The electrification of the Woodhead route from Sheffield Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly was completed in 1955. Yet it closed to passengers in 1970 and freight in 1981. When I was a student, Sheffield to Manchester passenger trains were still regularly diverted over it on Sundays and Sheffield to Huddersfield trains used it as far as Penistone. This silent film shows passenger trains on the route just before they were withdrawn.
Embed from Getty Images Vic Marks was a high-class bits and pieces player who got to play tests and one-day internationals for England because of his alliance with Ian Botham. He is now the best summariser on Test Match Special, but is often overlooked by the BBC because he does not seek controversy. Marks's modesty is one of his most attractive features. I remember him purposely taking a back seat as Michael Vaughan and Graeme Swann launched a double-barrelled assault on England's then hopelessly outdated approach to limited overs cricket, which I suspect had an influence on the authorities. He ...
I have read on the Liverpool Echo's web site that my MP has had what he considers to be an unfortunate meal out experience in Liverpool – see link below:- Well sorry Bill but I would much rather you be raising concerns about the appalling consequences of Brexit for example. We've all had unfortunate meal experiences, so hey get over it and move on please.
As we told you earlier this week, residents only have until 28 December to put in their comments about the Brimsham development proposals. Yate Town Council has now lodged a very detailed objection to these planning applications. It shows up the many deficiencies in the design. It may give you ideas for your own comments on applications - you can download the Yate Town Council objections here.
Fri 22nd
15:33
Lutfur Rahman, already ousted from office, now struck off as solicitor and landed with £86k bi...
Highly controversial Tower of Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman was removed from office for breaking the law. Now he's been struck off as a solicitor too: The former elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, has this week been struck off the roll of solicitors and ordered to pay £86,400 in costs... In April 2015 Judge Richard Mawrey QC, sitting as an Election Commissioner, ordered the election of the mayor for London Borough of Tower Hamlets to be re-run, after finding Rahman, the incumbent, guilty of corrupt and illegal practices... In June this year Rahman saw the Administrative Court reject his ...
Austria's new government is, broadly speaking, bad news from pretty much any sort of progressive political perspective. It is the second time that Austria has embarked on a "blue-black" rightwing coalition between the anti-immigration, hard right Freedom Party, or FPO (led by Heinz-Christian Strache) and the traditional right-wing bloc, the Austrian People's Party or OVP [...]
A short sample of recent messages from people who used to support Labour until Jeremy Corbyn's long history of Euro-scepticism (and remember that holiday during the European referendum?) dragged the Labour Party into repeatedly supporting Theresa May over Brexit: Sorry @UKLabour but I've had enough of your supporting the Tories' abysmal Brexit psychodrama. #StopBrexit I just joined the Liberal Democrats – join me here: https://t.co/yzSJ4oviHa via @LibDems — Karen Unwin #FBPE (@krinklykaren) December 21, 2017 Spot any further recently examples? Do let me know and I'll update this post. For the wider picture of public opinion, see my recent Euro ...
This is the speech delivered by Bath MP Wera Hobhouse in favour of a referendum on the final Brexit deal during the debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill on Wednesday. I rise to speak to amendment 120. Since I arrived in this place in June and started taking part in the Brexit debate, one thing has intrigued me: have the Prime Minister and many other remain MPs changed their minds? We all know that the Prime Minister supported remaining in June 2016. Has she changed her mind since? This is important because she and her Government use one big argument ...
Embed from Getty Images Found while searching for something else in the day job.
The Sun newspaper is trumpeting its "success" in getting Britain's "iconic" blue passport back, after a long and at times hysterically nationalistic campaign. But the whole thing is a con-trick. The new, pale blue passport that will in principle come into use from October 2019 is nothing like the old one. It's the wrong colour, [...]
We are delighted to let you know that on 20th December Yate Town Council purchased the land behind Cambrian Drive from the developers. We have got conditions on it that mean it will never be built on. This is the land that is currently very overgrown, that developers kept trying to get consent to build on. After the developers' last, failed attempt, as councillors we set about trying to buy it (thank you to the resident who suggested it). It has taken many months of negotiation, but this week the Town Council took ownership - for £35,000, which is much ...
The titles and first line/sentence of my blog posts for each month of this year:January 2nd Due to interesting political situation in Soviet Russia... ... I am finally deleting all traces of myself from LJ. February 1st What I Did At Federal Conference Committee, by Jennie Rigg Aged 39 and a quarter You may or may not have already seen the factual reports on Lib Dem Voice provided by Geoff and Zoe; I wanted to write something a bit more... human? March 22nd(!) (obvs there are a bunch of linkspams, but as they are mostly-automated, I don't think they really ...
So MPs and peers had some time alone with the Brexit "sectoral analysis" papers. And those of ours who expressed an opinion were far from impressed. You can make your own mind up as the papers have been partially published here. Vince Cable had been particularly scathing about them in an article for the Independent on Sunday: Those who have seen them - under a procedure rivalling access to the Crown Jewels - say they are descriptions of the sectors, not assessments of impact, and contain nothing unavailable on Wikipedia. The second, more serious, point was that the decision to ...
What are the best Christmas songs if you're very depressed about the world? This is very good. Elon Musk Doesn't Understand Why Mass Transit Succeeds I found this really interesting Chocolate poisoning risk to dogs at Christmas Just a reminder to parents of furbabies BBC to air more religious programming - BBC News "people want to see more religion and ethics. LETS DO MORE RELIGION!!!" I wanted ethics myself :( Class of 2018 - The Public Domain Review Whose works are going to go public domain in 2018? Some pretty big luminaries on here. EU takes unprecedented first step towards ...
Thu, 12:56: Bulgarians Hail Discovery of Oldest National History https://t.co/tnD5Omfikx Fascinating! Thu, 14:28: Hmm. https://t.co/8mI6OtQUqw Thu, 15:33: I think he got it right. Independence of Finland important for locals but not quite on the same global scale! https://t.co/SnqZxPnVbk Thu, 20:58: RT @EUTweetup: Announcing new #EUtweetup dates for 2018 BRUSSELS Monday 29 Jan (normal - just turn up) BERLIN Monday 5 Feb (normal - just... Thu, 21:03: RT @richardosman: My Somalian cabbie was granted asylum by the UK 20 years ago and has lived here ever since. His daughter, aged 21, is now... Thu, 21:12: RT @19acres: This is just to ...
Watch the new fun (yet educational) video from CGP Grey taking a look at a question central to the rise of technology as varied as driverless cars and bots doing the jobs of journalists.
Let's talk about how science works - and have a look at one of the teams flying in a zero-gravity plane.
Fri 22nd
09:17
Why the UN Jerusalem vote is bigger than you think it is - it shows us the future of America
Yesterday, the United Nations general assembly had a vote around the United States' decision to formally recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by relocating its embassy there. It was a landslide victory for those countries who voted against America's decision, with 128 countries voting to support the longstanding international consensus that who gets to own Jerusalem can only be settled by a final peace deal between Israel and an independent Palestinian state. The result was always going to be thus. The UN has a longstanding desire to not rock the boat on this particular issue, and Trump hitting it ...
The Lib Dem party members print magazine AdLib is for the chop. Lib Dem Voice reports this news and reminds us of how AdLib came about as a successor to LDN. Lib Dem News was a lovely paper. Sure, there was that sense that the council byelections reports were so skewed toward gains rather than losses that a reader who only got their elections news from LDN would conclude that the Liberals now held every single council seat in the country, but there were always a couple of good articles at least, some weirdness on the back page with gossip ...
There's a useful summary on the Gazette website Yate Shopping Centre will close for the Christmas break at 4pm on Sunday, December 24. Remember that Christmas Eve is a Sunday, so even Tesco closes at 4pm. The Centre will re-open at 8am on Boxing Day, December 26. Tesco will open at 9am Boxing Day and close at 6pm. It then goes back to normal trading hours closing again for New Year's Eve at 4pm and will be open New Year's Day from 9am until 6pm. Cineworld cinema will be open as usual up to Sunday, December 24, and re-open again ...
Dear Santa, To start with I would like a new pair of cufflinks (nothing too flashy), a kindle, a good thriller read and the time to read it. Then there a few other items which I don't usually place on my Christmas list. For a start do you think you could work on some magic dust. I know you know how to make it. It's magic dust that makes your reindeer fly. So could you just make some dust to scatter while flying around through the night sky which would restore a veneer of civilisation to the world. Something that ...
Every year, various newspaper and magazines come up with their word of the year. My word for this last year is Insurgency. If one thing has become clear during 2017 it is that people everywhere have had it to the back teeth with the status quo. Political success has flowed to those who cast themselves as [...] The post Why the political word of 2017 was 'insurgency' appeared first on Radix.
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above And here we see the sad consequences of irresponsible scrambler bike riding. It's far from being a new problem though, indeed it goes back 25 years or more at least. In my years as a councillor one consistent complaint that has come my way, especially in the summer months, has been the menace of scrambler bikes on the Cheshire Line Path/Trans Pennine Trail, on The Leeds Liverpool Canal tow path and on Jubilee Woods between Maghull and Sefton Village. But now they are all over ...
"A letter to my local MP @alexsobel about #brexit, asking for a #secondreferendum. I've changed my mind and others have as well. Please respect the #willofthepeople by finding out what they really think, now that the facts are better known and the lies of 2016 have been exposed."
Whilst the rest of the country is suffering from Conservative austerity measures, it appears that Ministers can still find the odd £50 million to kill thousands of badgers. As the Guardian reports, nearly 20,000 badgers were culled this autumn as part of the government's attempt to reduce bovine TB in cattle, in what critics called the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory. They add that the 19,274 dead badgers is almost twice as many as last year after 11 new cull zones were added to a swath of the West Country worst-hit by bovine TB. While some ...
