Chorlton Good Neighbours Care Group wishes to appoint a part-time worker to support the development of activities with local older men. This is a two year post starting from July 1st 2012 - June 30th 2014. Salary £7,500 pa Chorlton Good Neighbours are seeking a person who has experience of working in community settings to join their team of staff and volunteers, and support the work of this well established Neighbourhood Care Group. Car driver/owner preferred. Part Time Older Men's development worker, 20 hours per week The post holder will work for 5 hours per day from Tuesday to Friday ...
I'm sorry, I can't substantiate the title of this post. It is not even possible. But I just couldn't resist. Who knew, after all this time, that behind Leveson's mysterious Blue Curtain was a secret gateway direct to the headquarters of the Stop the War coalition? It had often been speculated that maybe there was ...
Amid all the joy over the Government's welcome decision on the pasty tax, one slightly sour note is the decision by George Eustice to promote himself as the leader of the campaign to stop the measure. According to the Telegraph: "George Eustice, a Conservative Cornish MP, who has led the campaign to change the proposed tax increase on pasties, welcomed the move." George, like his fellow Cornish MPs, all backed the key amendment to the budget debate, but this was put forward by St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Gilbert, who also arranged the debate last week to keep the ...
I am waiting for my chicken kiev with garlic sauce to cook, and while doing so I have been lurking on Facebook. I saw a link about Kilbeggan Whiskey. I'd not heard of that one before: I was interested. Opened back in 1757, the Old Kilbeggan Distillery is the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the ...
The loggia at the Chelsea Arts Club was heated by the beating sun and the chatter of predominantly Observer hacks, past and present, at a celebratory lunch today to remember the life. work and personality of Mark Frankland, the man who played the role of Honorary Elder Brother in my life. Sue Arnold — for long ...
I have received notification that an application has been received by the City Council for a New Premises Licence for premises at Bistro 1847, 123 Manchester Road, Chorlton M21 9PG. A summary of the application is as follows:Proposed trading hours for the supply of alcohol for consumption off the premises only: Mon to Fri 0930 to 2230, Fri and Sat 0830 to 2230 Proposed opening hours for the premises:Mon to Fri 0930 to 2300, Fri and Sat 0830 to 2300 If you have any comments, you can make these directly to The Licensing Unit (e-mail: premises.licensing@manchester.gov.uk) or write to: The ...
This evening the Government has announced that it is backing down on its budget proposals for a pasty tax which would have created huge problems for the Cornish economy and Cornish jobs. I'm delighted that the Government has listened to the views of the pasty makers and pasty eaters in Cornwall and around the UK. This proposal would have taken up to £40 million out of the Cornish economy alone as well as threatening 1100 jobs in the pasty industry and its supply chain. With this announcement, the pasty industry can go back to being the successful manufacturing sector of ...
Mon 28th
20:25
New LDV members' survey now live: your views on the economy, the Coalition, Nick Clegg, personal fre...
The new LDV members' survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. Questions we're asking this month include: what you think of the current state of the economy; whether you back a market rents for households in social housing earning more than £60k; your views on Nick Clegg's leadership and any post-2015 coalition; what you think about Section Five, internet clampdowns and Lib Dem conference accreditation; ...
Nowadays there is a rather sad game you can play when visiting a village for the first time: guess where the post office used to be. Newton Harcourt made it easy, having an Old Post Office in a Post Office Lane. Down that lane there was also a fine mid 19th century school perched above a railway cutting. In fact I have seen this building on my commute every day without realising what it was. And Newton Harcourt Village Hall is one of those prefabricated corrugated-iron buildings I like so much. It has a brick extension at one end, but ...
The signs are looking promising for the Secret Courts Bill, set to be published tomorrow. There's been a huge row inside government over its contents, with Nick Clegg leading Liberal Democrat opposition to draconian plans, aided by some of the more liberal parts of the Conservative Party. As The Guardian reported last month: Nick Clegg wrote to cabinet colleagues to criticise the proposals as unacceptable in their present form... Clegg is demanding that the courts are only used in exceptional cases where there are national security concerns; that they complement the current system of public interest immunity; that judges, and ...
Back Medomsley Road between Livingstone Street and Hartington Street will be closed for 5 days from June 11th. for sewer repairs.
After months of scandals and shocking stories coming out of Westminister, our attention is easily drawn to the access and influence that can be bought within our political system. Something David Cameron predicted when he said "lobbying will be next big scandal" and the coalition pledged to create a register of lobbyists. Unlock Democracy and Greater Manchester for Greater Democracy have team to host Open Up Lobbying ManchesterFriday 15th June - 7pmwith Michael Meacher MP, John Leech MP,Spinwatch Director Tamasin Cave & Unlock Democracy Director Peter FaceyChaired by Manchester Business School's Prof. Colin TalbotFriends' Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester.Register ...
Over at Harry's Place, a piece of mine has been reproduced as a guest post, on gay marriage: The debate over there seems to be relatively sensible at time of writing...
Congratulations to the protesters who have persuaded Network Rail to suspend work on clearing trees from an embankment near Whitstable in Kent. As I discovered in 2003 when I researched and wrote an article for the Guardian about the clearance of the Wigston Triangle near Leicester, there is a good deal of local disquiet about the company's stewardship of the natural environment of railway land. Nature is very forgiving: in the years since I wrote that article the Wigston Triangle has largely regenerated. But as this video from N21.net shows, Network Rail's approach can be brutal.
Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make. 099214/JO/2012/S1 Dixy ...
With Thanet Labour having recently spent much of their energies horse trading, in a move which apart from costing the public Ten thousand pounds in services, has resulted in little benefit unless you happen to be in Clive Hart's Cabinet or indeed the smalll group of Independently minded councillors knows as TIG who are in receipt of generous allowances. Still tonight's local news on BBC's South East Today, gives Clive Hart the opportunity to show what he's made of, Labour Councillor Mike Harrison appeared prominently and not in the best light, the story introduced by presenters Rob Smith and Polly ...
Sunday's Observer had an article purporting to show that the Liberal Democrats had been "sucked deeper into the controversy over News Corp's planned takeover of BSkyB". My first reaction was that I wan not aware we were involved in the controversy in the first place, so how could we been sucked in deeper? And Liberal Democrat Voice hurried to assure us that it was "desperately thin stuff". Certainly, the article failed to show that the two Lib Dem cabinet ministers it mentions - Vince Cable and Danny Alexander - had behaved with anything other than the utmost propriety over BSkyB. ...
The BBC reports: A glass roof panel has cracked in the atrium at Portcullis House – a £235m annexe to the House of Commons in Westminster. Therese Coffey, Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal, tweeted: "Great deal of excitement in Portcullis Atrium as a roof panel shatters." Security guards have cleared the area beneath the panel in case it comes down. * Paul Walter is Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, a LibDem activist in Newbury, Berkshire and blogs at Liberal Burblings
Last week I wrote about how the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg MP, slammed Manchester Labour for rejecting the Pupil Premium. Newly released figures show that the Pupil Premium will be worth over £18.1 million extra to Manchester Schools in 2012-13. The figures reveal that Chorlton Schools will benefit by nearly £1.1million; in addition to the support they already receive in 2012/13. Figures for individual schools in the Chorlton area: School Name Number on roll (5) Illustrative number of pupils eligible for the Deprivation Pupil Premium Percentage of pupils eligible for the Deprivation Pupil Premium Illustrative allocation for the Deprivation ...
The Twittyblogsphere is abuzz with this one. Number Ten Communications director, Craig Oliver is allegedly "caught on camera" berating the BBC's Norman Smith about a News at Six report. Oliver says he was "genuinely shocked" by the report and that it was based on "opinion rather than impartial reporting of the facts". He also says he has complained to Smith's boss about the report. He seems most upset by the "spider's web" graphic which featured with the report. Then at the end he stomps off, leaving a rather bemused Smith. It's a calm, even boring discussion. But, it is all ...
During the Memorial Day weekend my wife and I spent a little time in the charming town of Yountville, California. For it's small population Yountville packs a big punch in the food world as it boasts more Michelin stars per capita than any other place on Earth. While there we had the good fortune of ...
In response to a Lib Dem question last week from Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon on the "Love London Go Dutch" cycle safety campaign, Mayor Boris Johnson confirmed that he would be fulfilling the pre-election commitment to implement three flagship areas for this scheme. He said that it was early days but that Vauxhall Cross and Greenwich were areas ...
I've just received news from my colleague and party leader, Councillor Iain Brodie-Browne. A story carried in today's Daily Post highlights a bust-up within the Labour members of Merseytravel, which could have a major impact on the Bootle Labour Brigade. Click on the following link for the full story http://t.co/Zq0wHhDr
The South Shropshire Journal makes a welcome return to form: Founder of good news paper dies
After a tiring week in Strasbourg with plenary session and a letter-drop campaign for Chris's cross-party Fish For the Future group, this week brings a hectic Committee week in Brussels. Both the Environment and the Fisheries Committee will be sitting ... Continue reading →
I wish Sir Clement Freud were still alive and serving as the Liberal MP for the Isle of Ely or North East Cambridgeshire (for purely stylistic reasons, I prefer the "Isle of Ely" as a constituency name). I'd like also that he was in a position to speak up about the latest expenses scandal which ...
Apologies for the delay in updating this site, keeping checking in as I increase the output on here. I'm looking to update the site as well, which I hope to get down over the next few weeks. Blogging all year round not just at election time...
I blogged in December 2011 about Morocco's appalling occupation of Western Sahara. That post has today prompted a welcome email from Sandblast, whose website explains that it is: "an arts and human rights charity working with the indigenous people from Western Sahara, the Saharawis whose identity and culture is threatened by the impact of exile and Morocco's occupation. It is our mission to empower the Saharawis to tell their own story, promote their own culture and earn a living through the arts." They're having this event at London's Roundhouse Studio Theatre on Wednesday 6 June 2012, to launch Studio-Live, a ...
Ever wanted to get a better deal for your community? Ever watched politicians and thought 'I could do a better job'? Out this summer is a new book on how to win elections by myself and Ed Maxfield which reveals the secrets and skills you need to take the first step to power - getting elected. 101 Ways To Win An Election is a grass-roots guide to running an election campaign. It draws on successful tactics from around the world and presents the lessons in a digestible format. You can pre-order the book now from Amazon.
Cornwall Council Leader Alec Robertson has written to the company behind the stadium project to confirm that there will be no council funding for the project at this time. Cllr Robertson says that, although he personally backs the idea, he is accepting the wishes of the majority of councillors who voted against the idea when it came to full council earlier this month. Cllr Robertson's letter to CCSL is below: CCSL 28.05.12 For info: Cllr Robertson was told in the meeting by the legal officer that he could vote on the proposal but chose not to. Tweet
Student protests against tuition fee increases have been going on for weeks. In response, the government has introduced emergency legislation, legally curtailing demonstrations, hiking penalties and suspending classes at 25 colleges. Close to home? Actually, Quebec. * Paul Walter is Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, a LibDem activist in Newbury, Berkshire and blogs at Liberal Burblings
My reading of this year's nominated fiction for the Hugos did not end particularly well. Although I very much liked my favourite in this category, I was disappointed by the other five and indeed found three of them rather poor. 7) "Kiss Me Twice" by Mary Robinette Kowal. I really hate stories with cute anthropomorphic artificial intelligences, and this one has a police computer that thinks it is Mae West. And when it gets captured by bad guys in the first couple of pages, the police department does not treat it as a class one emergency, mobilising all resources to ...
Another quiet day at the polls on Thursday, with just one principal council contest and one town council election reported to ALDC. The Aspatria and Wharrels division of Cumbria County Council straddles part of the northern border of the Lake District, reaching from just north of Keswick and out to the town of Aspatria. The division sits inside Allerdale District Council, not exactly a Lib Dem stronghold, but our campaign team on the ground worked hard in promoting the election and asking for help. The campaign team itself topped out at 22, which was a huge improvement on the usual ...
I am pleased to see that Sarah Ludford, London's Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament, has strongly condemned calls for the Globe Theatre to rescind its invitation to Israel's national theatre, Habima, to perform The Merchant of Venice as part of a London 2012 Shakespeare festival. The festival involves thirty-seven Shakespeare productions in thirty-seven languages, including also an Arabic-language production of Richard II by a Palestinian theatre company. Theatre companies from countries with such marvellous human rights records as Zimbabwe and China are taking part, but it is only Israel that faces calls for a boycott - if nothing ...
Amid the current maelstrom of gossip, speculation and forecasting concerning the British economy, a number of myths have developed. Principal among them is that the coalition's economic plans for this parliament contained 'only' cuts, with no concern for achieving growth. The issue of whether fiscal consolidation itself can be a driver of growth is one I aim to address further below, but first I want to debunk that myth. The economic plans, outlined by the coalition in 2010, made clear that the first half of the parliament would contain the bulk of the 'cuts', while, in the latter period, capital ...
Official lawyer to the Twitterati David Allen Green asks us whether it was necessary that a polity – a concept of political power, such as that bound up with kingship – arose amongst our forebears, or whether a more primitive form of organisation such as that represented by silverback gorillas could have continued to hold ...
I'm a great fan of Buf fer, a simple and free tool that lets you schedule tweets in advance – but which automatically times them for slots when they are likely to get the most response. That is really handy when you want a tweet to be seen or acted on, but it isn't too time sensitive. You can manually schedule tweets with many other tools, but Buffer takes the extra step of working out for you good times to tweet and then slotting your messages into them. You can also use it with Facebook and LinkedIn. Very nifty. I've ...
Mon 28th
11:50
Why the UK Uncut mob were selfish in their protest outside Nick Clegg's home on Saturday
I was sunning myself in Jubilee Park and wandering through Waterlooville Town Centre on Saturday afternoon mostly wondering where the hell the fountain had gone and when I got back to my sisters she asked me if I had heard about the protest outside Nick Clegg's house. I hadn't and with no internet at my sisters and no 3G (how do people live in such conditions?) I wouldn't get up to speed on the issue until the best part of 48 hours after it had started. So having read up on the issues I'll say that the UK Uncut mob ...
Rather handily, the OECD complies a set of international indicators of employee protection, the latest version of which was revised in September 2010, using 2008 data. The survey looks at "the procedures and costs involved in dismissing individuals or groups of workers and the procedures involved in hiring workers on fixed-term or temporary work agency contracts". What does it show? First, that protection for employees in these respects in the UK is already close to the lowest of any country in the OECD survey, only slightly higher than Canada or the USA. All of the much touted BRIC countries (Brazil, ...
The Together Trust is looking for craft stalls for the Cheadle Festival, held at the Together Trust on Schools Hill, Cheadle on Saturday 23rd June 11.30am-4pm. As the Together Trust explains: The Cheadle Festival, a popular annual family fun day is hosted by the Together Trust (charity number 209782) and attracts over 1,000 visitors. This year's festival includes an 'It's a Knockout' competition, funfair, stalls, entertainment, refreshments and a licensed bar. There is space for 40 outdoor pitches for traders selling arts and crafts, textiles, plants, up-cycled and handmade items etc. Food items (including sweets, snacks, popcorn, drinks etc) can ...
Mon 28th
10:56
Bean-counters and Hicks-onomics - why Cornwall Council is stifling local parking ideas
I complain quite often about how Cornwall Council's parking regime has adversely affected local shops and businesses in Launceston. The latest Cornish Guardian carries a similar story about Liskeard. The attitude of those at County Hall - that parking services is a cash cow that can be milked at will - means that prices inexorably rise. Even though Cornwall Council has never hit their income targets, the amount they get in from parking in Liskeard has risen a bit over the years. The trouble is that this has come at a cost of fewer cars actually parking in the town ...
An enjoyable book in the New Adventures series, with the Doctor and Bernice Summerfield getting involved in an ancient dispute between two groups of lizard-men and Ace embroiled in the external force which may destroy their planet. Benny gets some particularly good character moments.
I have nearly finished my reading of the Hugo nominees in the fiction categories, and reached Ken Liu's fascinating story, "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" (available here in PDF). It is a sparsely told but emotionally wrenching tale of a Japanese-American/Chinese-American couple who develop a technology that allows one to experience historical events, and use it to allow relatives of the victims to revisit the horrors of Unit 731, where Japanese scientists performed horrible experiments on Chinese and other human subjects during the second world war. It's an effective piece of writing, but I tripped over two details ...
Mark Thompson: What does this picture tell us about how modern politics works? It's a good blog post, although the 1997 photo looks like a manip, even though it isn;t (tags: ) The BAFTA Television Awards winners | Den of Geek Full list of BAFTA winners and OMG THE FADES WON BEST DRAMA!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! Also yay Pterry. (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Over a four-year period South Glos Council will be hiring 60 apprentices a year in areas like housing, care, catering and street services. The scheme, which is being run in partnership with South Gloucestershire and Stroud College at Filton, will be open to young people between 16 and 24. The Gazette has more details here. For more information about the scheme contact Natalie Zullo at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College on 0117 909 2234 or email natalie.zullo@filton.ac.uk
How St Albans City and District Council recycles its organic waste is the focus of a new campaign by Hertfordshire's Waste Partnership. The Black Box Cinema tour will showcase a 15-minute short film, produced by Wasteaware (the campaigning arm of the partnership), about the problems caused by the wrong rubbish being placed in our green bins. Residents can catch the performance on: · 2-3 June at Hertfordshire County Show, The Showground, Dunstable Road, Redbourn. · 23 June at St Peter's Street, St Albans, where the cinema will be located next to Barclay's Bank all day. · 8 July outside Britannia ...
Mon 28th
09:54Opinion: Time to move on from the sterile debate based on misinterpretations of Keynes and Smith
Is Europe, including the UK, destined to drown in a sea of irreconcilable debate over austerity versus growth, whilst the economic answers watch despairing from the shore ? It may well be so. The election in France of President Hollande, and the success of anti-austerity parties and groups, seems to point that way. There is no middle ground here. Only a different way of looking at the problem. To get there however, I first wish to take you back, dear reader, to the mid-1970s when political criticisms of Keynesian demand management began to penetrate. Indeed, they weren't so much criticism ...
Last Saturday in Huddersfield I watched Northern Stage's splendid revival of Alan Platter' musical drama on the history of mining. Although I rather baulked at the £3 price, the programme is packed with valuable nuggets of information. It took a strike in 1831 to bring the length of a shift down form 18 hours to 12hours (which puts today's mutterings about austerity, in Greece or here, in perspective.) These shifts often involved children as young a s six. In spite of regular deaths on an almost daily basis (only major incidents hit the headlines) there was no official inspection of ...
Full marks to Cornwall Council's new loan shark campaign which has been launched to make people aware of the dangers they face when borrowing money from illegal doorstep money-lenders. The campaign also asks people to come forward if they have been a victim of a loan shark as there is help out there. There an estimated 310,000 households across the UK turning to illegal money lenders. The loan sharks may appear friendly at first but their behaviour can quickly change, with many adding additional amounts to the illegal debt and charging exorbitant rates of interest. The Team have prosecuted illegal ...
A lack of motivation is a serious problem. Once it has gone you end up with people being less willing to do the necessary things that will result in a successful election. Some people do less in the local party. Some give up doing anything at all. Some leave the party and some even join ...
People are increasingly interested to know how they can influence Britain's big companies. The "shareholder spring" has seen a revolt against boardroom greed. The AGMs of Barclays Bank and Trinity Mirror, among others, saw shareholders saying they were fed up with directors awarding themselves super salaries and fat bonuses that did not reflect company performance. ...
I have been absolutely appalled by some of the stuff I've seen from supporters of UK Uncut in defence of their protest outside Nick Clegg's house. Some people think that, because children are having to suffer the impacts of cuts in benefits, that Nick Clegg's children are fair game. Like they had any influence in the tough decisions of Government that have to be made. Have a look at some of the comments on Richard Morris' New Statesman piece. Others think that it was just an innocent street party and 400 people turning up in a quiet residential street was ...
A couple of weeks ago I linked to this piece by Desmond Swayne MP, explaining a Christian perspective in favour of equal marriage. Swayne's back in the news today, but this time not doing anything worth praising. Instead, he's been revealed as the chief orchestrator of idiots within Parliament. Yes, it turns out that Tory MPs are so useless, they need someone else to tell them who they should be barracking and howling at like crazed howler monkeys, otherwise they might just end up sitting quietly in the Commons and expecting people to engage in debate like adults. But no, ...
1992 and all that This picture was taken on 16th September 1992. That is the day that subsequently became known as "Black Wednesday" when sterling came crashing out the Exchange Rate Mechanism. It features then Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont explaining to the massed ranks of the media what had just happened regarding sterling. But the reason why this picture has become more historic in recent years is because of who is lurking in the background. It is a fresh faced, 25 year old David Cameron (the one who looks a bit like he doesn't know where to put ...
I'm a little late with this story, but given what The Sun has said about Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Gilbert, it's well worth still reporting: How refreshing - an honest and upfront MP. I think I can guess what will be appearing on Stephen's re-election leaflets, especially given quite how many Sun readers have voted Liberal Democrat... Aside from winning his own seat in 2010, Stephen also played an important role in Lynne Featherstone's election in 2005 as his election to Haringey Council in 2002 was one of the key ward gains that helped set up the 2005 victory.
The appointment of chairs and vice chairs of current committees, now public, shows what a poor deal the SNP have secured in return for propping up Labour. I am not going to give you any of this "sold their souls" stuff as I am a believer in PR and coalition politics but if you are going to do a deal with your bitterest enemy then it has to work for both parties and it has to be worth it in terms of both policy and influence. Convenor-ships are highly important as dozens of decisions are taken daily which are not ...
Nick Clegg "lit the blue touchpaper" yesterday by putting forward a forthright position on gay marriage on The Andrew Marr Show: We are not asking any person with religious convictions to sacrifice anything. We are simply saying those who want to show a lifelong commitment to each other should be able to do so. ...In the same way the civil partnerships legislation which was introduced under Labour was a whipped vote, I personally don't think this is something which should be subject to a great free for all because we are not asking people to make a decision of conscience." ...
Viewed from the perspective of the Euro's newest member state, the British political and media narrative still seems completely off the point with regard to the single currency. To reiterate: this is not a currency crisis, it is a debt crisis. The majority of the members of the Euro zone have controlled their deficits and are retrenching their debts. It is where deficits are not being controlled- in Greece and in the Latin bloc that the crisis has its centre. There are two sources of deficit pressure: one is fiscal incontinence, that is to say that the structure of debt ...
With the recent good weather, it has been great to see local parks across the West End being well-used by the public, including Magdalen Green - see right. The Friends of Magdalen Green and I have made clear to the City Council that there was a need for additional litter facilities - the "heritage style" bins look the part in a Conservation Area but simply do not hold enough litter. As an experiment, the City Council's Environment Department last week installed half a dozen wheelie bins at specific locations at the Green edge - see below:Feedback from residents to this ...
Yesterday afternoon, just before the start of the Friends of Balgay litter pick at Balgay Hill, I had the opportunity to call in at the start of the Bioblitz at Riverside Nature Park, run by Dundee City Council's Countryside Ranger Service - see right. BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, teachers, and others from the local community work together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as possible. It was great to see a good turnout of people on a beautiful Sunday afternoon! However, I ...
The Welsh Government housing white paper proposes a stick to encourage owners of long term empty homes to take up the assistance available to bring their property back into use. They suggest that after 12 months the local council should have the power to double the Council Tax payable on that home. In my view 12 months is too short a period as this may not allow for the owner to sort out problems with succession or to carry out a complex renovation but that is something that can be sorted out as part of the consultation. The principle is ...
I can't believe a pub singer version of Bohemian Rhapsody was enough to knock Jaz out. FFS. And Ruth getting knocked out was totally unjustified too. (ETA: for those who haven't realised, I just saw the results for The Voice. Looking forward to when the competition is over and then I can look forward to hearing Becky, Jaz and Ruth again. Of those who are left, if Bo doesn't win, people need shooting). [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: Library Garden] On Saturday I attended the Stroud Green Neighbourhood Day – an afternoon of community activity in the roads around Stroud Green Library. Well done to Kit, Helen and everyone else involved in co-ordinating the stalls and organising the activities. Its a great way of bringing people together. I particularly enjoyed the Stroud Green Women's Institute's cake stall, and it was great to get some bike maintenance advice from 'Dr Bike'. However, my highlight was being shown round the Stroud Green Library garden for the first time (see picture). Volunteers have turned what was a run down backyard ...
