Filmed on a sunny, windy day in January this year, this video follows the remains of the railway from Wisbech back to March. I suspect all those level crossings are a large part of the reason it was closed to freight trains in 2000. (Passenger services had gone in 1968.) The good news is that there is a strong campaign to reopen the line.
What do to about Greville Janner? Trying a dead man is surely an absurdity out of the Middle Ages, yet handing the affair over to Justice Lowell Goddard's general inquiry risks seems an inadequate response. Could a separate, immediate inquiry be held in Leicester? As to what the allegations are, there is a story in The Times today (and thus behind its paywall) under the headline 'Justice evaded by man with influential friends': Had the case gone ahead, the court would have heard evidence that Lord Janner sometimes groomed boys for "relationships" and on other occasions acted opportunistically to grope ...
The Meols Ward Liberal Democrat Focus Team, John Dodd, Jo Barton and Nigel Ashton wishes everyone all the best throughout the festive season. A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Embed from Getty Images As you get older the world changes and fashion changes. So, based on my childhood and teenage perceptions from the 1960s and 1970s, let me present my Five News Stories You Don't Get Any More. 1. Air disasters Back in the 1970s the loss of a passenger jet with horrific casualties seemed to be a monthly occurrence. Today you hardly hear of them. The figures in this CNN report suggest that this perception is correct. 2. Formula 1 drivers being killed Again in the 1960s it seemed to be taken granted that several leading Formula 1 ...
Official figures show that 310,000 journeys were made from Gatley station in 2014/15 – making it one of the better used stations in Greater Manchester. The figure may be an under-estimate as it's based on ticket sales, and it's often not possible to buy a ticket from the station. Manchester Piccadilly was by far the busiest station in Greater Manchester with over 24 million passenger journeys. Oxford Road was second and Victoria third, both with a little over 7 million. Gatley comes behind Heald Green and Cheadle Hulme, but is better used than East Didsbury and the majority of stations ...
The Independent wins Headline of the Day. The judges particularly liked the comment from "local resident Amanda Walker, 35": "It was an incredible sight. You get the odd squirrel around here, but never a reindeer."BREAKING... This just in from The Press: Jesus kidnapped in York
[IMG: IMG_6759] May I wish everyone a very merry Christmas I could not find three wise men but then again are there any these days (particularly in politics – although I suspect Justin Trudeau the new Prime Minister of Canada would a front runner)? Wise women is probably nearer the mark. However, I did find 3 Christmas trees that I photographed this December. [IMG: IMG_6737] The top one was taken in the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool when Maghull Wind Orchestra was playing there (I avoided being thunder bolted as an atheist). The second one was outside Sefton Park Palm House ...
Previously... The Doctor is the lonely god, the last highest authority in the universe, meting out justice to Weeping Angels and Prime Ministers. And there was a War... Introducing... The Time War. It is hard to underestimate the importance of the books written in the Doctor's wilderness years between "Survival" and "Rose". Often dismissed as the rantings of angsty teenage fanboys - and there is a fair old bit of that - they were also a hothouse of ideas, taking on the Cartmel Era's impetus to try out new and daring directions. And the biggest idea was that the Doctor's ...
Now this is rather fun:
It's hard being all things to all people. You amass a vast spectrum of people who are very loosely held together by things you may/may not have told them over the years. Student? 'Free tuition' we shouted! Anti-war? 'We won't back military action!' Old? 'Gold-plated pensions!' and so it goes on. In fact, those in [...]
[IMG: WP_20151220_14_36_36_Pro] When I reported the flooding in Lambshear Lane over the weekend I was not aware that Cllr. Edie Pope was already on the case. This is the latest as I understand it from Sefton Council:- Thank-you for your enquiry regarding highway flooding at Lambshear Lane. I can confirm that our contractor attended site to draw off the flood water and have identified that further work is required on the highway drain to resolve the problem. The contractor has advised that they are going back to Lambshear Lane on Monday (today), to carry out the work when the school ...
The Information Commissioner has fined Telegraph Media Group – which operates the Daily Telegraph – £30,000 for breaking the law at the general election by sending out emails including a message urging people to vote Conservative. As I quoted back in May: The email, signed by editor Chris Evans and including links to the newspaper's election-day leader article, other political coverage and an offer for a free 45-day digital subscription, was sent to the newspaper's database of emails on the eve of the election. Some recipients took to Twitter to complain that they either did not know how the Telegraph ...
I'll start all this by saying I'm quite glad 2015 is almost at an end. In political terms, this was a year to survive as opposed to savour (unless you're a Tory or a Scottish nationalist). Both of the large centre-left parties in parliamentary terms (actually, to avoid fights let's rephrase that as the two largest non-Tory parties in the Commons on 1 January 2015), Labour and the Liberal Democrats, entered the year each with realistic hopes of being in government at the end of it. Both lost the general election, at a level much worse than a worst case ...
[IMG: Mersey Ferry Snowdrop in the lead and in Dazzle paint. ] Mersey Ferry Snowdrop in the lead and in Dazzle paint. Q Local Southport have the story on their web site – see link above. With thanks to Cllr. John Dodd for the lead to this story. The photo above is also amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
Embed from Getty Images Last week senior bankers breathed with relief and opened the champagne. The Lords, by just 2 votes, gave in to the Tory Government and failed to uphold the tough rule known as the "reversal of the burden of proof" for failures by senior bankers which was passed into legislation in 2013 and is now cancelled. I was a member of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards which recommended the rule. It was the most potent weapon we could give the regulators to prevent future banking scandals by making sure that senior bankers would be held to ...
Roscoe's roundabout in Cheadle will be partially closed overnight from 11th to 15th January 2016. The Council says: Works for Networks Rail in relation to a bridge inspection / repair planned to be undertaken overnight between 2100hrs & 0600hrs. As part of the temporary traffic management, it will not be possible to turn into Carrs Road from the roundabout and a lane restriction will be in operation on the roundabout itself, all movements on Stockport Road and M60 slip roads will be unaffected.
More disharmony broke out in the Labour Party over the weekend when Angela Eagle, the party's shadow first secretary of state effectively drew a line in the sand and dared her leader to cross it. According to the Times, Ms Eagle used an interview on The Andrew Marr Show to repeat her warning against setting policy by online voting methods. There have been suggestions that Mr Corbyn will try to bypass Labour's National Policy Forum process in favour of such exercises, which would allow left-wing supporters to frame policy-making. Ms. Eagle said that internet consultation should be used to "involve ...
[IMG: sporting future] On Thursday the government launched Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation, their response to a consultation earlier in the year on the future of sport and physical activity. Sport is something that I'm passionate about, and the power of sport, if harnessed, can be tremendous. It can unify communities, bringing people together whose views might otherwise be poles apart. Additionally sport has wider implications. It encourages discipline, team work and builds confidence. It can provide skills and experience that are directly transferable to the workplace. And, above all, it promotes and encourages healthy lifestyle ...
It remains that until the courts allow independent experts who are not employees of the local authority or otherwise beholden to the local authority that parents will very often (but not always) not get a fair trial. Simply put the bias in the evidence results in an almost inevitable bias in the conclusions. I will update this post with more detail when I get some time, but I thought it would
[IMG: Tim Farron at Lib Dem Bournemouth 2015 conference. Image courtesy of the Lib Dems CC BY-ND 2.0] Liberal Democrat conferences are rather like local party AGMs in that the tendency in the party is to say 'come to them' rather than explain what happens and why coming to them is a good idea. Which rather matters if you've never been to one or other – or even both. So why come to a Liberal Democrat federal conference? (Federal, by the way, means UK-wide, as opposed to a Scottish or Welsh Lib Dem conference, or one for one of the ...
Many thanks to residents on Barnard Avenue who brought to our attention this week the large amount of litter and rubbish on Warwick Close (the road that goes alongside the motorway between Barnard and Kenilworth). Thankfully Council staff have been able to attend and clear up the rubbish this week, so the street is now looks great. A huge thank you to the Council team for doing this so promptly. Tim [IMG: IMG_0450]
Many thanks to the residents who have raised concerns over the state of leaves on Langley Gardens and Langley Avenue, which has got progressively worse over recent months. The issue relates to trees which overhang the pavement from the Allotments, which is causing a significant build up of leaves on the pavement, as well as causing a general nuisance due to their size. The trees are scheduled to be looked at by the Council in February, but in the meantime staff from the Council have very kindly responded to our request to clear up the area which was on Thursday. ...
The sixth most read to the most read post published during 2015 (12 – 7 are here). 6. Welcome back – the OU re-launches psychology masters degrees for 2016. Too late for me, but many former and current OU students are happy that these courses are to be re-introduced at last. 5. Benchmarking the original Raspberry Pi Model B. A ...
[IMG: generation_2015_logo] Recently there's been a lot of talk of people defecting to other parties - namely the Conservatives and Labour - and their exits have been felt very strongly within the Lib Dem community and have caused a ripple effect. Whilst I respect 100% someone's political opinion and their reasons for defecting, I felt the need to say why I became a Lib Dem and why I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future. Being involved with the BBC's Generation 2015 panel surrounding the 2015 General Election opened up my eyes to something I'd never considered doing before, ...
First of all, who do you think wrote this? "So long as there is a correlation between how people vote locally, the taxes they pay locally and the local services they get, leave it to them to decide. Give local government control over tax and spending decisions, and local democracy will shape itself. Localise the money - and let everything else follow the money. Once you have genuine local democracy, you won't need to have central government trying to define the shape and structure of it...Perhaps the real lesson in all this is that we should not leave it to ...
There is growing interest in the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), also called Citizen's Income, to replace means-tested benefits. This was given a lift last week by the think tank RSA. The Lib Dems are also reported to be looking at it as part their review of welfare. The idea already has some totemic value on the left – it is part of the Green Party policy pitch. It is an interesting idea, but my scepticism is growing. But it has along pedigree: I first remember it being advocated by Paddy Ashdown in the 1990s. Why the interest? ...
I'm hugely honoured to take on the role of Hugo administrator for Worldcon 75, to be held in Helsinki in 2017. The Hugos have been part of my fannish life since I was a teenager, and I've been commenting in depth on the fiction nominees every year this century. I love the institution and I'm really glad to be part of it. 2017 may be a bit different to previous years. Four amendments to the Hugo rules passed last August by Sasquan will, if ratified by MidAmeriCon II next year, come into effect for Worldcon 75 to administer. I'll be ...
Mon 21st
10:25
Membership incentive scheme has funnelled over £500,000 to Liberal Democrat local parties
[IMG: Lib Dems campaigning for human rights] I've written before about how important the membership incentive scheme for Liberal Democrat local parties is, and why the English Party was wrong to put together a budget for 2016 which would have axed it by removing nearly all the money that funded it. One of its major benefits has been that over £500,000 has been funnelled into local parties through the scheme since it was introduced in 2013. Of that, over £250,000 was paid in 2015 alone. That made it a vital source of funds for the party's grassroots, and all based ...
Embed from Getty Images In the autumn, I received reminders about my soon-to-lapse Lib Dem membership. When I joined last year, I partly did so in response to the Christians in Politics 'Show Up' campaign which argued that it didn't matter so much which party you joined, so long as you got involved and made a difference. It was a really good campaign, but this time around I have been thinking more carefully about what it means to be a member. Like many people, I suspect, I've a 'coalition' mindset: probably around 65% Lib Dem (agreeing with the party on ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] A template press release on the dangers of fake alcohol products. ALDC members can download an MS Word version of this release here. Join ALDC here to gain full access to their unrivalled collection of local campaigning resources and support for just £3.41 per month. NEW YEAR REVELLERS WARNED TO AVOID DANGEROUS FAKE ALCOHOL EMBARGO: [...]
Pharmacy opening times Find out which pharmacies are open in South Gloucestershire over Christmas and the New Year holidays- See more at: out which pharmacies are open in South Gloucestershire over Christmas and the New Year holidays. Make sure you're prepared for changes to opening times by: Booking routine appointments well in advance.Ordering and collecting repeat prescriptions while your GP practice and pharmacy are open.- See more at: out which pharmacies are open in South Gloucestershire over Christmas and the New Year holidays. Make sure you're prepared for changes to opening times by: Booking routine appointments well in ...
Mon 21st
09:00
10 reasons why the Force Awakens is so much better than the prequels [Moderate spoilers]
It goes well beyond a lack of Jar Jar. Just to reiterate spoilers ahead. 1. More careful casting One of the most striking ways the prequels fail is that there's a real dearth of good performances despite having some really great actors working on them. A lot of that is probably down to the fact [...]
Caird Rest I have called the decision by Dundee City Licensing Board to refuse an alcohol licence for the proposed Caird Bar and Grill as very unfortunate and not in the interests of the city's economic growth and Dundee's aspiration to have more top destination venues that will be attractive to the thousands of visitors that will come to Dundee to visit the V&A at Dundee when it is opened. I am not a member of the Licensing Board, but understand the need for an alcohol 'overprovision' policy. However, it should be used only as a guide and that when ...
As a small landlocked country in the heart of Africa, Rwanda would have limited economic possibilities if it tried to go it alone. But by cooperating more closely with some of its neighbours it can gain many benefits. A degree of regional integration — without undermining national sovereignty — is accordingly being promoted through the [...]
Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Jim Hume MSP has warned that the situation of thousands of homeless people in Scotland can only worsen if the SNP government doesn't keep to its election promise to deliver 30,000 homes for social rent before the 2016 Holyrood election. Mr Hume's warnings come after figures published today show over... More 100k Homeless at Christmas in SNP Policy 'Fail'
Scottish Liberal Democrats Justice Spokesperson Alison McInnes has called for more 'purposeful activity' inside Scottish prisons in a letter she has written today to the head of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). In the letter written to the chief executive of the SPS, Colin McConnell, McInnes warns that low levels of purposeful activity must improve... More McInnes Calls For More 'Purpose' In Prisons
The offices of Blyth Town Council will be closed from noon on 24th December until the morning of Monday 4th January. If any resident has an urgent problem, contact your local councillor or Northumberland County Council
The Tories are unstitching the tapestry of our democracy How Clickbait works THIS is why women don't report. Don't tell me we don't live in a rape culture. SEVERE CW A reminder: why Mary Sues are important for all writers What A "Racebent" Hermione Granger Really Represents [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Failed "Europeanization" of Moldovan political elite Cast a cold eye! (tags: eu moldova ) Rocket Star Rank 2016 Hugo Awards Some reviewers' recommendations of short fiction (tags: sf ) You'll Be Outraged at How Easy It Was to Get You to Click on This Headline The psychology of clickbait. (tags: psychology internet ) Birds in Blake's 7 Awesome. (tags: sf ) Brussels: Twenty Years in a Unique Market @BradStaples reflects. (tags: eu )
Living in London in the late 1970s, I often whiled away a Sunday afternoon by going along to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. It gave, and continues to give, fantastic enlightenment and entertainment. The speakers aways varied from highly articulate, sensible speakers, to the passionate and the entertaining. Some had huge crowds enraptured for hours. Others spoke to thin air. There were a good share of rather bonkers people speaking. But it was always fantastic and there was one speaker who was aways there and made the whole thing really special: Lord Soper (pictured above). Donald Soper was a Methodist ...
