It is obviously well looked after, but that is not a current Leicester phone number and I can find no sign of the company anywhere else.
Wed 28th
22:01
Willie Rennie calls for Land Value Tax "to shape society and economy in fair and just way"
It was the Greens' opposition day debate in the Scottish Parliament. They chose to hold it on local government finance. It was a worthy subject, but they were a little muted. Their Andy Wightman made a speech which pretty much said "The Council Tax is bad. Let's replace it with something." Don't get me wrong, this was fine as far as it went. It was certainly a million miles better than the Tories and SNP who voted together to keep the Council Tax that the latter had once railed against. If you are one of those liberals whose hearts beat ...
On Tuesday evening the Guardian reported that the government is going to send in commissioners to run Northamptonshire Country Council. The Conservative-run authority issued a section 114 notice at the start of February. This imposed financial controls and banned expenditure on all services except those with statutory safeguarding obligations. Northamptonshire was the first council to issue such a notice in two decades, but it won't be the last. The Guardian says the National Audit Office has suggested that up to 15 other councils could follow suit in the next three years. No doubt mismanagement by the Conservative cabinet played a ...
Wed 28th
20:43
Candidates from under-represented groups get big boost in London thanks to Lord Avebury fund
Eric Lubbock was perhaps the most famous and most important Liberal / Liberal Democrat Parliamentary by-election victor.* His dramatic triumph in Orpington not only briefly threatened to overthrow the conventions of British politics, making the Liberal Party for a while the most popular party in the country, it was also was a key milestone in the recovery of the Liberal Party. Eric Lubbock: From Orpington Man to Buddhist Monk?For a few astonishing days in March 1962, the Liberal Party led the Conservative and Labour parties in the opinion polls, the only time it had ever done so since polls were ...
Great news from Cheltenham. Martin Horwood, former MP for the area, previously announced that for personal reasons he would not be seeking to stand again at the next general election. He has, however, now returned to the political front line by running for council: Delighted that my friend @MartinChelt is making a comeback at the #Cheltenham Borough Council elections. He's standing in Leckhampton, a community where he has very strong lifelong links. @libdemvoice pic.twitter.com/7ePzrM41tR — Max Wilkinson (@mpmwilko) March 28, 2018
Two anthologies of short fiction in the Big Finish Bernice Summerfield continuity - but they are actually very different from each other. Parallel Lives includes three novellas, all dealing with the same incident from different angles. Something Changed has sixteen short stories all set in divergent timelines. Both do share linking material by Simon Guerrier, who I guess should be credited as the editor in both cases. I felt that Parallel Lives was much stronger. Second paragraph of third section of first story: ("The Serpent's Tooth", by Rebecca Levene): But, on the upside, the fact that in under 24 hours ...
Former Sefton Council Norwood ward Councillor Brian Rimmer has died I am sad to have to report. I first met Brian when he was Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Sefton Council around 1987. I went to see him to seek his help in trying to negotiate a better deal for Maghull Town Council, or more precisely for Maghull's Council tax payers, over the rebate of over-paid Council Tax. This problem, called Double Rating, actually affected all the Civil Parishes in Sefton Borough where the local parish council maintained the parks and gardens i.e. Maghull, Aintree Village, Melling and ...
A new book was launched in Southport this week. Iain Brodie Browne was one of four people who came together to seek out 'big ideas'.Iain explained: 'We are angry and frustrated about the state of politics in Britain, it is too short term, too tribal and fails to face up to some of the big challenges that confront our nation and our planet. I am pleased to contribute an essay and to be one of the four who produced the book. The new book, which is available from Broadhurst's Bookshop in Southport, attempts to look at some of those issues. ...
Wed 28th
14:53
Sandgate Parish Council to Consult Residents Over Plans To Buy Martello Towers 6 and 7 and Surroundi...
[IMG: Martello Tower 6 [Sandgate Escarpment] (Copyright Steve Popple and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence.)] Sandgate Parish Council has decided to consult residents on an exciting opportunity to purchase woodland on the escarpment, including two Martello Towers, to protect it from planned development. Martello Towers 6 and 7 sit in woodland above Sandgate Village and are subject to planning consent to develop part of that woodland for housing and to convert the two Martello Towers into a dwelling house and a holiday home. The Parish Council objected to that application and has now agreed terms with the ...
From the District Council: Contact Number for residents to call when requesting postal and proxy application forms is: 01727 819294 or by emailing us at elections@stalbans.gov.uk. Application forms can also be downloaded from the following website: https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/how-do-i-vote (residents will need to have access to printer to be able to use this service)
This third week of the Make Do Play challenges started on a bit of a low for me: as I mentioned towards the end of last week I've been feeling quite unwell for a few days now. My energy levels are incredibly low, and I seem to have no motivation to do anything at all! However, as soon as I saw the first prompt for the week, it made me smile. Day Twenty-Two Singing When I saw the prompt for today I chuckled to myself, because I do this all the time. It's a silly little habit, I often sing-speak ...
Some of you will have noticed that I've not been posting as much here in recent weeks as previously. There's a reason for that. I often start series of blog posts and then abandon them after a handful of posts, ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Sandgate Members Club logo] I've been a member of the Sandgate Mens Cub for a few years, and was elected to the management committee last year. It's been fun... However, one thing has particularly concerned me: although the has many women members, women committee members, a woman as Treasurer and a woman as Club Steward, the club name simply did not reflect that women are as welcome in the club as men. At the AGM of the Sandgate Mens Club of 27th March 2018, I moved the following two proposals: Proposal: To change Rule 1 name to Sandgate Members ...
(404) I posted The Blood is the Life for 27-03-2018 to my dreamwidth blog If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: [IMG: Paypal Donate Button] [IMG: Buy Me an uncaffeinated beverage (because I'm allergic to coffee) at ko-fi.com] [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
The Federal People Development Committee met on 20th March for our Spring meeting. We started with the usual staff reports from the Heads of Training, Diversity and Membership. We were delighted to welcome Greg Foster to the meeting in his new role of Head of Membership and Engagement. Despite only starting that week he had a full and fascinating report for us about the new innovations the Department is trialling with member communications, like the recent survey and chatbot pilots. We congratulated Greg, and Rachel Palma-Randle as Director, for the membership retention rate this quarter reaching 93%. That's down to ...
It's been a very peculiar half of this semester: the tentacles of the strike have infiltrated even into the seminars that we have managed to attend, and every session has been viewed through the frame of this action. However, as we have discussed this week, and previously, in many respects the strike has helped us to crystallise much of our reading and conversation, given that we have been discussing aspects such as institutional bias, the role of the cultural archive, and the responsibility of education. As I head towards the final days of this semester, I feel as though this ...
Tue, 16:05: 22 Ambassadors Recommend the One Book to Read Before Visiting Their Country https://t.co/m8uWja7bjV In some cases, more than one book. Tue, 17:55: RT @EvaMaydell: Kicking off the review event of the first half of the first #EU2018BG Presidency, hosted by my dear colleague @urutchev htt... Tue, 17:57: In action at the half-way mark of @EU2018BG : @LilyanaPavlova https://t.co/aOHhJLrj8f Tue, 18:13: RT @LilyanaPavlova: Honoured to be @Parlimag reception dedicated to Dynamic, Innovative and Entrepreneurial #Bulgaria and hosted by @urutch... Tue, 19:48: "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones", by Samuel R. Delany https://t.co/ZSeRkakkRQ Tue, 20:40: RT @davidallengreen: Well. ...
No leading Brexiter has problems with goods, services, and capital flowing freely. They even want to leave the "protectionist club" EU, even though part of the leave-vote in deprived regions has been caused by the capital exodus that replaced local industry with imports. I will nevertheless focus on the leaver-"concern" people. The borders of any island are "controlled" by the departure- and arrival- (in case of expulsion) approvals of countries across the water. In a rule-based order, e.g. the EU, other countries execute the UK's wishes, and thereby underpin the widespread national border-controllability-illusion. The growing refugee-crisis should make the contingent ...
If you've read this blog before, you'll know that I've been taking part in the Cultural Experience Award at University. We are assessed on elements of our blogs, and through a reflective essay on Culture in London: I plan to write about a particular (possibly peculiar) aspect of one of my favourite parts of the city; Covent Garden. So before my seminar the other day I took myself (and my boyfriend's camera) to the area to wander round and make some notes. There's a wonderful series of books, that I've quoted from before: the PC Peter Grant Novels. In the ...
Well this caught my eye in Bootle Strand Shopping Centre the other day, not least because I'm a man and I have a couple of sheds. So what's this organisation all about? An internet search revealed this:- Project Introduction Bootle tool shed was set up to meet the needs of the ever growing group of 50+ men who live/work/visit in the Bootle area, (although our target group is older men we welcome any age or gender to get involved). There have been a number of studies done in recent years on the effects of social isolation on this group in ...
What's the problem with the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica furore? It could be argued that we all know that Facebook uses and markets our personal data as payment for allowing us to use its services without payment at the point of use. We also know that advertisers have always tried to target their messages to what they [...] The post Why Facebook needs better regulation appeared first on Radix.
Yesterday, Tom Brake led a debate in Parliament about the allegations of cheating by the Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum. You can read the whole debate here. As I listened to the debate, I felt that the atmosphere was reminiscent of the hostility Charles Kennedy faced when he got up to oppose the Iraq war. Apart from the Minister, there were no substantive speeches from the Tories, but they did shower Tom with contemptuous and irrelevant questions in an attempt to detract attention from the serious allegations. Charles Kennedy was widely shown to have been right in 2005 and ...
Wed 28th
07:53
NHS money overdue and welcome but should not be used as an excuse to reduce rural services
Shropshire has been awarded more than £300 million in capital funding by the Department of Health to modernise its services. Tracey Huffer, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow East and a Ludlow nurse, welcomed the news. "This is great news and so overdue. It will allow the county's NHS services to be modernised. But this money should not be used as an excuse to centralise services in Shrewsbury and Telford at the expense of rural services and community hospitals. "We must remember that this is capital funding. The assumption behind the grant is that modernisation of buildings and services will reduce day-to-day ...
We councillors have been concerned about the fate of the 2L Ludlow to Kidderminster bus service for some time. So have passengers, who have been raising concerns with us for weeks. Plans for the future of the route are still a mess and I don't know why matters haven't been resolved. This is where we are at the moment (early morning 28 March). Clee Hill based R&B have been contracted to run services in the middle of the day. Buses leave Kidderminster at 8.30, 10.30, 12.30 and 14.30, arriving in Ludlow at 28 minutes past the hour. Buses leave Ludlow ...
Residents have raised with me the poor condition of parts of the roadway of Pennycook Lane with some deep potholes - see below :I have raised this with the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership seeking repairs.
I am currently reading Tim Shipman's book about the Brexit referendum 'All out war' which sets out clearly how the divisions within the Conservative Party over Europe that started to emerge under Margaret Thatcher hardened as the European project developed. He points out that three successive Tory leaders were brought down over Europe. The question is, could Theresa May be the fourth? If this story in the Independent is any guide then our current Prime Minister is walking a very fine tightrope that could see her also cast aside over the issue of Europe. They say that the hardline Brexiteers ...
