An interview with the writer from 1980. He can sometimes leave you feeling you have been hit over the head with a volume of English folklore, but he is a remarkable talent.
Fri 14th
20:36
Midland Railway locomotive shed to be restored as the home of the University of Northampton Students...
Two summers ago, after exploring the pleasingly derelict lands now being redeveloped as the University of Northampton's new Waterside campus, I wrote: Somewhere in the middle of it there is a "rare and little altered example of a Midland Railway locomotive shed". All the security fencing makes it impossible to photograph at the moment, but I hope it will be retained and restored as part of the redevelopment here.The good news this week is that the old shed is indeed going to be restored. The University of Northampton Students' Union reports that it has received a confirmed grant of £1,323,300 ...
Embed from Getty Images Daniel Hannan says the Norman Conquest was "a cataclysm for the English people" and for once he is right. Certainly, there is something odd about the way that 1066, the date of an invasion, has become the most famous date in our history - the date that every schoolboy used to know. Why should this be? The answer may lie in a post I wrote remembering an afternoon when David Starkey appeared on Richard and Judy: Starkey said the idea that 1066 is the most important date in British history is a recent one. In fact ...
[IMG: ALDC Master Logo (for screen)] ALDC monitors and records the results of council by-elections on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. All our by-election results are also posted on our website. Another busy night saw 10 principal by-elections, all in England and all with Lib Dem candidates. Fielding a full slate in the principal by-elections around the country in itself is a fantastic achievement. One to watch this week was Broadstone ward in Poole with a by-election triggered by the resignation of the sitting Conservative councillor. Candidate Vikki Slade is fighting Conservative plans to bus services and youth services and ...
I joined the WADA Think Tank in Lausanne, as the agency grapples with state-sponsored doping. We are all careering towards a confrontation between the high ideals of sport and the low ruthlessness of some of the most powerful figures in global affairs. Which will prevail remains an open question.
Embed from Getty Images The US Presidential election has boiled down to this: If it is a referendum on Trump, Clinton wins. If it is a referendum on Clinton, Trump wins. At the moment, it seems to be an extraordinarily florid referendum on Trump. This is a shame, as policy doesn't seem to be getting a look in. But I suppose Americans are debating clearly the sort of person they want to see in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The main reason that the campaign has centred on Trump is, apart from the fact that he simply isn't qualified to be President, ...
On this blog I give my opinion on many subjects I am not really qualified to be talking about. However, I'm particularly bad person to be commenting on who should win the nobel prize for literature because, well, I don't read a massive amount of literature. I suppose I'd be even more lost discussing the [...]
Fri 14th
14:48
Maghull, Formby, Crosby – Where's the Sefton Council make-over for the communities in the midd...
I have recently posted about Sefton Council's plans to 'make-over' Bootle (to the tune of £100m) and Southport (to an unspecified amount other than a £2.77m investment in the pier) but let's not forget about the middle of Sefton Borough. [IMG: Sefton Council Logo] Sefton Council Logo How is Sefton Council planning to 'make-over' say the town centres of Maghull, Crosby, Formby for example? And where's cash strapped Sefton going to get the funds from, public and/or indeed private, to splash say £300m on the Borough's communities? I say £300m as it would surely not be unreasonable to invest £100m ...
Fri 14th
14:40
ICYMI: Tim Farron at PMQs: When will she put the interests of hard-working British people ahead of a...
Courtesy of Channel 4 News: A strong question from Tim: The Prime Minister appears to have made a choice, and that choice is to side with the protectionists and nationalists who have taken over her party, as surely as Momentum has taken over the Labour party. She has chosen a hard Brexit that was never on anybody's ballot paper and she has chosen to turn her back on British business in the process. As a result, petrol and food retailers have warned of huge price rises at the pumps and on the supermarket shelves in the coming days. When will ...
I will be forever grateful to my former co-editor Stephen Tall for teaching me two very valuable life lessons; be careful what you commit to on live TV and honour your pledges with good humour and grace. It's a year since we first saw video of his Naked Run down Whitehall, filmed for the Daily Politics. Here's a reminder: He promised to run naked along Whitehall if Lib Dems were cut to 30 MPs in #ge2015. So did @stephentall deliver? https://t.co/A1kcBdVBgH — DailySunday Politics (@daily_politics) October 14, 2015 If you enjoyed this reminder, his donation page for Medicins sans Frontieres, ...
Based in London for twenty years, the European Medicines Agency has cemented Britain's place at the heart of the pharmaceutical industry. Now this is under threat. I'm old enough to remember John Major's government like it was yesterday. I watched the Maastricht debates, and I'm prepared to admit I even read the treaty. I remember the troubles that John Major had navigating debates over Europe, and that one of his achievements, despite all those difficulties, was securing the location of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the UK. Twenty years on, that success is being put at risk by another ...
Fri 14th
12:24
On a scale from one to ten, how ridiculous is Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature?
Dylan winning this award from the Nobel crew has divided opinion, with most either deriding it as the end of civilisation or questioning why such a thing took so long to happen. This is clearly part of the reason he got the award – which is part of the problem. Instead of joining the cacophony I am going to try and seriously evaluate, as objectively as possible, Bob Dylan's merits in regards to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. First off, are the lyrics to the songs he wrote literary enough on their own to merit this level of serious ...
Yesterday I was a keynote speaker at a conference on Cultural Diplomacy and the Commonwealth hosted by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) in London. My brief was to address the consequences of Brexit for the Commonwealth; some Brexiteers had argued that leaving the EU would enable the UK [...]
Whilst there is a suspicion amongst the more ardent Remain supporter that Brexit was simply about immigration, there were those who claimed that, by voting to leave the European Union, we could reclaim our sovereignty, taking back control, as they put it. Now, I'm in a sense relaxed about that, in that if that was their genuine wish, then it is at least philosophically consistent. Yes, the question of cost was never really discussed – like the Scottish independence campaign, the supposed benefits were in the headlines, the price in minuscule type, if it was ever mentioned at all. Fair ...
Shropshire Council planners have given planning permission for the demolition of Harvest House and its replacement by a modern 4-storey residential block with 11 apartments for young people (16/00761/FUL). I support this development, as does the town council, but I wanted the scheme to go to the South Planning Committee for decision. This is a... Continue reading Foyer expansion planning gets go ahead from council planners →
Fri 14th
10:25Farron: Government doesn't understand needs of universities or public perceptions of immigration
Universities UK has published the results of a poll carried out by ICM which shows that only a quarter of people think of foreign students as immigrants and that the vast majority of people think that foreign students make a valuable contribution and should be allowed to stay on to work here after graduation. Two-thirds agreed that international students have a positive impact on the local economies of the towns and cities that they study in, and three in five (59%) agreed that their economic contribution helps create jobs. The poll also indicated that seven in ten adults believe it ...
Our next ward Focus is now ready and is currently being delivered. I did 3 patches yesterday though today I am fully occupied on other matters so it is unlikely I can deliver the 2 patches I have left until Sunday. We are leading on the proposals to close Whickham Library - within minutes of finishing delivering yesterday, a completed petition slip had been put through my door. The petition
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! What The Hell Is Really Going On With Tesco And #MarmiteGate – BuzzFeed News Brinflation hits home > What The Hell Is Really Going On With Tesco And #Marmitegate? http://bzfd.it/2dYXHdB The SNP: Not so much a party, more of a movement? – What Scotland Thinks John Curtice on the remarkable rise of the SNP: "Not so much a party, more of a ...
Details of Blyth Fireworks Display are on the poster below. Admission to the event is free
Is it me or is the American Presidential election getting more and more surreal as an under-fire Donald Trump has gone onto the offensive in an effort to divert attention from his own indiscretions? The Guardian reports that there was an avalanche of fresh abuse allegations on Thursday after a series of women came forward to dispute his claim that his comments about sexual assault were only empty boasts. The paper says that the torrent of accusations includes claims from beauty pageant contenders who allege he burst into their dressing rooms to ogle them while they were nude. Nearly a ...
[IMG: Daisy Cooper Glasgow 2014] Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron and President Sal Brinton have appointed Daisy Cooper as the party's Candidate Diversity Champion, to drive forward and coordinate the party's action plan to improve the diversity of its MPs. Daisy is quite a force of nature on anything she turns her hand to and she never asks other people to do things she hasn't done herself. She is very good at recruiting candidates at all levels and actually wrote here about how to build more diverse council groups. Tim Farron said: I am committed to leading a parliamentary party ...
Here's another fascinating West End photograph from Photopolis - the old Harris Academy in Park Place, that opened in 1885 but was replaced by the Perth Road building (and recently re-built) in the 1930s :
The Tory administration at the Town Hall in Peterborough have now sent out a response to the St Michael's Gate saga, following pressure from Liberal Democrats on the issue. The Cabinet Member for Communities and Environmental Capital, sent the following message out to all elected members: Conservative Councils 'official' response: Because of the situation faced [...]
'I Think He's a Very Dangerous Man for the Next Three or Four Weeks' Long but fascinating analysis of Trump. (tags: uspolitics ) Gibraltar wants special arrangement in Brexit treaty But will they get it? (tags: ukpolitics eu northernireland brexit gibraltar ) Between a Rock and a Hard Place Brexit, Gibraltar and Northern Ireland. (tags: ukpolitics eu northernireland brexit gibraltar ) It's hard Brexit or no Brexit at all, says EU council president I was present. It was electrifying. (tags: brexit ukpolitics eu ) Leaked E-mails Show John Podesta Discussed Alien Technology with Former NASA Astronaut The weird turn pro. ...
[IMG: 14729244_10154062935230735_1710931249117123618_n] ALDC monitors and records the results of council by-elections on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. All our by-election results are also posted on our website. Another busy night saw 10 principal by elections, all in England and all with Lib Dem candidates. Fielding a full slate in the principal by elections around the country in itself [...]
Tonight is a very busy election night with Liberal Democrat candidates in every principal council seat up for election. The biggest result of the night so far is a spectacular gain in Broadstone in Dorset. Former parliamentary candidate Vikki Slade gained the council seat from the Conservatives. Broadstone (Poole) result: LDEM: 69.3% (+24.0) CON: 23.3% (-13.2) UKIP: 4.2% (-7.5) GRN: 1.8% (-4.8) LAB: 1.4% (+1.4) — Britain Elects (@britainelects) October 13, 2016 Remember how we audaciously took a seat from Labour in Tupton, North East Derbyshire, four weeks ago, pretty narrowly but with a massive swing from a standing start? ...
