Some archive footage and photographs of the Northamptonshire town of Wellingborough. Subjects covered include the railway accident of 1898 and the zoo park, which operated between 1943 and 1970.
This week I have had a very positive meeting with Malcolm Kennedy and Nick Kavanagh about the next steps to take to resolve issues with regard to the church. We basically agreed the four principles that were contained within the ... Continue reading →
The world's most powerful dynasty needs to relinquish its power or today's victory for the reactionary BJP will not be reversed in the foreseeable future In India's first general election in 1952, the Congress Party which had lead India to its independence won 364 out of the 489 seats in the new parliament. Its [...]
Police propose closing their public enquiry office in Penzance. The Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable are consulting on new arrangements for the public to be able to contact the Police and as a way to save money they are proposing that fewer Police Stations will have their doors unlocked. As I am on the Police and Crime Panel, I would welcome hearing your views on this too. The preferred option they are consulting on is to only have 3 principal front offices, where the doors will be open 6 days per week. Personally, I find it strange that ...
The two Liberal Democrat ministers were dispatched to the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice by Nick Clegg with the instruction to make the liberal voice heard more clearly, says Nigel Morris in the Independent. How is it going? For Mr Baker it means trying to assert himself with a Secretary of State famed for her work ethic, attention to detail - and occasional reluctance to delegate. He has amassed a wide-ranging brief that brings in crime reduction, tackling violence against women, reducing animal experiments and gun licensing. After an initial wariness, the pair have built a mutual respect ...
I had a meeting today with Groundwork North East at Marley Hill Community Centre where we are hoping to take over the unused land beside the building to turn into community gardens and allotments. The purpose of the meeting was to consider how we can use the site and kick start the process of carrying out a feasibility study, a must-have for future grant funding. Groundwork will carry out the
I am not aware of any meetings at Blyth Town Council next week If I unearth any I'll post details as soon as I know
[IMG: Cupcakes (Provided under a CC licence by https://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetpeacupcakes/)] A new business will be opening in Sandgate next Monday 19th May at 2pm - all are welcome to go along! Shop name: With Love Nikki 104 Sandgate High Street - 01303 254300 This is what the proprietor has said: "The shop will be run by myself (Nikki) and my daughter (Jamie-Jean) as well as other staff members who live in the area. Our shop will be opening on Monday the 19th May at 2pm - we will be handing out free cupcakes. The Folkestone Herald has been informed and will ...
Nigel Farage was interviewed by LBC Radio's James O'Brien today: it didn't go well for the Ukip leader. Watch here as he's asked about the racist comments of elected Ukip representatives, the extremist views of its far-right European allies, its mis-use of dodgy stats to whip-up immigration fears, and its refusal to sign up for an audit of its MEPs' expenses... * Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, and editor of the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead. He is also a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum and writes at ...
In his splendid biography of Roy Jenkins, John Campbell quotes in some detail a speech made by Jenkins in 1967: [To] cling on to our precarious position as the third of the great powers [by maintaining a military capacity] which has to be paid for by others bailing us out is neither dignified nor effective.. . . . Europe. . . offers the prospect of living among equals, and exercising great influence through our co-operation with them, instead of straining ourselves into weakness by trying vainly to keep up with the power giants of the world. (Campbell, page 292) Nearly ...
I'm not an expert on sex work. Nor am I an experienced campaigner for reform of the laws regarding sex work. I have however considered at great length the political presentation of arguments for drug policy reform (with a decent record of success) and I've found myself recently turning my attention to the political situation in the UK regarding sex work. While the drug policy debate seems to be heading irreversibly towards decriminalisation and regulation, the sex work debate is a car crash in comparison. The notion that criminalising sex work clients will make everything all better is spreading like ...
[IMG: Butt S] Given the weekend is almost upon us, I thought I'd lighten the tone a little and talk about autocracy. And couple it with what Spin magazine once described as "the worst indie band in the world" in 1993. I should declare in an interest here. In spite of, or perhaps partly because of, the fact that they have been declared the worst band in the universe, the Butthole Surfers are my favourite band of all time. So I decided to ask and then answer a question that has surprisingly never yet been posed: if Vlad the Impaler ...
UKIP the laziest party in Europe, Lib Dems hardest-working – league table in today's @TheTimes http://t.co/xmzoNKB4AP pic.twitter.com/l2nrHTT69i — LibDem MEPs (@LibDemMEPs) May 13, 2014
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: You can also watch this on YouTube.
In his recent book on economics (reviewed by me here), George Cooper presented the discipline as being an irretrievably fracture, in need of a radical step change. There is an alternative view. This is that in fact the profession is split between two orthodoxies, with a diverse bunch of heterodox economists on the fringe, unable to get serious traction. The two orthodoxies are often given the names "salt-water" and "fresh-water", because the former are popular in U.S. universities on the east and west coasts, and the latter with those in the Midwest – especially Chicago. This is worth picking apart. ...
Lib Dems at County Hall have been pushing the Conservative Administration for years to invest properly in our roads network. At the recent Budget setting meeting, the Lib Dems proposed investing £9m in extra highways work to help improve our failing network. The fully costed plans would have used money not spent in 2013/14 to pay for the highways investment for the benefit of all residents of Hertfordshire. At the meeting, we were told the money would be better spent paying a lump sum into the Local Government Pension Scheme for officer and councillor pensions and there was none left ...
[IMG: Russell Brand] Nick Clegg is certainly getting about at the moment. From the Today programme (where his cactus burning past was brought up like it wasn't something that has been well known for years), to Good Morning Scotland to Call Clegg to Pink News, he's rarely out of the public gaze. One of my favourite interviews, though, was published in Shortlist earlier this week. When was the last time you saw a politician using the word "hard-arsed" in an interview? I thought his response to a question about whether men were in crisis was excellent: I think the traditional, ...
Work to write the crucial Liberal Democrat pre-manifesto will be stepping up as we move into summer. Social Liberal Forum campaigns on welfare and food poverty illustrate the need for that document to look forwards as well as back; to...Read more ›
So much of the work that comes into my constituency office is about things that Labour-run Haringey Council has failed to do. The calls, emails or letters complaining about Haringey come in to me generally at the point that the local resident has tried (often many times) calling Haringey. When they cannot get a response - they come to me. Sometimes they find they can't even get an answer to a phone call (for over a year, Haringey shockingly failed to pick up the phone at all to 1 in 3 calls to its call centre). Sometimes people leave a ...
Cheap jibes and the real cost of cutting legal aid - @RosamundUrwin nails it. Again. (tags: ) Politician, paedophile and GP claim 'right to be forgotten' - anybody surprised? I DO like the way the Torygraph lump them all together like they are equally bad, though. (tags: ) Guardian, Telegraph and YouTube launch bid to host 2015 leaders' debates Now THERE'S an unholy trinity O_o (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: St Just Library ] Discussions begin with 'Friends of St Just Library' St Just Library community involvement possibilities start to be explored. This week I met with Adam Paynter, Cornwall Cabinet member responsible for Libraries, Cornwall Council's Head of Service, the relevant Communities Team Lead, and 2 committee members of the Friends of St Just Library. We began to explore the impact of the reduction of opening hours from 1 June on Community groups, Link into Learning and the wider community. The 'Friends' have many people willing to step forward to become volunteers to support community groups continuing to ...
Fri 16th
09:26
Independent, 14/05/14: Nick Clegg under pressure from Lib Dem activists to water down Coalition's we...
The Social Liberal Forum (SLF), the biggest left of centre pressure group inside the party, is pressing Mr Clegg and other Lib Dem ministers to make changes after a wholesale review of the Coalition's approach to welfare. "The so-called 'bedroom...Read more ›
Hilda and me at Balgay a couple of years ago It was with great sadness that I learned yesterday that Dr Hilda Spear has passed away. Hilda was for many years the Chair of the Friends of Balgay and remained very active on the committee. Hilda was a lovely lady who did so much for the local community through her work at and campaigning for Balgay Park. She will be very sadly missed indeed.
[IMG: polling day] Having taken a break from frontline campaigning in recent months it's given me time to observe the party as a voter, if not an impartial one. The European and local elections are undoubtedly important, but the big challenge is a year away and we still have time to make the Liberal Democrat case. I'm instinctively pro-coalition and Nick Clegg and the leadership have to take great credit on what has been achieved on area such as tax, the pupil premium, pensions and gay marriage. Without our party in coalition, there would be nothing to show for our ...
Last night, after my ward surgery at Blackness Primary School, I attended the latest West End Local Community Planning Partnership (LCPP) meeting at Blackness Library. The LCPP meeting is a good opportunity for representatives from different council departments, West End councillors and representatives from other organisations like the NHS, police and fire and rescue to discuss local issues and matters of concern and, last night, we had a presentation on the proposals to improve the road, pavements, crossings and access at Riverside Drive. We also had a good discussion on several West End issues.
Yesterday, along with council officers from Housing and Community Safety Wardens, I took part in a walkabout around the Blackness area. The six-monthly walkabouts take place in a number of areas (Pentland and Logie are other examples) and are a useful way to look at local issues and problems and ensure these are taken up and resolved. Here's a couple of issues picked up from yesterday's walkabout: Eurobins in Peddie Street - I have raised the emptying schedule with the Environment Department Tree bed in Blackness Avenue - now a muddy trip hazard since the removal of the tree - ...
The BBC reported yesterday that half of all Welsh local authorities ask headteachers to refuse all requests for holidays during term-time. They say that although schools are allowed to authorise up to 10 days absence per pupil per year, under the Welsh government's school assessment programme, known as banding, absences negatively affect a school's score. As a result sveral councils have tightened policies on term-time holidays and others are considering doing so. This is all very well and in general a good thing, however it does not help those parents whose jobs prevent them from choosing when they can take ...
A couple of days ago I blogged that the "right to be forgotten" is a worrying development. Now a story on BBC News shows what it may lead to: Google has received fresh takedown requests after a European court ruled that an individual could force it to remove "irrelevant and outdated" search results, the BBC has learned. An ex-politician seeking re-election has asked to have links to an article about his behaviour in office removed. A man convicted of possessing child abuse images has requested links to pages about his conviction to be wiped. And a doctor wants negative reviews ...
The West End's timebank, Time2Give is hosting a Coffee Afternoon as part of the Dundee Festival of Volunteering. It will take place on Tuesday 3rd June from 2pm to 3.30pm at Blackness Library (upstairs meeting room). Local mental health guitar group RockDee will perform at the Coffee Afternoon, where they will play a short twenty minute acoustic set. This is their very first live performance so please come along to support them! Afterwards people can enjoy some tea or coffee and cakes.
[IMG: Liberal Democrat Conference 2011] Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. More than 830 party members responded – thank you – and we're publishing the full results. LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers? Full results are published below, but here's two key lists for those who want to cut to the chase... (with comparison to December 2013 ratings in brackets) Top 5 Lib Dem performers in the ...
[IMG: rsz_golden_landscape] We can easily forget what beautiful part of the world we live in. Standing with my back to the busy Switch Island this idyllic vista came into view. Historic Sefton Church and Sefton Village are in the background and the raised bunds of the River Alt are on the right together with Jubilee Woods. Just out of shot to the left are the ongoing works to build the new Switch Island to Thornton Link Road – Brooms Cross Road as it is to be called. Also just out of shot on the right is the embankment of the ...
A study for the Civitas think-tank suggests the UK has enough so-called brownfield space for 2.5m houses to be built, however, the Government has not provided enough incentives for developers. The group suggests tax breaks to help developers absorb the costs of cleaning up brownfield sites and suggests subsequent profits from builders would see an increase in corporation tax flow to the Treasury. This is an interesting study because, if the conclusions are right, there is a clear pointer towards stopping building on high grade agricultural land such as the Green Belt of Sefton which is predominately made up of ...
Do you have 3 minutes to spare to give your views on our local environment? I've prepared a short residents survey which is going out across the division. If you'd like to complete it online then the form is available here; http://goo.gl/IkD2Q7 You can also printout the two pages individually available here; http://www.electionleaflets.org/leaflets/7981/ This is your opportunity to express your views both in our local area, key national policy areas, as well as international issues. If you'd like to help deliver (or collect) these surveys please drop me an email; andy.pellew@gmail.com I'll respond individually to every completed survey (although it ...
Today's figures show that the UK unemployment rate has hit a low of 6.8%, the lowest level in more than five years. The number of people in work is at a record high of 30,430 in the first three months of this year and the number of people out of work has fallen by 133,000. The Lib Dems have been working to boost employment in order to secure living standards for the future and these new figures show that our plan is working. In all, 283,000 more people have found work, which was the largest quarterly increase since records began ...
