Today is the anniversary of the launch of the Social Democratic Party in 1981. I was too young to join at the time but I was interested in politics and joined just after the 1983 general election, when I was 16. The following year I helped in what would turn out to be the first [...]
Syston, which was reopened in 1994, has a single platform on the bidirectional slow line north of Leicester. That platform is served (in both directions) by local trains from Leicester to Loughborough and longer-distance trains on the Leicester to Lincoln service. The local trains to Loughborough were meant to be the first part of a project that would have seen the freight line from Leicester through Coalville and Ashby de la Zouch to Burton upon Trent reopened to passengers. But funding for this was never made available. Early on the local service was known as the Ivanhoe Line as Walter ...
Good news from the Yorkshire Post: Sheffield Council has tonight blamed the "increasingly dangerous tactics" of campaigners as it confirmed controversial work to fell thousands of Sheffield's street trees has been partly put on hold following growing street protests and major political pressure.I suspect the political pressure has more to do with this decision than the tactics of the protesters: A 73-year-old retired fireman was arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation of a security guard in relation to a previous assault allegation, while last week a woman was arrested for blowing a toy horn under the Public Order Act. The ...
Long-standing senior Councillors Isobel McCall, Chris Williams and Derek Eastman are all standing down as Liberal Democrat Councillors. Between them they have served the residents of Milton Keynes for 51 years and all held senior positions within Milton Keynes Council.
I have always thought that high intensity headlights are a pestilence. Now I find I am part of a massive majority. 80% of drivers surveyed by the RAC think that there should be better regulation for modern headlights. "The headlights of some newer cars are so bright they are causing a road safety hazard for drivers with as many as two-thirds (65%) of motorists saying they regularly get dazzled by oncoming headlights even though they are dipped. "Fifteen per cent of motorists surveyed by the RAC claim they have suffered a near-miss as a result of being dazzled by modern ...
Mon 26th
18:25
Does political campaigning make a difference to election results? New evidence published
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today, "The Minimal Persuasive Effects of Campaign Contact in General Elections: Evidence from 49 Field Experiments"* which, as the title implies, finds that campaign contact with voters doesn't seem to make much of a difference to election results. The full story, however, is rather more complicated. First, the broad picture: the pattern in the UK is – even including 2017 – that the party ahead well in advance of a general election nearly always goes on to win the election. In that sense, you can fall ...
Dear Commissioners, Thank you again for your hard work on this difficult issue. I just want to make a few final points as the consultation period closes. Preliminary remarks 1. As stated in my previous submission, I do not believe that there will be a parliamentary majority for the Final Proposals (and those of your fellow Commissioners in England, Scotland and Wales) when push comes to shove. It is probable that all of the opposition parties will oppose changes which generally benefit the Conservative Party, and sufficient government MPs will rebel because the proposed changes do not benefit the Conservatives ...
Current Free Radical, by Vince Cable Jade City, by Fonda Lee Last books finished The Legends of River Song, by Jenny T. Colgan, Jacqueline Rayner, Steve Lyons, Guy Adams and Andrew Lane Julian, by Gore Vidal How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn Apostata 07: Niets meer dan een wolk, by Ken Broeders The Road to Somewhere, by David Goodhart After Europe, by Ivan Krastev Next books No Going Back To Moldova, by Anna Robertson Spirit by Gwyneth Jones Ammonite, by Nicola Griffith
The Daily Telegraph wins our Headline of the Day Award: Guillaume Rey, who worked at a Vancouver restaurant on Canada's Pacific coast, filed a complaint with British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal against his former employer, saying he is the victim of "discrimination against my culture".
[IMG: Tom McNeice at with Walter Tull Memorial Plaque] Tom McNeice with Walter Tull Memorial Plaque in the Christchurch Tower, Folkestone Memorial Garden Recent articles remembering Walter Tull prompted me to have a look back almost 10 years... MINUTES of the Meeting of the Town Council held at the Civic Centre, Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone on Thursday, 27 November 2008 at 7 p.m. Councillor Tom McNeice - Captain Walter Tull RESOLVED: That this Council notes with pride that Captain Walter Tull, a professional footballer and the first commissioned black officer in the British Army, was born and raised in ...
ALDC are running five training events this year, taking place over two weekends, and ALDC members need to act fast to book early-bird discounted rates, available on a first-come, first-served basis of £160 for a single room (usual price is £240) and £130 for a double room per person (usual price is £210). The non-ALDC member rate is £280 for a single room and £250 for a double room per person. It's cheaper to join us and then book our member rate. Find out more and join. They are all taking place at Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire and the price ...
Shock news, the answer I gave City AM was, 'no'. Here's the longer version: Millions of people voted for Britain to stay in the EU and still want that outcome. Neither the Conservatives nor Labour - led by Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong Eurosceptic who often voted with the likes of John Redwood against the EU - offer a political voice for these people. So it's not surprising that Liberal Democrat membership at record levels, and the party has also been steadily gaining council seats week after week (and gaining double the number of seats as Labour). It is only dictators ...
We agreed not to look at any cracks in the construction as if – we may have thought – that would make them go away. They might have seemed too difficult to fix, anyway... We liked each other in the gaps along our conversation which is more important than your task, anyway... So we used [...]
I should caveat that headline a little, since I'm now out of the game of predictions: as things stand, I just don't see how Labour can possibly win a general election. We live in volatile times, and things can change very quickly, of course. Corbyn could quit and then Labour turns itself around in record time; the Tories could collapse spectacularly in a way that creates no new political space in the centre (I find this hard to imagine, but you never know). But given the range of foreseeable events, even to their furthest extremes, I don't see how Labour ...
Just to wish residents a Happy Easter, and a Happy Passover. Passover begins on the evening of this Friday (30 March 2018) and ends on the evening of 7 April 2018. All of our local churches will have special services and activities over the weekend. More information: Our Lady of Grace, St Mary's, St Margaret's and St George's (Simister) and both Methodist Churches. Information on St Gabriel's and St Hilda's can be found at this Church of England Website. There is information on pharmacy and NHS opening times below.
The second Bury LGBT Pride event takes place on Saturday 7 April and promises to be another fun-packed celebration of diversity. Pop icon Toyah Willcox is the headline attraction on this colourful occasion which features music, food, entertainment and a walking rainbow through the town centre. Tickets for Bury Pride are free and are available at www.bury.gov.uk/BuryPride, where you can also download the Pride Programme with all the information about the sponsors and the activities during the day. The main stage, outside Bury Town Hall: Headlining will be Toyah Willcox who will be performing with a full band. The outdoor ...
NHS Bury has issued the following information about opening times over the Easter holiday period. GP and pharmacy services will only be limited on Good Friday (30th March) and Easter Monday (2nd April). On all other normal working days GP surgeries are open from 8am to 6.30pm as normal. Saturday, 31st March is a normal working day for pharmacies, so pharmacists will be open as normal. Certain pharmacies are open during the Easter holidays including Pimhole Pharmacy on Rochdale Road which is open 10am to 10pm on Easter Sunday. Your local pharmacy is the place to go to get any ...
Bury Council is to start charging for the use of the tennis courts at St Mary's Park, courts which have been free to use for decades. Fees come into effect from 1 April 2018. The hire fees will be: – £45 for household unlimited year round bookings – £20 for season/annual pass for adults (over 16s) – £5 for season/annual pass for juniors (16 and under) – £5 per month for a monthly pass (unlimited bookings) – £3 per court for pay as you play/single court booking (1 hour session) There will be free use of the courts at the ...
Mon 26th
12:45
Was Corbyn right to sack Owen Smith, after he advocated a referendum on the final terms of a Brexit ...
One answer is horror: there's a compelling case for asking the British public whether the Brexit that is negotiated is what they actually want — not least because the dishonest and contradictory messages from the Leave campaign mean that many who voted Leave will find a large gap between the deal that is offered and what they thought they had voted for. But an Exit From Brexit means healing the deep divisions that it has exposed, not just a narrow vote the other way in a referendum. That means bringing across many of those who voted Leave, and engaging with ...
miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 25-03-2018 I posted The Blood is the Life for 25-03-2018 to my dreamwidth blog Oh John Barrowman, never change Other men could learn a LOT from you. The Silicon Valley quest to preserve Stephen Hawking's voice Britain's oldest men: meet Bob, born on the same day as Alf 110 years ago "He was not in favour of Brexit, he said. "I have a son who married a Swede, and a daughter who married a German. I flatly refuse to regard my grandchildren as foreigners. I'm an internationalist but I've not lost my ...
Sun, 13:12: RT @MrWoodo: This is a good read. Can understand why Hawking rejected the 1996 version, it definitely sounds "off". https://t.co/dhsEcMiQ0Y Sun, 16:01: Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories https://t.co/90GT7FrX6u Sun, 16:05: How Snobbery Helped Take The Spice Out Of European Cooking https://t.co/eLsfnWLH4J Basically, we are getting it wrong. Sun, 18:07: RT @JolyonMaugham: Use the police to prevent the media uncovering illegality says Tory MEP. Inch by inch, Brexit moves us towards fascism.... Sun, 20:48: Ann Lovett: Death of a 'strong, kick-ass girl' https://t.co/hNdGI544zv This is still grim reading, 34 years on. Sha... https://t.co/xomfYxQcWd Sun, 23:12: RT @bbcdoctorwho: Patrick Troughton, ...
On Wednesday last week, police and residents of Sunniside gathered for a memorial service to Police Sgt Bill Forth who was murdered in the village 25 years ago while on active duty.
FPC met for three hours on the evening of 21 March. The first item on the agenda was a discussion with the Leader; Vince is chair of the FPC, but inevitably his parliamentary and party duties mean he can't attend every meeting, so we were pleased to have this opportunity. He updated us on three separate pieces of work under way on aspects of tax policy: on business tax, on the prospects for land value tax, and on options for a wealth tax. He hopes to be able to publish short 'spokesperson's papers' on all of these and submit motions ...
According to the Financial Times, Theresa May is battling to keep Britain in the EU's Galileo space programme and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson "hit the roof" when he was informed of moves by the EU to exclude Britain. It seems to me that all the EU are doing is following the often-repeated mantra of the Brexiteers that Britain is "taking back control of our borders" (admittedly these are
A corner of wall and a door have not been demolished – I wonder why? Where the major services came into the property which sit need disconnecting? Burleigh House was a substantial property on the Ashworth South Site in Maghull, it had previously been a part of Moss Side Hospital's grounds and was set back a few yards off Park Lane. The land is presently being redeveloped for the Poppy Fields and Pavilions housing estates. But why the photo and the history lessen? Well the photo struck me as odd in that the demolition of the house seems to have ...
Donald Trump recently announced $60 billion tariffs on Chinese imports, following on from the previous week's announcement of steel and aluminium tariffs. The Financial Times have predicted that this will lead to an (unwinnable) trade war with China. If this does indeed come to pass, this will have a dramatic impact on global greenhouse gas [...] The post Trump the eco-warrior? appeared first on Radix.
One of the benefits of being in the European Union is that it can tackle issues that transcend national borders. Outside that institution we are helpless to deal with companies in particular who are trading on a multi-national basis. A good of example of that is mobile phone contracts. Last June the EU effectively abolished roaming fees for those of us who visit the continent. This did not just benefit holidaymakers but businesses as well. However, as the Independent reports, the decision of Theresa May to leave the "digital single market" means that roaming charges after Brexit will cost business ...
One of the most dispiriting aspects of British politics over the past two years has been the often expressed view that Europe needs us more than we need them. We are the fifth (or sixth, maybe soon seventh) largest economy in the world, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, etc etc. And yes, we have influence, for good or ill. Other countries look to us for support, or for leadership, and we have some of the world's leading operators in a range of fields. But it is all too often what is seen to be good for Britain ...
So, the big weekend of pro-Remain parades is over, with a weekend of Liberal Democrat campaigning still to come. And whilst the Government continues to flounder in the face of all of the things it was warned about, there is still no apparent sign that they will do anything other than keep on going, in the hope that it will be alright on the night. Besides, with a Leader of the Opposition almost as committed to freeing the country from the supposed restrictions placed upon us as the Conservatives are, there is little risk of defeat. Hope springs eternal though, ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 26 MARCH 2018 South Union Street/South Marketgait at Dundee Railway Station - northbound nearside lane closure from 9.30am for 7 weeks for footway works. Riverside Drive/South Union Street at Dundee Railway Station - off-peak (9.30am - 3.30pm) east/northbound nearside lane closure for up to one week for footway works. Bellfield Street (Hawkhill to No 24) - closed from Monday 26 March for 5 days for sewer works. Lochee Road (at Benvie Steps) - temporary traffic lights on Wednesday 28 March for Scottish Water sewer ...
We had another action day in Dunston Hill and Whickham East ward in Gateshead on Saturday. In the Dunston part of the ward we were delivering the next Focus (I had already delivered a patch on Thursday). In the Whickham part of the ward, we were delivering the Focus Team's annual report. It was printed by colleagues through the week but I headed to the office on Friday to fold it. Most of the
