The other day I wrote about how the World owes you nothing. That only you can change your life. No one else can do it for you and nothing should get in your way. Except when you suffer from depression and anxiety, there is something standing in your way: Yourself. It is literally a fight inside your mind between the You who knows what you can do and the other You who is telling you that you will fail so why even bother to start. The question is when to ignore the anxiety and self-doubt. In the past three weeks, ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. We don't have any new subscribers this week which means that subscriber numbers have now plateaued for three weeks, something which I can't recall happening before. I'm always keen to have new readers so if you have friends and neighbours who you think would enjoy reading this please mention us to them. 1. High Speed 2 The Government have confirmed this week that the east Midlands station for HS2 will be at Toton. This is good news and ...
The Gentle Author writes: Often when I set out for a walk from Spitalfields, my footsteps lead me to the crossroads outside the Bank of England , at the place where Richard Jefferies - a writer whose work has been an enduring inspiration - once stood. Like me, Jefferies also came to the city from the countryside and his response to London was one of awe and fascination. Whenever I feel lost in the metropolis, Richard Jefferies' writing is always a consolation, granting a liberating perspective upon the all-compassing turmoil of urban life and, in spite of the changes in ...
[IMG: joinordie] Two pieces from the post-Trump cacophony that have me thinking. First, Charles Stross reminds us that playtime is over: A few years ago, wandering around the net, I stumbled on a page titled "Why Japan lost the Second World War". (Sorry, I can't find the URL.) It held two photographs. The first was a map of the Pacific Theater used by the Japanese General Staff. It extended from Sakhalin in the north to Australia in the south, from what we now call Bangladesh in the west, to Hawaii in the east. The second photograph was the map of ...
[IMG: Transgender Day of Remembrance] November 20th each year is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. It's the day when we honour those who have lost their lives through transphobic violence. The list of those who have been murdered for being who they are is so harrowing to read. Nobody should face fear, intimidation, discrimination and violence because of who they are. As the forces of intolerance appear to have the upper hand in politics in too many places, those of us who believe in freedom, diversity and equality have our work cut out for us. This is a day to ...
There is an infinite set of numbers with nothing in the middle. By that I mean a positive whole number whose first digit and last digit are not zero, but any and all digits in between are zero. The 81 numbers between 11 and 99 that are not multiples of ten are numbers with nothing in the middle. So are the 81 numbers of form x0y between 101 and 909. So are the 81 numbers of form x00y between 1001 and 9009. And so on. I started wondering, which of these numbers is divisible by each prime number? What is ...
1. Be a tortoise, not a hare The fast-moving story that sweeps round the world may catch the headlines, but the reality of most internet campaigning is very different: it's the gradual, consistent and sustained effort that reaps the reward. Unless you're very lucky, it's a commitment to building up email lists, web visitors and so on over time which brings results. 2. Don't expect people automatically to come to you It's easy to stick something online - a Facebook page, a blog, a simple website or whatever. But that won't make people come to it. Just as there's no ...
There is a perfect cultural/political alignment playing out in front of us at the moment, one that the LibDems can easily exploit to return…
Embed from Getty Images Whilst the Home Secretary hails the arrival of 312 unaccompanied asylum seeking children as "a really good result", the fact remains that domestic legislation allows for the UK to positively impact the lives of hundreds - even thousands - more children. To explain, unaccompanied asylum seeking children can be brought to the UK under one of two systems. Firstly, the Family Reunification provisions of the Dublin III Regulations allow for asylum seekers who have family members who have already received international protection in another state to be transferred to join those family members and have their ...
Fashion-tech designer Anouk Wipprecht has built a Spider Dress, which reacts based on how close you're standing and how quickly you approached.
I've really slacked off in my reading in the last couple of weeks - lots of travel, and also reaction to the US election and other intense things going on behind the scenes. Next couple of weeks seem likly to be less hectic, but then again one never knows! Current Kings of the North, by Cecelia Holland AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers, ed. Nnedi Okorafor Tolstoy, by Henri Troyat Short Trips: The History of Christmas, ed. Simon Guerrier Last books finished Prime Minister Corbyn: and other things that never happened, eds. Duncan Brack and Iain Dale Next books Angels ...
Yesterday I funded a SchoolBag, one of Yeovil Mayor's chosen charities this year. Here is a little bit more about the charity and what they do. The Deputy Mayor, David Recardo has opted to fund a bag instead of sending Christmas cards this year. For £20 you could too... School in a Bag is run [...]
Embed from Getty Images I'm a new Liberal Democrat, though I've called myself a social democrat for more than forty years now. In my youth I was an activist tribal Tory, but cast them forever from me before I was 25. Since then have been a fellow traveler of the soft Left, but now, as of three weeks ago, I am one of you. I realised after 23rd June that it was time to properly join in the fightback for the sort of political values I've long held and that are at the heart of the LibDems. Given 5 minutes ...
One of the unexpected discoveries from the obituaries of Leon Russell was that he co-wrote Superstar, the song made famous by the Carpenters. Wikipedia tells the story of the song's genesis: Accounts of the song's origin vary somewhat, but it grew out of the late 1969/early 1970 nexus of English and American musicians known as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, that involved Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, and various others. The song's working title during portions of its development was "Groupie Song". In its first recorded incarnation, the song was called "Groupie (Superstar)", and was recorded and ...
I am becoming increasingly convinced that Marine Le Pen will win the French presidential election in April of next year. Part of this feeling is undoubtedly Brexit/Trump echoes – but it's more than that. One, the mood in France has been affected by the terrorism inflicted on it over the last couple of years and Le Pen is the one who is channeling that fear most effectively at present; two, I think it will be her and Juppe in the final round of voting, and that looks worryingly like a French version of Trump-Clinton, with Juppe looking like the sane, ...
There's something rather odd about the sheep in a field off a certain lane in Aughton – they don't move! Well not under their own steam anyway. [IMG: img_9280] Click on the photo to enlarge it Who are Ewe looking at? – Well I don't know – looks like a sheep, stands like a sheep but it's not a sheep. Bleating? – Not a sound even when being worried. Fleeced? – How much is too much to pay for an ornamental sheep? The photo is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
Book Week Scotland 2016 is taking place from tomorrow, Monday 21st, until Sunday 27th November. Book Week Scotland is a week-long celebration of books and reading that takes place every November. During Book Week, people of all ages and walks of life will come together in libraries, schools, community venues and workplaces to share and enjoy books and reading. They will be joined in this celebration by Scotland's authors, poets, playwrights, storytellers and illustrators to bring a packed programme of events and projects to life. I'm pleased to see that Dundee again has a programme of events during book week ...
Bootle saw a near white-out around 7.30am on 18th November as a huge storm hit the Sefton coast. Lightning, thunder, hail and snow hit the Town almost all at once. Here are a few shots of the near white-out that lasted for only a couple of hours:- [IMG: img_9263] [IMG: img_9269] [IMG: img_9271] Click on the photos to enlarge them
Why Europe will drive a hard Brexit Home truths. (tags: brexit ukpolitics eu )
Theresa May's refusal to commit the Government to anything more meaningful than 'Brexit means Brexit' may well be keeping the Tories together for the time being, but that is certainly not the case for Labour. The Guardian reports that the carefully brokered truce within Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet is at risk of blowing apart, with the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said to be "furious" at John McDonnell's description of leaving the European Union as an "enormous opportunity": How to tackle voters' concerns about the free movement of people has become an increasingly fraught issue within the party since the ...
