Another day without press releases, I'm afraid, so instead, some music...
I could say that the maps in my beloved Lone Pine Club stories by Malcolm Saville made me look down on books that did not have maps on their endpapers, but I suspect their importance was even greater than that. It was the maps that attracted me to Malcolm Saville in the first place. But I was not alone in seeing maps as essential to adventure stories. When Richard Jefferies' Bevis the Story of a Boy, originally published as a three-volume adult novel, was reinvented as a children's classic in 1932, the publisher Jonathan Cape pulled out all the stops. ...
So following various correspondence to my MP Jo Churchill over Brexit (you can read my open letter here), I have finally received a reply. It' a stock response, but I expected something generic - MPs are busy, I understand that. Sadly it doesn't address a single issue I have raised, it simply regurgitates the same rubbish we have been hearing from Theresa May over the last couple of weeks. If
So following various correspondence to my MP Jo Churchill over Brexit (you can read my open letter here), I have finally received a reply. It' a stock response, but I expected something generic - MPs are busy, I understand that. Sadly it doesn't address a single issue I have raised, it simply regurgitates the same rubbish we have been hearing from Theresa May over the last couple of weeks. If
Stephen Bush says it was not Theresa May who killed Brexit but her adviser Nick Timothy: Stephen Fry's Brexit video repeats Remain's 2016 mistakes, says Bobby Duffy. "After painstakingly scrutinising the evidence, and crunching the numbers, Christophers arrives at this extraordinary estimate: since 1979, no less than 10% of the land area of Britain has been sold by the state - in all its various guises and incarnations - to the private sector." Will Self reviews The New Enclosure by Brett Christophers "The system of institutions that functioned for two and a half centuries has rusted through, and we have ...
The handsome, charming and hugely talented Professor Phil Cowley, who I have to be nice to currently as I'm hoping he'll include a piece from me in a new book, features in the latest episode of The Political Party. This podcast features comedian Matt Forde – a rare comedian who also really understands politics and politicians – doing long-form one-on-one interviews. This time Phil Cowley, he of Cowley's Law, talks about how he got into politics, why you don't have to find policy interesting, how Parliamentary whipping works and much more. Enjoy, especially if you are Tim Bale:
All About Eve won the Oscar for Best Motion Picture of 1950, and was nominated in a total of fourteen categories, a feat which remained unequalled until Titanic in 1997 and still has not been beaten. It won five other Oscars: George Sanders won Best Supporting Actor, Joseph L. Mankiewicz won for both Best Director and Best Screenplay, and it also got Best Costume Design - Black and White and Best Sound Recording. All four female leads were nominated (the only time this has ever happened), Anne Baxter and Bette Davis for Best Actress and Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter ...
Today Alisha Lewis and I went to support those people who are campaigning to get a "Peoples Vote" or, as Vince Cable puts it, a first referendum on the facts! Lime Street was both wet and windy but that did ... Continue reading →
Dear Jo, I am writing to you as a very worried and concerned constituent about Brexit. Let me be clear from the start, I am not asking you to stop Brexit. I am asking you to support the People's Vote campaign - something which is not at odds with respecting the 2016 referendum, but merely seeks to reinstate some democracy in to the process that it triggered. I won't fill this letter with all
Dear Jo, I am writing to you as a very worried and concerned constituent about Brexit. Let me be clear from the start, I am not asking you to stop Brexit. I am asking you to support the People's Vote campaign - something which is not at odds with respecting the 2016 referendum, but merely seeks to reinstate some democracy in to the process that it triggered. I won't fill this letter with all
LIB DEM HOLD in Wolvercote (Oxford) Lib Dems: 998 (60.5%) -0.5% Cons: 404 (25.4%) +1.9% Labour: 162 (9.8%) +0.1% Green: 86 (5.4%) -0.3% pic.twitter.com/FR6BBZYfku — Conor McKenzie (@ConorMcKenzie) December 6, 2018 We're back after a busy couple of weeks including our biggest ever Kickstart training weekend. Four by-elections took place yesterday across the UK with Lib Dem candidates standing in all. Two seats were being defended by Lib Dem candidates, one by Labour and one by the Conservatives. Oxford BC, Wolvercote LD Liz Wade 998 [60.5%; -0.5%] Con 404 [24.5%; +1.0%] Lab 162 [9.8%; +0.0%] Green 86 [5.2%; -0.5%] Turnout ...
Following concerns from Formula 1 team bosses, reported by Autosport magazine, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake has warned that Brexit would "put Britain into the gravel trap". Seven of the ten current F1 teams, including world champions Mercedes, are based in the UK. Jonathan Neale, Chief Operating Officer of the Woking-based McLaren team, told Autosport that after Brexit "It would cost us more time and be more difficult to recruit" and that border restrictions will mean higher costs, as well as "more paperwork, more administration". Toto Wolff, team principal of Mercedes, which has its F1 factories in Northamptonshire, described ...
Amongst last Tuesday's excitement of Theresa May attempting a "Charles the First", it was easy to miss the significance of Dominic Grieve's Brexit amendment: With the government seemingly heading towards a defeat for May's deal, there was concern that in such a scenario, there would be a bit of an impasse, with the government in the driving seat. Grieve's amendment means that Parliament will have the power to say what happens next. As the Guardian explains: Under the terms of the EU Withdrawal Act, the government will have 21 days to come back to parliament with a motion, setting out ...
Members of Clacton Liberal Democrats have selected Callum Robertson to be their next Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC). Or as the local party's press release puts it, to: Put Liberalism back on the map in Clacton and stand for them at the next General Election. creating jobs and leaving a legacy that will save energy, put money back into people's pockets and fight climate change. A legal adviser, Callum Robertson has been active in the local community since moving to Essex in 2017. He works on crime and policing with the Liberal Democrats and is a campaigner against the plan to ...
A Leader article in this week's Economist argues for a referendum on Theresa May's proposed deal: Today's paralysis is the result of Britain's inability to reconcile its tradition of representative democracy with its more recent experiments in the direct sort. Many argue that MPs should shut their eyes and vote for what they believe to be a damaging plan, out of respect for the referendum. They are wrong. Their argument rests on a flawed assumption: that the majority for Leave in 2016 means any resulting deal reflects the will of the people. It is far from clear that Mrs May's ...
Fri, 12:34: It's not just the appalling suggestion that Brexiteers want to starve Ireland into submission, which is what you wo... https://t.co/6oYZyGxHFf Fri, 12:52: RT @ShaneKReynolds: @nwbrux Shows ignorance on multiple levels - failure of UK to prepare for no deal, misplaced superioty & expectation th... Fri, 12:56: Lib Dem MP Stephen Lloyd resigns party whip over Brexit https://t.co/WeNG11kwam He had a small part in Doctor Who back in the 1980s. Fri, 17:07: RT @DanielBerman2: #Merkel scores a major triumph in securing the election of her chosen successor as CDU chair on the second ballot Result... Fri, 21:08: The Amazing ...
Politics ought to be synonymous with good governance, but it's not. It's a game you have to play to get into a position where you can practise good governance. And politics doesn't seem to have any room for the nuances and counterintuitive positions that make for good governance, as this week's case of the Eastbourne Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Lloyd has shown.Lloyd is a classic liberal hero. He can thank the NHS for the fact that he can hear anything - indeed that he's alive at all - because it saved him when his hearing and his life were seriously ...
I am indebted to John Tilley on Facebook for this. Of the 24 UKIP MEPs elected at the last EU elections in 2014, 16 no longer represent the party in the European Parliament. Fifteen of those have left the party altogether. 1. Patrick O'Flynn - QUIT 2. Stuart Agnew 3. Tim Aker - QUIT 4. Roger Helmer - RESIGNED AS MEP (but replaced by Jonathan Bullock) 5. Margot Parker 6. Gerard Batten 7. Jonathan Arnott - QUIT 8. Paul Nuttall - QUIT 9. Louise Bours - QUIT 10. Steven Woolfe - QUIT 11. David Coburn - QUIT 12. Nigel Farage ...
[IMG: House of Commons 2010] Christine Jardine has written to party supporters asking them to email 14 key Tory MPs who the party reckons could swing a vote for a People's Vote in the House of Commons next week. The 14 MPs voted both remain and leave in the 2016 EU referendum and are: Leave: Theresa Villiers Adam Afriyie Stuart Andrew Steve Baker Bob Blackman Crispin Blunt Maria Caulfield Remain: Ed Vaizey Greg Clark Alex Chalk Jeremy Wright Bim Afolami Andrew Bowie Steve Brine Please get involved in this important action by clicking here. * Paul Walter is a Liberal ...
The Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden have organised a talk on Historic gardens of Scotland - by Sue Hewer, Scotland's Garden and Landscape Heritage. Taking place in the Education Centre (pictured) in the Garden tomorrow - Sunday 9th December - at 2pm. The talk will discuss why and how the design of gardens and landscapes changes over time and what an understanding of those changes can contribute to our knowledge of social, cultural, economic, scientific and technological history. All welcome!
