When the government cancelled the electrification of the Midland main line north of Kettering we were promised new 'bi-mode' trains. These would take power from the wires as far as Kettering and then switch to diesel power. But Nick Rushton, the Conservative leader of Leicestershire County Council, is not impressed. According to the Leicester Mercury, he told a recent council cabinet meeting: "I am disappointed we are getting so-called bi-mode trains. "They are clunky, they are heavy they are slow and they are smelly. "We expected to be treated better when the day after cancellation they [the Government] could find ...
Ed Thornley on the prospects for the Liberal Democrats in the North of England. "I waited patiently for my turn to come. You don't know if you will speak until your name gets called so all I could do was sit and hope." Ryan Lailvaux made his first speech to Lib Dem Conference in Bournemouth last month. "To be of the radical centre does not, it seems to me, mean the kind of tiptoeing towards little tweaks to the system here and there, especially when the global economic system is designed to create billionaires and to enslave the rest of ...
Farm profits could fall by as much as half after Brexit, new research suggests. The report, by the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), says the "worst-case scenario" would cut average farm profits from £38,000 a year to just £15,000. Former Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron commented: "This shows what a disastrous situation 'no deal' would be for farmers and the future of our rural communities. "The Government's inability to make progress on negotiations is leaving farmers in the lurch and creating huge uncertainty. "Farmers are unable to plan for the future and make informed business decisions because they do ...
The Liberal Democrats have urged the government to introduce a charge on disposable coffee cups, after it emerged that just 1% of disposable cups used each year in the UK are recycled. The Environmental Audit Committee yesterday heard that 2.5 billion disposable cups are thrown away annually in the UK, equivalent to almost 7 million cups a day, of which only 1% are recycled. The number is expected to rise to about 3 billion by 2025. Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Kate Parminter commented: "It is a scandal that only 1% of disposable coffee cups in the UK are recycled. "Most ...
Don't know about the rest of you but I love my bed. Nothing makes me appreciate it more than the annual DePaul International sleepout. Tonight Alison Suttie and I will be bedding down in the Somerset House courtyard. We are in a safe secure place in comparison with most people who are homeless and on the streets. But a night sleeping out in central London is a stark reminder to us of what too many people endure - and in growing numbers. You don't feel safe. You don't really sleep. You spend the day feeling pretty ropey. That is just ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: No; they were real. Out in Armoy, Christy even then was busying his Napoleonic self in sober daylight, was shaving maybe, or eating his breakfast, or driving in the cows; and Moran was there in his Sunday clothes, and Pat, and Ned, and all the rest; and the hills there beyond the window were the hills I had trod last night, the hills in which more than stones lay buried, the hills which soon would echo the tramp of the Armoy commando. Another book that I picked up from the Interwebs thanks to Jack Fennell's ...
My new book will be coming out soon — probably in the next week. I'm currently working on the cover, and would be interested in people's feedback about it (especially from those of you who've beta-read the manuscript). For those ... Continue reading →
The West of England Combined Authority, which consists of council leaders from Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) councils and Metro Mayor Tim Bowles - have agreed £1.2million to investigate whether it is financially viable to go ahead with 21 transport projects which include four new MetroBus routes around Bristol, six new park and ride sites, and other transport projects. Among the studies is an outline investigation into the A432 corridor to Yate and Chipping Sodbury, including MetroBus, a strategic cycle route, Park and Ride, Yate Station enhancements and a bypass for Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell. ...
Wed 11th
13:55
Tim Farron explains how the Government's cuts to supported accommodation will harm most vulnerable
One of the (many) hugely worrying things about the Government's plans for Housing Benefit is the cap being applied to supported accommodation. Across the country, people are given the chance to live as independent lives as possible in accommodation which comes with its own support network. Government cuts threaten this – and the human cost is appalling. This was discussed in a Westminster Hall debate yesterday in which Tim Farron took part. From my experience of the supported housing provided for constituents with autism and learning difficulties, I know that the LHA rent cap will mean that they simply will ...
[IMG: Roadworks sign] Kent County Council has advised that Horn Street, will be closed to through traffic, from Monday 23 October 2017 for up to 5 days, between the hours of 09:00 hours and 16:30 hours each day. The road will be closed in phases between the junctions of Church Road and A259 Seabrook Road. The alternative route is via A259 Seabrook Road, B2063 Hospital Hill, B2063 West Road, Pond Hill Road, Church Road and vice versa. There will be operatives on site to allow managed access for residents and businesses, whenever it is safe to do so, but there ...
Theresa May was on LBC this week, in attempt to do some damage control after her disastrous conference speech. Iain Dale asked her three times if she would guarantee the rights of EU citizens living here in Britain. The Prime Minister continued to dodge the question. After being asked three times, the PM still cannot ... Continue reading Human Bargaining Chips
Join us at Croxteth Park on Saturday. Bring your flags; bring your whistles; bring your mates! This Saturday Afternoon - 14th October - I will be joining what I hope will be thousands of my fellow Scousers at a pro-Europe ... Continue reading →
After 2015, half of our Parliamentary seats were in the North of England. Now it's one of twelve, and only just. Across the North, especially in the cities, we fell back in 2017, losing Leeds North West, Sheffield Hallam and Southport. Why? Many reasons, but one stands out for me and that is a simple surge in Labour support. In both Leeds NW and Hallam, students registered and voted in greater numbers than ever before - in one Leeds NW ward, registration numbers increased by almost 20%. Even though Southport was lost to the Tories, we see that a surge ...
The Benetton ad below which features children of different races reflects the changing cultural context of the world that they are growing up in. On 'International Day of the Girl' the importance of sending girls encouraging messages to look upwards in terms of life and career choices should have equal footing with eradicating the structural inequalities that pull them downwards. Racism is one such inequality. Donald Trump's slights and outbursts against immigrants and the rise of the far-right political groups in the Western world is sufficient evidence of how racism is quite often implemented in a top down fashion. Racism ...
[IMG: Cat with nose in paws] Please accept this email as an objection to the Hybrid planning application Y17/1042/SH for Princes Parade. As stated in SDC's own Environmental Statement (Technical Annex 7) Shepway District Preferred Option Places and Policies Local Plan (Emerging) states that "Development proposals will be supported where: ... "2. They are accompanied by appropriate heritage assessment to demonstrate that key features of the Royal Military Canal and its setting, which contribute to its significance as a Scheduled Monument would be preserved and enhanced and the overall scheme would not result in substantial harm to the heritage ...
A close up of Lydiate Signal Box I have blogged about the isolated former Lydiate railway station before but to recap it was not even in Lydiate Civil Parish but just over the border in Altcar Civil Parish off Carr Lane*. It closed on 7th January 1952 and all trace of it has effectively gone. Interestingly though Lydiate does have a Station Road which joins Southport Road adjacent to the Scotch Piper Pub and does eventually lead to the former station. Lydiate Station sat on the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway and the tracks were lifted after June 1960. ...
John Humphrys blasted over remark about rape trials on Today programmeWhy anybody is surprised by this... This Vet Put Explanations Of 15 Common Cat Behaviours On His Cork Board, And It's HilariousDads are often having fun while moms work around the house: Study first to show how couples spend time minute-by-minuteTory MP Philip Davies attacks sex education for 'introducing very young children to homosexuality'I was brought up by "married natural parents" and I still turned out queer. Thank fuck I didn't turn out like Philip. Awkward Squad ClothingT-shirts (and jumpers. And bags) for grumpy lib dems. [IMG: comment count unavailable] ...
Tue, 12:56: No, the EU did not "stop" Theresa May getting rights for EU citizens https://t.co/TThlMXgFKX Just to nail that particular lie from May's s... Tue, 13:05: RT @StephenFarryMLA: Remaining within Single Market cld be consensual special deal for NI. Devo Max + consistent w Principle of Consent htt... Tue, 16:05: Grenfell Tower: chronicle of a tragedy foretold https://t.co/xpo9wjewQV Grim but necessary reading. Tue, 17:05: RT @EUTweetup: London Calling! Nah, not really. But that's name of the bar for Thursday's #EUTweetup in BXL. 6pm. All welcome! https://t.c... Tue, 20:57: RT @JolyonMaugham: I will push your family into poverty because of ...
"I know nothing" was one of the famous lines from "Fawlty Towers". Manuel tells everyone he knew nothing of Basil's winnings on a horse-racing bet. In what appears to be a repeat of the classic series, Gateshead Council's Labour leader Martin Gannon announced over the weekend that he "knows nothing" of the discussions that have been taking place between the government and the three north of the
Wed 11th
10:47Just as US President Jimmy Carter was the antidote to "Tricky Dicky", could Oprah Winfrey save the w...
This is the eleventh of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them. I had the great pleasure of visiting the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. It is set just outside the city centre, in very leafy and peaceful surroundings. The exhibition gave me a sense of a great man, shaped by his upbringing in Georgia, his experience as ...
Next Wednesday, the council cabinet is expected to agree a much higher rate of growth in housing and employment land across the county. The government says we need to build 1,270 new homes a year. Shropshire Council wants to build 1,440 dwellings every year for the next 20 years. Nearly 60% of people and organisations that responded to a consultation earlier this year wanted a lower level of growth. But the council wants the business rates from higher employment growth, so it says more housing is needed. The hidden agenda to Shropshire Council's latest planning document lies in council finances. ...
I discovered this heap of rubbish on the Sandy Lonnen, near Whickham, yesterday morning. Those who engage in the vile, selfish, anti-social, irresponsible, thoughtless, nasty, reckless, disgusting activity of fly-tipping deserve everything they get when they are caught and prosecuted. They really make my blood boil. I checked through some of the dumped packaging but couldn't find anything that
It is fair to say that the great Brexit experiment is hitting a rocky patch. Yesterday, the prime minister gave an interview in which she was asked whether if the referendum was run tomorrow she would vote Remain or Leave. She declined to answer. For the "Brexit means Brexit" person to be wavering on this right now is not a good look for the Brexit friendly. Some have taken this as a sign that perhaps Brexit won't happen at all, but I don't think that's the case, at least, not yet. But some of the talk from Brexiteers about what ...
The state of unpreparedness of the UK Government for Brexit has once more been graphically underlined, this time with an article in the Independent in which the former head of immigration enforcement argues that the Home Office will struggle to cope with the challenge without more resources. David Wood, who was director general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office until 2015, has raised concerns with MPs about the scale of the task facing immigration officials after Britain leaves the EU. He told the Home Affairs Select Committee that extra border checks on EU citizens after Brexit will heap "considerable ...
I am a huge admirer of Paddy Ashdown's new political movement, More United. Yes, it sounds like a new kind of football club. But I respond without thinking to their appeals – to everything except the weasel word 'extreme'. One person's extremism might be another person's pathetic centrism. I can understand the need to reject [...] The post How to be radically centrist without being a 'centrist dad' appeared first on Radix.
Opinion polls still show the country divided down the middle on whether Brexit is a good thing or not. There has been a bit of movement in favour of the referendum on the deal (it is worth noting that it always does better when accurately described in that way rather than as a second referendum). However, the really dramatic poll shift has been in the confidence of the government getting a good deal with two thirds now not confident. The dichotomy between those figures and the 50/50 split is striking. To some extent, this may be wishful thinking on behalf ...
From the Curator of Museum Services, University of Dundee : This Friday (13th October) at 6.30pm sees a special public lecture by the internationally renowned computer scientist and physicist Stephen Wolfram, entitled D'Arcy Thompson and the Growth of Computational Form. Best known as the creator of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language, Stephen is the author of A New Kind of Science and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. Over the course of nearly four decades, he has been a pioneer in the development and application of computational thinking. His early work on complexity in nature led him to study ...
Up on Melling Rock at the side of the Bootle Arms Pub is small meadow and wild flower field called the The Delph that is looked after by Melling Parish Council. When the wild flowers are out it looks delightful. The site has been a sandstone quarry, riffle range and landfill site in the past. Some years ago when I was leader of Sefton Council I was given a pamphlet-type book written by Irene Birch about her mother Bertha (Mattocks) Birch called A Melling Lassie "Pottery Days" Melling's Scottish Heritage. In it on the title page is an photo of ...
