Embed from Getty Images From BBC News: A stone sculpture should be erected to commemorate a meteorite which hit the UK on Christmas Eve 50 years ago, campaigners have said. The meteorite, which was the size of a "Christmas turkey", exploded into thousands of pieces over Barwell, Leicestershire, on Christmas Eve, 1965. It was the biggest recorded meteorite to hit the UK.Read more about the Barwell meteorite on this blog.
It was Sunday 26 July. I was staying in Canterbury and had been down to Hastings to see Liberator's Stewart Rayment and family. Waiting at Ashford for my last train of the day, I sent this tweet: Must be careful not to get off at the station before Canterbury— Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers) July 26, 2015 Lovers of the film A Canterbury Tale will recognise the reference. The action of the film is set in motion when Sergeant John Sweet (US Army) mistakenly gets off his train at the station before the city. Shortly afterwards the Canterbury train arrived, I caught ...
Why I think it would be so difficult to make happen (but think it's still worth considering). The notion of an electoral pact between Labour and the Liberal Democrats is being discussed more widely than at any time since the Blair-Ashdown 'project'. Admittedly that doesn't mean it's being that widely discussed. There have been some [...]
Embed from Getty Images Lord Bonkers writes exclusively for Liberal England: "We always decorate the domestic staff for Christmas."
On 23 December this press release was posted on the Network Rail website: A level crossing in Leicestershire which was closed earlier this year due to safety concerns is to be replaced by a new footbridge. Little Bowden foot crossing was closed back in August after a risk assessment determined that the amount of time people were asked to stand at the red light varied too much for it to be safe. Train movements in the area meant that on some occasions the red light would be triggered by an approaching train which would then reverse into a nearby siding ...
Thanks to everyone who dropped by this website this year. There have been 68,000 page views in the last 12 months. I'm going to do some maintenance on the site layout and navigation before my existing WordPress contract runs out in the New Year. I might adopt a new theme (page layout). I hope to... Continue reading It's time to upgrade my website so apologies if there is a bit of disruption →
Sat 26th
14:00
LibLink: Catherine Bearder: There will be no 12 days of Christmas if we lose the turtle dove
This year the turtle dove officially became an endangered species. Psssionate conservationist Catherine Bearder MEP, who's been made the dove's species champion by the RSPB, has written tot the Guardian about what we stand to lose: Hunting is affecting turtle dove populations across their European breeding grounds. Every spring, hunters in Malta shoot and trap thousands of migratory birds as they fly over the island. Malta is now the only country in the EU that allows spring hunting of turtle doves. EU conservation laws ban the killing of endangered birds, but Malta still has a derogation to do so during ...
The 2015 BSFA Awards (awarded at next year's Eastercon, Mancunicon in Manchester) have taken an innovative step. Individual BSFA members and Eastercon members can nominate anything in each of the four categories up to 31 December; these nominations collectively will form long lists for each category, which voters will then cull down to shortlists of five in the month of January. Nominations so far are visible here, though it's not indicated when the list was last updated. This was one of the procedures that was discussed as a possible fix for the Hugo Awards; I wasn't convinced that they would ...
[IMG: Dovers Brook where Sefton Lane becomes Bridges Lane - The houses were about to be inundated.] Dovers Brook where Sefton Lane becomes Bridges Lane – The houses were about to be inundated. Maghull & Lydiate have today been suffering from flooding following the torrential rain that has been hitting northern England recently. The following photos document the scene across the joint communities between 11 am and noon today:- [IMG: Hall Lane, Maghull] Hall Lane, Maghull [IMG: Hall Lane, Maghull with a Merseyside Fire & Rescue worker clearing debris from Whinney Brook.] Hall Lane, Maghull with a Merseyside Fire & ...
Last week the Government's appalling Immigration Bill was debated in the Lords. Liberal Democrat peers made some cracking speeches opposing it. As it's Christmas, we thought we'd publish them all in full over the next few days, beginning with Roger Roberts. Roger's record on standing up for the vulnerable people caught up in our immigration system is fantastic. Here he does it again: My Lords, it has been a heart-warming month in a way. We saw refugees from Syria being welcomed to the Isle of Bute, and I am proud of some Canadian connections when we hear that Justin Trudeau ...
I've fallen a bit behind with bookblogging again, so here's the start of an attempt to catch up before the end of the month/year. For the last few years, I've gradually and systematically working through the published Doctor Who novels; I had a lapse in writing them up at the height of Clarke Award concentration last year, but kept on reading. This month, as usual, I read four of them. Instruments of Darkness, by Gary Russell (2001) I've been reading the Virgin Missing Adventures, the BBC Past Doctor Adventures and the Telos novellas in internal chronological order; but actually finished ...
It is boxing day and, as is traditional up to 300 hunts featuring approximately 250,000 riders and supporters will be gathering around the UK. However, none of them will be able to legally indulge in the traditional pastime of setting a pack of hounds onto a helpless fox, and watch as the dogs rip their prey to pieces. That is because of a law, passed in 2005, which banned hunting with dogs. The Tories came into power determined to change all that, however, as today's Guardian reports that is becoming more and more problematic for them. The paper says that ...
[IMG: Whale breaking the surface. CC0 Public Domain] Published in 1968, Arthur C. Clarke's The Deep Range has aged well for its futuristic setting is under the Earth's oceans. That is a location into which humanity has extended its reach only a little since 1968, leaving what was futuristic in then still feeling futuristic now, even though Arthur C. Clarke – despite his legendary predictive power in other works – failed to see how miniaturisation and the improvement of communications would progress. [IMG: The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke - book cover] A sequence of long short stories, The ...
Sat 26th
10:00Help us find the Liberal Democrat stars of 2015 - starting with Rosie Farron, Janet Rennie and Richa...
For the last couple of years, around this time, we've asked you to name your Liberal Democrat Stars of the year. Little did we know that in 2013, what we thought might be an interesting comments thread for a day or two would turn into a six part Liberal Democrat Roll of Honour with some really lovely tributes to some fabulous people. This year has been the worst time ever to be a Liberal Democrat, I'm not going to lie about that. What's kept me going, though, is the camaraderie, inspiration and sheer dedication of so many people in this ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35061511 A sad reflection on our negative thinking – the BBC Magazine web site has the story. [IMG: _87261827_apt-colour] Was it a lack of confidence in our own ability, was it the press wot dun it in, was it Tory prejudice against anything in the public sector? The irony is that when tilting high speed trains had been perfected we bought, what we had invented, from other counties because we had ditched our vision that could have brought jobs and money into the UK.
What do we know about this former Maghull Councillor who had both a Youth Centre (now sadly closed and about to be demolished and replaced by a Netto store) and a road named after him? I ask as his name has popped up twice in the last week or so. Firstly, a query came my way with regard to a dress that his wife Jane wore and which I am told is presently displayed in the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight. Secondly, I have been asked whether I know any detail about his connection with the former Stafford-Moreton ...
A Public meeting will be held at Ince Blundell Village Hall on Monday 4th January 2016 at 20.00hrs in relation to the recent planning application for wind turbines in the Lower Alt area by Coriolis.
Dave Prentis, the current general secretary of Unison, is being faced with a threat to his leadership by three candidates – all of them well to the left of him politically. Although the coverage of this has been minimal in the national press (The Guardian covered it, that's about it), it is major news – because it tells us a lot about the future of trade unionism. Dave is a pretty left-wing guy. He was one of the more vocal backers of Corbyn during the Labour leadership contest, and he has a good history in sabre ratting anti-austerity speeches. So ...
"Nicholas was..." Neil Gaiman's short story, illustrated by Chris Riddell (tags: sf christmas ) Fixion A Christmas gift for physicists: the particle that fixes everything. (tags: science funny ) Where To Say 'Merry Christmas' vs. 'Happy Holidays' @fivethirtyeight maps it out. (tags: uspolitics christmas )
The Walesonline website reports that the Labour Party has effectively put its Cardiff council group into "special measures" because of a bitter split between two finely-balanced rival factions. Councillor Ralph Cook, a former Labour group leader who is currently suspended, has told the paper that: "The group is in complete chaos. Welsh Labour won't admit putting it into special measures, but that is effectively what they have done. "It's deeply embarrassing for the party to have its council group in the capital city so split, and they want to make sure it is properly monitored." According to Coun Cook, three ...
