The British public has become more sensitised to the plight of refugees fleeing conflicts in Syria and Iraq with the publication today of pictures of two little boys who died (along with their mother) when their father tried to take them from Turkey to Greece, en route to Canada, where his sister lives. But until [...]
Lovely colour footage from the early 1960s of the last days of the passenger service on this West Midlands line. Tipton Five Ways sounds like a dish that could win you Masterchef.
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Why does it take a photograph of a drowned child to make people care about Syrian refugees? I have seen more than one person asking that on Twitter today. Their implication was that the rest of us should be ashamed of ourselves for being insufficiently logical. The truth is that people do not live by words and logic alone. Images matter too. I have been thinking today of George Bernard Shaw's play Saint Joan. In it John de Stogumber, chaplain to the Earl of Warwick, is a boneheaded Englishman. In another age he would have been a hardline Protestant if ...
Last year I expressed concern that Stonewall's advise to teachers and parents would lead to kids being criminalised for expressing themselves sexually. That concern appears very well placed given the latest news that a 14 year old boy sending a sext to a girl (who then appears to have engaged in some revenge porning against him by sharing it around the school) has had his actions recorded as a crime with some serious consequences for his future. Kids do stupid things. Kids do stupid sexual things. Kids really are dumb. And the job of adults is not to criminalise their ...
Photo from thanetstrife Today's hate figure Peter Bucklitsch has now deleted his entire Twitter account, which means we can add cowardice to the charges. While it is no surprise to find a Ukip candidate holding such views, Bucklitsch has been a member of two other parties. In the 2010 general election he was the Liberal Democrat candidate for South Thanet, and he was a Crowborough town councillor for the party before that. When Bucklitsch stood for Ukip in Wimbledon in 2015 voters were told that he joined UKIP in 2013 after leaving the Lib Dems over the issue of university ...
Current Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) The Redbreast, by Jo Nesbø The End of All Things, by John Scalzi The Shadow in the Glass, by Justin Richards and Stephen Cole Girls in Love, by Jacqueline Wilson Last books finished Letters to Tiptree, eds Alissa Krasnostein and Alexandra Pierce Elric of Melniboné and Other Stories, by Michael Moorcock 11/22/63, by Stephen King The Shepherd's Crown, by Terry Pratchett The Twenty-Two Letters, by Clive King And Another Thing..., by Eoin Colfer (did not finish) A Vampire Quintet, by Eugie Foster Next books Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo The ...
I would normally apologise for linking to the Daily Mail, but on this occasion, as the piece in question has a video showing some of Tim Farron's first speech as leader, I'm not going to. The paper quotes Tim Farron expressing support for a motion that's coming to Conference later this month which would give parents the right to take their children out of school for ten school days for holidays. He told them: Many employees have no choice when to take their holidays. 'People in areas, such as my Westmorland constituency, have to work all through the summer at ...
There have been many reasons over the Summer to be thoroughly ashamed of our Government's response to the growing humanitarian crisis on our doorsteps. We've all seen the news reports. We all know that people just like us are enduring incredible suffering. The difference between them and us is that we live in a part of the world that has seen relative stability and security these last 70 years since the EU came into being. For all it's many faults. at least none of us has been put in the position of having to flee our homes because it is ...
If the picture of a dead three year old from Syria being plucked from the sea does not stir the hearts and emotions of Cameron, Farage and their ilk I don't know what will. This three year old wasn't part ... Continue reading →
There are constant reminders of the sheer awfulness of the illegal occupation of the West Bank by Israel. The video which went viral last week showing an Israeli soldier assaulting a 12 year old boy, with his already broken arm in a plaster cast, is a case in point. He was rescued by his mother and other women from the village, who are now depicted in much of the Israeli press as the attackers and the soldier as the victim! Minister of Culture Miri Regev said the troops should have used their guns! The British media often presents the conflict ...
I keep seeing proposals from my fellow Lib Dems for legislation, or amendments thereto, or policies, or whatever, that ask for "half men and half women" or "50/50 male/female representation". STOP IT. Please, please stop it. Apart from the fact that these people always list men first, which strikes me as indicative; apart from the fact that the population is more than 50% women anyway, by most statistical measures, so these things ought to be majority women even if you do believe in a strict gender binary; the gender binary is bullshit and pretending it isn't erases the very existence ...
We are trying a new session at this year's conference. The idea behind the session is to encourage policy discussion in a different way to a formal motion or FPC policy paper. Members will put forward ideas in the form of a 'policy pitch'. These ideas should not be current party policy, they should be new ideas or ideas that develop existing party policy in an innovative way. Rather than having to set out a more formal motion where there is a debate and a yes/no vote the member will submit their idea in a less formal pitch of up ...
Calderdale Council is currently running a consultation on Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve. In the usual way of Calderdale council, they have made plans to do all sorts of things to it, without actually asking any of the people who use it, or the volunteer groups that currently maintain it, and then belatedly realised that if they do stuff people might be upset and so they'd better have a consultation to add a veneer of respectability to their plans. If nobody answers the consultation, they can pretend nobody objects. Personally, I object. We currently have a nature reserve that is not ...
Political commentary on economic growth operates between two poles. On the one side the right argues that the state should get out of the way, and allow entrepreneurial businesses full scope to do their thing. On the other, the left says that growth is driven by investment, much of which must be directed by the state to be effective. Both are right, of course, and the balance depends on the circumstances. But China offers a fascinating case study in this discourse. Until the rise of Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China offered a good example of a failed, state-led economy, alongside ...
When you first go to conference there is a risk of overloading with "stuff". Bear in mind that conference is a very unusual situation for a human being. You are there being pumped full of the highest octane level of high octane political content for up to 18 hours a day. I once counted up over 50 subjects on which I had listened to speeches or explanations during a conference week. It is very easy to take it all very seriously and end up with your head exploding. Here's some very simple tips: Make a plan of the things you ...
[IMG: Lynne Featherstone on the doorstep] Want to know how to win election campaigns? You can learn from the very best of international experience with a free 10-week email course from myself and Ed Maxfield. Sign up at www.CampaignMasterclass.com and each week you'll receive one lesson by email, helping you become a top election winning campaigner or candidate yourself. It's a great way to make sure you don't fall foul of mistakes such as Five of the most common mistakes that Lib Dem campaigners make. We've helped, advised and run election campaigns across Europe and even further afield - and ...
[IMG: Embedded image permalink] Now, even under Corbyn, Labour seems unlikely to join in this debate about what next - either for fear of the new approved hymnsheet or, more traditionally, for fear of frightening the horses by appearing to be 'anti-business'. This seems to me to be a profound misunderstanding. As far as I can see, business is as concerned about these trends as everyone else. How will they be able to operate if the vast majority of the nation can't afford to buy a house or put down roots? How will they be able to sell when their ...
Seat: Labour. Cause: Ineligible due to criminal conviction. LD Candidate- Bev Theron. To help please contact Malcolm Gaskill (01606 863575, mg@malcomgaskill.com)
Labour seat. Cause:Death. No LD Candidate.
Whoever wins the Labour leadership battle, it's going to be a torrid time for Labour. There are already accusations and counter-accusations, threats of a legal challenge, and that's before we know the result.Perhaps, this will help with the #LibDemFightback. It may well lead to a faster recovery in the polls, another surge of new members, and more by-election victories. But there is a terrible downside. I remember the last time Labour self-destructed. When that happened, I was horrified. We had a Labour party that was unfit to be the Official Opposition, and a Conservative government that ruled in triumphalism for ...
As you might have guessed from my experience with The Co-operative Energy, I was looking forward to the elections for directors of Midcounties Co-operative (under which Coop Energy falls) and the chance to ask the candidates about the rolling IT, customer service and management disasters at their utility offspring. Yet none of the 11 director candidates have provided any contact details in their manifestos. If you're used to seeing manifestos from such member organisations, you'll also know that this is pretty unusual. It's rare for everyone to give contact details but almost always many, even most, do. Not only is ...
Thu 3rd
08:37
Chuka Umunna's latest statement regarding Corbyn perfectly summaries why I'm not a Labourite
The man who quite reasonably in many respects (given what was happening at the time) thought running for the leadership of the Labour Party was not for him, spoke in Amsterdam this week about several things, not least of which was the leader elect, Mr Jeremy Corbyn. Only there was none of this "coalition of the sensible" fighting talk on this occasion: "I do not think we can simply dismiss out of hand those who hold critical views of New Labour. Like any government, the New Labour administration made mistakes - it could and should have achieved more and done ...
A superb photograph of Perth Road at Mid Wynd and Ryehill Church (now flats) from Photopolis :
The Telegraph reports on comments by Frans Timmermans, the First Vice-President of the European Commission and the former Dutch foreign secretary, who believes that David Cameron's plan to withdraw Britain from European courts will encourage Vladimir Putin to disregard human rights laws. Mr. Timmermans has warned that Russia would leave the European Court of Human Rights if Britain did so. He said EU countries must be "tied" to a common European human rights system as they cannot be trusted alone to defend the rights of their citizen: The court's membership goes beyond the EU, taking in states including Russia, Ukraine, ...
Grim crisis within EU borders Human Rights Watch nails it. (tags: migration ukpolitics eu humanrights ) @RozKaveney's gut-wrenching, angry sonnet "He died that wicked men could win some votes." (tags: eu ukpolitics migration humanrights ) Jean-Claude Juncker: Asylum standards are in EU law, but are they in our hearts? Good question. (tags: eu ukpolitics migration humanrights )
ICYMI: The Gospel According to Cat, as Recorded by Holly on the Jupiter Mining Corps Ship Red Dwarf World Book Day: the best quotes found in children's books - number 8 number 8 and number 8 again. Slowly but surely every single thing that Blair did that I think is admirable he is disowning Some of these apply to some of my relationships [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
It's been a while since I had a post-up here but training to be a teacher really put some pressure on my time. So for my many readers many apologies. Anyhoo I may as well big up my ego now that I'm back so here we go. I TOLD YA SO! The Hull Daily Mail is reporting that the proposed Yorkshire wide devolution deal has now collapsed after West Yorkshire decided to go it alone. I was personally sceptical that this would be a goer and always thought West Yorkshire would go it alone* but fair play to Hull City ...
I have recently had a look at This post which references Martin Narey's speech about adoption numbers earlier this year. In that speech he said: I don't think adoption can ever be suitable for other than a minority of children in care. But I think that minority is probably more than 5,000 or just 7% of the care population" This goes to the nub of the statistical misunderstanding that has gone on
Thu 3rd
06:44
Liverpool City Region – 6 middle aged men from Merseyside decide what is good for us all
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above Just as I predicted recently – see link below – Joe and Jane Public are not getting any say at all over what the 6 Labour Council Leaders on Merseyside think are our priorities as they lurch us nearer to an unwanted Metro Mayor. Of course we want powers devolved locally to the communities of Merseyside so that we can decided our own destiny but we don't want this decided by 6 middle aged men from Merseyside and a Tory Chancellor in Whitehall. What we actually want is ...
Ho Chi Minh was not a monster like Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot. It's quite reasonable for Newhaven council to accept the Vietnamese Embassy's gift. I generally do not follow the local politics of East Sussex and people generally do not feel the need to educate me about it. Nonetheless, a number of people have [...]
