The shooting of a gorilla after a small boy fell into his enclosure at Cincinnati zoo was horrible. This blog is more sympathetic to zoos than is fashionable today, but this incident makes you want to close every one down. I was reminded of a story from the past. It turned out to have happened at Gerald Durrell's Jersey Zoo in 1986 and you can see what happened in the video above/ A Daily Mail story earlier this year tells what happened next: Levan spent six weeks in hospital nursing a fractured skull and broken arm. Following his recovery, his ...
Another gem from the BFI's Britain of Film collection. This one shows a photographic society, apparently from Atherstone in Warwickshire, on a trip to Shropshire in 1954. There is good footage of Bridgnorth and its cliff railway and also of the Long Mynd. Click on the photograph above to view it, though that signpost on top of the Mynd has long ago disappeared.
Allison Keyes on a rediscovered manuscript that casts light on the Tulsa massacre of 1921 - an attack on a thriving Black neighbourhood. Alexandra Lange contrasts the reactions to Garden Bridge and Pier 55 - "Two cities, one designer and one strategy - to build a privately funded park above a river." "Thanks to my older brother, I was an Observer reader as a schoolboy. On most Sundays in the year or two either side of 1960 he would take the bus six miles to our nearest town and return with a paper that augmented the Sunday Post - delivered ...
Whilst you have to have an agent to take care of the technical and legal stuff, and I'm lucky enough to have a very good one in Martin Redbond, it also helps to have someone to manage the candidate. That isn't to, say, tell them what to do, but instead to ensure that the candidate's time is used efficiently. And that's where Ros comes in. Ros has, of course, done this before. She probably has the t-shirt somewhere to prove it, and knows what needs to be done. As the candidate, there is a danger in having so many tasks ...
Sun 29th
19:44
Plans for new restaurant and apartments on Tower Street replacing One Stop and the Post Office
Ludlow architect Trevor Hewett has drawn up plans to rebuild the One Stop store in Tower Street as a restaurant and ten two bedroom apartments. In an exhibit currently in Ludlow Library, Mr Hewett says: We are preparing a planning application seeking change of use of the ground floor to restaurant use or retail use.... Continue reading Plans for new restaurant and apartments on Tower Street replacing One Stop and the Post Office →
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 459th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22 – 28 May, 2016), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Conservatives try to block police ...
Embed from Getty Images Sir Vince Cable will be in the Harborough constituency on Thursday 2 June as part of the Remain campaign. He will give a speech at Oadby Community Centre, Sandhurst Street, Oadby LE2 5AR from 6.15 to 7.30pm. If you want to reserve a place, email Linda Broadley. Before that Vince will be speaking to the Chamber of Trade here in Market Harborough. The meeting takes place at the Angel between 5 and 6pm. This event is open to the wider public - email Phil Knowles if you are interested in attending.
As trailed here on Friday, Tim Farron is featured on Ruth and Martin's Album Club today. He gives his reaction to hearing N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton for the first time. He also reveals his top three albums ever: - Steve McQueen - Prefab Sprout - The Clash's first album (the US version because it's got White Man in Hammersmith Palais and Complete Control on it) - Since I left you - The Avalanches
Here's the new video from the Electoral Commission, and it is rather timely given all the attention over election expense returns at the moment: This is a webcast about how to fill in and submit your party spending return after the May 2016 elections. It is intended for parties who contested the May 2016 elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
[IMG: 7 best] Many thanks to the 10,300 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here's our 7 most-read posts... The Independent View: Neal Lawson's letter to the Liberal Democrats (72 comments) by Neal Lawson A liberal path towards a basic income (47 comments) by Richard Flowers The dark side of Leave upsets even the Mail on Sunday (33 comments) by Caron Lindsay Manchester Labour don't like Leech up them (8 comments) by Caron Lindsay Is it the BBC's fault that Bargain Hunt is so popular? (120 comments) by Paul Walter Why I've just joined the Liberal Democrats ...
The SNP does best in the very sort of general elections where the Liberal Democrats do worst. So what can the Lib Dems learn from the SNP? In recent years, Liberal Democrat election campaigns have built up rather a track record of drifting off message during the last few weeks before polling day - switching from a good message to a bad message (as in the European election campaign of 2014), slipping from a promising single message to a melange of different simultaneous messages (as in the London elections of 2016) or rotating through a range of messages in a ...
[IMG: IMG] A lot of hard work is going into making Maghull look good this summer by the Maghull in Bloom and Maghull Station Volunteers groups. Here's a couple of shots of recent work undertaken to the Westway barrier baskets and the circular pavement planters:- [IMG: Maghull in Bloom 27 05 16] [IMG: Maghull in Bloom 27 05 16 (2)] We are always look for new volunteers. If you fancy helping out please contact Maghull in Bloom Chairman John Harrison by e-mail at johnf.harrison@talktalk.net or respond to me via this blog site and I will let John know of your ...
Instagram In which @karohemd captures my essence (@2000AD ) The daily scare tactics beggar belief - they're not working | Politics | The Guardian RT @PeterMannionMP: I've bn an adherent of Delia Smith since the 70s. Her #EUref article is almost a good as her roast potatoes. #remain Instagram Popped in to @LamppostHebden - @karohemd got a coffee, I got take out for the doggies: a pupcake... [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
We came to East Anglia on family business/pre-summer getaway idea. Escaping from London is always refreshing, obviously. It also reminds one of what a different world London exists in compared to the rest of England; as if during this EU referendum mud slinging epoch we needed that much reminding of this fact. I've written previously about holidaying in England, and everything still applies. The prices of tourist attractions are not so much overpriced as set at a constant you've-really-got-to-be-fucking-kidding level of cost. We went to Southwold pier yesterday and the car park charged £1.20 an hour. Only it was literally ...
This is from the 1952 US Presidential election, animated by Roy Disney, nephew of Walt: Ike, aka Dwight Eisenhower, won the election along with his Vice President, one Richard M. Nixon.
Michael Crick's latest report was broadcast on Friday.
Issue 378 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers. This issue's free sample online content is the Commentary on how local parties need to feel able to innovate in campaigning, and Claire Tyler's article on how many people are overlooked and left behind by an incoherent post-16 education system. Elsewhere the issue has the Commentary, news and gossip in Radical Bulletin, book reviews, Lord Bonkers' latest thoughts and among the articles: A RETURN TO REASON? Adrian Slade finds hope for better politics in May's election results BACK FROM THE BRINK IN LIVERPOOL – The Lib Dems were close to ...
The next Harris Academy Former Pupils' Association Lunch is on Monday 6th June 2016 at 12 noon for 12.30pm. It will be held in Invercarse Hotel on Perth Road and the cost per person, payable on arrival, will be £16.00. More information is available from the FPs' Treasurer Freida Soutar - 562788 and treasurer@harrisfps.co.uk and bookings should be advised by 5 pm on Thursday 2nd June 2016. You can read more about the Harris Academy Former Pupils' Association here.
Another outing for one of my favourite artists of the New Wave era - one who is perhaps a little forgotten today. Thanks to the splendidly obsessive Wikipedia entry for Rock Goes to College, I can reveal that this was recorded at Hatfield Polytechnic (as it then was) and first broadcast on 14 January 1980.
Sunday: Street stall campaigning can be fun... I'm Richard Flowers. Liberal Democrats believe in working together. That's why we want Britain to remain in the EU. And that's why I'm here today at the Cheadle Lib Dems street stall, putting the positive case that we remain stronger in together. You'll've heard all the scare stories. About the economy and trade. But we don't believe the British are quitters. We believe Britain can lead in Europe, and that there are positive things we get. 28 countries working together has already delivered a longer period of peace and prosperity than ever before ...
Last year I posted an analysis of the Sasquan members who lived in the 50 US states, and found that by and large they are in states that vote more liberal than the US median. (I used this ranking from The Hill, which dates from October 2014 but is probably still more or less valid.) I've repeated the exercise for MidAmeriCon 2, and not surprisingly - given that the local pool is Kansas and Missouri rather than Washington, Oregon and California, which are three of the four most liberal states - the numbers seem to lean a bit less to ...
Sunday To St Asquith's for Divine Service. The Revd Hughes tells us about the Children of Israel, who found themselves in "a great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought". Speaking as a Liberal Democrat, I know exactly how they felt. Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10. Previously in Lord Bonkers' Diary Freddie and Fiona at RemainThe jellyfish of the Lakeland fellsReviewing David Laws' memoirs"Take your hands off our cox"
Most political leaders follow a golden rule, don't interfere by commenting on your successor. It is a rule more observed in the breach than in the observance as evidenced by the likes of Edward Heath. Now Tony Blair has jumped in, seeking to mitigate the impact on his reputation of the Chilcott report, due to be published at last on 6th July. According to the Telegraph, Blair believes that Britain would be embarking on a "very dangerous experiment" if it gave Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn power: Asked if Mr Corbyn was a product of his, Mr Blair told the BBC's ...
[IMG: Hagia Sophia, Istanbul] Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, which has been a church, a mosque, and is now a museum The messaging has been blunt. The front page of Vote Leave's web site currently (29 May 2016) leads with "Turkey joining the EU means even more stress on our country". There have been posters from them saying Turkey is joining the EU, and an infographic on facebook showing a map of Europe with showing the population of Turkey as 77 Million, and an arrow from there to the UK, as if the entire population of Turkey is coming here. That makes ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has announced his leadership team which contains the 5 MSPs and 7 women from outside Parliament. Some of them will be well known to LDV readers. Willie said: Scottish Liberal Democrats have punched above our weight over the last five years at the Scottish Parliament and the team announced today will help ensure that we continue to lead the agenda. Our party is full of talented people and I am delighted that senior party figures outside of Holyrood will play a leading role in driving our policy agenda forwards for the next five years. ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 30 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. Guthrie Street - off-peak traffic control for 2 weeks for footway works. Forthcoming Closures Thomson Street (Magdalen Yard Road for approximately 100m north) - closed from Monday 13 June for 5 days for Scottish Water service connection works. Seabraes Lane (from No 11 for a distance of 30m westwards) - ...
We decided to go to Preston recently but to go by train from Ormskirk on that almost backwater line that has an irregular service. My previous posting of not so long ago about Ormskirk, details the history of the bizarre splitting of the through Liverpool – Preston line at this market town. See link below to that posting:- [IMG: Ormskirk Station at night.] Ormskirk Station at night. We got the 1.24 from from Ormskirk, one of only 13 trains to Preston that day. On a similar weekday there are trains to and from Ormskirk to Liverpool every 15 minutes ...
