On Saturday I arrived at St Margaret's bus station in Leicester with the intention of catching the 747 bus to Houghton on the Hill. But it runs only every two hours and there was still an hour to wait for the next one, so I went to Mountsorrel instead. Then today came news that the service, which runs from Leicester to Uppingham, is to be withdrawn altogether. My old friend Simon Galton, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Leicestershire County Council, is leading the campaign to save the route. He writes on the Leicestershire Lib Dems Facebook page: Residents in ...
Embed from Getty Images He's back. The Leicester Mercury reports: [Damon] Kelly, a member of a religious order which calls themselves The Black Hermits, has appeared in Dunoon Sheriff Court, in Dunoon, on the west coast of Scotland, on two charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner. The court was told that Kelly, who lives at the Caledonian Hotel, Dunoon, entered St John's Church and then Kirn Parish Church on May 29 while a service was in progress and disrupted proceedings. His sudden appearance in the church, dressed all in black and shouting 'This is a synagogue of ...
The canal and church at Braunston © Chris Downer I was sorry to hear of the death of William Trevor yesterday - I have read many of his superb novels and short stories over the years. As the late Peter Porter's Guardian obituary of him says, at one time the latter were the sources of many of the best single plays on television. That obituary also revealed something intriguing about Trevor. I knew he had been a sculptor before he was a writer, but it turns out that the the carved lectern and screen at All Saints, Braunston, are entirely ...
[IMG: donald-trump-pic] Perhaps the system will right itself. Perhaps he won't be as bad as I fear. Perhaps he will be as bad as I fear, and be forced from office (the civil case for rape that should have been heard in December was withdrawn shortly before the election, with the claimant citing threats against her). As I write this, attempts are in progress to persuade the Electoral College not to chose him. People are right to say that the American political system looks pretty broken, and that it is really hard to see how it might right itself. There's ...
The past week has seen many moving acts of Remembrance and the Visiter has covered these excellently on their website. I would like to share with you a number of the less formal events I attended that deserve to be noted. On Armistice Day I was at Farnborough Rd School for the two-minute silence at 11.00am. The pupils had made their own poppies that were planted in 'poppy field' in the school grounds. Each child had written on the petal of their poppy the name of someone in their family who had died in the wars and conflicts since 1914. ...
This is the end of the first programme in the great man's 2009 series Off Kilter. For the story of how Trump got his development passed by the planning authority, see another post on this blog.
Tue 22nd
19:58
Sheffield Central Library to be replaced by hotel? It's not the full story, and it shouldn't just be...
The instant reaction to today's story in Sheffield's Star newspaper "Chinese plan to turn Sheffield Central Library into five star hotel" is inevitable. People will of course be appalled, in fact horrified is probably a better word. Many won't read any further than the headline, as the reaction on Twitter is already showing. But here's [...]
Independent proposals for students to receive the equivalent of the National Living Wage during term time have been accepted by Welsh Lib Dem Education Secretary Kirsty Williams. The Welsh Lib Dems were clear during the election that they would overhaul the current funding arrangements to make students' daily living costs the central focus of any new funding system. The Welsh Government will implement, with only minor modification, the Diamond package, meaning that the average Welsh student could receive up to £7,000 a year in grant support, which will also be available for part-time students, from September 2018. Cadan ap Tomos, ...
One of the pairs of themes running through my Targeting Plus pamphlet about the Liberal Democrats is the intertwined argument that: the Lib Dems need to take data seriously, which means working in ways to collect, correct and expand data into all the party's activities, and shared platforms which are usable from national HQ through to local ward are best as that way the investment in time and money to keep them running maximises the knock-on benefit for everyone else in the party too That's why the innovative approach being used for the one-member one-vote elections for the party's federal ...
Ukip has already been in the news for being investigated by European authorities of allegations of abuse of European funding for electioneering. Now the Electoral Commission is looking at the funds too: The Electoral Commission has opened an investigation regarding the UK Independence Party (UKIP) to ascertain whether the party accepted impermissible donations from the European political party the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE) and its affiliated foundation the Initiative for Direct Democracy in Europe (IDDE). ADDE and its affiliate IDDE, as with other European political parties and foundations, can receive grant funding from the European Union (EU). ...
Last Thursday (17th November), in Southport Town Hall, councillors supported a motion from local Lib Dem councillors who hope to bring the Council and residents to together to work to retain this vital local service. In the controversial 'NHS Sustainability & Transformation Programme' (STP) Southport's A&E Department has been threatened with being downgraded rather than the current 24 hour coverage. The campaign to retain the A&E service in Southport is being spearheaded by Southport Liberal Democrat councillors and John Pugh MP, who has a debate on the matter in Parliament today - but local elected representative are seeking involvement from ...
[IMG: Liz Leffman and supporters at the count in Witney] Liz Leffman and supporters at the count in Witney Over the next few days there were speculations about what that would mean if replicated at a General Election, with estimates of the number of seats likely to switch from Tory to LibDem put between 26 and 51. The statistician in me is wary of those extrapolations: there are lots of unknowns at by-elections, and British politics is especially turbulent at the moment. On the other hand, political parties usually spend a long time building up profiles of voters. Lots of ...
Meet KAM, or knitted Andy Murray. Yes, this is a fully knitted model of Andy Murray - even the racket is knitted - and he formed the subject of one of the oddest assignments of my journalistic career. It adds a very different and distinctly bizarre twist to Murray's remarkable achievement of finishing the year as world No 1 on a ferociously difficult playing schedule at the ATP Finals.I have a very good friend, who shall remain nameless because she is a highly respected professional in her chosen branch of the health world, but like many people chills out as ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:Not that in the event this mattered. The incoming ship he was meeting was itself three hours late. And that was on top of the four hours late he already knew about from the spaceport arrivals bulletin site. So he had a bit of a wait.Again, a book by an author I generally like but this Bernice Summerfield story with a very thin plot about a heist and involving lots of favourite characters from past stories in the sequence didn't really do it for me. Oh well. More hope for the next int eh series, Twilight ...
For the next twenty-four hours (from when the pricing change propagates through Amazon's servers) all my Kindle ebooks will be available for only $0.99 (apart from An Incomprehensible Condition, which because of the file size Amazon won't sell at less ... Continue reading →
The City Council has launched its budget consultation and say that they want "... to hear the opinions of all residents, partner organisations, businesses and other interested parties as part of the budget-setting process." Therefore, I thought, given resident generally have lots of good ideas, I'd see if you have any that could help save [...]
The Investigatory Powers Bill is about to become law. It's not an exaggeration to say that it represents the most significant transfer of power from people to the state in our lifetime. The bill will allow the surveillance of anyone (and potentially everyone) in the UK, without the need for suspicion of involvement in a crime or evidence of wrongdoing, without the need to target a person or premise and without ever notifying anyone that they have been spied on. It would be hard to imagine a more terrifying situation for a political party than to know that every communication ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] Commenting on the news that the "Pay to Stay" scheme for council tenants earning over a certain income will now be voluntary, not compulsory, Gerald Vernon Jackson, LGA Lib Dem Group Leader said: " We are pleased the Government has accepted our call for Pay to Stay to be voluntary for councils, which will be [...]
The value of a business and IT transformation platform. Four minutes and four seconds of my dulcet tones and radio face ... The post The value of a Business & IT Transformation platform appeared first on ten pence piece.
Jaguar Cars, produced in Liverpol City Region by an Indian owned company, will be one of the first to suffer if there international trade barriers put in place Two weeks ago I received an e-mail from the building trades union ... Continue reading →
I adore Strictly Come Dancing. Accuse it of being twee or dated; hate on the presenters or the contestants; question the place of a novelty show in the current climate; do as you will - I will still adore it. Image Source: bbc.com You see, everyone has a favourite song, everyone loves singing along to the radio, or dancing stupidly in the kitchen while you're waiting for the kettle to boil (I know it's not just me!). Not everyone has a favourite scientific theory, or would queue for hours for tickets to a lecture by an academic mathematician. So why ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37924448 The BBC has the story on its web site – see link above [IMG: _92353598_matchphoto976] This was less than 40 years ago! Goodness me what a strange thing to do from the perspective of 2016, it certainly makes me feel very uncomfortable. If we did things like this in 1979 just imagine how our society would regress if we really did go back to that 1950's view of the world that some seem to crave! This football match was, considering the time, probably well meaning. The segregation of black and white players into what were racial/ethnic teams was not ...
My recent posting regarding my own anger and intolerance over Brexit brought back this insightful response:- Anger can be a useful tool if it can be directed, it can fuel difficult actions and hard campaigns. As long as you have control of it a little anger can take you a long way, sometimes further than you thought you could make it. I don't think Anger is an inherently bad thing, there are things that SHOULD make us angry. You are angry not because you got beaten but because you watched too many members of a generation who won't be around ...
[IMG: ifyoutoleratethis] Deciding that my reading about the prospects for the Trump presidency wasn't scary enough this morning, Spotify decided to troll me with a incipient fascism soundtrack, going from First We Take Manhattan through The Man Comes Around to Under The God. Now, some of you may take this a sign that I have too many songs about the dangers of fascism on my main playlist (and it didn't even get to If You Tolerate This...), but I instead see it as a challenge to go and find more of them. So, I thought it was time to throw ...
I am only aware of three meetings on the Blyth Town Council calendar for December Thursday 1st December Planning and Development Committee Tuesday 6th December Environmental Services Committee Tuesday 13th December Events Committee All meetings start at 6:30 pm, and are at Arms Evertyne House As ever, if you intend attending any of these meetings, check with the council beforehand
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across England & Wales] Baroness Grender's Renters' Rights Bill has now passed the Committee Stage in the House of Lords. Can you ask your council to support it ahead of it going to the Commons? A draft motion is below. Motion to be moved Council recognises that the number of private renters in Britain is growing and now [...]
The Liberal Democrats have released a set of demands for tomorrow's Autumn Statement, including an urgeng £4bn injection of funding into the NHS, to avert a winter crisis and prevent declining performance and longer waiting lists next year. The £4bn demand breaks down as follows: £1.3bn additional funding for social care £1.8bn additional transformation funding, to deliver modernisation and improve efficiency in the NHS £400m additional dedicated funding for mental health £500m additional emergency funding to plug gaps across services You can find more detail on the party's website here, alongside demands for a commitment to the Single Market, housebuilding, ...
Ginger and Garlic Grater @thalestral @hollyamory My favourite thing at the mo is one of these little saucer things for grating fresh ginger Trump poised to violate Constitution his first day in office, George W. Bush's ethics lawyer says RT @JuddLegum: 4. Only way out, according to Bush's ethics lawyer, is for Trump to sell or give away hotel before taking office hollymath | Jennie Rigg from Calderdale, standing for FCC Note to self: filling in questionnaires about why you're standing for FCC when poorly may be sub optimal miss_s_b | Norovirus posted Norovirus to my dreamwidth blog Dear liberal ...
Clearly any crime committed is one too many but in the past few years there has been a move away from preventing more common crimes such as burglary and theft. We have been left in a situation where too many people have their bikes stolen or cars broken into. Many crimes are either avoidable or severely reduced by a proactive input from both residents and local safer neighbourhood teams in Ealing borough. Southfield Police team Liberal Democrats say that part of this was due to the Mayor of London reducing the number of local police, meaning that there are fewer ...
It is fair to say that liberals, by that I mean small 'l' liberals of whatever political allegiance, have not had much to cheer about in 2016. In fact, I would say one could almost define themselves as liberal if you found most of what has gone on in politics during this calendar year so far as horrible. But there are always bright spots, even in the bleakest political surroundings. This week, the Alt Right in Washington D.C. had a conference under the banner of the National Policy Institute in which white supremacy was the topic du jour. There were ...
Tue 22nd
08:41
Autumn Statement - time to provide confidence and reassurance to health services, workers and busine...
This Autumn Statement comes at a time when our economy is in turmoil, our public services are in crisis and people and businesses are struggling to keep afloat. Liberal Democrats want to see a statement that seeks to provide confidence and reassurance- to our health services, to workers and to businesses. The Government needs to show it will support these vital institutions, not leave them high and dry in its drive for a hard Brexit. [IMG: screenshot-2016-11-22-08-34-12] Find out more here.
Bury Council is inviting carers to participate in an information discussion group in order to gain your views on a carer awareness training package and a self help care tool. The session is on 6 December 2016 at The Adult Learning Centre, Haymarket Street, Bury town centre from 2.00pm. More information from Caroline Malvern ecc.sdu@bury.gov.uk [IMG: image002]
From Sheena Wellington on the forthcoming Friends of Wighton Cappuccino Concert : On Saturday 26th, the Cappuccino Concert will feature Abercraig. This group of young musicians were brought together by Friends of Wighton tutor Karen Hannah to appear at the MG Alba Scots Music Trad Awards in the Caird Hall on 3rd December. The youngsters, ranging in age from 6 to 17, hail from Dundee, Angus, Perthshire and Fife and have been working hard with Karen, Kevin Findlay, Paul Anderson and MoragAnne Elder. Why Abercraig? One of the last two 'Fifies' which linked both sides of the Tay before the ...
It's now five months since the EU referendum on June 23rd: plenty of time, you might have thought, for a government which appointed ministers committed to Brexit to key posts to have developed a strategy. Yet confusion reigns in Whitehall and Westminster. The clock is ticking towards Theresa's pledged date of invoking Article 50 by the end of March. Yet the government seems more focused on fighting a court case to limit the involvement of Parliament than in setting out its preferred future relationship with our neighbours on the European continent. This is a degree of incompetence about which we ...
The latest exhibition oat the 'Studio Church' (Bailey Street/Heaton Street junction) is "Textiles by Ella – A Retrospective by Eleanor Poston". This runs from: 26 November – 16 December 2016. Admission is free. Eleanor is a Prestwich textile artist and embroiderer, creating a range of work including pictures, panels, and wall hangings. She works with anything that can be embellished with fabric, thread, paint, dyes, found objects and that fires her imagination. Her sources of inspiration are wide-ranging and include myth and legend, folk lore, space, Native American Indian, Celtic and many others. She very much enjoys researching themes for ...
Many thanks to the large number of residents who got in touch about the application by 'Hunters Grill' on Heywood Road (near the Metrolink Bridge) to have a new licence to serve food until 4am. A lot of residents got in touch extremely concerned about the proposals and how inappropriate they were for that area. Following all the objections, we can now confirm that the application has been withdrawn. As we understand an application is going to be submitted, but for the same times as now. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information.
Residents are being warned to beware unsolicited emails and phone calls urging them to claim a Council Tax refund. Bury Council has been phoned by a number of people who were asked, allegedly by HMRC, for their bank details or told to click on a link to claim the refund. Do not provide any details to these people and, if you have, contact your bank ASAP. Trading standards say residents should be very cautious when receiving emails or phone calls from people they do not recognise which request money or personal information in exchange for financial reward. Residents should report ...
A tale of two countries: Brexit and the 'left behind' thesis Crunching the numbers. (tags: brexit ukpolitics ) Donald Trump voters and Twitter: 10,000 Twitter words according to their similarity with Trump support Hee! (tags: Uspolitics english Twitter ) US banks lay groundwork to leave London — reluctantly but surely. (tags: ukpolitics brexit ) Key Takeaways From the UN Climate Talks in Marrakech My colleague Danuta reports. (tags: climatechange ) Brussels prepares for a hard Brexit More brutal reality from @CER_Grant. (tags: brexit eu ukpolitics )
UKIP's unique record of losing MEPs at a rate unparalleled amongst any other political party has continued with the departure of their former leader, Diane James. Of the 40 people ever to have served as UKIP MEPs, thirteen, 32.5% of the total, have either now quit the party or been expelled Once considered a rising star, Diane James left Ukip, saying her relationship with the party had become "increasingly difficult" and will now sit in the European Parliament as an Independent. As the Independent reports, infighting has plagued UKIP since Mr Farage stood down, with one high-profile dispute involving leadership ...
