One of my favourite parts of York is Bishophill, an enclave of terraced streets within the city walls and near the railway station. It is also home to the York's oldest and ugliest churches. St Mary Bishophill Junior, says the useful Wikipedia page on the Medieval Parish Churches of York, is: situated within what was the colonia or civil quarter of the Roman garrison of Eboracum and pieces of Roman tilework can be observed found in the Tower. The tower itself is of the late Anglo-Saxon period with masonry of very mixed materials, including blocks of brown sandstone and limestone ...
Reports today suggest that Colonel Gadaffi's son, Khamis, has been killed. Yet there is ongoing uncertainty over the fate of Moussa Ibrahim, former mouthpiece of the regime. I confess to a dark curiosity over Ibrahim, in part because I learned that we were contemporaries at Exeter University, but largely because he was both a highly ...
Odd Down App Ref: 12/04063/OUT 10th October 2012 Expiry Date: 9th January 2013 Crescent Office Park Clarks Way Odd Down Bath (E)373178 - (N)162650 LB Grade: N/A Erection of a residential care home (Use Class C2) with associated car parking and servicing Sarah James If you have any comments please contact us or
As the crossing has been there for a while we have asked for the sign to be removed
This is the fifth in a series of reviews of Welsh blog posts that have caught my eye over the last month. The Wales Audit Office report into AWEMA has been simmering in the background for some months and has now emerged with a bang. It is likely that Ministers will be asked to account for their role in the failure to scrutinise this organisation in the Assembly this week, however the appearance of the report has at least led to the former Chief Executive of the body to go public for the first time. The blog, A Change of ...
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has restarted its campaign to green-wash the tar-sands. I will be failing in my duty if I do not comment on the latest ad. The star is Chelsie Klasson, who works in community relations for Imperial Oil. She beams from the page in a head and shoulder shot accompanied ...
Don't forget Faith, Pride, and Chat, our informal social evening, is taking place on Friday, 26 October at 7 p.m in St George's Church on High Street. More detail....
Earlier today, someone linked to this amusing Storify collection of James Delingpole exhibiting his usual debating style of blocking and ignoring anyone who dares criticise him – especially when they commit the ultimate sin of using facts to challenge him. Normally, Delingpole's someone I ignore – until the final revelation of his role as a Morrisian agent provocateur proving just how much crap you can get published if you're willing to ignore facts and appease the rich and powerful, he's of no real interest to me – but something about this caught my attention. Namely, Delingpole's Twitter avatar: [IMG: James ...
On Sunday 28th October 2012 at 3 p.m. in St Georges Church, High Street, Belfast, there will be a service to mark 30 years since the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships in Northern Ireland. The speaker is Jeff Dudgeon MBE. Jeff Dudgeon is best known for his role in the case of Dudgeon vs United Kingdom, ...
Changing Attitude Ireland is having a public lecture at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday 27th October 2012 in Central Hall, First (Non-Subscribing) Presbyterian Church, Rosemary St, Belfast. The speaker is Rev. Blair Robertson from Affirmation Scotland. The Revd Blair Robertson is a clergyman in the Church of Scotland. Educated at Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities and Princeton Theological Seminary, ...
And to prove it I've added a few more back copies to the left hand side of this page. The latest edition will appear online later this week.
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. 1. Oxjam Congratulations to everyone connected with Oxjam, the fund raising event in Beeston for Oxfam, who held a very successful series of events yesterday. I haven't heard yet how much they raised but as well as the money they raise the profile of Oxfam, and in that regard it has already been a complete success. 2. Living Wage Campaign ...
They say that in years gone by, aggressive salesman sold payment protection insurance products to us, knowing that we didn't need them. This may be true, but in my experience they were not as aggressive as those who insist I claim it back. I want to make it clear from the outset. I don't do loans, rarely credit cards. I would not remember who I've had a credit card from as it was many
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 296th 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 (14-20, 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. Nick Clegg rubbishes cash-for-seats ...
Parents in Andover have been shocked by the news that Hampshire County Council local schools will be around 10,000 school places short within the next Decade, and won't even have enough places for all the reception year children this September. The Conservative led County Council have admitted that there is a shortfall in places for this coming September. And the shortfall is predicted to get even worse in future years! Temporary classrooms were abolished when the Lib Dems ran the County Council, but with the Conservatives in charge, things are going backwards. Only five years ago Hampshire closed Shepherd Spring ...
Football has always been a game built on the grassroots and, on a day when a handful of highly-paid Premiership players headed by Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand postured over racism, it was refreshing to witness non-league Sutton United ...
George Young Will Be A Legendary Chief Whip -Good piece from @jerryhayes1 on how being nice to people in politics pays off The Tories forced their own chief whip out. David Cameron beware Prince Charles has no right to privacy on public matters Why I'm not marching - Hopi Sen(se) Opinion: Where now on Electoral Reform? (France!) What game theory teaches us about Lance Armstrong Jimmy Savile was protected by the media's defence of the status quo | Ros Coward via @guardian - V thought provoking Here's why MPs will eventually have to publish their landlord/renting details: An affront to ...
Here's a round-up of stories we haven't had time to cover on the site this past few days... Disabled benefits: Tanni Grey-Thompson and Steve Webb (BBC News) The paralympian and cross-bench peer Tanni Grey-Thompson tackled the Liberal Democrat work and pensions minister Steve Webb over government changes to benefits. ... minister Steve Webb told her the changes, which will be phased in over a number of years, would mean "spending more money overall", adding that the amount of cash disabled people get will be protected. "If what you would get under the new one is less than what you're currently ...
St John the Evangelist Church on Hills Road is holding two craft fairs on Sundays 25th November and 2nd December, immediately after the morning service (approx 11-11.30a.m.) There will also be Traidcraft goods on sale, including Christmas cards.
The other night I dreamt that I'd won a competition and the prize was the opportunity to meet Nick Clegg.* Not only that, I wasn't meeting him simply so he could tell me what he thought about policy and government. It was a proper discussion, which meant I could give him some thoughts on current policy. This was rendered even more surreal by the fact that this conversation took place in the dining room of the house owned by my long-departed grandparents. As I say, it was a dream. I woke up with a very clear recollection of three policy ...
The Economist's front page this week signals its leader on immigration - which says that the Government is getting it wrong on immigration. The Economist is right. The Government is getting it wrong. All the evidence points towards skilled migrants having a positive impact on the economy for everyone that's already in the country. And the evidence for unskilled workers having any negative impact on wages or jobs is at best ambiguous. As the article points out (give it a read if you haven't), making it near on impossible for the brightest and the best to come to the UK ...
An enjoyable and busy first week to the campaign despite an initial setback. It had been my intention to send out an introductory email to all London Lib Dems as soon as the starting pistol had sounded. Unfortunately I did not know that Hotmail limits the numbers of people you can email each day to 300 with the admirable aim of combating spammers. After kicking myself for not having thought of that, I am now sending them out in batches, so it will take several days to reach everyone. I have already received some generous invites to AGMs and social ...
Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams has launched a petition to support the campaign for Starbucks to pay its fair share of tax. The coffee shop giant paid no corporation tax last year in the UK, despite sales of nearly £400m. I believe that this is completely unacceptable, especially given that it's UK-based competitor Costa Coffee paid £15m in tax for roughly the same amount taken in sales. Stephen is urging the public sign the petition on the Fairer Taxes website. Sign the petition here: http://www.fairertax.org/starbucks
There's no prize at stake - just the opportunity to prove you're wittier than any other LDV reader... (Photo by Dave Radcliffe from Lib Dems' Flickr photostream.) Here's Nick Clegg meeting comedian, actor and Hacked Off campaigner Steve Coogan. What do you think might be being said or thought here? And the winner of our last caption comp is... Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Clegg meets Bono "Not U2″ Edition. The winner, according to The Voice's judging panel of one, was this one by Ed Shepherd: Bono: "And this casket contains a true piece of the ...
So, in case you missed it, George Osborne, our beloved Chancellor of the Exchequer, was caught in first class on a train with a standard class ticket and refusing to move to standard class because, as his aide put it, Osborne 'couldn't possibly sit in standard class'. But the ticket collector wouldn't budge and, depending on which newspaper you read, Osborne either ended up moving to standard class or stumping up the £160 extra for a first class ticket. Now apparently the excuse being put round the Westminster village by George Osborne now is that it's his aide's fault for ...
On the off-chance that Voice readers missed The Sun's interview with Lib Dem energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey on Friday, here's an excerpt: In a grim admission to millions of hard-pressed Brits, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said ministers cannot reverse rising global fuel prices. But he insisted that they can help to ease the blow for millions of households hit by the global trend. In a bid to placate furious consumers, he today unveils a £125million move to help the first 125,000 homeowners who take up the Green Deal home improvements scheme. Each will get up to £1,000 ...
I try not to be partisan (no really...) I'm a liberal and a fan of good democracy, representation and the like but maintaining a healthy dislike for misrepresentation of the truth and bold face lying. I find it difficult when MPs like Tracey are about. It is a veritable fly in the ointment. I don't sit around at home waiting for MPs to screw up so I can criticise them or link them tenuously to some cock up. Nor am I a PPC with a party agenda or axe to grind. However, every now and then it is good for ...
A few days after the GateGate/PlebGate scandal blew up I was speaking to someone well connected in Westminster who asked me whether I thought Andrew Mitchell could survive as Chief Whip. I stated that I did not see how he could for the simple reason that he would no longer be able to command the respect of Tory MPs. He then told me that was exactly what he had been hearing from Tory MPs who had talked to him about it. I am a Lib Dem activist/blogger who is not often in Westminster. I don't regularly brush shoulders with parliamentarians ...
What is it about Canadian singer-songwriters? Two weeks ago I wanted a song about disillusionment and found it natural to choose Joni Mitchell. Today I wanted something to express the sense that we are living through the decline of the West, and it seems equally natural to choose Leonard Cohen. "Closing Time" comes from Cohen's 1992 album The Future, which was the one that led me to discover his work. Ostensibly the lyrics are about some hellhole of a bar, but I have always read it as being about something deeper than that - closing time in the gardens of ...
From the Daily Telegraph website: Yorkshire housewife 'raised by monkeys in jungle' I wonder if those scare quotes are there because the Telegraph subs do not wholly believe the story that follows?
Rebecca Welshman, who once wrote a guest post about Richard Jefferies for this blog, is giving this year's Richard Jefferies Society Birthday Lecture at Liddington Village Hall in Wiltshire on Saturday 3 November: The lecture will present an account of Jefferies' antiquarian interests, and his mystical engagement with nature in archaeological landscapes. The first part will explore how Jefferies used maps and objects to explore the human place in a locality. The second part will consider how archaeological sites and objects feature in The Story of My Heart (1883) and After London (1885), and how archaeological language and phraseology - ...
The Friends of Rock Road Library are putting on an Apple Day this Saturday in the library garden, a great setting, as it has many apple trees of its own. I think this will be the first Apple Day to take place in Queen Edith's, but I'm sure someone will tell me if I am wrong! Bring along your own apples to have them identified, or juice some in the community apple press (bring your own pot). You can also have a go at apple-bobbing, of if you are brave enough, try out the William Tell shooting gallery. Children are ...
Free anti-viral software to every citizen. This should be adopted immediately as core Lib Dem policy, and be in the manifesto for the next election. Like Roman bread and circuses, it would be a hugely popular vote-puller. It would propel the party to first place in the polls. Moreover it is also intellectually defensible, a rare combination of virtue in today's post-modern sound-bite world. You might smile and think this is typical wacky Lib Dem stuff, the kind of thing which George Orwell's bearded fruit juice-drinking Liberals, wearing shorts and sandals, would come up with. Not for today's smart-suited Lib ...
Sorry, the info has moved to a dedicated blog at http://pcclinks.wordpress.com
I don't often need to phone anyone who is in hospital (touch wood) but I recently phoned and heard an automated response that said hello to me. That's nice. I was through to the bedside number of someone in hospital. Good because that's the number I phoned. I was told that maybe I phoned because this number was a missed call. Well no. Good guess but I had phoned because I had been given the number. Then the automated voice said that this call will cost me more than usual. It would be nice to have been put through but ...
And a reminder of the most fun thing about the last election - apart from #iagreewithNick Click to enlarge
The UK's economic position has deteriorated, government revenues are lower and welfare expenditure higher than anticipated, worsening the deficit so that austerity must continue further into this decade. Because of this deterioration a combination of increased taxes or cuts must be identified in the Autumn Spending Statement in December. That is the orthodox view. It is based on the generally accepted proposition that the structural deficit should be eliminated. This has set off widespread debate as to whether the increased scale of the structural deficit should be eliminated by increased taxes (such as a Mansion Tax) or expenditure reductions and ...
Sun 21st
08:30
Kiron Reid resigns from Lib Dems to run as independent police commissioner in Merseyside
Kiron Reid, three-times Lib Dem parliamentary candidate and a councillor in Liverpool for a decade, has resigned from the party to enable him to run for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner as an independent. He's explained his decision in an open letter on his website: It is with regret that I resign from the Liberal Democrats. I joined the Liberal Party in May 1987 and have been a member with the same membership number ever since. Despite the party's current problems I did not want to leave and had no intention of falling out with the Party. But ...
An interesting article from this week's Press Gazette. In it the Guardian NUJ chapel calls for massive pay cuts for senior execs and marquee journalists instead of axing 70 odd editorial staff. The Guardian is in trouble - losing more than £44 million last year. Yet it pays editor, Alan Rushbridger £400,000 per year. It also employs patronising, hand-wringing, state aggrandising, poverty crocodile tear crying, socialist atrocity denying, Lib Dem flip flopping, top rate tax cut benefitting, lip quivering, septic - Polly Toynbee. She admits to be paid more than £100,000 per year by the Graun - and no doubt ...
The Dundee Weaver Craft Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a packed Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Balgay that took place at the Mills Observatory. There was an extremely informative and entertaining talk by Ron Scrimgeour on the history of the Dundee weaving trade in the year of the 500th anniversary of its incorporation as one of the nine incorporated trades in the city. Friends of Balgay has had a very successful year and Dr Hilda Spear, Chair, gave a resume of a number of the Friends' activities over the past twelve months - including the successful ...
As in past years, I am highlighting Scottish Water's Winter Campaign - here's an update from Scottish Water's Regional Community Manager to local councillors: Dear Councillors Scottish Water is launching its 2012 winter campaign to encourage our customers to be prepared and ensure homes and businesses across Scotland are protected and prepared for the winter. Communities across the country are being urged to follow Scottish Water's winter code - a set of simple steps to protect your pipes, be prepared and heat, insulate and protect your home and business. The campaign, which is being supported for the fourth year running ...
Copy of a letter sent today to the FA, LUFC and SWFC: Dear FA, I write to complain in the strongest possible terms about the slanderous remarks made by the Sheffield Wednesday Manager, Dave Jones, in an interview following the match with Leeds United at Hillsborough on Friday 19th October 2012. I attended the match with my 8 years old grandson Daniel Abbott and we watched the game from the Leppings Lane end with around 5300 other Leeds United supporters. I enclose a photograph of Daniel applauding the players, at the end of the match, who in turn were applauding ...
So, Friday night I left for an evening out with the Birmingham UN Society for an evening full of good food and intellectual debate in Birmingham city centre, meanwhile, in the capital Andrew Mitchell (a West Midland MP for Sutton Coldfield) had set off the press wires with the announcement of his resignation from the ...
I was out all day today, so no proper post, just links. Beach Boys post tomorrow, with luck. Another Nickel In The Machine on the controversy over female tennis players not wearing stockings in the 1930s. I was particularly fascinated by the woman referred to as "the French hussy" for daring to play tennis without ...
