Another of those films of doomed East Anglian branch lines by Edward "Chib" Thorp, the railway-loving undertaker of Leigh on Sea. As ever, click on the picture above to watch the film on the BFI website. The good news is that almost all this track is still open to passengers. Wumondham to Norwich Thorpe (plain Norwich today) never closed. Dereham to Wymondham Abbey (a new station) is today operated by the preserved Mid Norfolk Railway, which leaves only a mile of track between Wymondham and Wymondham Abbey stations without trains. And in 2010, as the Eastern Daily Press reported, something ...
From the Cricket Badger sign-up page: In July 2008, a cricket magazine started sending out an irreverent weekly email. People liked it. It started off with just a handful of subscribers and ended up with over 20,000. The email no longer goes out, so what do you do if you really enjoy Ian Austin references and cricket quotes taken completely out of context?The answer is sign up for Cricket Badger. It's exactly the same as the old magazine's newsletter but comes from a different website and the author's doing it for love, not money. What's not to like?And from today's ...
Friday A breeze stirs the May blossom, inspiring me to prop open the French windows in the Library. I settle down to review David Laws' memoir of his time in government for the High Leicestershire Radical and am embarrassed by my inability to find the volume. Only after I have led my staff in a systematic search do I find it propping open those windows. I find the book has three heroes: Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander and, above all, Laws himself. (Poor Huhne and High-Voltage Cable, who must be admitted to know how many beans make five, do not get ...
Charles Kennedy found that the path to public approval passed through chat-show studios. Now Tim Farron is taking it too. The other day he appeared on Matt Forde's Political Party.(Me neither. Apparently it's something the young people listen to.) You can hear how Tim did for yourself above. He appears at around 19:30 if you find Forde's opening set palls after a while. He turns out to be a better interviewer than he is a comedian and Tim comes over very well. And on Sunday he will be the latest guest on Ruth and Martin's Album Club. That is a ...
The latest #politicalparty podcast is out, featuring Lib Dem leader @timfarron: https://t.co/7KTxFWkXo0 pic.twitter.com/GxGIoJcquc — Matt Forde (@mattforde) May 27, 2016 Tim Farron went on Matt Forde's Political Party the other night and the recording has been released today. It is hilarious. Tim is very funny, but also shows the substance and the principles behind everything he does. Pour yourself a wee glass of something nice, put your feet up and enjoy. This is just what you need on a bank holiday weekend, if it is one where you live. What was your favourite bit?
The Times Red Box website (£) has a story today about Nick Clegg giving money to the party. He's made two donations this year, totalling £14,300, to Sheffield. They embellish it a bit: He gave his party £7,000 on Valentines Day, and another £7,300 on March 31. Aww. That'd buy a few dozen red roses for Tim Farron, for starters. Except that he actually gave it on 15 January. 14 February is when it was formally accepted, 30 days later. None of this is surprising. We knew that Nick was giving some of the proceeds of speeches he's given to ...
Watch the latest video from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign: What has the EU ever done for us? An awful lot, as it turns out - and here are almost forty reasons why we're stronger, safer and better off in Europe. 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.
The articles that have appeared after the BBC's referendum debate in Glasgow have given a lot of prominence to that one man who blamed the state of political discourse for his confusion as to how to vote. This was too interesting not to comment on. The audience was divided into leavers, remainers, and undecideds. Leave and Remain both have their own 'Project Fear'. Leavers tout a cultural crisis in the form of mass migration. Remainers raise the spectre of economic catastrophe. Fear Projects, whereever they come from, are a concerted attempt to sway the public with threats dangerous enough to ...
Three principal council by-elections were held this week. In East Staffordshire (DC), Labour made a gain from UKIP in Stapenhill ward. They polled 44.3% and increased their vote share by 12.5% to take the seat and move their representation on the Council up to 13 Councillors. Hugh Warner polled 1.5% for the Liberal Democrats with the [...]
In a speech to the House of Lords yesterday, Liberal Democrat peer Johnny Oates talked about his experience of depression as a young man. This experience was not unrelated to the times in which he was growing up. As a young gay man, having the government legislate against him was not easy to deal with. He also suggests that the churches should reflect on the impact they can have on people's mental health, referring to Archbishop Michael Ramsey who was Archbishop of Canterbury at the time homosexuality was legalised and who was supportive of that change in the law. Here ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] The LGA Liberal Democrat Office will be accepting nominations from Lib Dem council groups for the Council Group of the Year Awards from now until midday on Thursday 16 June.: where local Lib Dem Groups have come up with good ideas for campaigning, either gone forward or defended well where Lib Dem Councillors and Groups [...]
Wednesday, 18 May 2016 The beginning of my Mayoral year Daughter Katie and grandchildren Sarah and Lily join me in the Mayor's parlour after the ceremony Last night I was installed as Mayor of Sefton at a meeting of the council held in Southport town hall. I am going to use a blog to record all my comings and goings as mayor which can be found at : http://themayoralblog.blogspot.co.uk/ and so the Birkdale FOCUS will not have any more postings from me for a while. At a reception held afterwards in The Atkinson I had the chance to thank my ...
Marco Pannella, politician, was born on May 2, 1930. He died on May 19, 2016, aged 86 I met Pannella sometime in the mid 70's at an EFLRY seminar.(for younger readers this was some time before LYMEC was formed). He talked about Gueseppe Mazzini and the unification of Italy, his successful campaign for divorce law reform and the upcoming campaign for abortion . He had joined the Italian Liberal Party in his youth and was a student leader. In 1956 the broke with the party -then led by Giovanni Malagodi a man prominent in Liberal International and often quoted by ...
Frank Hindle was my predecessor as Leader of the Lib Dem group and opposition on Gateshead Council. He stood down from the leadership last year and this May he retired from the Council after 25 years representing Low Fell. We held a thank you party for him at the Valley Farm on the Team Valley last Saturday. Though Frank retired as a councillor, he is remaining active in the Liberal Democrats.
Out soon is a new book I've co-edited with Darren Lilleker (to whom thanks for doing the bulk of the work and having had the original idea): Political Marketing and the 2015 UK General Election. As the blurb says: This book brings together leading scholars to analyze political marketing in the context of the UK 2015 General Election. Election campaigns represent a time of intense marketing, including: the communication of party, party leader and candidate brands; the design and dissemination of key messages and policy proposals; identification of target voters; setting out strategies for the campaign; and translating strategies into ...
On Saturday 21st May, Friends of Chase Park hosted the Whickham May Fayre. As usual, my job was to collect tables from Marley Hill Community Centre on Friday to be used in the burger tent. On Saturday itself, I had my own stand to run, promoting self-sufficiency and selling my preserves and eggs. I brought along some of my week old quail chicks which proved quite an attraction. Well done to
Anne Curie in Roger Roberts' office writes: On 23 June 2016, Britain will face one of the greatest electoral questions of this decade. Voters will be asked to decide whether or not they wish to see the UK remain in the European Union. Yet as this crucial election draws ever-nearer, there is an important issue which must be contemplated: registering to vote.The deadline to register to vote for the referendum is midnight, 7 June. The party-neutral Bite The Ballot (of which Lord Roberts is Honorary President) is running an innovative #TurnUp campaign in the week approaching this deadline. I urge ...
A decade or so ago, I was finishing my book about the relationship between Columbus, Cabot and Vespucci, and their race for America (you can buy it here as an ebook these days I'm glad to say). I became convinced that the real story there was the friendship between Cabot and Columbus and their joint decision to corner the market on the western route to China, which they both believed they had discovered It is impossible to prove this, and I've gone into the evidence for it elsewhere. But their key innovation wasn't so much the ships or navigation of ...
When set against the backdrop of our worst performance in a National Assembly election, Kirsty Williams' elevation to the Welsh Cabinet is nothing short of remarkable. It is no exaggeration to say that she is one of the most powerful Assembly Members in the Senedd Chamber; she may be a lone Welsh Lib Dem voice, but the power to make or break the Welsh Government is hers. With Kirsty's support the Welsh Government can command 29 votes, the same as the opposition (less the presiding officer and deputy). A tied no confidence vote results in the presiding officer voting in ...
So yesterday I noticed something odd on the tracking page for my parcel from Goulet Pens: the tracking page was claiming it had been delivered. It has definitely not been delivered. More than that, the tracking page was claiming it had been delivered at 7.07 am, which is an unheard of time for delivery drivers in Brighouse. The thing is, trying to contact USPS about an international delivery, even to just find out who their UK delivery partner is so I can chase it up myself - I would assume Royal Mail, but I could be wrong? - is proving ...
Coriolis Energy came to talk to Lydiate Parish Council last Tuesday about their plans to erect 12 Blackpool Tower sized wind turbines on high grade agricultural land between Lydiate and Ince Blundell. Regular readers of this blog site will know that I have commented on this plan many times before as it has been doing the rounds for ages. Originally 24 turbines, the site is actually in West Lancashire not in Sefton. I am opposed to the plan because the turbines and the access roads to them are to be built on the highest grade of agricultural land. Put simply ...
Petition · Lewisham Council: MAKE Lewisham Council honour their promises and STOP them from destroying DEPTFORD CINEMA · Change.org RT @Nissemus: Make Lewisham Council honour their promises: stop them destroying Deptford's community cinema via @UKChange Scarfolk Council: The Horned Deceiver RT @Scarfolk: NEW! The Horned Deceiver's Book of Children's Party Games. More info: Unlock Democracy I'm with @unlockdemocracy on #ElectionExpenses: Start a national police investigation On Steve Rogers #1, Antisemitism, and Publicity Stunts The reason why the Captain America stunt is so sickening: I agree with every word of that post. Every single word. Wonder Woman is the first female-directed ...
Hello! My name is Tom Sutton and I am a 16-year-old student from the Wirral Peninsula near Liverpool currently sitting my GCSEs and I want to just explain what brought me to the party. I have been interested in politics since I was about 8 or 9. I was a Labour supporter who liked Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. This was probably due to the fact that my parents owned a rather successful business during that period so I personally saw prosperity under their rule. I always said my favourite PM was Brown because in my mind, he managed to ...
You can read all the articles that have caught my attention this week here: https://delicious.com/stephentall Below are a selection... Sponsored: 64% off Code Black Drone with HD Camera Our #1 Best-Selling Drone–Meet the Dark Night of the Sky! Here's how to solve the immigration problem | | The Times & The Sunday Times Scorchingly good column by Phil Collins on how the metropolitan liberal elite needs to respond to immigration http://bit.ly/1WXMJaP Team Brexit's political misjudgements have turned a campaign drama into an existential crisis for their cause « Labour Uncut He's more cock-sure about the result than me, but @atulh ...
A set of internal emails from Calder Vale Conservatives has been leaked which paints an unhappy picture of their financial status. One message, from the Deputy Chair of Calder Valley Conservatives, Rob Holden, reads in part: I am writing to you further to receiving the resignation of Mr Charles Moran as Chairman of the Calder Valley Conservative Association. I feel saddened that he has felt the need to stand down but thoroughly understand his reasons following his extremely poor treatment by certain members of the Association. The accounts (albeit incomplete) have finally been filed with the Electoral Commission. Attached are ...
Considering that most councils were opposed to Leighton Andrews' proposed restructuring of local government so as to create just eight bodies, they are protesting rather loudly now that plan has been shelved for lack of support. The BBC reports that a Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) paper, which will be considered today, says that there is an urgent need for clarity over plans to reorganise local government. The paper says that the "challenges ahead are profound", with many services in crisis. They are not wrong but the idea that shuffling deckchairs around could solve this is fanciable. For once Russell ...
Quite remarkable news from Eastbourne, where a petition set up by an independent constituent calling for defeated Lib Dem MP Stephen Lloyd to stand again has run up hundreds of signatures already. This isn't a roll call of Lib Dem members and poster sites but rather the petition has been propelled by independent constituents who miss the hard work and dedication of Stephen: The change.org petition has been set up by Eastbourne resident Scott Haffenden. He said, "Stephen Lloyd has still not made up his mind whether to stand again for MP in Eastbourne and Willingdon. "While in office he ...
There is a simple yet important question we need to ask ourselves if we are to rebuild our party: Am I a leader? It is a simple question but one we rarely ask. Leadership has become defined by the extraordinary, by those who are able to do things which many others cannot, but this means that when we do show leadership - even for a short period - we undervalue it or worse, we don't acknowledge it at all. During the recent local elections I stood (for the first time) as a paper candidate in my local ward. Despite my ...
Yesterday, I took part in the latest meeting of the City Council's working group tackling school parking and pupil safety outside schools across the city. At my request, an item on the agenda was about ensuring good practice regarding parking near schools and we had a lengthy discussion about this, including ways of promoting good practice. Included in the discussion was proposed arrangements at Harris Academy once the whole school moves to back to Perth Road in August (senior pupils only are now starting at the new building in advance of the end of the current term) We also had ...
Last night was the first TV debate on the EU referendum. It was held in Glasgow, but the only nod to Scotland on the panel was the inclusion of Salmond (to be fair, there are no major figures in Scottish politics who are pro-Brexit, unless you count Galloway). Diane James has come in for some flak for supposedly being terrible, Alastair Campbell even going as far as to tweet: "More of DianeJamesMEP on the telly please". Her "I don't know" line on the visa question was poor, but actually, as far as UKIP figures go she is pretty good. I ...
Following widespread media coverage about councils using inflated residents' parking permit charges as a way of increasing their income, Stockport's Liberal Democrat Group have expressed concern that the new Labour Executive may choose to adopt a policy similar to Labour run Manchester City Council and force residents to pay more. Speaking of these concerns Cllr Mark Hunter, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and shadow transport spokesperson said: "Under Liberal Democrat control, Stockport's resident parking charges have been deliberately held at the cost of administering the scheme, making a charge of only £31 per car. According to recent figures, the national average ...
