This will be the last of these Kinks posts. In a couple of weeks a revised version of these posts, along with a new introduction and a brief section covering a couple of songs that only appeared on compilations, will be released as a book titled Preservation: The Kinks' Music 1964 – 1974. What reaction ...
As I blog a few weeks ago Northern Ireland had a number of athletes spread across two Olympic teams but how did they do? Silver Peter and Richard Chambers (Rowing) - Great Britain as part of the light-weight men's four they rowed into silver. Bronze Alan Campbell (Rowing) - Great Britain in the single sculls he added to the total for Coleraine Michael Conlon (Boxing) - Ireland Others Sycerika McMahon (Swimming) - Ireland failed to advance for either of her heats but came 22nd in the 200m individual medley and 26th in the 100m breaststroke. Melanie Nocher (Swimming) - Ireland ...
The sad news that commentator Sid Waddell has died is a double blow - for the world of darts and for fans of the English language. Waddell was a fine commentator - probably the last in the BBC tradition of professional enthusiasts whose commentaries oozed with knowledge, research and analysis. The late great Bill McLaren was another. Sadly we won't see the likes of Waddell or McLaren again as the BBC seem now to prefer ex players whose only contribution to commentary is to open their mouths to show their ignorance and prejudices - Mark Lawrenson being a prime example. ...
Really enjoyed my radio show today on Sounds of Urban London. This week I was joined by special guests Yehoeshahfhat Ben Israel of the African Hebrew Israelites, and Pan-African leader Esther Stanford-Xosei. We talked about the Hebrew Israelite community in ... Continue reading →
I'd like to say that I'm all blogged out, that I have had bigger fish to fry, not true, or that I'd been away on some exotic holiday but the truth is that for the last week or so I've mainly spent my spare time watching the Olympics . For a lot of us real world issues have been suspended to marvel at the Olympics, it's Friday afternoon as I start this posting and it might well be some time Sunday when complete, yesterday as talk of the legacy ramped up a tad, even the sky box appeared to suffer ...
From the Guardian: Labradors lead crackdown on Italy's cash smugglers
As we wait for the Games to close the Royal Mail have one final stamp to add to the 28 they have already released in the last couple of weeks. There was one final gold to lift the total to 29. In the boxing ring a medal would soon be bound up the Metropolitan line, the oldest line of the Olympic city's underground network, to Watford. In the newest of the men's Olympic boxing disciplines Anthony Joshua beat the defending champion (who now over three Games have all three colours of medal) to take the the Super Heavy Weight Gold. ...
29 golds 17 silver and 19 bronze. Only the USA and China won more gold and the Russian Federation more medals. It has been majestic to watch you all and an inspiration even for this old runner. All of our competitors even those that didn't medal have shown true inspiration, but here are (most of) the lucky few who found themselves in the top three of their sport in the world. So in alphabetical order irrelevant of medal well done to... Nicola Adams - gold women's flyweight boxing Rebecca Adlington - bronze women's 400m freestyle and bronze women's 800m freestyle ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 286th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (5-11 August, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. And with that, ...
Once Upon a Time in the West regularly tops polls as the best Spaghetti Western or even the best Western of all. The film was directed by Sergio Leone and its wonderful score was written by Ennio Morricone - remarkably, they were in the same class as schoolboys. As Notes of a Film Fanatic explains: In an unusual but inspired move Leone had Morricone write the score before filming began, and then had the music played on the set, which not only allowed Leone to synchronize camera movements and modulate editing rhythms with the tempo of the music, but also ...
Sun 12th
17:47
How I feel about the Olympics in 5 minutes, as told by John Finnemore AKA "Come on The British One!"
A couple of months ago John Finnemore brilliantly condensed the Eurozone crisis into a sublimely funny 5-minute metaphor involving smurfs and a disputed restaurant bill. Here he is this time channelling pretty much all my thoughts about this year's London 2012 Olympics into another sublimely funny 5 minutes: Posts Related to How I feel about the Olympics in 5 minutes, as told by John Finnemore AKA "Come on The British One!"The Eurozone crisis explained. OR: How not to get distracted by smurfs doing star-jumpsThe Eurozone crisis isn't, by common consent, a sexy topic rich with comic potential. Important, yes. A ...
What a fortnight! The whole country came together to make the Olympics a great success. Everywhere you went people were happy, polite and relaxed. And didn't our athletes do us proud too. I was fortunate to attend 5 evenings of athletics and 1 afternoon at the Canoe Slalom and the volunteers, police and members of our armed forces were my heroes. With the closing ceremony a few hours away
All, I thought it was probably time to get back to keeping this blog up to date, so here goes. I think the big row in Town at the moment is probably the proposed development on Campden Road – at least it is judging by the letters I've received this week! I, along with all the other Town Councillors, have received three letters, 2 from SHA!C, and 1 from SNAS (Shipston Needs a Supermarket). I will publish all three here over the next week – so please have a look at the arguments made and leave some comments. Today is ...
Here's a round-up of stories we haven't had time to cover on the site this past few days... Campaign to rename Tudor Square in honour of Jess (Postcode Gazette) Sheffield politicians want to rename Tudor Square in honour of Jessica Ennis. The Liberal Democrats have backed a campaign which went viral on twitter on Saturday night, following Jessica's victory in the women's heptathlon. The suggestion follows calls by Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, that Ennis be granted Freedom of the City. Coun Shaffaq Mohammed, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Sheffield Council, said: "Every Sheffielder will have been ...
This is the second in my series looking at the various factions within the Lib Dems. Yesterday I looked at the Orange Bookers. As then, the same provisos apply with regards to this post: the term "factions" is somewhat misleading as the actual factions are more like overlapping schools of thought, and the Lib Dems have far greater party unity than Labour or the Tories to boot, and lots of people within the party don't consider themselves part of any faction at all. Nevertheless, I think that the different views within the party can broadly speaking be grouped into various ...
Having moved through the process of revisiting the compilation of The Lord of the Rings, the History of Middle-Earth now starts into Tolkien's later working through of his mythology. I found a lot of this material very interesting and it is a shame that more of it did not find its way into the published Silmarillion, particularly the "Annals of Aman" which brings much more detail to the early days of relations between the Valar and the Elves. Tolkien also gave a lot of thought to the question of Elvish death and immortality; there's a series of reworkings of what ...
Construction Start for the Expansion of Odd Down Park & Ride Site as Part of the Bath Transportation Package The council is due to enter contracts on the construction of the Odd Down Park & Ride expansions on the 6th August. The contractor will be Alun Griffiths and construction is expected to commence at the end of August. Ground investigations may be carried out at the site earlier in the
My university town was close to some of the Olympic action, the torch sailed past it on opening day and the cyclists rode through it both in the road race and the time trails. But our summer Alumni magazine looked at all sorts of aspects in which our Alumni were involved in the Games from designing the livery for the nine British Airways Olympic jets, to broadcasting (including a previous Olympic medal Alumnus Gail Emms in the badminton plus 155 students gaining experience in their fields), to being part of the Olympic ad hoc Court of Arbitration for Sport. But ...
I have changed. They say a leopard never changes his spots but I am living proof that they can. Well maybe. Welcome to my fruit and herb patio which has become my pride and joy over the past couple of months. I have never had any interest in gardening. Like none at all. However I have a plethora of pot plants on my patio now and I am keenly watching them grow and produce sweet smelling herbs as well as fruit. Now some of the plants are not flourishing – for example I am deeply suspicious of how the cucumber ...
I know every paper has them, but I though I would compile my top ten Olympic moments And so, in no particular order: 1. BBC coverage From their decision to stream up to 24 live channels on their website and on the red button to dedicating the whole of BBC1 and BBC Three to coverage, the BBC has done the Olympics proud. On the radio and TV, their presenters, commentators and summarisers have been (almost) universally excellent, but I'll pick out Claire Balding. Michael Johnson and Leon Taylor as the best. You almost forget that Balding was confined to horse ...
On Friday after work I took myself up to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta to watch the "Mass Ascent" - when over 100 balloons took to the air over Bristol. (Or, in Friday's case, over North Somerset - the wind direction sent them away from the city!) Here are some of the pictures I took: Andrew
I quite delighted and not in the least surprised that Lord Coe has been given the role of Legacy Ambassador following on from the London 2012 Games. Ever since he retired from the track he has been working to inspire others, even when he was still competing he was looking out for the interests of others. Since he stepped in to the role to head the bid and then deliver the Games he has been working with all the national sports bodies to get the best for their sport, their athletes and and their fans at these Games. The venues ...
"London 2012: Olympics success down to 70,000 volunteers" : The Independent. With headlines like that Games Makers are rightly proud of what they have achieved, even though many of us have not even started yet! I will be collecting my uniform and accreditation tomorrow in readiness for the Paralympics. The figure of 70,000 is the total number of Games Makers involved in the Olympics and the Paralympics. Comments have appeared in most newspapers about the smilling greetings given to spectators by the volunteers in their distinctive purple and red uniforms. But the fact is that most of the volunteers were ...
We have asked for the path from Rush Hill to Ambleside Road to be trimmed
Why do we do the things we do? I've been away in the Lake District over the last week and I've returned to thinking about this question. Toiling up some of the steeper parts of England, sweating profusely and with leg muscles begging for a respite is a heck of a workout but it isn't everyone's idea of fun. Throw in the fact that the weather provides the occasional soaking and that there's a better than even chance that when you get to the top you won't be able to see anything anyway. I suspect that most people would find ...
A new 8 year contract for Park & Ride services on a net subsidy basis has beenawarded to First Somerset & Avon. The service will include operation on all Sundays except for Easter Sunday. The service will include operation on Good Friday, Easter Monday, early May BankHoliday, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday, as well as weekday BankHolidays in lieu of Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New
Recycling Depot Open Day
We don't normally publish press releases in full on LibDemVoice — but I'm very happy to make an exception for this announcement from Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg: The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has invited 12 guests to attend the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics on Sunday evening. All the guests are people he has met over the last year and who have made a major contribution to society, their local communities and the country. The guests will all attend a reception for Olympic VIPs hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister before taking ...
Declassified Photos Reveal CIA's Deep-Sea Rescue of a Spy Satellite Old news, but fascinating. (tags: technology ) Huge pumice 'island' floating in Pacific Extraordinary. (tags: ) Sport in schools: the debate With comments from prominent martial arts practitioner and ex-ambassador. (tags: ukpolitics ) Adam Roberts on Anathem Read down for the glossary: "HARI-PARTER. Committing a form of tekstual suicide by increasingly expanding the parts of an ongoing tale until they reach such size that the guts of the story split open and spill all over the ground (see Rowmbling). Painful and grisly." (tags: sf ) Georgia: The Rose Revolution Fades ...
Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference Agenda 2012
In April 1935, a volume of essays by five leading National Labour politicians was published under the title "Towards a National Policy: being a National Labour Contribution"; MacDonald contributed a preface in which he argued that the Labour opposition "is as little guided by Socialist opinion and inspired by the fine human spirit of our British Socialism as any other political party of pure expediency striving for a majority. Betrayal is a cry Liberal Democrats frequently hear from Labour supporters whenever the Coaltion is mentioned. It harks back to the days of National government of the 1930s to the ultimate ...
It looks like the coming months will see new initiatives to boost the economy, following the second quarter contraction (now revised up slightly to -0.5%) and a record trade deficit. As The Spectator reports, No. 10 is aware, though, that the biggest single influence on the mood of the party — the country, for that matter — is the economy. So Cameron intends to fill the hole left in the coalition's legislative programme by the failure of Lords reform with economic measures. This legislation, being called the Jobs Bill in No. 10, will be made up of three parts: deregulation, ...
I have recently received complaints about the very poor state of both much of the roadway and the pavements in Farington Terrace. See photos below: Road surface Pavement in Farington Terrace The pavement is not adopted and I have asked the City Engineer to have it added to the List of Unadopted Footways for future adoption. He has responded: "Farington Terrace will be considered for future inclusion on the Unadopted Footways List and its priority scored at the next review." With regard to the road, the Roads Maintenance Partnership has replied as follows: "Farington Terrace carriageway has been checked by ...
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of calling by the Family Fun Day organised by City Church at the Friary on Tullideph Road and good to see so many local people there. A couple of photos from the event are below. Later on, it was good to chat to the residents of the Kelso Street area, who kindly invited me along to their picnic near the Rose Garden at Victoria Park.
It isn't over until it's over, as the Americans say. But with only the closing ceremony to come today, the party is nearly over and only the clearing up remains.
