I took this a couple of weeks ago. There is something pleasing about the light.
Jennifer Williams argues that we should fear the constant political attacks on journalists and journalism. "I do have one dream. It is that the two parts of Ireland will come together slowly, with an increasing number of Northern unionists realising that a much closer association with the Republic makes huge sense for reasons of economic self-interest." Andy Pollak suggests ways of making it a reality. "Leonard Pozner ... spends hours every day trying to erase online conspiracy theories that the death of his 6-year-old son Noah at the Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax." Sapna Maheshwari and John Herrman ...
Sun 26th
17:23
Vince Cable to stand down as party leader before 2022 and wants to see through party rule changes
I see that there are a few media reports about this today. The first was in The Times (£), then the Express and Telegraph, and, this afternoon, the Guardian has followed with, perhaps, the most precisely worded article. There is nothing on the Lib Dem Press Office Twitter feed about this, as I write. Also I don't see a round robin email from the party about this. That suggests an element of "bouncing" in this story. Basically, the story, as related in the Guardian, seems sensible to me. – Some mature planning which will allow the party to move forward ...
Jimmy Flannigan, candidate for District 6 in Austin, talks about traffic, water, property crime, rising taxes - in one long, flowing take.
Third paragraph of first lecture, with illustration:What interests me is the relationship between this classic Homeric moment of silencing a woman and some of the ways in which women's voices are not publicly heard in our own contemporary culture, and in our own politics from the front bench to the shop floor. It is a well-known deafness that's nicely parodied in an old Punch cartoon: 'That's an excellent suggestion, Miss Triggs. Perhaps one of the men here would like to make it'. I want to reflect on how it might relate to the abuse that many women who do speak ...
Paddy Ashdown 'horrified' by parallels between UK and 1930s Germany Play a Disney villain in new Villainous board game This has gone straight on my wishlist. 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
Sun 26th
11:34
Hundreds of portable lavatories to be ordered in secret by Government as part of Brexit preparations
Imagine the ridicule the Remain campaign would have got from Brexiters if they'd warned that voting Leave would mean spending money on lots of portable lavatories. Yet today's papers bring this news: The Mail on Sunday has established that the plans for a no-deal Brexit include ordering hundreds of portable lavatories to be deployed on motorways, to be used by lorry drivers caught in gridlock caused by the reintroduction of EU border checks. Something similar has been done before when there have been previous short-term disruptions to the flow of lorries through Dover, such as due to strikes. But this ...
They say that fools rush in where angels fear to tread so class me as a fool for at least the rest of this blog!! I have been deeply troubled for some years by the way that faith is increasingly ... Continue reading →
I try not to revisit an artist too soon, but as I find it is more than a decade since I chose something by my favourite forgotten Nineties band I think this will be OK. Elin's Photograph comes from Strangelove's second album, Love and Other Demons, which was released in 1996. You can read the band's history in a britpopnews article and listen to the title track from their first LP elsewhere on this blog.
Sat, 12:56: How the Netherlands Feeds the World https://t.co/NInOdYzELy Amazing. Well worth a read. Sat, 14:45: RT @Scientists4EU: This is >£500m *per annum*, to be clear. If no-deal Brexit stops ERC, MSCA & SMEi grants from being signed from end Mar... Sat, 14:50: RT @Popehat: So this was not one of my better takes to be fair it was January; I did not yet fully appreciate 2018 https://t.co/UZ34QyHOby Sat, 16:05: RT @astroehlein: Oh. https://t.co/L2W8BXYEVK Sat, 20:48: #1137: "There's no room in the Room of My Own." https://t.co/koc96vjYed The problem of domestic distraction. Sun, 10:45: The worst boss stories I've heard ...
I have written enough on this blog about the impact that Brexit is going to have on our economy, on jobs and on our standard of living to have conveyed the sense that I think it will be a disaster. However, what about the rhetoric from the leave campaigns during the referendum campaign that promised us a country freed from bureaucracy, with more money to spend on frontline services? Yes, it turns out that was nonsense as well. What has provoked my latest rant is this article in the Telegraph that reports that Theresa May has ordered officials to start ...
Sun 26th
08:55Wera Hobhouse: what it's like standing against Jacob Rees-Mogg, her hidden talent and more
Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, is the latest to feature in #MeetTheMPs.
I'm sure the rest of FCC will not mind me divulging the Top Sekrit discussion that went on between Senior Lib Dems yesterday on the FCC discussion group. I shall paraphrase slightly: "Have any of you lot heard anything about this thing about Vince resigning and a special conference being called?" "Nope." "Not me." "Nor I." So, like Nick Barlow, I am reasonably certain that this story, on the back of the previous story which touted the supporter scheme and which told us it was going to be introduced at autumn conference, comes from one person who has a friendship ...
There's one thing we know for sure — at least one person who likes being described as a senior party figure has a good relationship with a journalist at Business Insider, who keep getting lots of leaks about Vince Cable's future and top secret plans to radically change the way the party works. The latest story is that 'senior party figures' have been told to be free on September 7th in order to be present at a big speech from Vince. (Disclaimer: I have received no such request, thus confirming I'm probably not a senior party figure) This speech, should it actually ...
Leeds Liverpool Canal at Wango Lane Aintree Village yesterday. It's back in water and boaters can again sail into Liverpool. Good news our canal is back in business after a couple of months of being closed after it breached its banks in Melling. My previous posting refers and is available via the link below:- The canal from Melling to Liverpool was reopened 3 days ago at a cost, I'm told, of around £500,000 to repair the breach as detailed in my previous posting. Here's a couple of photos of the repaired breach site:- Click on the photos to enlarge ...
The next West End Police Surgeries take place tomorrow - details below - all welcome!
