting to organise a support campaign to support the campaign against the Government's actions but it appears it would be for nought. I saw a RT on Twitter from Tracey Crouch with excellent news the ...
Last week the Green Investment Bank made its first loans, as Nick Clegg mentioned yesterday, and this week the Protection of Freedoms Bill received Royal Assent and became an Act, as Tom Brake wrote about on this site. The Protection of Freedoms Act includes the banning of rogue private wheel clampers, who are so unpopular that when Lynne Featherstone announced the plans last year it resulted in wall-to-wall positive coverage from the broadcast media, the tabloid press, the broadsheet press and even the pollsters. When the media and 87% of the public love a policy of ours that we have ...
The West Lothian Courier asked all the political parties for 400 words on what they offered the electorate. This is what I wrote. The top priority of the West Lothian Liberal Democrats is to fight to reverse the SNP's cuts to classroom assistants in the area. School is now a lot more confusing and difficult for many children with conditions like Dyslexia because they have lost the vital help that classroom assistants give. We also want to see these conditions identified sooner and proper support put in place before children fall too far behind. Too many parents have had to ...
Residents in Camden Town and Primrose Hill have four votes to cast: Vote Chris Richards for the Camden Town with Primrose Hill by-election Vote London Liberal Democrat on the Orange Ballot Paper to re-elect Caroline Pidgeon and a strong London Assembly team Vote Brian Paddick as your first preference for Mayor of London Vote Chris ...
Ok - so it was never really in doubt who I was going to vote for in the Mayoral election today – Brian Paddick! But when I sat down to complete my postal vote last weekend I did grab hold of the booklet (delivered to every household) containing the Mayoral candidates' manifestos - just to see what they were all saying etc. Before I became a local campaigner and then an elected Liberal Democrat politician in Hornsey & Wood Green I was a designer for around twenty years - a graphic designer. So I couldn't help but notice that the ...
Got an election in your area today? Here are a few key pieces of information for you. Voting in person Polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm today. No votes can be cast after 10pm; it's not like the shops where being in the queue at closing time is enough. You don't need your polling card to vote. You have to vote at your local polling station, which is indicated on the card. If you've lost your card and aren't sure where to vote, you can contact your local council. In some parts of the country you'll be given ...
As voters go to the polls across Wales, Scotland and much of England today to cast a verdict on their local council, Benedict Brogan in the Telegraph writes that this Sunday's election across the channel could have far-more devastating consequences for the UK Government than the predicted loss of council seats for Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. He says that the prospect of a change in the Élysée has set off alarms in the Foreign Office, the Treasury and Downing Street this week: They fear a triumph for Europe's least-modernised Left will trigger another round of uncertainty about the future of ...
Today is polling day Polls are open from 0700 to 2200. There are no changes to the usual polling places in St Peter's or Clarence wards. Notes: 1. You do not need a polling card to vote. 2. Political parties place 'tellers' outside polling stations who may ask you for your polling number. This cannot be used to identify how you have voted. They are used to identify which supporters have already voted so if you give them your polling number you will avoid being bothered later by representatives of political parties reminding people to go out and vote. The ...
My "Good Morning" leaflet: My thanks to all in the West End for their support again - it is really appreciated.
