When the Liberal Revue was first staged in the 1980s its star writer and performer was Mark Tavener. I met in him in those days, but did not know him well. By the time I was moving in such circles with confidence he had gone on to better things, writing a comic novel and then the scripts BBC Radio 4 comedies. Those comedies, because they were in part about the BBC itself, attracted stellar casts. Michael Willams. Barry Foster. Jim Carter. Rebecca Front. Anton Rodgers. Julian Rhind-Tutt. Peter Serafinowicz. John Bird. Stephen Fry. Radio Four Extra often repeats them - ...
So I am not the only one who does refuses to buy the idea that David Dimbleby is some kind of broadcasting legend. Nick Cohen writes for Standpoint: The retirement of David Dimbleby from Question Time after a quarter of a century has brought fears of cultural debasement to a head. Dimbleby will be remembered, if he is remembered at all, for fanning hysteria, and his departure provoked something close to disgust as broadcasters looked at their future and recoiled. Adam Boulton of Sky described Dimbleby's complicity in Question Time's drift towards "the ritual confrontation and humiliation of its guests". ...
Vince was on the Today programme this morning mainly to talk about the revelations that HMRC advise against giving honours to tax avoiding celebrities – something that he thought was right in principle. However, he was also asked about his ideas for reforming the party and, specifically, how much longer he would be leader. I'm not stepping down. I'm making a speech next week putting forward some reforms to the way the party functions. So far, so good. But then he was asked a direct question about whether he would be fighting the next election. Yes, if there is one ...
Here are the latest national voting intention figures from each of the main pollsters currently polling in the UK. To put the numbers into longer context, take a look at PollBase, my database of polling figures going back to 1945, which is updated quarterly and remember the warning about individual polls. Polling company Con Lab LibDem Ukip Green Con lead Fieldwork Method BMG 37% 39% 10% 5% 5% -2% 6-10/8 Online Delta Poll 37% 40% 8% 6% 5% -3% 14-16/8 Online ICM 40% 40% 8% 6% 2% 0% 17-19/8 Online Ipsos-MORI 38% 38% 10% 6% 3% 0% 20-24/7 Phone Kantar ...
Find out the most common reasons why you've not received that email from the Liberal Democrats which other party members have received.
Second paragraph of third story (Fomalhaut 451):Zia's gloved fingers jabbed out the control sequence again, but she knew it was futile: the hab was dead this past year. She'd been sent from Central to discover how, why.The author ran a contest several years ago offering free copies of this book to the the three people with the most interesting namesakes as revealed by Google, and of course I was up for that challenge and won. The book took a few weeks to reach me from Australia, and it took me a lot longer to get around to reading it. It's ...
Second frame of page 3: I read the first two parts of this series a couple of years ago, and have now got to volume 3 (of 6). Suske and Wiske are trapped in the devastated future world of 2047, at opposite ends of the island of Amoras, subject to the machinations of the evil Krimson. Suske has hooked up with the attractive and dangerous Jérusalem; Wiske with other unsavoury types. Meanwhile in the present day there is a parallel plotline with a young woman called Marie, in a hospital with Aunt Sidonie. There seemed to be less fanservice and ...
I took this photograph at Madeley in Shropshire in 2011.
The resignation of Frank Field from Labour is starting to have wider repercussions, with a number of Labour figures speaking out about the way their party has changed over the last few years. The highest profile figure to step up to the mark is former Home Secretary, Lord David Blunkett, who has stated that the resignation of Labour's longest-serving MP over concerns about anti-Semitism must lead to a "rethink of the Corbyn project" or the party risks "decline and irrelevance". As the Independent reports, Blunkett believes that the "bullying and thuggery" of the militant left, which he said made the ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @guardian: One song, six decades: Aretha Franklin sings You Make me Feel Like a Natural Woman https://t.co/aNh9sxeB7d Fri, 16:05: RT @SJAMcBride: The story of how brave firefighters saved The Bank Buildings in 1975 - despite the IRA callously claiming that there were 3... Fri, 18:25: August Books https://t.co/keW3GheI2d Fri, 19:07: At @delijn Perron 14 again, nowhere to sit and cyclists and pedestrians dancing dangerously by the bus stop. (@ Per... https://t.co/XQ4KbDkeIL Fri, 20:48: Panasonic to move Europe headquarters from UK to Amsterdam https://t.co/m50bzRHNCL #TakingBackControl Sat, 10:12: RT @KeohaneDan: Please note: the UK is not being "barred from ...
The Liverpool Echo has the story on its web site – see link below:- Often vehicle drivers can be very selfish as they don't think about or in some cases even care about the consequences of where and how they park cars and vans. But sometimes it will be unthinking and the motorist will be horrified when they realise they have made the life of someone with a disability even worse. But how anyone can abuse a person with a disability who has had to point out that a vehicle is ether blocking their driveway or stopping them getting ...
The days are getting shorter, the football has started up again and the first few "x days to Christmas" signs have already been in the shops for distressingly long. Yes, Liberal Democrat local party AGM season is fast approaching. To help Liberal Democrat local parties get the most out of their AGMs, here is a reminder of a simple factsheet giving 10 tips for them. Follow them and you'll turn an AGM from a boring, business meeting that no-one really likes coming to into an interesting and successful event. That's a particularly important objective given the huge growth in Liberal ...
Peterborough, home to a growing Liberal Democrat council group and a possible Parliamentary by-election, has just got a Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary candidate too. The local paper reports: The Liberal Democrats have selected Beki Sellick as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Peterborough. The engineer fought the seat in the 2017 election, finishing third with 1,597 votes. She said: "I'm an ordinary person who's had a variety of jobs – nationalised and privatised, shop floor and management, full-time and part-time, redundant. And then I started my own business in Peterborough two years ago. "I've lived in central Peterborough for 10 years. ...
Few countries not in conflict have managed to stay off the tourists' radar, but the Comoros, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, between Mozambique and Madagascar, is one. This is partly because the necessary infrastructure is not there, unlike on the island of Mayotte, which is geographically and historically part of the Comoro Islands, but [...]
Following residents' complaints about a missing Lime Street street sign at the junction with Glenagnes Street, I took this up with City Council and have now received the following positive response : "A replacement sign for Lime Street will be included in the next street name plate order."
