A gang of criminals, led by Derek Guyler and Clive Dunn, restage the Great Train Robbery on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchuch Railway. This is a sketch from Michael Bentine's show It's a Square World, which ran from 1960 to 1964. The BFI site makes it sound something of a lost gem: It's a Square World employed location filming, ingenious special effects and elaborate models to realise the more extreme visions from the imaginations of Bentine and his co-writer John Law. Ranging from gentle satire to surreal slapstick, the fast-moving agenda was anchored by Bentine, usually appearing as a hapless ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 438th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (1-8 November, 2015), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Tory town councillor caught on CCTV daubing ...
I was very pleased to be shown around the new serviced offices in the St Nicholas Business Centre, Sutton by James Hale, the Managing Director of City Skyline. City Skyline are a boutique operator of high quality fully serviced office centres with established suites in Epsom and New Malden. They have now refurbished 9,000 sq ft [...]
Members of Parliament who lose their seats can struggle. It is not easy to find a new career in middle age. Someone who is clearly not struggling is Paul Burstow, former care minister and, until earlier this year, MP for Sutton and Cheam. On Thursday 19 November he is giving his inaugural lecture as Professor of Health and Social Care in the division of Health Services Research and Management in the School of Health Sciences, City University London. He will be speaking on "A psychologically minded NHS: Key to a collaborative and sustainable NHS?" The City University page for the ...
The announcement by ONS that housing associations are to be reclassified as non-financial public corporations, thereby moving at least £60bn of debt onto the public balance sheet, came as a surprise to many. It perhaps came as more of a surprise than it should have done, given that the decision rested upon policy changes that occurred several years ago. The current raft of policy proposals will see the government taking an even stronger role in directing the affairs of housing associations. They are therefore, one would assume, only going to confirm that the ONS decision has moved things in the ...
I am seeking election as Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats because I believe Scotland needs a strong Liberal Democrat party at all levels of representation from our individual communities, local authorities and Scottish, Westminster and European parliaments. To achieve this we need to ensure our party here in Scotland has a strong team supporting our members and the communities we live and work in, including the Scottish Executive, political leadership and staff team. I have been a life-time supporter of liberalism, and I have a track record of over twenty years of party activism, working at all levels within ...
It is a privilege to have been nominated for the post of Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. We find ourselves at a difficult time for the Party. Our electoral base, both at Holyrood and Westminster has been eroded and at Local Government significantly reduced since the last Local Government Elections. I have no illusions that the challenges we face are enormous, however, they need to be tacked with hard work, determination, co-ordination and targeting. This will help us tackle effectively the financial, electoral and organisational challenges we face. The Leadership of the Party needs to be a spearhead in ...
"Trademark rights are an interesting thing. You can see this thing from all over the city of Los Angeles: but if you want to use it for anything commercial, well, then you're going to start having some trouble", says Tom Scott:
This is the second volume of Tales of a New Jerusalem, a series of books pulling together the findings of Mass-Observation and various other sources to create a detailed, almost week-by-week popular history of Britain. (The first volume covers 1945-51, and the third 1957-59; Kynaston's plan is to take it up to Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979.) It's a tremendous piece of work, but I'll stipulate up front that it has limitations - although the title references "Britain", it's mainly England, with some Wales and a very small amount of Scotland; Northern Ireland is mentioned precisely once. Having said that, ...
This is always a good show that is well worth a visit. This year it was held over the weekend of the 7th/8th November at Greenbank High School. I ran into my old friend Geoff Payne who was running the West Lancashire Light Railway stand. Geoff is an Aintree Village Parish Councillor of long standing. It was nice to catch up with him especially as I not previously realised that he was a fellow railway enthusiast. I also spied my old chum Roger Bell running the OPSTA stall. Roger is a also a Labour member of West Lancs Borough Council ...
...said very few people ever. However, there have been some bold and enterprising individuals who have taken the role on over the years, to whom we are extremely grateful. The most recent incumbent was Lord Ian Wrigglesworth, who stepped down in September, so the party is seeking someone to fill this important role. This isn't about financial admin, book-keeping, financial strategy and telling people sternly that they can't spend money we don't have. That role is taken by the Chair of the Federal Finance and Administration Committee, currently Peter Dunphy. It's mainly about fundraising – making sure the party has ...
[IMG: 'Having beaten Mr Heseltine, I intend to go on and on and on...'] 'Having beaten Mr Heseltine, I intend to go on and on and on...' The Twitter account Majorsrise is currently marking the upcoming 25th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's resignation as Prime Minister by tweeting in real-time the various bits of news and political intrigue that led up to it. It's a fascinating look back at a period that still seems recent to me, but is now very much a different time. It's interesting to watch the events play out as what now seems inevitable to us clearly ...
Poor Jeremy Purvis. The Liberal Democrat peer found himself mentioned in comedian John Oliver's US show Last Week Tonight. Oliver was telling Americans about the Tories' defeat in the House of Lords over tax credits and in doing so had a good go at its archaic traditions – and mentioned that it even had a member called Lord Purvis of Tweed. What he didn't, of course, mention, is that Lord Purvis of Tweed was most definitely on the side of the angels over tax credits and that if his party's proposals had gone through, the proposals would have been killed ...
"Corbyn's rise to power is a symptom of Labour's political impotence. The post war social democracy that utilized the central state to tax and spend to compensate for the failures of capitalism is redundant. None of the other leadership candidates were able to offer an alternative." A cracking analysis of Labour's travails by Jonathan Rutherford. Renate Samson explains why the government's draconian surveillance plan won't protect us. "The weakness of the centre-right in UK politics has been masked for a long time by Cameron's pre-2010 spin, a few progressive social policies and the restraining hand of the Liberal Democrats within ...
Remembrance Your Noble Highness? No, it did not care.Your Graces, and your heirs? It mattered nought.Your lowly birth? Your coloured skin, eyes, hair?Just fragile human faces, all who fought.The Church, the Chapel? All were just the same.The Mosque, the Synagogue, the Temple? All.This leveller cares not for Faith, nor Name.They stand together, and together fall. The veil of mud that swallows from the trench.The fiery burst; the smoke that steals the skies.The salt-encrusted depths; the burning stench.Will not discriminate as their light dies.But though faces mean nothing - whether known, We'll still remember each as if our own.
Another act (see Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend) that combines the concerns of affluent American with sounds from the developing world. Once again, the results ought to be ridiculous but turn out to be enjoyable. I am struck, though, by how similar world music can sound. When the vocals come in here it could be a funkier version of early Runrig. Anyway, Wikipedia says Fool's Gold is a: project of musicians Luke Top (a vocalist and bassist) and Lewis Pesacov (lead guitarist), who set out to explore their shared love of various forms of African music (specifically Congolese, Ethiopian, Eritrean ...
Sun 8th
10:45
Reprise: For Remembrance Sunday, some reflections on my visit to the Tower of London poppies
It's a year since I wrote the post below, but I wanted to repeat it this year partly because that brief hour at the Tower of London has stayed with me. The symbolism was compelling and should make us all think about the reality of war and what everyone affected by it goes through. [IMG: Poppies through Bridge] Last Monday I was down in London for a meeting and had an hour spare to nip down to the Tower of London to see the poppy installation where 888,246 ceramic poppies have been laid out in an act of remembrance for ...
Cllr Jane Brophy – A great Candidiate for OldhamWest & Royton On Friday I spent the afternoon with a colleague from Liverpool, Kris Brown, at the Oldham by-election. I am going again for most of tomorrow and will be there ... Continue reading →
As always on the Sunday closest to November 11th, the anniversary of the Armistice in the First World War, the country stops to remember those who have been killed in conflict. Here are how senior Liberal Democrats are marking the occasion. Today we stop, honour and remember all those who fought and died for our freedoms. #RemembranceSunday — Tim Farron (@timfarron) November 8, 2015 At Cupar and St. Andrews I honoured those who made the ultimate sacrifice. #RememberanceSunday pic.twitter.com/GUuwNKhPAh — Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) November 8, 2015 This post will be updated throughout the day.
With the Welsh Government due to take control of landfill tax and stamp duty after the Assembly elections, it is right that the Minister has decided that for the first few years at least, continuity is the right way forward in collecting those taxes. However, her decision to allow HMRC to maintain their current role must be subject to review and must be contingent on an improved performance from that agency. In this respect, revelations in the Telegraph that millions of letters sent to HMRC by Britons concerned about their tax affairs are going unanswered for more than three weeks, ...
Earlier this week, Liberal Democrat Peers completed 100 constituency visits undertaken since the General Election. Visits have included AGMs, new member meetings, Lib Dem Pints, and discussions on specific subject areas. Their aim has been to explain to members what we're doing in Parliament and, more generally, how the Party can play a crucial role in shaping politics between now and 2020. For the Peers involved it's an invaluable way of finding out what's going on in the Party outside the confines of Westminster and we find it invigorating. Between the summer and Christmas, we've set ourselves the tasks of ...
Sun 8th
08:31
The western press has developed a cavalier approach to liberal democracy of late, hasn't it?
Late last week, social media alerted me to a TIME article entitled, "Azerbaijan Is an Oasis of Tolerance in the Middle East". If that title didn't cause you to at least raise your eyebrows if not laugh out loud, you probably don't know much about Azerbaijan. I have spent time in Caucasian country in question, and let me say this: if someone is calling it "an oasis of tolerance" they are either thick or being paid off by the rather large pro-Azerbaijan lobby. Reading the article, I think the former may apply here. The essence of the entire piece is ...
That, over time, societies evolve is a truism. Yet those that survive and prosper over the longer term seem to evolve in a specific way: towards greater social complexity. The point is that more innovative societies tend to amass greater wealth and thus the ability to deploy greater resources in their own defence. As a general rule then the ability to innovate is a critical feature in social progress and international power. Over the centuries we have seen an evolution from a hierarchical social order, to a more egalitarian order, which permits the freer exchange of information and thus greater ...
Languages Are Products of Their Environments Fewer consonants in the jungle. (tags: languages linguistics ) Dubai and New York - both are vertiginous cities. So why is only one of them full of surprises? The art of serendipity. (tags: travel ) Brexit lunatics will destroy Britain @chrisdeerin gives it both barrels. (tags: eu ukpolitics ) Astronaut plays bagpipes on International Space Station Good heavens. (tags: space music )
For many Roman Catholics as well as journalists like myself who covered the tumultuous political and religious conflicts in Latin America in the 1980s, the name Puebla has great resonance. The Catholic Bishops' Conference in Puebla in 1979 raised many issues linked to what was known as Liberation Theology, espoused by several leading clerics in [...]
