I have long had a thing about this remarkable closed Leicester church, which stands in an area of the city with a large Muslim population. A report in the Leicester Mercury from last summer tells you more about it before bringing some good news: "St Saviour's was completed in 1877. It was the last and greatest of four churches in Leicester by Sir George Gilbert Scott and is listed Grade II*. "It is a vast red brick church with a nave seating one thousand, the timber roof of which is outstanding. "The adjoining church rooms were constructed in 1883 and ...
An Oxford MP has backed a proposed law which could protect venues like the city's Cellar bar from harmful development. Layla Moran is supporting a bill which would force developers to take nearby small businesses into account in their plans. For music venues it could see housing developers made to pay for soundproofing at the venue to cut the risk of new neighbours complaining about noise. In cases like the Cellar, which faced eviction, the new law could force a landlord to offer compensation.This, from the Oxford Mail, is a good local campaign for Layla Moran as she defends a ...
It's a new year, so a new day of the week. Current An Old Captivity, by Nevil Shute Quoth the Raven, by Jane Haddam Last books finished It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis L'Équation Africaine, by Yasmina Khadra Who Killed Kennedy: The Shocking Secret Linking a Time Lord and a President, by "James Stevens" [David Bishop] Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry, by Jane Hirshfield Orlando, by Virginia Woolf "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber The Talons of Weng-Chiang, script by Robert Holmes ...
I headed over to Sunderland yesterday to help the Lib Dem candidate Martin Haswell in the Pallion by-election. The ward is a Labour stronghold, home to the late leader of the council, Paul Watson, who died after a long battle with cancer in November. I set off in the morning to deliver 200 letters and then, in the afternoon, I was sent to an estate to deliver a Labour squeeze leaflet. For more
Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb MP was in Sunderland last Friday to help out in the Pallion by-election and to be the guest speaker at a local Lib Dem dinner at the Arabesque Egyptian restaurant in the evening. I was busy through the day but I was able to attend the dinner. Norman and I worked together 10 years ago when he was Lib Dem Shadow Business Secretary and I was the party's policy
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Labour's new campaigning move is nearly identical to what many Liberal Democrats talk about
Labour's new campaigning move is nearly identical to what many Liberal Democrats talk about: Labour hopes to encourage communities to organise around local issues and develop campaigns with a new team. The unit – which gets up and running on Monday – will target seaside towns and traditional Labour heartlands, where the party needs to rebuild support... The new community organising unit will work with constituency Labour parties and trade unions to try to help them build alliances beyond the party and to campaign on key local issues. Labour says that through this approach, communities will be able to bring ...
Buffer is a great tool for scheduling your social media postings so they go out at the times when they will have the most impact.
Embed from Getty Images This morning's Today programme ended with an item looking forward to today's government reshuffle. (It starts at 1:23:44 on this recording if you are that interested.) At one point, suggesting that the reshuffle would have little effect because most people know so little about politics, Tim Shipman from the Sunday Times says brightly: "I was very struck the other day on an episode of Pointless..."and then goes on to quote exactly the figures I blogged on Saturday. Ideas can occur to people independently, as shown by the fact Alwyn Turner made the same point about Pointless ...
As the new term starts today, the LDV team has been discussing how we can encourage more thoughtful, respectful debate on the site. We are aware that many people tend to stay away because they feel that they are not given a fair hearing and their concerns are belittled, particularly on articles relating to women's equality. Our comments threads are therefore lacking in diversity. If women and other often marginalised groups of people feel that they can't give voice to their opinion on this site, then we need to change things. We want our comments threads to be enriching, engaging ...
Yes, yes, I know, there's a team at LDV and Mary R and Joe O and Mark V and Nick T and Ryan and various others work hard too. For no pay, either, mark you. But Caron is the Editor In Chief, and the most public face, and thus Caron is the one who gets the majority of the hassle and shite when freeze peach artists want to slag people off on LDV. Caron has a full time job, and a family, and sits on federal board, but she still gives ridiculous amounts of time pretty much every day, even ...
Holy resurrection, Batman! After eighteen months I'm finally starting posting the Batposts again. I'm going to clear the previously-Patreon-only backlog on Mindless Ones and then start with new posts in a couple of weeks. For now, here's Batman 66: The ... Continue reading →
As if things were not bad enough for business it emerged over the weekend that many companies face further problems when we eventually leave the European Union. The Independent reports that changes outlined in one of the many Brexit-related bills would force over 100,000 companies to pay VAT on goods at the point they enter the UK, rather than after they are sold. This could create severe problems for UK companies, including cash flow issues and additional bureaucracy: Business groups said the change would create severe problems for UK companies, including cash flow issues and additional bureaucracy. At least 130,000 ...
The reshuffle is ongoing as I write this, with most of it still to come. So far, it's been a good day for Brandon Lewis, a bad day for CCHQ's social media team. I could offer my thoughts on the reshuffle overall – from what's in the air as rumours thus far, most of it seems reasonably sensible – but I'd prefer to think about what it means for the near future of British politics and the premiership of Theresa May. Journalists from the Left will focus on the weaknesses the reshuffle brings to light: the fact that none of ...
My colleague Cllr Mirna Juarez was described as a 'Fishwife' by the ever suave Elected Mayor of Liverpool at the last meeting. An official complaint about the use of sexist language has been made by Cllr Makinson, also pictured At ... Continue reading →
Yes, they're back after all of that leaping, and we're back to offer you a preview of events in their Lordship's House. We start on Monday, with two Liberal Democrat Oral Questions. Floella Benjamin raises the question of an official commemoration of the arrival of the SS Windrush in June 1948, whilst Roger Roberts seeks clarity on post-Brexit arrangements for supporting child refugees. Most attention though, I suspect, will be on the debate on the Government's Industrial Strategy and the case for boosting earning power and productivity across the UK with investment in the skills, businesses and infrastructure of the ...
Sun, 12:56: Reconsidering NATO expansion: a counterfactual analysis of Russia and the West in the 1990s https://t.co/BFGZyYvMDg... https://t.co/IqhPNwCICw Sun, 16:05: Black Hole Sun God https://t.co/q0BBTTdQqh Excellent review of Wolff's #FireandFury. Sun, 18:08: It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis https://t.co/docGsuyBLI Mon, 06:45: RT @IrishTimes: Former attorney general Peter Sutherland dies aged 71 https://t.co/VXaccZZ9Oj Mon, 06:45: RT @campaignforleo: Very sorry to hear of the death of Peter Sutherland. He was a statesman in every sense of the word; an Irishman, a comm...
Egypt's parliament takes serious actions to combat atheism Oh for fuck's sake. Northern Forest: Plan to plant 'ribbon of woodland' across England So this is a re-announcement of existing flood prevention measure proposals, and the government is providing just shy of £6million for a project that it's estimated will cost £500million (and government projects ALWAYS go over estimate), but SURE lets give TMay some positive fucking headlines for it. For fuck's sake. John Stuart Mill, on Inequality, Opportunity, and Poverty This is the kind of thing that people who call themselves Classical Liberals but are really Glibertarians always conveniently forget ...
The plans for Brexit were taken by just two people and then deliberately kept secret - that's one of the shocking revelations from Tim Shipman's Fall Out.
The Independent has the story on its web site – see link above Well it's the poor and the young who are going to suffer most from his and Teresa May's policy of Brexit so for me it's clear. I know quite a number of Labour members and supporters and I can only recall one of them being a Brexiter, whats more recent polls seem to indicate that around 80% of Labour Party members oppose Brexit. For all his bluster Corbyn's voting record over many years shows him to be very much a Brexiter, so no wonder Labour is ...
"Education, education, education," said Tony Blair in 2001 as he set out the key tenets of New Labour in the UK after almost two decades in opposition. Yet, in power, he failed to do very much to improve educational standards across the board in the UK. Much has been written about why Britain voted for [...] The post The core of the radical centre – it's education... appeared first on Radix.
South Tay Street - 1956 :
It is an unexpected coincidence that, having written a piece on these pages suggesting that a more mutually respectful dialogue might be a good thing, the whole Toby Young story hit the headlines. And, let's be honest, he has made his reputation by means of saying things likely to offend in order to attract attention. Now, apparently, these repeated offences were "sophomoric and silly", and thus should be excused so that he might take up a place on the board of the new Office for Students. I'm not the first person to suggest that he really isn't a fit person ...
LDV is brought to you today from Portland, Maine, the home of some of the best small, craft breweries in the United States (these are just some of those that I've sampled in the past week or so, and come courtesy of the Maine Brewing Company). We're getting back into gear after the Christmas break, and Parliament returns which means another preview of the week ahead in the Lords. Elsewhere, I'll be opining on the Toby Young saga, and we may well have an announcement from our Editor-in-Chief. So, pull up a chair, kick back and enjoy another day here ...
