This past seven days I have run the full gambit of the Mayoral experience from lunch with the High Sherriff to afternoon tea with the Salvation Army at the Floral Hall-(I was the only one who scraped the cream off my scone) This morning I was in Bootle Town Hall to chair a Citizenship Ceremony. It was a most impressive and dignified occasion as befitted the importance of the occasion. During the proceedings the four new citizens made a formal and public pledge that they would be loyal subjects and uphold the laws of the country. Before getting to this ...
In the 18th century the Boughton Park estate was owned by the Earls of Strafford. William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford, built six follies there. The photograph above shows The Spectacle, a castellated archway built to be seen on the horizon from Boughton Hall. Near it stands a large house in similarly romantic style. this is not one of Wentworth's follies but Holly Lodge, which was built for the Jeyes family (as in Jeyes Fluid) in the following century. Another of the Boughton Park follies is the Hawking Tower, which I have been looking for on the main road between ...
Mike Charlesworth, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Leicestershire's fire authority, has written a letter of complaint about the way the authority is being run to its monitoring officer. The complaint, reports the Leicester Mercury, follows the departure of the county's chief fire officer after just over a year in the job with an £84,000 pay off. This move was not discussed with the Lib Dem group, which holds the balance of power with the authority. It would probably have remained secret if the Mercury had not revealed it. There is a widespread perception that the fire authority ...
One of the favourite arguments of more lucid adherents to the Vote Leave campaign is that a Britain outside the EU would be able to rebuild a special trading relationship with the Commonwealth. However, the evidence does not bear this out. Trade links to the Commonwealth (as well as the nostalgia of Empire Loyalty) was [...]
Second line of Scene Three: ERIC: She looked like Gerry Adams. Thanks very much to [IMG: Cyprus Avenue]
Permission has been granted for an offshore Windfarm to be built off the coast at Blyth. The five ( initially ) turbines will be built 6 kilometres ( about 4 miles in old money ) off shore by EDF Energy Renewables. Construction will begin in 2017 and will involve new "gravity base" foundations, and they will be built at Neptune Drydock on the Tyne. The operations will be from the Port of Blyth, and the first phase should be finished within a year from the start of construction. The five turbines will generate enough electricity to power 33,000 homes
When asked to draw a firefighter, surgeon and a fighter pilot, what do you think this group of primary school children came up with? An eye-opening two-minute film by the Education & Employers Taskforce and Inspiring the Future "reveals the reality of gender stereotyping among primary school children." The answer, by the way: 61 pictures were drawn of men and only five drew women in these roles. Which is a much better explainer of why the gender pay gap exists than unequal pay — about which I wrote in March: It is lazily reported in the media as if the ...
The ever-popular Chipping Sodbury Festival runs again from 10th to 19th June 2016. There are lots of events for all the family - check out the Festival website for details of all the events. The All Day Street Fayre and Carnival, organised by the Lions Club of Chipping Sodbury, will be on Saturday 18th June from 10 am to 5 pm. The Carnival procession will be at 3 pm.
Tue 7th
13:41
The inconsistencies and risk inherent in Vote Leave's economic arguments must be exposed.
Yesterday we had a brief glimpse into a post Brexit future as sterling fell sharply on polls putting Leave ahead. Any shock to an economic system will hit growth and investment at least in the short term, as has been grudgingly conceded by Leavers. Voters must confront the reality that in a Brexit scenario swathes of the population may have to change their jobs, whether they like it or not, and face a period of unemployment whilst the economy is reconfigured. Vote Leave discretely and disingenuously propose two mutually exclusive models for the nation post-Brexit, one outside the Single Market, ...
I have, in the past, noted my respect (and not a little affection) for Sally Hamwee. She has been a key figure within the Parliamentary Party in the House of Lords, a valued President of the London Regional Party and, put simply, a nice person. She made my time as a member of the Regional Executive a little more enjoyable than it might otherwise have been. And, it should be noted, she and Ros worked closely together as frontbenchers over a period of years. Yes, I like the noble Baroness. And so, when Ros mentioned that we had been invited ...
Kingston's Tory Council Leader, Kevin Davis is determined to change the face of the Royal Borough with a series of developments of increasing scale, height and numbers of luxury home and decreasing numbers of affordable homes for local people. Kingston's jet setting Council leader While cutting youth centres and old folks' homes and putting up the council tax he has set up a £4m fund to encourage even more of his developer friends into the borough. So it was of little surprise that he swanned off to Cannes in March for the annual property and booze fest that is MIPIM ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said we cannot leave children stranded on waiting lists for mental health services as new figures showed almost 100 children in Lothian had been waiting more than a year for treatment and were still to be seen by specialists as of March 2016. New data on Children and Adolescent [...]
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP today said that nine years of SNP government has left the NHS short of key staff as new figures on workforce statistics were published this morning. The figures showed that there are hundreds of vacancies for consultants across NHS Scotland and a shortfall of thousands of nurses [...]
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above In fact I got this story before I saw it on the Echo web site from staff in the store when I popped in earlier today. They are expecting closure August or a little later. Coming only a short time after HMRC announced it is taking over 3,000 civil service jobs out of Bootle/Netherton this is another hammer blow to the fragile Bootle economy. One wonders if the loss of the civil service jobs in Bootle contributed to M&S deciding to sling their hook? M&S has clearly been the ...
In a new report the Taxpayer's Alliance (TPA) described the Government's planned sugar tax as "regressive", saying it will "hit the poorest families hardest". The new tax, announced by the Chancellor in his 2016 budget, will be levied on the soft drinks industry with the intention of reducing obesity. Embed from Getty Images Liberal Democrat support for a sugar tax began in 2012 when Autumn conference recommended consulting on "taxation of heavily sugared drinks". Tom Brake MP wrote in the IB Times this year commending George Osborne's "bravery" in introducing the levy. The Scottish Liberal Democrats' 2016 manifesto committed to ...
I was due to go to Whickham at 10am on Sunday morning to help in a planting day hosted by Planting Up Whickham. I was all ready to go and popped into my allotment to get some tools, only to find a swarm of bees in the hedge. I had to deal with it straight away, not an easy job given I have to cut the branches from around the swarm. By about 11am the swarm was in my swarm box. I could go late to
pseudomonas | StrongerIn campaigning RT @pseudomonas: If you're pro-Remain, & most of your Twitter circle are too, tweeting pro-Remain arguments will have limited effect. Christian fundamentalist schools teaching girls they must obey men | Education News | News | The Independent Actually felt sick after reading this Feminist porn director Pandora Blake wins right to reinstate fetish website in landmark ruling | Love & Sex | Lifestyle | The Independent RT @Independent: This woman was silenced by anti-porn laws. Now she's fighting back Instagram I think Roxy is a pretty good #disneylookalike for Tramp How We Obliterate Female Sexual Desire ...
[IMG: Austrian Parliament] Over the last few weeks I've seen some impassioned and considered blog posts outlining so eloquently why the respective authors want to remain in the EU. I must admit, I panicked. How could I make my own contribution to the debate in the last few weeks stand out from the rest? Yesterday evening, it struck me. Something that hasn't (to my knowledge) been done before... An A-Z 'Remain' poem and general ode to the EU! You saw it here first. Enjoy.... Are you ready for the vote of a lifetime? Belgian chocolate, Barolo, it's all on the ...
My colleagues in Whickham North ward kindly gave me three patches of our Thank You Focuses to deliver. So yesterday I was out on the Glebe and Rectory Estate, where my Dad lives, putting 400 Focuses through doors. The lead story was the thank you message. The back page is about Labour's calamitous decision to walk away from devolution and about the EU referendum. As the 3 stories are common to
Embed from Getty Images I've heard quite a few people saying words along these lines: I've heard claims and counter-claims about the EU and I just don't know who to believe. The solution to this quandary is but a quick Google away. Here's a list of some impartial fact-checking sites who are running a stream of articles on the main issues of the EU debate. Please spread the word about these sites. It would be a crying shame if, on June 24th, we hear anyone saying: I didn't vote because I was confused by the claims and counter-claims of both ...
Tue 7th
10:06
Crew Clothing in Ludlow wants a horrid makeover - it will damage the character of King Street
The facias of shops are a great part of the character of our town. Yet we have the horrors of Shoe Zone (soon to become Joules clothing I hear). Hope House has a new facia that promotes the shop well but does nothing for the character of King Street. Now Crew Clothing wants a really... Continue reading Crew Clothing in Ludlow wants a horrid makeover - it will damage the character of King Street →
The 7th of June is the deadline to register to vote in the EU referendum. Whilst I urge everyone to take an active interest in the decision I think that it is of particular importance for young people to fully participate and vote in the referendum. Younger age groups have a reputation for being disinterested in politics. The voter turnout is very low at 51.8% for under 25s in 2010 compared to 74.7% for over 65s. In my experience young people are not uninformed or disinterested in politics but rather disillusioned. We are put off by the Westminster bubble. Valid ...
We all agree that the EU referendum campaign has been unedifying – and we're not even into the final two weeks of it yet, where the ugliness is bound to increase, particularly after the Leavers got a poll bounce off the immigration stuff. The squalid nature of the debate has come as no surprise to me: referendum debates are always like this. However, usually at least the side advocating change tries to give us a positive case for it rather than just adding to the negativity. In this, the EU referendum campaign has gone against the grain. What has surprised ...
Embed from Getty Images I've heard quite a few people saying words along these lines: I've heard claims and counter-claims about the EU and I just don't know who to believe. The solution to this quandary is but a quick Google away. Here's a list of some impartial fact-checking sites who are running a stream of articles on the main issues of the EU debate: BBC Reality Check Channel 4 News FactCheck Full Fact – "an independent, non-partisan, factchecking charity" (Registration number: 1158683) The UK in a changing Europe – Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] A template press release on online ticket fraud is below- MUSIC AND SPORTS FANS AT RISK OF HUGE RISE IN ONLINE TICKET FRAUD, WARNS LOCAL LIB DEM COUNCILLOR People desperate to attend major pop concerts, music festivals and sporting events this summer face a greater risk of falling victim to criminals after online ticket fraud soared [...]
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] A template press release on National Starter Homes is below. Join ALDC here to gain full access to their unrivalled collection of local campaigning resources and support for just £3.41 per month. PRESS RELEASE: NATIONAL STARTER HOMES POLICY MEANS LESS CHOICE FOR LOCAL AREAS Councils should have the choice about the mix and type of [...]
The Parklike Festival is taking place this weekend in Heaton Park. 75,000 people are expected each day. A shuttle bus will is provided to take take participants to the park from Manchester City Cetnre. All private hire and taxi provision is at Sainsbury's on the Blackley Side of the park. Sheepfoot Lane, Scholes Lane, Blackley New Road, Whittaker Lane and part of Middleton Road (between Victoria Avenue and Crumpsall Lane) will be closed to all traffic for a short time. Please bear this in mind when planning any journeys. People who live very close the park have already been contacted ...
This coming weekend (10-13 June) there will be closures on the M32 motorway near Bristol from 8pm on Friday 10 June until 6am on Monday 13 June. The closures are between junctions 1 and 3. They are taking place so a new bridge can be put in place over the motorway for the MetroBus. To minimise disruption, Highways England plan to carry out the work in four shifts: Fri 10 June 8pm to Sat 11 June 8am Full closure between Junction 1 and 3 in both directions Sat 11 June 8am to 8pm Full closure between Junction 1 and 2 ...
Welcome to a new email service from me, this time to get the best and latest news about British political opinion polling. It is different in two key ways from my range of Liberal Democrat email lists. First, it's deliberately pitched for a wider interest – this isn't just about polling which focuses on the Lib Dems. Second, it's a carefully curated selection of stories from others, with just the occasional story from myself. I've gone for including stories from sites which are generally fairly low volume in their posting (unlike the main feed on this site!) – i.e. just ...
Bury is to get its own 10km run on Sunday 18 September 2016 with the Asda Foundation Bury 10k. Around 1,000 runners are expected to take part with lots of opportunities for raising money for good causes. Full details of the route will be revealed soon, but the course is set to be flat and suitable for all ages and abilities, from beginners just starting out on their fitness journey to experienced fast runners looking for a personal best. It will start and finish at a local landmark and take in some of the town's historic highlights. It's £20 to ...
This Thursday evening sees the inaugural AGM to form a new committee to take forward evening classes once Harris Academy fully returns to Perth Road. All residents very welcome - and a great opportunity to see round the new school building :
Nearly ten o'clock on a Monday evening, a rail replacement bus service awaits to convey me from Colchester to Ipswich. I get on the coach (a very nice one, I must say) and look down the vehicle. Every pair of seats has one person in them and so, noticing that there's a spare seat in the front row, I politely ask the person occupying the aisle seat, his briefcase occupying the other seat, if I could take it. He looks at me. He looks over his shoulder down the coach. He looks at me again, as if to say, "why ...
Some people have accused the Remain campaign of being negative but whatever the outcome of the vote on 23 June, the worse tactics have surely come from those wanting us to quit the EU. Nigel Farage has taken his campaign to new depths over the last few days when he resorted to the "age-old racist" claim that migrants put British women at risk of sexual assaults: In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Farage - who is campaigning for Brexit with the unofficial, immigration focused Leave.EU campaign - said the "nuclear bomb" of the referendum campaign was the mass ...
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Reference 60096 Alternative Reference Not Available Application Received Wed 04 May 2016 Address 190 Heywood Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1LD Proposal Prior notification of proposed single storey extension at rear Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Reference 60099 Alternative Reference PP-05115238 Application Received Thu 05 May 2016 Address 39 Simister Lane, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2SU Proposal First floor and single storey extension at rear with raised patio area; Dormer roof extension at rear; New roof to front porch; Addition of windows to side elevation Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
