Great news via the Hackney Citizen about 'Hackney Heroine' and former Lib Dem council candidate Pauline Pearce: Local Liberal Democrats have chosen Pauline Pearce as their mayoral candidate for Hackney ahead of next year's election. Pearce is known locally as the "Hackney Heroine" after she was filmed confronting rioters in 2011 as she was walking home to her flat on the Pembury Estate. She was unanimously selected by Lib Dem members in a ballot held this week. Pearce said she was "so proud" to have been chosen, adding: "Although people tell me they are not political, you hear so many ...
Embed from Getty Images Last night the Liberal Democrat candidate Caroline Leaver gained the Newport ward of North Devon Council from the Conservatives in a by-election, Newport is part of Barnstaple and the voting figures were: Lib Dem 390 Conservative 373 Green 159 Labour 83 Following this Lib Dem victory the political balance on the council is now 18 Conservatives, 14 Liberal Democrats, eight Independents and three South Molton Independents. DevonLive quotes the Lib Dem councillor Brian Greenslade explaining that this means the Conservatives have now lost control of the council: Councillor Greenslade explained in 2015 the three South Molton ...
Sorry to have missed the anniversary by a day, but on 7 December 1967 Traffic issued their debut album Mr Fantasy. Featuring interviews with Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi (who died in 2005), this documentary tells you about the band's early days.
Good news from the Leicester Mercury: the planning inspector has upheld the city council's decision to refuse permission for the former Black Boy pub to be demolished. The developers. says the Mercury, has planning permission to create 25 student flats in a three-storey extension if they retain the facade of the pub. But they claim the scheme is no longer economically viable and wanted permission to remove the pub altogether. If that means there is a chance of the Black Boy being retained as a separate building and one day having a new use found for it, that can only ...
Here's the latest newsletter being delivered to houses close to the construction works:- Click on the text or the photos to enlarge them. Note:- Header and footer removed from scan of newsletter
The red lines of the Brexiteers: control of our borders, no money to Brussels, control of our own laws, British courts supreme. What have we got: our only land border to remain open; £40 billion to go to Brussels; the UK will align itself with EU laws, rules and regulations; the ECJ to continue to have jurisdiction over the UK. It seems the Brexit extremists drew red lines on the ground and have
I haven't done anything with my blog style for ages so I have had a bit of a wash and brush up. Those of you hoping that I have been converted to the church of WhiteSpace will be sadly disappointed; however, a reminder that you can add "?style=light" to the end of any url on this blog to get a whitespacey version. I await with bated breath your extremely funny "so 2002" and "geocities" comments :P If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: [IMG: Paypal Donate Button] [IMG: Buy ...
Third page: A short booklet by Dutch comics artist Renee Rienties, mostly one- or two-page reflections on the life of the artist, which I bought at Brussels Comic Con earlier in the year.. I think it's not actually representative of her best work, more of which can be found on her website.
A pathetically inadequate document was presented to Southport Councillors this week entitled Southport Economy and Development Frame work. A cursory glance at the report would lead you to believe that all was going swimmingly in the best of possible worlds for the Southport economy. After all: • Visitor Numbers - 8.7 million a 1.4% increase; • Staying Visitors - 722k a 4.2% increase; • Economic Impact (visitor economy) £518 million a 4.1% increase; • Total Employment (visitor economy) 6,449 a 1.4% increase. Staying visitors are the most valuable to the destination in terms of economic value; therefore a 4.2% increase ...
Responding to the news a Brexit deal has been agreed by Theresa May and the EU in Brussels this morning, Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable said: "This agreement is welcome as it reduces the risk of a catastrophic No Deal Brexit. It also includes a role for the EU Court of Justice for eight years, a notable concession. "But how long will this deal last before it is torn apart by Theresa May's own MPs? And what will happen next, seeing as the Cabinet hasn't even discussed yet what the final Brexit outcome should look like? "There are still two ...
Kicking the can down the road is sometimes a useful tactic for avoiding short-term political pain, but often results in significant long-term damage. If a politician can kick a particular can far enough away, they may avoid personal damage for poor decisions, laziness and lies. Instead it's the people in the can that's being kicked who suffer. I'm fairly certain ... The post The consequences of kicking the can down the road appeared first on ten pence piece.
It's been a good week for Nick Clegg. he won Best non fiction book by a parliamentarian for his How to Stop Brexit book in the Parliamentary Book Awards. We won't mention the fact that he sadly wasn't a parliamentarian when he wrote it. You don't have to be – former MPs are eligible. He was quite pleased: Delighted that How To Stop Brexit won at the Parliamentary Book Awards. Thanks to all who voted. Makes me think that I may be listened to more now than when I worked in the building... — Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) December 6, 2017 ...
Theresa May has managed to move the trade talks with the EU onto phase two. Whatever I have ever said to her discredit, I have to hand her that victory. It may have saved her premiership – although, as I've said many times before, I have my doubts about whether Tory MPs really would have brought her down had the talks failed to progress this month. Anyhow, such speculation is now academic. The question turns to what "regulatory alignment" means – and whether it will require the UK to remain inside the Customs Union in order to fulfil the terms ...
Layla Moran is one of 17 new MPs in 2017 to give an interview to the Huffington Post about her life and what makes her tick. She talks about her childhood in places as diverse as famine-hit 1980s Ethiopia, Brussels and Jerusalem. She talks about what sparked her interest in politics and distracted her from her first love of science. I did a Masters degree in comparative education in 2007. That's what really politicised me. I got very angry about the fact that having a had a background in countries that are genuinely poor, why in this country do we ...
(via [IMG: [community profile] ] thefridayfive) 1) Have you ever written a letter to the editor of your local newspaper? Yup. And issued press releases to them as well. They mostly ignore them. 2) Have you ever called one of your elected officials to tell them your views on an issue important to you? I've written letters to my MP (or, MPs, since there has been a succession). Got a response from Donald Thompson (and an 18th birthday card exhorting me to vote for him hahahahahaha no) and several responses from Chris McCafferty (some quite illuminating) and fuck all from ...
As you might expect from the author of The Martian, there's a detailed and (to my non-expert mind) plausible scientific background to the world created for Artemis, the new novel by Andy Weir.
Yesterday in the City of London, Vince Cable launched the Liberal Democrat Business and Entrepreneurs Network. Business leaders are increasingly keen to join the Liberal Democrats because of the party's clear stance on Brexit. The government has adopted an "ultra-Brexit" approach that was never on the referendum paper and that seems to have been driven by local Tory constituencies, not by economic logic. That alarms many business people and also young people, whose future is being stolen. The average age of a Conservative Party member is reported as 71 with the younger members deserting. At 100,000 members, the Liberal Democrats ...
OK so there has been a breakthrough apparently... But the breakthrough is not that a framework agreement to start substantive talks is kinda, sorta, done, maybe... It is that now the UK public knows that the leaders of the "Leave" campaign were a bunch of charlatans. David Davis took "hapless" to new lows with his "my dog ate my homework" explanation of why -in fact- no impact assessments of the single most important economic policy change in 60 years, were made. Whether you choose to believe or disbelieve the shifty excrescence is a matter for you, because its all the ...
It's the most wonderful time of the year... the time when the Beach Boys' vaults open, and we get digital copyright-extension releases! For those who are unaware, a few years ago the EU changed its copyright rules surrounding audio recordings. ... Continue reading →
Thu, 12:48: Sorry I can't be at #EUTweetup tonight - have a good time, everyone! https://t.co/9cbsAST3LL Thu, 12:56: House of Lords report on Brexit: deal or no deal https://t.co/MOwHQEAF3s Killing the "no deal" myth. Thu, 14:49: RT @patrickwintour: Chancellor Philip Hammond: The Cabinet has not yet had a full discussion of what should be the Government's preferred "... Thu, 16:05: Tory ignorance of Ireland is embarrassing - and dangerous https://t.co/ZhyxF4b8YD Yep. Thu, 18:37: Dear Old Dead, by Jane Haddam https://t.co/GlIWL7pMG3 Thu, 18:50: RT @AndrewDuffEU: There's a deal. Thu, 18:50: RT @jonworth: Note to hacks / politicians / Brits getting annoyed ...
There are many reasons why our vote collapsed after five years of government but perhaps the most important was our ditching the economic policy of our 2010 manifesto, which included an economic stimulus in the first year of government, a promise to create jobs for those who needed them and implied that we would only reduce the deficit when the economic recovery was secured. What we actually did was reduce government spending straight away and took money out of the economy with a 2.5% increase in VAT. During the Coalition government the news reported that there was a double-dip recession ...
A long time ago—back in 1977—I was invited to Israel as a guest of the Israeli government. At the time I was the diplomatic correspondent of a large chain of British newspapers, and, despite the Balfour Declaration, the British press was not known for a pro-Israeli stance. Their reporters seemed more attracted more to the wild open spaces and the vast starlit skies of Arabia than the Biblical lands. I, however, am an American, and had absorbed a pro-Israeli stance through osmosis. The Arabs were in bed with the Reds and the plucky democratic Israelis had seen off repeated attempts ...
Living in a City with two universities I am used to hearing a plethora of claims about what they can offer students. There are claims about their place on obscure ranking tables, some of which I find difficult to validate, whilst various departments compete to convince prospective entrants into HE of their excellence, both in terms of research and teaching. The introduction of tuition fees effectively marketised higher education, colleges started to make decisions based on the demand for their courses and how much income they could generate, rather than on the provision of a broad based curriculum. For example, ...
The road to reducing the impact of our current extractive economic system on the environment is long, tortuous, uncertain and filled with landmines. Renewable energy, electric cars, biofuels – these are some of the technologies hailed as the route to significant progress. Yet, every bit of perceived progress soon seems to turn sour as soon [...] The post The lesson for the green movement – only connect! appeared first on Radix.
Regular readers of this blog site may recall my previous posting (of April 2017) about the conflict there has been between dogs and children on this site. It was really all about that small minority of dog walkers who do not clean up after their dogs. Here's that previous posting:- The solution? A fence that has now been in place for a while. You can see it in this shot:-
Vince Cable has given his first reaction to the initial Brexit deal announced this morning. This agreement is welcome as it reduces the risk of a catastrophic No Deal Brexit. It also includes a role for the EU Court of Justice for eight years, a notable concession. "But how long will this deal last before it is torn apart by Theresa May's own MPs? And what will happen next, seeing as the Cabinet hasn't even discussed yet what the final Brexit outcome should look like? "There are still two opposing views in government, those who want a close arrangement with ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : Creative Coding : Animats, Animation and Artificial Life Designing and Coding Workshops by Genetic Moo Saturday 9th December, 10am - 12.30pm and 2pm - 4.30pmD'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, Carnelley Building, University of Dundee Create your own virtual organisms in these special workshops by computer art duo Genetic Moo, part of our exciting programme of events marking the centenary of D'Arcy Thompson's On Growth and Form. Using design and creative coding, in the first part of the workshop you will learn how to design your creatures digitally, experimenting with ...
Fri 8th
08:04
Friday fun: Alex Cole-Hamilton, the snake and creepy crawlies and the Prime Minister of Spain
To take our minds off the sound of things being kicked into the long grass in Brussels, here's something to cheer you on a Friday morning. You really do need to watch the video because it will make you smile. Turns out the BBC2 ripoff of #ImACelebrity isn't very good. pic.twitter.com/8wllwP1Kq0 — Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) December 7, 2017 Some of you will be thinking What.On.Earth? Well, we have dug deeper and found where the actual footage is. As you probably know, Kezia Dugdale, Scotland's former Labour leader, took part in ITV's I'm a Celebrity. BBC Scotland's current affairs programme Timeline ...
I'll have a proper post up later today, but for now, here's a final thing about it. Patreon have done a blog post, explaining the reasoning behind their changes, and... it actually makes sense, and *is* driven by stuff that ... Continue reading →
The possibility that Disney may buy part of Fox – including crucially in this context its movie studio 20th Century Fox – has excited the attention of the geekier parts of the internet for one specific reason: For those of you who are not familiar with the landscape of superhero movies, let me recap quickly. Both the [...]
The UK rarely ends up in the EU Court of Justice, and when it does it wins its cases more often than most EU countries, a new report by the Institute for Government has found today. Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake commented: "This report highlights the absurdity of the Conservatives' red line on the EU Court of Justice. "In spite of the Tory party's ideological obsessions, the Court has actually served Britain's interests well over the years. "The few cases the UK government has lost have mostly been for failing to uphold environmental protections. "This should be a wake-up ...
A report from the Public Affairs Committee has warned that the UK border could be exposed from the first day of Brexit. The report says that government assumptions about behaviour are risky and planning is too reliant on a transitional period. Commenting, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who sits on the committee, said: "Once again we have evidence in front of us that the government are failing to prepare for Brexit. "Mismanagement and blunder from this government is risking the future of this country. Massive new pressures to the UK border are being ignored and the whole issue is seemingly ...
[IMG: Europe-100] Failure to agree a way forward on the border question. It might turn out to have been nothing more than a bit of a wobble. Understandable in a high stakes negotiation. It might be an indication that the whole Brexit process is going to unravel. We are promised a joint UK-EU announcement tomorrow morning, provided the Belfast branch of the DUP sign off on it as well. It would be fair to say that is a major proviso. Of course, even if a revised deal is hammered out in time for next week's EU meeting it is quite ...
