Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, on behalf of the Lib-Dems in Broxtowe. May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week. This is quite a short newsletter this week but there is some important material to cover. May I start by paying tribute to the emergency services for their response to the terrorist attack in London on Saturday night. I was just starting to prepare the newsletter when the reports started to appear on the media and so I decided to postpone this ...
I have reproduced on this blog some of the photos from the University of Leicester's Vanished Leicester archive. This BBC News report on the archive includes an interview with Dennis Calow, who took all the photographs.
It's been a bit quiet around here of late, partly because I haven't felt inspired to write very much, but also because I've been away on Party business. I'm not allowed to canvass support for Parliamentary candidates, and the nearest target seats are a long way from mid-Suffolk in any event, so I've attempted to fulfill my obligations as a member of International Relations Committee instead, travelling to Andorra and Ljubljana to attend first the Liberal International Congress and then the ALDE Party Council meeting. They've been interesting, in rather different ways, and perhaps I ought to report back. So, ...
So, what did you think? I thought it was Tim's best performance by far of the election campaign. That was all the more remarkable given he was up at 6 am cooking breakfast for a whole stack of Edinburgh West folk. The only thing I could pick fault with was that he could have pointed out that the SNP are using the Brexit vote to try and get another referendum on independence while at the same time going further and further away from offering EU membership. Tim was clear, passionate, at times funny and the audience really seemed to like ...
Our digital people have been excelling themselves as usual this campaign. On this World Environment Day, see below the video the party has put together outlining the problems and our vision for dealing with them. Today is #WorldEnvironmentDay. Only the Liberal Democrats have a real plan for the environment: https://t.co/NG06A6xZCs #VoteLibDem pic.twitter.com/jHGCQ3Y7YF — Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) June 5, 2017 The party would not have been happy to have come just behind Labour in the Friends of the Earth rating of manifestos. Tim Farron has today sent them a letter, which they welcome, giving more detail on our commitments.
It was a day of traffic chaos. I spotted a tourist coach going past the Ludlow Assembly Rooms at 12:33pm. There was no way it was going to get out of the town centre. Brand Lane was closed - and will be for the next two days. I'd arrived back at Mill Street after a call from Tim Gill, Ludlow's mayor, who had told me that an HGV was stuck in the town centre because of the Brand Lane closure. This was a conundrum indeed. The official diversion route is down Dinham and over the Whitcliffe. There was a danger ...
The number of MPs you have is the basic currency of British politics - influencing greatly media coverage, party funding and political power.
Sadiq Khan's calm leadership of London through two awful terrorist atrocities is worthy of praise. Not, though, if you are Donald Trump, who took to Twitter to attack the London Mayor. Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his "no reason to be alarmed" statement. MSM is working hard to sell it! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017 Publicly humiliating someone who is working all hours dealing with a major incident is not on if you are a private citizen. If you are the leader of the free world, it's completely unacceptable. ...
Here's the new film from the Liberal Democrats. I rather like it.
Tim Farron, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have written responses to Operation Black Vote's Race Equality Manifesto. Tim's was first published here and is reproduced below. Liberal Democrats believe that every person is entitled to the same opportunity to succeed in life. That means breaking down the barriers that hold people back, fighting discrimination and defending individuals against an overreaching government. We strive for a country that is welcoming and open-minded. One that is optimistic, that rejects prejudice and embraces diversity. We stand for the everyday citizen and against unchecked power, and that is one of the reasons why this ...
Andrew Hickey argues that the election came three years too early for the Liberal Democrats' strategy and that Tim Farron should stay on as leader afterwards. "From the pollsters' point of view this is an experimental election. We all got it wrong in 2015 and we are all trying different methods to get it right this year." Anthony Wells offers one explanation for the volatility of opinion polls. David Boyle asks if Britain's next prime minister will come from outside mainstream politics. Lincoln Blades says America needs to address the presence of white male extremists and to examine their radicalisation. ...
Or put it another way, some of us on the left have not been taken in by Corbynism At the risk of driving some of my friends in the Labour Party over the edge in their frustration with me I present, via the link above, another piece about why Labour is no longer on the side of those with little or nothing in our society. This is a theme I have been developing for a while now and it seems that others have been having similar thoughts too. My own guess is that the Labour manifesto is really aimed ...
The Liberal Democrats have discovered that more than than 1,300 academics from the European Union have left British universities in the past year, prompting concerns of a Brexit brain drain. A recent analysis by the Russell Group, which represents 24 of the UK's leading universities, found that there are 24,860 members of staff from other EU countries at UK universities, making up 23% of all academics. Across the country there has been a 30% increase in the number of EU academics quitting over the past year compared to two years ago, according to figures released following Freedom of Information requests. ...
Polling Day for the local elections is Thursday 8 June 2016. Polling stations are open 7am - 10pm on Thursday. You don't need your polling card to vote. Polling stations are: Baguley Crescent and Heywood Old Road areas Mobile Unit Baguley Crescent Simister Lady Wilton Hall Parrenthorn, St Margaret's and Polefield areas St Margaret's Community Centre, St Margaret's Road Heaton Park area (Heaton, Hampden, Milton - etc - everything between Heywood Road and Bury Old Road) Heaton Park Congregational Church (corner Heaton Street and Bailey Street) Nursery, Langley, Glebelands, Chatsworth Road areas Prestwich Arts College, Heys Road Whitefield area (between ...
Two events coming up as part of the 'Kingfisher Trail', the Lancashire Wildlife Trust's 14 mile recreational route which connects the rural West Pennine Moors to the urban communities of Bolton, Bury and Salford and starts in Phillips Park. (This information is from Lancashire Wildlife Trust). This weekend see's the first Kingfisher Trail Festival! On Sunday 4th June we'll be in the beautiful surroundings of Firwood Fold following Katie the Kingfisher's adventures on another Wild Things Walk. The multicoloured Halcyon bird will be relating another chapter in Katie's continuing story. To join in simply meet us at the corner of ...
Eighteen years ago today, at around 5:30 in the morning, I was being wheeled back to the ward with my new baby. Try as I might, I couldn't sleep because I was too besotted to take my eyes off the gorgeous bundle in the little hospital cot. At that time this morning, I was hitting the M8 to drive into Edinburgh. What could I possibly be doing at a cafe in Corstorphine at 6 am with Edinburgh Western MP Alex Cole-Hamilton and Edinburgh West Lib Dem candidate Christine Jardine? What could I be doing in an Edinburgh cafe with @Cajardine ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: The first major turning point in a year [1536] that was to be replete with turning points was greeted with sadness by some and with much rejoicing by others, particularly Queen Anne. On 7 January, Katherine of Aragon died at Kimbolton, having endured five years of exile. Separated from the court and forbidden to see her daughter, the former queen's lonely death ended a life marked by unhappiness and grief. Trigger warning: abuse Of the six wives of Henry VIII, Katherine Howard is probably the most obscure; basically we remember that she was executed for ...
Mark Blackburn is our man in Frome, in Somerset. It seems he has an anonymous supporter who has been putting up posters around the town. The word Hope appears beneath a portrait of Mark. The posters are numbered as a limited edition but not signed. The Lib Dem team do not know who the artist is, who who has been setting them up, but they are delighted at the clear message of support. Mark said: We are also privileged to have one left in our HQs. Thank you to the artist who created it. Thank you for your support and ...
A 250-word article for the Petersfield Post, Clanfield Post, Horndean Post and Bordon Post: Like many, I've been surprised at how shambolic the Conservative Party's national campaign has been. We supposedly have a 'strong and stable' Prime Minister, but frankly she's been all over the place. First, we had the shambles of the 'dementia tax': poorly thought through and an embarrassing flip-flip when it came to light. We've had ever more evidence at the damage that Conservative cuts are doing to vital public services like the police, health and education. And we've had platitudes and no detail on what the ...
On Saturday, the European liberal family gathered in the Slovene capital, Ljubljana, to compare notes and to start the process of preparation for the 2019 European Parliamentary elections. It offers your correspondent an opportunity for reflection and, if you'll excuse me, more than a hint of regret. But first, what will be happening? The ALDE Party Bureau have appointed Taavi Roivas, the former Prime Minister of Estonia, to chair a ten member Manifesto Committee, whose task it will be to gather evidence and ideas from across Europe and beyond the narrow confines of political parties, and then, in collaboration with ...
The below poster has details of activities across Bury taking place during Festival of Learning Week (formerly Adult Learners Week). The week is June 12th to 16th 2017. It is a Big Lottery funded project is designed to support local people to benefit from improving your health and well-being, develop your confidence and self-esteem and take your first steps towards employment with ongoing support from our project team To book your FREE session please contact us 0161 280 8645 adultskills@burycollege.ac.uk
So here it is, a list of seventy science fiction films worth watching. I had to draw the line somewhere so decided seventy was more than enough for now. They are ordered alphabetically rather than in any preference and I have added the year of release to avoid remake v. original confusion. Perfect for a wet week in June... Watch this lot and you will know sci-fi. Aliens (1986)Apollo 13 (1995)Armageddon (1998)Arrival (2016)Avatar (2009)Back to the Future (1985) Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)Blade Runner (1982)Brazil (1985)Capricorn One (1977)Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Ender's Game (2013)Escape from New York ...
The elderly, pensioners indeed any home owners can't afford to vote Conservative on June 8th because if they do Teresa May will be sizing up their properties to pay for social care.
The Guardian has the story on its web site Quote from article – 'It's taken a year, but as Britain's economy slumps and inflation bites, the warnings about the costs of our vote to leave the EU are coming true' But then again we all really knew that leaving the EU would be a huge error of judgement didn't we? With thanks to Roy Connell for the lead to this posting
It's fair to say that the Lib Dems haven't had the best election campaign. And it hasn't been helped by continual briefing from unnamed "Senior Lib Dem Figures" (whose names any Lib Dem could tell you) that any failure on ... Continue reading →
Under the heading "Theresa May can't be trusted to get it right on counter-terrorism policy" Tim Farron writes in the Guardian today: Theresa May set out her position on Sunday, stating, "Enough is enough." It was a highly political speech that set out the choices she intends to make that will affect all of us: our security, our freedoms and the way we live our lives. These are important choices with important consequences. But the real choice is between what works and what doesn't. ... Theresa May accused the police of crying wolf over the impact of cuts to their ...
The Plymouth Herald wins Headline of the Day. The judges suggested that the prohibitive cost of hiring a knight in shining armour these days may lead to more of this sort of thing.
So over the last few weeks FilmOn have, a) restricted the free streams to only 4 minutes b) blocked those outside of the UK from accessing the main UK channels. Now I've come up with a method to get around a), the Roku code watches for the stream to stop and then automatically restarts it, there will be a brief (less than a second) gap as the old stream stops and the new one restarts. If you prefer to have a constant high quality stream subscribing to FilmOn is your only option. You can then login to your account via ...
Box Office: 'Wonder Woman' Wins With Massive Opening Weekend | Variety *airpunch* This is a war on joy. Don't let the terrorists rob us of who we are This is a more eloquent and less sweary version of what I wrote after Manchester here: http://miss-s-b.dreamwidth.org/1843986.html [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
I have now reached the USA on my round the world trip. On Saturday, we joined our host, a nonagenarian veteran of the Democratic Party on a march for for truth. This march was one of over 150 in towns and cities all over the USA demanding that politicians and especially Trump start putting the people first instead of sectional interests, stop telling lies and that Congress start a serious investigation into the various allegations about Trump including how much tax he has (n't) paid, his links with the Russians, the facts about health care and much more. Speaker after ...
Original Date 26th May 2017 One thing I used to do when I was the Member of Parliament for Yardley was to call together meetings of all of the religious organisations in Yardley as a Yardley multi-faith group. In many ways it is the creation of informal links between people that makes communication easier even if there is no formal decision making power. Obviously this is something I would
The Prime Minister is absolutely right to be outraged at the attacks in Manchester and London over the last few weeks, and is right too to want to do everything possible to deny terrorists the opportunities they currently exploit, particularly on the Internet, to plan these attacks and to radicalise others. As CNN reports, Theresa May wants a new approach to tackling extremism, including changes that would deny terrorists and extremist sympathizers digital tools used to communicate and plan attacks. But what exactly does this mean? How will she implement it? More importantly is it possible at all without the ...
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If you read one thing today, read this: "Britain is being led to an epic act of national self-harm" ...
Embed from Getty Images Well done to Will Hutton, in the Observer, for marshalling the words to brilliantly sum up what I have been thinking since June 24th 2016. I am not one of those who feel despair about our country. But I am old enough to have experienced what economic hardship and chaos feels, to an extent. This isn't going to be pretty. Numbed by the valium of insane and misplaced national pride we are sleep-walking to the most awful economic disaster. Here's a sample of what Will Hutton says today: Every day in Britain, 14,000 trucks come from ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 5 JUNE 2017 Riverside Esplanade/Riverside Drive (Tay Road Bridge off ramp to 75m along Riverside Drive) - westbound nearside lane closure for 24 weeks to facilitate V&A construction works. SSE Glenagnes Cable Renewal - Lochee Road lane restrictions and closures on Blinshall Street, Fleuchar Street and Scott Street for 7 weeks. Traill Street - closed from Monday 5 June for 2 weeks for carriageway repair works. Forthcoming Roadworks A85 Riverside Drive - prohibition of right turn from westbound lane of Riverside Drive into Riverside approach ...
Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron has criticised Theresa May's approach to security, accusing her of making the wrong choices on police cuts, mass surveillance and the fight against extremism. Writing for the Guardian, Tim Farron said: On police cuts "In the choice between cuts to corporation tax and properly funding our police, we should fund our police. "Let's be clear: fewer police on the beat means fewer conversations, less information being passed on and less knowledge about who's who and who needs to be kept under surveillance." On mass surveillance "Instead of posturing, politicians need to work with technology companies ...
The One Love Manchester concert last night was spirited, defiant and just the right way to react after the third terror attack in Britain within two months. A concert can never erase the torment of those mentally and physically scarred in the attacks. It cannot bring the dead back to life. It cannot heal the pain of their families. But it did lift the spirit of our nation. Right now, terror seems set to define our age but I hope that will prove not to be the case. At the open air husting hosted by BBC Radio Shropshire in Events ...
Often listening to 1950s chart rundowns can be a bit like wading through a sea of treacle consisting mainly of Guy Mitchell and Frankie Laine. But Pick of the Pops this week, through a mixture of luck and judgement, presents a fantastic line up of great hits from 1959. Radio 2's Paul Gambaccini plays: Marty ... Continue reading Excellent 1959 hour on Pick of the Pops
