Tomorrow and Wednesday, I am going to London to see The Beach Boys. A week on Saturday, I am travelling down there again, this time to see the same number of Beach Boys, playing largely the same songs, but with none of the same people on stage. I will, of course, be reviewing the shows [...]
#3376146 / gettyimages.com On 15 January 1939 the children of Kettering in Northamptonshire stare in amazement at a walking talking robot, the invention of local electrical engineer Charles Lawson. As well they might.
The Chancellor has delivered what must be called a brave speech delivering a vision for the North and future economic prosperity. I mean it when I say it is worth reading. I was challenged to read it on the same day I chose to open my sparkling new copy of Overmans, Nathan and Cheshire, [...]
Stephen Bush writes on the Telegraph website: All parties are uneasy coalitions; Ukip is no different. Theirs is an alliance of the defeated: between fringe libertarians and ex-Conservatives who have been beaten by the political establishment, and dispossessed and low-skilled people who have been beaten by the economy.
Further to my earlier calls for 20's Plenty in appropriate residential streets in Dundee, at tonight's City Council City Development Committee I proposed the following motion :Committee notes Report 273-2014 by the Director of City Development on 20mph speed limits but does not concur with the conclusions in Paragraph 4 of the report. Committee also notes that :• 20mph zones and 20mph limits significantly decrease the risk of being injured in a collision • lowering the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph can reduce child accidents by up to 70%• half of people who are hit by a car at ...
[IMG: 110416-A-FG822-136] Tin hat and flak jacket donned... Mark Pack has an excellent running record on his blog of the known party activities concerning the leadership. Here is his summary as I write: 9 local parties have voted on a leadership contest: 6 against and 3 in favour a leadership contest 3 local parties have consulted members through meetings: 3 against a leadership contest 29 local party executives have discussed the party's leadership and not gone ahead with a motion on having a leadership contest (i.e in effect against a leadership contest) Full details are here. I greatly respect those ...
Given the long-standing concerns I have raised about air quality in part of Lochee Road (from Polepark Road in the east to Tullideph Road in the west), along with Andrew Llanwarne of Friends of the Earth, I today met with four senior Environment and Transportation council officers to discuss ways that this problem can be further tackled, both specifically at Lochee Road and - wider - at air quality hot-spots across Dundee. We had a very positive discussion about numerous aspects including trying to reduce car queuing at this complicated series of junctions, other traffic aspects such as vehicle manoeuvres ...
An obvious choice, perhaps, but who am I to criticise the judges? The Guardian wins Headline of the Day.
We are all cheering after Network Rail cleared litter from railway embankments in Ludlow. The action came on 20 June, after the Ludlow Advertiser featured the problem on its front page and after councillors and residents lobbied Network Rail for its removal. I am pleased that the rail company has cleared the litter before the [...]
I spent pretty much all of last week horrifically ill with nasty, misery-inducing spotty disease. I was just about coming out of it by yesterday, so in order to cheer me up [IMG: [personal profile] ] strangecharm took me to the home of Cricket to see the third day of the test match. ( it gets long under this here cut ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
For Labour politicians, grumbling about the infamous North-South divide has become a staple - honed over decades into the meaningless soundbyte we have today. It wasn't always meaningless, during the 1970s and 1980s there was a huge decline in Northern fortunes. It seems broadly forgotten today but Ted Heath and Harold Wilson closed far more uneconomic pits and mines than Margaret Thatcher. But, as the rhetoric goes today, the North is once again being left behind as the South (and London in particular) surges ahead into a futuristic age of prosperity and safety. Politicians from all major parties are jockeying ...
[IMG: Teen scientist Alexa Dantzler in the lab] Today is the first National Women in Engineering Day. This BBC story tells of both the success of apprenticeships (the expansion of which was personally championed by Nick Clegg, and how women are establishing successful engineering careers. Earlier this month, Equalities Minister Jenny Willott launched a project, Opening Doors, aimed at getting more girls into science based careers. The aim is to get women with successful careers into schools to inspire girls to take science subjects and follow them through into university and, ultimately, the workplace. At the time Jenny spoke to ...
A few people have contacted me to say how long it takes to get through the council on the phone now. That's true – one of the ways we've saved money to balance the budget is reducing the staffing in the Contact Centre. If you've an urgent call, it still gets answered quickly but if it's less urgent it can take a while. Luckily, there is an answer! If you're reading this, you've Internet access and so can contact the council online and save yourself all that time hanging onto the phone. [IMG: Report it] In most cases you can ...
Industry Week at Stanley Park High School Stanley Park School has an urgent need for local business owners/managers to give two hours of their time and plenty of their experience to benefit the employees of the future during their Industry Week beginning 7th July 2014. Please contact Lorraine Walsh at Stanley Park High School on [...]
[IMG: European Parliament chamber, Strasbourg] Following on from my post last week on post-election developments in Brussels, here's the first of two updates. Today's will focus on developments concerning the formation of political groups in the Parliament itself whilst tomorrow's will address issues regarding nominations to the European Commission. Political parties have until tomorrow, June 24th to form their European Parliamentary groups. In order to qualify as a group, you not only need at least 25 MEPs but these must be drawn from at least 7 EU countries represented in the Parliament. Nigel Farage has now been successful in cobbling ...
"This is probably the most important period of US history bar none - I include the American Revolution - because we've run out of options. Either we develop a new way forward or fascism is a possibility or we will see growing decay." This is a fascinating take on the future history of the USA, by the political activist and historian Gar Alperovitz, interviewed in New Start by Clare Goff last week. Alperovitz is increasingly prominent in the political debate around the edges of politics, which takes a rather longer view (not hard actually) than the day-to-day debate. It is ...
Mon 23rd
12:59
Adrian Sanders MP writes...New global parliamentary Diabetes network will ensure vital action is tak...
[IMG: World Diabetes Day] On 2nd December 2013 at the first Parliamentary Diabetes Global Network (PDGN) meeting in Melbourne, Australia, attended by invited parliamentarians representing 50 countries, a declaration on Diabetes was agreed and signed. Meeting in the Victoria State Parliament building MPs from across the globe reported on the state of Diabetes care in their countries, discussed how to raise the profile of the condition and agreed a declaration calling for urgent action to address the diabetes pandemic, committing the signatories to work across parliaments to help prevent the incidence of diabetes, ensure early diagnosis and improve the treatment ...
[IMG: Berrylands Focus leaflet for Sushila Abraham] Michael Ashcroft's recent polling across 17 Conservative-Lib Dem marginal seats, of which 11 are currently held by the Liberal Democrats, acted as a good personality test for Liberal Democrat activists. You can split them into the doom-mongers ('Aaaargh! We're going to lose loads of them') and the optimists ('We're in with a chance of winning enough to hold our own or even make net gains'). The optimists have one methodological point in their favour. Overall, unlike Lord Oakeshott polls, Lord Ashcroft's polls use a solid, consistent methodology. However, although the polling asked voters ...
This posting links back in some ways to my previous posting of July 8th 2013:- [IMG: This version is in cast iron as part of the Litherland Road canal bridge] This version is in cast iron as part of the Litherland Road canal bridge [IMG: This version is fixed to the wall of the Council Chamber in Bootle Town Hall.] This version is fixed to the wall of the Council Chamber in Bootle Town Hall. The crests above shout out 'civic pride' but the modern logo's of Councils, like say Sefton (see below), seem to me to be rather ...
The Liberal Democrats have announced their shadow team on St Albans District Council for the next twelve months. Chris White has been elected Leader, with Aislinn Lee as Deputy. Chris said: 'We are very conscious that the council is facing some major issues as austerity continues to bite. 'But this must not be at the expense of services that are important to people: there is widespread discontent about increases in parking charges and the council's forthcoming review of parking policy. Meanwhile some basic services like grass-cutting have now become wholly unacceptable in many places. 'More importantly, however, there is a ...
Launceston will see major works by contractors on behalf of South West Water over the coming months. The half million pound package of works will result in significant road closures. The works are needed to repair parts of the sewer network in the town. South West Water are currently undertaking an extensive consultation exercise with businesses, residents and town organisations in order to make sure that the disruption will do as little harm as possible. The most significant works will be at the junction of Madford Lane, Windmill Hill, Westgate Street and Dockey where a road closure will be needed ...
Mon 23rd
11:30
Why are London schools so good? Politicians have been looking in the wrong place for the answers...
Today saw the publication of an important report, Lessons from London schools for attainment gaps and social mobility. Commissioned by Alan Milburn's independent Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, it's the work of academics at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute of Education. What it seeks to explain is what's become known as the 'London effect' – the breathtaking transformation in educational outcomes that's taken place in the capital over the past decade or more. Put simply, London's state schools produce the best results in the country – and by far the best results for children and young people ...
[IMG: William Beveridge] In my article on Saturday, I talked about how Ed Miliband's 'youth tax' shows that Labour have abandoned any claim they ever had to be a party that cared about social justice or a fairer society. And the Conservatives have never even cared about a fairer society as they are ably demonstrating with their plan to cut £20 billion from the £79 billion (e.g. not including pensions) welfare budget if they are in government in the next parliament. Therefore the Liberal Democrats, the party of Beveridge, are now the only party capable of claiming to stand for ...
Austin meets Amistad in a superior costume drama Belle is this year's second film about race and slavery. The first, the Best Picture winning 12 Years a Slave, was an unremittingly violent study of life on a Louisiana cotton plantation. Belle by contrast is an apparently gentle Jane Austen pastiche overflowing with baronets and bonnets. [...]
[IMG: normanlamb] New guidance published will help teachers better identify mental health problems in young people. This means that fewer pupils will be wrongly labelled as trouble-makers. A 2012 Centre for Mental Health report estimates around 15% of pupils aged 5 to 16 have mental health problems that put them at increased risk of developing more serious issues in the future. The new guidance will help young people get the help they need at an earlier stage. The guidance, created by the Department for Education in consultation with head teachers, mental health professors and the Department of Health, is designed ...
Artists bring the fields to life - Halifax Courier (tags: ) Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: The irresponsibility of Action on Sugar (tags: ) Music streaming counts towards Top 40 chart for the first time (tags: ) Unlocking the door to a new future - Virgin proud of employing ex-offenders :) (tags: ) Drifting off the coast of Portugal, the frontrunner in the global race for floating windfarms (tags: ) New high-speed rail link needed to boost north of England, Osborne to say What's the betting it'll end up following the TPE route & they won't even electrify Caldervale? I mean ...
A new network is being launched today, to strengthen science advice and evidence-based policymaking across Europe David Camerons increasingly forlorn efforts to block Jean-Claude Juncker continue to generate the heat in European politics, but today sees the launch of a welcome effort to bring light to the sometimes murky recesses of EU policymaking. This afternoon, at the Euroscience Open Forum in Copenhagen, a new pan-EU network of government science advisers will hold its first meeting. Senior scientific representatives from twelve member states, including the UKs Sir Mark Walport, will discuss how to strengthen the use of evidence in EU policymaking ...
Mon 23rd
09:47
World Cup Review 4: dealing with melancholia, the Crash Test Dummies, and FIFA, the Motion Picture
[IMG: Blatter] I've been feeling glum this past week. Don't worry, it has little to do with England going out of the World Cup; the emotions are rooted in something more personal that I shan't share with you right now, if that's all right. The thing about feeling melancholy for an extended period of time is that your whole outlook on life changes during the period when you are feeling low. It's like the world has slowed down considerably and you find yourself concentrating on things that normally you would let pass you by. You also suddenly develop strange taste ...
[IMG: Scottish Parliament 3] What are our MPs, MSPs and AM's going to be talking about this coming week? Holyrood It's the last week of term for the Scottish Parliament this week until an earlier than usual return, on 3 August. MSPs will sit for 3 weeks before taking a further 4 week break for the Referendum. One of the last items to be discussed in the Chamber this session will be a motion from Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes, not on her usual justice portfolio, but on the BMA's Your GP cares campaign. Her motion reads: That the Parliament ...
I note that, according to the media, Nick Clegg is being called upon to expel Mike Hancock from the Party, in just the same way that he was called upon to expel Chris Rennard from the Party not so long ago. And, regardless of the offence, I have the same advice for him and the Leader's Office - stay well out of it, and offer no comment other than to confirm that the matter is in the hands of those whose hands it should be in. You see, the Leader has no more say in the disciplinary processes of the ...
THE NEXT BLETHER MEETING WILL BE IN THE BURGH COFFEE HOUSE COMMERCIAL STREET TUESDAY 24th JUNE7.00PM - 9.00PM THE THEME FOR THIS MONTH IS................. SHIFTING SANDS. HOPE TO SEE AS MANY OF OUR REGULARS AS POSSIBLE....AND SOME NEW FACES MAYBE? More information about the group can be accessed here.
[IMG: Liberal Democrat members at conference. Photo courtesy of http://www.libdems.org.uk/diversity] With the second quarter of the year nearly over, the figures coming out from party HQ show that the Liberal Democrat membership will be up again – making it the fourth quarter in a row in which the party's membership is up, continuing the trend which started in the middle of last year. Expect the final numbers to show an increase of several hundred to a little short of 44,500. Fancy joining yourself? You can join the Liberal Democrats online here or renew your membership here.
BBC Newsnight Feature: Maglev from Amirani Media on Vimeo. Jonathan Meades made this film on the case for ultra high-speed railway for Newsnight in 2005. Take a close look at the still before you play the video. It shows platform 1 at Market Harborough station, but sadly I do not think it is the great man standing there as a train speeds past. That scene can be found at 1:04 in the video. Showing trains in Midland Mainline running into a pre-Eurostar St Pancras, it already has period charm. Thanks to @PrimedMover on Twitter.
Last night Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad, came and spoke at my church. I heard Andrew White speak a number of years ago when he visited a church I used to be part of in Southampton. He was witty, entertaining and compassionate, whilst sharing the powerful story of his calling to serve the [...]
Last week I called on the health minister to make a statement to the Assembly Plenary accounting for huge sums of money paid to patients and their relatives by ABMU Health Board in compensation for poor care over the last three years. I raised my question with the Business Minister after a freedom of information request to the health board revealed that in the 27 months between 1 January 2012 and 1 April 2014 they had paid out around £17.7 million to relatives and patients to compensate them for mistakes and poor care in the board's four major hospitals. A ...
Having spent an enjoyable afternoon on Saturday on a walking tour of medieval Swansea with a group of historians as part of events organised by Swansea Museum, I was interested to see this article in the South Wales Evening Post about an initiative by Cadw, to show off Wales's history from a unique perspective. They say that a series of videos called 'Castles from the Clouds have been released in the build up to the summer holidays with the aim of encouraging people to immerse themselves in Welsh history: The images were shot using a remote controlled drone equipped with ...
So, before we get to the actual point of this — the uproar in science fiction fandom about a number of books nominated for the Hugo Awards — let's have a look at the list of libertarian policy positions supported by libertarian SF fandom I talked about last time : Government is the only enemy [...]
At one point, I did try to find a few famous people who share my relatively unusual surname. It wasn't a very successful effort, as the name is obscure at best. But four years ago, Noel Valladares became possibly the most famous Valladares of recent years, as the Honduran goalkeeper in the 2010 World Cup. Sadly, they lost their first two games, against Chile and Spain, and although he was the man of the match in their final game, against Switzerland, his performance merely denied the Swiss a possible place in the last sixteen - a two goal winning margin ...
