A limited selection this time, but there is some nice picturesque decay on display. Previous videos in this series: Devon, Bedfordshire, North Lincolnshire, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, Rutland. Northumberland, Shropshire, Suffolk, East Riding of Yorkshire, Norfolk, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire.
From the Guardian: Victims of a former bishop who sexually abused more than 18 young men have accused the Church of England, the police and senior prosecutors of presiding over an establishment cover-up that prevented him from facing justice for decades. Details of how Peter Ball, a former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, escaped justice 22 years ago can finally be revealed after he pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of indecent assault and one charge of misconduct in public office, relating to the sexual abuse of 16 young men over a period of 15 years from 1977 to ...
Of all the mega-constituencies in London's city-wide elections City and London East has long been the Cindarella as far as the Liberal Democrats are concerned. Though once strong in the borough of Tower Hamlets the Party currently has no Councillors there or in Newham or in Barking & Dagenham. The "City" part is the Corporation [...]
If a person says they are a man, they're a man. If a person says they are a lady, they're a lady. If a person says they don't recognise your gender binary, and fuck you? They're whatever they say they are. Can we please stop fucking over transfolk and non-binary or non gender specific people? it doesn't help ANYONE and it makes life really shitty for really vulnerable people and people are people and deserve love and respect and things. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Second paragraph of third story: Maggie and Feng tried to wedge me between them, to keep Joe from noticing the shakes and twitches running in trails over my body. But even through my buzz, I could still count. A short collection of short vampire stories by the late and much-missed Eugie Foster, each of which managed to cast the concept of vampires in a slightly different way - drawing on Buffy, of course, but also on other vampire tropes (I suspect including also Charlaine Harris, who I haven't read) and turning it into something different and original. (In March last ...
I was tagged on Facebook today and told that I really should share this article from on the Liberal Democrats' General Election campaign on this site. It was talked up by a fair few people whose judgement I respect but I have to say that when I read it, I was underwhelmed. There was much that I agreed with – the total inadequacy of our general election messaging for a start, but most of it seemed to me to be a mixture of stating the bleedin' obvious, lazy assumptions and, to be honest, not much that we didn't know already. ...
Our street in Market Harborough this morning #Marketharborough pic.twitter.com/I5JuKRG47h— Will Brown (@WillBrown544) September 8, 2015From the Harborough Mail: To some people it sounded like the muffled roar of a late night party; to others like the rattle of a giant suitcase being wheeled along the road. What it was, in fact, was the most spectacular water leak that Market Harborough has ever seen.
Nobody can really do Douglas Adams like Adams did, especially if they are trying too hard. Did not finish.
[IMG: September Kickstart was attended by over 10 local Lib Dem campaigners and staff] The first of our two Kickstart training weekends took place in Yarnfield Park (Stone, Staffordshire) and we were delighted to welcome over 100 Liberal Democrat campaigners to the event. Kickstart returns to the Holiday Inn, just outside Birmingham (M6, Jn 7) between 27-29 November. We will be delivering the same series of training modules, allowing [...]
Harlesden Road - 18th September Sandfield Road - 19th September Glenferrie Road - 19th September Blenheim Road - 20th September Church Crescent - 28th September Russell Ave - 28th September Oswald Road - 29th September Vernon Close - 29th September Paxton Road - 29th September Lower Paxton Road - 30th September
As schools went back last week, Party President Sal Brinton did lots of work on anti-bullying strategies at the start of term. She gave some words of wisdom, and an old school photo, to Anti-Bullying pro: @SalBrinton shares her #Back2School advice... http://t.co/5KCQIafTnFpic.twitter.com/8pdJsDpLrh — Anti-Bullying Pro (@AntiBullyingPro) September 2, 2015 There's quite a look of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, there – one of my favourite characters. I might be wrong, but I think she's the only politician amongst an area of people from music, tv and YouTube. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at ...
The days are getting shorter, the football has started and the first few "x days to Christmas" signs are appearing in shops. Yes, Liberal Democrat local party AGM season is fast approaching. To help Liberal Democrat local parties get the most out of them, here then is a reminder of the simple factsheet giving 10 tips to lift an AGM from being a boring, business meeting that no-one comes to into an interesting and successful event – an especially important objective given the huge grown in membersip this year. Though written in conjunction with London Liberal Democrats, the tips are ...
The Knowledge is dying but do the would-be Lib Dem GLA candidates understand this?At the Lib Dem GLA hustings, most of the candidates failed to show an instinctive understanding of how technology is destroying the basic premise of Black Cab regulation. more Liberal Democrat members in London are currently voting to select the party's Mayor and list candidates for next May's GLA elections. The ballot information for the list selection includes the following explanation about how the count will be conducted, as part of the party's moves to improve diversity: The count for the List Candidates will be adapted to ...
Heritage Open Days is a once a year opportunity to explore the UK's architectural heritage and history FREE of charge. We are celebrating this by offering free admission for one day only to Staircase House on Sunday 13 September 2015. This wonderful historic house is one of the town's best kept secrets. View its historic wattle and daub walls, courtyard and rooms, and discover how our ancestors lived from the 15th to the 20th century. Described as a 'Hidden Gem' by Visit England, don't miss this opportunity to see Stockport's oldest townhouse for free. Entry: 11am – 5pm (last entry ...
With the government yesterday announcing that the UK now has armed drones, perhaps now is the time to writing about my own brush with those who handle the technology. It was all a series of coincidences really: the kind of thing that can only really happen if one goes regularly to the more troubled parts of the world. On one of my first flights out to Israel, it must have been winter 2008, I was sitting next to a banker on a BMI flight from Heathrow to Tel Aviv. We talked a little but not much. One could not help ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above [IMG: JS55013583] Not to be confused with Liverpool's James Street Station. This is an interesting railway story which I hope will have a positive outcome. However, am I not right in thinking that the original modern day proposal to reopen/rebuild this station actually came from former Liverpool City Cllr. Andrew Makinson via a Liverpool Vision strategy document back in 2000 and that he also pursued this matter when he sat on the Passenger Transport Authority for Merseyside – Merseytravel? Andrew's contribution to this debate should not be overlooked.
I have to say that when I heard that David Cameron had authorised drone strikes on two UK citizens who had joined ISIS in Syria I felt very uneasy. I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever with the men in question. I do care about due process and about the reputation of this country, though. I'm not convinced that what appears to be summary execution for actions that took place 3 and 4 months ago counts as "self defence." There didn't seem to be much doubt that the men were up to no good: The prime minister indicated that the UK ...
Many local people have asked for information on how they can help refugees. The nearest drop-off point for Syria Relief is East Manchester: Items can be dropped off to our storage unit in East Manchester. Please call first to ensure a member of staff will be present before you make your visit. The address is: Unit A4, New Smithfield Market, Whitworth Street East, Manchester M11 2WJ. We can often accept items at our offices in the British Muslim Heritage Centre, Whalley Range, M16 8BP. Please call us to check for suitable dates and times. There are a number of other ...
Paddy Ashdown writes for The Guardian: After being taught an excruciating lesson in compassion, decency and leadership by Angela Merkel, and sensing himself behind opinion again, [David Cameron] has produced a plan to take in 20,000 refugees - over five years. Yes – five years. Not week or months, but years. Paddy goes on to say: Not only is he offering a derisory number of places for refugees, but the prime minister chooses to help those who are already safely housed and fed in refugee camps outside Europe, rather than those who suffer (and die too) for want of these ...
Whitbread are saying that they will have to raise prices at their outlets including Costa and Premier Inn so as to be able to pay the new minimum wage which will rise to £7.20 per hour from next April. The rise in the minimum wage (still not a living wage) should be good news - with the caveat that it only applies to over 25s and so many people under this age will continue to struggle. Of course it may not mean that people have a lot more money in their pockets as the government is cutting tax credits and ...
Yorkshire is three Ridings and the city of York. It is our county and our heritage. Changes to local and regional government have never resulted in the abolition of the Ridings and there is no evidence that Yorkshire the county as a whole has ever had a local or regional government purpose. Yorkshire's existence does not depend on artificial local or regional government boundaries. Local and regional government boundaries can be changed at any time at the whim of bureaucrats and government. And so they should as the demographic and economic situation demands. Local and regional government boundaries are for ...
The referendum on Europe will probably be the most important political event of our lives. Our choice will have consequences for decades, or even centuries. Britain is better off in. Europe is better with Britain. The planet has better prospects with a strong Europe, living up to the best of our history and the brightest visions of our future. The Europe I fight for is one that changes, learns from the mistakes of the past and becomes a better Union tomorrow than it has been. This campaign is our chance to fightback against the peddlers of spin and division, to ...
As a bureaucrat, I come with an innate flaw - a nagging scepticism of mechanistic process as a means of governance. Don't get me wrong, process matters, as I've often noted here, but process designed seemingly for the purposes of measuring outputs of dubious value does trouble me. An awful lot of modern governance is about attempting to set targets, monitoring them and then wondering why things aren't getting any better. Sometimes, it's about setting targets and denying that you've done so. And, because you've set targets, you do have to put in place the means by which they might ...
[IMG: Work is starting on Stockport Exchange phase 2] Work is starting on Stockport Exchange phase 2 Construction of the second phase of Stockport town centre's new gateway development, Stockport Exchange, is now underway. Muse Developments has appointed Eric Wright Construction to deliver this phase of development which is being undertaken in partnership with Stockport Council. It will include a new 115 bed hotel, a 50,000 sq ft, five-storey office building with ground floor retail space and a new public space outside Stockport train station, creating an attractive gateway into the town centre. The road layout will also be reconfigured ...
It was recently revealed that the RAF used an unmanned drone to kill two British ISIS fighters based in Raqqa in Syria last month. Now Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has declared that the Government would not hesitate to repeat the action. I loathe ISIS and its perverted ideology as much as anyone, but British use [...]
Liberal Democrats are incensed by the way Herts County Council are downplaying the need to take action on road flooding. Malcolm Cowan, deputy leader of the county council's Lib Dem group says: 'I was told by the highways contractors Ringway that road flooding is a low priority and I was unlikely to see any action [...]
David Cameron has highly developed skills in the art of following where he should be leading. And so, after being taught an excruciating lesson in compassion, decency and leadership by Angela Merkel, and sensing himself behind opinion again, he has produced a plan to take in 20,000 refugees - over five years. Nothing better shows the PM's tone deafness to the urgency of the situation than to announce this headline figure, and then add that it will take five years to implement. My emphasis. Just as Europe wakes up to the scale and urgency of Syrian people fleeing for their ...
[IMG: Lib Dem website screenshot] Want to read the latest news stories and blog posts from the Liberal Democrat federal website but want the stories to come to you rather than have to remember to go and check the website regularly for new content? Then my free email service is just what you need. Just sign up for this daily email of Liberal Democrat news here (tick the second box under "What would you like to receive?"). There will be no more than one email a day - and no email if there hasn't been a new story added in ...
The below is a letter I wrote to Thangam Debbonaire, my local MP. It outlines my support for the refugees and how they need a voice on the world stage. I encourage everyone ... Continue reading →
So here's a list. My current eight favourite political columnists (in alphabetical order): 1. David Aaronovitch – The very definition of passionate pragmatism, 'muscular liberalism' (a phrase associated with Mark Oaten) is how I think of his world-view. Though I always thought him wrong on Iraq, he has been a dogged champion of immigration and a free press, and a forensic sceptic of the conspiracy-theory junkies of both Left and Right. 2. Rafael Behr – you know when you're reading a column by him. The elegance, sheer quality, of his writing is utterly compelling, with breathtakingly good one-liners (eg, 'Corbynism ...
I have no idea whether Jeremy Corbyn will transform the great lump we know as Her Majesty's Official Opposition. I know he deserves to - though I expect the energy he has brought to the campaign is as much as a surprise to him as it is to everyone else. But of course his arrival on the political frontline is a bit of a headache for the Lib Dems, hence the peculiar series of anonymous briefings which Caron Lindsay got exercised about on Lib Dem Voice. Could the Lib Dems really try to outflank Corbyn on the Left? Well, that ...
[IMG: Mrs Thatcher] I have recently finished reading Charles Moore's excellent first volume of the authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher. I wanted to read this as I inhabit a bit of a left wing bubble, politically anyway. We project cardboard fantasies onto Tories, as selfish, rich cynics. But we need to understand their true humanity and complexity – and Mrs Thatcher is such an important figure,that she is a good place to start. It is proving timely since some supporters of Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn are suggesting that she offers an interesting precedent. Somebody who achieved power and dominance ...
In today's 'glad I didn't submit my dissertation yesterday' news, Nicholas Whyte has drawn my attention to an interesting article from the upcoming Parliamentary Affairs supplement on the General Election. "From Coalition to Catastrophe: The Electoral Meltdown of the Liberal Democrats" is by David Cutts and Andrew Russell, academics who've written lots on the party over the years (Russell's the co-author of Neither Left or Right: The Liberal Democrats and the electorate, which has been very useful for my dissertation) and available to read for free. I look forward to watching people read it and then playing the 'my anecdote ...
The Birmingham Post reports: Claims that backbench Labour councillors are being overlooked by the leadership have been inflamed with the resignation of a rank and file councillor. Longbridge councillor Ian Cruise announced he had left the party complaining he found the squabbling and underhand deals too much... In his parting comments, Coun Cruise complained not for the first time about bickering, squabbling and stitch-ups, saying too many in the Labour group were interested only in their own advancement and securing paid jobs rather than a pure pursuit of political change. He said on Twitter: "I don't wish to be associated ...
The Syrians arriving in Europe are chiefly fleeing barrel bombs dropped by their own government, although the thuggery of the militias and warlords who now control much of their country provides another strong impetus. The most notorious of these is Da'ish (better known as ISIS), which has managed to instil fear into us in the West. Dai'sh's destruction of Palmyra has also affected us directly because Palmyra is part of our own heritage, as well as that of Syria and the Arab world. Almost simultaneously, a photo of a drowned boy, who looked like a doll discarded at the seaside ...
At the outset of my odyssey across four counties, I noted that I had spent much of my childhood travelling across London. One of the things that made that possible was integrated ticketing, the idea that, by buying a single ticket, you can access an entire transport network for one, reasonably low, price. The other key factor was that there were lots of buses, going virtually everywhere, frequent, reliable. In London, a one day bus and tram pass costs £5.00. If you have an Oyster card, that falls to £4.40. In Suffolk, there is no integrated ticketing and, with no ...
This view of the Hawkhill in Dundee below was taken from the West Port, looking west. Thomas Aitken's public house, The Globe, is listed in the Dundee Directory as Nos. 57 and 59 West Port, and is still so named today. Behind it is Johnston's Lane. No. 1 Hawkhill is listed in the Dundee Directory as John Mathieson, broker, which may have been the West Port Loans Office. M. Boland & Co.'s clothiery was Nos. 20 and 24 Hawkhill.
To start with, I am in no way wavering in my prediction: Corbyn will be Labour leader in four days time. So the following is simply an academic exercise. Call it a thought process for those moderates in Labour who want to survive the Corbyn era. Saturday, September 12, 2015. The day many of us are overjoyed has come, if only because it means the interminable Labour leadership contest is at an end. Someone comes out centre stage at the special conference to announce what we all feel is the inevitable. "And the winner is.....Andy Burnham!" (I do appreciate that ...
David Cutts & Andrew Russell: From Coalition to Catastrophe: The Electoral Meltdown of the Liberal Democrats (tags: ukpolitics )
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and Jo Barton are holding their next advice centre on Saturday 12th September, from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We also hold a monthly advice centre in Churchtown, at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) on the fourth Thursday of every month (except December) from 10:30 - 11:30 am.
The Telegraph columnist, Dan Hodges may have rejoined the Labour Party but that has not blunted his ability to hand some home truths to the party. And in yesterday's column he takes no prisoners. A Labour MP told me recently that they are confident that Jeremy Corbyn will not win the leadership contest next weekend. Dan Hodges suggests that they are deluded and may well advise that that particular MP to watch their back. He says that when Jeremy Corbyn becomes Labour leader on Saturday, his party will have stepped into the void: How deep and long the drop will ...
