We have seen Stamford Water Street or Stamford East. When it was open, the town's other station was known as Stamford Town. Stamford Town is still open today as plain Stamford - platform 1 for trains to Peterborough, platform 2 for trains to Leicester. But when you are there it is obvious that there used to be a third platform, which must have served trains to Seaton. This was a station on the Market Harborough to Peterborough line which was also the junction for the branch to Uppingham. It stood almost beneath the mighty Welland viaduct. The site of Seaton ...
Fri 10th
23:08
Free party for families with children under 11 in Tyseley for International Children's Day (Saturday...
One of our excellent local voluntary sector organisations is House of Play and Education (HOPE) which runs a series of play schemes. Acocks Green Ward Committee has supported them with funding several times in recent years and they have gone from strength to strength. I am very happy to post a message from them about a party they are organising next Saturday at St. Edmunds Church, Reddings Lane, Tyseley: "Saturday June 1st is International Children's Day and House of Play and Education (HOPE) will be celebrating this day with a big party at St. Edmunds Church, Reddings Lane, Tyseley (the ...
There is a row going on between Michael Gove and Michael Rosen. Yet he idea of an opposition between good grammar is largely spurious: the writers I know who are most interested in grammar are also the most creative. But I am haunted by a piece I read in, I think, the UK Press Gazette some years ago. A journalist described going into an inner-city comprehensive to run a journalism workshop. He found the children were all he hoped they would be: sparky and curious about the world around them. All went well until he asked them to write a ...
A superb documentary about Glen Campbell on BBC4 earlier this week - here's one of his greatest hits - 'Southern Nights':
I travel a lot by train and at Stupid O'clock in the morning. Sometimes a book is my only companion, most times I nap and other times I scroll through the day before's Tweets and conversations, which is what I did today, and I stumbled on an argument between some Tweeters and Lucy "Vixen" Collette the glamour model and Game reviewer for Nuts magazine. It did get fairly personal in its nature, which was very uncalled for, but the original question was a valid one; Does she actually play a lot of games or is she just the sexy figure ...
"The key difference between conventional politicians and populists is not hatred - you don't have to hate to be a populist. It is the understanding that our institutions are no longer effective." David Boyle, on The Real Blog, offers a six-point (well, five-point) plan for a Liberal populism. Jon Wilkinson explains how to vote Liberal Democrat with a clear conscience. The New Atlantis website tells us about the shameful treatment of the people of the Chagos Islands. "Wyndham Colliery had closed at the beginning of that year - he had long retired. But despite the economic devastation, until he died ...
Good news from Swindon Link: One of Swindon's historic gems is about to get a boost after being told it is to receive a £30,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The Richard Jefferies Museum, home of local Victorian writer and naturalist, has been given the grant to help develop a dedicated Trust and breathe new life into this important local landmark.The report goes on to quote John Price, Chair of the Richard Jefferies Society, whom I met when I visited the museum in 2009: "Society members is [sic] delighted to hear of the success of the HLF bid, ...
If you've been wondering where I am of late I am sorry. I have been having a really bad phase of depression and generally Not Coping. I'm not saying this to garner sympathy - for one thing, sympathy tends to induce guilt - but just to let you know. I'm just about coping with work, and am dipping in and out of twitter, but don't have the spoons for anything else - such as blogging - at the moment. I am lucky in that I have great, understanding, friends, who will visit when I need company and bugger off when ...
This blog began exactly six months ago on 10 November 2012. It has steadily gained a bigger audience, but which are the stories that attracted the biggest audiences? Here are the top ten posts, starting with the most popular: Stay "on message" or be EXTERMINATED! (28 December 2012) - The most popular post by a long way, in which the Liberal Democrats' new 'message script' was revealed.New Lib Dem peerages: runners and riders (14 February 2013) - A list of new peers has been drawn up and we speculated who was on it. At the time of writing, however, the ...
For their splendidly poker faced: Mr and Mrs Speed profited from amphetamines Thanks to Alex Foster.
Dolly Parton does heavy metal. Just wow!
130535: Proposed new extension, St Helena School, Sheepen Road. 130888: Change of use, A3 to A2 and B1 for taxi/minicab administration centre, St John's Avenue. You can make a statement in favour or against any of these applications on the Council website, or if you want to discuss it further with one of your councillors then please contact me or my ward colleagues Bill Frame and Jo Hayes. I'm not going to be a member of the Planning Committee next year, so I am now free to comment on applications. Related PostsCastle Ward planning applications, up to 15th March Castle ...
Fri 10th
19:11
Humiliation for Labour party in Newbury - beaten into sixth and eighth place by wife and husband tea...
Founded in 1900 by Keir Hardie, the Labour party has a very proud history of governing the country and it has staff and volunteers numbering into hundreds of thousands, with the support of countless union members. Yet, yesterday in Newbury, Berkshire, the two candidates for that proud national Labour party were humiliated as they were beaten into sixth and eighth (last) place in a town council by-election by a wife and husband team who founded a little local party a few years ago in a pub. How the mighty have fallen! Keir Hardie! Michael Foot! Tony Benn! Tony Blair! Clement ...
[IMG: OrchardChildrensCentreGoodCHIPAssessment] Newly re-elected Hertfordshire County Councillor for Tring & the Villages, Nick Hollinghurst, is a member of the Orchard Children's Centre's Governance Group and attended yesterday's Governance Meeting in Dundale Primary School, Silk Mill Way, Tring. The centre has become an important community hub within the area. The Orchard Children's Centre offers services, activities and support to families, groups and organisations for children aged 0 – 5 living in Tring and the surrounding villages. Their aim is to help parents give their children the very best in life. The centre first opened in 2009 and has been run since ...
Congratulations to Boutinot, Gatley-based international wine importer, producer and distributor (offices next to the Horse & Farrier) who's sales increased to £95.3 million in 2012. Boutinot currently employs 80 staff and was sold in a management buy-out in March. It was founded in 1980 to source wines for Paul Boutinot's parents' restaurant in Heald Green and now has a portfolio of more than 800 wines.
It's Friday. It's five o'clock. Here's a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week: 5 most-read stories on LDV this week Local elections 2013: Summary of overnight Council results (25 comments) by Caron Lindsay What the 2013 local elections mean - for the Lib Dems and the next election (and beyond) (79 comments) by Stephen Tall Local elections 2013 live blog..... (19 comments) by The Voice Local elections 2013: the story in four graphics (56 comments) by Stephen Tall Jo Swinson thanks hospital staff for "keeping me alive" (12 comments) by Caron Lindsay 5 sample LDV Members' Forum ...
For decades Britain has been locking people up for short periods of time only to see them reoffend as soon as they are released from prison. This party has long recognised that the criminal justice system just wasn't working in preventing reoffending. Nearly half - 47.5% – of those leaving prison are reconvicted within a year. For prisoners sentenced to less than 12 months it is almost 60%. The cost of reoffending by ex-offenders to our economy each year is between £9.5bn and £13bn. This is not good enough. Victims of crime deserve better than this. Society as a whole ...
The weekend of 28 - 30th June sees the launch of Chorlton Coffee Festival. Brainchild of Canadian-born Lorelei Loveridge, she decided it was time to bring cafe culture to south Manchester suburb, Chorlton, when refused a cup of coffee after 9 pm. The festival will take place in cafes, bars and restaurants around Chorlton, and will also host a festival 'hub' in Chorlton Central Church on Saturday 29th June. The hub will feature various workshops and talks, such as 'How to Become a Home Barista' and 'One Chemex, Five Coffees'. Over thirty cafes, bars and restaurants in the Chorlton area ...
Brighton and Hove Green Party have issued an extraordinary press release attacking their own City administration (leader - the wonderfully named Cllr Jason Kitkat) over plans to end sexism in council pay structures. The plans equalise historic pay structures so that female staff are paid the same as their male counterparts and as a result a small number of staff will lose out - for which they will receive compensation. But this isn't enough for the watermelon faction in the local Greens who have attacked the council and vowed to campaign against it. Local Green MP, Caroline Lucas said, "Since ...
Steve Webb spoke to SLF Council member and pensions expert Janice Turner, before many of Steve's pensions reforms – supported by the Social Liberal Forum – were announced in last week's Queen's Speech. Being a minister at the Department for...Read more ›
The Woodland Trust has free tree and hedgerow pack available for community groups / schools. Apply before 13 September to be delivered in November.
Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament As much as I am a republican, I do like a bit of Pomp and Circumstance - and few occasions have as much of either as the State Opening of Parliament when, for a few minutes each year, the Palace of Westminster pays host to Her Majesty the Queen. After a horse-drawn procession from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament - and a few minutes donning the full Royal Regalia - she enters the House of Lords to address both members of both houses. She then reads out a ...
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... "But don't all US alumni give back to their university?" | Stephen Tall Vigorous comments thread discussion underway on my post "But don't all US alumni give back to their university?" http://bit.ly/10wk2zY Election Reflections - 4 | Keith's Blog A party with no infrastructure & no activists left. Top Tory @krmcbe reflects on his local election 2013 experiences http://bit.ly/15uSBOF The time for a decision on Europe is now, not 2017 – FT.com Martin Wolf takes on Lawson and makes a reasoned, sane case for the UK staying in the EU http://on.ft.com/16lo8lz This ...
I thought it might make sense to do an occasional round up of jobs available around the country with the party, as advertised on the Work for an MP website. If you are wanting to apply to work for either Michael Moore MP or John Leech MP, you need to get your skates on, as applications close later today. New jobs up for grabs this week include a Policy Officer post with the Welsh Liberal Democrats. I spent a weekend in Cardiff last year and fell in love with the place, so if you fancy working near the beautiful Cardiff ...
Chorlton Good Neighbours Care Group is looking to appoint two part-time workers. Both posts are from 1st July 2013 until March 2015, but with potential to continue. More details at http://t.co/GXPJaSU9JB ====================================== Chorlton Good Neighbours Care Group is looking to appoint two part-time workers. Both posts are from 1st July 2013 until March 2015, but with potential to continue. Applicants must be car drivers. We are seeking two flexible, committed and enthusiastic people who have experience of working with older people to join our team of workers and volunteers in order to support the excellent work of this well established ...
[IMG: Brick layer. Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/268427 - some rights reserved] Consider the following: The Labour leader of Haringey Council complaining there is not enough housing in the borough for council tenants. Labour-run Haringey Council hasn't built any new council homes for 25 years, even though there are fully-costed plans available to do just that. Somehow I don't think the Labour councillors complaining about the shortage of housing are going to be mentioning how they voted against the proposals to build an extra 100 just a few months ago or indeed their poor record on putting empty homes back into ...
In the light of serious sexual harassment allegations, Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard has understandably been keeping a low profile. The party's former chief exec and campaign guru returned yesterday though to ask a question in the Lords Queen's Speech debate. When I saw Spectator contributing editor Harry Cole tweet what he had asked about, ...
It is always a pleasant and enjoyable process installing the Borough's new Mayor. This year the Mayor is Maureen Fearn (who has done it twice before) and everyone who knows Maureen (or M to me) will know she is just made to be a Mayor. This year's official ceremony was held at Southport Town Hall yesterday with a celebration meal (£30 a ticket – not on the rates!) following at the Ramada Plaza Hotel. I must say that the staff and meal at the Ramada were both great and an enjoyable evening was had by all. Here I am with ...
This morning, along with fellow councillors, the Lord Provost, the city's MSPs and other invited guests, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of nine brand new hybrid-electric double decker buses by National Express Dundee. See photo from the launch at Dundee High School below: It is great to see these Scottish-built, environmentally friendly vehicles being used on the Number 5 route that serves much of the West End and it was fitting that the party was taken on one of the buses to the University of Dundee's Botanic Garden, where there were speeches by the Lord Provost and ...
From today's BBC of the long running Abu Qatada saga. "The Siac court also heard on Friday that Abu Qatada's house was searched on 7 March. Police found 17 mobiles in his house, six of which were switched on. They also found three USB sticks, an SD card, five digital media devices and 55 recordable CDs or DVDs." What has that got to do with anything? I've got most of that stuff (he's got me beat on the mobiles though). I thought you were a terrorist when your house was rammed full of explosives, not office supplies. Qatata is plainly ...
When the first Universal Credit (UC) pilot was launched in Ashton-under-Lyne last week, much attention was paid to the practicalities of the new benefit, from the timetable to the IT system, the challenge of online claims to the problems with monthly payments. A new report published this week by Child Poverty Action Group and the TUC, however, considers the bigger question of whether UC can deliver on its broader objectives, and in particular on how the new benefit can truly 'make work pay'. UC relies on two key design features to deliver on this promise. First, it allows claimants who ...
Simpson on the right with Iain Percy Andrew Simpson was the crewman who along with Iain Percy won gold in the Star class at the Beijing Olympics and silver in the same class last summer. He was a competitive sailor in the Finn class before teaming up with Percy, winning silver in the 2001 European Championships and bronze in the 2003 worlds. But of course that was a class where fellow Brit Ben Ainslie ruled supreme so the chance to crew for Percy allowed him to take part in two Olympics. With the Star class cut from the 2016 Olympic ...
Sadly, more and more people are being caught out by changes to parking rules and regulations in and around Launceston. And Cornwall Council is seeing its reputation trashed as a result of a situation that could, and should, have been handled very differently. Earlier this year the council decided to make various changes to parking rules around the town. One of these was to introduce residents parking schemes in Western Road, Kensey Hill and Race Hill. The problem is not whether or not this was the right decision, but how it was communicated. I argued at the time that the ...
View Poll: BRAAAAAINS Perhaps artistic/creative/spatial is a better hand-wavy term to use than "creative", IDK. I am doing exam revision, honest. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: The Casked Crusader] Liberal Democrats have long known about Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland's efforts to protect the Great British Pub. Now, the Sun has caught on to his work and interests and, today, have dubbed him The Casked Crusader, illustrated in this fetching portrait. In this article, entitled Scandaleous, they quote him as saying: The pubco model is a scam. No one has got to grips with it — it's a corporate scandal as big as Libor or Enron but no one's even probing it. What I'm saying is, enough is enough Greg seems quite taken with ...
How would you improve Beddington Park? Join the discussion 7:30 pm Thursday 23rd May or Tuesday 28th May, Pavilion Cafe, Beddington Park. We have an opportunity to apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for £3million for Beddington Park. The HLF is looking to fund projects that make a lasting difference to heritage, people and [...]
posted The Blood is The Life 09-05-2013 http://t.co/lZ4KRzdlI0 on #dreamwidth (tags: (from twitter) dreamwidth ) http://po.st/39fb5J I love the sheer creativity of youth: 8 year old girl watched Aliens and did this to her dolly. http://t.co/1ST7QjzJKF via @po_st (tags: (from twitter) ) It's Time to Retire "Boob Plate" Armor. Because It Would Kill You. | Tor.com (tags: ) First They Came For Woolworths, And I Did Not Speak Out: Echo/Gazette Column 22nd Jan. « A GIRL CALLED JACK (tags: ) The Coalition: we're trapped in a loveless marriage with no happy ending in sight | Stephen Tall Depressing but ...
Years ago, I happened to come across a set of statistics that related to self-employment, broken down by parliamentary constituency. I had always believed there was some correlation between independence and Liberal-mindedness, and here it was in black and white: most of the top ten constituencies for self-employment were bastions of political Liberalism too. I thought this was rather important and happened to come across the Lib Dem leader a few days later (I won't say who in case this seems like a criticism, which it isn't) and told him about it. He wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about this revelation ...
[IMG: old police station sign.] Last night I was working my way through the parts of the MoJ's consultation paper on Transforming Legal Aid relating to competition in the market for criminal representation. This is a fascinating and contentious document. The legal profession is especially exercised by the proposals to restructure the market for criminal legal aid provision so it favours bigger providers and removes the right of the accused to choose a legal representative. Jerry Hayes tried, parenthetically, to highlight the issue on BBC Question Time last night, but he'd rather lost the audience by that point as a ...
Yesterday I met a representative of Independent Liverpool. This is a small organisation trying to promote the use of local retailers to improve the food chain and to keep Liverpool money circulating in Liverpool. I asked them for information so ... Continue reading →
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament Fiona Hall has responded to former Chancellor Nigel Lawson's call for Britain to leave the EU. Writing in the Independent, she spelled out some of the economic consequences of such a move: We are currently on the cusp of a game-changing trade deal between the EU and the US, which will bring billions of pounds to the British economy and create tens of thousands of jobs. The US has also made it quite clear that our 'special relationship' would cease to be special were the UK outside the EU. Major trade ...
Fri 10th
08:47
Animals in Need, Melling – Their fight to regain a pitch for their fund-raising stall in Maghu...
Since the owners of the northern half of Maghull's shopping Centre gave the charity notice to quit their regular pitch a few weeks ago the charity have gamely been fighting to find another site for their stall. And they are well thought of too as 5 letters in the last three week's editions of the Aintree & Maghull Champion, backing the charity, show. I have been into bat for the charity discussing options with Sefton Council officers and liaising with the charity but so far a sustainable solution has not been found. [IMG: The Westway battle ground where the Animals ...
Last night, after my weekly ward surgery at Blackness Primary School, I attended the latest committee meeting of the Friends of Riverside Nature Park. The Friends are making great progress, with a very comprehensive agenda and discussions, including progress with their action plan for the park, updates on their new website, guided walks, publicity leaflets and park signage. As part of the Dundee Festival of Volunteering week at the start of June, the Friends will be at the launch event on the morning of Saturday 1st June and later that afternoon, there will be guided walks at the park (including ...
At last night's Annual Council ( more of which later ...) the Diary of Meetings was agreed. There is a full calendar, with more dates to be added for the new committee and working groups, but there are not scheduled to be any meetings next week, ( w/c 13th May )
[IMG: Vincent Cable] Vince Cable published an interesting piece in the New Statesman last month (I missed it at the time): My advice to young Lib Dems — rise above the tribalism. It's a biographical reflection on his political journey — from Young Liberal to Mr Wilson's 'White Heat' Labour to the breakaway SDP and finally to the Liberal Democrats, where he joined "some of the descendants of Grimond and Crosland". However, it also has a very clear political message. At least, I think it does. Tell me below-the-line if you think I'm over-reading, especially the third point. First, the ...
Buried within a bigoted report in the Daily Express about gay marriage is an interesting fact: membership of the Conservative Party has fallen from 400,000 to 130,000. Given the sharp fall in Liberal Democrat membership, there is no reason to feel smug. Even so, the fact that some senior Tories think their loss of members is due to gay marriage shows the extent to which they have been unnerved by UKIP. Although many Tories dislike gay marriage, is there not a more plausible reason for the their decline? The average age of Tory members is so high that they might ...
From The Spectator 'I've always voted Labour and I always will,' she says sadly. 'I've got to have one stupid, docile, bovine part of me and that's the part that votes Labour.'
[IMG: jud alex ruwan_tm-001] Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera and Alex Payton with Judith Bunting yesterday. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : We have two special events planned in the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum before the museum re-opens for its summer season in June. Tuesday 14th May at 6pmDr Jenny Bryce (Scottish Natural Heritage) : The Scottish Wildcat: a history of conservation action Jenny Bryce, wildlife ecologist at Scottish Natural Heritage, will talk about Scottish wildcats, their conservation, the background of research that has led to our current understanding and proposals for future action. Please note - this talk was originally scheduled for 30th April but will now take place ...
I very much welcome that The Queen's Speech will help over 35,000 businesses in Wales by cutting National Insurance Contributions. The National Insurance Contributions Bill announced by the Queen will introduce a National Insurance employment allowance of £2,000, reducing the cost of employment and supporting small businesses who want to grow and hire their first employee or expand their workforce. Building a stronger economy in a fairer society is our priority, and the Liberal Democrats have ensured that the Queen's Speech has measures that will help to deliver that. In these difficult times, it's vital that we help small businesses ...
I don't tend to take much notice of opinion polls for fairly obvious reasons but when an interesting piece of research comes to light it is worth commenting on. This YouGov poll reported in today's Guardian is a good example, not least as it has been commissioned as a learning process rather than just for headlines. According to the paper, this poll shows that Labour has a mountain to climb to win the next election outright, and is still failing to chalk up big enough leads on image or leadership to make it likely to secure an overall majority: The ...
9th May 2013 Turnout 25.8% Bowler (Con) 292 Butler (Lab) 148 Fairweather (Con) 279 Farrow (Apol) 158 Alex Payton (Liberal Democrat) 335 ELECTED Puffet (Lab) 130 Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera (Liberal Democrat) 315 ELECTED Yates (Apol) 136 LD = 36.3% Con = 31.8% Lab = 15.5% Apol = 16.4% (all parties had 2 candidates) Last Time in 2011:- Turnout Aprox 41.6% LD = 49.7% (4 Candidates) Con = 37.8% (4 Candidates) Lab = 3.7% (note only one candidate so fair to x 4 this = 14.8%) Apol = 8.7% (4 Candidates) [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
