The Leicestershire and Rutland Pevsner puts it well: The hill is only 180ft higher than the surrounding country, but the church upon it sturdily dominates the scene, most dramatically perhaps from the immediate E[ast] where the building rises precariously near a huge lime quarry.Indeed, the church of St Mary and St Hardulph now stands above a cliff. I stood in the churchyard and see the vast cooling towers next to East Midlands Parkway railway station and watch the planes taking off from East Midlands Airport. What feels like the original path up from the village has escaped the quarrying. The ...
[IMG: image] You know the situation. You're in the supermarket. You pick up something you're after. Say, some Innocent smooth orange juice at £3.25, and then you wonder on. Then, you chance upon the special offer display at the end of an aisle. There, you see Copella orange juice and apple juice on special offer at £1.50. You pick one up. And then you want to get rid of the Innocent Smooth Orange Juice. But you can't be arsed to walk all the way back to the original shelf from which you took it. So you simply place it down ...
"I've been hugely influenced by my co-author David Clark, one of the world's leading clinical psychologists. He always stressed to me that the aim of therapy is not to help people manage their condition but to recover and be free of it." Richard Layard is interviewed by Joel Suss, editor of the British Politics and Policy blog. Sanchia Berg looks at the inadequate way allegations of abuse at children's homes and approved schools were dealt with in decades past. "No one tells you to learn Chinese for the literature, or the history, or the love of the language itself (beautiful ...
As I write this I feel very disloyal, like a Benidict Arnold or a William Joyce. I think the time is coming for Nick Clegg to stand down as leader. I should quickly state that I think he has done an amazing job as leader and raised the profile of the party a million times higher than it has been since the end of the First World War. He has led us into Government and has got many of our pledges from our manifesto straight into the law. Income tax level has been raised, pupil premium, tripple lock pensions protecting ...
Speaking today at the LACA Main Event in Birmingham, David Laws revealed that, according to recent information from schools and councils, over 99% of schools are on track to deliver nutritious and free school meals to infants this September. Free school meals are expected to benefit an extra 1.5 million children. This policy is the latest milestone in the long history of school meals, it is the biggest expansion of free school meals in over 65 years. David Laws is encouraging schools that don't currently have an effective plan in place - less than 100 out of the 16,000 state ...
Liberal Democrats jumped from fourth place to take a seat from the Tories in Cornwall Illogan. David Ekinsmyth won 23.8% of the vote for the Liberal Democrats, increasing it by 10.1%. The tories slumped to third behind Mebyon Kernow. Labour came fifth, the Liberal Party in Cornwall came sixth and the Green Party finished last with 4.3%. The Liberal Democrat campaign was focused around campaigning against an unpopular building development, for increased road safety and traffic calming and to transfer the ownership of a local park to the Parish Council (something David achieved during the election campaign). David Ekinsmyth is ...
I cannot easily recall a really excellent, well thought through, politically cleared idea that was stopped because of the machinations of civil servants. I can think of plenty which were stopped because they were impractical, illegal, in conflict with other stated aims of the government, impossible to deliver on to the parliamentary timescale, unaffordable, unwittingly bad [...]
[IMG: Lib Dems winning here] Here's the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates' list, together with the closing date for applications. The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates: West Worcestershire, 12th July Penistone and Stocksbridge, 13th July Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, 13th July Sheffield Central, 13th July Sheffield South East, 13th July Newcastle Central, 18th July Newcastle East, 18th July Newcastle North, 18th July South West Wiltshire, 18th July Doncaster Central, 19th July Doncaster North, 19th July Don Valley, 19th July Meon ...
[IMG: 098] Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg has announced that he wants to see the number of journeys made by bike more than doubled by 2020. Nick is calling for people to submit evidence of ways to help make this happen, which will be followed by a cycling summit to discuss ways in which the Government can help make it cheaper, easier and safer for people to cycle. Commenting, Lib Dem Deputy Group Leader, Cllr Darren Fower, who regularly cycles to work and around the city,said: "Cycling currently represents a 2% share of journeys made across the UK and the ...
Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury is in the news today because he remains a member of the House of Lords and has indicated that he will support the Assisted Dying Bill "in the face of the reality of needless suffering". He has obviously decided that there are clear guidelines between needless and needful suffering. He obviously believes that there is no right and wrong in matters of life and death despite that bit in the Bible about thou shalt not kill, because that is what assisted dying does. I have also seen a quote from the campaign for ...
Sat 12th
16:40
BBC Breakfast's Steph McGovern "kicking myself" for not correcting script on Magaluf incident
I am full of respect for the BBC's Steph McGovern today. Remember that much-reported incident in a Magaluf bar when 25 people indulged in a drink-fuelled public sex game? Well, it was in the news again today as the local ... Continue reading →
Today's Western Mail reports on a poll that identifies health as the single most important issue for people in Wales at next year's General Election. The poll, which was undertaken on the paper's behalf by Cardiff-based Beaufort Research, shows that 32% of voters say health will be the key determining factor for them next May. Health was mentioned by a significantly higher proportion than the economy. The next most significant issue for voters is the economy (selected by nearly one in five - 19%), followed by immigration (15%) and education (11%).This is despite the fact that the UK Government is ...
The Bradford Telegraph and Argus reports: A Bradford Council worker has appeared in court charged with forging signatures on election documents. Raja Qurban, 38, is accused of four offences – one of fraud and three of forgery – which were alleged to have taken place while he was employed in the electoral services department... His job was to go from house-to-house to check the electoral register, see who was at each address and get signatures. He was due to be paid £1.50 for every form he got signed. The court was told: "Bradford Council became suspicious when they looked at ...
[IMG: jo swinson by paul walter] On Thursday, George Eaton of the New Statesman blogged that Jo Swinson was about to replace Ed Davey in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle. Today, the Guardian's Nick Watt says that this is not the case and Jo is expected to become Secretary of State for Scotland in September after the independence referendum. Nick Clegg, acutely conscious that the five Liberal Democrat cabinet ministers are all men, is expected to promote the business minister Jo Swinson to the cabinet. But she is expected to succeed Alistair Carmichael as Scotland secretary after September's independence referendum in ...
[IMG: baran_networks] (This is the second in a series of posts looking in depth at issues from Conrad Russell's An Intelligent Person's Guide To Liberalism. The first post in the series is here and my original post on the book is here. Russell uses his chapter on pluralism to discuss two issues for liberalism: the dispersal of power, and the celebration of diversity. While I understand how his historical view of the development of liberalism does link the two, tracing it from the challenge to the power of the Church and liberal support for Nonconformism, I'm going to give both ...
[IMG: Neelie Kroes 10 or More] The current 8 female EU commissioners have written to new Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to support his call for member states to appoint more women. The commissioners stated that they wanted to see at least 10 women appointed. The picture shows Dutch liberal commissioner Neelie Kroes holding up her hands to show symbolise support for the Ten or More campaign. Their letter said: Dear Jean Claude, We wish to support your call for member states to support more women as new commissioners. Over the past ten years, around one-third of European commissioners have been ...
As you might have noticed, the Government's Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill has been causing a lot of consternation over the past couple of days, both in terms of its content and in the way it's been suddenly announced and rushed through Parliament. There's been a lot written about it in that time, and so rather than try and write my own post about it, I thought I'd gather together some links to make it easier to inform yourself quickly. Drip, drip, drip - the emergency surveillance law erodes our civil liberties – David Allen Green sets out a ...
[IMG: LD bird BLOG] David Laws, Lib Dem MP says "The Liberal Democrats are the only party whose members decide our policy. If you have an idea for something that should go in our next Manifesto, please send your idea to my working group. "Of course, nothing goes into our party's final manifesto without the agreement of Conference, but Federal Policy Committee have approved the Carer's Bonus policy for our pre-manifesto, subject to final approval at Conference in Glasgow this October. "Nicky Jones came along to our Manifesto Roadshow in Yeovil last November and shared her experiences as a carer. ...
Sat 12th
10:20
Dear Daily Telegraph, Enough already. It's actually okay for MPs to claim 11p for a ruler.
[IMG: The_Daily_Telegraph] So the Telegraph is back to its old tricks on expenses. Five years ago, the paper uncovered some serious abuses by MPs at the taxpayers' expense – along the way, the paper was also (as I wrote at the time) "guilty of flaky fact-checking, unfair distortions and disgraceful smears". Yesterday the paper attempted, rather desperately, to re-live past glories by running the story, 'MPs' expenses: Ken Clarke bills taxpayer for 11p ruler'. It wasn't just Ken who attracted the Telegraph's ire though: 'Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, was found to have claimed 43p for scissors. David Cameron, the ...
Recyclable plastic invented by accident (tags: ) Marc Simonetti's French Discworld covers are breathtakingly gorgeous I want posters of several of these, but especially Soul Music, Maskerade & Carpe Jugulum (tags: ) Warner Bros. still haven't learned about the Streisand Effect then. (tags: ) Cricket scheme 'can turn youngsters away from crime' (tags: ) Gloria de Piero trying to reconnect with Britain's disenchanted non-voters (tags: ) Holton-le-Clay man is suing Prime Minister in battle over freedom of speech Well, he hasn't got a cat in hell's chance, but good luck to him anyway. I do wonder who is funding him, ...
Smokefree South West, in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council, has launched the latest stage of its campaign to highlight the dangers that illegal tobacco poses to South Gloucestershire. Illegal tobacco sells for less than half the tax paid price of legally sold tobacco. The problems include: impact on legitimate tradersmakes it easier for children and young people to start smoking as it is readily available at pocket money prices. brings crime into communities - the criminal gangs selling it also sell other illegal productsdiscourages smokers from quittingIllegal tobacco is linked to low-level and large-scale organised crime, nationally and internationally, including ...
[IMG: Samsung Galaxy Note 3] Norman Baker wrote an article for the party website which I thought you might find useful because it deals with some of the points raised in the questions to my mammoth post yesterday. I must warn you, though, that there are some examples of apostrophe abuse in it, so steel yourselves. Many, if not most, people are concerned about the rush to get this legislation through in just two days. Norman gives his explanation of why he thinks it's necessary: No government introduces fast track legislation lightly, but the challenge for Government has reached a ...
Watch the new fun (yet educational) video from CGP Grey: You can also watch this on YouTube.
Contrary to my little conspiracy theory on Wednesday, the First Minister has now stated that he is satisfied that no employees of Welsh Labour colluded with sacked Cabinet Minister Alun Davies when he sought information about farming subsidies paid to five opposition AMs. He told the Western Mail that "I have spoken to party officials about these allegations. It is clear to me that there is absolutely no truth in them whatsoever. If Kirsty Williams has one shred of evidence, beyond some anonymous comments she has seen in the media, she needs to come forward with that information. It is ...
Sat 12th
08:45By-election update: Lib Dems jump from 4th to 1st to take seat from Tories in Julia Goldsworthy's Co...
[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] There were five by-elections in principal authorities this week (Cornwall, Torridge, Barnsley and two in Cheshire West and Chester) and one deferred election in North Hertfordshire. The Liberal Democrats jumped from fourth place to take a seat from the Tories in Illogan (Cornwall Unitary Authority). David Ekinsmyth won 23.8% of the vote for the Liberal Democrats; an increase of 10.1%. The Tories slumped to third behind Mebyon Kernow with both parties receiving 18%. The UKIP vote fell by 9.1% to finish fourth (13.4%), Labour came fifth (11.1%), the Liberal Party in Cornwall came sixth ...
Yesterday afternoon, I had an excellent and enjoyable meeting with the tenants of the Ancrum Place and Morven Terrace Sheltered Housing. It was a well attended meeting at which we discussed the state of the garden/rosebed areas including the benches, bus services, bin collections and a host of other local issues.
Our Headline of the Day comes from the Carmarthenshire Journal.
Following on from my posting of 28th June here are the second 'then and now' photos of Liverpool Road North Maghull. They are of the same stretch of road but focus on one particular building on the eastern side of it. Again there is no date for the 'then' photo but I am guessing it will be pre-WW1? [IMG: rsz_liverpool_rd_nth_maghull 2] [IMG: rsz_lpool_rd_nth_1] The photos are amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28274531 The BBC carries this most welcome of stories – see link above. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, should be congratulated for his willingness to change his mind and back this very just cause.
In advance of Beautiful Scotland judging on 8th August, Bonnie Dundee has made a lovely job of the planters at Sinderins!
You couldn't make it up. The Shropshire councillor responsible for buses in Shropshire says that the reason that we have a reduced 722 service is that it was becoming too popular. I cannot find any precedent in Shropshire or elsewhere for a service being cut back because passenger numbers have grown. The cutbacks fly in [...]
When I wrote about the candidates for the Best Novel Hugo a few weeks ago, I judged a couple of the books on the basis of, not the full novel, but rather an excerpt. The three books published by Orbit Books (Charles Stross' Neputune's Brood, Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and "Mira Grant"s Parasite) only had [...]
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert has welcomed the announcement today (Friday, July 11) by the Lib Dem Transport Minister Susan Kramer of £1 million of government money to improve sustainable transport around Cambridgeshire The money from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund will be provided to Cambridgeshire County Council between 2015 to 2016 with the aim of Getting Cambridgeshire to Work. It is part of the £21 million payable under the Regional Growth Fund. Julian said: "We have done a lot to improve transport in Cambridge, but there is clearly much more to do. When the Lib Dems ran Cambridge, we improved ...
