So Amber Rudd resigns tonight. In some ways it's remarkable that she didn't go sooner. I mean, I've seen ministers resign because of a snow storm or be sacked for eating a pie. Here was a Minster staying in office when her department had ruined the lives of British citizens. She couldn't survive the leak of a letter from her to the Prime Minister outlining an "aim" of increasing the number of enforced removals by 10%. An aim is sufficiently within the ball park of a target to constitute the most serious offence a minister can commit – misleading Parliament ...
Dean Read accompanies us along the length of the Cromford Canal (some 14 and a half miles) from Cromford to Langley Mill. Of particular interest is the collapsed Butterley Tunnel, which is the great obstacle to the canal's complete restoration. You can see some claustrophobic photographs of its interior on the Friends of the Cromford Canal site.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 515th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22-28 April, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. There was no Golden Dozen last week due to Scottish Conference so a few may slip in from the last two weeks. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. ...
Photo from Geograph © Stephen McKay It's not often awarded, but William Boyd thoroughly deserves it: Back in the mid-1960s, I went on a school trip to Inverness. We were allowed 30 minutes of liberty in the city centre before returning and as the senior boy I was responsible for counting heads to make sure all were present after our brief furlough. I counted and recounted - we were short by two. I turned to the teacher: "I'm sorry, sir," I said, "But Burgess and Maclean are missing." The unbridled hilarity that greeted my remark - from teacher and bus ...
The Guardian has the story on its web site – see link above I recall that during my time as a Sefton Councillor some work was outsourced to both Capita and Arvato with all party agreement. You may not be surprised to hear though that Sefton subsequently brought the Capita work back in house. The Arvato (part of the Bertelsmann Group) 10 year contract signed in 2008 seems to have been far more sustainable though. Here's a link to the Arvato web page about Sefton Borough:- www.arvato.com/uk/cases/sefton-council-cs2.html
Jeremy Moulton, leader of the Conservatives on Southampton Council, is facing a police investigation over the handing out of free pens: Hampshire Police has confirmed ... it is working with the Crown Prosecution Service and Electoral Commission to assess whether an offence has been committed after pens with "Vote Jeremy Moulton for Freemantle" were delivered to residents in the ward ahead of the city council elections on May 3. This was reported by fellow candidate Ed Thompson [standing for Viva Europa], who says he wanted to make sure all prospective councillors were competing on a "level playing field". [Southern Daily ...
Sun 29th
18:05
This winter weather didn't help but the eruption of potholes this Spring is also down to Shropshire ...
It has been bad winter but not exceptional. But the last few months have proved near fatal for the county's roads. After years of neglect, it doesn't take much bad weather for Shropshire's roads and pavements to fall apart. The Shropshire Council cabinet member for potholes, Steve Davenport, says he has "never known things to be so bad." The council's new highways contractor, Keir, is working "flat out" to repair potholes using central government cash. It has done repair work here in Ludlow in recent days. That is welcome and long overdue. But Shropshire Council has slashed its road budgets ...
When Donald Trump visits the UK on Friday 13th July, many Liberal Democrats will take to the streets to protest against the racist, misogynist, transphobic, views he holds and the actions he has taken in Government to undermine human rights. On today's Peston on Sunday, Lib Dem Deputy Leader Jo Swinson said that, if she's able, she'll be among them, just as she was on the Women's March last year the day after the inauguration. Her baby will be just weeks old at that time and she says that she'll take the wee one to the march in a sling ...
Sorry for so few posts recently. I've spent much of the month being seriously ill while pretending to myself that I'm not seriously ill. Having your blood pressure fluctuate between "you might have a stroke at any time" levels of ... Continue reading →
Sun 29th
13:17
Today's conspiracy theory from the Left is one for the ages. Welcome to the ne plus ultra of idiotic...
A conspiracy theory regarding the Windrush scandal is being put round Twitter (and I assume other social media) by several leftists today. Those of you who have no idea what this conspiracy theory entails are now using your imaginations to come up with what it might be, I'm sure. But it is so absurd, you would never get there, even if you had ten thousand years to think about it. As such, I wanted to document it as the ne plus ultra of idiotic, conspiracy theory laded, leftist thinking in the Corbyn era. Amelia Gentleman is the Guardian journalist whose ...
Sun 29th
12:38
History made as the Scottish Parliament passes landmark Social Security Bill, improved by cross-part...
Last Wednesday the Scottish Parliament passed the Social Security Bill which gives power over many disability and carers benefits as well as some aspects of Universal Credit. It was a marathon debate with over 120 amendments. One of the really good things about the Scottish Parliament's modern systems is that you can have many more votes. Unlike the House of Commons where each vote means 15 minutes of queuing, at Holyrood, it's a second of button pushing. This has meant a much more wide-ranging debate. To the SNP Government's credit, Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman engaged with the opposition parties ...
Last week Twitter was full of people declaring that they had never liked Morrissey's music anyway. Maybe they were telling the truth, because the Smiths were more of a minority taste than history now records. All those wonderful singles spent a handful of weeks in the UK top 10 between them. But I suspect it is development of the bubble and echo-chamber politics that social media encourages. If an artist doesn't share your politics they just can't be any good. The truth is rather different. If you expect your favourite artists to share your views or even to be admirable ...
Pick your favourite sport. Now pick your favourite team or, if it's a sport for individuals, your favourite sports star. Next think of their deadliest rival.
Sat, 12:40: RT @adampayne26: In response to an FOI request, the Department for Exiting the EU said it hadn't approached a single external company to ob... Sat, 12:51: RT @MargueriteS_IE: Enjoying the view from a @Dublin2019 meeting room. Even the weather is cooperating and treating our staff well! #dublin... Sat, 12:56: RT @jonlis1: With worst GDP figure in 6 years, economy clearly needs tough medicine. How about we erect trade barriers with our biggest ma... Sat, 15:51: RT @xtophercook: The point of the Children's Act is that no-one owns children. They are human beings with rights, whose welfare should be ...
So, here I am in a cafe on Vitosha, the main pedestrian thoroughfare in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, surrounded by men enjoying a shisha pipe, a Mozart string quartet on the headphones and a Grapefruit Sour by my side. The sun is shining in a perfectly blue sky, it's warm. Life is good, right? If only it was that easy. I've spent the weekend at an ALDE Party Council meeting which has, in itself, gone well. The main business ran smoothly and, as a member of the Financial Advisory Committee, seeing the financial reports earlier than most, I had no questions ...
Full stops should be followed by one space, not two. We're no longer living in a world of monospaced fonts. End of. And therefore I will be ignoring this: In the current study, participants performed (1) a typing task to assess spacing usage and (2) an eye-tracking experiment to assess the effect that punctuation spacing has on reading performance. Although comprehension was not affected by punctuation spacing, the eye movement record suggested that initial processing of the text was facilitated when periods were followed by two spaces. I am going to cling on to this: Individuals' typing usage also influenced ...
There must be an election happening or something. We have had Vince on Marr this morning and Jo Swinson is on Peston as I write. He was quite measured on Amber Rudd. Rather than call outright for her resignation, he said we needed to hear what she had to say to Parliament tomorrow. One of two things is true: Liberal Democrat leader @vincecable on Amber Rudd: "I don't believe in lynch mobs, I want to hear what she has to say" #marr pic.twitter.com/bD2ujLUxDI — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 29, 2018 He talked about the problems that he sees in ...
Having revealed through the title of this piece that I grew up watching old Laurel and Hardy films, I recommend that you all go over to the Guardian website and read Marina Hyde's latest on the Brexit shambles at the heart of government. There seems to me to be a rather apt synchronicity between Stan and Ollie's instinctive incompetence and that of the current UK cabinet - do you remember the one where they tried to fix the leaky fishing boat? Here are a few quotes from Marina Hyde's piece to whet you appetite: 'I recently watched an ITV news ...
The news that two of the big four supermarkets in this country were in merger talks was greeted with concern with many people. If this goes ahead, the new company would control 30% of the market which is in few enough hands as it is. Vince Cable basically said that it was a no-brainer that this should be fully investigated before it was allowed. He said: The grocery market – and the British shopper – already suffers from the mid-market being dominated by just a handful of big players. What the merger of the second and third biggest supermarkets threatens ...
