In the days when I went on long walking holidays I used to lay out everything I wanted to take and find it was too much for my rucksack. Often my camera was one of the things that was sacrificed. But I did take it with me sometimes. And one of the times I did was 1997, when I walked from Plymouth to Brixham, missed out the area around Torbay on the advice of my guidebook as there was too much road walking, and then continued from Exmouth to Weymouth.That's what I wrote when I posted a photograph of St ...
It's another Sunday, and whilst much has been said, no press releases have been received. So, instead, here's another musical interlude for you. My former next door neighbour introduced to me to the wonders of sixteenth and early seventeenth century lute music, and here's an example, courtesy of the Swedish lutenist, Jakob Lindberg...
Today the old boy gives us an interesting piece of Scottish Liberal history that has hitherto escaped publication. Tuesday A recent issue of The Shetland Times has been drawn to my attention. In it our own Tavish Scott celebrates the fact that those islands will no longer be shown on weather maps and the like in a box. All I can say is that he must be a singularly unobservant fellow, as that box is not figment of a cartographer's imagination but a thing of bricks and mortar. It was Jo Grimond who ordered it to be built: he wanted ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 535th 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 (11-17 November, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed. 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 Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. Janna Hanna wins Oxfordshire by-election for the ...
I wasn't allowed to call Andrew Bridgen the MP for North West Bullshitshire in the paper. But I can here...https://t.co/vZ88VB5qR6 pic.twitter.com/d99t26WIP4— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) November 17, 2018Matt Chorley's article is behind The Times paywall, but I can add further evidence to support his case out here in the open. In July 2016, during the Conservative leadership election, Andrew Bridgen appeared on the East Midlands segment of the BBC's Sunday Politics. He was there to support Andrea Leadsom's candidacy - this was before she gave her first major interview and torpedoed her own campaign. As I blogged at the time: When ...
In what the Mirror credibly labels an "Exclusive", Lembit Opik claims that he's been asked by multiple parties to stand as the President of Estonia, despite never having lived there: Opik claims he is the second best-known Estonian in the World after the 83-year old classical composer Arvo Part. Part and a part you might say, if you had less tact than me. Lembit tells the Mirror every time he appears on Estonian television, people ask when he is going to move there. He says: "I'm interested in Estonian politics because I've invested a lot of time in helping the ...
As previously mentioned, I was in Belgrade last Sunday; and checking my flights as I ate my breakfast, I realised that my departure was three hours later than I had thought. (Which is better than the other way around, of course.) This left me with an opportunity to explore somewhere in Serbia I hadn't been before, as long as it was reasonably close to Belgrade. Sirmium was one of the biggest cities of the Roman Empire, now the provincial city Sremska Mitrovica, giving its name to the Srem region of southwest Vojvodina and the neighbouring part of Croatia. It's conveniently ...
I was inspired to write this post by a conversation I had this week. My friend was talking about his earliest political memories in a house where Tony Blair was reviled. He first became aware of politics around the time of the Iraq war. He had never really been properly exposed to the Tories in his formative years and doesn't have the same antipathy to them as I do. It made me think about my first political memories and the impact they have on me now. I remember being taken along with my parents when they went to vote in ...
When choosing Tomorrow's My White Bicycle as a Sunday music video I wrote: Tomorrow were a significant band in those days, so cool that they were asked to write songs for the film Blow-Up (in the event they were not used). Their guitarist Steve Howe later joined Yes while Keith West is, rather unfairly, best remembered for Excerpt from a Teenage Opera.Here is one of the songs from the film, which just retells the plot. (That is less of an undertaking than it would be with most films). The band recorded it under their earlier name of The In Crowd. ...
Is this sign, which has been on display for a while now, an indication that the long-promised works are about to start on making the M58 Junction 1 a full junction? Having said that it's only closing Giddygate Lane for 3 days from tomorrow:- And only yards away was this scene! How on earth did that car get down into the farmer's field and why?
This week, the House of Lords debated a recommendation from the Committee for Privileges and Conduct which recommended that Lord Lester of Herne Hill should be suspended from the House until 2022. The House of Lords Commissioner for Standards made this ruling about a complaint of sexual harassment against Lord Lester: Applying the test of the balance of probabilities I find the complaint upheld, on the basis of the strong and cogent evidence of the complainant and her witnesses. I have carefully considered the challenges to this evidence, but do not find that those challenges undermine the strength of the ...
Congratulations Dawn Barnes and Tammy Palmer, newly reselected by Haringey Liberal Democrats.
Now, don't get me wrong. I like photos of potholes. Or even empty pavements. I like photos of candidates. I like photos of candidates and potholes. Looking glum or not. Possibly with pointing. But so often the 'action' photo of the local campaigning 'team' shows one static solitary person doing nothing much other than looking lonely and static. And very small. The solution? Read this excellent set of advice on how to take better photographs - no fancy camera required. (It's written for non-smartphone cameras but the advice applies just as well to smartphone users.) It's only missing one piece ...
News from Skipton and Rippon Liberal Democrats of their new Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC): Skipton and Ripon Liberal Democrats are delighted to announce that Andrew Murday has been selected as their new prospective parliamentary candidate. Andrew has run a smallholding near Pateley Bridge for the past eight years and is currently secretary of the Ripon branch. He brings political experience and enthusiasm to the constituency team. He says: "I am determined to help local Liberal Democrats make an electoral mark in the constituency". The legendary Claire Brooks – one of the brilliant campaigners who kept the Liberal Party going through ...
Sat, 12:56: This is a shocking report on the state of poverty in theUK today, and government's responsibility for it. https://t.co/Wx8OxX55JB Sat, 13:12: This is a shocking report on poverty in the UK, and the government's responsibility for it. https://t.co/JiTGj0lDnt Sat, 13:52: Hamlet (1948) https://t.co/AXFRSHPPEq Sat, 16:28: BBC News - Obituary: Richard Baker https://t.co/ufl8HrKZu9 Damn. Was wondering if he was still alive. Now I know the answer. Sat, 20:48: It cannot be overthrown without destroying you: the Gallic empire and Brexit https://t.co/pJaeWXLl6i Fascinating from @_katie_low. Sun, 08:12: RT @jessicaelgot: This is so good https://t.co/H7GfyMgkOk Sun, 08:31: This is beautiful. https://t.co/SiqJOTqyGC ...
'The mouths of fools are their ruin; they trap themselves with their lips' - Proverbs 18:7 New Living Translation Nadine Dorries is by no means my favourite Tory backbencher, that privilege rests with Ken Clarke, for whom there is a parody twitter account where a tweet a few days ago summed up the state of today's Tory party. It said: I've been sat up in bed for hours, whisky on the bedside table, soft jazz playing in the background, trying to think if I've ever worked with a more idiotic bunch of self centred bastards in my nearly 50 years ...
This morning, politicians are lining up to talk to the Sunday political programmes – but those in favour of a People's Vote don't seem to have been invited to the party. There is no serious non Conservative psychodrama opposition to the PM's deal and nobody saying that there is an alternative – we can be given the chance to accept or reject the deal so that the Government isn't marking its own homework. You would have thought that the Leader of the Opposition would have something important to say. Unfortunately, he poured cold water on the idea of a People's ...
Sun 18th
09:38
"I don't know": Jeremy Corbyn on how he would vote if there's another European referendum
From Sophy Ridge's interview for Sky this morning comes this continuation of Jeremy Corbyn's life-long record of not being a pro-European.
After rather a long gap, there's a great new video out from CGP Grey about the Statue of Liberty and where it is. Great especially as there's an answer that is technically correct in the most pointless type of way.
Issue 393 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers. Our first free sample article for this issue is by Sarah Green deploring the diversion of money and time caused by the way Vince Cable's reform proposals were handled. In the other free article, Liverpool group leader Richard Kemp explains why he for one is not a 'moderate'. Both are on: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk Also in this issue: Reverse Double – The Immigration debate at Brighton showed the party both morally and politically wrong, says Natasha Chapman Damned From the Start –The Liberal Democrats' new foreign policy paper is riddled with flaws, ...
Another Silent Soldier has been broken. There has been controversy over whether this is down to vandalism or strong winds. Last night, winds did not get above six kmph. That not enough to ruffle your hair let alone to snap a Silent Soldier. Anti-social behaviour on a weekend night along Parys Road is not unusual. Discarded chip cartons, pizza boxes, even McDonalds boxes and beakers. And on most Sunday mornings a couple of heaps of vomit. I don't believe for one moment this soldier was felled by the wind. It was an act of mindless and disrespectful vandalism.
The other day whilst on a cycle ride I stopped at the top of Clieves Hill to catch my breath and fell into conversation with a West Lancs Council street cleansing chap who was emptying the bins and picking up litter. View from Clieves Hill towards the Sefton Coast. The first thing to say is that he was doing a great job but as I had seen the extent of the littering up there previously I asked him how often the area was litter picked and the bins emptied. Expecting to hear him say something like weekly I was surprised ...
