January Lord Bonkers remembered the first Liberal Democrat leadership election and a zinger from Paddy Ashdown: "Beith be not proud, though some have called the Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so."I forecast that the forthcoming general election would be more boring than people expected. I badly misunderestimated the SNP surge, but was right to be sceptical about Green and Ukip advances. The Black Beast of Harborough was sighted again, this time along the canal between Laughton and Lubenham. I pondered globalisation and the death of Pigling Bland: If your goal is to produce a book that is inoffensive ...
Running through my list of books read this year, I realised I'd missed this one which I read in January. It's a collection of essays on culture and politics in early modern Ireland - more looking at the period immediately after my own focus of interest, but relevant none the less in challenging the reader to new thinking about colonial rhetoric and the political intention behind writing. There's a chapter on Spenser, of course, and another on Machiavelli; there are also several pieces on relations between Ireland and Spain, the rival imperial power. I'll come back to it some day ...
[IMG: swimming-with-sharks] I spent much of Boxing Day reading, perhaps a little belatedly, Joris Luyendijk's Swimming with Sharks: My journey into the world of the bankers. It's a book that has featured on one or two lists of books of the year. The book is based on around 200 interviews conducting between 2011-2013 with people working in the financial sector: investigative journalism informed by Luyendijk's anthropological training. A good chunk of the interviews appeared as part of Luyendijk's banking blog at the Guardian. But for the book they have been assembled into a clearer narrative. His aim was to enter ...
This time last year I did a list of my favourite films of 2014. I've decided to make that a tradition of that but with a tweek: I'm going to do two lists. I find blockbusters hard to compare with arthouse and indie films. So I'm doing a separate countdown for each.*My list of favourite [...]
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-35150037 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above Seems the Syrian people are reaping the harvest that we helped to sow last century. At the same time our Government turns its back on those with nothing who are fleeing the war that we clearly had a big hand in starting. Makes you proud (not) to be British.
Earlier this year I attended the presentation of the 24th Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize in the Irish Embassy in London. The prize itself was won by Charles Townshend for his The Republic: the fight for Irish independence 1918-1923, but the judges also gave a special award for this collection to Colette Bryce, born in Derry but now based in Scotland, to honour the memory of fellow Derry poet Seamus Heaney. It's a tremendously good collection. Bryce summons up and conveys what it was like to grow up in Derry in the 1970s and 1980s, focussing on the family home but ...
This has the Byrds' characteristic jingle-jangle sound and there turns out to be an interesting history behind it. Chestnut Mare was written by Roger McGuinn and Jacques Levy for Gene Tryp, a proposed country rock musical based on Peer Gynt. That show never materialised and the song was included on the Byrds' Untitled album. A shorter version made no. 19 in the UK singles chart early in 1971, though I am not convinced I remember hearing it from then,
Former BBC Director General Mark Thompson has told how the Liberal Democrats in coalition government secured a "different and better" settlement for the BBC. Now that the Conservatives are unmoderated, things are not so good for what many feel is the highest quality public service broadcaster in the world. The Guardian reports: Giving his his first interview about the BBC since he left in 2012, after eight years at the helm, Thompson said the broadcaster was having to pay for government policy. "It's welfare ... It's totally inappropriate to use BBC to support social transfer in this country." When George ...
Do share your reasons in the comments.
"New research from Leeds University into the impacts of permitted heather burning on upland peat bog shows that for the 20% biggest storms, the flow of water over land is higher than in areas where the moorland has not been burnt." A prophetic post from Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker back in August. A little unexpectedly, David Boyle's take on A Christmas Carol appears on Philosophy Football. Matt Crowley pays tribute to Malcolm in the Middle: "Far from the wistful nostalgia of The Wonder Years or the chummy bickering of Home Improvement, Malcolm In The Middle presents a childhood that ...
[IMG: Not a winter wonderland on Boxing Day - outside Sefton Meadows Garden Centre.] Not a winter wonderland on Boxing Day – outside Sefton Meadows Garden Centre. [IMG: A59 Northway/Dover Road/Liverpool Road South Junction.] A59 Northway/Dover Road/Liverpool Road South Junction. [IMG: The pedestrian bridge over Dovers Brook became a river itself.] The pedestrian bridge over Dovers Brook became a river itself. [IMG: Dovers Brook in full flood looking north from Sefton Lane] Dovers Brook in full flood looking north from Sefton Lane [IMG: Making waves in Sefton Lane.] Making waves in Sefton Lane. [IMG: Cop car goes for a paddle ...
2015: The Best Year in History for the Average Human Being It's not all bad news. (tags: economics war ) Give, if You Know What's Good for You Being nice does you no harm at all. (tags: psychology ) The political aftermath of financial crises: Going to extremes What happens to a country's politics after a financial crisis? (tags: politics ) The Art of Onfim: Medieval Novgorod Through the Eyes of a Child A 7-year-old boy's doodles from 800 years ago. (tags: russia archaeology )
Part of the Christmas story involves the baby Jesus and his parents fleeing for his life after Herod ordered the slaughter of the innocents. David Cameron, with all his talk on Christian values the other day, might like to reflect on that. If he did, he's be withdrawing his appalling Immigration Bill. We won't be holding our breath for that to happen. Liberal Democrat peers lined up to condemn it the other day and, over the Christmas period, we're publishing all their speeches. Sally Hamwee had some strong words, implying that it was closer to Trump than Trudeau. It's a ...
It appears that the anti-politically correct brigade have got themselves into a jam. The Home Office has a plan to update marriage certificates so that instead of just having places for the name of the father of the bride and the father of the groom, there will also be a space to put the names of the mothers of each of the partners as well. Only there have been some who see this step to modernise the marriage certificate as well, anti-modern. Because, of course, some people these days are raised by two men, thus making the space in question ...
Waste and recycling days in South Glos will change for a couple of weeks over the Christmas and New Year period. You can check changes to your collections here.
Sun 27th
08:31
Farron slams Fallon's human rights comments: "We do not win by joining terrorists in the gutter"
Strong words from Tim Farron, but the occasion warranted them. The Tories' cavalier attitude to our human rights laws has long been a worry. Now that they are in power on their own, unmoderated by Liberal Democrats, it's a problem. Those human rights laws protect all of us from the abuse of power by governments, local authorities and anyone else with significant influence over our lives. Look at this 50 page document for professionals dealing with older people and you'll see the huge array of protections that our parents and grandparents have. The Tories would dearly love to get rid ...
With Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn widely being predicted to purge his Shadow Cabinet of several right-wingers and Britain's Conservative government rapidly becoming the most intolerant and anti-progressive since the dark days of Mrs Thatcher, there is a yawning centre ground in British politics. In principle, this offers an ideal opportunity to the Liberal Democrats as [...]
Gingerbread Overlook Hotel from 'The Shining' - click through for all 29 images. It's very very good Really, humanity, gender neutral loos are the way forward. We have them in our homes FFS. How the internet lied to you in 2015 [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
It seems an eternity ago since David Cameron tried to rebrand the Conservatives as a green party, complete with a new tree logo. It is a shame that the actions have not reflected the rhetoric, so much so that he is barely pretending to be green anymore. Since the general election, the Conservatives have enacted a series of policies that ultimately dismantle much of the work on green policy that the Liberal Democrats carried out in Government. The Tory UK Government's actions in stifling the renewables sector will cost thousands of jobs, jeopardising the green energy sector's future in the ...
Blyth Town Council has meetings scheduled for:- 7th January - Finance Committee 21st January - Full Council Meeting 26th January - Events Committee 28th January - Planning and Development Committee All meetings start at 6:30 pm, and will be at Arms Evertyne House The Planning and Development Committee meeting previously scheduled for 5th January has been cancelled
