The Liberal Democrats started the 2017 general election campaign with high hopes of winning back many of the seats lost in 2015. Surely 2015 was rock bottom and there would be some new faces? Some people even thought that there might be new MPs in some Remain voting seats that had not previously elected a [...]
I watched a recent episode of Degrassi New Class on Netflix, where my favourite character, Miles Hollingsworth III was offered the chance to attend the London Writers Academy on a diversity placement because of his bisexuality. Miles doesn't like the idea of being accepted because of his apparent diversity and wants to be accepted on merit alone. He can't see how he is diverse because he is a rich, white male, who just happens to be attracted to both men and women. In order to help Miles see how each person's life is diverse, his English teacher conducts a class ...
Non-fiction: 5 (YTD 30) 1688: A Global History, by John E. Wills New Europe, by Michael Palin The Etymologicon, by Mark Forsyth Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 by David Kynaston Common People: The History of an English Family, by Alison Light Fiction (non-sf): 4 (YTD 13) Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro The Angel Maker, by Stefan Brijs The Double Deckers, by Glyn Jones sf (non-Who): 1 (YTD 51) Sultana's Dream, by Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain Doctor Who, etc: 15 (YTD 33) Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership, ed. Keith R.A. DeCandido Professor Bernice Summerfield ...
The lead story on the frontpage of last Thursday's Ludlow Advertiser featured the Ludlow10 race on 9 July. I have never read anything that so fails to represent the views of our town. The article is based on a non-existent survey. It claims to represent the views of Ludlow town centre residents but only one is cited. The resident who was the main source for the article said, "the town was dead" on the night of the race. Nonsense. I was in town from 5.30pm until 10pm. The town was livelier than normal. We can't afford to let this town ...
So, having recommended Blink so strongly last week, I watched it again at the weekend, and I stand by my recommendation. Of course I remembered that Louis Mahoney, who plays Old Billy also appeared twice in Old Who, as a newsreader in the Third Doctor story Frontier in Space and as dispensable crewman Ponti in the Fourth Doctor story Planet of Evil. I had forgotten however that Richard Cant, who plays Kathy's grandson Malcolm in Blink is the son of the late, great Brian Cant, who appeared twice in Old Who - as the doomed Kert Gantry in the first, ...
Embed from Getty Images The Liberal Democrats need new thought on how we view the economy and the role of the state and this idea could influence what we choose to support. We often struggle to find an economic system we can get behind. Unrestricted capitalism leads to unacceptable inequality. The Conservatives stand for a small rich elite, while everyone else struggle to make ends meet. The Corbynite vision of socialism would leave us all worse off. The Liberal Democrats must form a new vision of how our economy should work and what role the state should play in it. ...
Some people might think it odd that I am writing about life in Brussels in the 1970s while currently based in Fortaleza, Brazil. But I have often found that dislocation can be a great aid to writing, be this memoir or other. It was the novelist Christopher Isherwood — who will appear in my new [...]
Here at The Rambles of Neil Monnery sometimes we tackle frivolous subjects like progressive alliances, where the Lib Dems went wrong this time, how funny it was that Senator John McCain proper screwed President Trump and how Sol Campbell is not a sympathetic human being. Yet sometimes we go all important and this is one of those types of blog posts people, yes it is the review you were all waiting for and the world needs, an entry all about the Cherry Bakewell shower gel I purchased last week. Yeah you are probably regretting clicking on this post already. I ...
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has said seized on remarks by Liam Fox that there is no cabinet consensus on the need for a three-year transitional deal, which contradict assurances from the Chancellor Philip Hammond that the cabinet is in agreement. Vince Cable said: "Dr Fox's comments, directly contradicting the chancellor over a transitional agreement on Brexit, show all the signs of a cabinet in a state of civil war. "Earlier this week he clashed with Michael Gove over the terms of a trade deal with the USA when Gove argued quite sensibly for the need to maintain high environmental ...
The New Statesman is running an article titled "I'm very much out on my ear": what it's like becoming an ex-MP. It interviews a number of people who lost their seats, but the focus is heavily on Sarah Olney. Apparently, Theresa May apologised to Tory MPs who lost in the debacle that was the June General Election. While May was referring to her Conservative peers, losing a seat is an experience also familiar to Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney. The former MP for Richmond Park made headlines by overturning Zac Goldsmith's 23,015 majority in the December 2016 by-election - only to ...
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has responded to Philip Hammond's claim that Britain will not become a post-Brexit tax-haven. Vince Cable said: "Philip Hammond's assurances that Britain will not become a tax haven with low quality public services in a post-Brexit world are welcome, even if they do contradict an earlier threat he made on the subject. "It is unclear whether these views are shared by cabinet colleagues such as Liam Fox and Boris Johnson, who are now more interested in firing salvos at each other than fighting for Britain's interests in Brexit negotiations. "But if we are not going ...
This is a reminder that I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. And as you can see from the list of the 10 most recent guest posts below, I am happy to consider a wide range of subjects. If you would like to write a guest post yourself, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. A few thoughts on walking - Phil SmithThe mad, mad world of Maghull Town Council - Tony RobertsonWhat the US can do to end the Gaza conflict? - Daphne Holmes"You're all the same" - Katie BarronThe trouble with Seamus Milne - ...
Sun, 13:20: RT @alihinspain: The looming ultimatum: Varadkar's warning shot https://t.co/w5P0iexoFI via @sluggerotoole Sun, 15:20: RT @juliehinukeu: The looming ultimatum: Varadkar's warning shot https://t.co/9LpCkVSlWu via @sluggerotoole Sun, 15:35: Excursion, 21-22 July (lots of pictures) https://t.co/coqI9kfHBd Sun, 16:01: The most remarkable thing in this story is that the governor of Idaho's name is "Butch Otter". https://t.co/jP8TFylwCM Sun, 16:05: State of Cybercrime 2017: Security events decline, but not the impact https://t.co/i7uX9QJ6jV Report from New Zealand, but probably repres... Sun, 17:21: RT @ShamrockSoup: The looming ultimatum: Varadkar's warning shot. https://t.co/wAfdD7EUZ5 https://t.co/SQ6yaRVk4i Sun, 18:23: Sunday reading https://t.co/I283unRcxI Sun, 18:44: RT @KeohaneDan: Good piece by ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 30-07-2017 I posted The Blood is the Life for 30-07-2017 to my dreamwidth blog [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The government recently announced plans to end the production and sale of petrol and diesel powered cars in the UK by 2040. We are going electric. Good news, even if it is just a catch up by the UK on other European countries. The next 23 years will need to be spent shifting the country from the internal combustion engine to electric powered vehicles. Whether or not the Tory DUP government
Andrew Dilnot, the economist who reviewed social care for the coalition government has described the social care system as a classic example of market failure where the private sector cannot do what's needed. On the Tory plans, he said: The changes just fail to tackle the central problem that scares most people. You are not tackling the big issue that people can't pool their risks. There is nothing that anybody can do to pool their risk with the rest of the population, you just have to hope that you are not unlucky. It is not providing insurance. You could easily ...
For the past month I have been visiting my friend Richard who was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead on 7th July but is now making a good recovery (despite my daily - and sometimes twice daily - visits to see him!) He has a fantastic team of doctors, nurses, care and support staff looking after him. As a thank you, David made them a chocolate and banana cake which I took with
I was 17 when the 90s began; 27 when they ended. I remember the decade pretty clearly as a result. Looking back, if I was asked for the two defining pop cultural moments of that ten year stretch, I would nominate the death of Kurt Cobain on April 5, 1994 and the airing of the final episode of "Seinfeld" on May 14, 1998. Both moments of devastation, delivered in springtime. It is easy to forget now how huge a show like "Seinfeld" really was by any modern metric. That ultimate episode of the sitcom was watched live by 76.3 million ...
Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, those responsible for negotiating our way out of the European Community start to publicly fall out with themselves on what they want from those talks. As the Guardian reports, that senior Conservative MPs are urging members of Theresa May's cabinet to stop publicly setting out their demands for a transitional deal on Brexit, saying the move could make negotiations with the European Union more difficult. They say that Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd, Damian Green, David Gauke and Greg Clark are among those likely to push the prime minister to accept that ...
Whenever I speak to people about Radix I often get asked the same question: how will you achieve change? Our approach is simple: come up with approaches that make sense politically as well as practically and then exert influence directly by putting these approaches forward in the political sphere. A good example has been our [...] The post How Radix Recommendations Become Policy appeared first on Radix.
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 31 JULY 2017 Riverside Esplanade/Riverside Drive (Tay Road Bridge off ramp to 75m along Riverside Drive) - westbound nearside lane closure for 19 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 4 weeks. A85 Riverside Drive - prohibition of right turn from westbound lane of Riverside Drive into Riverside approach and prohibition of right turn from Riverside Approach in to Riverside Drive for 19 weeks for ...
