Tiraspol's railway station is rather grand, and utterly wasted on the few trains that serve it, but like a surprising number of stations at home, it is a little way from the centre, at the end of a tree-lined avenue. I had a sense of where I was going though, and headed in the direction of the centre of town. This took me past a rather attractive monastery, and then I blundered across the Tourism Information Centre. Now I would admit to not having expected to find such a thing, but there it was, so I went in, in search ...
John O'Gaunt was a station on the The Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway, which ran from Market Harborough through Melton Mowbray to Nottingham and Newark. It took its name from a nearby covert that was known to fox hunters. The line closed to passengers in 1953 and to good traffic in 1962, but the John O'Gaunt viaduct still stands. Now watch The Last Days of Melton Mowbray North.
Some good schemes did go through the planning committee today here are just three of them One of the most frustrating things that I do as a Councillor is to serve on Liverpool's planning committee. Too often it is constrained ... Continue reading →
Tue 3rd
19:52
Labour wanted the Services involved in schools in 2012 and I wasn't worried then either
Embed from Getty Images When I heard that Gavin "Stupid Boy" Williamson had proposed giving the military a role in some schools, the idea seemed familiar. Sure enough, a search of this blog reveals that the idea was proposed by two Labour shadow cabinet members, Stephen Twigg and Jim Murphy, back in 2012. The same people who were outraged at the idea of teenagers having Saturday jobs a few days ago were also outraged by Williamson. But as I wrote in 2012: There are many children who will hate the idea (I would have been one) but there are others ...
Tue 3rd
19:21The Tories scrapped electrification of the Midland main line before last year's election but didn't ...
David Hencke has blogged about the recent National Audit Office (NAO) report on Chris Grayling's decision to scrap three major railway electrification projects. One of them covered the Midland main line north of Kettering. The decision was announced in July 2017, just as MPs were leaving for the summer recess. Hencke writes: But the real story is that two of the projects were actually cancelled in Match 2017 but the public was never told. As the report says: "In March 2017 ministers agreed to cancel the Midland Main Line north of Kettering and Oxenholme to Windermere electrification projects but did ...
It is almost exactly 21 years since my first trip to Macedonia, back in April 1997, when many things were different. I've been raving about it ever since to anyone who would listen, particularly my long-suffering wife and family. So when we started looking for options for an Easter weekend getaway, Anne suggested that I should take her to my favourite Balkan state. And so I did. F agreed to accompany us as well. This is the three of us by Lake Ohrid at Sveti Naum, with the Albanian mountains behind us. Ohrid is the old ecclesiastical capital of Macedonia ...
Tue 3rd
17:37
All Liberal Democracy is divided into three parts (or, some thoughts on the party's past, present...
All Liberal Democracy is divided into three parts (or, some thoughts on the party's past, present and future) So, to follow on from yesterday's post about the party's broken policy structures, I want to use this post to set out a general theory of how the Liberal Democrats work (or don't work) and why the party is still finding it hard to dig itself out of the opinion hole it's been in since 2010 despite a plethora of well-meaning strategies, reviews and promises since then. The first thing that needs to be understood here is that the Liberal Democrats are ...
I had a Twitter conversation with a journalist about David Miliband earlier today. His point was that DM was nowhere near as great as centrists claim; that he speaks in a language not dissimilar to his brother, distant and overly wonkish. I joked that "he's the best there is available. And he's not even available". But this has left me thinking about potential Macron figures in Britain and why there is such a shortage of candidates who could even remotely be considered. Everyone with any political talent in the centre of British politics has way too much baggage. Nick Clegg ...
So, it's my first full day in Moldova, and I've spent the day somewhere unusual. It's easier to tell the story than to explain, so I'll hope that all will become clear as I go along... Body clocks are odd things, and with Moldova being two hours ahead, I expected a struggle getting up at a reasonable hour, but I came too at about 6.30, leaving time for a leisurely breakfast before I took a brisk stroll to the Central Bus Station. There seemed to be plenty of people willing to rip me off, but I eventually found the ticket ...
Mark Pack has run another interesting analysis on the way we have stalled in recruiting women into local government. When I was elected to Southwark council in 1994 our large Lib Dem group had already achieved gender balance. When I was selected as PPC in East Hants in 2002 our ruling Town Council group had also achieved gender balance. It is therefore very sad all these years later to see how things are stalling or going backwards. I totted up the following figures on the counties some months ago. I put the figures together in a hurry, have not allowed ...
Bury's NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has announced cuts of £5.2 million for the financial year just started, towards meeting an expected £7.3 million deficit for the year. The cuts agreed are: Primary Care (GPs etc) £1.1 million - the largest items being: - Terminating the Vulnerable Patient Scheme, saving c£0.1m. - Terminating the Clinical [...]
Fantasy Hugh Jackman: what's marketed to men vs what's marketed to women Metal for Positive Mental Health I loved these. People wondering what it's like to live in a dystopia should come live in the US as a teen, go to one of the normal public schools, then try to get healthcare. This is absolutely terrifying. I always thought films were exaggerating this; by the looks of it they underplay it. A Scottish Liberal: Don't you just hate it when journalists explain to us what gender is? A more considered response than mine to Hadley Freeman's horrific hate specch in ...
Spam emails tend to come in waves, I find. One will be bombarded for days with offers of cheap Canadian medicines, only for that wave to recede and be replaced by weight loss cures. The only constant things are the notifications of huge sums of money that people wish to transfer to my account from [...]
Important Local elections take place on Thursday 3rd May 2018, so now is s good time to make sure you are registered to vote. Poll cards are being sent to all those who are currently on the electoral register. If you have not received a poll card in a couple of weeks, please contact 0161 [...]
Mon, 15:43: Etymological query: presumably Proto-Germanic *paþaz (English path, Dutch pad, German Pfad) was loaned from Proto-S... https://t.co/u5O9w0BALX Mon, 21:03: Monday reading https://t.co/Sl23fhOuPU Tue, 10:45: Mud season in Russia: Putin, Rasputin https://t.co/EXfSMO2fDh Fascinating etymological discussion.
Following Part 1: Money, Part 2: Borders The Government's leaked impact assessments also summarise the economic impact of regulatory divergence: a gain of 0-1.3% of GDP, depending on the study and the pursued policy. The higher number would require repeal of elements across social-, environmental-, energy-, consumer-protection, product-standards, climate-change, air-safety, or banker bonus caps. A majority for such measures is unlikely even among leave-voters, and Government and opposition have already stated that they have no such intentions. Conversely, the stated wish to safeguard EU-trade as much as possible would likely result in a high degree of voluntary EU-alignment. The EU ...
Important Local elections take place on 3 May 2018, so now is s good time to make sure you are registered to vote. Poll cards are being sent to all those who are currently on the electoral register. If you have not received a poll card in a couple of weeks, please contact 0161 253 5252 or email electionservices@bury.gov.uk. Polling stations are open on Thursday 3 May from 7am to 10pm. [IMG: ballot] You have until 17 April to register to vote if they haven't already done so. The quickest and easiest way to do this is by going online ...
[IMG: My great experience with my Yo-Yo Desk®] A desk that helps with active working sounds like a paradox but that is what the Yo-Yo Desk® allows you to do. It is an innovative intervention that allows for a half-way solution between... The post My great experience with my Yo-Yo Desk® appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
1983 General Election campaigning in Southport with a young Iain Brodie Browne and the Shirley Williams. My good friend Iain a local Lib Dem Sefton Councillor is one of the names behind this great new book. I've just had my copy delivered to me* – looking forward to a good read. You can read all about this radical way forward on Iain Brodie Brown's web site 'Birkdale Focus using the link above. Former BBC and Liverpool Daily Post reporter/political commentator/writer Nick Hancock debating with Iain Brodie-Browne. * I ordered my copy directly from the Social Liberal Forum web site ...
The UK Environment Secretary has announced that the sale of ivory in Britain will be banned in a bid to stop the "abhorrent" slaughter of elephants. The Telegraph reports that the ban will cover ivory items of all ages and anyone who breaches it could face an unlimited fine or up to five years in jail. This is a major step forward in attempts to stop this abhorrent trade which has seen elephant numbers decline by almost a third in the last decade with approximately 20,000 a year still slaughtered for their ivory. There were once 26 million elephants roaming ...
The Guardian has an opinion piece on its web site by Polly Toynbee – see link above Quote from the article 'The referendum set a fuse under democratic institutions, yet it's the old Tory "establishment" who are turning into anarchist bomb throwers. They know they will have to defend the indefensible for ever. No instant economic calamity, as claimed by Project Fear may happen on Brexit day, but a slow frog-boiler of losses to growth (estimated by the government to be 2-8%), which will see the UK fall further behind erstwhile equals. How will they escape blame?' With thanks ...
As a liberal I have some rather quaint ideas, one of which is that I generally don't like the state banning things, because generations of governments have shown they don't know better than the people, but I make an exception for Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. The hard wall of my instinctive view has been destroyed by the cold reason of my personal experience, the very process that powered liberal progressiveness for generations. I began a new, and comfortably the most prestigious, job of my life in July 2017, it was akin to being flung into a scalding vat of water ...
The list of roadworks in Prestwich during April extends to a full five pages this month on the GM Roadworks Website (www.gmroadworks.org) The major roadworks are: – Bury New Road in the village, both the final parts of the narrowing scheme, but also works by Electricity North West with lane closures – More CADENT (gas) works on Bury Old Road around Sheepfoot Lane including lane closures – Major roadworks on Heywood Road just part Parrenthorn School from the end of April to June. – Hilton Lane / Rainsough Brew, lane closures from the end of April to June....
A new housing complex for older people in Bury will be named after a local hero of the First World War. The £8.5 million extra care scheme, due to open in October, will be called Peachment Place. This is in commemoration of Rifleman George Stanley Peachment who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after losing his life at the Battle of Loos in 1915 helping his injured commander who survived. He was one of the youngest in his battalion (18 years old) and lived close to the new scheme in Manchester Road, Bury. The Bury Council scheme is being built ...
The Women's Concessionary Travel Pass becomes operational today (3 April 2018) enabling women affected by the change to the state pension age in 2011 have access to free off-peak travel on bus, train and Metrolink. Those that can apply for the Women's Concessionary Travel Pass are women who were born between 6 October 1953 and 5 November 1954 and who currently live in Greater Manchester. The introduction of the new travel pass comes after Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, last year pledged to help those women who were most affected by the sudden change to the pension age in ...
How far will the West go in deserting the Syrian Kurds in their struggle against the Turkish Islamic Ogre? On March 18 2018, the Turkish army, supported by mainly Syrian rebel elements, took the city of Afrin in North West Syria, a city that had been peacefully administered by the Kurdish movement YPG. Since 2012, [...] The post Why is the West betraying its eastern friends? appeared first on Radix.
From Sheena Wellington : Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library : Wednesday 4th April - 1.15pm - 1.45pm Lunchtime Recital with Simon Chadwick - Medieval Harp It is always a delight when our own harp tutor Simon Chadwick gives us the chance to sit and just listen to him play. On this occasion Simon will be playing traditional Scottish and Irish tunes on the big Irish harp, one of the several fascinating replica instruments which unite his twin passions of music and archaeology. Simon is a busy man, regularly travelling for concerts and festivals, teaching and creating online illustrated lectures for ...
