A BMG poll for the Independent shows a majority of those asked are now in favour of remaining in the European Union. In fact, Remain has a 10 point lead over leave which widens to 11% when you exclude the don't knows: When a weighted sample of some 1,400 people were asked: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union, or leave the European Union?" - 51 per cent backed Remain, and 41 per cent backed Leave. 7 per cent said "don't know" and 1 per cent refused to answer. After "don't knows" were either pushed for ...
The pavements in Ludlow, and across much of the county, have been lethal in the last few days. The snow partially melted on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It then refroze. Pedestrians were at great risk. Several slipped over and I was among them. There will be a review of gritting priorities in Ludlow early in the New Year. But this will not change the reality that Shropshire Council doesn't have enough resources to clear every road and path in this huge county. We need to think about we work together as a community to get the paths clear. I think ...
Embed from Getty Images Richard Osman is running a World Cup of Christmas Songs on his Twitter account. One of the quarter finals pitted Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade and I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day by Wizzard. It was like 1973 all over again, as these were the two songs that competed for the Christmas number one that year. In those days I was a Wizzard fan and very much wanted them to beat Slade. But they didn't and it was Merry Christmas Everybody that topped the chart. I used to feel embarrassed that I had liked ...
In Jinja, at a meeting of Cities Alliance, I argued that politicians needed to take a long-term approach to the development of their Cities As readers of this blog know I have been out of Liverpool for the past 13 ... Continue reading →
Otto English is someone I retweet a lot and I was pleased when he started a blog this autumn at Pin Prick. But I have to take issue with his latest post, the wonderfully titled Ladybird Libertarians: Dan Hannan, Paddington and the pernicious impact of 1970s children's literature on Brexit thinking. I am the last one to say that the books people read as children have nothing to so with their later political views - after all, I am always banging on about Malcolm Saville here. But the attempt to pin the blame for Daniel Hannan on Ladybird Books seems ...
One of the reasons I prefer writing over speaking in public is that my gob doesn't have a backspace key. However, I am not known for my silence or unwillingness to express an opinion so when I was invited to take part in a new podcast about Scottish politics, I jumped at the chance. On Thursday, just after the Scottish Budget was announced, I spent an enjoyable half an hour talking over the issues of the day with the hosts Andrew Jackson and David McColgan. I don't think I said anything too embarrassing but have a listen to try and ...
The Great Ziegfeld won the Academy Award for Outstanding Production in 1937; there were nine other nominees, Anthony Adverse, Dodsworth, Libeled Lady, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Romeo and Juliet, San Francisco, The Story of Louis Pasteur, A Tale of Two Cities and Three Smart Girls. I have not seen any of them. It got nominations in six other categories and won two, Luise Rayner getting Best Actress as Ziegfeld's first wife Anna Held, and the "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" sequence winning for best Dance Direction. IMDB users rate it a measly 19th of the films of ...
Many thanks for being a reader of Liberal Democrat Newswire, my website, my social media channels or some combination of all of them! Liberal Democrat Newswire more than doubled its number of subscribers in the last year alone. Readership rose sharply across the other channels too, including on my blog – which SimilarWeb now reports is the most read Lib Dem blog. So I'll be even more grateful than usual if you can take a few minutes to complete my 2017 reader survey in order to help me to choose content and channels which match what you find interesting and ...
Increasing the number of politicians is never a popular move so I don't expect the very weighty expert report commissioned by the Assembly's Presiding Officer calling for exactly that to gain much traction on doorsteps. As the Western Mail reports, this tome recommends amongst others that the number of Assembly Members elected to the Senedd should rise from 60 to 89 or 90, that they should be elected by the far more proportional Single Transferable Vote system and that the voting age should be reduced to 16. I anticipate that the last of these will be the least controversial. Even ...
Fri, 12:38: RT @SteveMcGookin: @nwbrux nice job on @bbctheview just now. important point about reading newspapers across borders... Fri, 12:56: Boxing champion awaits deportation after fighting for England six times https://t.co/tjI4fPq7PF Well done, Britain. Fri, 12:56: RT @AlbertoNardelli: Phase 2 Brexit guidelines adopted https://t.co/44bIFHaMQi #EUCO Fri, 12:57: RT @eucopresident: EU leaders agree to move on to the second phase of #Brexit talks. Congratulations PM @theresa_may Fri, 13:38: RT @daithimckay: Excellent episode of @bbctheview tonight. Should definitely have @nwbrux on more often! #goodanalysis Fri, 16:05: Fighting polio - the year in review https://t.co/gztcoGU6uH @gatesfoundation reports progress, gives credit to our... https://t.co/RFqzZKclSN ...
Four New STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Character Posters RevealedIt are can be January 7th yet? weekly_food_challenge | Challenge #24: Slow Cooker Chilli con CarneMy recipe for Chilli miss_s_b | Friday FiveThis week's is all about snow. Where to Get Cheese Tea | Tasting Table... This genuinely sounds utterly foul to me Steam Purged Of Pepe Emoticons After Creator Files Copyright ClaimBwahahahahahahahaha snowflake nazis pissing and moaning because the artist who designed their icon doesn't like them using it. If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: [IMG: Paypal Donate Button] [IMG: ...
As a recently returned member of the Liberal Democrat Voice editorial team, I have the good fortune to receipt a copy of every press release issued by the Party. Well, I say good fortune but, most of the time, I simply delete them as being of little personal use. That isn't a criticism of our Press team, but is a reflection of the fact that I'm only really an amateur journalist one day per week. Sometimes though, one of them catches my attention, as it did on Thursday.Local bus routes slashed by 14% in areas outside London read the headline. ...
A bumper set of by-elections for the last time this year, with 2 on Wednesday and 8 on Thursday. We continued our fine form of recent weeks with another gain off the Conservatives, along with 2 solid holds, ensuring that we finished December with 19.7% (+8.2%) of the vote, standing candidates in 10 of the 12 contests. A huge thank you to last night's brilliant team of volunteers who came to 23 New Mount Street in Manchester to make calls at ALDC's By-election HQ. It's always good fun with such a lovely team - if you haven't been yet please ...
As a teenager growing up in a city riven by religious conflict, I found Arthur C. Clarke one of the early guides to a more rational way of thinking. I loved his early short stories, I loved his mid-period novels, and I forgave the later collaborations. Sometimes his wit could baffle translators, but his compassionate vision of the future of humanity was always clear. I was deeply honoured to carry on his vision as one of the judges of the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award. He created our world in so many ways.
These are the last posting dates if you want your UK post to arrive before Christmas: Wednesday 20 December - 2nd Class and 2nd Class Signed For Thursday 21 December - Special Delivery Guaranteed Thursday 21 December - 1st Class and 1st Class Signed For Friday 22 December - Special Delivery Guaranteed Saturday Delivery You can find dates for other services on the Royal Mail's website
The Daily Mirror has the story on its web site – see link above Quote from article – 'The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) activists are campaigning for 2.6million women born in the 1950s whose state pension age is rising to 66 by 2020.' What has surprised me is that there have not been bigger and longer protests over this. With thanks to Roy Connell for the lead to this posting
A number of residents have contacted me over recent weeks about the extent of road flooding on Perth Road at points between Hazel Avenue running west to Riverside Place. I reported this to Scottish Water and their Corporate Affairs Manager (North) has updated me as follows : "I've spoken to our local team, who have confirmed that they responded to burst water mains at the two locations described on Perth Road. Bursts can sometimes occur in proximity to each other when the normal operation of a main has been disturbed and this doesn't necessarily suggest that further problems will occur ...
