I once wrote that I could "never work out whether Christopher Lasch was a left-wing thinker who sounded right wing, or a right-wing thinker who sounded left wing". (Sadly, the video I was writing about has since disappeared from YouTube.) Another such figure was Neil Postman, who is interviewed here. Do we regard his strictures on television and speculations on the effect of the home video recorder as amusingly dated, or do we regard the title of his book Amusing Ourselves to Death as an uncanny anticipation of the net and social media? His son, Andrew Postman, takes the latter ...
The Labour candidate was, of course, Dennis Skinner and Stuart Reddish stood for the SDP Alliance. Reddish received 16.8 per cent of the vote, compared with the Liberal Democrats' 2.9 per cent this year. The Conservative candidate was Sam Roberts, the son and grandson of Conservative MPs. Today he is Sir Samuel Roberts Bt (though the 4th Baronet and not the 9th as the Eastern Daily Press fancies). He does not appear to have fought another election. Click on the still of a youthful Michael White above to view it on the British Film Institute website.
Sat 12th
20:30
Leaking 1,000 litres of fuel into water table won't matter, says Ludlow petrol station developer
The backer of a proposed petrol station on the junction of Bromfield Road and Coronation Avenue has submitted a new report to support their case for underground petrol tanks. In a submission published last week, the developer's adviser says that due to the design of the proposed underground petrol tanks, "the maximum volume that could be foreseeably lost would be limited to less than 1,000 litres of fuel." The adviser says this "would impact the aquifer in the immediate proximity to the tanks only." I doubt this judgement. Oil and petroleum seep insidiously. The Corve is just 60 metres away ...
Sat 12th
20:21
LISTEN: Ming Campbell on North Korea, an anti-Brexit party, gender equality and what he ate before a...
When something goes awry in the world, I always want to hear what two people think of it – Paddy and Ming. I don't always agree with them, but what they have to say is always worth hearing. Last night Ming Campbell was on Any Questions. He had his own alliterative response to Trump's "fire and fury" and "locked and loaded" – inexperienced, incompetent and incoherent. He said that the UK should work with the UN to sort this situation out and warned against any sort of military engagement. He said that the world was in a very dangerous situation. ...
I filmed a clear run on the B5023 from Duffield to Cowers Lane in March. Today I managed a clear run from Cowers Lane to Middleton via Wirksworth. The weather was much better and the sky looks amazing. The video follows, but for those of you who are interested, this is what Croots Farm Shop on the route I filmed ... The post B5023 Cowers Lane to Middleton appeared first on ten pence piece.
The local newspaper in Fortaleza is full of stories of gang warfare in the less salubrious parts of the city: fatalities, injuries and fights. The fact that many criminals in Brazil have access to guns contributes to the death rate. A friend of ours had his car hijacked at gunpoint the other night and many [...]
This lot are reaching the end of the line but it's fear of them that is still preventing Labour and Tory Parties from having a rational debate about Brexit. I discovered two things on Radio 4 this morning - that ... Continue reading →
Sat 12th
12:07
Demystifying conference motions: new guide published for Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth
The grassroots Your Liberal Britain group has already run some great schemes such as to get members engaged in the party's policy process and the Online Champions scheme in the general election. Today Sam and the team have launched something new and very welcome. It's a plain English guides to the motions being debated at the party's forthcoming federal conference in Bournemouth. The length, structure and standard vocabulary of conference motions means they both have a vernacular which old hands often find easy to follow but which people newer to motions (and let's not get into how many party members ...
One of the things that worried me most about Brexit before the referendum was that it would lead to an erosion of the rights that we have as citizens to hold our Government to account. In any civilised society, citizens must have the right to sue the Government. Governments make mistakes but are not very good at owning up to them or fixing them. Anyone who has worked as an MP's caseworker will have seen shocking examples of this. Sometimes the only way to sort things out is through the courts. It seems that the not-so-great Repeal Bill is repealing ...
Fri, 12:01: RT @worldcon75: Don't miss The Hugo Awards Ceremony tonight! Hall 1 opens at 19.00, Ceremony begins 19.30! 🚀 #TheHugoAwards! #Worldcon75 h... Fri, 15:10: RT @TaruPeltola: Time for war on science #worldcon75 Fri, 15:12: RT @Ny__Tid: "The War on Science" diskuteras på #worldcon #worldcon75. Bland annat med svenska... https://t.co/KvCXagIOZ8 Fri, 15:14: RT @FauxFungus: So far the most interesting program number of the day has been Making a Better Human. Let's see what comes of War on Scienc... Fri, 18:53: RT @worldcon75: Congratulations to the 2017 Hugo Awards #BestFanArtist winner Elizabeth Leggett! #TheHugoAwards #Worldcon75 Fri, 19:03: RT @worldcon75: Congratulations to ...
Getting rich is largely about luck - shame the wealthy don't want to hear it "The human world does not consist of just a few superior beings able enough to do the key things that need doing, and a lumpen mass of inferior beings who could never do these things and so should be penalised appropriately." The BBC needs to accept that Nigel Lawson doesn't exist miss_s_b | Friday Five I posted Friday Five to my dreamwidth blog Instagram photo He THINKS he's an independent being, but really he's just a pillow [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
There is an interesting article in today's Independent which once more exposes the lies fed to us by the Brexiteers during the referendum campaign and since. The paper suggests that Britain risks a new Brexit fight in international courts if it tries to quit the EU's single market without giving other countries official notice: Legal experts, including one who advised the Treasury, agree Theresa May will leave the UK open to legal action in The Hague if she pulls out of the European Economic Area (EEA) without formally telling its other members 12 months in advance, to avoid disrupting their ...
This week Lib Dem Peer Lorely Burt called on the Government to do more to end period poverty. Earlier this year it was revealed that some girls were missing school when they had their periods because they couldn't afford tampons or towels. In an article for the Huffington Post, she said: The simple truth is period poverty is a hidden problem; if it wasn't for teachers and those volunteering at food banks reporting that this was a real issue, we probably would still be oblivious to it. Tragically we simply don't know how many young girls it affects because embarrassment ...
Responding to reports that the Repeal Bill will remove the right of UK citizens to sue the Government, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake commented: "This is a shameless attempt to take away people's rights through the back-door. "Citizens must be able to hold the government to account when it breaks the rules. "The Liberal Democrats will fight in Parliament to stop Brexit from being used to water down individual rights."
Idyllic view of Rimrose Valley Country Park With the potential threat of a road being driven straight through this country park I thought it was time to have a really good look at it. I had been previously but not for any length of time. I was not to be disappointed. I set off on my cycle from our Lydiate home last Saturday morning quite early on a bright and sunny day. Joining the foot and cycle paths that lead into the County Park at Edge Lane I found my way via this footpath network through into what is a ...
The next West End Police Surgery takes place at Blackness Library on Monday - details below :
Just putting this out here in case anyone can help me, though I suspect not. My wife and I have had a rather neurotic Jack Russell terrier, Gary The Wonder Dog, for the last couple of years — he's eleven ... Continue reading →
