Reminiscing about a lost Stamford bookshop, I mentioned Iain Sinclair's novel White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings. This film takes us deeper into its world of disreputable book scouts. We meet - still alive and thoroughly respectable - Michael Moorcock and Alan Moore. Then there's David Seabrook (dead), Michael Stone (dead) and Driffield (disappeared, though see the recent court case). Maybe Iain Sinclair is right to say that his London has come to an end.
An alternative to conventional overseas aid? USAID, the American foreign aid agency, is conducting a trial that measures the impact when poor people abroad are simply given money with which to decide what's best for themselves. Marc Gunther reports. Sophie Scott examines the science behind the UN's laughing reaction to Donald Trump. "According to the card shop, we are all glitter-loving, cupcake-scoffing prosecco princesses, just waiting for gin o'clock." Olivia Gagan on what greeting cards tell us about society's narrow view of women. "Underpinning Google's increasing and seemingly magical ability to predict what you want to search for, when you ...
I returned to the hospital this morning for a blood test, with a view to them removing my Hickman line. The results were encouraging (Haemoglobin 99, Platelets 33, Neutrophils 0.5), especially after I'd felt absolutely shattered the day before. So the line came out. Another small milestone on the road to recovery. I've been given a course of three more ... The post Transplant +15: Line out appeared first on ten pence piece.
I did not know Jo Cox, the MP who was brutally assassinated by a right-wing activist shortly before the Brexit referendum. But we both moved to Belgium in 1999, and had a lot of mutual friends. She worked first in the office of Glenys Kinnock MEP and then for Oxfam, including as head of their Brussels office, before she moved back to the UK, and I am sure we were in the same room on numerous occasions. Today, the city of Brussels named a square downtown after her, a block from the Bourse, two blocks from the Grand Place, and ...
September 27th 2018, the sun is out and it's warm once again after days of cold and rain in central Brussels. Rainbows splatter walls, murals, and road crossings along Ancienne Belgique, the large Concert hall that sits upon Brussell's LGBTQ District. A large crowd gathered to remember and praise Jo Cox on this vibrant Belgian square which the City of Brussels is naming after the late British MP for Batley on Spen. Jo Cox lived and breathed the streets of Brussels for six years, first as political assistant to Glenys Kinnock MEP and later as a lobbyist for Oxfam. Cox ...
It's true, metaphors matter, and far more than you might expect. As Lib Dems we need to realise something. We don't think the way we should think, so we don't win where we should win. People think mostly using the subconscious. This is the automatic bit of our brain. Want to test it... what's 3+5 = ? The answer comes quick to you. It's automatic. Because you have existing structures in your subconscious to answer questions. You've answered that a lot in the past so you've connected the question and answer. When you were young you might of used your ...
Three people are now publicly in the running to be the next Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London in the elections due in May 2020. The three who have been named as applying for the role now have to go through the party's application process. The final list published for party members in London to vote on may therefore both not include all three and may also include others not yet publicly named. The three are: Siobhan Benita, who ran as an independent candidate in 2012, nearly beating the Liberal Democrat candidate, and has since joined the Liberal Democrats. ...
The short article I had planned to write after attending Stonewall's Diaspora Showcase on Thursday 6 September was going to focus on the issues affecting black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBT+ people and what the Liberal Democrats, specifically the Lib Dem Campaign for Race Equality (LDCRE), can do to address those issues. I was going to go through the findings outlined in Stonewall's Home in the Community report, and talk about the discrimination BAME LGBT+ people have encountered within their own communities, and double discrimination in the workplace. However, my intended focus is not the right starting point. The Diaspora ...
Cambridge council under fire for transgender policy reversal Argh. Stupid Labour party and their stupid bigoted transphobia. Scotland doing something awesome here we sassenachs should try it too 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
Note from county council I am writing to notify you of the upcoming Major Utility works along the A1057 Hatfield Road, St Albans between the junctions of A1081 St Peters Street and Upper Marlborough Road. Collaborative working has been arranged between Affinity Water and Fulcrum to connect their new services with the purpose of avoiding [...]
Thu 27th
11:50
The young don't like socialism because they are "taught to" - and that isn't the real problem anyway
Toby Young has written an article in the Spectator about how young people get into socialism because the education system at all levels is run by socialists. This is a common trope on the right: that the system is run by people who are socialists, therefore they teach our kids to be little Marxists. On a similar tangent, Kate Hoey at Labour conference this week told a fringe crowd that the reason so many young people are pro-Remain is that they are indoctrinated at universities by pro-Remain professors. Forget the fact that both of these opinions come from the right ...
Wed, 18:01: Who I Am, by Peter Townshend https://t.co/9sDCoMudHk Wed, 20:52: RT @douchebagstrat: We now live in the age of voice interface through identity graph Wed, 20:54: RT @rachelheldevans: Every man in this group and at this college is learning exactly what they can get away with on campus. And every woman... Wed, 21:33: Wasn't asking you to jump though any hoops, just to tell me about the freedoms that are constrained by the EU, whic... https://t.co/4sOhmU5APN Wed, 21:43: "There is no point of the symbol without what the symbol symbolises. It was the freedom the #EU didn't allow, not ...
I've blogged about fracking previously and indeed mentioned The Moss Alliance who are organising the opposition to it locally. Lydiate's Park Ward Independent Sefton Councillor Pat O'Hanlon is a leading light within The Moss Alliance and she together with two other members of this voluntary campaigning group were at the last Lydiate Parish Council meeting. The group is trying to raise a significant amount of money to enable them to employ planning experts who will help the group effectively campaign against fracking. Here's some details of their present Crowdfunder appeal:- They were at the Parish Council meeting on 25th September ...
There is increasing worry about the impact of Brexit on our local economies and the recognition that it is important to make plans for all eventualities. Last night, the Lib Dems in Opposition on North Devon (District) Council put forward a motion to examine exactly that: The impact of Brexit (hard or soft) will affect all North Devon residents. This Council believes that with Brexit fast approaching, it is both sensible and realistic that the potential risks and impact of Brexit on North Devon – good and bad, short term and long term – are fully understood as far as ...
The story of one woman who was assaulted by her ex-husband and says she feels "let down" by officers who she says could have used an order to prevent the attack has triggered an important debate about the attitude of police forces to such incidents and whether the tools available to them are effective enough and/or used properly. The BBC report that since 2014, officers have been able to get a 28-day emergency protection order in cases of suspected abuse. But Welsh forces used them in just 3% of 30,000 cases where arrests were made but no-one was charged: Officers ...
As far as I am aware there is only one meeting at Blyth Town Council in October Thursday 11th October - Full Council Meeting starts at 6:30 pm at Arms Evertyne House. I think that there will be a Public Question Time before the meeting, starting at 6:00 pm. As ever, it's best to check with BTC if you intend to go to either.
It is very easy for those of us who want to drive for progress to fall into the temptation of only writing blogs and articles that focus on what's wrong with our system, our politics, our everything. But it might also be useful to reflect on what's right with our world. Most often, our everyday [...] The post And now for the good news... appeared first on Radix.
Thu 27th
08:10
Well done, Jo! Swinson gets major employers to be more transparent on parental leave...
[IMG: Jo Swinson, Lib Dem Deputy Leader, has announced nine major employers have agreed to publish their parental leave and pay policies. Representing around 150,000 employees, the nine companies are: Accenture Addleshaw Goddard Direct Line Group EY KPMG Linklaters PwC RBS Santander Jo has been campaigning tirelessly for greater transparency on parental leave and pay. Getting these large companies to agree to disclose their parental pay and leave policies sets a standard that other companies will feel more pressure to follow. Jo praised these employers for "setting an excellent example, demonstrating to others they can do it too." She ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : Frankenstein - complete public reading and mystery tour!29th-30th September 2018 As part of the University of Dundee's Frankenstein 200 events programme, we are delighted to present a complete public reading of the 1818 text taking place over a single weekend in various locations around Dundee, Angus and Fife. It was while living in Dundee as guests of the Baxter family (later to become founders of the University) that the young Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was first inspired to become a writer, so what better place to read her most ...
