It was the final full day of activity in the Paralympics though there is some action tomorrow, but our GB Paralympians weren't letting the Royal Mail rest as there was more gold in the offing. First up at Brands Hatch David Stone (keeping up the look a like train looks like David Millar) got on his Tricycle in the T1-2 Road Race, he's lost his time time title the other day but was determined to hold on to his other title from Beijing. He ended up taking on Giorgio Farroni of Italy in a sprint finish taking the gold by ...
(Written before seieng tonight's episode, partly inspired by @first_doctor on Twitter) Doctor Who And The Spaceship Of Dinosaurs by Terrance Dicks Based on a BBC Televisionn serial written by John Lucarotti and first broadcast in 1965. Chapter 2 Inside the spaceship No sooner had the doors opened of that police-box that was not a police-box ...
I've seen it. I want to see it again. And then probably again. It was bloody marvellous. Anderson in particular kicked serious arse. There will probably be more (lots more!) and more detailed on this film later, but for now GO SEE THIS FILM. OK, so there's lots of swearing and violence, and some of the violence has sexual connotations but the way it's framed is not disempowering. There's a technical bechdel pass, and the lead bad guy, the person in charge/chief judge, AND one of the two viewpoint characters are female. Stunning cinematography, fabulous performance from Urban, lots of ...
Michael Crick at his investigative best as he leaves Conservative Police Commissioner candidate for Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Michael Mates, floundering: No wonder than that some Conservatives have been calling for Michael Mates to be sacked as their candidate: Michael Mates is facing strong calls from within his own party to step down as candidate for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight over his suitability for such a sensitive job... One critic, Graham Burges, the deputy leader of Gosport Borough Council, said: "I believe the candidate for police and crime commissioner should be beyond reproach and this candidate still ...
Sat 8th
21:10
Scrap the UK-US Extradition Treaty says Issan Ghazni - Babar Ahmed should receive a fair trial in Br...
It is now 8 years since Babar Ahmad was detained without trial in the UK. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has so far failed to heed the growing calls from respected and independent human rights organisations and legal experts to ... Continue reading →
Today I was one of more than 1500 people to visit the dig at Greyfriars in Leicester. The organisers weren't taking any chances: I counted security staff from the city council and at least two private firms. These middle-aged archaeology fans are obviously a notoriously rough crowd. We were taken around the site in groups by an archaeologist, and I learnt much in the process. We Time Team viewers are used to the geophysics people producing miraculously clear plans of the building the diggers are seeking. The reality in urban archaeology is that the techniques reveals services like pipes, cables ...
Just stumbled on some great ideas for growing vegetables Want to grow a salad garden but have no room? Try gutters! Affix them to a fence, slope them for drainage, and voila! More gideas at Nick's Barn Door.
Along with Pam King, Keith Holloway and John Pantall, I was absolutely thrilled to see the grand opening of the new Hall Street Green in Cheadle (behind St Mary's Church). Stockport Mayor Wendy Meikle was on hand to cut the ribbon and declare the Green officially open. The three-year project has been driven by local residents – ably led by Penny Allwork – and supported by Stockport Council. A grant of over £40,000 was raised to transform the Green into a lovely local feature and a real asset for the area. Hall Street Green was created in about 1970 when ...
The anti-equality campaign down in Australia suffered a rather unnecessary own goal this week when Jim Wallace, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby, suggested that the homosexual male "lifestyle" was more dangerous than smoking. Interestingly he cited the same life expectancy reduction of 20 years as the Scottish Catholics, who were quoting a 2005 study based on obituaries. I've dealt with the fairly obvious faults on the more dangerous than smoking line before. The own goal part came when Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia, cancelled her top billed speech at the ACL's conference next month. Gillard, an ...
Apologies for the delay in putting out the ebook version of my Kinks book. With luck, I should have it out within a few days, but I'd forgotten what a horrible process wrestling with Microsoft file formats is. To explain, both Smashwords and Kindle want authors to upload .doc or .rtf files, which they then ...
Today's South Wales Evening Post contains a rather bizarre response from the Welsh Government to the revelation by Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Kirsty Williams that the use of agency staff by the health service is an expensive and inefficient use of scarce resources. Instead of seeking to answer the charge their unnamed spokesperson instead launches into a tirade about the unrelated cuts being faced by the Welsh Government's budget. There was a rather similar accusation in a letter in the same edition from Labour Assembly Member, Mike Hedges. He claims that 'all cuts to public expenditure in Wales are a ...
Here is my column for the Ham & High that was published on Thursday and written before the reshuffle. Wow! I have screamed, shouted, cheered, laughed and cried through the Olympics and Paralympics. And like everyone, I am just so proud of what we have achieved - and the friendly, cheerful way we have achieved it. With my work on equalities issue, it is the increasing parity between male and female sports and sports stars and between the Olympics and Paralympics which has particular caught my eye. I would simply call the 2012 Games the Equality Games. Rules and regulations ...
Doreen Lawrence is to launch a new postcard campaign to save the Equality and Human Rights Commission. She is demanding the withdrawal of planned budget cuts which would disproportionately hit black and Asian staff and the disabled. The mother of ... Continue reading →
Kington House, Mortimer Crescent, NW6 5NU in Kilburn, north west London will be the location for a significant unveiling of a plaque to author and broadcaster George Orwell on Tuesday 11th September at 3pm. All residents and Orwell fans welcome. The plaque will be unveiled by George Orwell's adopted son Richard Blair. More information from ed.fordham@gmail.com
Residents in Kilburn will be celebrating their significant literary heritage when they gather on Tuesday 11th September to unveil a plaque to George Orwell (real name Eric Blair) who lived on the Mortimer Estate, NW6 The plaque will be unveiled by Orwell step-son Richard Blair in a ceremony at 3pm on Tuesday 11th September. The plaque will be on Kington House, Mortimer Crescent, NW6 5NU - which stands on the site of the house that Orwell and his family were themselves bombed out of during World War Two. There will be a full insight into Orwell's time in Kilburn and ...
Councillors McGuire, Dawson & Preece COUNCIL SEES LIVELY DEBATE OVER POLICY ON DUNES AND SOUTHPORT BEACH At Thursday night's Council meeting at Bootle Town Hall, councillors discussed the issue of sheep pens and felling on the Ainsdale and Birkdale Local Nature Reserve and beach management. The debate was prompted by a motion submitted by Conservative group deputy leader Cllr Terry Jones. In it he requested that "an urgent review is undertaken of our current coast management programme in order to protect Southport's Dune system, foreshore and the many habitats within it." However the Mayor, Litherland Cllr Kevin Cluskey, ruled that ...
This is the latest in my series of Random Thoughts posts with links, things found on the web and other stuff that has occured to me this week: Mark Thompson: An appeal for the NHS Some say that as a result of the coalition government the NHS is being "abolished" or "destroyed". Mark is calling for evidence — "I am appealing for someone to prove to me that these claims about the NHS being destroyed are true.....Anyone?" Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – No Ordinary Park Remember all those mutterings about the Olympic "legacy"? This website shows you the magnificent new ...
Rail News has published a well researched comparison of the two leading bids for west coast rail services. It makes it clear that much of the bearded one's publicity about his loss is bluster and hyperbole...
Don't forget to check out the latest timetable for Downham Health and Leisure Centre. You can view the timetable here:
The paper review is a very modern phenomenon, and as a media junkie I love them. The format is pretty simple, and is similar across the board- a righty and a lefty of some description go at each other over the ... Continue reading →
Susan Greenfield says that the internet will eat your brains. « Genotripe (tags: ) BBC News - Terry Nutkins, TV wildlife presenter, dies aged 66 :( (tags: ) Make your own Judge Badge avatar Available in Mega City one, Brit Cit, Dark Judge and other styles. (tags: ) BBC News - UK broadband aided by planning permission rule changes (tags: ) BBC News - Phone hacking police arrest journalist Offences are quite interesting - theft, computer misuse and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice... (tags: ) Privacy and Security Fanatic: Laptop fingerprint reader destroys 'entire security model of Windows ...
A bunch of simple line bikes. Image: Bianchessi Transport was on the agenda again at this week's South Area Committee meeting - councillors were receiving a report on transport projects from the County Council. Highways officers had assessed projects proposed by local people last March, and assigned them scores. My Light the Cycleway proposal, to light the bridleway running alongside the Guided Busway, was given the top score, and another local project, improving the cycleways on Long Road, were given two of the top scores, and were well supported by councillors. I went along to speak, as did Sam Davies, ...
Sat 8th
09:20
"It is not the sort of thing I'd expect from a western democracy" - Jimmy Wales on snooping bill
This week Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales was one of the people giving evidence to the committee looking at the Draft Communications Data Bill, aka Snooper's Charter: Wales told the select committee which was scrutinising the Draft Bill, that the plans are "technologically incompetent", and explained that it would be very simple for Wikipedia to avoid monitoring through encryption. He had also warned that the plans to collect lists of all web pages visited by Internet users will result in more connections being encrypted. This, in turn, would force the government to employ hordes of hackers to break the encryption, in an ...
We may have a coalition Government, but as it goes about fixing the economy the CPS are prosecuting individuals based on authoritarian legislation passed by the Labour Government. The most recent of which was Simon Walsh, an Independent Councillor in the City of London, Mayoral appointee to the London Fire Authority and a Barrister had a life-changing 18 months waiting for his trial for possession of pornography. There are many aspects of this case that are so wrong, not least the length of time it has taken and the damage that inflicts on an individual mentally, reputationally and financially. Here ...
The ever entertaining Neil Monnery has been asking about my Zac Goldsmith obsession and asking if it's lover or hate.... Of course neither is true. Let me explain. Zac is the MP for Richmond Park, in which Ham Common resides. He is my MP, he lives over the Common. I am therefore like a Prisoner of War in a Tory run camp. And like every good captured soldier, it is my duty to make things as hard as possible for the opposition, to harry and harass them at every opportunity. I am Steve McQueen. He is Hannes Messemer. Only difference ...
[IMG: Lib Dem Rainbow Bird]
Today's the day for Bar Hill Community Market! The date for the next Bar Hill Community Market has been announced; Saturday 8th September in the Octagon (30 seconds walk from Tesco Car Park) in Bar Hill. The market is open from 10:30am until 2pm and also features a Craft and Art Exhibition in Bar Hill Church (right next to the Octagon). The market features fruit and vegetables, Homemade cakes, Jewellery, Greetings Cards, Confectionery, Jams, Knitted items,Patchwork, Bags, Wooden crafts, Beauty products and lots more! Fundraising for local groups and projects will also be going on as well and there will ...
Welcome to another selection of six blogposts which have caught my eye over the past week. Here are this week's six: Stephen shared some pictures of his day out at the Paralympic Park. There was an interesting and innovative version of One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" on Michael's blog. This piece on George Galloway from The Guardian's Clare Allan is bang on the money. I'm not sure I'm quite there yet, but Nick Barlow makes a cogent argument for ending the coalition government - the reshuffle does nothing to reinvigorate the core reason for the coalition and rather more ...
I'll happily admit that Ryan Coetzee's name is one I've have been hard-pressed to remember at the start of this week, and one which I still have to double-check the spelling of. Yet at a vague remove I've been impressed with his work with the Democratic Alliance in South Africa, for whom he has been at various times both an MP and their Chief Executive. They've done some very impressive online campainging, pulled off some good election results, had a successful overhaul of their organisation and managed the politically very difficult task of taking a party rooted in white support ...
About Drive In Theatre : DRIVE IN THEATRERiverside Drive Playing Fields(Near the railway bridge and Bridgeview Station Café-Restaurant)13th and 14th September - 10pm to midnight Alexander Storey Gordon Drive In Theatre is a multi-layered performance that examines our changing relationship to the spectacle. Occupying the same night-time space as the American drive in cinema of the 30s, the fairground shows of the 1900s, and the travelling theatres of the15th century, the work establishes itself in the areas between these complex and diverse histories, exploring public spaces as laboratories where people can experiment with different types of experience and perception. Initially ...
Yesterday morning I was temporarily excited that I'd received an email from Nick Clegg. I was hoping that I'd finally been recognised and was being lifted from servitude... then I realised it was a generic message. Anyway, here it is; Dear Chris, As you may have seen on the news, I've announced an ambitious package to get growth and housing building going. This is not only to make sure we're building the homes people so desperately need but it will also help boost the economy by kick-starting one of our most important sectors, the construction industry. When Jo Swinson asked ...
A milestone has been reached. My videos on YouTube have now been viewed 2.5 million times. There are over 700 videos on the channel, all made by me. The most viewed is "Inside a Former Secret Soviet Submarine Base", filmed in the Ukraine in 2006. The most popular over the past month is "How to dry tomatoes", with over 7,000 viewings. Total monthly viewing figures are around 60,000. Rather
