My self-sufficiency activities led to an interesting invitation last week: would I like to have a stall at Lib Dem regional conference on Saturday to sell my homemade jams? I took up the offer. A quite pleasing number of sales took place. Alas, the income was somewhat dwarfed by the vet bill I had on Friday when I had to call out a livestock vet for one of my goats, Pinkie. She had eaten
REDCAR AND CLEVELAND OLDER PEOPLES PARTNERSHIP FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC With the Wilton Male Voice Choir At Tuned In Centre, Majuba Road, RedcarFriday 2nd December 2016 1:00pm to 4:00pmPrize Draw, Refreshments, Tickets: £3 From: Steering group members or available at the door
Tim Farron MP was the guest speaker at the North East Lib Dem conference on Saturday in Gateshead. Most of the speech is covered in this video though annoyingly, the final few minutes were not captured as my camera decided the memory card was full (despite 800MB space left to use up).
Full of South Yorkshire goodness.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe terms 'U' and 'non-U' ('U' standing for 'upper-class') were coined in the 1950s by Professor Alan Ross, of Birmingham University's linguistics department, but then made famous by Nancy Mitford in her essay 'The English Aristocracy', which included a glossary of words and phrases supposedly favoured by one class or the other. The 'non-U' words tended to be euphemistic and suggest middle-class aspirations to refinement, the 'U' words to be plain, direct and down-to-earth. But the whole thing felt suspiciously like an artificial construct by the upper class to boost its own sense of superiority and to ...
Sarah Olney urgently needs your help - donate to her crowdfunding campaign today and help her turn out the remain voters she needs to win.
Transition, a development of the former Bury Light Night, is an exciting new festival taking place on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 November. The festival kicks off at 6pm on Friday, with afternoon and evening activities continuing on the Saturday. People of all ages are invited to come to Bury town centre to experience the festival which includes elements of light and sound with live music, sound sculptures, storytelling, flash fiction, workshops and lots more. More details here. [IMG: gqdrmlpdawyuqg3jlyij]
Our very own local mental health and wellbeing charity, the Creative Living Centre are holding an 'Open Day' on Saturday 19 November 2016 at their new premises on Rectory Lane (right next to Prestwich Metrolink opposite the Longfield car park. The day is 12noon – 4pm with special guests the Mayor of Bury and Consort, and award winning chef Mary Ellan McTague. [IMG: flyer]
Three (!) Christmas Fairs on Saturday: St Margaret's Church (St Margaret's Road) are holding their Christmas Fair in the Church Hall on Saturday 19th November from 10am to 2pm in aid of Church funds. A variety of stalls, well stocked cafe. book signings by local author Mike Knaggs, not forgetting our special guest Father Christnas in his grotto. St Gabriel's Church (Bishops Road) Saturday 19th November - 12.00 noon to 3.00 p.m. Christmas Extravaganza – Santa's Grotto – Your Photo with Santa; Toys & Gifts; Home-Baked Christmas Cakes & Puddings; Crafts stall; Café - Snacks; Tombola; Grand Raffle with Great ...
More than a week ago I received the latest propaganda sheet (aka Councillor's Briefing) with regard to the Teaching Assistants' dispute. As usual it raised more questions than it answered, so I sent the questions off to see if anyone at County Hall knew the answers. Apparently not as I'm still awaiting a response. Here are the questions: 1. The briefing asserts that "teaching assistants are paid for working 37 hours a week .... but actually work 32.5 hours a week". a) How has the figure of 32.5 hours "actually worked" been calculated? It looks very much like a straight ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above I am sure that the Lydiate community will be relieved to hear this.
Do you think Farage told him that Trump is another word for fart?! This time last week I thought impossible that any Western Democracy could elect a lying, fraudulent, misogynistic, racist to any position never mind the head of one ... Continue reading →
A while back I posted this (see link below) about a party political matter in a Merseytravel staff briefing:- [IMG: Merseytravel logo] And of course I in effect issued a challenge to Merseytravel to be party politically balanced in what they say to their staff. Well they seem to have risen to that challenge because in subsequent editions they have name checked the Green and Lib Dem candidates for the position of Mersey Metro Mayor, for which there will be an election next year. This is their latest article:- New Mayoral candidate The Liberal Democrats have this week announced ...
Embed from Getty Images I am a German citizen and UK resident. I am also a fan, but not a member of the Liberal Democrats. I appreciate your party's stance on Brexit, but I urge you to go further: Stop expressing misguided respect for a misguided referendum result. People want and deserve a better life, and you know Brexit will give them the opposite: Brexit impoverishes, endangers, brutalizes, and kills. An MP voting with the Government on triggering Article 50 against his or her conscience is worse than Johnson or Farage, because he or she will not only be a ...
Organisers of Food 4 U have told me that they have been asked whether the food-bank is still functioning. It is. The food-bank, which operates from Glenroyd House on Medomsley Road continues to operate five days a week, open Monday to Friday, 10.00am – 12 noon
Embed from Getty Images If we are to learn from the lessons of Trump becoming President and the EU referendum, we progressive politicians must play smarter in the area of immigration. This does not mean aping Mr Trump or Nigel Farage but working out where the real blame lies for failures in our border controls and who has accountability for fixing them. The current government has decided landlords and schools are suddenly quasi immigration officers. Even the Daily Mail noted that the government pilot project to require landlords to check tenants rights to live in the UK had been an ...
Mon 14th
13:01
City Council pays contractor £35,400 for graffiti removal each year, but is it enough?
What's up then? In a recent article on the Peterborough Telegraph website, it was reported that Conservative controlled Peterborough City Council pays the private contractor Amey, 35 grand to remove graffiti throughout the city, each year. So that's a daily budget of around £136. But do you think the City Council is doing enough to [...]
From British Asian UK: A Pakistani news channel has ran a story stating Donald Trump was actually born in Pakistan and his real name is Dawood Ibrahim Khan. The Neo News anchor maintained a confident tone and a straight face as she told the millions of people who watch the show that the President-elect was born as Dawood Ibrahim Khan in Waziristan in 1954 where he also received his primary education. She also claimed that he later lost his parents in a road accident later and was taken to London by a British Indian Army Captain. They finally claim that ...
Embed from Getty Images "Privilege", "trigger warnings", "safe spaces", "mansplaining", "tone policing" and "cultural appropriation". These terms are the Language of the Left. Anyone who has talked politics with lefties will be familiar with the way that they are thrown around in discussions willy-nilly. And each of them describes a problem which should be taken seriously. Take "mansplaining" for example: when men explain things in a patronizing way to women, because of an imagined authority on a certain subject. This happens all the time. It happens in offices; at dinner tables; on television; in politics. If you haven't seen this ...
[IMG: website-image-anti-bullying-week] This week, schools and colleges, carers, parents and children unite against bullying. Help tackle the problem and raise awareness for a brilliant cause with this template MyCouncillor story for your website, complete with optimised MyCouncillor graphic. Link to .txt file here. NOTE: FOR A SHORT GUIDE ON HOW TO ADD THIS STORY TO YOUR WEBSITE, [...]
[IMG: Lydiate] I mentioned recently that I would comment on the latest stages of Lydiate Parish Council's Neighbourhood Plan. The link to the Parish Council's web site above refers. The update was written by our Parish Clerk and I think she has done an excellent job in trying to both explain things and put them in context. I am still no fan of Neighbourhood Plans because they really don't give the level of control that I would expect of such a process but I am prepared to try to be positive about the process in the hope that some ...
My predecessor as Gateshead Council Group Leader, Frank Hindle, was awarded the Regional President's Award at North East Lib Dem Conference held in the Jurys Inn, Gateshead Quays, on Saturday. Well done Frank! He has put in a huge amount of work over the years for the party, not just as a councillor and group leader, but also as a Parliamentary candidate, agent in the European elections and
It's now time to have your say on the proposals for thousands of new homes in our local communities. You can find the Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) consultation at: and the Joint Transport Study (JTS) consultation here: We have been pressing for more information about where the houses would go and have been told repeatedly that this is a high level planning document talking about broad locations only, more detail would come in future consultations. We were therefore somewhat surprised to find at the drop-in exhibition in Chipping Sodbury a map of Yate and Chipping Sodbury with the ...
Mon 14th
10:55
Far from "taking back control" it feels like Britain's fate is now in the hands of Donald Trump
Theresa May has given a speech today about how Britain needs to become a leader in global free trade. These are welcome words. But I really wonder how this will play out, particularly with the United States. Members of May's government are trying to put a positive spin on Trump getting elected, citing Obama's disinterest in the UK next to Trump's supposed interest, all being built around a Scottish grandmother and a few golf courses. The idea is that while Hillary would have followed through with Obama's "back of the queue" rhetoric, Trump is more malleable. I certainly hope this ...
On Friday evening, Lighting Up Whickham held a race night at the Crown pub. As the only person in the organising group with a food handling certificate, I was tasked with being head chef for the evening. It was hardly an onerous task - reheating the pies, pasties and mushy peas. My catering pans and meat thermometers proved very useful on the evening. I started the evening on a winning
The secret to making a success of a political blog post is the same as for making a success of a Focus leaflet or a piece of direct mail.
Embed from Getty Images It seems as if the more we talk about gender equality, the less we achieve - at least in Scotland. The Scottish Spring LibDem conference passed an exhaustive motion on the subject, but just a few weeks later the party saw its female representation in the Scottish Parliament fall from 20% to zero. Those who had proposed and supported the motion offered no visible resistance when the wonderful Alison McInnes MSP (who had been the only MSP to hold Police Scotland effectively to account for its many failings) was replaced as candidate by a male former ...
Blaming political correctness for Trump is like blaming the civil rights movement for Jim Crow | Lindy West | Opinion | The Guardian RT @PennyRed: Blaming political correctness for Trump is like blaming the civil rights movement for Jim Crow. YES @thelindywest Trump's top domestic policy adviser: being gay is a 'lifestyle' that 'can be changed' RT @Nissemus: Trump's top domestic policy adviser: being gay is a 'lifestyle' that 'can be changed' UN: 'Grave' disability rights violations under UK reforms - BBC News RT @sailor_jerry: BBC News - UN: 'Grave' disability rights violations under UK reforms [IMG: comment count unavailable] ...
Mon 14th
09:37
When you find yourself in a dark tunnel, don't go backwards - hurry towards the light ahead.
Listening to the radio a few days ago, I heard an American interviewee said that he could not believe Trump was president, I was suddenly cast back three and a half decades to an evening in November 1980. It was Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and colleagues in Not the Nine O'Clock News and they were pretending to be country-and-western singers, singing about a range of unlikely things they believed, and ending: "I believe the devil is ready to repent... But I can't believe Ronald Reagan is president." I felt, just for a moment, a relieving sense of deja vu. We ...
Wednesday 23rd November sees the start of the West End Christmas Fortnight, which will be launched with the Christmas Lights Switch On for the West End and a spectacular fireworks extravaganza. This year's West End Christmas Concert takes place that evening at Dundee West Church at 6.15pm. There will be musical contributions from all local primary and secondary schools. The Concert will be hosted by Gordon Sharp. We are delighted that "The Notables" will perform as well as local school pupils - it will be a great concert and everyone is very welcome to attend. Mains of Fintry Pipe Band ...
Yesterday morning, in my capacity as a parish councillor, I was on duty, laying a wreath on behalf of the Parish Council prior to the Remembrance Sunday service at St Peter's Church. Ours is a small village, and always has been, yet there are eight names on the memorial, six from World War 1 and two from World War 2, whilst there was one other casualty of the Great War whose name is missing from it. Their names were read and remembered in the customary two minute silence that followed and, after a few words from our vicar, a former ...
Both the US and the UK are facing damaging futures but both have similar, and perfectly legal, solutions for avoiding their self-inflicted wounds In the US Hillary Clinton won the popular vote for the Presidency: she received approximately a quarter of a million* more votes than Donald Trump. However, through peculiarities in the electoral system Mr Trump has more votes in the Electoral College, which will actually make the legal decision. In the UK the popular vote was for leaving the EU but the actual decision lies with Parliament, where the members of both houses are overwhelmingly in favour of ...
you can't be held hostage to a bad employee Words of wisdom. (tags: work ) Making Light: What now? Many good links. (tags: uspolitics )
The Stop Funding Hate campaign has secured a major victory after Lego announced that it will stop advertising its products in the Daily Mail, following a public campaign calling on big companies to drop adverts from newspapers accused of promoting "hatred, discrimination and demonisation". The campaign has been set up to urges advertisers to rethink their 'support' for right wing newspapers over what it sees as misleading headlines about child refugees, and the recent ruling by High Court judges that Parliament must be consulted before Article 50 is triggered. It has secured the support of Gary Lineker, who is talking ...
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, ... Continue reading →
