Correction to Monday's blog: it was not a Hickman Line, but a PICC line (periphally inserted central catheter) which was yesterday put into Eric's arm. Roughly the same function as the Hickmann, but in the arm, rather than the chest. Eric was taken down to Radiology dept today, in preparation for his re-stenting, but brought back again as an emergency case came in ahead of him. They will try to book him in again tomorrow, or possibly Thursday.. Eric was cheerful, without a fever, and ate some dinner this evening. Junior doctors and their supporters were demonstrating outside King's today. ...
The great man told us in an interview with Jeremy Paxman in 1999...
HT: AV ClubFiled under: Uncategorized Tagged: Calvin & Hobbes, Cartoons, Cinema, Film, movies, Sci-fi, Star Wars: the Force Awakens
Well, that's a rather unexpected frame of reference: [IMG: Cameron on Syrian rebels] I guess it's a backhanded compliment that people at Liberal Democrat conference is taken as exemplar of nice people by David Cameron. The more serious point, however, is that the heart of David Cameron's point is right: if you want to succeed at something you often have to work with people who you don't fully agree with you. All the more so if you are liberal who believes in tolerance and diversity because that includes being happy with a world in which there are people who don't ...
Embed from Getty Images Lenny Harper, formally a senior police office on the island, has been giving evidence to the inquiry into the care system in Jersey. BBC News has a report of his evidence. On the policing of Jersey he said: Lenny Harper, who was appointed deputy chief officer of the force in 2003, told the inquiry there were approaching a dozen suspects who had been arrested and files were presented to the Law Officers Department but they were not charged by the attorney general. He said the police took possession of computers senior members of the IT Department ...
Embed from Getty Images I remember at a conference a few years ago attending a session on the future of the profession. The panel turned out to consist of four middle-aged men in suits, Rather to my surprise, the wrongness of this hit me with the sort of force that hearing racist language did when I was a teenager. Yes, I have had my consciousnesses raised. Because of this I wrote some a couple of year ago that I am now attracted to the idea of all-women shortlists. But I see two problems with the proposals to be discussed at ...
Peter Kelner, interviewed in a podcast, looks at how Labour MPs might depose Jeremy Corbyn - something they will have to do if the party is to stand any chance at the next election. Suddenly Basic Income is fashionable. Tom Streithorst asks if it could work. April Peavey remembers when Pierre Boulez met Frank Zappa. "Replacing the aggressive Irishmen in pubs and stoned out drug dealers, the countryside instead provides aggressive farmers and 'country folk' who have no wish to deal with 'London types'." Adam Scovell points out the importance of landscape in Withnail and I. The Cottonopolis has some ...
Nick Rushton, the Conservative leader of Leicestershire County Council, has just issued the following statement: "My Twitter account was hacked by someone with malicious intent. Whoever has done this changed my password, as I was unable to log onto it for a considerable period of time. I have reset my account and passwords. I take this kind of issue very seriously and have reported it to the police."It comes after a Guido Fawkes post that showed Nick Rushton's Twitter account was following a number of "risque" accounts. You can see some of them in the image above, which I have ...
Tue 12th
18:42
Farron bids to kill off 'dog whistle' law forcing landlords to check immigration status of tenants
The Liberal Democrats are trying to kill off the government's "right to rent" plans which force landlords to assess the visa status of migrant tenants and which, critics claim, will fuel racism akin to the dark days of "no dogs, no blacks, no Irish" signs on doors... "These plans are trying to turn landlords into free labour for the immigration service," said Lib Dem leader Tim Farron. "But more than that it is the worst kind of ineffectual, dog whistle politics that this government has become synonymous with. The Liberal Democrats in both the House of Commons and Lords have ...
Embed from Getty Images It's a god-awful small affair To the girl with the mousy hair So the beginning words of "Life on Mars" emerged from a slightly tinny, small record player in the fourth form common room of my school. A classmate from Plymouth had bought the single. It was about the only record we had between us. We played it almost continuously. We always left it on for the studio phone ringing and the bit of chat at the end. But her mummy is yelling "No" And her daddy has told her to go That was in 1973. ...
A collection of short stories by the great Finnish writer, a surprising number of which are about psychological manipulation and trauma - something I picked up also in her novel, The True Deceiver; the most memorable here is "The Woman Who Borrowed Memories", itself the title of another collection, whose central character returns to visit an old friend to find that her past has been ruthlessly appropriated. There are other lovely pieces too, the opening story, "An Eightieth Birthday" about a young woman taking her new-ish boyfriend to a family party, and the heartbreaking "Correspondence", supposedly letters to Jansson from ...
Embed from Getty Images The Dutch people has been commiserating with the British people being flooded, yet again, this past year. Apart from the many times the North Sea inundated the Netherlands (the last time, 1953, inspired the Delta Works – a massive reconstruction and improvement program of our coastal defences, completed in the 1980s), we suffered massive river floodings in the 1990s from the Rhine (and its branch the Waal past the big city of Nijmegen) and Meuse rivers after heavy rainfall in the Ardennes, Alps and other highlands. In 1995 these forced a big evacuation in the heart ...
Yesterday, Lorely Burt, Cathy Bakewell, Ben Stoneham, Barbara Janke, Chris Rennard and I all spoke on the Government's Trade Union Bill. As our BIS spokesperson, Lorely gave an excellent run down of the issues, and of the Liberal Democrat approach to them, pointing out the flaws in the parts of the Bill which deal with strike action. She argued the measures in the Bill will entrench positions on either side of an industrial dispute, and take workers more frequently and quickly down the path to industrial action as a result. In those terms the Bill fails in its own objectives. ...
[IMG: Well used budget smart phone] Kent Trading Standards have received a number of reports of scam phone calls from people claiming to be from Kent County Council, enquiring about a recent accident you, or a member of your family has had. One of the telephone number's used to make these calls was 00209 875462. Please be aware that these calls are NOT being made by Kent County Council and that some scammers may use caller ID spoofing equipment to make the call appear legitimate. Kent Trading Standards are concerned that residents may be asked for payment or information such ...
Christmas is barely over and already the shops are stocking up on Easter Eggs. However, for Cadbury's Easter may already be turning sour as the Telegraph reports that they have suffered multi-million pound losses after sparking storm of protest across Britain by replacing Dairy Milk in recipe with cheaper chocolate. US Owner, Mondelez is fighting back and insists that the recipe change did not have an impact: Marketing manager Claire Low told The Grocer: "The fundamentals of Cadbury Creme Egg remain exactly the same. It's simply not the case that Creme Egg has always been made with Cadbury Dairy Milk." ...
Tue 12th
14:40
Want to go to Spring conference and can't afford it? Apply to Conference Access Fund by Friday
[IMG: 2015 policy pitch autumn conference by Paul Walter] Our Spring Conference in York between 11-13 March is the first to be held under the new One Member One Vote rules. That means that every single party member could have a say as we make our policies. I say COULD, because not every member can afford to go. Travel, accommodation and childcare costs put going to conference beyond the reach of many members. This time, however, people can apply for a grant from the Conference Access Fund: We have established a Conference Access Fund to improve accessibility for members attending ...
Today's newspapers are packed with thousands of words paying tribute to David Bowie. I grew up with his music and it always spoke for itself. So here is the original video for Space Oddity:
Rodford Way and the junctions along it have seen a succession of accidents over the years, and following pressure from local councillors (see our previous blog post) South Glos Council have drawn up proposals for improvements: Shire Way / Sundridge Park junction - There have been many vehicle accidents here because drivers aren't certain who has priority. It is proposed to put some "Give Way" markings in the central crossover areas to make this clear. Shire Way junction - a number of cyclists have been injured here, possibly because drivers pulling out of Shire Way are too busy trying to ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] A joint letter is below from Lib Dem LGA Vice President Catherine Bearder and others echoing Leader of the LGA Liberal Democrat group Gerald Vernon-Jackson's call for LGA support for a government bid to the EU Solidarity fund to help support those communities affected by the recent floods: Dear Lord Porter, As LGA Vice-Presidents, we [...]
Liberal Youth's series of #WinningHere Action Days are back after a post-election hiatus, kicking off in Edinburgh ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in May. The Action Weekend will be from the 6th-7th February with hostel accommodation provided – possibly free for those who confirm attendance before the 18th January - will be in the [...]
Embed from Getty Images It's a god-awful small affair To the girl with the mousy hair So the beginning words of "Life on Mars" emerged from a slightly tinny, small record player in the fourth form common room of my school. A classmate from Plymouth had bought the single. It was about the only record we had between us. We played it almost continuously. We always left it on for the studio phone ringing and the bit of chat at the end. But her mummy is yelling "No" And her daddy has told her to go That was in 1973. ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above. [IMG: Image029] I don't know about you but if you shop in Morrisons you will know how they have cut back the Match and More points scheme to such an extent that it is hardly worth the bother now. My guess is they started it being too generous and now it's too mean. Not good customer relations in my book.
The Liverpool Echo has the story of last night's 10pm loud bang which was heard all over Bootle – see link above
[IMG: Saturday 7th Feb is the next Visit My Mosque day] Visit My Mosque is an annual initiative lead by the Muslim Council of Britain all over the UK and will take place this year on Sunday 7th February. It provides an opportunity for members of the community to explore their local places of worship and engage with the staff and congregation. This event is worth [...]
[IMG: Maghull Station in the 1970's] Click on the photo to enlarge it. I scanned this from a print that generous friends presented to me at Christmas. Maghull's M4 and M5 circular buses are shown awaiting passengers in the interchange area of of Maghull Station. Note they are were termed 'Road/Rail Link' buses back then on the destination blinds. Since then of course the interchange area has been redeveloped although for bus users and even car drivers dropping people off probably not for the better. Now the buses sit where cars are supposed to pick up and drop of friends ...
The Brexit polls are narrowing. It's not the first time they've done that, but it may be the last. Support for staying in the EU peaked in the 90s and has been in steady decline since, but neither the In nor the Out campaigns have a clear lead. It is obvious that the vote will [...]
This morning Nick Clegg launched a cross-party initiative to examine the causes and effects of inequality in education at primary and secondary schools in England and Wales. We know this is a topic close to Nick's heart and a core theme of the Liberal Democrats' contribution to the coalition government through the Pupil Premium and free school meals for infants. [IMG: Nick Clegg Q&A 12] This follows initial research by the Social Market Foundation revealing regional disparities compounding the known socio-economic disparities, with London doing best and Yorkshire, tragically, doing worst. Sheffield was recently reprimanded by Ofsted over primary school ...
I have been reading the great unread classic autobiography of Victorian and Edwardian life, Frank Harris' My Life and Loves. It is vast and sprawling, part pornography, part political memoir, part self-help manual. I found myself reading it when I was researching my new book Scandal, about the strange story of why homosexuality was criminalised in 1885, and Harris knew many of the people involved. It is bizarre and hard to put down (and not really because of the pornography, I assure you). The trouble is that Harris is widely believed to have been a liar, and his first biographer ...
According to the 2011 census for Peterborough, there were nearly 5,000 local citizens who were aged between 16 and 17 years old. I imagine the number is now OVER the 5k mark? Many local 16 – 17 year olds are likely to still be in education, but may be working full time, possibly part time, [...]
During the almost seven years of Barack Obama's presidency of the United States of America, various people on the right of American politics have repeatedly tried to assert that he isn't fit for office because he was, according to them, not born in the US but rather in Kenya. This has to do with a portion of the constitution stipulating that, according to them (and we'll come onto the confusion around this in a bit), you have to be born in America in order to be able to become president. You may have missed this, by the way, given the ...
OK, so we're back to the politics. What prompted this post was a comment I saw elsewhere about the current common use of the word 'Liberal' with reference to the 'Liberal Democrats', leading on to the relative balance or emphasis that is sometimes used between the original formative parts of the Lib Dems as a party. Briefly, for those (few, I'm sure) who don't know, the party was formed as a result of the merger between the former allies of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 1980s. That party was initially known as the 'Social ...
The House of Lords considered the Government's Trade Union Bill yesterday. It briefly made the headlines because a report was released suggesting that the Labour Party would lose £6 million in annual funding as a result. Coverage was quickly buried by news of David Bowie's death. At least we shouldn't accuse the Conservatives of orchestrating that. Because they didn't need to. There has been little public interest in this legislation, which has been quietly making its way through the legislative process since last July. That is remarkable because it is politically tendentious, and could change the political balance profoundly. Instead ...
Embed from Getty Images This week, we are catching up on Lib Dem Lords' maiden speeches.Today, we have Don Foster on health. My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Crisp. I am grateful for this opportunity to make my maiden speech and, of course, for the privilege of joining your Lordships' House. I hope I will be able to make a useful contribution. I am also grateful for the generous welcome I have received from all sides of the House, and for the patient support and help from noble Lords—not least my noble friend Lady Walmsley—and from the ...
[IMG: PAFB] Since I wrote about the possibility of 'progressive' electoral alliances last week, both James King and Andrew Hickey have explained why they think they wouldn't work, and whoever is behind the Progressive Alliance UK campaign has taken to Facebook to tell us off for being negative. Just for the record, I don't think whoever's behind the Progressive Alliance UK are "a group of party big whigs and donors" and I'm not sure where that impression came from. If anything, my reasoning that the project isn't going to achieve much is precisely because the people pushing it aren't at ...
[IMG: Houses of Parliament. Photo courtesy of - some rights reserved] Radical measures to improve the party's horrendous gender imbalance in the House of Commons are being prepared for debate at the York Liberal Democrat spring conference coming in up in March. Tim Farron sets out an impressive plan for improving Lib Dem diversityPut together and that's an ambitious package Tim Farron has launched - which it needs to be, given the scale of the task. more It is part of a push by both party president Sal Brinton and Lib Dem party leader Tim Farron to turn the ...
Tim Farron has commented on today's strike over shift patterns, patient safety and pay. Tomorrow's strike is the result of the Government's serious mismanagement of negotiations with junior doctors. Healthcare professionals, patients and the public have been let down. Throughout this process, the Government seems to have focused more on political point scoring than engaging with junior doctors in a respectful way which recognises that they are dedicated public servants, who work extremely hard, caring for people in need. The Government must urgently resume talks with the BMA and stop their megaphone diplomacy. Our NHS and everyone who relies on ...
I was always a little behind the curve when it came to David Bowie. As a child his androgynous, angular face, with its dilated eye, appearing on Top of the Pops, seemed a door into a dangerous and uncomfortable world- even the Laughing Gnome, presumably more my style at the time, was somehow... creepy. At school there were those who fell very much under his spell, but Christiane F helped to lead some of my fellow pupils down a very dangerous road of hard drug use. The contrast between small town tedium and the dark glamour of West-Berlin was too ...
The next Mills Observatory Planetarium Shows take place on Friday 22nd January at the Observatory - four timings to choose from - 7pm, 7.45pm, 8.30pm and 9.15pm. Take a tour of the night sky in the Observatory's Planetarium Room and learn about constellations, asteroids and galaxies. Booking essential on 435967 (with a nominal entry charge of just £1 Adults, 50p Children) You can also download the Mills Observatory Winter Events Programme 2015/16 here.
Over the New Year a rumour went around - even reported in the Manchester Evening News - that Stockport Council had signed a deal that would mean stray dogs being taken to Liverpool and owners would have to collect them from there. The Lib Dem team have investigated and we're happy to report that it's untrue. Under the new contract, strays will be returned to their owners wherever possible. Here's what the Council says: Following a procurement process involving all AGMA local authorities apart from Wigan Council, the contract for the kennelling of stray dogs was awarded to Animal Wardens ...
[IMG: Stockport bins] Thank you to everyone who has helped Stockport stay as one of the greenest boroughs in the country. Last year, Stockport residents recycled more than 60% of our household waste, putting us in the top 2% across England and Wales. We can do even better though: here are five green resolutions for 2016 Resolve to begin recycling if you don't already. You can start small. Try putting aside your plastic bottles for your brown bin. Plastic bottles can take up to 500 years to decompose if they're not recycled! Remember the only plastic we can recycle is ...
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the latest meeting of the committee to progress the excellent Discovery Walk proposal. As I have previously mentioned, Discovery Walk will comprise of bronze plaques set into the paved area of Slessor Square, in the heart of the city's waterfront development and it will celebrate the contributions of Dundee people who have contributed to science and society in a highly visible and permanent way. At the latest meeting, we 'proofed' several of the plaques that tell the fascinating stories behind these individuals and their discoveries and inventions. The plaques look superb - a ...
Happy New Year! This week I've had the pleasure of spending three days at the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology annual conference, held at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. It's the first time that I've attended and it was fascinating to listen to the breadth of the research being presented. It was also good to meet ...
There's been a lot of talk recently about how what is needed to defeat the Tories is a "progressive alliance", between Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, the SNP, and presumably the Monster Raving Loony Party and anyone else who ... Continue reading →
Fifty years of David Bowie's style, in one gif As someone on twitter said, my friends list is united in grief today berate my friends list is full of people who are the odd one out, and he was the best odd one out of us all. This is the best Bowie tribute. Bi Community News on Bowie BBC - Remembering David Bowie - amazing selection of programmes Poor Brian keeps having to write obituaries for his mates :( [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
