Jonathan Meades writes for the London Review of Books: Concorde was seen in the sky over West London for the first time in late June 1969. Less than a month later Neil Armstrong stepped from Apollo 11 onto the moon. The future had arrived. It was tangible, it was thrilling, it was now. We came to believe that we were all part of an adventure without end. This was just the beginning, the new beginning. What we didn't realise was that this was it. A peak had been achieved. The only way was down.
Embed from Getty Images The most popular recent post on this blog has been the one about how the Corbynistas are following the situational logic of all revolutions. Part of that logic, at least, has also been adopted by the supporters of Brexit. I have in mind this paragraph from the post: I would add that the failure of the revolution is always blamed on sabotage and the new regime takes brutal action against the supposed culprits. Once they have been eliminated, the people are told, all the promises of a better world that accompanied the revolution will be fulfilled.Brexit, ...
Embed from Getty Images Junior doctors in England will of strike for five consecutive days in September to try to win a new contract. And the BBC suggests there will be five days of strikes each month until Christmas. Such action will inevitably put patients at risk and the British Medical Association should think again. The medical profession is in danger of going the same way in public esteem as teaching, and not just because it is allowing the junior members of the profession to decide policy. Because there has long been a contradiction in the worldview of the teaching ...
Non-fiction: 2 (YTD 31) Drama and Delight: The Life of Verity Lambert, by Richard Marson Ghastly Beyond Belief, eds. Neil Gaiman and Kim Newman Fiction (non-sf): 1 (YTD 20) The Beggar Maid, by Alice Munro Play scripts: 7 Dido, Queen of Carthage, by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great, by Christopher Marlowe The Second Part of Tamburlaine the Great, by Christopher Marlowe The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe Edward the Second, by Christopher Marlowe The Massacre At Paris, by Christopher Marlowe sf (non-Who): 11 ...
Tomorrow it will be 1,820 days since men who have had sex with men (MSM) have been able to give blood in England, Wales and Scotland. Tomorrow is also the first day that the same 12 month deferral period comes into force in Northern Ireland. After years of me campaigning for an evidence based policy on the risk my blood and that or other people who take every precaution possible with regards to their blood this is the eve of a momentous day. The 17th August 1998 was the last time I donated blood and on that day I had ...
Wed 31st
18:17
A Liverpool Artist who exhibited with leading Post Impressionists chosen for Mayor's parlour
This will all make much more sense if you start here Mary McCrossan (18631934) My next choice was of a renowned Liverpool artist. Mary McCrossan attended Liverpool's School of Art and studied in Paris before becoming a member of the Sandon Studios Society. This picture of the Doge's Palace was purchased in 1925 by The AtkinsonLater works by McCrossan, including St Ives (1927) from the Liverpool Williamson Art Gallery and Museum's collection, suggest that she was significantly influenced by the Post Impressionists.Some people cannot see a picture of Venice without recalling Mahler's music which accompanied 1971 film. I think this ...
As readers of the Mayoral blog will know I have been spending some time at The Atkinson recently. On my way out this afternoon I passed through an exhibition I had not noticed before and part of it featured the adventures of Dan Dare. As readers of a certain vintage will know the Eagle comic was a remarkably successful publication. The stories , in the main, were written by a Birkdale Clergy man the Vicar of St James's Marcus Morris and the artwork was produced by a lecturer at the Southport Art College Frank Hampson. They have some excellent exhibits ...
To give credit where it's due there would not be a Liverpool City Region if Joe Anderson had not persisted despite opposition from other Labour leaders In an unusual attempt to bring harmony within the council in Liverpool my Lib ... Continue reading →
Second speech of third scene (Act 2 Scene 1): ABIGAIL: Now have I happily espied a time To search the plank my father did appoint; And here, behold, unseen, where I have found The gold, the pearls, and jewels, which he hid. I just loved this. Barabbas, the Jew of the title, is screwed out of his substantial property by the Christian rulers of Malta, and exacts revenge upon his enemies - at great personal cost, in particular as regards his own beautiful daughter Abigail. I paused after reading the first act, rather hoping that Barabbas would find some way ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] Liberal Democrats on the Local Government Association are urging new ministers to rethink the Pay to Stay policy which will require councils to charge some of their tenants higher rents from April 2017. It comes as new analysis reveals that more than 70,000 social housing tenants could face rent rise bills of an average £1,000 [...]
Wed 31st
14:59
In Full: Tim Farron's speech to the IPPR: Lib Dems will find a "more humane, effective, successful w...
We like publishing speeches in full on LDV, partly for the historical record – things can be taken down from the party website if they become inconvenient after the passage of time, but they stay here – and partly because it's useful to see the whole speech rather than some out of context quotes. Here is Tim Farron's speech to the IPPR in Manchester this morning. It doesn't get into the nitty gritty of Brexit, or the party's response to it, the subject of a fair bit of discussion in recent days. He does however set out the Lib Dem ...
[IMG: glasgow conference 2014] I am young and partially sighted (registered blind so far as law is concerned). At times it can feel as if these factors make me fairly insignificant in economic and political society. Factually, I have far less economic potential than my parents. What little savings are in my name have been scuppered to get through university. My peers and I face harsher economic prospects with less opportunity to buy and control our own destinies than our parents. Politically, I am part of a demographic that isn't valued or represented by the quintessential modern politician, who learning ...
The recent poor performance of the Southern rail franchise, operated by Govia Thameslink Railway, have cast concern at the Government's decision to exclude rail from the 2015 Consumer Rights Act. An Act which allows customers to be adequately compensated for any excessive disruption. In addition, passengers being forced to travel in cramped conditions when ironically, there are tight regulations preventing the overcrowding of animals when they are transported by train, but no similar rules relate to people. Recent news headlines have been filled with these chaotic tales and the genuine distress of travellers, but what is more worrying is that ...
Two reports today show that feminism's work is far from done. A worrying analysis from the Children's Society says that 1 in 7 girls are unhappy with more than 1 in 3 being particularly anxious over their appearance. Given the massive media pressure on what constitutes beauty, it's hardly surprising that body image remains such a strong trigger of unhappiness. Girls suffer significantly more unhappiness than boys and this feeds into greater rates of mental ill health. It's not difficult to see why if you look at the SRE Now tag on Twitter and read Laura Bates' and Sarah Green's ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 30-08-2016 posted The Blood is the Life for 30-08-2016 on #dreamwidth Twitter RT @DavidAllenGreen: Brexit requires more than political will — it needs to be capable of happening By me at @FT Brexit requires more than political will — it needs to be capable of happening | David Allen Green RT @DavidAllenGreen: Brexit requires more than political will — it needs to be capable of happening By me at @FT Twitter @wmarybeard been dying my hair (blue, purple, pink) since I was 14; roots show some grey but not stopping now :) ...
As regular readers of my blog and followers of my life might remember, about a year ago I completed a Masters in Politics at the University of Essex. I'd started the Masters partly on a whim, figuring that it would be good to take advantage of having one of the leading politics departments in the country on my doorstep, but as I went on with it I discovered that I really enjoyed being a student again, particularly in getting to research new areas and explore political systems. While the Masters came to an end last year, I decided that I ...
From the EU Commission's press release: The European Commission has concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 billion to Apple. This is illegal under EU state aid rules, because it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses. Ireland must now recover the illegal aid. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "Member States cannot give tax benefits to selected companies - this is illegal under EU state aid rules. The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other ...
Those of us who were astonished at the proposal, which was mooted yesterday that MPs should receive an unconditoinal lump sum allowance instead of claiming expenses with receipts, were less surprised that the idea originated with Newport West MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Paul Flynn. Mr. Flynn is a man of the highest integrity, with the ability to think outside of the box. His problem, in my view is that his judgement is suspect as to which box he chooses to do his thinking out of. Paul Flynn believes that the current system is time-consuming and has ...
[IMG: Departure board at Southport Station.] Departure board at Southport Station. The petition available via the link above is well worth supporting as we try to stop Arriva Trains Northern/Network Rail and other public bodies making all Southport – Wigan – Manchester trains go into Manchester Victoria Station. [IMG: Southport Rail Transport Forum logo] Southport Rail Transport Forum logo Presently around half go into Manchester Piccadilly Station which is far more convenient for commuters working in Manchester. [IMG: OPSTA logo] OPSTA logo Southport Rail Transport Forum, OPSTA (Ormskirk, Preston and Southport Travellers Association) and MP's representing constituencies along the ...
As the Cabinet gathers rather awkwardly at Chequers to discuss the implementation of Brexit, Tim Farron makes a keynote speech to the Institute of Public Policy Research in Manchester this morning. It will be interesting to see if and how he tackles the question of the Open Britain organisation, much discussed on here in the last couple of days. The advance extracts of his speech concentrate on the need to do something about the increase in hatred and open racism since the referendum and he again emphasises that the Liberal Democrats will stand up for those EU citizens already living ...
The Guardian has the story on its web site – see link above. Those who do not pay their fair share of taxes, be they companies or individuals, are, by their actions in my view, putting public services at risk. They are also by default expecting others to fund those services whilst they take a taxation holiday. The fact that both the Irish Government and Apple have been pulled up by the EU for participating in what the EU is calling an illegal agreement on taxation is a good thing and shows how effective the EU can be at ...
The Friends of Balgay Summer 2016 Meeting will take place on Saturday 3rd September in the Mills Observatory. It starts at 2pm and everyone is welcome! There will be a talk about the observatory and its work by a staff member and also the opportunity to take part in a tour of the observatory and see the recent improvements.
For those of you unaware, the Conservative government is bringing in new boundaries in 2018, ones that will form the basis of constituencies for whenever the next general election is held (2020, unless the Fixed Term Parliament Act is got round). It will reduce the number of MPs from the current 650 to 600. In doing so, it will make English constituencies more generally Tory friendly. This is easy to understand intuitively: when you make constituencies bigger in size you have a good chance in many instances of having them expand into suburbs and rural areas. But if this was ...
I have mixed views on the sport, or pastime, of yachting, but I think that the work that the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club is doing to preserve their club house, formerly the Light Vessel LV50 is laudable ! The vessel will be open to the public on 8th, 9th and 10th September, details are on the attached flyer.
Besides recharging my batteries at the minster, a good reason for visiting Southwell was to seek out Gladstone Books. Secondhand bookshops, which used to be one of my vices, are dying out fast. The last time I made a journey partly to visit one it was to Oundle and I found the shop had gone. The best guide I know to those that remain is The Bookshop Guide. Gladstone Books, however, was there and I can recommend it. It may even be one of those magic shops, as I found there a copy of a book that people have been ...
