There are plenty more of these slideshows on this blog.
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT WEST END REPORT FOR SUNDAY 22 MAY 2016 Nethergate/West Marketgait - temporary traffic lights and lane restrictions on Sunday 22 May for Scottish Water ironwork repair. REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 23 MAY 2016 Fleuchar Street (Eassons Angle to Blyth Street), Blinshall Street (Lochee Road to Douglas Street) and Scott Street (City Road to Glenagnes Road) - closed for 2 weeks for SSE cable renewal works. Perth Road at Sinderins junction - closed for one week for carriageway resurfacing. West Marketgait (Hawkhill to Ward Road) - northbound nearside lane closure ...
In Leicester today, as a citizen journalist, I went along to see people assembling for the march against the badger cull. Then I met someone I knew and decided to join in. It's a good cause. The government's cull of badgers has more to do with placating the farming vote than it does with scientific evidence for the best way of eradicating bovine TV. While we were waiting to set off there was a speech, which turned out to be chiefly about the junior doctors' dispute with the government, and a song. The latter, as far as I could tell, ...
Earlier today Liberal Democrat members in Wales voted to back the deal with Labour under which Kirsty Williams will become the Education Secretary in Wales: The deal between Ms Williams and Labour agrees a list of nine common priorities which include pledges from the Welsh Lib Dem election manifesto such as limiting infant class sizes to a maximum of 25, extending a nurse staffing levels law, and funding an extra 20,000 affordable homes. Speaking after the vote Ms Williams said: "The Welsh Liberal Democrats will now play our part in delivering real change in the way government works for the ...
Sadly there was a serious accident on Southport Road earlier today close to Seafore Close. I understand that a car ended up on its roof. Numerous emergency vehicles rushed to deal with the accident and we can only hope that those involved will be OK. However, what was odd about this accident was that the Police made no attempt, as far as I am aware, to manage the ensuing traffic jams caused as consequence of the accident. This is even more odd when you consider that Southport Road is a major 'A' road and bus route. Indeed, local residents took ...
Southwark Council with so many tens of thousands of trees receives a number of lciams for subsidence caused by those trees routes every year. The latest stats I have after submitting a Freedom of Information request: 2010 69 claims 2011 70 2012 47 2013 41 2014 34 claims – but residents have up to 6 years to make a tree subsidence claim Average time to resolve - 12-18 months to resolve a subsidence claim which is apparently is pretty average for councils. The council logs when a claim is raised and when the claim file is ultimately closed. However this ...
Willie Rennie's candidacy for First Minister in the Scottish Parliament this week attracted some comment in the press. Andrew Liddle in the Press and Journal was very complimentary: While it was clearly going to end in defeat, it also offered up a golden opportunity for Mr Rennie to expound his platform. True to character, it was an irreverent move, not a devious one. Here is Willie's speech – he combines exactly the right mix of self-deprecating humour and statesmanlike vision. "Ohhhh dad. You're not are you?" Those were the encouraging words from my unimpressed 12 year old son when he ...
Sat 21st
14:53
+++80% of special Welsh conference members vote to back Kirsty Williams as Education Secretary in We...
Many thanks to @liberalmorgan and @peterblackwales for keeping us updated on the special Welsh Liberal Democrat conference today. They've just tweeted (see below) a few minutes ago to say that the conference has endorsed the motion: That the Welsh Liberal Democrats endorse the Progressive Agreement announced on Thursday, 19 May 2016, by Welsh Labour and Kirsty Williams and the invitation made by the First Minister to Kirsty Williams AM to take up the position of Cabinet Secretary for Education within the Welsh Government. This is quite an historic moment. Many congratulations to Kirsty on getting such fulsome backing and becoming ...
Word reaches us that the National Liberal Club has, for the first time ever, elected a woman take over its running. Janet Berridge is its new chairman. We do have to wonder what took it so long, but we're happy to see this development. Janet said, on her election: I am tremendously honoured to have been elected the new chairman of the National Liberal Club. Situated in the heart of London, the club appeals to a wide variety of professions and age groups and provides an environment to suit different interests and requirements. There is no such thing as a ...
There's a special conference for Welsh Liberal Democrat going on today. It's to decide whether or not to endorse the "Progressive Agreement" reached by Kirsty Williams AM and the Labour Welsh Assembly group. There are live tweets coming from the hall. #wldconf is the relevant hashtag. @peterblackwales and @liberalmorgan are particular Twitter handles to watch, if you're interested. I'm retweeting most of the tweets on @paulwalteruk, so you can see them scroll up on our Team Twitter feed on the right hand column of this site. Update 1pm: It appears that tweets from the conference hall have stopped. We're expecting ...
I've created a new email list dedicated just to the stories I cover about election law, how our elections are administered and those election expenses stories. Just sign up below if you'd like the convenience of getting notifications about such stories straight into your inbox. There'll be no more than one email a day and it'll average out at a much lower frequency than that. (Note: if you're already signed up for a daily email alert with all my new blog posts, then there's no need to sign up for these alerts too as the stories will also be in ...
More comedy genius from Australia's Clarke and Dawe: Bill Shorten, Opposition Leader, is not of course to be confused with this Bill Shorten.
Sat 21st
11:30The man who braved the Bradford riots & was slated by a Tory secretary of State is now Lib Dem L...
[IMG: Geoff Reid] This week, Liberal Democrat Councillor Geoff Reid became Lord Mayor of Bradford. He was proposed for the office by fellow Councillor Jeanette Sunderland. Extracts from her speech follow. It's longer than our usual articles, but it's a fascinating read. Geoff has a lifelong record of community service as a Methodist minister and Councillor. He has spoken truth to power and provoked the ire of a Conservative Cabinet Minister. He played a pivotal role in providing support and healing for communities in Bradford after the riots. You can read more about him on the Telegraph and Argus site ...
Councillors Tim Pickstone and Mary D'Albert recently attended another briefing meeting with the organisers of the Parklife festival in Heaton Park (11-12 June 2016). A few issues to report back: Residents Consultation Letter and Events Residents in a fairly wide area around Heaton Park will have received a residents information leaflet in the post. If anyone has missed this, or for people who don't live in the area of the leaflet drop, the letter is here. There are a number of resident information session which are available to anyone to attend. Those that have not already happened are: – Wednesday ...
Twitter RT @JoshDixonTweets: Telling quote from Labour peer here. Only @LibDemLords up to challenge of fighting government's cruel agenda. Instagram Here's matgbowles communing with Pippin in The Market Tavern #dogs #dogsofinstagram #lurcher... Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? We need more career obstacles for incompetent men - excellent article arguing against "lean in" canard [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
[IMG: welsh lib dems] The Special Conference 2016 organised by Welsh Liberal Democrats is being held at Cefn Lea Park, Dolifor, Newtown, Powys, SY16 4AJ and will start at 11am. There is one item of business to discuss: That the Welsh Liberal Democrats endorse the Progressive Agreement announced on Thursday, 19 May 2016, by Welsh Labour and Kirsty Williams and the invitation made by the First Minister to Kirsty Williams AM to take up the position of Cabinet Secretary for Education within the Welsh Government. The full text of the statement is available here. All members of the Welsh Liberal ...
[IMG: Site for the new Maghull North Railway Station. Photo taken looking north from School Lane road bridge. The former Moss Side Hospital site is to the right and Mersey Avenue to the left.] Site for the new Maghull North Railway Station. Photo taken looking north from School Lane road bridge. The former Moss Side Hospital site is to the right and Mersey Avenue to the left. Dear Sir, I read your article where Bill Esterson MP told us all about the new Maghull North Railway Station that is soon to be built on the Liverpool – Ormskirk line. Trouble ...
Yesterday, the previously mostly cerebral Gove decided to go a bit Boris Johnson on us. I figured Gove would almost certainly have to give in to the immigration beast at some point in the campaign, but I didn't think he'd ever go in this hard: "Boris Johnson and I will use all our influence with government to give the NHS additional support when we wake up on 24 June. But if we vote to remain, I fear the NHS will only face additional pressures. Even without the accession of any new countries, we can expect a continuing net flow of ...
In the autumn of 1980, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was urged by political commentators and members of her own party - including Ted Heath - to U-turn on policies that ushered in a fierce liberalisation of the economy. In a response that was to gleam through the decades as one of the most memorable moments of UK politics in recent history, with her now-iconic sternly glare and aura of authority, she addressed her party at the Conservative conference with the immortal phrase, "You turn if you want to - the lady's not for turning". And so, Thatcher's ferocious refusal ...
Did you know that most of England accepted the heir to the French throne as its rightful king in 1216-17? The myth that England has not been successfully invaded since 1066 requires a certain amount of special pleading - most notably in the case of a Dutch prince expelling the legitimate king in 1688, but also in terms of the significant numbers of non-English forces involved with Henry VII, Edward IV and Henry II as they came to power. A less well-known edge case is the French invasion of 1216. This was part of the ongoing conflict between King John ...
Clever presentation, useful advice: A Doctor-Professor answers the old question "What is the single best thing we can do for our health" in a completely new way. Dr. Mike Evans is founder of the Health Design Lab at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Toronto, and a staff physician at St. Michael's Hospital. Hat-tip: Jonathan Akwue
The London Fire Brigade does an amazing job especially considering the severe cuts it has had over the last few years. Across the UK 1979-2007 we've seen a huge reduction in fire deaths per million population of 69.5%. Since then it's fallen even further. Truly amazing. Of western countries only Canada has seen a larger decrease. Brilliant performances from fire services. This has resulted from better building regulations, better work place regulations, changes to products to make things like sofas less flammable, fewer people smoking. Despite that our absolute UK fire deaths per million was 7.6. The best is Switzerland ...
I previously advised of the changes to bus routes for Xplore Dundee services whilst the current roadworks on part of Perth Road are taking place. From Monday (23rd), the Sinderins junction itself will be resurfaced (this will take up to a week). This will require a diversion for bus service 203 and Xplore Dundee advise it will follow the diversion below: Normal route to Perth Road, then left into Roseangle, following on to Magdalen Yard Road, right into Windsor Street, Perth Road, Hyndford Street, Blackness Avenue and then Seymour Street. The route will be followed in reverse when heading towards ...
Politicians in Wales have always been strong advocates of merging back office functions within the public sector so as to achieve savings which can be released for front-line services. What they often don't say is that the only realistic way to achieve this is through outsourcing those functions to a private sector company. Attempts to deliver such savings in Wales have led to mixed results, not least in South East Wales where the costs of delivering this change proved to be a major obstacle. And of course as this reform involves significant change-management and investment in ICT, then public sector ...
So, we've not even had a proper weekend off since the election. Two weeks ago we were all knackered and had loads of clearing up to do. Last week we were all on INtogether stalls. Now, this Saturday, our minds turn to future party strategy across Britain. In Scotland, the party executive gathers for the first time since achieving a better result than most of us expected. We have a lot to chew over in terms of future strategy and we're taking a day to do it. We're having to follow Willie to North East Fife where he'll spend some ...
(Because I'm going to be out all day and won't have a chance to read before midnight local time) Current Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas Quantico by Greg Bear The Last Man, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Last books finished Cyprus Avenue, by David Ireland (theatre script) Bételgeuse v.4: Les Cavernes, by Leo Master Pip, by Lloyd Jones Adolf, An Exile In Japan, by Osamu Tezuka The Ragged Astronauts, by Bob Shaw De maagd en de neger, by Judith Vanistendael Next books The Unicorn Hunt, by Dorothy Dunnett Selected ...
The following is the schedule of meetings at Blyth Town Council for June 2016 Thursday 2nd June :- Allotments Committee Tuesday 7th June:- Environment Services Committee ( Shown as Assets Committee on the BTC website ) Thursday 16th June:- Planning and Development Committee Tuesday 21st June :- Events Committee Tuesday 28th June :- Staff Committee Thursday 30th June :- Finance Committee This is a provisional list, and subject to change Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are at Arms Evertyne House and start at 6:30 pm
