On Saturday we held our latest action day in Gateshead. This time it was in Birtley ward. It is Labour held with a comfortable share of the vote but where the turnout is only 31%. It is a ward Labour tends to take for granted. The aim of the action day was to deliver the latest Birtley Focus across the ward. I'm pleased to report that, other than patches taken by some helpers to deliver
[IMG: Bye y'all from New York - the final blog] I am about to board my flight back to London. I have spent a week in New York talking to people, watching the news and, generally, taking things in. If I came looking for an explanation... The post Bye y'all from New York – the final blog appeared first on FeministMama @ambitiousmamas.
And so, as piracy is driven from the Rutland Union Canal (and from the hills of High Leicestershire more generally), we bid farewell to Lord Bonkers and his many friends and helpers. Sunday What a battle it was! The pirates were assailed from all sides by elven archers and Well-Behaved Orphans with catapults. Then they faced close combat from gamekeepers armed with orchard doughties and badgers armed with powerful jaws. Eventually, Cook freed herself from her bonds and (before untying Jo Swinson, Layla Moran and Paddy Ashplant) fetched the pirate captain a fearful blow over the head with her soup ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 528th 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 (5-11 August, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. The Golden Dozen will be taking its Summer break for the next two weeks, but will be back with a bumper edition on 2 September. 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 ...
Yesterday the Marks & Spencer stores in Kettering and Northampton closed for the last time. Maybe M&S is not the flagship it used to be for a high street, but I fear these closures will hit both towns. Northampton seems to have a lot of empty shops these days, while Kettering had been going up in the world with better townscaping and the odd chain restaurant appearing. When the closures were announced a few weeks ago I went to Kettering to take these photos. I bought some socks and found the store was as busy as ever.
With fracking a really serious possibility in West Lancashire and more precisely in Altcar Civil Parish, which is all but surrounded on 3 sides by Sefton Borough, those opposed to fracking are trying to raise money to fight the planning application which is expected to be submitted any day now to West Lancs Borough Council. The link below explains and via it you can join the crowd funders who oppose fracking locally:- The Moss Alliance comprises community groups opposed to fracking in West Lancashire and Sefton. To help them oppose Aurora Energy Resources' planning application for exploratory drilling and ...
More than 100 parliamentary constituencies that voted Leave now back Remain, according to research commissioned by the campaign groups Best for Britain and Hope not Hate. The Best for Britain site has mapped the results. Click on the Harborough constituency and you will see the following figures. In 2016 Harborough voted Remain 47.8 per cent, Leave 52.2 per cent. Today the figures are Remain 50.6 per cent, Leave 49.4 per cent. The Guardian explains the study's methodology: Researchers at the Focaldata consumer analytics company compiled the breakdown by modelling two YouGov polls of more than 15,000 people in total, conducted ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: I'd begun to like the Ayreses for their own sake, too. It was Caroline I saw most. I discovered that she walked in the park almost daily, so I'd often catch sight of her unmistakable long-legged, broad-hipped figure, with Gyp cutting a way through the long grass at her side. If she was close enough I would stop the car and wind down my window, and we'd chat, as we had that time in the lane. She seemed to be always in the middle of some chore, always had a bag or a basket with ...
This could be a music video specially designed to entertain Liberal Democrat leaflet deliverers, courtesy of The Safety Letterbox Company.
I'm currently writing a memoir of the years I was based in Brussels (1974-1981), initially with Reuters covering the European institutions and NATO, later freelance writing film and theatre reviews and books — the second of which (a biography of Christopher Isherwood) led to travels across America. Fortunately I still have a stack of diaries [...]
Only two chapters, both very long. The second paragraph of the second chapter is: Mais cette souffrance et ce regain d'amour pour Gilberte ne furent pas plus longs que ceux qu'on a en rêve, et cette fois, au contraire, parce qu'à Balbec l'Habitude ancienne n'était plus là pour les faire durer. Et si ces effets de l'Habitude semblent contradictoires, c'est qu'elle obéit à des lois multiples. À Paris j'étais devenu de plus en plus indifférent à Gilberte, grâce à l'Habitude. Le changement d'habitude, c'est-à-dire la cessation momentanée de l'Habitude, paracheva l'œuvre de l'Habitude quand je partis pour Balbec. Elle affaiblit ...
U.N. says it has credible reports that China holds million Uighurs in secret camps * shudder * Time to get your amendments ready for Conference xkcd: Voting Software I do not trust any method of voting that cannot be manually verified. The unpleasant reason men navigate better than women Discrimination and the Ice Cream Backlash Jim Hines on whiny white male authors. 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 ...
If I had known, 30 years ago, that there would be an annual Book Festival in Edinburgh in the last half of August, I'd have put my wedding back a week or two. My lack of foresight means that I'll be away on a celebratory holiday when both Jo Swinson and Chelsea Clinton are speaking there. Jo is on 22nd August at 18:45 (buy tickets here) and her book, Equal Power, was on sale in the bookshop yesterday. The tents in Charlotte Square have been my spiritual home in August for some time so yesterday it was great to be ...
Sat, 12:56: RT @DmitryOpines: It's reasonable to ask those confidently asserting German car manufacturers will inevitably prevail on the EU to cave in... Sat, 15:28: RT @tristangrayedi: I used to support banning the burka and niqab. I had my mind changed. To me it's clear now that a ban would only serve... Sat, 16:05: Master of his universe: the warnings in JRR Tolkien's novels https://t.co/svatdwOxSm Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams writes. Sat, 16:09: The Life of Our Lord, by Charles Dickens https://t.co/RMTBFKyEQ5 Sat, 18:21: RT @jimwaterson: In an alternate universe Rowan Atkinson's brother Rodney, who spent the late 90s ...
The star was David Kernan as Buttons, who had already appeared in Zulu on television in That Was the Week That Was. He was later to become even more famous in Ned Sherrin's Side by Side by Sondheim. I can remember his last scene, singing a song called "I'm Going Away" because his friend Cinderella was marrying Prince Charming. How we loved him!I wrote that after acquiring the programme for Cinderella at the Watford Palace, which I was taken to see in January 1967. Since then I have done a bit of research and discovered that it was Kernan who ...
In some ways the picture above says it all. In London there is an elite, a ruling class, which manipulates the whole Country for its own advantage. I know this in two ways but let me deal with Brexit as ... Continue reading →
I often recommend Twitter accounts for Liberal Democrats to follow, but it has been a while since I've refreshed those lists of recommendations. Over to you then with two questions: Which non-Lib Dems on Twitter would you recommend to Lib Dems to follow?, and Which non-Lib Dem Facebook pages would you likewise recommend? Comment away!
Vince went to Bristol yesterday to speak to the People's Vote rally. His message was one of confidence and optimism – that the tide was turning in our favour and we could win a People's vote. Watch highlights here: He said: The situation has changed, the facts have changed. We were all told the British government was going to save vast amounts of money. We now know that's not the case: there's the £40 billion divorce settlement, the economy's slowing down, there's less money for the NHS. We were told it was simple – it's actually proving unbelievably complicated... Another ...
More than 100 Westminster constituencies that voted for Brexit two years ago now support staying in the EU, The Observer has reported. The story is based on analysis commissioned by Best for Britain and Hope Not Hate. Responding, Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable said: "Whether someone voted to leave or stay in the EU in 2016, nearly everyone is disillusioned by the mess the Conservatives have made of Brexit. "This research is yet more compelling evidence that the British people must be given the final say on any - or no - Brexit deal. The shallow argument against giving the ...
The Observer today suggests that as many as 112 seats may have changed from Leave to Remain. In findings that could have a significant impact on the parliamentary battle of Brexit later this year, the study concludes that most seats in Britain now contain a majority of voters who want to stay in the EU. The analysis, one of the most comprehensive assessments of Brexit sentiment since the referendum, suggests the shift has been driven by doubts among Labour voters who backed Leave. As a result, the trend is starkest in the north of England and Wales - Labour heartlands ...
Sun 12th
08:40
Oswestry and Shrewsbury get most of Shropshire Council's investment cash - Ludlow gets a few crumbs
Numbers dug out by a Bridgnorth resident reveal that the north of the county gets the lion's share of Shropshire Council's capital investment. The spend per head in Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Market Drayton is ten times as high as in Ludlow. We get barely more than a quarter of the money that goes to Bridgnorth. Ludlow has gained just 1% of the capital spend across the county. This is not for want of trying. In May, us unitary councillors submitted a proposal for investment in Ludlow to Shropshire Council leader Peter Nutting. Three months later he has still not found ...
Many people have criticised Theresa May's blunt and uncompromising approach to immigration and the debilitating effect it is having on the economy and our public services, but surely even she must listen to the latest comments from the CBI. As the Guardian reports, the Confederation of British Industry has urged Theresa May to drop her "blunt target" on immigration numbers and introduce new freedom of movement rules for EU citizens post-Brexit to ensure firms, large and small, can stay in business when the UK leaves the bloc. They have called for new rules for EU citizens to keep open the ...
