Another video from the people at Londonist. You can see footage of trains on this line elsewhere on this blog.
Mark Wallace's fascinating dissection of the Conservative 2017 general election campaign also includes some insights on Labour which are very relevant to the Liberal Democrats: How many disparate groups can you think of who were allied to or sympathetic to Labour in the course of the election? Count unions, charities, pressure groups, campaigning social media communities, and crowdfunded advertising campaigns, and you'll realise there are a lot. Two separate senior Tory campaigners who have been keeping tally estimated to me that the number was in triple figures - not including the many other local groups and even individuals active in ...
Responding to news that President Trump is expected to withdraw backing from the nuclear accord with Iran in a speech later today, newly appointed Liberal Democrat Defence spokesperson Menzies Campbell, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem said: "This is yet another example of Trump's boneheaded belligerence. "Not content with senseless responses to every provocation of Kim Jong Un, he is determinedly undermining a treaty which has proved to be an important influence on nuclear non-proliferation. "Every time Trump opens his mouth, the world becomes a less safe place."
1. It's good. Really good. Better than the original, in fact. It has the same haunting, unsettling quality. The same feeling of a universe that is lived in. The same ability to provoke uncomfortable questions. And visuals that are if anything even more stunning. Yet it also improves on it. The narrative has a clearer [...]
This is the first of the Oscar winners for Best Picture (in this case, "Outstanding Production") that I had actually seen before. It beat four films I have not heard of, The Big House, Disraeli, The Divorcee and The Love Parade in the Academy vote, and also tops the IMDB ratings for the relevant time period. Lewis Milestone also won the Oscar for best Director. It is also interesting (to me anyway) that the top film of 1930 was based on the top book of 1929 as measured by Publisher's Weekly. If you don't know, it's a film about a ...
Sat 14th
14:10
Kenyan opposition leader in London: 'New election will be as corruptly conducted as last month's &am...
'There is no point in going to an election where the outcome has already been determined' – @RailaOdinga on withdrawal from Kenyan election pic.twitter.com/pTilPLKHmg — Chatham House (@ChathamHouse) October 13, 2017 Raila Odinga, Kenya's opposition party leader, spoke yesterday at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London. Mr Odinga was Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. Reuters reports: (Odinga) said on Friday his withdrawal from a presidential election rerun scheduled for Oct. 26 meant the poll had been "cancelled" and there should be fresh nominations for a new vote. Odinga said that based on a ...
It was International Coming Out Day on Wednesday and I forgot. For one reason or another, I'd assumed it was later in the month and hadn't bothered to double check. It is the reason why there was no blog article posted or even prepared for the day itself. I only realised because of social media and never had time during the day to rectify it because I worked during the day and attended a Mental Health Awareness course for Sport in the evening. I was speaking to an asexual friend of mine and he also forgot it was coming out ...
If you head to the Royal Mile at about two in the afternoon, you'll be in for a big surprise. Our Alex Cole-Hamilton is one of the speakers at a Rally for Europe but he won't be delivering the Europe stump speech many of us have heard many times. In fact, I'm probably more word perfect on it than I am the Sound of Music or the words of Abba Gold. Today a new version of the Cole-Hamilton Euro speech takes centre stage and it's just as good. Here's an extract. Now I heard that Boris Johnson said that if ...
Emily Brand on Twitter: "Don't worry, world. It seems 'Larking' = cunnilingus & 'Huffle' = to fellate OR to rub sexually up against someone's armpit #yourewelcome https://t.co/QYqLM5mowd" ... so, my fellow HP fans, a HufflePuff is...? Spotify's Discover Weekly: How machine learning finds your new music Obama officials 'mocked Britain in secret and treated "special relationship" as a joke' I suspect that this sort of thing will only get worse post brexit How will Brexit affect health and health services in the UK? Evaluating three possible scenarios - The Lancet tl;dr: we're screwed Emma Thompson: Harvey Weinstein 'top of harassment ...
Fri, 12:52: The treason of Philip Hammond. https://t.co/orpr3oJdKB Fri, 12:56: Graham stands by claim Trump shot a 73 in golf game https://t.co/ymsESy3GKc #cannotbelievethis Fri, 16:16: RT @JRTyrrell: Great to have support of NHS medical director @DrBruceKeogh for world #thrombosis day 2017 with @bhwords @AryaRoopen https:/... Fri, 18:03: The Famished Road, by Ben Okri https://t.co/4qW3Mr2kA9 Fri, 19:16: RT @EmaMilano_EU: Speaking at #MIT4LS2017, President of @clusteralisei Diana Bracco says #EMA2Milano is the best choice for Europe Fri, 19:16: RT @manctofu: @IanDunt @GuitarMoog Do they ever think how it looks to fabled nations they say want to trade w/ UK? = UK doesn't ...
Whatever one might think about the Welsh Government's record on the environment, at least we can acknowledge that they understand the problems and that they try, even if sometimes that effort is ineffective or insufficient. The same cannot be said for the UK Government. As the Independent reports, experts in the field believe that the Government has "blown an enormous opportunity" to transform Britain's record on climate change. They are very critical of the UK's long-awaited green master plan: Ministers unveiled their much-delayed clean growth strategy this week, which sets out more than 50 measures to boost energy efficiency and ...
Happiness, social psychologists like Jonathan Haidt have suggested, may be found more in the single-minded pursuit of good aims than in achieving them. If this is true, Liberal Democrats should be some of the happiest people around - always striving, always hoping, yet too often actually failing to achieve our aims. Ridiculous, retorts common sense. We fail, and that is depressing and debilitating. Yet there must be something in the theory to keep some of us for fifty years or more committed to the cause of Liberalism - not always activists, deflected by our personal human dramas and careers and ...
You pretty much need know nothing about American football to enjoy this.* Athletic. Brilliant. And legal. http://i.imgur.com/gvaIvMS.webm * Here's my one sliver of knowledge with which to distract people from my absence of knowledge: the practice of attaching suitcase handles to clothing of players had to be banned for safety reasons. This practice also helped give rise to the introduction of the forward pass. Hat-tip: JM2845 on Reddit.
It's hoped that work to upgrade broadband in Codrington will be finished by the end of this month. To check whether your house or business is being upgraded, use the Openreach line checker at: If it's not available, try again later. When working, if you are being upgraded it should show "In scope" and state that an FTTP solution is being used (that is, fibre to the premises, rather than just to the nearest green box). Note that there is still the possibility that technical issues stop your property being upgraded. Once the infrastructure work is complete you will ...
Sat 14th
08:47
Stop Brexit – Vince Cable's speech from the Manchester March held during the Tory Party Confer...
Vince Cable www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hrvEZVe__g Please access the video on youtube via the link above Vince Cable speaking to the marchers about why Brexit is such a bad idea and why we need to stand up to oppose it. Nice that he was able to hold out a hand to those in the Labour and Tory Parties who also realise how bad Brexit is going to be for the UK but are presently stuck with their party whipping them to back what they know to be dangerous falsehoods.
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - SATURDAY 14 AND SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 2017 Riverside Esplanade/Riverside Drive (Tay Road Bridge off ramp to 75m along Riverside Drive) - westbound nearside lane closure on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 October to facilitate V&A construction works. A90 Swallow roundabout - overnight (7.30pm - 6.30am) southbound nearside lane closure on Sunday 15 October for lighting works. REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017 A85 Riverside Drive - prohibition of right turn from westbound lane of Riverside Drive into Riverside approach and prohibition ...
The Good Place is, for a US network TV series, a remarkably daring piece of work, but to explain why will require HONKING GREAT SPOILERS. I'M NOT KIDDING, YOU KNOW I DON'T NORMALLY CARE ABOUT SPOILERS BUT THIS TIME I ... Continue reading →
