Copyright © Dennis Calow Havelock Street runs beside Leicester Royal Infirmary. This photograph was taken in 1969 just before the pub disappeared to allow the expansion of the hospital.
Earlier this evening, after a council committee meeting, I attended a very informative meeting at Harris Academy of members from both Harris Academy and Menzieshill High Parent Councils. New Harris Academy Head Teacher, Barry Millar, gave an overview of his plans for the school and his approach, as the school prepares to move later this year into its new facilities back in Perth Road and welcomes the Menzieshill High community into Harris in August. Barry gave a very impressive presentation and has a clear vision for taking the school and its pupils forward with some new initiatives including a regular ...
I've had a somewhat frustrating day at the office. And, given how it started, that wasn't a phrase I might have expected to type within twelve hours. But, you ask, why? It has been a trying year in some ways, doing a job that, in truth, I might not be entirely suited to. Don't get me wrong, I can do it, and perform at an acceptable level in the process. But, perhaps, it isn't the most effective use of my skill set, and it runs somewhat contrary to my view of the world (a mostly optimistic one). That's how life ...
The first segment of this evening's Inside Out for the East Midlands concerned the allegations against Lord Janner. I don't think it told us anything new, but it did remind us how longstanding the concerns about him were and how many chances to prosecute him were missed. Anyway, well done to the BBC for showing it. The other segments include dirty food outlets in Leicester and the threat to the historic mills at Belper.
Embed from Getty Images Alan Rickman's sad death last week revealed that his brother Michael is a member of Harborough District Council. The Leicester Mercury has published a short article, quoting his tweets, where he thanks fans for their kind messages and says simply and movingly "I am broken." Michael Rickman is the Conservative member for the Nevill ward, which includes the villages around Hallaton and Medbourne. It is named after Nevill Holt, which most literary theorists now believe to be the inspiration for Bonkers Hall. Back in the 1980s the SDP's only county councillor in Leicestershire was the brother ...
While I was living in Norway in the 1990s, new immigrants were expected to fully integrate with Norwegian society. Unlike Britain, where this is expected to happen by some process of osmosis, the Norwegians supplied new immigrants with several years worth of language and cultural lessons. Once the course was complete, the final exams, the results of which graded one's language ability, also impacted on the jobs open to the immigrant. For instance, only those with the highest scores would be allowed to work as medics and nurses. Naturally, this process was open to all resident foreigners, no matter their ...
From the great theatrical showman in Las Vegas to the street-hustlers on trestle tables asking tourists to watch the cups; misdirection, the foremost requirement of magic, is... Read more "The Greatest Show On Earth"
Embed from Getty Images From the great theatrical showman in Las Vegas to the street-hustlers on trestle tables asking tourists to watch the cups; misdirection, the foremost requirement of magic, is a deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another. No matter in what forum they perform, from street magicians to TV illusionists, magicians have the ability to use their skills to create something out of nothing, of reordering the universe to defy the rules of logic before our very eyes - and who knew that the ...
Mon 18th
18:06
Lib Dems press to extend Freedom of Information to charities, Royal household and companies with pub...
[IMG: Foot guards in ceremonial dress at Buckingham Palace] Ministers are to be urged to strengthen Freedom of Information laws and extend them to charities, private companies and the Royal household. Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake is to table a proposed law change which would prevent ministers from overruling decisions by the Information Commissioner and Information Tribunal. His plans would also stop the House of Commons Speaker from vetoing FoI requests without a public interest test being applied. It comes after John Bercow invoked a controversial loophole in the FoI Act to withhold material, in response to a request by ...
One of the things that I said I would never do is buy a Fitbit. Well, yesterday, I did (a Fitbit surge, seeing as you didn't ask) and it arrived this evening. For posterity, here's a record of my first short walk wearing it. Are there things that you said you'd never do and have done – or am I ...
Next in sequence of the Virgin Bernice Summerfield novels, this time featuring a voyage by sea with an alien species whose life cycle and religious beliefs are worked out in interesting detail, of course largely driving the plot. I thought this was an above average book in this series, with convincing characters among both the humans and non-humans and a compassionate take on the conflict between them. I am struck, though, that the standard mode of a Bernice Sumemrfield novel seems to involve her being sent on mission rather than staying at home. My memory of the audios is that ...
Some years ago, I was commissioned to write an article about the future of food by the Environment Agency, since I had written a series of these fictional glimpses before. For some reason, that I now forget, I chose a future based on a kind of Lion-Witch-Wardrobe kind of world, where there was only one company that sold us everything. I called it TescoVirgin plc. This turned out to be too controversial for my employers. It was naive of me to think otherwise, but I had enjoyed writing it. I think of that article, which has been published in my ...
[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] The Liberal Democrats got off to a successful start to the year in local by-elections, as the party won the first principal council by-election of 2016 where the party has fielded a candidate. In last Thursday's only contest, the Liberal Democrats in Cornwall (UA), comfortably won the election in Launceston Central ward. Despite a vote share decrease of 7.9% from 2013, Gemma Massey polled an impressive 63% of the vote to win ahead of the Conservatives with a 289 vote majority. In addition, the party also won in Central ward on Launceston Town Council. ...
Watch the latest video from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign: This year, you'll get to vote on whether Britain remains part of the EU. This important film shows what's at stake – and why your vote will decide your family's future. If you'd like to know more about the wider topic, see my other European referendum posts, and in particular Nick Clegg's demolition of the anti-EU case.
[IMG: Shirley Williams and Joe Stirling 8th April 2015] Shirley Williams and Joe Stirling As a member and activist of Norwich North Liberal Democrats, I am delighted to share the news that on 5th January, Pen and Sword Books published my debut biography Escaping Hitler: A Jewish Boy's Quest for Freedom and His Future. The book tells the true story of Joe Stirling, Kindertransport refugee, pioneering travel agent, leading member of Lions International and past Sheriff of Norwich. During my four years of research for this book, one afternoon Joe told me how, as a Labour Party agent for Central ...
I was sorry to learn that Colin Vearncombe, a.k.a Black, was seriously injured in a road accident last week. I was only playing a couple of his songs that day. Not necessarily widely known, his brand of melancholy was unique for its time. I wish him a speedy recovery.
We are very sad to have to inform you that Councillor Lenny Grice died last Sunday (17 January 2016). Councillor Grice (aged 63) was a Liberal Democrat councillor representing the Cheadle Hulme South ward on Stockport Council. The Leader of Stockport Council, Councillor Sue Derbyshire, said: "I am deeply sorry to hear about the death of Councillor Grice. He was passionate about finding ways to improve lives in his community, full of ideas about how things could be done differently and always looking ahead. His death will be a huge loss to his many friends and colleagues in the Council ...
News release from Merseytravel [IMG: Merseytravel logo] Essential resurfacing works starts at Queen Square bus station Essential resurfacing work at Queen Square bus station will start on Sunday 24 January and is due to last for about 10 weeks. To minimise disruption to passengers and local businesses, the improvement work will be carried out in two phases and contractors will be working seven days a week to keep the closure period as short as possible. Phase one (about five weeks) will involve the closure of the inbound carriageway, affecting the Royal Court alighting stop and stands 9 - 12. Most ...
Embed from Getty Images David Cameron has announced a £20 million fund for English language classes for Muslim women, claiming that 22% of Muslim women in the UK do not speak English. That figure of 22% was challenged on the BBC Today programme by Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent with the Metropolitan Police, who claims that the figure should be nearer 6%. Help with learning English is the least the Government can do to help migrants settle down, live a full life in the UK and contribute to the local community. That is why in the Coalition the Lib ...
In the last few days Jeremy Corbyn has been outlining some of his more radical policies for the Labour party. These have included: – "Pay ratios", so that the CEO of a company can only earn a maximum of a certain arbitrary multiplier of the lowest paid employees in the company. – A ban on [...]
Mon 18th
13:41
Maghull – Beechcroft retirement flats – To be sandwiched between two supermarkets and ot...
[IMG: Beechcroft Retirement Flats] Beechcroft Retirement Flats If plans submitted to Sefton Council to build on the former Maghull Library and Stafford Moreton Youth Club sites are approved and the building actually goes ahead the residents of Beechcroft will have a supermarket on either side of them i.e. Morrisons and the yet to be approved/built Netto store. I say actually goes ahead as plans to develop Maghull's shopping centre always seem to fall by the way side for some odd reason. [IMG: index] [IMG: Image029] Remember the former owners of the Square shopping Centre getting planning permission to redevelop the ...
As an organisation, we're doing pretty poorly in accommodating the diversity of our membership - that much should be obvious. A disproportionate number of men stand for elected positions within Liberal Youth. Worse still is the number of non-white and disabled candidates putting themselves forward, not to mention the representation of young and student parents [...]
Jeremy Corbyn's latest idea to build the Trident submarines without the warheads has rightly attracted derision from across the political spectrum. He has managed to get himself into this hole because he is trying to keep the Trade Unions happy by protecting defence jobs whilst at the same time keeping to his unilateralist principles. Instead he just looks silly. The Times records one Labour MP's reaction: Jamie Reed, Labour MP for Copeland, mocked the proposal, tweeting: "Here's your new car, Sir . . . 'Hang on . . .' Yes? 'It's got wheels . . .' Sir? 'I didn't want ...
Embed from Getty Images Now that the Anglican Communion has ruled that the US Episcopalian Church will not be able to take part in its decision making for three years' following their support for same sex marriage and their appointment of a gay bishop in 2003, it is time for us to put Church of England disestablishment back on the agenda. Like many in the party, I had misgivings about Tim Farron's Christian faith when he was elected leader. As a liberal Christian who campaigns for same sex marriage within church, I perceived Tim to be a conservative Christian that ...
I do not know if Jeremy Corbyn subscribes 100% to Marxism as a political agenda. He has certainly praised Karl Marx and suggested that there is much that can be learned from his writings. Even if Mr. Corbyn is only an admirer, rather than an adherent, of Marxism, it opens up a myriad of questions. For whether Mr. Corbyn himself is a Marxist or not, many key players in his emerging leadership team unquestionably are Marxist adherents. Seamus Milne has made statements, for example, which not only advocate Marxism, but the narrow revolutionary offshoot of Marx, Marxism-Leninism. He has made ...
Embed from Getty Images Recently Tim Farron responded to Jeremy Corbyn's economic strategy by saying "Unfortunately Corbyn's anti-business policies will ensure that no company has the budget to pay the wages their employees deserve". Now this is absolutely true and it's very much Tim Farron's approach to Corbyn and Labour at the moment. But it's also absolutely the wrong approach to take. The thing is, the public already thinks Labour aren't economically competent and the Tories keep on ramming home that message. But since the public think that the Tories are economically competent then any attacks we make on Labour's ...
We were already expecting that South Glos Council would have to make significant cuts in the coming year but the news from the Conservative government was even worse than had been planned for. The council will be getting less money than expected from the Government to provide services. The council can now charge a levy of up to 2% towards rising social care costs, on top of the up to 1.99% council tax rise allowed without a referendum. Even if council tax did go up by 3.99% including the social care levy, there is likely to be a shortfall in ...
From Tim Ross's excellent Why the Tories Won: [IMG: Extract from Why the Tories Won by Tim Ross] You can find that database of polling results since 1943 for voting intention here.
The details of the consultation can be found here: Final Letter
Over the past couple of years, the City Council has consulted over the future of the Glenagnes Street council lock-ups (the ones at the east end of the street - see right). These have been approximately 50% unoccupied over a long period. Given the lack of demand and after an attempt to advertise the empty lock-ups for rent, the Housing Committee took the decision to demolish them (after attempting to find alternative lock-up provision for the sitting lock-up tenants). The Neighbourhood Services Department (formerly Housing) has now written to all adjacent residents in the area as follows : "Contractors are ...
Mon 18th
08:26
There is a huge difference between Keynesianism and socialism that many on the left fail to comprehe...
I'm getting very tired of reading articles in left leaning outlets in which Keynesianism and socialism are either conflated or worse, mixed together in a big bowl of philosophical mush. The reason for my annoyance in this regard is simple: the two are incompatible. Explaining the theories of John Maynard Keynes in any depth would be both time consuming and start a whole bunch of arguments, so instead I'm going to attempt to summarise Keynesianism succinctly in terms few people will (hopefully) complain about (here I go; wish me luck): the private sector does lots of things very well, but ...
Note from the District Council A public consultation on the draft Strategic Local Plan (SLP) for St Albans District has opened and will run for six weeks. Once formally agreed and adopted, the final plan will form a blueprint for development in the District over the next two decades. A consultation in October and November [...]
Don't be that dude: Handy tips for the male academic Why beards are still on fleek in 2016 - "on fleek"?! Lordy. Time to burn? The Internet Archive just added 2300 MS-DOS Games you can play for free Some proper classics in there too Liverpool Uni medical soc whines "but WHY can't we be sexist arseholes AND hold onto enormous privilege?!?!" Here's the thing, lads. You were given repeated warnings and chances to change. You didn't. Suck it up. Note to Journalists: London is not Britain - in which Andrew is Right. As usual. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The Most-Edited Wikipedia Pages Over The Last 15 Years An odd corner of the Zeitgeist. (tags: wikipedia ) Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee I'm going to have to find a way of going to this. (tags: magic historyofscience ) The business case for helping refugees - FT.com What the private sector should do. (tags: migration ) Democratic and Republican candidates sound like they're running for president of different countries No shared agenda. (tags: uspolitics )
Figures published by the Federation of Small Business showing that confidence among small businesses in Wales has fallen back into negative territory for the first time in almost two years leaves the Welsh Government looking complacent and out of ideas.. The fall in confidence in Wales is at odds with the wider UK picture, with UK figures released today by FSB showing a marginal increase on the previous quarter. The latest FSB Wales Voice of Small Business Index shows that in the final quarter of 2015 confidence among FSB members fell three points to -1.3. It is a huge concern ...
