Below are recently submitted Planning Applications in the Chorlton area. You can find out more information about any of the proposals on the City Council's Planning Portal at http://tinyurl.com/yv6lex or by contacting the South Area Planning Group Manager - Roger Hall; Tel: (0161) 234 4536; email: r.hall@manchester.gov.uk . You can also make a Planning representation (in support or opposition) to Mr Hall or the designated planning officer for each application. Please feel free to contact me on (07947383740; cllr.v.chamberlain@manchester.gov.uk) if you wish to discuss any application and please also send me a copy of any representation you make. 102154/JO/2013/S1 WM ...
Copyright Tom Brake MP
I'm now on my way back from a very interesting three days in Arkansas. I am very tired but I hope that I have learnt a lot and I hope that I have left some useful thoughts behind. Their system ... Continue reading →
Interventions in the House this week: Immigration service http://bit.ly/10bjyCB Temporary stop notices http://bit.ly/12dBEjy Assault on Nigella Lawson http://bit.ly/19qZ5wg Other events: 08.30 Tuesday: meeting of the APPG on Child Health & Vaccine Preventable Diseases, of which I'm co-chair. 08.30 Wednesday: meeting of the APPG on the Nuclear Industry to hear from Candu about their proposals for burning the 100+ tonnes of plutonium stored at Sellafield There are so many All-Party Groups nowadays that it is impossible to fit the meetings into civilised hours of working! Wednesday pm Select Committee on Statutory Instruments: an enormous mass of documents, dealt with in about ...
[IMG: Day 28 - West Midlands Police Helicopter - Air Ops - Alpha Oscar One] Once again, I would like to express my sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Mark Campbell, the gentleman killed in the Nightingales last Wednesday. My thoughts are with them at this very difficult time. It was a senseless waste of a life in the most appalling circumstances. In the midst of the evening, we had the police helicopter buzzing overhead. In the event, it became obvious why the helicopter was there. However, I have done a little research. The helicopter which covers our ...
Friday To Whitechapel to conduct a party of tourists about the yards and courts of this insalubrious district. Today we are concerned neither with the crimes of Jack the Ripper (Nanny would often regale me with tales of them) nor with the life and times of Sir Percy Harris (the tour that brings the most visitors to our capital), but with the career of that notorious gangster Violent Bonham-Carter I tell them of Bonham-Carter's early struggles and patronage of Barbara Windsor (the black sheep of the royal family and, when they first met, a promising bantamweight) and take them for ...
I was looking for Arthur Wakerley and North Evington today, but on the way I found this vast factory on a Leicester backstreet. Manual typewriters were once as ubiquitous in offices as PCs are today, and Imperial Typewriters was the best known manufacturer of them. The company set up in Leicester in 1908 and this, its factory in East Park Road, was one of the city's major employer until it closed in 1975. By then Imperial was owned by an American company and was the last company making typewriters in Britain. In 1974 it had been the site of an ...
Peter Donegan is playing at the Phoenix, next Saturday 29th June from about 7:30 Son of the legendary Lonnie Donegan, Pete will be playing a selection of his father's songs Tickets are available from the Phoenix .....
This morning, rather than stay in and listen to the British Lions game on the radio or find a pub that was showing it, I headed off to explore the backstreets of Leicester with my camera. As you will soon see. So I missed the Lions' victory. Or did I? Because I have always had a philosophical worry over statements like that. Can I assume that the game would have been exactly the same if I had watched it? My worry is not that, in some butterfly's wing and hurricane way, my decision to go to Leicester may somehow have ...
For the next month or so, most of my writing time will be taken up with copy-edits on the Beach Boys book and on my novel (along with the Doctor Who posts and How To Build Your Own Time Machine). So for the next month most of what's posted here will be rather light book [...]
Sat 22nd
18:30
The right to privacy: "in a country born on the will to be free, what could be more fundamental than...
With news today of yet further alleged intrusion into private citizens' communications — GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables for secret access to world's communications (Guardian) — here's how The West Wing anticipated the past week's furore... (Available on YouTube here.) Sam Seaborn: It's not just about abortion, it's about the next 20 years. In the '20s and '30s it was the role of government. '50s and '60s it was civil rights. The next two decades are going to be privacy. I'm talking about the Internet. I'm talking about cell phones. I'm talking about health records and who's gay and who's not. ...
The Botanic Gardens Community Association are holding a "Fun with Flowers" event to celebrate their replanting of the famous flower beds in Southport's Botanic Gardens. The event is on Thursday 27th June, from 10:30am to 4pm. A jazz band, birds of prey and a hanging basket demonstration are just a few of the things that will be going on. For details of the Botanic Gardens Community Association please visit their website.
I awoke this morning to the news that Nick Clegg was to "take on his internal party critics" at the Lib Dem local government conference today and my heart sank. Political activists now exist chiefly as a sort of stage army that can be brought on so their own leader can look tough by criticising them. It's no life for a grown up. And how was Nick going to "take on" his critics? It was by saying that he wanted to be in power while they sought the "comfort blanket" of opposition or protest. This is not good enough. As ...
The extraordinary scenes in cities across Brazil, where a million people came out on the streets in the last few days in anti-government protests, make me wonder whether something global isn't going on. The disturbances in Ankara over the proposed development of a park seemed like an extension of the Arab Spring, but Brazil isn't remotely in the Middle East. What holds these protests in common is that it is sometimes a small trigger - rising bus fares in this case - that sets them off. But the anger seems genuine enough - or would we, if this was happening ...
Today I have taken the bold decision to release a photograph into the public domain, prohibited by the jobsworths and pompous inhabitants of Thanet council, the proceeding description does not apply to all staff and councillors only those opposed to public access but those of us who sometime visit the council chamber might have noticed the offensive restrictions on using cameras and recording devices in the taxpayer funded supposedly democratic arena. Some of you will know of the hostile attitude by some council officers and councillors at the mere idea of the public recording for posterity the efficiency and adult ...
Last week I wrote about a new report, contributed to by Liberal Democrats Sarah Teather and Sally Hamwee, which outlined the heartbreak and suffering the new family migration rules are causing. The income threshold of £18,600 with extra for each child, and the narrow methods by which this is calculated is stopping many people from being able to live with their spouses in this country. Earlier this week, four Liberal Democrat MPs took part in a Westminster Hall debate to try to persuade Home Office minister Mark Hunter of the inequity of these plans. Here are some extracts from their ...
[IMG: image] What a wonderful day! What a wonderful day to send oneself an email in an exotic foreign language mentioning key trigger words and then to sit back to see what happens! You never know, you might meet a new friend. What a wonderful day! Photo: Some rights reserved by Graham Jowett [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Here's today's hand-picked selection that caught my interest... The Lib Dems take the honours for sheer hypocrisy – Telegraph Dammit, I guessed this T'grph piece was Iain Martin "LibDems take the honours for sheer hypocrisy" http://bit.ly/1c6H5qz No, Robert Colvile Margaret Thatcher Day... | Ballots & Bullets "Margaret Thatcher Day..." & other Prime Ministerial days http://bit.ly/14OKolE via @philipjcowley) Ah, maybe this explains Nick Clegg's awkwardness over Nigella yesterday... Nigella & Miriam Gonzalez Durantez (or Miriam Clegg if you're the Daily Mail): cooking friends http://bit.ly/1c3UsYm #croquetas
World famous toy maker Frank Hornby lived yards away from Maghull Railway Station for most of his adult life and legend has it that he used the now sadly dilapidated Station Master's House as the basis for one of his model buildings. [IMG: This shot of the former Stationmaster's Hse at Maghull Station was taken in June 2006. Sadly it is in worse condition now.] This shot of the former Stationmaster's Hse at Maghull Station was taken in June 2006. Sadly it is in worse condition now. Moving on – In the wake of the hugely successful first ever Maghull ...
The dire need in the NHS for qualified high level medical staff could be given a much needed boost by offering medical students free university fees if they commit themselves to working solely for the NHS for a number of years after qualifying as a junior doctor. Even as they progress through the NHS as junior doctors they are still being taught and trained in NHS hospitals by senior doctors, surgeons, anaesthetists and registrars. Some then go on to be the elite in the world of medicine, being in demand to do heart and liver transplants, neuro-surgery, plastic surgery etc ...
In my view the world of entertainment has moved on, cinemas such as Vue offer comfortable seating and quality projection systems. Still that said, can someone explain to me, why it was necessary, when I watched, the film Man of Steal with an advertised start time of 11:00hrs, the film actually started a half hour later, I checked the time on my phone (in Airplane mod) 11:26 and believe that a couple more trailers were squeezed in after, the sound levels in my opinion were uncomfortably loud and although not necessarily accurate or indeed scientific at one point I checked ...
Jeremy Forrest is sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for abducting and having sex with his 15-year old student. The news is full of people proclaiming this as a great blow in the battle for child protection. He is referred to as "the paedophile". It is said that he "abused his position of trust". It is a good day for justice. Wait a minute! Has everyone in the world gone bloody mad? What has actually happened here? A girl has a crush on her teacher. It has been known. He, going through marital difficulties and struggling with depression, ends up ...
Liberal Democrats. Terribly nice people, mean well, not necessarily focussed on profit. Perhaps not the sort of people you would think of first for financial advice, at least not if you want to be rich. Security for widows and orphans, maybe, but raging capitalism, that's for Conservatives, isn't it? Or is it? Being internationalists, liberals are potentially better at geopolitics - as long as it doesn't involve invading people - and as rather less dogmatic souls, they might well be more creative in their thinking. It's an interesting question, isn't it? Something to discuss during a quiet stretch at Federal ...
[IMG: bridge457] ...For me anyway... The concrete blocks, which I pictured in my last post in this extreme anorak series, are being positioned on top of the bridge brickwork, not underneath the bridge, as I first thought. My photo shows this exciting latest development. Oh, I do love watching people work! [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Nick Clegg will be speaking today at the party's local government conference in Manchester (Nick Thornsby will be covering it throughout the day here on LDV) and The Independent is one of the newspapers which trails what he'll say. Here's my quick take on the top lines on which they've been pre-briefed... The Deputy Prime Minister will take on his internal party critics by demanding a slimline manifesto at the 2015 election setting out the Lib Dems' non-negotiable "red lines" in another coalition rather than a long shopping list of policies. There's been much discussion recently about 'red lines' in ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: Also on YouTube.
Good morning from the Mercure Hotel in Manchester, where Liberal Democrats from around the country are gathered at the Local Government Conference jointly organised by ALDC and the Lib Dem contingent of the LGA. The agenda for the day is here (pdf). I'll cover as much as I can of some of the talks, as well as some comments from Don Foster, Gerald Vernon-Jackson and others. There will be a bit of a break mid-morning while I interview Nick Clegg for the site (we'll publish the interview this week). I'll also try and post on the Lib Dem Voice twitter ...
This article deviates from our normal style of LibLink, but I thought that the fact that it's the weekend, and Solstice Weekend at that, permitted it. The UFOlogist at The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, that's The Artist Formerly Known as Lembit Opik to you and me, has been writing over at the Huffington Post on the occasion of the closure of the Government's desk dealing with claimed alien encounters. Could there, he asks, be other life forms across the galaxies. He seems to think so: We live on a single planet in a galaxy which may ...
Went to Cutting Edge Press summer party this week. This is a publisher with a social conscience – publishing such books as 'My Beautiful England' which deals with women coming to England and suffering domestic violence. Not only a good read but a book that will empower women to access support services which can help them. 'Gorilla Land' – dealing with the conflict in Congo, child soldiers and the legacy of colonialism and the current impact of the UN peacekeepers and NGOs. And many more. Given how closely this relates to my work in International Development – what a pleasure ...
Last night, I had the great honour of giving a welcome address to the Palestinian Dabka Folklore Dance Troupe from Bethlehem as they performed to a large audience (see right) at the Dundee West Church Halls. It was very kind of Tayside for Justice in Palestine, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Action Palestine to invite me to give the welcome address and I took the opportunity to thank all for their support for the people of Palestine and their right to self-determination, nationhood and a positive future. The Dabka Folklore Dance Troupe performed in the City Square last year and ...
Sincere thanks to my daughter Rhea who, fresh from completing her Art GCSE, devoted hours of her considerable skill to creating and fine-tweaking the new Liberal Burblings logo above – all in the cause of her World Challenge trip to Africa. Ever since she picked up a crayon, she has shown a vocation towards endlessly caring about fine details like shading and blurring, and she surpassed herself on Photoshop with the LB logo – the shading and blurring got endless attention – bless her! This blog is seven years old. Here below is a look back at how I have ...
The Daily Mirror's revelation that UKIP Leader Nigel Farage paid a tax adviser to create a trust in the Isle of Man, which he intended to channel funds through should be very damaging. The paper consulted a tax expert called Richard Murphy, who said: "There are only two good reasons to set up an Isle of Man trust. One is secrecy, you don't want someone to know what is in there. The other is tax avoidance. And sometimes, of course, they go together." Nigel Farage says it was a mistake and that he did not make any money personally from ...
You can download a high quality copy of this poster here. You can also download details of the Early Years Conference on 29th June here.
The Welsh Labour Government should not press ahead with recommendations in the Business Rates Relief report that will punish charity shops in our high streets. The independent review of business rates for charities was chaired by Prof Brian Morgan of Cardiff Metropolitan University, who published recommendations in April. These included: • New business rate relief thresholds for charity shops based on the property value, ranging from 80% for the lowest value to 0% for the highest • Cutting rate relief for all charity shops from 80% to 50% • Zone or limit charity shops in a given area If the Welsh Labour Government ...
The Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF) got off to a spectacular start tonight with an awe-inspiring performance by the Wired Aerial Theatre, directed by Nigel Jamieson: As the World Tipped. Despite a downpour in London in the late afternoon the gods were kind this evening; indeed, the Man in the (almost full) Moon beamed down [...]
An interesting documentary on BBC4 about Mott the Hoople - if you can catch it on i-player I'd recommend it. Anyway here they are from 1974 with the Golden Age of Rock n' Roll:
