Wed 24th
23:09

Haematology

Dec 24, 2014 Nov 26, 2014 Oct 29, 2014 Normal Hb 104 109 100 130 - 180 WBC 4.00 3.02 3.10 4.5 - 10.0 Neutrophils 1.80 1.16 1.43 2.0 - 7.5 Plt 551 391 427 150 - 450 With Hydroxycarbamide constant at 500 mg five days a week for the last two months Platelets have risen above normal limits (thrombocythaemia) carrying a risk of blood clots; Hb is stable at a point just above the level where transfusion might be indicated. Low haemoglobin causes fatigue. The dose is to be kept the same for the next four weeks.

Posted by Eric Avebury on Eric Avebury

Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year , our next surgery will be in 2015, back to weekly surgeries 10 - 11 Saturday, first one is 3rd January at St. Philips Institute. Nigel and Steve

Posted by Odddown on Odd Down

via Facebook

Posted by Raging Reg on Raging Reg

Norman Hunter's Professor Branestawm has been on and off our bookshelves and the BBC since 1933. Why do we keep coming back to him? I was about half way into a PhD on British children's science literature before I even heard of Professor Branestawm. I'd mention my work at conferences and older academics would say "ah, children's science books eh, well you simply must write about Branestawm." Brane-what? But I dug around the back of some libraries, Googled, asked around, and discovered a series of fiction books which had impressively run steadily from 1933 to the 1980s. Continue reading...

Posted by Alice Bell on Political science | The Guardian

We promised you a chance to see Santa's sleigh (the International Space Station) this evening. In case you missed it, here's a photo. Sorry it's blurry, but if you look closely you can just see Santa's red coat on the right hand side.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

... and they weren't joking! The Big Lift should start around 8.30 or 9.00 am on Boxing Day morning.

Posted by Paul Hulbert on Focus on Sodbury, Yate and Dodington

This setting of a Medieval carol was written when Britten was 16. Good Morning Britten says of it: A Hymn To The Virgin was composed in a single day, during an extended stay in Gresham's sick bay - but little did Britten know that even then he was writing music that would be sung at his own funeral, some 46 years later! The hymn was published in 1934, by which time Britten had transposed the music down a semitone to make it easier to sing. John Bridcut describes it as a "jewel of an anthem...tiny and apparently simple, but perfect". ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Those wonderful people at PNC bank have yet again published their Price Index for the Twelve Days of Christmas and the news is good for those on a budget as the increase in cost of the traditional 12 gifts is the smallest since the crash in the Price Index of 2002. The overall index is up 1.0% on last years prices with the biggest increase being the the geese a-laying. Six of them will now cost $360 up 71.4% on the $210 relative bargin of last year. Remaining unchanged on last year are the turtle doves at $125, calling birds ...

Posted by Stephen Glenn on Stephen's Liberal Journal
Wed 24th
15:02

Some Christmas facts

In the run-up to Christmas, I thought I would revisit some of seasonal facts I've covered before. Most British Christmas traditions are German in order "How Britain's celebrate Christmas today is largely a product of the Victorian era. It was in the nineteenth century that we began to indulge in mince pies, trees, cards, crackers and turkeys. [...]

Posted by Mark Mills on Matter Of Facts

The defence sector's work on clean energy raises policy questions, Georgina Voss argues, about how to support responsible innovation's grand challenges It is harder than it first appears to shoehorn a festive theme into a piece about the military industrial complex. The nearest thing I could reasonably find was Time Magazine's "25 Best Inventions of 2014", published last month. The list reads halfway between requests for Santa - including a 'smart cooler' replete with blender, USB charger, and Bluetooth speaker - and potential Nobel prize winning endeavours. Nestled in amongst the selfie-sticks and the Indian Space Agency's Mangalyaan Mars Mission ...

Posted by Georgina Voss on Political science | The Guardian
YouGov
Wed 24th
14:10

Debtornation

Recent economic news is unlikely to fill many with Christmas cheer. Estimates of recent growth have been revised downwards. The current account has deteriorated sharply. The deficit is now in "worst since records began" territory. And it is consumer spending, rather than investment, that is sustaining the growth that is occurring. Most news outlets seem to have focused on the current account deficit. Whether the deficit is bad news or not can be debated. Most commentators take it to be a bad sign - Britain isn't paying its way - whereas contrarians such as Tim Worstall at Forbes argue that ...

Posted by admin on Alex's Archives

You don't have to be a train buff to enjoy watching how the BBC reported the introduction of the InterCity 125 trains. Watch it all the way to the end for the British Rail TV advert. It's rather poignant that the idea of trains breaking down or being delayed due to congestion used to be risible. Now of course it's a regular occurrence. One thing that has however changed for the better is the move away from the use of gratuitous skimpily clad women as seen in the advert (trade body stand hold outs at some exhibitions being a notable ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The final polls of the year have been published — getting on for 500 have been commissioned in 2014 — and their story is told in the graph below. It shows Labour's declining (down from c.38% to c.33%), the Tories static (at c.32%), Ukip on the rise (up from c.12% to c.16%), and the Lib Dems dipping (down from c.10% to c.8%). I've added trendlines to cut through the noise and give us a signal: [IMG: 2014 in polls] The last month has done little to alter this overall picture. A handful of polls in December have shown Labour opening ...

Posted by Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice

"Among the joyous celebrations we will reflect on those very Christian values of giving, sharing and taking care of others," Where the fuck do I begin in deconstructing that meaningless and vacuous sectarian bullshit? Especially when you consider he is only giving to his millionaire mates; sharing (the shareholders and profits before ethics - many to Tory donators and 'friends'); as for taking care of others' - well unless he means taking care of his millionaire mates - he is dismantling the welfare state, making it difficult for those less fortunate than him and demonising them to boot, the increased ...

Posted by Raging Reg on Raging Reg

For some reason this didn't post on the 22nd... I hope everyone's having an enjoyable Winter Holiday Of Their Choosing. Sadly, while I've done most of the fun part of Xmas already (it was my wife's birthday today, so we did things over the weekend with friends and family) I've now got to fly to [...]

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

There is a fascinating article in yesterday's Independent relaying the true story of the 1914 Christmas truce in the trenches: It is the diary of Lieutenant Charles Brockbank; page after page of tiny, immaculately even handwriting in which the Cheshire Regiment soldier laid out his daily testimony in black ink, capable, as he was, of stepping outside the physical agonies which were befalling the 6th Battalion and consigning them to paper. His Christmas Day entry is testament to a night the likes of which we will not experience - "the most agonising I have ever had," as Brockbank described it, ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

[IMG: all peers] Thanks to all who had a go at the Festive confusable peers quiz. Well done to Matt Jones for being first out of the hat with a spot-on set of answers. Matt receives the adulation and respect of his....er.....peers. The answers were: Question 1 The two Lib Dem peers are (B) Lord Trevor Smith of Clifton and (G) Baroness Cllr Dr Julie Smith of Newnham. And the extra point is for (D) Baroness Elizabeth Smith of Gilmorehill. Question 2 The Lib Dem Jones is (C) Lord Nigel Jones of Cheltenham. And (D) is Baroness Jenny Jones of ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice

[IMG: Jeremy Browne photo by Policy Exchange] Yesterday, my colleague Caron Lindsay wrote about Jo Swinson's remarks about gender stereotyping and toys, followed by Jeremy Browne's tweets on the matter: Jo Swinson slams gender stereo-typing and is attacked by Jeremy Browne. A Liberal Democrat minister makes remarks, and a Liberal Democrat MP replies on Twitter, rumbling on about state interference in parents' business: @libdemvoice @caronmlindsay Can't I decide what to buy my daughter for Xmas without having to pay heed to the State's official position? — Jeremy Browne (@JeremyBrowneMP) December 23, 2014 That seems something of a "straw man" argument, ...

Posted by Paul Walter on Liberal Democrat Voice

I read an article in the Daily Telegraph yesterday about how Labour has decided to target Sheffield Hallam next May. It has all the hallmarks of a story put out to fill space on the basis of little actual content. Some "senior Labour figures" had told the Telegraph that behind closed doors Hallam is being seriously pursued. The Labour Party itself officially denied the rumour, of course. Then there was some malarkey about some Downing Street sources saying the Prime Minister thinks that Labour want to get rid of Clegg to make another Lib-Con deal less likely. I don't know ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

Christmas viewing for people who hate Christmas - appears to be going from best down ;) @cjjc (tags: ) Jo Swinson slams gender stereotyping of toys (tags: ) Social skills for autonomous people - (USian) Autism language politics and history ... Or, a tale of the damage Autism Speaks have done. (tags: ) Why I'm not a fan of Hip Hop... Part I: Igga & Azealia (tags: ) Nigel Farage and Ukip's crybabies need to learn to take criticism (tags: ) In which @sikhtoons writes about starring in a Facebook ad (you may recall his Sikh capt America) (tags: ) ...

eUKhost

[IMG: Willie leader launch in front of Rail Bridge] Willie issued his Christmas message in the wake of the horrific tragedy in Glasgow on Monday: Our thoughts are with those affected by the tragedy in Glasgow. And we will stand with them as they deal with their pain and grief in the time ahead. 2014 was a year like no other. The Games, the golf and the big vote. This year Scotland rose to the challenge and we did well. We showed that we are a sporting and welcoming nation. And we showed that democracy matters with the silent majority ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
Wed 24th
08:30

Harvest Together project

Further to my recent update about DRIVE Enterprises, here's further news from Mike Taylor at DRIVE about their Harvest Together project : Harvest Together is a garden sharing project which is run by DRIVE Enterprises, a not-for-profit organisation which was founded by University of Dundee students. The aim through our various different projects is to improve the environment and to make the world around us a better place. Harvest Together is currently looking for two different groups of people. Firstly, we are looking for people who have unused garden space who would be willing to share their garden with another ...

View image | gettyimages.com The Independent reports: George Osborne has been accused by his Liberal Democrat deputy of planning the "wilful destruction" of key public services if the Conservatives win next May's general election... In an interview with The Independent, the Chief Treasury Secretary said: "The Tory agenda to keep reducing public spending beyond what is necessary would result in the wilful destruction of important parts of our public services. That is not appropriate or right for this country. "People are prepared to go along with deficit reduction when they see it is necessary. When you are past that point, ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Wed 24th
07:20

A merry Christmas

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Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus

Government backs council prayers bid The government has said that proposals to allow councils to hold prayers as part of meetings will "right a wrong decision" by the High Court. Mr Justice Ouseley ruled in 2012 that local authorities lacked the power to implement the centuries-old practice of prayers being said at the start of formal meetings. Conservative MP Jake Berry brought forward a Private Member's Bill this summer. Communities minister Penny Mordaunt said the government wanted the Bill to move forward, adding the "negligible" costs to local authorities would be paid for by their existing grants. It will now ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton FocusSefton Focus

I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 2014 will be remembered as the year of the Scottish referendum. Whilst Scotland's decision to remain in the United Kingdom was welcome, it must not be considered a vote to retain the status quo. We need a reformed union: a union of distinct nations with our own ambitions, our own needs and our own outlook. In 2014, the Liberal Democrats were the only party who clearly set out what further powers Wales should have. I challenge the other parties to make 2015 the year ...

Posted by Kirsty Williams on Freedom Central