Watch the new video from Amnesty International UK, highlighting the UK government's involvement in torture.
Embed from Getty Images The heir to the throne as risen in my estimation because of this story in yesterday's Daily Mail: Prince Charles proposed Vivian Stanshall, the eccentric leader of the Sixties cult pop group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, as a possible Poet Laureate, says the singer's widow. Ki Longfellow-Stanshall tells in a new book of memoirs about her husband that "sometime in the early 90's' he received a phone call from 'a representative of the Prince of Wales". "The voice said, 'If you were asked, Mr Stanshall, would you accept the post of Poet Laureate?", she said. ...
Embed from Getty Images * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Second paragraph of third chapter: Dewdrops on grass blades like diamonds flung freely from the pouch of some sprite-god who'd just happened by, stepping lightly and lithely through Kweku Sai's garden just moments before Kweku appeared there himself. Now the whole garden glittering, winking and tittering like schoolgirls who hush themselves, blushing, as their beloveds approach: glittering mango tree, monarch, teeming being at center with her thick bright green leaves and her bright yellow eggs; glittering fountain full of cracks now and weeds with white blossoms, but the statue still standing, the "mother of twins," iya-ibeji, once a gift for ...
It seems such a long way from David Cameron's hug-a-huskie phase, a Tory Government reverting to type and refusing to take bold and radical steps to advance the environmental agenda, whilst at the same time pouring £14 billion into expanding Heathrow and its polluting airplanes. The old tired excuses are wheeled out. Tory Ministers argue that it is uneconomic to electrify the rail line between Swansea and Cardiff because it will only shave a few minutes off the journey. Instead we get diesel engines for the final leg of the London to Swansea train, pouring more emissions into the atmosphere ...
View Poll: World Cup, Day Fourteen You should be able to vote using your Facebook or Twitter account, even if you aren't on Livejournal. Yesterday was a real massacre of expertise, with nobody at all foreseeing the Saudi victory over Egypt, or Spain failing to beat Morocco. Only four people out of nine got even one of the four matches right, with redfiona99 forecasting the Portugal-Iran draw, and mount_oregano, sekvo and me predicting that Uruguay would beat Russia.
In a keynote speech today (below, in full) Vince Cable analyses the failures of the housing market in terms of the poor incentives to developers and banks, and the effect of the planning system, and offers some pragmatic solutions to boost supply and tackle the shortage of housing that is pricing many young people out of homes altogether. The text below is quite long but you can use these links to jump straight to the analysis of the housing market, building for social rent, the compulsory purchase of housing land for affordable housing, existing stock, comments on the green belt, ...
Slash 'obscene' Home Office fees, say MPs and campaigners 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
I had the results of my most recent (last week's) PET/CT scan today. The good news – no, excellent news – is that it shows I've made a complete response to treatment for MCL. So I'm officially in remission. The plan from here is that I will have a Hickman line fitted tomorrow, followed by my 6th cycle of chemotherapy. ... The post A complete response appeared first on ten pence piece.
Mon, 13:08: World Cup, Day Thirteen https://t.co/dja7EyIq7q Mon, 13:16: Whew! Thanks for helping me make my connection, @adria_airways ! Skopje here I come! https://t.co/vA8Fvp4n53 Mon, 18:31: Monday reading https://t.co/Qei3jLalGJ Mon, 23:25: OMG! What a shame - fantastic Schnitzel and Sp�tzle. https://t.co/JTeVKwqlfq
Commenting on the Commons Defence Committee report, which states that the defence budget should rise from 2% of GDP (£40bn) to 3% (£60bn), Liberal Democrat Armed Forces Spokesperson, Jamie Stone MP, said:"The UK must be able to defend itself and the territories for which it has responsibility. It is unacceptable that our armed forces have been so diminished."Not only is an adequate budget of vital importance to our security, but so too are our key allies in NATO and the EU. Many of the security challenges the UK faces are shared by these partners. "If this Conservative government is serious ...
It may be June but the task of producing and printing Focuses and surveys goes on. I was in the office last week to print the Focus which is currently going out in Whickham as well as the survey that is being delivered in Lobley Hill. Delivery of both should be finished soon.
An article by Paul Johnson at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and also published in the Times, begins It can take a while before policy responds to new realities, in part because it can take time before those new realities are recognised. Policy has nothing like adapted to the collapse in home ownership among the young. We continue to treat pensioners as though they need free travel, winter fuel allowances and the like, despite the fact they are on average now the best-off demographic group in the country. The squeeze on middle earners that started in the early 2000s was ...
This Saturday, the 30th June, marks National Armed Forces Day and is a time to celebrate the fantastic contribution of our Armed Forces. We will celebrate those who both currently and have previously served in Her Majesty's Armed Forces, and show support for all of those†in the Armed Forces community. There here are a number of events being held to celebrate our troops, service families, veterans and cadets. You can find out more at www.armedforcesday.org.uk/find-events. In St Peter's Square in Manchester there are activities all day on Saturday (more info).
Bury Council and the GC Business Growth Hub have launched the Start Smart Programme, providing support to Bury residents through workshops, events and one-to-one specialist advice. This help is fully funded, and support is tailored to individuals. Examples of support include: * analysing a business idea; * advice about personal circumstances, legalities, finance, recruitment and much more. To qualify for support people must: * have a business idea in mind; * or set up a new business within the last 3 years. For more information or to get involved with Start Smart, contact the GC Business Growth Hub on 0161 ...
Adult learning are providing a Level 1 Care Work Course. This is free to people in receipt of relevant benefits. This course will cover; roles and responsibilities, communication, confidentiality, policies and procedures. This is a part-time course, leading to the Level 1 Award in Further Learning and Employment in Care. Guaranteed job interview on completion of the course & application form Bury Adult Learning Centre 2 weeks Monday to Friday from 16th July 9.30am - 3.00pm Code: BDWP7CR02 Cost Free of charge to people in receipt of relevant benefits To enrol ring 0161 253 7501 Bury Adult Learning Service www.bury.gov.uk/adultlearning ...
Top-down public services in the UK are planned and delivered according to techno-bureaucratic systems and processes which followed the thinking in the Beveridge Report of 1942. Thinking which led to the development of professionalised ways of doing things throughout public services. Centralised professionalised thinking which put public services on an unstoppable path of debt-funded egalitarian [...] The post The great language problem of decentralisation appeared first on Radix.
A double-hit of media coverage ahead of Vince Cable's housing speech today: Vince Cable is to propose a state-backed agency to compulsorily purchase land for building and call for measures to allow construction on some green belt sites. In a speech at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London on Tuesday, the Liberal Democrat leader will also propose a big expansion in rent-to-own, where some people in new developments could pay a market rent in exchange for a gradual stake in the property, thereby subsidising social rents. [The Guardian – more details on how all these ideas would work ...
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Mayfield station still stands beside Manchester Piccadilly. The latest plans involve it being incorporated into a new urban park.
