You don't have to be a member of any particular political grouping to be a supporter of the NHS and the principle that, whilst highly specialised services may need to be located in centralised hospitals, more general care needs to be based as close as possible to people's homes. That's why I'll be joining the FOOTPRINTS march from Bishop Auckland to Shotley Bridge Hospital on October 24th. If you're fit enough to walk the 17.6 miles (there's a bus from Tow Law to Castleside) do join us. I can send you the itinerary if you want. If not, why not ...
Something a little different today. The politics news is a total horrorshow, but it's the same horrorshow we've been seeing for months, so nothing new to say about that, and I haven't quite finished the next Batpost or my post ... Continue reading →
Southwark Labour proposed earlier this year to have 10m of double yellow lines added to East Dulwich junctions. So for a 4 way junction 10m on each side of each junction would result in 80m of double yellow lines. We have a lot of junctions WOW circa 10km of parking would be removed across Dulwich. We've objected and finally had agreement that ward councillors will review all such junctions and make our counter proposals. This is what I've proposed to my ward colleagues – maximum of 2m of double yellow lines from the apex of each corner. Cllr Rosie Shimell ...
This is the second of two parts of a video looking at the remains of the Bishop's Castle Railway - part 1 is here. This time the intermediate stations feature strongly, which will interest readers of Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine books . In Wings Over Witchend the Morton twins find the villains' stash of stolen Christmas trees in the disused Plowden station: When they were nearer they saw that where the rails has once been laid in a single track was now a grassy lane, and here again the snow had been churned into mud by the wheels of cars. ...
Embed from Getty Images Twitter has been alive this evening with rumours that Diane James has resigned as leader of Ukip. Those rumours appear to be true, with the most authoritative report coming from Owen Bennett on Huffington Post, which adds this telling detail: Yesterday, the Electoral Commission confirmed to HuffPost UK it had not received the paperwork from Ukip confirming James was the party's new leader. A spokesperson said: "We have been in contact with UKIP and are expecting the party's leadership change to be confirmed shortly."
Witney by-election candidate Liz Leffman makes her case to the voters in this new film from the Liberal Democrats.
This is no surprise. I predicted a few weeks back that Shropshire Council's planners would recommend approval of the controversial plans to build a superstore and petrol station at Rocks Green on the outskirts of Ludlow. And so it proves. This is the most controversial application to hit Ludlow in many years. It will change... Continue reading Rocks Green superstore - planners say it should go ahead →
Tue 4th
19:30
Author of book on Leicestershire children's homes scandal will be in Leicester on Saturday
Paul Gosling, co-author of a book on Frank Beck and the Leicestershire children's home scandal, will be signing copies of the new edition at Waterstone's in Leicester on Saturday. The Canbury Press website says he will also be available to talk to journalists and readers: He will discuss why Beck got away with his behaviour for so long despite complaints from children and concerns to the council from co-workers. He will also broach the multiple allegations faced by [Greville] Janner, an MP in the city for 27 years.Paul Gosling was a Labour councillor in Leicester between 1987 and 1991. His ...
There will be a drop-in event on plans for traffic calming around the Dodington Road railway bridge on Wednesday 5th October from 4pm to 7pm in the sports classroom at Chipping Sodbury school, Bowling Road. In August it became apparent to Network Rail that there would be a reduction in visibility due to the railway bridge works. Network Rail have now agreed a solution with South Gloucestershire Council with the following features: Single speed pillows on the north and south approaches to the bridgeRoad markings to be repainted where necessaryAn additional "SLOW" painted on the road on the south approachNew ...
After 18months of campaigning we've managed to get a second ticket machine at Denmark Hill station. I've chased the required planning permissions through. Caroline Pidgeon GLA AM has been super supportive nudging the train company. We met on site, with our new Lib Dem Dulwich and West Norwood parliamentary candidate, to see the new machine which is currently undergoing final testing before going live soon... [IMG: IMG_0984]
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and Jo Barton are holding their next advice centre on Saturday 8th October from 11 am to 12 noon at St John's Primary School, Rufford Road, Crossens. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We also hold a monthly advice centre in Churchtown, at BoxTree Kitchen for Queenscourt café, Manor Road/Cambridge Road, roundabout, fourth Thursday of every month (except December) from 10:30 to: 11.30 am.
Second line of third episode: Hargreaves: Yes, Miss? Another audio story with the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa, written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris (who wrote the brilliant Scarifyers, starring Nicholas Courtney and Terry Molloy, a few years back). It's a nice isolated space ship story: the TARDIS arrives to find the human crew mysteriously absent, and the genteel but strangely forgetful robot Hargreaves (played charmingly by Matthew Cottle, who I remember from Game On twenty years ago) more or less in charge. The captain, when she eventually turns up, is played by Nina Sosanya who was brilliant in ...
Tue 4th
17:15
The Brexiteers have got their split from Rome. Next they'll try to dissolve the monasteries.
So that's that then. Theresa May has announced that she'll trigger Article 50 by the end of March. Therefore, unless Mishcon de Reya pull off a spectacular victory against the attorney general and his squad of QCs in court, it seems likely that the Brexiteers will be granted their divorce. Like Henry VIII, they've got what they wanted: a split from the European consensus. Some, like Daniel Hannan, may choose to leave it at that. But getting their own way will do nothing to pacify most Brexiteers. Because it's true that for the Brexit right, the European Union has been ...
For an industrial dispute which has been mishandled from the outset, it's hard to imagine a worse outcome than where we've got to now. The relatively small number of GMB Members (who voted to accept the council's revised deal) will now be issued with variations of contract. So will the ONE member of Unite. That means they will not be dismissed and re-engaged, but they will be put onto the new greatly worsened pay and conditions, and will receive two years "compensation" for the loss of earnings. The far bigger number of Unison members, who voted very heavily to reject ...
The divorce analogy for Brexit annoys me because it's simplistic and moreover takes people in odd directions about mid-life crisis and tends to assume Britain is a man as well, for some reason I can't quite fathom. Anyway, the other side of this is how we repair our country in the middle of this crisis. As the pound continues to fall and a Tory conference continues, a conference that was told to produce one Brexit announcement per department to be announced this week. These ever more baffling announcements arrive with their particularly strange angle, leaving the rest of Britain reeling ...
[IMG: Dave Hodgson at Polling Station in Bedford 15 Oct 2009w] Nominations have closed for members to serve on the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) Management Committee, 2016-2018. Mayor Dave Hodgson has been elected as the next Chair of ALDC. Dave Hodgson has been the Liberal Democrat Elected Mayor of Bedford Borough since 2009. Dave was previously a Councillor on Bedford Borough Council, having first been elected in 2002, and was leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the Council prior to his election as Mayor. Dave has previously run his own business in the North East, and worked ...
It was great to be invited to Liz Short's 100 birthday party held at Bootle Cricket Club. Liz had five generations of her family present. My job was to present her with the telegram from the Queen and to join in the singing of Happy Birthday Paul Newbery presented Liz with a bottle of Champagne on behalf of the Bootle Cricket Club who hosted the event. Everyone I spoke to was very impressed with the club and the care it had taken over this event Liz lives at the Willow Gardens, St Edmonds Rd, Bootle and other residents and staff ...
Embed from Getty Images Last week I was hoping to hear Liam Fox speak on 'Maintaining the UK life sciences' leading position' at a Royal Society of Medicine symposium 'Brexit; the Implications for the UK's Life Science Industry'. He cancelled (what an (un)surprise). The implications for academia, industry and the NHS are profound. Already universities, research institutes and individual researchers are feeling the chill, particularly for long term EU grants. The government says it will honour any EU funding to 2020, an easy promise as we will still be a member until 2019. They have failed to understand that new ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above I have commented on the unfortunate declining fortunes of Bootle many times before. What with HMRC pulling all its 3,000 staff out of the Town and with M&S already having run for the hills things have not been looking good for the place I have worked in since 1975. My last relevant posting is available via the link below:- Is this plan going to revive Bootle's fortunes? Is it the right plan to revive its fortunes?
I wrote an article in the Guardian today defending Liberalism from the otherwise invariably correct Martin Kettle, and trying to distinguish it from neoliberalism. I made the mistake of reading about 200 comments below the line afterwards, which is always a depressing business, but could - in the midst of all the other rage - discern something of an argument emerging. There was a similar pattern going on in the Lib Dem Policy Debate Facebook page. The argument was about how much Milton Friedman was right that most monopoly was caused by governments - and whether, therefore, we are about ...
There we were, Jen and I sat discussing the political and social mess that the UK is in over a cup of tea in Gregs Bootle Strand cafe. We ranged over a number of things such as the Tories turning into UKIP, Labour seemingly becoming narrow nationalists and being unable to be the opposition in Parliament and how selfish we seem to have become as a Brexit nation. Next to us there was a chap sat on his own whom it turned out was interested in our conversation because he jumped up and said that we needed to cut foreign ...
Embed from Getty Images I have now read Theresa May's speech from the Conservative conference on Sunday. The key passage appears to be this one (with my bolding): ...we will seek the best deal possible as we negotiate a new agreement with the European Union. I want that deal to reflect the kind of mature, cooperative relationship that close friends and allies enjoy. I want it to include cooperation on law enforcement and counter-terrorism work. I want it to involve free trade, in goods and services. I want it to give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and ...
[IMG: Liz Leffman] It's all go at Witney. Here are some of the highlights of the last few days: Hundreds of helpers descended on our Witney HQ over the weekend, with queues of party activists outside the building on Sunday morning, keen to do canvassing and leaflet delivery Special pink Liz Leffman diamond posters have gone up to raise awareness of Breast cancer. Two people came off the street to help the campaign on Saturday and, when they'd finished, joined the party. Liz Leffman has launched a new petition to save services being cut by the Tories at local hospitals. ...
I've written already about how flat and small Labour conference was this year and how massive Tory conference seems in comparison. But put this into the mix: I had way more fun at Labour conference than I did here in Birmingham. Partly this may have to do with the fact that I know more Labour people than Tories, and that a lot of the Tories I know and like didn't show up this year due to the purge of the Cameroons. But there's more to it than that, I think. At Labour, for all its downsides, there was a sense ...
"A Britain that works for everyone." This is what Britain's Conservatives say they want to achieve under the new prime minister, Theresa May. Partly, of course, this talk is meant as an attempt to divert attention from the difficult choices implied by Brexit. But there is an issue that is slowly coming to dominate the life-chances of "everyone", ... Continue reading The housing crisis is an opportunity for the left. →
Tue 4th
09:15LibLink: Nick Clegg - Brexit is proving that the Tories are no longer the party of business
Embed from Getty Images Writing in the Evening Standard, Nick Clegg argues that the Conservative party poses a serious threat to the long-term health of the British economy: May's party is now poised to inflict more damage on the British economy in one Parliament than John McDonnell could manage in a decade. The evidence accumulates by the day: just this week the Conservatives announced a sweeping increase in business rates for many high-street companies, especially in London, having buried the business rate review initiated by Danny Alexander in the last Government. The Financial Times has reported that the Government is ...
[IMG: Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary] Oxford City Council Liberal Democrats successfully put forward the motion to the Council meeting this week on the needs of unaccompanied refugee children and Syrian refugees. Thanks to Liberal Democrats Seekers of Sanctuary for sharing. The motion that is now Council policy says Council notes: The refugee crisis over the summer including refugees from Syria [...]
Having spectacularly screwed up the proposed reorganisation of Welsh local councils by failing to include the other political parties in the commision that drew up the initial proposals and putting in place red lines that precluded future cross party support, the First Minister has gone back to the drawing board with a new minister and new proposals which are well, just a variation on the status quo. The BBC report that the Local Government Secretary Mark Drakeford is to make a statement later today that proposes better joint working as the solution to all local government's problems. The problem is ...
Residents recently brought to my attention the fact that the one-way sign at the Shepherd's Loan exit from Pinegrove is damaged (see right) and one of the safety bollards is broken (see below) : I contacted the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership about the sign, which they are to replace. I also contacted the site factors about the bollard and their Property Manager has updated me as follows : "I will investigate and repair/replace as required."
Liberal Democrats in Bury have secured all-party support for a motion at Bury's Full Council outlining the support of councillors to the principle of 'Green Belt'. Green Belt, introduced in various areas of Britain from 1955, as a planning policy to protect countryside around the countries largest urban areas. · To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas · To prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another · To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment · To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns · To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of ...
Nominations for UK's Best Park 2016 are now open. In order to nominate you'll need to submit a short 50 word description explaining why you think your favourite local green space is the UK's best. You have until 5pm on Wednesday 19th October to get your nomination in. Voting opens at 9am on Thursday 20th October. In order to be voted for a park must first be nominated. Make sure you spread the word to all your friends and family to encourage them to vote for your favourite local green space as the UK's best. Voting will close at 5pm ...
Details below of a family friendly tree planting event at Hurst Wood (Copper Lane Whitefield) on Thursday 13 and Saturday 15 October 2016. Refreshments available and tools provided!
Bury Council has given outline planning permission for 160 new homes on the former industrial site off George Street, off Bury New Road in Sedgley Park. The homes would take three-quarters of the site, the remaining one quarter being used for purpose built business units. Planning permission is conditional on the developers providing more detail on the proposed houses. [IMG: Screen Shot 2016-10-04 at 07.01.59] A number of residents objected strongly to the scheme because of fears of increased traffic and congestion in the area which already suffers from parking and traffic issues. More details here (page 23 onwards)
Why the 27 are taking a hard line on Brexit @CER_Grant explains lucidly. (tags: ukpolitics eu brexit ) The EU Considers how to React to new UK Timing on Brexit @chairmanyaffle reports. (tags: ukpolitics eu brexit ) Early Flickerings: E. H. Shepard's Bevis (1932) Great example of the illustrator's art. (tags: literature art children ) Malta PM: Brexit talks will be like the Greek bailout Sums up the EU27 view well. (tags: malta brexit ukpolitics eu )
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Removal of conditions 4, 6 & 11 of planning permission 59412 Prestwich Heys A.F.C, Adie Moran Park, Sandgate Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6WG Ref. No: 60567 Received: Thu 08 Sep 2016 The application relates to a small number of conditions that were applied in an older planning permission relating to the perimeter fence and the car park. Details here. 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.
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Certificate of lawfulness for proposed dormer to rear and proposed single storey rear extension. 20 Mount Pleasant, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2SD Ref. No: 60582 Received: Tue 13 Sep 2016 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.
Durham's "energy reduction project" produced the blackness that now consumes the many people who walk and cycle between The Grove and Consett Town Centre. I was incensed that my representations on that were unacknowledged and almost certainly unconsidered before the heads had been taken out of the streetlights. In September I received more proposals to take the lights out along the Consett Bypass. I responded, asking for acknowledgement as well as a very specific question. I've had no response. Now I have another "consultation" about taking the lights out between Consett and Medomsley. It's hard to be motivated to respond ...
