Embed from Getty Images This extraordinary photograph shows Nottingham station - Nottingham Midland as it would have been in those days - during the floods of 1947. I once blogged about those floods, which hit the Fens hardest but affected other areas too. The waters that inundated Nottingham Midland must have come from the Trent via the Nottingham Canal, which runs beside the station. You can also see the overbridge that carried the Great Central on its way to Nottingham Victoria and Sheffield. I remember it from my trainspotting days in the 1970s - in fact it was used by ...
Embed from Getty Images England has been in a dreadful state for some weeks. Lord Coodle would go out, Sir Thomas Doodle wouldn't come in, and there being nobody in Great Britain (to speak of) except Coodle and Doodle, there has been no Government. It is a mercy that the hostile meeting between those two great men, which at one time seemed inevitable, did not come off; because if both pistols had taken effect, and Coodle and Doodle had killed each other, it is to be presumed that England must have waited to be governed until young Coodle and young ...
The News Shopper reports how a Conservative councillor has joined their deselected ward colleague in quitting the party: Two members of the Orpington Conservative Association have resigned and will now run as Independent candidates in May's local election... Mrs Stevens was left fuming after the Orpington Conservative Association decided to not select her as a candidate for the Biggin Hill Ward in the upcoming election... Cllr Benington, who has represented Biggin Hill as a Conservative councillor since 2006, said: "Melanie has been my ward colleague as a Councillor in Biggin Hill since 2014. "She has been an excellent and extremely ...
Enjoy this video which shows the Lib Dems' highlights over the past 30 years.
Rally round Theresa May? No chance, says Cicero. Tim Crook argues that the public has a right to know about Max Mosley's past: "His past connection with the xenophobic Union movement clearly haunts his present. Its participation in British elections exploited and sowed the winds of interracial conflict. It was associated with violence and it caused fear and anxiety for so many non-white British people." "It is important that we are viewed as integral and valued members of university otherwise universities view us merely as financial pawns and our concerns will only ever be tackled from a financial perspective." Maelo ...
The British Election Study has been issuing data concerning the 2017 election based on their "face-to-face" process. They maintain, for example, that the much-acclaimed "Youthquake" of 2017 was in fact a myth. But I was very interested in this graph, tweeted by James Kanagasooriam: There are a number of conclusions to be drawn from this graph. Much has been made of the fact that the Tories had quite a chunk of Remainers voting for them – particularly in the South of the country. But there was one thing which was quite noticeable for me. According to the BES data, as ...
The Conservatives are keen to introduce identity checks at polling stations before people vote. So much so, that pilots are being carried out for this May's elections in some places. Which prompts the question, why? You might think, 'ah, because identity checks are a sensible security precaution'. However, the incidence of voter fraud caused by people being impersonated at polling stations has been so low than even the Eric Pickles's report which talked up the risks of it found almost no actual evidence. Similarly, new evidence about how many people voted more than once in the 2017 elections shows that ...
Second paragraph of third chapter of Woman on the Edge of Time:Already her lips were split, her skin chapped from the tranquilizers, her bowels were stone, her hands shook. She no longer coughed, though. The tranks seemed to suppress the chronic cough that brought up bloody phlegm. Arriving had been so hard, so bleak. The first time here, she had been scared of the other patients—violent, crazy, out-of-control animals. She had learned. It was the staff she must watch out for. But the hopelessness of being stuck here again had boiled up in her two mornings before when the patients ...
One of the most important aspects of our party's accountability is the ability to question its powerful people. Every Conference, there are sessions where members can put their questions to the committees who run the party and to our parliamentarians. These are usually poorly attended, with just a few of the Usual Suspects turning up to ask awkward questions. Actually, the more people who turn up and the more awkward questions asked, the better the party will be. Everybody who holds power within an organisation should expect to be rigorously held to account. In our party, the main committees are: ...
There's been a slight delay, as the font I used in the index is slightly too small for the printing guidelines. It should be available later today or tomorrow.
DON'T MISS OUT ON YOUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS Deadline to register for the May 2018 local elections across large parts of England: Tuesday, 17 April. To be able to vote, you have to be on the electoral register and to do that, you have to fill in a simple online form. Other official paperwork, such as getting a passport, paying Council Tax or getting a driving license doesn't result in you being automatically added to the register – it's a separate process. You only need to register once – you don't need to register separately for every election. However, you do ...
It's a wee while since I hit 30 but I've been thinking a lot about how I felt at that time in my life. My twenties had been pretty turbulent in many ways and had taught me quite a bit about the world and how it works and where things needed to change. By the time I hit 30, I not only felt surer of myself, I felt more impatient even than I had at 16 to change the world. Why? Because so little had changed. Because we were still having the same arguments about power being concentrated in the ...
Britain seems like two countries right now. I don't mean England and Scotland (apologies to Wales - and Northern Ireland, assuming you take a liberal interpretation of "Britain"). Rather we seem to be divided into two tribes, those who voted Leave and those who voted Remain. And, like the UK and the USA, we are [...]
Sat 3rd
11:10
Lydiate – That outdoor sporting/leisure site proposal & its relationship to a designated ...
One thing that slipped my mind when I put together my report on the presentation to Lydiate Parish Council about this proposed development (my immediately preceding blog posting refers) off Hall Lane/Southport Road is the relationship of the site to Lydiate's Conservation Area. The matter was raised at the meeting but as I say this aspect slipped through the net when I was writing the posting up. Having been reminded of it now I have been onto Sefton Council's web site (see link below) where the boundaries of the Conservation Area are defined:- As you can see the site ...
Fri, 12:56: Remembering Albert Sabin and the vaccine that changed the world https://t.co/xKpZROnSDI How Rotary decided to eradicate polio. Fri, 16:05: "The Sandman Murder": A Crime, a Comic, and a Creator's Conscience https://t.co/MG7UqHT9vM I had no idea. Fri, 17:30: My election broadcasts last year #AE17 #GE17 https://t.co/bMks0KNJ03 Fri, 18:24: Jago and Litefoot: Voyages and Season Five https://t.co/EDblPnH9Hk Fri, 18:59: RT @JenniferMerode: In a parallel remain universe PM David Cameron is firing off a tweet in praise of Mark Rutte's Europe speech. Cameron... Fri, 19:19: Very good analysis of, inter alia, why UK has failed to split EU27. https://t.co/KEARHdcro6 Fri, 20:48: ...
Adding Onion headlines to Doctor Who photos produces joy.andrewducker | Why I haven't enjoyed any of the Pratchett adaptations I've seenIn which Andrew basically takes thoughts out of my head and types them into his blog. A Short List of Shenanigans My Parent's Dog Has Engaged InPut your cup of tea down before reading this if you value your keyboard. Someone Put a Statue of Jason Voorhees in a Minnesota Lake For Divers to Stumble AcrossThe more I learn of Minnesota, the more I approve of it. During NRA conventions, gun injuries drop 20% nationwide—63% in hosting stateSo we just ...
When the dulcet tones of the BBC's Shipping Forecast turn to the weather in German Bight, two thoughts often flit through my mind - both related to the history of Heligoland, an island (or strictly speaking, an inhabited island and a small uninhabited neighbour) that previously gave its name to that shipping forecast area...
It is rare for a politician to speak plainly, especially when the subject is one of huge contention in their party. We were lucky therefore to get any clarity at all from Theresa May's speech yesterday when she finally spelt out that the UK's access to the single market will be reduced after Brexit. It was a speech nevertheless that sought to 'have its cake and eat it' as John Crace explains in the Guardian. In that regard it is unlikely to take us any further along in the negotiations with the EU. Many of May's red lines will have ...
It's Sunday name is the "Ashdown Prize for Radical Thought." The Party's first leader, after whom it is named, prefers to call it "Paddy's Power to the People Prize." The winner will win £500 and could have Paddy championing their plan on the Conference stage. He has teamed up with those nice people at Your Liberal Britain to set up a competition for briefly expressed radical ideas to sort out the country's problems. He explains the premise in this video: Here's what you have to do if this takes your fancy: To enter, you'll need to write: A six-word summary ...
Updated at 14.30pm. I'll be back late today or in the morning with an update on the trains. We had a couple of inches of extra snow in Ludlow overnight. Many side roads are still snowed up. Main roads are looking good for careful drivers. Many side roads need to wait for the thaw which has begun. Below are the updates on buses, trains and services in Ludlow. Roads The A49 is passable with care. Live updates on Facebook. Ludlow main roads are slushy. Take care if you must travel. Side roads haven't improved since yesterday. Buses Minsterley Motors were ...
Residents have contacted me about the untidy state of the pathway that runs between Bankmill Road and Rosefield Place - see photos below. I have taken this up with environment management in the council's Neighbourhood Services and requested a tidy up.
Sat 3rd
06:09
No trains through Ludlow again for a third day - expect the same tomorrow and early Monday (at least...
Updated 9.00am. Live updates for Saturday are now here. It looks like there will be no trains through Ludlow today (Saturday). You can expect the same on Sunday. On Monday, trains are expected to be "highly impacted" first thing in the morning. Other than a few bus services last Wednesday, there have been no replacement buses and none are yet announced for today. Arriva Trains Wales has announced at 8.45am the routes it is running today. The list doesn't include trains through Ludlow on the Manchester to Cardiff line. Arriva Train Wales is advising "Do not travel". National Rail Enquiries ...
My latest book is out — the revised and expanded second edition of Monkee Music. This is about twice as long as the original version and contains full essays on: David Jones (1965 album) All Mike and Micky's pre-Monkees singles ... Continue reading →
