British scientists have abandoned the search for life in Chard. They believed that four miles under the surface there was a great pool of life but attempts to drill down to it have failed. Despite vigorous attempts to pump hot Portugese blood into the town, the lifeless permafrost has remained unmelted.

Posted by David on Disgruntled Radical

Big collection of sf short stories published in 2007, of which I had read very few - the five Hugo nominees (of which I remembered only three, Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", Stephen Baxter's "Last Contact" and Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline"). Several stories new to me that particularly grabbed me: "An Ocean Is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away" by John Barnes; "Sea Change", by Una McCormack; "Against the Current", by Robert Silverberg; "Of Love and Other Monsters", by Vandana Singh; "The Mists of Time", by Tom Purdom; and "The Prophet of Flores", by Ted Kosmatka. No turkeys; ...

I'd like to thank all those of you who have commented/tweeted/emailed/phoned/texted to wish me a happy birthday. So thanks to (in no particular order, and hopefully not missing anyone): [IMG: [personal profile] ] magister, [IMG: [personal profile] ] matgb, [IMG: [personal profile] ] evilawyer, [IMG: [personal profile] ] po8crg, [IMG: [personal profile] ] el_staplador, [IMG: [personal profile] ] moonhot97, [IMG: [personal profile] ] sir_guinglain, [IMG: [personal profile] ] purplecthulhu, [IMG: [personal profile] ] gominokouhai, [IMG: [profile] ] dave_godfrey, [IMG: [personal profile] ] yoyoangel, my mum, my dad, my brothers, my daughter, my ex, Helen Duffett, Nissemus, Andy Emmerson, Aremay, Stephen ...

When you first think of Christmas what pops into your head? Is it Father Christmas, presents, a Christmas tree or food? All of these things involve spending excessive amounts of money. This isn't the real message of Christmas, in fact if the three wise men hadn't come bearing gifts for baby Jesus Christmas wouldn't be about consumerism and corporations wouldn't make a business out of the birth of a religious figure. I saw an example today of how Christmas has been ruled by rampant capitalism and consumerism. I was in Covent Garden, with my parents, when a man who was ...

Posted by Maelo Manning on libdemchild, aged 13
Thu 27th
21:38

Help Run Liberal Youth

Liberal Youth has just announced that it is looking for energised individuals who want to help run Liberal Youth - maybe it could be you! The positions that are open are: Chair Campaigns Officer Communications Officer International Officer Membership Development Officer Non Portfolio Officer You can read more about these roles on Page 21 of our Constitution. ...

Posted by editorlibertine on The Libertine

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we're publishing the full results. Vince, Ed and Michael: the Lib Dems' top trio in government [IMG: Vince Cable smiling - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats] LDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem government minister has had the best year? This question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which c.450 of our respondents rose to. And here's what you told us: 1. Vince Cable ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

Peter Phillips, the doyen of Shropshire Liberalism, writes on his blog: Party President Tim Farron ... issued a stiff challenge to party members in March. He challenged everyone to sign up 50 members by the end of the year. It proved such a stiff Challenge that only one member has met it! I have (to date) recruited 104 'subscribers' - 65 members and 39 donors - virtually all of them are within the branch are of Bishop's Castle, Shropshire, which now has 92 members !!He goes on to praise the efforts of fellow Shropshire Lib Dems, including his successor as ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The new coalition taskforce responsible for reviewing equalities laws introduced by the last Labour government is to be chaired by an ex-Conservative MP Rob Hayward. The group will look at whether to repeal or amend ...

Posted by Lester Holloway on
Thu 27th
18:39

More Staff Not Less!

Once again, the Public and Commercial Union have sent me a ballot paper. On this occasion, it is over the issue of the DWP entering initial negotiations to make people compulsory redundant. These affected 46 Administrative Assistants in a variety of locations across the DWP. In a previous job, I line managed at various times, between 3-6 people at this grade level. They had to barcode and send to Capita various items of post and forms for different benefits. It so happened that at another two locations, there were some "surplus" staff awaiting redeployment within the department and every so ...

Posted by Curiaistan on The Curious Liberal

I only just got tickets for the panto at the Empire today, so it serves me right that some of our party were separated from my granddaughter – I should have bought the tickets sooner. I checked on my way out and there are still some tickets left for the final four days – each one a 3.00 p.m. performance – but it's worth ringing to book in advance judging by the pile waiting for people "on the door" when I arrived. It was a joy to see the Empire full and so many families enjoying a great time in ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple
YouGov

Here's another of Ros's interventions that I hadn't covered, from 11 October 2011... The talk of encouraging council tenants to purchase their own homes struck both Ros and I as nonsense on stilts, especially given the council housing is now only really available for those in relatively difficult financial straits. So, it seemed obvious to find out just how credible a proposal this was... Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat) To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of council house tenants are in receipt of housing benefit. Lord Freud (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Welfare Reform), Work and Pensions; ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on The view from Creeting St Peter

It has been an issue that has rumbled on for all of my football going lifetime. Some people like to stand to watch games but they simply are not allowed to. When I was a Season Ticket holder in the Fratton End every so often you'd hear rumours about the club clamping down on persistent standers and kicking them out. The stewards had no heart for it and would put in a cursory and half-hearted effort to tell people to sit down but it was never going to happen. However things are not the same up at the Stadium of ...

Posted by neilmonnery on The Rambles of Neil Monnery

And here is the proof: [IMG: inbox] This time yesterday it had over 2000 messages, 483 of which were unread. I feel a warm glow of acheivement! Also I have tidied up my links list and sundry other sidebar items (look to the right of your screen), made a post to my audio blog on tumblr, tidied up some of my blogging tags (although this is still very much a work in progress) and spent an hour on the phone to the mobile phone company, which while initially frustrating has resulted in them promising to send me my new phone ...

A while back, Tom Wood announced his resignation as Chair of Liberal Youth. Now we've all had time to assess our thoughts, we can start mapping out the Liberal Youth members deserve. Tom's resignation has brought many members to say that now is the time for radical change in Liberal Youth, or we risk losing ...

Posted by mortsterpolitics on Callum Morton's Blog

One of the reasons that I now read the Independent is the excellent analysis and writing of John Rentoul. This is the latest example of his work on equality which I repeat in full. Indeed if anything, he underestimates the ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

The 'scrounger' myth is causing real suffering to many in society – New research reported by the LSE's British Politics and Policy blog. Let's call it failure – If you haven't yet seen John Lanchester's LRB piece on austerity, here's your chance. Happy Christmas! Here is a flame war in a can – Charles Stross points out certain similarities between two historical figures. A Bum's Christmas – Traditionally borrowed from Blood and Treasure, HL Mencken's short story. The 5 Worst Ghosts of 2012 – A sceptical perspective on some of the 'ghost' stories that the media have pushed this year. ...

Posted by Nick on What You Can Get Away With
Thu 27th
14:09

Wintry Sports

If you're planning on using Belle Vue Leisure Centre you may want to use your new Christmas thermal underwear. Just before Christmas the heating at the centre failed. The boilers were judged unsafe for use and beyond repair. New boilers have been ordered (these can, and will be used in another building when the leisure centre is replaced). Work then began off site to fabricate pipe work in order to reduce delay. Engineers expect to start on site next week and the work should take a couple of weeks. I understand that in the meantime the centre is continuing to ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple
Thu 27th
14:00

Yuletide Recs: DC Comics

Somehow I started just "comics" and then DC insisted on being its own category. So here it is! Other comics to come later! How Batgirl Stole Christmas [Batgirl: Steph Brown, Barbara Gordon, Nell, Wendy Kuttler] Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring ... because they were at the Gotham Mall desperately trying to purchase that last present or two. In Stephanie Brown's case, however, 'that last present or two' could be more accurately described as all of them. Crime fighting was time intensive! Who knew? An absolutely pitch perfect tale of Batgirl ...

Posted by Debi on Thagomizer.net

Last week, I wrote about using my telescope for the first time and seeing the craters on the moon. I had to wait a few more days for the skies to clear - but that just built my anticipation. Last night, I noticed a new star up in the sky. After consulting the astrological almanacs, I discovered that it was the planet Jupiter! To the naked eye, it looked very much like this: [IMG: Moon and Jupiter] I whacked on the basic lens, and aligned my 'scope with Moonbase Alpha. The nearly-full moon took up the whole of my view ...

Posted by Terence Eden on Terence Eden has a Blog

The Mansion House in Calderstones Park is to have a new use and a new occupier. Obviously any change to what goes on in the Mansion House could affect the nature of the park. The City Council is shortly going to choose between two potential uses and occupiers. One plan is for a boutique hotel. The other is for a centre promoting literacy and reading with some study bedrooms. Local Lib Dem Councillors are keen to feed in the thoughts of people who use the park and people who live near the park. If you use the park (even occasionally), ...

Posted by Paula Keaveney on Paula Keaveney - Lib Dem Campaigner
eUKhost

[IMG: eu_flag] In his acceptance speech – just over five years ago – after Nick Clegg had just been narrowly chosen as the next leader of the Liberal Democrats, he said that he is a "liberal by temperament, by instinct and by upbringing". But if those influences make him a liberal, they also make him, arguably to a far greater extent, probably the most pro-European of Britain's senior politicians. Europe is a subject on which Clegg can speak with the authority of someone who is at least as comfortable, if not more so, in Brussels as he is in Westminster. ...

Posted by Nick Thornsby on Liberal Democrat Voice

A little gem I discovered from Who Goes Home? A Parliamentary Miscellany by Robert Rogers: The red despatch box is a badge of ministerial office ... The lock is on the bottom, not the top, which is intended to ensure that the box is locked before it is carried. That's a very smart piece of design, designing out problems at source.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Over at the Independent, John Rentoul highlights some inconvenient facts for those who claim that the UK Coalitoin Government is putting the interests of the rich above those of the poorest in our society. It simply is not true. Well, this is where it gets interesting, because what "everyone knows" is not what is happening. The gap between rich and poor has not changed significantly for about 20 years, not since the increase in inequality that occurred when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister in the 1980s. For most of the boom times since then, everyone got richer, at roughly the ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Osborne takes cheap option on child care And surprise surpise it benefits the rich more than the poor (tags: ) Exactly how creepy is the beginning of The Hobbit? (tags: ) My Beloved Snake, And Said Unto Me - El Staplador (elstaplador) - Doctor Who (2005) [Archive of Our Own] How Madame Vastra and Jenny got married. A lovely little vignette that somehow remained unfilmed between Demon's Run and this year's Who Christmas Special. (tags: ) Royal Mail issue Doctor Who stamps. And yes there IS a Colin one! (tags: ) Strax Gifs Amusing typo/mishearing. Noogie and Nookie have VERY ...

Part 1 was posted yesterday. April I remembered the days when Alistair Darling was so left wing that the Scottish Labour establishment sent George Galloway to reason with him. Privacy International criticised a Lib Dem briefing on government surveillance that, I suggested, read as thought it had been produced by a child who had been allowed too much Sunny D. Fortunately, that briefing no longer represents the leader's position on the subject. I reviewed Lost Victorian Britain by Gavin Stamp and made a radical case for children standing up when a teacher enters the room. May I suggested that one ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Classic TV - Doctor Who | Royal Mail Ltd 2013 will see British postal stamps celebrating the 11 Doctors! (tags: Doctorwho ) Professor Loomis and the NRA: A Story In Which EVERYONE Annoys Me | Popehat Sometimes there are no good guys. (tags: Guns ) Obituary: Gerry Anderson - Telegraph I hate the @telegraph's line on the EU, but its obituaries are often very good. (tags: sf death )

Yesterday I took several pictures around Dunfermline - including several of the Monastery and Palace ruins, which I shall post tomorrow. There were also a number of others which will, in time, feature on the pages of my Tumblr blog, the widow's window. Here, though are some of notable buildings and sights in the town: Andrew Carnegie's birthplace Doors to the Abbey City Chambers Statue of Andrew Carnegie Pittencrieff House, Glasshouses and the Abbey Andrew

Posted by Andrew Brown on the widow's world

Christmas Day: Hark the jolly Christmas Choir, Jingle Bells roasting on an open fire, Christmas comes but once 'tis true, Along with Daddy's Doctor Who review... "Abominable" Steven Moffat's "dark fairy tale" Doctor Who is best at Christmas, so it's glad tidings that, after last year's misstep, he's back on sparkling Winterval form. Call me a fanboy sucker if you will, but give me one juicy returning enemy and I'll forgive you a "nobody dies (really)" and a "victory by the power of schmaltz" any day. But let's be honest, I was in love with this from the new and ...

I have called on Dundee City Council to properly explain why the length of proposed works to improve disabled access at Blackness Library has shot up from 16 weeks to 29 weeks. The City Architect has advised me: "The initial contract period was assessed at 16 weeks. The delivery team has now reviewed sequencing, access and construction restrictions and is advising 29 weeks. The closure period still remains as 6 weeks." Following receipt of this information, I asked for an assurance that a full explanation for the near-doubling of the contract period would be given, but this has not yet ...