The Rutland Times has the news that Oakham Castle will reopen to the public after its restoration on Monday 30 May: A grand reopening will take place, transporting visitors back to Norman England. There will be demonstrations and chances to have a go at a variety of activities including Norman coin striking, falconry, archery and weaving. Knights on horseback will parade through the town and guided tours of the site will help unlock the castle's secrets.I think I may have a go at repressing a Saxon.
Embed from Getty Images This Mariella Frostup column from the Guardian is priceless. Ms Frostup is a remarkably versatile journalist and broadcaster. One moment she's presenting "Open Book" on Radio 4, the next minute she's on panel on "Question Time" and then she pops up voicing adverts for Dettol. Her "Dear Mariella" column is a very much a Guardian take on the Agony Aunt theme. Her answers are very considered and intelligent. I have read this column for many years. The column for 13th March stands out. It's the nearest any Agony Aunt comes to losing their temper with a ...
Sorry I've not been around or very conversational. I developed an ear infection on Monday (I suspect because my immune system was depressed by the anti-arthritic drugs I'm on, which I've come off again while I go through the antibiotics) ... Continue reading →
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has called for an immediate review of staffing levels, training and the IT system at a new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service call centre in Edinburgh, as media reports reveal gaping holes in operations. Today employees at the new call centre, which is due to become operational on Wednesday, [...]
Embed from Getty Images This Easter has been a bit of a new experience for me. For the first time (I think) I attended a church service of meditation on Good Friday afternoon. Someone I met on Good Friday evening talked about going down to the pub and going out for a meal to "get in the swing of Easter". Good for them – and I resisted the temptation to suggest that the way to get "into the swing" of Easter on Good Friday is to grieve. The Good Friday meditation service reminded me that an essential part of the ...
Sun 27th
16:55
Willie Rennie's week - a whirlwind start to the campaign featuring children, animals and the other p...
You can tell there's an election on. This week, Willie Rennie has painted Easter eggs, sung songs with children at a nursery, visited a farmers' market and fed seals. Here's a look at a whirlwind week in Scotland. Some of it is quite funny. Monday Willie was supposed to be going to Amazon in Dunfermline to discuss working practices and pay with employees. At the last minute, Amazon cancelled the meeting. Undeterred, Willie went anyway and recorded this video outside the depot: This morning Willie Rennie & Hannah Bettsworth for Edinburgh Central and Lothian were on the campaign trail meeting ...
Embed from Getty Images A really significant anniversary today – the anniversary of the Easter Rising at Dublin Post Office in 1916. It's a moment to reflect on the awful events of the last one hundred years in Ireland and also in Great Britain. We should never forget our role in this appalling series of tragedies. But it is also a moment to hope that a line can be drawn and that peace and prosperity can continue and improve in Ireland. Share
Embed from Getty Images Paddy Ashdown has made his voice heard in the row over whether being in the EU helps or hinders national security. It will come as no surprise to anyone that he thinks it helps. First the broad principle: My answer is clear. This, more than ever, is the time to stand with our friends in Belgium and across Europe. We must not allow the butchers of ISIS to divide us, and we must give short shrift, too, to those who want to use these attacks to divide our societies. This is no time for division. It ...
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 10,500 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... The Nitty Gritty: Evidence of the #libdemfightback (20 comments) by John B Grout David Laws on Marr: I want to expose how NHS chief was leant on to encourage debate on NHS funding (20 comments) by Caron Lindsay David Laws' "Coalition": the Coverage (18 comments) by Nick Thornsby Tom Brake MP writes...Do you support military intervention in Libya? (56 comments) by Tom Brake MP How are you getting on with Tim Farron's membership recruitment challenge? (17 comments) by ...
For all of you that like your stats to go along with your Easter Eggs here are some facts and stats about the seats you may wish to watch (or not) at the forthcoming Holyrood elections in May. You can see the 'last time out' figures for the Liberal Democrats in all of the Holyrood [...]
A rather surprising find in East London.: I know Shoreditch is over, but when did East London graffiti get so....Lib Dem? pic.twitter.com/3bhJqzoqsT — Jess Brammar (@jessbrammar) March 25, 2016
Nick Clegg's Standard column this week concentrated on the European Referendum, as I suspect many of them will in the next few months. He sought to smash 5 key themes of the Leavers' rhetoric. The first is the claim that our membership of the EU costs us £55 million a day, a figure repeatedly used by Farage, Johnson and others. It's a total con. As the fact-checkers at InFacts have found, in 2015 the net cost was in fact £17 million a day, or around 30p per person. For that entry fee we then get all the benefits that our ...
Instagram What have you got THERE mummy? #dogs #dogsofinstagram #rescuedog #lurcher #sheltie @ St.... miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 26-03-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 26-03-2016 on #dreamwidth Instagram @Aremay Foo Fighters RT @foofighters: Learn how you can help the Cornwall campaign & to sound proof yr practice space: @BLOENVY Twitter RT @foofighters: Learn how you can help the Cornwall campaign & to sound proof yr practice space: @BLOENVY Twitter RT @UniqueDude2: OMG leaked game of thrones finale script SPOILERS!! Twitter RT @PD_Axel: Does anyone else feel like their whole walk is taking sticks off ...
It was my birthday on Friday, so I am allowed to choose a Spencer Davis Group track as my Sunday video. (I don't make the rules.) Let Me Down Easy appeared on the Spencer Davis Group's Second Album in 1966. It had been a hit in the US the previous year for Bettye LaVette.
Opening up a new aspect of the debate on tax, Liberal Democrats yesterday rejected SNP plans to cut Air Passenger Duty (APD). Party Leader, Willie Rennie, said a race to the bottom on air taxes will harm the country's climate change obligations and mean cuts to public services too. The SNP say they plan to cut [...]
My four year old daughter has developed a fascination with vampires of late. This is how I ended up sitting in front of "Hotel Transylvania", a feature length cartoon about an overprotective father who happens to be Dracula and his attempts to keep his own daughter from falling in love with a human being. The film was not "Philadelphia Story" by any stretch of the imagination; but it may as well have been when compared to almost any rom-com I can think of made in the last decade. It is strange that if you made a list of the best ...
Here is Tim Farron's Easter message: TIm's Easter Message Wishing you a very happy Easter from my family and everyone at the Liberal Democrats. Here's my Easter message > Posted by Tim Farron on Sunday, 27 March 2016 Tim reflects on the Easter story and the "spectacular, calculated and deliberate act of unconditional love" it represents. He adds that that sort of unconditional love provides hope in a world where there is so much hatred and fear. It's a message that is relevant to all of us and makes me think of all those people who give up so much ...
The Independent carries another of an increasingly frequent series of articles in all media about the future of Jeremy Corbyn. To be fair speculation about David Cameron's future is also rife. The paper repeats the oft-quoted message that dissident Labour MPs are preparing to make public demands for Jeremy Corbyn to stand down as leader if the party fails to notch up steady gains in elections across England, Wales and Scotland in six weeks' time. It says that these MPs have set a series of electoral yardsticks which they believe Labour should achieve to demonstrate that Mr Corbyn is succeeding ...
More educative entertainment from Tom Scott: In the URL of each YouTube video is the 11-character video ID, unique for each video. Can they ever run out? Just how many videos can YouTube handle? To work it out, we need to talk about counting systems, and about something called Base 64.
Sun 27th
09:25
The Independent is no more – Should we be concerned about its demise as a printed newspaper?
A bought a copy of the very last edition of the Independent newspaper yesterday as a little bit of history has been made with the passing of the print edition. [IMG: The-Independent-Logo] I don't usually buy newspapers but when I have done it has usually been the Independent. Most people buy newspapers that reinforce their own strongly held prejudices. Hence the Daily Mail is so popular even with people who claim to be left wing. I can't get my head around that but I am drawn back to a telling remark made to me by a young Labour Party member ...
Now that it's Easter Sunday, I feel that I can safely talk about my alcohol-free Lent. I had my last glass of wine on Tuesday 9th February and not a drop of the stuff has passed my lips since then. I was expecting it to be difficult, but with the exception of Mothering Sunday when the four of us went ... The post An alcohol-free Lent appeared first on ten pence piece.
A strange couple of days: my account of 22/3 @frances_lievens recounts her story. (tags: Belgium waronterror )
[IMG: No. not him] No. not him Big data is changing everything about our lives. There is stuff you notice, like how looking at one Amazon product once will lead you to be bombarded with adverts for similar products on every site you visit. And there are slightly creepier things you will never see, like a complex Target data algorithm discovered one girl's teenage pregnancy before her father did. Elections are no different, and how political parties use data in order to better target voters will be a defining feature in how election battles are won and lost in the ...
