Stanley Unwin found it hard to retire as he kept being rediscovered by new generations of producers. In 1993 he appeared in the comedy series Inside Victor Lewis-Smith. According to Wikipedia and my vague memories, this BBC Two series (in which Lewis-Smith himself hardly appeared) was set in the Frank Bough Memorial Zip Injury Wing of St. Reith's, a BBC hospital for its fallen stars. It took place inside the head of a man completely saturated with television and suffering from a hyperactive spleen.
So far things are going surprisingly well with the old boy's voyage along the Rutland Union Canal. Wednesday A splendid first day, though Ruttie, the Rutland Water Monster, is in playful mood when we enter the first lock and almost capsizes us. Then we take a wrong turning and perform two laps of the moat at Bonkers Hall without Ashplant noticing anything amiss before the Great Seal of Rutland dives in to show us the way out. As we pass through villages, locals come out to cheer and warn us of shallows and shoals ahead. We moor for the evening ...
If you were making a list of the worst organisations to grant an unsecured loan, Northamptonshire County Council would be somewhere near the top. But that is precisely what Leicestershire County Council did, loaning them £5m at an interest rate of 0.75 per cent. As Bill Boulter, the doyen of Leicestershire Lib Dems, observed to the Leicester Mercury: "There was enough indication that Northamptonshire was in financial trouble before that loan. "They were saying it themselves. Yet still we gave them the money. ... "The Tory run council in Leicestershire is planning to close children's centres and make millions of ...
Sign warns cyclists about itself. To be fair, it does the job pretty well.
The former Foreign Secretary and Tory bad-boy, Boris Johnson, has well and truly put the cat among the pigeons with his Daily Telegraph column in which he likened Muslim women who wear the "burka" to letter boxes and bank robbers. I am sure he well knows that what he is talking about is the niqab [...]
[Trigger warnings: all sorts of things, but mostly suicidal ideation] I came to a realisation in the last couple of days — I'm disabled. I don't mean that I just realised that the label "disabled" fit me — I've been ... Continue reading →
This is the latest in a series based on posts on my Facebook Page for those who don't do Facebook, but are interested in my selection campaign for Bristol South. If you're a member in Bristol South, you should have had your PPC mailing - if not, then please contact the Returning Officer! (Send me an email at andrewcbrownukATgmailDOTcom if you need his details). Please read the mailing carefully, particularly the arrangements for postal votes. If you can't make the members' meeting on the afternoon of the 18th August, please arrange for a postal vote instead! Please also note that, ...
There has been much talk of new political parties, even quite a few launches but so far almost no discernible impact. Vince Cable has even turned down an offer to lead one. The closest to a serious runner, or at least the best funded, has put its head above the online parapet today with the launch of United for Change at www.unitedforchange.uk, complete with natty logo and a NationBuilder campaign platform. It is, Ross Hawkins at the BBC reports, the new party that Lovefilm founder Simon Franks has been backing. The Observer previously reported: A new political party with access ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: The bundle of parachute silk appropriated by Baltasar Quispe and found beneath the potatoes was loaded on the truck sealed up in plastic. As for the smaller wad of silk entrusted to the Sonco household, the president of Apusquiy town council, now embroiled in a bitter dispute over jurisdiction with the canton head from Santa Rosa, merely asked Martin Checa, being Angelina Sonco's common law husband and a resident in the Sonco house, to confirm that there was none still there, and then swore that all silk had been surrendered. That missing man Julio Capac ...
Second paragraph of third day's entry: And the worst thing that can happen is that they ask you permission to take a picture. This was one of the submissions for the Clarke Award which was not really suitable for consideration but which was interesting enough for me to come back to. It's a haunted house story, the house being in Virginia, the story being of the young new English heir to the property and his mute Irish girlfriend, uncovering a mystery of codes and performative mystery-solving, with a global and weird aspect to it. It is intriguingly put together in ...
[IMG: Blogging from New York - Part 1] I was last in New York 19 years ago. The opportunity to visit again arose and I grabbed it. The thought of blogging from New York was too good to resist. Another point of... The post Blogging from New York – Part 1 appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
Normally I would say focus on the policy, not the presenter of the policy, but every rule should have its exceptions, and, in this case, Boris Johnson is very much an exception. His carefully constructed persona enables him to bypass the critical faculties and hit the base instincts that society is created to taboo. When one thinks of Boris Johnson, it is very easy to think of the irreverent comedy of the Pythons, replacing the ministry of funny walks with the ministry for ruffled hair, or imagining Joe Johnson screaming 'He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.'. The ...
[IMG: LDV FANTASY FOOTBALL] The English Premier League kicks off this Friday and LibDemVoice has revived its Fantasy Football League to mark the occasion. So if you fancy pitting your soccer selection skills against 150 fellow party supporters, here's your chance. To enter all you have to do is click on this link. Simply register your details, pick your team, and away you go. If you need the joining code at any point, it's 1729103-394948. And for those who don't feel they have the insider knowledge to compete, you can always choose the 'auto-complete' option so your team is picked ...
Here are some photos I took when Hol and I went to see Iron Maiden We got quite near the front, as you can see. This is us on the train on the way in And this is us waiting for the support band to come on. 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
Tue, 12:56: RT @Cardwell_PJ: It seems like the Telegraph has completely lost the plot with this story. But, as it cites the Treaty, lets have a look at... Tue, 14:06: RT @Dublin2019: Did you know ? One of our GoH's :-) https://t.co/21B7ogPdvc Tue, 16:05: RT @JolyonMaugham: How did we get from 'Take back control' to 'A big boy did it' in only two years? Tue, 17:03: RT @georgiaEtennant: "Don't you think she looks tired?" #Brexitchaos #brexshit @theresa_may #canwestopthisnowpleasemyeyeshurt #letsgoagain... Tue, 23:40: Hugo Awards 2018: How (Some More) Bloggers Are Voting https://t.co/0FkG7JyY91 Wed, 10:01: RT @Dublin2019: Help us make Dublin2019 the ...
As the Chequers agreement and White Paper evince, the details of the interim package on offer are highly complicated. Submitting the terms and conditions of the Article 50 negotiations to a popular vote would be fraudulent. A referendum would be unlikely to elucidate the pros and cons of the Facilitated Customs Arrangement, the future of the City of London or the Irish backstop protocol. Rather, the hapless voter would face the same dilemma as vacillating parliamentarians - namely, a crude and invidious choice between the government's Brexit deal and the cliff edge. Ms. Miller & co make two gigantic misjudgments. ...
On 3 August, at the Kasumbalesa border crossing between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, former Zaire), an incident occurred. It was non-violent and therefore scarcely noticed. But it is worrying about the future of the largest country in French-speaking Africa, and emblematic of the way politics is being conducted today in the [...] The post Why does Africa have so much trouble with democracy? appeared first on Radix.
Last week a second meeting around took place around the regeneration of the Prestwich village area. The meeting heard presentations from Bury Council, the development company which has signed up to redevelop the area and their planning consultants. The Mayor of Greater Manchester also spoke as part of Greater Manchester's 'Town Centre Challenge' project, of which Prestwich is one. Liberal Democrat councillors Tim Pickstone and Mary D'Albert were at the meeting and report back. The council and Muse have now agreed to set up a joint venture company to guide the development. Progress on creating the new company should be ...
In the thick of silly season 2018, what dominates British political headlines? Everyone is bored of Brexit, and little is happening on that front that will be even nominally newsworthy until September. Luckily, several of the wacky characters at the forefront of UK politics have decided to step into the breach. News outlets search for anti-Semitism under every Labour Party stone – and find something new and cringeworthy under almost each one. Meanwhile, Corbyn is due to give another equivocal apology any day now, one that makes sure we know he's not a big fan of the state of Israel. ...
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From Sheena Wellington : Wighton Heritage CentreToday - Wednesday 8th August - 1.15pm - 1.45pmLunchtime Recital with Kirsty Law For the third of our Year of Young People Lunchtime Recitals we are delighted to welcome the wonderful Kirsty Law. Kirsty Law is an innovative young vocalist and song-maker based in Edinburgh. The mainstay of her musical education came from learning Scots ballads and folk songs from tradition bearers such as Sheila Stewart, Cathal McConnell and Margaret Bennett. Today she draws on this experience in her own composition, often writing in a 'patchwork' style, layering and combining original and traditional melodies, ...
