In case you missed it, here's the shocking video on Channel 4 News tonight where a young man who campaigned to Leave alleges that the Leave campaign overspent. This young man, Shahmir Sanni, has complained at being outed by a former Vote Leave campaigner who now works in Downing Street. There's more in the Guardian:. The controversy centres on a donation to BeLeave, an organisation targeting young people run by former Liberal Democrat Darren Grimes. What he has spent months coming to terms with is that this donation may not have had anything to do with BeLeave's creativity and flair. ...
I went to Thurmaston because, from the bus, it has more than its share of Nonconformist chapels and Victorian schools. What I found there was an unexpected statue and piece of local history. In case you can't read the inscription in the second photograph, the story of William Lane can be found online. His grave is the first you come to when you enter the churchyard.
On Thursday I suggested there had been a deafening silence among liberals and the left about the conviction of Mark Meechan (aka Count Dankula) for posting a comic video. Only David Baddiel and Ricky Gervais, I suggested, had spoken up in his defence. The next day, I am pleased to say, Shappi Khorsandi entered the fray with a good column for the Independent:The terrifying thing about this conviction is that the judge sided with the prosecution who said "context and intent are irrelevant" in a joke? In a bloody joke? Context is everything in a flipping joke! It's happened. Like ...
This Sunday, 25 March, The UK will switch to British Summer Time (BST) at 1am on Sunday morning, meaning people will effectively lose an hour's sleep. The change, also known as daylight saving time, will mean there is more daylight in the evenings but less in the mornings. Cllr. Allan Knox said, "Most electronic devices these days will change the time for you, so you've no need to worry but most of us have at least one clock or watch that we need to change manually." When changing your clocks manually, it is also a good time to check the ...
There isn't much love between the UK and Russia these days, in the wake of the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, but while the war of words continues between the two governments, at a cultural level there is a determination to keep things friendly. So there was a good turn-out — and [...]
How Green Was My Valley won the Oscar for Outstanding Motion Picture in 1941, the first of three years in which the award had that name. It got a total of ten Oscar nominations, and apart from Outstanding Motion Picture also won in Best Director (John Ford, for the third of four times), Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp as Gwilym Morgan), Best Art Direction (Black and White) and Best Cinematography (Black and White). Infamously, the Oscar voters ranked it ahead of Citizen Kane, which is now universally ranked as the best film of 1941 (or indeed as the best film ...
Fascinating data collated by Tony Travers showing how far the political make-up of London has diverged from the rest of the country in less than a decade.
Fake news was still a thing before the phrase became a thing. This story I originally ran in 2011 is a great example of some of the elements which have become so high profile. Even if you follow the news only lightly, the chances are you've seen a story in the last few days about how a cat received a jury summons in the US and, when the owners pointed out it was a cat, the local bureaucracy ordered the cat to turn up to court anyway. So far, so normal as far as daft bureaucrats go? Well, not quite. ...
This morning I received two parcels. Surprise parcels. Parcels I had not ordered. They came from a supplier I had never heard of. They both came from the same supplier, whose logo was liberally printed all over the boxes, but were of quite different sizes. Upon opening them, they had exactly the same contents, despite one of them being of a size to contain A Bottle of Booze and one of them being of a size to contain about 4 bottles of booze:1 full sized bottle of Marmalade of Manchester gin1 tiny sized bottle of Martin Miller's gin2 beermatsThere was ...
Today will see the running of the 164th University Boat Race. But there's a little bit of Eglwyswrw hidden away in the Boat Race archives. In the 92nd edition in 1946 sitting in Seat 5 for the Light Blues of Cambridge was Geoffrey Cunningham Thomas of Jesus College. Geoffrey was born in Hirwaun, the son of Dr Benjamin Thomas and the grandson of the Surgeon Dr Ieuan George Thomas. His great-grandfather was Rev Benjamin Thomas, or 'Myfyr Emlyn' to go by his Bardic name who was born in the foothills of the Preselis in 1836 and who moved to Pantygarn ...
This afternoon, Jo Swinson will be speaking at the "Aye Write" book festival in Glasgow. Ahead of that, she gave a long interview to the Sunday Herald. Here are some of the highlights: She talked about how the author of the book she had requested as a prize at school had got in touch with her: When Jo Swinson was a teenager, studying at Douglas Academy in Milngavie, she was awarded the Senior Dux prize for achievement, and was given a trophy plus a book of her choice. What she opted for, as she describes in her book Equal Power: ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @The3Million: "There are tentative reasons for optimism. And that's not something we often say when it comes to the Home Office" says @I... Fri, 13:31: RT @davidallengreen: The Abolition of 2016 Act 1. The year 2016 shall be and is hereby abolished. 2. The votes for Brexit and Trump shall... Fri, 15:18: Waiting to meet a journalist who is stuck in #EUCO across the road... (@ European Commission - Berlaymont -... https://t.co/DPBPJjtGbp Fri, 16:05: John Bolton named national security adviser. It's time to panic now. https://t.co/XZCzMvqsFM Yep. Really bad news. Fri, 18:15: The Doctor Who Storybook 2009, ...
There is no better example of why those opposed to us leaving the EU cannot trust Labour to stand up and fight for the anti-Brexit cause than the sacking of the Shadow Northern Ireland Minister, Owen Smith by Jeremy Corbyn yesterday. As the Guardian reports, Smith was dismissed from his frontbench role after breaking with Labour policy to call for a referendum on the final Brexit deal. The paper adds that Corbyn is believed to have taken the decision on the basis that Smith had not been a team player, and had repeatedly breached shadow cabinet collective responsibility on Brexit, ...
'Left behind' is a relatively new term to describe communities in the UK who have, economically speaking, fallen behind the more prosperous parts of the country. The reasons for this socio-economic phenomenon are varied, but amongst them are: de-industrialisation; the effects of globalisation; and power that is over-centralised to Westminster. As Liberals, why should we care about the left behind? Some may argue it is because there were large numbers of voters in these communities, generally speaking, who voted to leave the EU (though whether it was anything to do with the EU is arguable). Therefore, getting them 'on side' ...
Embed from Getty Images One of my favourite extracts from the minutes of a Liberal Democrat or predecessor party meeting is this gem from a 1983 branch meeting: Campaign Strategy: After a long discussion, it was agreed that we organise ourselves, and have a separate meeting for this subject. For more up-to-date advice, I can of course recommend this.
The Guardian story around the supposed "dark arts" performed by the company Cambridge Analytica is still going strong. It has apparently caused a massive dip in Facebook's share price amongst other things. I've reflected a lot on the story and read every article I can find about it, both in Britain and in the American press. I've also read Dominic Cummings blog post from yesterday, which is an important addition to the story, if you really want to understand it all as objectively as humanly possible. I find several things disturbing about the whole CA tale, aside from the stuff ...
A blogged yesterday about some reasonably good news (extra trains) on the Ormskirk – Preston Line, now the other side of the coin on the Southport – Wigan – Manchester Line where services are in effect being cut back! Departure board at Southport Station. Southport to Manchester Airport trains withdrawn The current service [from Southport to Manchester] is dreadful with consistently poor punctuality, many cancellations, short forming of trains [too few carriages] and disruption of services for overrunning 'improvement works' (sic) and as feared the plan is to withdraw the Southport - Airport service for it to be replaced with ...
The former Maghull Police Station in Westway, Maghull. My letter to the Champion newspaper in response to all the cheering about the Town's new Police Station Dear Sir, So Maghull has a brand new police station within Maghull Town Hall, but please forgive me if I don't join in the cheering of Maghull Town Council and the local MP. You see the Town lost a youth facility and a CAB help point to make way for the police to move into the Town Hall from Maghull Square. Sorry I don't see Maghull and district's policing benefiting except that they will ...
Responding to reports that Gove will end the diesel scrappage scheme, Tim Farron said: "This is typical of Tory management. The environment has never been a priority, and promises of environmental protection and regulations have been abandoned behind closed doors. "It is bad for the environment and for the consumer, who bought diesel cars in good faith, and simply want to switch vehicles fairly. "Gove must think again, or at least explain to parliament why he has chosen this embarrassing U-turn."
With Monday 2nd April being a holiday ( it's Easter Monday ) bin collections are put back a day that week So if your usual bin collection day is Tuesday, it will be collected on Wednesday ( 4th April ) It's a "Blue Bin week" , ie Dry Recyclables Any questions on bin collections, contact Northumberland County Council
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