Switching on the Christmas lights in Whickham took place yesterday. I was the official photographer and you can see the photos on the above link.
Copyright © Dennis Calow Wheat Street in Leicester, now a stub between two factories is an old street that used to be much longer. And here's the proof in the shape of a 1955 photograph from the Vanished Leicester collection. The houses have already been abandoned and are about to be demolished. A decade later the area became recognisable beneath Leicester's new ring road, obliterating the city's most notorious slum area. Could any of it have been saved? Reading The Slums of Leicester, you are struck by just how had conditions were there. Here is Cllr Bertram Powell writing in ...
I'm sure most of us will have had slightly awkward conversations with friends and relatives who, say, saw a nice picture of a field of poppies and a union jack and shared it on Facebook not realising that they were sharing the work of the horribly racist and islamophobic Britain First. I always point it out to people and most of the time they are utterly mortified and swear to be more vigilant next time. There is no such embarrassment from the President of the US. No pretending he was hacked. No apology. No regret. This isn't your auntie sharing ...
As a visitor to the London Paralympics in 2012 one of the things I appreciated most were the temporary bright pink signs to the events seen around the capital. Even though I'm a relatively frequent visitor to London, they reassured me that I really was heading in the right direction. So today it was nice to see that a couple ... The post The spirit of London 2012 lives on appeared first on ten pence piece.
Usually when I return to something I've written a while later, I can produce a list nearly as long as the original writing of things I'd like to change - wording to improve, facts to add, insights to tweak, better examples to use and metadata to revise.
Second paragraph of third chapter: Orlando's history plays with the notion that genetic inheritance can be pooled (just as sexual orientations can be crossed) in the identity of one person. So, after living for generations, Orlando is both an exceptional individual, and the summation of her whole family's history. But the inheritance is not usually as joyously resolved. In the novel of her family, To The Lighthouse - a novel split down the middle - the splits between husband and wife, parents and children, past and presaent, generate a violent sense of conflict and a painful desire for resolution: 'For ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above Words fail me they really do!
Embed from Getty Images The devastation of South Hallsville School in East Ham, London after a bomb hit it in 1940. The BBC is to be congratulated on a superb history series currently going out on BBC2 – Blitz: The bombs that changed Britain. We often think of the wartime blitz and see film footage of mounds of rubble and people trying to find loved ones. But this TV series goes one step further and very specifically outlines the terrible impact of one bomb (in each of four episodes). In the first programme, now on BBC iPlayer for the next ...
It's 100 years this week since Dr Elsie Inglis, doctor, pioneer of women's hospitals and suffragist died. During the first world war, her offer to establish a medical unit staffed by female professionals was rebuffed by the War Office who told her to go home and sit still. She didn't give up and instead the French government took up her offer and set her unit up in Serbia. Dr Inglis was remembered yesterday in a Westminster Hall debate. Here's our Christine Jardine's contribution:
Wed 29th
11:58
Baroness Olly Grender writes...Give renters fair access to affordable credit #makerentcount
Creditworthiness, yet another poverty gap issue, is one that could be so easily closed. You've paid your rent all your life in full on time. You go online to buy a washing machine. You fill in your credit details. But because you're renting in social housing, that washing machine will cost you somewhere between £300 and almost £1,000 more than someone with a mortgage. Over two thirds of renters, in private and social housing, pay their rent. Renters are often managing bills, juggling finances and paying a far higher proportion for their housing costs than many owner-occupiers. Last week, The ...
Tue, 12:56: My tech detox in Russia was a hidden blessing https://t.co/d1CgfX636q @A_Sloat on the upside of being cut off. Tue, 13:00: What a complete cock-up the Tories have made of Brexit https://t.co/o9RKwCKZhA A good summary. Tue, 14:41: RT @StephenFarryMLA: Alliance proposals for NI in EU Single Market. EU & UK Single Markets not mutually exclusive. EU market vital to futur... Tue, 16:05: To Sound Like a Leader, Think About What You Say, and How and When You Say It https://t.co/ty7c570bh1 Interesting piece. Tue, 18:09: The Irish and Belgian approaches to Brexit https://t.co/UVjUpztGww Tue, 18:40: @tconnellyRTE @ATJMattelaer https://t.co/cWAVbtkwUe Tue, 18:56: ...
Government confirms freeze on working age benefits minutes after Prince Harry wedding news revealed (warning: this is in the Indy, so has autoplaying video) FFS, if I have to scroll past ONE MORE ARTICLE In which Conuly says what I am thinking about the R*y*l W*dd*ng Marf with a solution for the Irish border issue Now that is a border post I would like to visit, and would probably never get past whether I was allowed or not. Woman reports rape to police - and is arrested on immigration charges This is the most disgusting thing I have read in ...
It is good to see that Hillside Independent Traders (HIT) have arranged an event this Friday to switch on their Christmas lights and to provide some related entertainment. Congratulations to them. We were pleased to be able to make a contribution to this event from our ward funds. The event runs from 4.00pm til 5.00pm
Wed 29th
10:47
"Go whistle" becomes "we've already said we'd pay": the evolution of the cost of Brexit
Chris Grayling was sent to do Today this morning. It is the kind of gig they used to get Michael Fallon to do, but he was unavailable for obvious reasons (Fallon was better at it). It was to face questions about how the idea of the UK not paying the EU a divorce settlement ("go whistle") had transformed into us paying roughly the amount that the EU had been calling for all along. "I don't think people in this country would expect us to just walk away from things we've already said we'd pay for," said the Right Honourable Grayling ...
There has always been a weight. Suspended by its cord, it cut through sensitivity to drive us home until the weight became the cord, which became the weight: scythes of productivity, cutting in their being, preventing equilibrium without knowing why It shifts... Now weight accumulates around my waist obscuring former forms, bowing slender limbs already weaker from [...]
This post wafted in from the Radix site... The story so far. Govia Thameslink won the franchise to run the Southern rail franchise and took over in early 2015. Thanks to their failure to recruit enough train crews, and their inability to build any kind of trust with existing crews, by the middle of 2016, the franchise was in free fall - with exhausted passengers expected to wander hopelessly between motionless trains, and staff left without information as they tried to deal with dangerously overcrowded platforms. Things have improved a little since then, though last time I tried to catch ...
Brexit was the promised land of milk and honey. We were going to control immigration (despite the needs of the economy), we were going to take control of our borders, we were going to divert all that money going to the EU to the NHS instead. The Brexiteers tell us that Europe needs us more than we need them. Brexit would be a walk in the park. And then reality kicked in. We are told that our
Paddy Ashdown has been in Hong Kong this week, talking to the Foreign Correspondents Club about international relations and how the relationship between the Chinese leadership and Donald Trump could unfold. It's not a pretty sight. Here is his speech in full. He revisits the theme of many of his speeches in recent years about the change in the global balance of power as China's influence increases. He also has some candid and critical comments about the UK's time governing Hong Kong. Peace in the Pacific Region, and very probably the wider world, will depend on two questions. How will ...
For too long now the chief cheerleaders for taking the UK out of the EU have been in denial, seeking to fool us that we can leave fairly cheaply and have lots of cash left over to invest in public services. The public acknowledgement by the UK Government that this is not the case will hopefully bring a new sense of realism to this debate. As the Guardian reports, the UK has finally bowed to EU demands on the Brexit divorce bill in a move that could result in the us paying £50bn to Brussels, in an attempt to get ...
As I have posted about previously that weird Junction 1 on the M58 which you can only access to travel east or exit from the east is finally to be made a full junction. I recall my old Sefton Councillor chum and former Mayor of the Borough, Cliff Mainey, banging on about the need for this work to be done at least 10 years ago. A previous posting of mine about this matter is accessible via the link below:- Yesterday Sefton Council, who are pursuing the project on behalf of Highways England, held an information session at Meadows Leisure ...
The story so far. Govia Thameslink won the franchise to run the Southern rail franchise and took over in early 2015. Thanks to their failure to recruit enough train crews, and their inability to build any kind of trust with existing crews, by the middle of 2016, the franchise was in free fall – with [...] The post The Basil Fawlty delusion of Southern Rail – and why it matters appeared first on Radix.
Tonight at 6.15pm Lights On for the West End!... and a spectacular fireworks extravaganza! This year's West End Christmas Concert takes place at Dundee West Church at 6.15pm. Everyone is very welcome to attend. There will be musical contributions from all local primary and secondary schools. The Concert will be hosted by Gordon Sharp. We are delighted that "The Notables" will also perform at the concert. Mains of Fintry Pipe Band will pipe everyone from the church to Seabraes for the Christmas Lights Switch-On! At 7pm, Loadsaweeminsinging will be singing by the Christmas Tree, followed by a visit from Santa ...
Wed 29th
07:30
Highways, conservation and ecology objections delay approval of 200 homes at Rocks Green
Plans for 200 homes south of Rocks Green have met significant objections. Highways England has ordered that the scheme is not approved for at least three months while its concerns over analysis of traffic impacts are addressed. Shropshire Council's conservation team has objected to the plans, which it describes as "disappointing". The council's ecologists have recommended that the development is refused unless more information on the impact on protected species is provided. At the beginning of November, Pickstock Homes submitted a planning application for 200 homes behind the Nelson Inn (17/05189/FUL). The application is in outline for the full site ...
So, apparently we're going to be paying somewhere between £39 and 49 billion to leave the EU. That's between 39 and 49 billion quid less to spend on the NHS. It's more than the entire Scottish Government budget for a year. It's not exactly £350 million a week for the NHS, is it? Vince Cable had this to say about it: If these numbers are correct, it means we're paying a heavy price to leave an institution that has benefitted the country for decades. The Brexiters said we'd get £350m a week for the NHS, instead we face a financially ...
When I heard that the Free Democrats had pulled out of coalition talks with Angela Merkel my mind went back to events in Britain in 2010. What if the Liberal Democrats had decided not to enter into coalition with either David Cameron? Was a coalition with Labour ever a serious runner? Would the electoral carnage [...]
