The final furlongs of the Northampton Arm are dominated by the Carlsberg Brewery. This is industry on the heroic scale, which is now unusual so near a town centre, but it produces nothing more than gassy lager. On the way back into town you come across the Albion Brewery, where the historic local name of Phipps NBC has been revived.
Cambridge residents are celebrating after Lib Dem Councillor Ian Manning secured the final piece of funding to put an end to their parking problems. Residents on the VIE estate in East Chesterton has been blighted by inconsiderate parking as drivers park outside marked bays since the roads were adopted by Cambridgeshire County Council two years ago. Cllr Manning, who represents East Chesterton on the County Council, has spent the last year getting an agreement between residents for shared space for pedestrians and cyclists rather than a massive car park. The County Council invested £4,500 in his proposals and members of ...
Tony Robertson, a Liberal Democrat councillor from Sefton, introduces us to the strange world of Maghull local politics. Until May 2011 Maghull Town Council, on Merseyside, was a calm affair as it had been since 1894 when Gladstone set up Civil Parishes. It had been run by Conservatives, Ratepayers, Liberal Democrats and Independents over a century and had developed into one of the largest Parish Councils in England. Land had been acquired over the years and Maghull had a legacy of many playing fields, parks and open spaces but it had all been orderly, considered and sober. Then in May ...
Today's publication of the accounts for the office of Devon and Cornwall's Police and Crime Commissioner reveals that Tory Commissioner Tony Hogg paid £165,000 to get rid of chief executive Sue Howl. Ms Howl was in the post from the time of Mr Hogg's election until November last year. At the time she left in unexplained circumstances. According to a press release, it was to seek new challenges. I asked but Mr Hogg and his office refused to reveal any more. So I pressed via a Freedom of Information request and Mr Hogg still refused to reveal the circumstances of ...
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Fri 4th
17:42
Fuckin' Fuck - the French are doing better dives than tom Dayley July 04, 2014 at 05:41PMhttps://www...
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When I sent my complaint to NHS England I also copied in a number of other people who I felt were potentially in a position to make enquiries or who I felt should be made aware of the situation. Amongst these people were Jeremy Hunt and Norman Lamb from the Department of Health. Today I have received the [...]
On Tuesday, at the meeting of the Lighting Up Whickham Group - the group has organised the Whickham Community Festival which is being held tomorrow - it was decided that I would do the job of putting up the bunting. This hardly came as a surprise. This is the third annual festival we have held and at the previous two, somehow I got the job of climbing lamp posts and trees to put up the bunting.
As those of you who follow me on Twitter will have already seen, I've recently re-read Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. It was originally published in 1999 as part of a series of 'Intelligent Person's Guide To...', though they now seem to be out of print and are hard to find. I found it a fascinating read, and as it is so hard to find, I thought I'd try and provide a summary of it, which will hopefully prompt some other thoughts. Russell acknowledges from the start that trying to capture every variety of Liberalism in a ...
[IMG: Mansion Only - Some rights reserved by Gerg1967] One of the issues that we heard frequently on the doorstep in Haringey in the run-up to the Council elections was fear over the mansion tax. Many of our wards are in nice leafy areas, where the ridiculous rises in house prices over the last year have left some relatively modest family homes pushing up to the £2m barrier. A retired builder who had bought his home for under £50,000 forty years ago told me that he would never vote for us on account of the mansion tax. Our local party ...
Just published so it's hot off the laptop, my latest email newsletter to residents across the central part of Blaydon constituency. The circulation list for the Whickham edition of eFocus is now about 1800. The finishing touches were made this morning when I took the final set of photos - putting out the bunting for the Whickham Community Festival. Issues covered include the Festival, Marley
This morning I had a meeting with Malcolm Kennedy and senior officers of the Regeneration Department of the Council. We agreed the following way forward: 1. That the Council will take responsibility for bringing the building up to a point ... Continue reading →
[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] This week saw eight principal authority by-elections and two deferred elections in Cheltenham and Tower Hamlets. In Old Laund Booth ward (Pendle BC), Brian Newman successfully held the seat for the Liberal Democrats. Brian received 58.3% of the vote; increasing the Liberal Democrat vote share by 9.7%. The Conservatives vote dropped 10.9% to come second on 36.3%. UKIP failed to gain any traction coming a poor third with just 27 votes and the Blue Party (a breakaway of the BNP) came last with only 13 votes. Lord Greaves who was Cllr Newman's agent says ...
Wednesday: Number One in a series of lazy clichés that need stamping on... Again and again you see this snide little assertion slipped into an article or among the comments. It's a nasty little code phrase for sneaking around Godwin's Law (for who would the Coalition have to be more right wing than?) Rather than addressing why a policy might be bad, it's used as a "joker" to declare any policy simply to be bad because of its authorship, rather than outcome. And of course it's just not true! This isn't even the most right-wing government of the last TWO! ...
This week saw eight principal authority by-elections and two deferred elections in Cheltenham and Tower Hamlets. In Old Laund Booth ward (Pendle BC), Brian Newman successfully held the seat for the Liberal Democrats. Brian received 58.3% of the vote; increasing the Liberal Democrat vote share by 9.7%. The Conservatives vote dropped 10.9% to come second [...]
What better way to attract my attention than by combining my two favourite things, cats and the welsh coast. The Western Mail has done precisely that with a report on a new book by author Jackie Morris: Cat walk is given a whole new meaning in Jackie Morris' latest book which follows felines as they explore the Pembrokeshire coast. Indeed, forget fashion, it's all about purry, furry friends as the best-selling author, illustrator and photographer captures the curiosity and charm of her cuddly companions. The tail (sorry, couldn't resist) follows Morris' eight cats, whose names are just brilliant. Meet Pixie, ...
With Jim McGovern MP at the Foodbank collection today Following a meeting with the Dundee Airport manager and a constituent this morning about helicopter noise concerns, I took part in helping Dundee Foodbank at Tesco Riverside as part of the national foodbank collection currently taking place. Photos right and below! At the Foodbank collection at Tesco Riverside
First it was sports reporting: [IMG: Red robot] Every 30 seconds or so, the algorithmic bull pen of Narrative Science, a 30-person company occupying a large room on the fringes of the Chicago Loop, extrudes a story whose very byline is a question of philosophical inquiry. The computer-written product could be a pennant-waving second-half update of a Big Ten basketball contest... And the articles don't read like robots wrote them: "Friona fell 10-8 to Boys Ranch in five innings on Monday at Friona despite racking up seven hits and eight runs. Friona was led by a flawless day at the ...
To keep you informed of local summer events, we've put some dates together starting with this weekend: 4, 5 and 6 July – Chilfest, Pendley Meadow in Tring. For more details, visit www.chilfest.co.uk/ : Friday 4 July with Boomtown Rats, Heaven 17, from The Jam, Big Country, China Crisis and Dr & The Medics. Saturday 5 July: Jason Donovan, Toyah, Lee John, Boney M featuring Mazie Williams, Go West and Bad Manners. Sunday 6 July afternoon with Union J, Tree Piece Girl Band Stooshe, Rough Copy, 5th Story, 911 Tich, Amelia Lilly, Lovable Rogues and The Riverie 06 July - ...
[IMG: Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister and Vince Cable, Business Secretary] Nick Clegg is speaking in Leeds today to launch the Northern Futures project to find the best ideas for realising the north's economic potential. An announcement on a series of Growth Deals, giving local leaders access to a £12 billion pot to support jobs, competitiveness and home building is expected on Monday. While getting the north performing to its full potential is perhaps the prime economic challenge our country faces, there is something of a news blackout in the national media, with Channel 4 news at least making a ...
I GREW UP IN MAGHULL (so did I – lived in Maghull from 1968 to 2011) www.igrewupinmaghull.com/ The editor of this new site asked me to put a link from my web site to theirs and I am happy to have done that. Local history is fascinating so take a look if you have ever lived in Maghull and consider yourself a Maghullian. And don't forget there are a couple of other Maghull and Lydiate based sites that I am aware of which may be of interest:- LYDIATE WORLD www.lydiateworld.com/news.htm MAGHULL SCENE www.philcdav.webspace.virginmedia.com/local.htm
[IMG: Nick Clegg Q&A 8] My last piece of advice to Nick Clegg was to stand down as Lib Dem leader. He didn't, and it's pretty clear now that Nick will lead us into the next general election. Two problems remain, though, and we need to find ways of addressing them. First, morale in the party has dipped since the May elections. Secondly, support for the party has also dipped in the polls. Yes, Lib Dem MPs benefit from the incumbency effect but that only stretches so far – we also need to start winning the air war, or at ...
Fri 4th
11:29
Transport investments in Liverpool City Region but Southport still not shining on Merseytravel radar
From Southport – Online NewsContact us with your news. Mob/Txt 07530 315 478 southport@qnews.co.uk Merseytravel welcomes funding for schemes to improve rail and road links The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon George Osborne MP, has been in Liverpool to announce a package of measures to support the city's science and transport infrastructure. He has announced: A £10.4 million upgrade to the Halton Curve rail line to improve connectivity between Liverpool, Cheshire, Warrington and North Wales. £5.6 million to improve access and road safety around Knowsley Industrial Park. £4m of improvements to A5300 Knowsley Expressway to maximise the benefits ...
Isn't it strange how quiet it has all gone for Ukip, apart from the rather miserable business of turning their backs on everyone at the European Parliament. They are not being talked about in quite the same way now, and largely - it seems to me - because the BBC and Guardian are less obsessed with them. That doesn't mean they have gone away. Given that, in the absence of the Lib Dems, they are articulating the only insurgent challenge to the political establishment, I expect they will continue to grow in support. You will gather from this that I ...
[IMG: thebiblebluraydvdtb_day05c_05092012_amimg_6014_rgb] Despite being raised Catholic, I have been an atheist since I was around nine years of age. I had read enough about the world and the universe by that point to figure out that the idea of an anthropomorphic deity that simultaneously cared whether or not you ate fish on a Friday, while at the same time having managed to create an entire reality that was thirteen billion light years across was obviously a falsehood. I told my parents and they were, understandably, not entirely pleased; they tried to punish me into belief, a course of action which ...
[IMG: con home cartoon] Here's my latest The Other Side column for ConservativeHome, published here on Tuesday. I looked at the lessons of history of the Liberal Party's collapse a century ago for the Tories today. My thanks as ever to the site's editors, Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace, for giving a Lib Dem space to provoke – constructively, I hope. 100 years ago, the Liberals were sitting pretty. The party had won three consecutive general elections: the landslide of 1906, followed by two much narrower victories in 1910, after which the Liberal Government's anti-Tory majority was sustained thanks to ...
Last week I attended the launch of SHOUT campaign in Parliament. Shout stands for Social Housing Under Threat and I am glad to be a part of it. Social [...]
Gardening teaches you to appreciate the moment. All too quickly flowers fade and the weather changes or insects take over and children and pets run amok. I have long since given up trying to create a manicured piece of perfection, how dull to never see a daisy or never have a lawn full of violets and bugle or, for that matter, a caterpillar, spider or snail, all food for the garden birds. Even the greenfly are loved by the ladybirds and ants. June is always a month full of bugs in the garden. But by having these small creatures there ...
[IMG: Damage caused to the cross-Channel passenger steamer SUSSEX in March 1916 during her voyage from Folkestone to Dieppe by a torpedo fired from the German submarine UB-29. (© IWM (Q 67955))] Damage caused to the cross-Channel passenger steamer SUSSEX in March 1916 during her voyage from Folkestone to Dieppe by a torpedo fired from the German submarine UB-29. From June 24th 2014 - May 8th 2015 at the Town Hall, 1-2 Guildhall Street, Folkestone: Discover the journey undertaken by millions of men during the First World War as they left their civilian lives to take up arms and answer ...
[IMG: Poppy] The Purl Queens have been invited by Folkestone Town Council to carry out a knitting workshop at the Town Hall. Children and adults are invited to knit a poppy for the Road of Remembrance. Instruction will be given. Suitable for adults and children aged 9 and above. Folkestone Town Hall, 1-2 Guildhall Street, Folkestone on Monday 28 July 11.00-13.00. To book a place please contact Rebecca McCutcheon 01303 213179 or rebecca.mccutcheon@folkestone-tc.gov.uk Published and promoted by Tim Prater, 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, CT20 3BYPrinted (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY
Chris Giles does us a favour by highlighting a very interesting speech by external MPC member Ian McCafferty on the failure of British productivity to recover as it has in previous expansions. But I am puzzled at what a strong conclusion Chris takes from this. The speech is mostly good. It breaks down this productivity failure [...]
[IMG: The way to school] My brother has been battling cancer for just over a year, I asked for a week last October to take my children out of school as while he was having a break from his long going chemo treatment as we wanted to go as a family, it was denied even with the detailed letter attached , sadly my amazing wonderful 26 year old brother died this April , thanks to the stupid government rules I will never get to go on holiday with my brother again, I should of just paid the fine, if that ...
Superfluous Female Protagonist (tags: ) Cable blasts migration target (tags: ) Top Ten young female cricketers to watch - including two from Yorkshire :) And one of them is a spin bowler AND a batsman :) (tags: ) Google Starts Erasing Disputed Search Results (tags: ) Failing in all areas - awful news for kids and parents at Hipperholme &Lightcliffe high Not to be confused with HGS where my daughter is going (tags: ) Le Tour Yorkshire: A French-Yorkshire Translation Guide Not sure if I like "Boycott's out" or "Tha's nowt wrong wi' 'im" best, but the final one is ...
On Sunday, First Bus are running an event to build understanding between bus drivers and cyclists. You'll be able to sit behind the wheel of a bus, speak with bus drivers, other First Bus staff and the police who will be present to give safety advice and promote bike security. Bus drivers will be on hand to talk to you, to understand more about how you feel about cycling near buses. The intention is to build mutual understanding and awareness. Dr Bike and the Travelwest team will be there to talk about bike maintenance and cycle routes. There will also ...
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention in the past couple of days... EEF Blog: Educating Ethics and the Facebook Furore | News & Events | The Education Endowment Foundation "Educating Ethics and the Facebook furore" http://bit.ly/1lCrQK9 Is the summer campaign an admission of failure? | Alex's Archives Thoughtful stuff from @shoadanalexm, esp 2nd half: "Is the LibDem summer campaign an admission of failure?" http://bit.ly/1iQVf8L Stephen Tall: Cameron is doing his best to hold his party together, but it may not suffice | Conservative Home Me @ConHome: Liberals at War: A Warning from History for the Tories ...
I have written on Lib Dem Voice about why it is wrong to propose the enshrinement of the pensions Triple Lock in law. I seem to have support from a number of unusual sources. socialise this: [IMG: add 'The Triple Lock and why enshrining it in law is wrong' a Del.icio.us] [IMG: add 'The Triple Lock and why enshrining it in law is wrong' a digg] [IMG: add 'The Triple Lock and why enshrining it in law is wrong' a Stumble Upon] [IMG: add 'The Triple Lock and why enshrining it in law is wrong' a FaceBook] [IMG: add 'The ...
Many people know that I am a writer and I am often asked what I write about. I'm a jobbing writer, so I write what I am paid for - that's mostly about planning and the environment at the moment. But I have a huge passion for history and heritage, and I'm working on a [...]
Lots of building work had been taking place at 106 Lordship Lane. Residents were concerned that another attempt was being to turn it into a restaurant but on the sly. So I and my ward colleague Cllr Rosie Shimell called-on the planning application to be decided by a Planning Committee to ensure the best possible scrutiny. So it was a pleasant surprise to be on that Planning Committee. It was even more of a pleasure to hear from both the objectors and proposers of the scheme. The proposer clearly felt bad about the fear that had been caused and agreed ...
There may be disruption to next Thursday's bin collection due to the national strike by members of a number of unions on 10th July 2014. Although Stockport Council will be working to collect as many bins as possible, there is a risk that some collections won't take place if not enough staff report for work. Because the actual number of striking staff won't be known until the day, the Council can't predict how many collections will be made and how many missed. If you have a regular bin collection on Thursday, please put your bins out as normal. Some bins ...
I mentioned recently that residents had complained to me about graffiti on the footbridge over the rail line between the Riverside Pavilion and Magdalen Green. I asked the council's Rapid Response Team to tackle the graffiti and as you can see below, this has been promptly carried out: BEFORE AFTER
As an exercise in local democracy Maghull Town Council's meeting on 2nd July was very far from being a shining example. Firstly, we had a 'debate' over the so called 'Maghull Development Plan' of the Council although to call it a debate would be pushing it. When I raised questions the running Labour Group said nothing and left the Town Clerk to answer me! TOWN COUNCIL WILL NOT BE DEFENDING THE GREEN BELT I asked what the line in the plan saying 'It is a priority of MTC to expand the amount of land owned and controlled by the people ...
This Sunday, the City Square is being transformed for 1 day only:
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Application Number: 57691 Registration Date: 20/06/2014 Location: 22 Simister Green, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2RY Proposal: Lawful development certificate for proposed single storey extension at rear Full details are on the Council's website here. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries or require help or information. Tim
[IMG: European Union flags - Some rights reserved by tristam sparks] Does 'federal' imply superstate, or would a federal Europe be one of 'nation states wherever possible and Europe only where necessary'? This is the question Charles Kennedy addresses in the Guardian. What struck me more than ever was the extent to which the political meaning of federalism has been twisted and caricatured out of all recognition in what passes for British political debate on matters European these days. The true (continental as well as North American) definition was well summed up by Andreas Gross, the Swiss socialist under whose ...
The current Private Eye on Rochdale Borough Council's response to the 'satanic ritual abuse' panic of 1990: Some of the boys taken from parents falsely accused of ritual abuse were sent to Knowl View - where real abuse was taking place.
Dr Sharma is retiring . A perfectly natural event. Good luck to him – thank you Dr.Sharma for serving our community so well. But NHS England (London) have decided not to allow a new doctor to take over. They've decided the area has plenty of spar capacity and all the patients can move to alternate practices. Practices that patients can;t get seen at already. This truly is a bizarre stupid decision by NHS England (London). When patients and staff said they would hold a demonstration NHS England (London) effectively said 'so what'. The caring face of the NHS! If ever ...
