Labour have made a complete mess of devolution in the North East with half the region, north of the Tyne, going off to do their own thing, and what's left (a glorified Co Durham) having to reconstitute its own scrutiny committee. As a result of this, I am now on the NECA (North East Combined Authority) scrutiny committee. The NECA name will continue to be in use for the now truncated region.
Published today, just in time for the seasonal break, eFocus for the Whickham area, no. 111. We led with the issue of Labour's plans to build houses on the historic Whickham Chase Park. We also had articles about Jim Robson, the waving lollipop man who sadly passed away recently, and the extension by two weeks of the consultation on fire service changes. You can read eFocus on this link.
Second last of these for the year Current Finding Time Again, by Marcel Proust The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2010 Edition, ed. Rich Horton Last books finished The Name of This Book Is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch A Cold Day in Hell, ed. Tom Spilsbury Next books Factfulness, by Hans Rosling Heartspell, by Blaine Anderson
This is one of two science fiction short stories I'm posting on similar themes today. The other is much longer, and is on my Patreon for backers... The robot sat on the window ledge and looked down. The street didn't ... Continue reading →
Vince Cable, has used his Christmas message to focus on the issue of knife crime. He has worked with the St Giles Trust to learn more about the gang culture which is fuelling knife crime and tragically costing young people their lives. St Giles works directly with those affected, providing education, mentoring and support to fill the void into which gangs otherwise slip. In the film, Vince Cable discusses the causes of knife crime with Liam, a St Giles Project Co-ordinator. And we hear the incredibly brave voice of Sophie Kafeero whose own son, Derick, was killed last year.
I joined the Liberal Democrats not long after the national coalition with the Conservatives was formed. In 2011 my local party asked me to stand as the candidate in the ward where I lived and I accepted their offer. The ward in question had been safely won by Labour for decades and no other party had previously campaigned there. I wasn't surprised to finish a poor third come polling day. That didn't stop me, following that election I set up the Southcote Liberal Democrats with a Facebook page, Twitter account and courtesy of ALDC a website. Quarterly FOCUS leaflets were ...
Along with two other of his compositions, this was included in the King's College, Cambridge Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in Benjamin Britten's centenary year. Britten wrote A Hymn to the Virgin when he was 16, though he later revised it. The Britten-Pears Foundation explains:The text that Britten uses is by an anonymous poet and probably dates from about 1300. It appears in The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900, which he won as a school prize for music. It's a macaronic verse; that is, a poem in which one language is introduced into the context of another. The ...
The Greatest Show on Earth won the Oscars for Best Motion Picture and Best Story of 1952, and was nominated in three other categories, Best Costume Design, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. This is a rather low tally; in particular, I'm struck that none of the cast was nominated in the acting categories. (Though in fairness the same is true of last year's An American in Paris, and also for Grand Hotel, All Quiet on the Western Front and Wings back in the early days.) The other contenders for Best Motion Picture were High Noon, Ivanhoe, Moulin Rouge and ...
Christmas is nearly here, which means I got a political prediction right and, more importantly, to dust off these Christmas carol quiz questions, as written by lawyers.
Sun, 12:19: RT @Axle_Tree: Nein! by Paddy Ashdown review - the Germans who stood up to Hitler https://t.co/zrqA4mn4Hv Sun, 12:36: RT @LizzaAiken: Best Midwinter wishes for you from Joan Aiken's ghostly garden, and a lovely reminder to visit another wonderful world here... Sun, 12:56: Thread. https://t.co/exSdL5wlra Sun, 13:54: My year on social media: Instagram https://t.co/gsweqpAVfQ Sun, 14:29: My year on social media: LinkedIn https://t.co/BGypDTbmom #euinfluencers Sun, 14:43: My year on Livejournal https://t.co/YOvATMtCed Sun, 14:48: RT @Paul_Cornell: I've seen a lot of mocking memes about how the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse didn't happen. But they never mention all the hard... Sun, 15:03: ...
Of all the unlikely pieces of news that have belaboured us in recent weeks, the news that Paddy Ashdown has died – with all his drive and vitality – seems in some ways the most unlikely. I admired him enormously, perhaps too much to know him as well as I would have liked. But he [...] The post How badly do we need the Ashdown style now? appeared first on Radix.
"I have worked with St Giles Trust to learn more about the gang culture which is fuelling knife crime and tragically costing young people their lives" - Vince Cable
I've always been a fan of soul and smooth jazz music but not particularly of Christmas music, until that is I heard Luther Vandross sing this:- What a voice! Note:- The lead photo is of Maghull Square Shopping Centre – Christmas 2009
'Tis the season to be cheerful. In this, our last communication of the year, we again pick our political word of the year. Tempting though it is to opt for 'despondency' or 'despair', this year we pick RENEWAL. Many are downcast by the current political climate. We would like to put forward a different take [...] The post Our word of the new year: RENEWAL appeared first on Radix.
Gently, politely and discretely both Ed Davey and Jo Swinson are working their way through just the sort of steps you would expect of someone intending to run for party leader within the year.
Mon 24th
08:40
Underrated albums and their effect on politics and society, part 1 of 5″: "The Alice Cooper Sh...
Happy Christmas, regular readers. Some of you complain when I talk about anything other than Westminster politics; however, the Commons is in a long recess, and furthermore, Brexit has become so f-ing boring as to be something beyond explicating upon, so here goes something else. Over the Christmas season I will be commenting on albums that I think have influenced society more than anyone, including snooty music critics, understand. I will bring this back to some grand theory of western society. Or well, something like that. I don't know; I'm making this up as I go along, so buckle up, ...
I think we've all got to the stage now, whichever way we voted in that fateful referendum, that the £350M to be invested in the NHS (per week) was a big fat lie and of course there were other porkies too. But ignoring those lies and even putting to one side the alleged 'project fear' issues it has to be said that some Brexiteers really do want Brexit at any cost to their community, country, livelihoods etc. I find it hard to believe that 52% of those who chose to vote for Brexit really wanted things to turn out as ...
From the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden : On Wednesday 2nd January at 11am and until 1pm there will be a 5k fun run around the paths of the University Botanic Garden to get yourself in shape for the New Year. The event caters for all ages and ambitions, just walk or break the record! Your reward, as well as a good time, will include seasonal refreshments in the education centre at the end of the run. We recommend you register here to ensure our catering is adequate on the day. The event is weather dependent and ...
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran's campaign to scrap the 1824 Vagrancy Act has received Labour party support.Responding to the announcement, Ms Moran said:"The 1824 Vagrancy Act is a heartless, Dickensian law that is shamefully still being used thousands of times a year by police forces - including to try and remove homeless people from the streets of Windsor ahead of the Royal Wedding earlier this year. "Despite support from charities like Crisis and St Mungos, sadly the Government have - so far - failed to back my campaign and accept my Vagrancy (Repeal) Bill to axe this legislation. I hope ...
Having weathered a storm over their attempt to gag charities working with universal credit claimants the government is at it again, this time telling drug firms who are preparing for no-deal Brexit to sign 'gagging orders'. According to the Observer, pharmaceutical organisations working with Whitehall to maintain medicine supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit have signed 26 "gagging orders" that bar them from revealing information to the public. They say that figures show 16 drug companies and 10 trade associations have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) which prevent them from revealing any information related to contingency ...
