Embed from Getty Images "Yes, Dickie, but I don't think this gentleman is very interested in policemen. Uncle Alf - that's Mr Ingles - told me this morning that he likes to have a few policemen around at this time of year. He said they reminded him of Christmas, but I can't think why, can you?" Malcolm Saville Wings Over Witchend (1956)
We're all doomed.
Blood tests: last 8 results 20 16 9 7 25 18 21 5 Dec Dec Dec Dec Nov Nov Oct Oct Normal Hb 82 103 108 79 86 87 107 95 130-180 WBC 1.51 2.16 1.6 1.3 1.47 1.76 1.8 1.95 4.5-10.0 N'phils 0.47 0.56 0.47 0.44 0.48 0.46 0.57 0.87 2.0-7 Plt 50 60 95 107 187 221 202 225 150-450 Creatinine 172, still way above normal range 45-120, and sharp falls in Hb, WBC, N'phils and Plt.Lets hope tomorrow is better or it means two pouches of blood.
I feel I've done my due diligence by the Retro Hugos for 1941 as never before. I read the Asimov/Greenberg edited collection of 1940 stories, and the relevant stories from Heinlein's The Past Through Tomorrow and Sturgeon's The Ultimate Egoist; I also read The Clock Strikes Twelve, a collection of spooky stories by H. Russell Wakefield, and Kai Lung Beneath the Mulberry Tree, a collection of stories in an imagined and rather Orientalist China by Ernest Bramah, which actually had very little sfnal content (there's a magician in one story and a prophetic dream in another). I've also read the ...
In the wake of a recent furore over the defection of youth member Darren Grimes, Ciaran Morrissey asks why people keep expecting classical liberals to justify why they're in the party.
Flashbak has some great photographs of British coal mining taken between 1930 and 1950. Chris Sayer presents his choice of the 20 mightiest small bookshops in the UK. The children's writer Peter Dickinson has died. Britain is No Country for Old Men pays tribute to him. "Arguments take place in online forums as to where exactly the house stood. Some are determined that there is a bit of old wall remaining and that they have stood in the back yard of the house. Others argue (plausibly) that the street alignment was changed on rebuilding, making a drain cover the location." ...
Introducing Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion... Shop window dummies that come to life, the Doctor given a new 'family' on Earth and a touch of bitchy soap opera... No wonder this was such an influence on Russell T Davies that he wrote the introduction for the new edition. Terrance Dicks' first book novelises the thrilling TV story Spearhead From Space, making it more thrilling still from the title on through - one of the best Doctor Who novels ever written, and creating an irresistible monster that never quite made it to TV: "something between spider, crab and octopus..." Robert ...
Embed from Getty Images Since I got myself a digital radio I have fallen in love with a new station: BBC Radio 4 Extra. I suppose you have to be of a certain age to appreciate a station based on the archives, but who would want to listen to the Today programme when you can go to work cheered by an episode of Round the Horne? This morning Julian and Sandy, as Bona Mediums, were demonstrating their gift of second vada. Another programme I have heard on it recently is Alick Rowe's play from the 1980s Crisp and Even Brightly,which ...
A story for the Christmas season to warm the heart of pretty much no one. In what some would term an unusual move (and others would say is utterly barmy) His Lordship and Baldrick his unfaithful serf/elf are supposedly (according to a press release from His Lordship) setting out on their Christmas 2015 Expedition tonight. [IMG: r] Click on the photo to enlarge it Starting off along the Leeds Liverpool Canal in Lydiate the intrepid pair of barmpots claim that they intend to visit London, Kirkaldy, Steinhude (where's that?) and Zagreb. The photo above is also amongst my Flickr shots ...
Back in November 2009 I got excited by the news that Mike Newell was to direct a film of John Masefield's The Box of Delights with a script by Frank Cottrell Boyce. But the film never went into production and I have now found an interview with Newell from 2012 that explains why. Lousia Mellor from Den of Geek asked him about it and got a depressing reply: Something close to our hearts is your planned adaptation of John Masefield's The Box Of Delights. What's the status of that at the moment? The script is there, I would love to ...
The former Liberal Democrat candidate for Brighton, Chris Bowers, is, along with Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, and Lisa Nandy, Labour's shadow energy secretary, putting together a book to be called "Power to the People." According to details provided in the Guardian by Rafael Behr there are to be contritions by Mhairi Black of the SNP, Norman Lamb, unsuccessful leadership contender for the Liberal Democrats, and Steve Read, a Labour front-bencher. Beher makes the point that "[their] biggest problem is finding a definition for 'progressive' that isn't a fancy euphemism for 'hates Tories,'" and concludes his article: "A party that ...
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Embed from Getty Images or Dealing liberally with the provocative polemic of Donald J Trump Can you imagine watching the parliamentary debate about whether or not to ban Donald Trump from the UK? The question is whether we should we be so intolerant as to bar the person (who could be the next American President) from entering our country on the grounds of him being intolerant. The irony reduces me to the sort of unvoiced wry smile that only British politics can achieve. Yes Minister, eat your heart out! Take a moment to picture the likes of Douglas Carswell, Jeremy ...
Christmas telly tends to grab the media attention — how many repeats, who'll win the ratings war? — but for me radio matters more this time of year. It's partly I spend longer in the kitchen, partly that there are tasks which require some simultaneous distraction to be bearable (signing Christmas cards, wrapping presents). So while others will define the quality of telly by how good this year's Dr Who / Downton / Sherlock special was, the first thing I do is check if BBC Radio 4 Extra is going to be repeating Crisp and Even Brightly. Last year, it ...
Merry Christmas to all our readers!
Mill Crescent Christmas lights last year This year the Mill Crescent Christmas lights will be raising money for B.U.S.T (Breast Cancer Unit Support Trust), established in 1991 at Frenchay by patients and now based at Southmead Hospital. The funds raised by BUST and its supporters enable the clinicians to buy advanced equipment before it is available through NHS funding,with the aim of prevention, early detection and better treatment.
Tim Farron has delivered his first Christmas message as leader of the Liberal Democrats and reflected on a message of hope for the festive period. Tim Farron's Christmas message Tim Farron's Christmas message Posted by Liberal Democrats on Tuesday, 22 December 2015 From my family, to yours, Can I wish you and all those you love a happy and peaceful Christmas. I love Christmas, I get to take a few days off and spend some proper time with my family. If all goes to plan, the next few days will involve eating, drinking, watching films, very long walks and a ...
Tim Farron's Christmas message Tim Farron's Christmas message Posted by Liberal Democrats on Tuesday, 22 December 2015 Here is the full text of Tim Farron's Christmas 2015 message: From my family, to yours, can I wish you and all those you love a happy and peaceful Christmas? I love Christmas, I get to take a few days off and spend some proper time with my family. If all goes to plan, the next few days will involve eating, drinking, watching films, very long walks and a few decent runs. I may even get down to watch Blackburn Rovers too. Christmas ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP has thanked engineers for their work as it was announced that the Forth Road Bridge is to reopen ahead of Christmas. The Transport Minister Derek Mackay today said that the majority of traffic will be able to use the bridge from tomorrow morning. Welcoming the news, Mr Rennie said:... More Rennie Thanks 'Santa Engineers' as Forth Road Bridge Re-Opens Early
[IMG: Reuters report on Muslims protecting non-Muslims] Somali Islamist militants sprayed a Kenyan bus with bullets on Monday, killing two people, but a passenger said he and fellow Muslims defied demands from the attackers to help identify Christians traveling with them... "We even gave some non-Muslims our religious attire to wear in the bus so that they would not be identified easily. We stuck together tightly," he said. "The militants threatened to shoot us but we still refused and protected our brothers and sisters. Finally they gave up and left but warned that they would be back," he said. [Reuters] ...
I, like 20,000 others, was inspired by Nick Clegg's resignation speech on the 8th of May. Fear and grievance have won. Liberalism has lost. But it is more precious than ever and we must keep fighting for it. A month later, I became a Liberal Democrat. Joining the #LibDemFightback on June 4th was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Nick was right when he said "The Liberal Democrats are a family..." I have never met a group of people as ambitious or as diligent or as assiduous as the Liberal Democrats. We can have our internal disagreements ...
Breaking news. Nearly. What followed were some highs and some dreadful lows: Jeremy Thorpe interview.
[IMG: WP_20151221_06_52_37_Pro] Rumours have been circulating that Arriva may have been having a change of heart over the recent withdrawal of their 311 route from Liverpool to Ormskirk and Skelmersdale. Indeed, my informant indicated to me that they understood the rumours were coming from sources within Arriva. [IMG: This is me with the Lydiate & Maghull resident's petition earlier this year at a 311 bus stop in Lydiate. The petition was not collected by me I would add but by the hard work of locals concerned about the loss of this Arriva route to Ormskirk.] This is me with the ...
I suppose it was a bit much to expect the new Assembly Remuneration Board to be any more in-touch and sensitive to public opinion than its predecessor and so it has proved. The chair of the board has written to the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats to say that she is not minded to revisit the decision to give AMs a disproportionate £10,000 pay rise and that she envisages this being paid when the Senedd reconvenes after the May election.. What is worse, she has written to all Assembly Members to say that they will not be allowed to ...
The essay competition run by the Federal Policy Committee as part of our Agenda 2020 exercises closed in November; Liberal Democrat Voice was good enough to publish several of the entries. We asked participants to write no more than 1,000 words on what it means to be a Liberal Democrat today. We received a total of sixty entries, and we'd like to put on record our thanks to all those who wrote them. Their standard was generally very high. Unsurprisingly, most chose 'freedom' as the focus of their essay, but how they defined 'freedom' varied quite considerably. Some described it ...
This film, posted on YouTube by Roger Hunter, is really worth watching! It's even got shots of Port Isaac before Doc Marten got there! Share
[Spoilers] The Force Awakens suggests that Hollywood is gradually learning that women can be heroes too. In the run up to the release of the Force Awakens, a video popped up of all the lines from the original Star Wars trilogy spoken by women other than Princess Leia. It lasts barely a minute. The tendency [...]
Liberal Democrat Edinburgh City Councillor Alastair Shields, who represents Almond ward, has resigned both the party whip and from membership of the party following his recent defeat in a re-selection hustings to local activist Kevin Lang. Cllr. Shields has declined to force a by-election and will continue to sit as an independent. He has also... More Lib Dem Councillor Quits Following Deselection
We've had reports of several drivers going the wrong way up the one-way section of Gatley Green. Apparently they "didn't see the signs." Here's what they "missed". [IMG: gatley green one way] We think there are two possibilities. Either these people are simply lying and chose to drive the wrong way up a one-way street. Or they have such poor awareness of what's going on around them that they should immediately surrender their driving licences for the safety of themselves and others.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (12A) Directo: J.J. Abrams Website: Star Wars.com Some family Christmas traditions remain, some change with age and slowly the Christmas panto trip has been replaced with the Christmas cinema trip. (Oh, no it hasn't... Oh, yes it has!) This year, the build up has been almost tectonic in expectation, the new Star Wars with a new director, new cast, new effects... could it possibly live up to the mountainous pressure of mass marketing, let alone our own expectations? With tickets booked a long time ago we arrived at the cinema with our 3D glasses ...
Tue 22nd
09:11
The Andrea Jenkyns-Jack Lopresti story highlights how lousy a job being an MP actually is
Yesterday, a story broke regarding two Tory politicians. One of them was Andrea Jenkyns, who some of you may recall as the woman who beat Ed Balls in Morley and Outwood at the general election to provide one of the shock results of the evening. The other is Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke since the 2010 general election. The story was covered by The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, and The Sun, just to name a few of the major outlets that featured it. The latter publication ran it with the headline: "Sleaze ...
A new Scottish opinion poll from TNS shows the SNP tightening their grip on Holyrood and moving even further clear of Labour ahead of next May's elections. The figures show the nationalists still on 58% of the constituency vote, whilst Labour were down three on 21%. The Conservatives were on 12% and the Liberal Democrats... More SNP Continue To Show 'Teflon' Quality in Latest Poll
Ji Wen Zi contemplated something three times before acting upon it. When Confucius heard this, he said, "Twice is enough."
Residents recently raised with me flooding concerns on Perth Road opposite the junction with Riverside Place - at the bus stop and shelter. I raised this concern with the Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now been advised : "The Road Inspector for this area was out at this location has advised that a new pot is to be installed at this location. He has raised an order to get works carried out by Tayside Contracts."
I was on Sunday watching BBC News when I heard Mr Ed Husain, adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and senior advisor at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, says exactly but in different words (and reversed similar statistics) what I have wrote in my last article : You do not kill an idea with bombs, i.e. that the Islamic State (IS) should not only be challenged at body but more at mind level if we wish to see it vanish. I do not know if Mr Husain reads the Liberal ...
In 1994, when Rwanda was seized with a killing frenzy, I was working for BBC World Service at Bush House in London, writing analysis pieces about what was going on. It was clear that the then government in Kigali was orchestrating the massacre, with the Interhamwe militia and later ordinary Rwandans taking part in the [...]
What's Christmas without a good controversy eh? Well I'd question whether the Hermione controversy is actually a particularly good one given it can be summarised as 'person has different interpretation of book', but it reflects an online trend. I'll be honest here, when I was reading these books I was in a rural primary school [...]
Postponing Elections is Macedonia's Only Hope Erwan Fouéré makes his views clear. (tags: macedonia ) The History Of The Hedgehog @RoryStewartUK's parliamentary speech. (tags: ukpolitics biology ) 'Fairytale of New York': How a soused Irish punk band created the greatest Christmas song of all time An appreciation. (tags: music ) It Happened One Night A grim and eloquent reminiscence. (tags: waronterror )
Why 2015 was a terrible year for women in music [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
