As Susan Hibbins once put it in Lincolnshire Life: Drive to Crowland Abbey along the lonely fen roads on a misty December afternoon as the dusk is falling and you feel as though you are driving into the past, when the world seemed to consist only of water and sky; where small, isolated communities clung to muddy islands that raised themselves a few feet out of the undrained fens. This was the world to which the former soldier Guthlac came in 699 AD, to one of the little islands - Crowland - where he would live and die, and where ...
(Sorry for the lack of posting at the moment — I never have much time to write over Xmas.) So, before we get on to talking about The Just City in more detail... why Plato's Republic? What, exactly, is that ... Continue reading →
Most of our local charity shops collect used stamps - foreign, UK commemorative or just plain "ordinary" stamps - and sell them on to dealers. Please keep all those stamps you get at Xmas or indeed any time of year and take them in. Alternatively you can drop them off to Paul Hulbert at 35 Blaisdon (this year he's collecting them for the RNIB) or leave them at Dodington Parish Council for him to collect.
The year 2017 is the 60th anniversary of the launching of the European project, but never since its foundation has the European Union (formerly the EEC) been under such pressure from its immediate neighbourhood. Russia has been interfering in the Baltic states in particular — and maybe in Britain's EU Referendum, too — but most [...]
Once again the people of Mill Crescent, Westerleigh have put on a Christmas light display to raise money for charity. This year they've chosen Different Strokes, a charity run by younger stroke survivors for younger stroke survivors. The Mill Crescent lights have become a local Christmas tradition. Why not pop along and see for yourself? You can find out more about the light display, including some of the special visitors they've had this year, on their Facebook page.
Friday: The shortest day. The blackest night. The Tories tearing the country apart almost as fast as they tear each other apart. The Labour Opposition slavishly not opposing. The Lib Dems going nowhere. Winter is here. Even your passport is turning as BLUE as a White Walker. Seems like things have got pretty DARK recently, doesn't it? So, disguising myself as a BB9-E-for-Elephant droid, I got the Daddies to smuggle me into Stockport's new cinema, The Light - half Hipster Cornflake Bar; half Interior Star Destroyer, but they do a decent hotdog - in (first) order to watch the new ...
Fri, 12:56: How fast is Theresa May losing ministers? https://t.co/LvvtJeczfl By British standards, pretty fast. Fri, 13:45: Reminder: BSFA nominations are open, until 31 December. https://t.co/DLBmOENebH Fri, 19:32: RT @ProfBrianCox: We could all agree to turn our passports blue by running towards them, thus saving a lot of hassle. Assuming the waveleng... Fri, 19:42: RT @apistone: Millennial Greek Myths are really something 😠https://t.co/ulfhMDTbvD Fri, 21:05: Doctor Who first subject on #mastermind! Fri, 21:09: RT @GuitarMoog: A man entirely deluded about the UK's place in the world writes about the need to cure his crippling self-doubt and insecur... Fri, 21:45: ...
A senseless slaughter Peter Black on the continuing badger cull Drunken posting, or Why I am Incensed by the Masterchef: The Professionals Final 2017 I could have posted about the Masterchef: the professionals final, but nanila did it for me. What does FBPE mean on Twitter? It means the person using it is overly fond of obscure acronyms, of course ;) miss_s_b | Year in first lines The titles and first lines of the first blog post I have made each month this year Instagram photo: Achievement unlocked: tidying out the Frequently Played Games Cupboard. Ofc now there is room ...
Like everybody else with even an ounce of commonsense I have been puzzled by all the fuss over the colour of the British passport. What concerns me is not how the document looks but what rights it gives me as a citizen travelling abroad. If the new post-Brexit British passport means that I have to get a visa to travel to some countries, when I did not need to do so before, then it will not be serving its purpose. If it means that I have to queue longer to enter countries, when previously I was fast-tracked then it is ...
For you December may mean Christmas preparations. For me it (also) means a testing round of auditions for the latest Christmas song.
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link above This is in danger of becoming almost an everyday story across Merseyside as the culture of guns looms larger every passing week, or so it seems. Can Merseyside Police get on top of the problem or is it already something that has effectively been lost control of? There can't be many communities across the Liverpool City Region where discharges of guns have not taken place over the past few years so sadly my gut feeling is that our under resourced Police are really struggling to ...
Sat 23rd
09:06
Labour members discover they have been resigned from the party after likely data abuse
Martin Warne has the story about the Labour Party in West Ham: Branch secretaries across West Ham Labour party have received an email today from Josephine Grahl, the vice chair for membership, about a serious data breach in Green Street West: Dear Branch Secretary, I am writing to draw your attention to a recent incident in which personal membership data of individuals may have been misused or accessed by an unauthorised person. In September 2017, following the third attempt to hold a branch AGM in Green Street West, a number of members in that ward reported to the CLP Secretary ...
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone in the Liberal Democrat Focus Team
A rather nifty point from Bristol Liberal Democrats about the Brexit blue passports story (and one I like because it makes the point without insulting those who disagree): Which passport is better? The one that gives us free movement or the #BluePassport? @LibDems want to keep our passport and get an #ExitFromBrexit pic.twitter.com/2tOj3y309X — Bristol Lib Dems [IMG: 🔶] (@BristolLibDems) December 22, 2017 No wonder a steady stream of former Labour supporters are switching to the Lib Dems, attracted by Vince Cable's line on Brexit.
A secretive European research group dedicated to taking the UK out of the European Union and which allegedly operates as a party political organisation has up to 80 MPs as members including at least six cabinet members according to Open Democracy UK. They say that 'new data collected by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority covering the last year, shows that the six cabinet members, along with the chief of staff and special adviser to the Brexit secretary, David Davis have each claimed £2,000 in parliamentary expenses for "professional" and "pooled" services from the ERG. Five other subscriptions from former Tory ...
