The Macabre Observer quotes the Market Harborough Advertiser of 20 November 1888: THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER.A man suspected at Market Harborough. Some excitement was caused in a certain part of Market Harborough on Friday on hearing that a man answering the description of the Whitechapel murderer had come from London that afternoon and had taken up his abode with a Mrs Green, near the British school. The police were communicated with almost immediately and a watch was set on his movements. During the evening the man went to the station (followed by officers in plain clothes) and returned with his luggage ...
A goat yesterday Thanks to a nomination from a reader, the Orlando Sentinel wins our Headline of the Day Award. Lord Bonkers adds: It is just this willingness to go the extra mile that makes the difference in a closely fought contest.
Chris Packham explains,
I was fortunate enough to be able to order a Raspberry Pi 3 on Monday morning from The Pi Hut. This was because I'd taken the day off work as holiday, because I'd been to see the brilliant Adam Hills in Birmingham the evening before. This meant that the email announcing the Pi 3's arrival was just about the first ... The post Benchmarking the Raspberry Pi 3 appeared first on ten pence piece.
I was going to do a post about the 1966 Batman film today, but I don't have the brain because of my arthritic fatigue. Instead I'm going to talk about disability, identity politics, and language use. Because that doesn't require ... Continue reading →
Whissendine windmill © Kate Jewell Good news from Rutland, where the Liberal Democrats comfortably held a seat in a council by-election in Whissendine yesterday. The result: Kevin Thomas (Lib Dems) 265 Conservative 109 Ukip 33 The Ukip candidate was Marietta King, who has twice been their general election candidate in Harborough. Her intervention took a few votes from the Conservatives, but otherwise the result was more or less unchanged from October 2014 when Sam Asplin gained the seat for the Lib Dems in another by-election. He was forced to stand down by poor health. Rather impressively, there was a 40 ...
[IMG: Best Police force] Many of you will already know that for the second year in a row Durham Constabulary has achieved the distinction of being the only force in the country to be graded as "Outstanding" by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary. Well done to the girls and boys in blue. I have to say that in this respect I have felt privileged to live in Consett as compared with friends and family who live elsewhere and tell me tales of ringing up to report a theft or damage, and who are just given a crime number over the ...
1. Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump. 2. Chris Christie sells his email list to Donald Trump's rival, Marco Rubio.
So, David Cameron accuses the SNP of being a one-party state and says the Conservatives are the people to stop them. The BBC reports: Only the Tories can challenge the SNP and prevent Scotland becoming a "one party state", David Cameron has said. In a speech to the Scottish Conservative conference, the prime minister insisted his party was the only one that could challenge the Nationalists. How he said that with a straight face, I'll never know. These comments come from the man who is doing his damnedest to stitch up the political system for himself. He blocks any attempts ...
Bristol Council's CEO has replied to my letter of 2nd February with, as expected, a less than forthcoming account of the spending of £8million of taxpayers' money on Bristol's year as European Green Capital. Despite taking a month for Ms Yates to reply only one question has been answered directly, giving a list of the [...]
So we have another instance of a large corporation deciding how much tax it's going to pay. Why does the Government let companies like Facebook, Starbucks, Amazon and Google get away with this? It's another example of where being rich and powerful gets you special treatment. The BBC reported: After heavy criticism that it was avoiding tax, the BBC can reveal that profits from the majority of Facebook's advertising revenue initiated in Britain will now be taxed in the UK. It will no longer route sales through Ireland for its largest advertisers. That includes major businesses such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, ...
Four principal council by-elections take place this week. In Rutland (UA), there was a comfortable Liberal Democrat hold in Whissendine. In the ward's second by-election in 18 months, Kevin Thomas won the seat with 65.1% of the vote and a majority of 156 ahead of the Conservatives. Liberal Democrat candidates also came agonisingly close to making gains from the [...]
I was startled to pick up from POLITICO, quoting The Standard, that according to Boris Johnson, "We had more visitors to the British Museum alone than came to the whole of Belgium" in 2015. Actually the 2015 figures have not yet been published as far as I can tell. But in "2014/15" (not clear precisely what period that is) the British Museum had 6.7 million visitors; whereas in the calendar year 2014, there were just over 17 million overnight visitors from other countries to Belgium - this figure omits day-trippers and those who stayed in private accommodation with friends or ...
Fri 4th
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A promising crop of by-election results - a gain, two near misses, a solid hold and a foot in the wa...
Last night's by-elections gave us something to smile about. Well done to the team in Blackpool who put up a candidate where we didn't have one last time. Bloomfield (Blackpool) result: LAB: 57.6% (+12.8) CON: 19.2% (-0.6) UKIP: 15.1% (-10.0) GRN: 4.1% (-4.6) LDEM: 4.0% (+4.0) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016 Seriously, it is always worth putting up a candidate to keep people in the habit of voting Lib Dem. And then there's a solid hold in Rutland: Whissendine (Rutland) result: LDEM: 65.1% (-0.7) CON: 26.8% (-7.4) UKIP: 8.1% (+8.1) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016 And ...
I trotted along to Maghull Library yesterday to hear what Highways England had to say via their consultation process about either/or significantly increasing the capacity of Dunningsbridge Road (A5036) and/or build a new road to the docks down through Rimrose Valley Country Park. [IMG: The busy A5036 thunders over the Leeds Liverpool Canal in Litherland but the oasis of Rimrose Valley Country Park sits the other side of this manic highway to Seaforth Docks.] The busy A5036 thunders over the Leeds Liverpool Canal in Litherland but the oasis of Rimrose Valley Country Park sits the other side of this manic ...
I suppose I could just have put this one in the Golden Dozen on Sunday, but it is Friday, it's the end of a very long week, and because the whole tale had made me howl with laughter, I thought it was only right to share it with you separately. Some political advisers make a fortune from publishing books when they leave their jobs. Liberal Democrats, like Phil Reilly, and now Ben Rathe, just put their stories on blogs for free. Ben's debut post on his blog "The Gripes of Rathe" concerns an event he'd organised for Nick Clegg, but ...
Those of us who hail from the Anglosphere may be forgiven for believing that the sole cultural output of the Nordic Nations are grim thrillers. Rams, an Icelandic tragicomedy about a fraternal feud between two Icelandic sheep farmers, shows otherwise. At one point in the proceedings one of the brothers comments disapprovingly about vets being [...]
BMW writes to its UK employees highlighting the dangers of Brexit. A French minister threatens to wave through migrants at Calais en route to Dover and to roll out the red carpet to welcome financial services to his country if we leave. Boris and others say none of this will happen. Great Britain still is great. From his residence across the Channel Lord Nigel Lawson tells us not to worry. The EU needs us more than we need them. Confused? I bet many people are. Like Lord William Hague, I'm an EU pragmatist. Better inside the tent etc. Unlike our ...
The Open Day at Blyth RNLI will be held this year on Saturday 4th June, from 11:30 am until about 4pm On the day there will be craft stalls, tombolas, Prize Raffle and the chance to meet the crew of this busy RNLI station The RNLI receives no Government funding, and relies on donations and the work of volunteers. I will post reminders as the date approaches, but put it in your diary now !
[IMG: MND Charter] Councillors are being urged to back the MND campaign to get councils to adopt the MND Charter and help make a difference to people living with Motor Neurone Disease in their communities. The MND Charter is a statement of the respect, care and support that people living with MND and their carers deserve and should expect. [...]
Lynton Crosby's politics, and indeed his political tactics, are very much not to everyone's taste, but his advice on how to run winning campaigns is widely applicable whether you like him, loathe him or have no idea who he is. Note particularly his point about how to use policies well, or badly, in campaigning: Of course, if you prefer your campaigning advice in book form, there is 101 Ways To Win An Election.
Twitter RT @Nick_Pettigrew: In other news, burglars say they 'strongly oppose' window locks. Twitter RT @DayDreamingRiot: their girl group choreography is amazing how do i hire them Twitter RT @TheGreatHumbug: Manic Street Preachers tried to warn us, but we didn't listen... 14 bits of incontrovertible evidence that Star Wars is improved by adding Withnail & I quotes | The Poke Twitter RT @bbcdoctorwho: Always bring a gif to a party! #GIFparty #DoctorWho [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Council tax will go up by 3.99% in the coming year, but services such as youth provision and libraries face cuts. After funding from the Government had been slashed more than expected, at the last minute they offered South Glos some additional one-off money. The Liberal Democrats proposed using some of it to protect youth services and Chipping Sodbury library. Instead, the Tories funnelled the cash into a 50p a month cut in the green bin charge, less than the price of a chocolate bar. The Liberal Democrat amendment proposed maintaining the Positive Activities Fund for youth services at the ...
In this week's council by-elections, the Liberal Democrats just missed out on gaining a seat in Havant. But in some ways that missing good news headline helps concentrate attention on, once again, both the presence of a Liberal Democrat recovery and its limitations. Unlike last week, there was a full set of Lib Dem candidates. There was also a successful Lib Dem hold and signs of the party edging back to being in contention across a much larger part of the country. Bondfields (Havant) result: CON: 30.2% (-3.4) LDEM: 27.3% (+16.0) LAB: 21.6% (-6.9) UKIP: 20.9% (+20.9) — Britain Elects ...
It is not hard to feel more than a little depressed about the current state of politics – or the current state of politicians. Last night I was reflecting about the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president of the United States of America, of Jeremy Corbyn being the only electoral option open in regards to the prime minister of the UK not being a Tory post-2020, of Jess Phillips and the whole "I thought I could be a politician and a human being, boy was I wrong" saga and thought: how the hell did we get here? But I did ...
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... Sponsored: Furniture You Can Afford FurnitureYouCanAfford.com has low prices, free shipping(in the continental U.S.), and a large selection of awesome furniture. Premium grade | The Economist The Economist on the success of the Pupil Premium http://econ.st/1OTU2GG (*DOI: cites my employer @EducEndowFoundn) Double-edged words | The Economist Not sure what it's arguing really, but I think the Economist is trying to abolish 'feisty' http://econ.st/1LBD8lh You Asked Us: Why Do Black Voters Support Hillary Clinton? Really good from @stephenkb > "Why Do Black ...
Should I support the diversity motion at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York next week? My initial reaction is, yes, this is right, but it will be a hard decision to support something that will probably hurt many within the party. I suspect some will argue the motion is not legal. I remember at conference many years ago when an all women shortlist motion was debated and lost. I saw highly respected women speaking against the motion because they believed local party members should choose the right candidate based on skills and experience. It seems things haven't changed and ...
Yesterday afternoon, I attended the latest West End Local Community Planning Partnership (LCPP) meeting at the Whitehall Theatre - see right. The LCPP meeting remains a great opportunity for representatives from different council departments, councillors and representatives from other organisations like police, fire and rescue and the NHS to discuss local issues and matters of concern. Yesterday's meeting included a tour of the theatre's recent excellent refurbishment and improvements and a presentation from Kenny Christie, Chair of the theatre's Board, a presentation by Leisure & Culture Dundee Board representatives about Leisure & Culture Dundee's services to the city and also ...
The Council's goal is to restore a thriving, bustling market to Stockport's marketplace, making it once again the beating heart of the town. Over the last few years both traders and the Council have worked hard to improve the marketplace: it is better presented, cleaner, with more shops and pubs and more stalls in the covered market, better signage, more marketing through web and social media and more special events like the very popular Foodie Friday. However, despite this, the number of people using the market on a regular basis is still low, and this is making trading conditions increasingly ...
Stockport councillors voted last night to approve the Lib Dem budget that had to cope with the biggest cuts in the history of the borough and the 3.75% "Osborne Tax" – the amount the Government is asking authorities to increase council tax by. A Conservative amendment to increase council tax by 2% by scrapping plans to improve parks, play areas and town and village centres was defeated. The Conservative plan would also have removed transition funding for charities helping vulnerable people over the coming year. Lib Dem Council Leader Sue Derbyshire said "The Conservative group proposed an amendment that would ...
Open Letter on Donald Trump from GOP Security Leaders Loud and clear. #fb (tags: uspolitics ) Donald Trump's Six Biggest Lies He knows, but doesn't care. (tags: uspolitics ) David Tennant to return to Doctor Who in three brand new audio dramas With Catherine Tate! (tags: doctorwho )
As if we are not sick to death of the European referendum already, the Telegraph informs us that it is to climax (if that is the right word) in a debate between Boris Johnson and George Osborne in front of a 12,000-strong audience, just 48 hours before the nation makes its decision on 23 June. And therein lies the problem with the whole fiasco. All we are hearing are a bunch of posh men arguing with each other as to whether they should cast the nation back to the 1950s or not. So far not a real person in sight. ...
Crossens Saturday, 12th March, St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens, between 11am and 12 noon. Churchtown Thursday, 24th March, at Cafe Moo Moo on Cambridge Road (by the junction with Preston New Road, next to Boots) Churchtown, between 10:30 am and 11:30 am.
It will cost in the region of £5 million to replace the rotting sash windows in the grade II listed primary school that my son attends, and with an annual budget of £40,000 they aren't going to be replaced any time soon. This staggering news was delivered at the first Finance and Buildings Committee meeting that I've recently joined in my capacity as parent governor. The school's listed status means that the Welsh Government's heritage agency Cadw is quite fussy when it comes to the type of window that can be used to replace the existing originals and there is ...
