Yes, I'm still walking 10,000 steps each day, and haven't missed a day for nearly three years now. That is, I guess, an awful lot of steps, but it is now a thoroughly engrained habit, despite the hurdles in the way - blizzards, being (small) shipbound, long-haul flights, for example. It has occasionally required some rather cute scheduling, and imaginative solutions - the multiple laps of a rather small, overcrowded corporate jet lounge at Stansted required persistence and an acute resistance to boredom - plus some luck - if the sea had been rough the day we sailed to the ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy

Back to our normal scheduling, I'm pleased to say, so we'll be publishing on weekdays and Sundays from here until the next Parliamentary recess. That said, the Lords hasn't indicating that it's taking one yet, so it could be a long session... Fall in car sales shows extent of Brexit damage Lamb: NHS plan fatally undermined by insufficient resources Manufacturing companies let down by blundering Conservative Government Govt failing their duty over vital Brexit legislation Fall in car sales shows extent of Brexit damage Responding to the news that UK car sales have fallen by the biggest amount since the ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Sorry this one, on Hank Williams, is a day late. I used up all my buffer over the Xmas period and then had to deal with some family stuff on my normal recording day. Back to normal from next ... Continue reading →

Posted by Andrew Hickey on Sci-Ence! Justice Leak!

Wikipedia explains: LMS No. 10000 and 10001 were the first mainline diesel locomotives built in Great Britain. They were built in association with English Electric by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at its Derby Works, using an English Electric 1600 hp diesel engine, generator and electrics. Under British Railways, the locomotives became British Railways Class D16/1; they were initially operated primarily on mainline express passenger services on former LMS lines, both in single and in multiple. In 1953, they were transferred to the Southern Region for comparison with O. Bulleid's British Rail Class D16/2 diesel locomotives. Both units were ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

An extraordinary start to an article by Louise Tickle in today's Guardian: Twenty-four miles there and back is one hell of a hike to your local jobcentre. But when Ray Taylor, 56, had his benefits cut for 13 weeks after illness meant he missed an appointment to sign on, he had no option but to get out his walking shoes. He doesn't have friends with cars to give him a lift, and with no money coming in, he couldn't pay the £7 bus fare from the small Cambridgeshire town of Ramsey to Huntingdon, where he is registered for benefits. And ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

William Cobbett once pointed out that Britain has the Crown Jewels and the National Debt. Something similar is true of our railways today, judging by this story from the Daily Mirror: A transport giant took £35million out of one rail franchise just months before abandoning another. The massive dividend was paid from the East Midlands Trains franchise to owners Stagecoach, company accounts reveal. It represented a £20million increase on the previous year's payment and came less than a year before the company abandoned the London-to-Edinburgh East Coast Main Line franchise last year.When a rail franchise does well, the private company ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

The New Year is a time to look at things you are doing and assess whether or not they have worked. Over the last few years, particularly when the culture wars around Gamergate and the Hugos were at their peak in 2014-15, I subscribed to several of the various Twitter block lists, assuming that it would keep malevolent types off my time line. I very much defend the right of anyone to block whoever they want - as someone else said on Twitter recently:Debate is like sex: 1. You are never entitled to it, from anyone, ever. 2. Not everyone ...

When I saw the January Challenge, led by 64 Million Artists, it seemed like the perfect way to start a new year which will bring many changes and challenges through encouraging playful creativity to keep me occupied during the longest month of the year! In March 2018 I took part in the Make, Do, Play challenge, led by King's College London, and this challenge follows a similar pattern: a daily prompt emailed to spark a creative response. Reading back through the blogs I wrote at the time, I noted that the activities encouraged me to find creative potential in the ...

Posted by Dani Tougher on More Than Nothing

Those fascinated by the events of Munich eighty years ago will be aware that there are two books out which assume rather different interpretations. On is by the novelist Robert Harris, who has made no secret of his pro-Chamberlain views. The other one is by me, and Munich 1938 puts rather greater weight on the testimony of the pro-Czech writer Shiela Grant Duff than he does. Now, it so happens that I have been sent a copy of the letter sent by Shiela to The Observer three decades ago, complaining about Robert Harris's opinions back then (thank you, Penelope). I ...

Posted by David Boyle on The Real Blog

[IMG: Sir John Moore Statue, Glasgow] The Chairman and Trustees send best wishes to you for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2019 and invite you to join them at Sir John Moore's memorial on Sandgate Esplanade on Saturday, 19th January at 10.30am. The commemoration marks the 210th Anniversary of the Battle of Corunna and the death of Sir John Moore. Following the commemoration, you are invited to join us for refreshments at the Gurkha Visitor Centre, Sir John Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe, Folkestone CT20 3HJ. Our thanks are sent to Major Shuresh Thapa of the First Battalion of the Royal Gurkha ...

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On Saturday morning I was called at 5.15am by a friend who I had taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Friday evening. He was in a state of distress so I had to jump into the car and head over to calm him down and keep him company. I thought I was about to miss the canvassing we had planned for Dunston Hill in the morning. Fortunately, after 3 hours of doing my caring role, I was able to get

Posted by jonathanwallace on Jonathan Wallace

miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 06-01-2019 I posted The Blood is the Life for 06-01-2019 to my dreamwidth blog 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

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Sun, 12:56: What (And Why) I'm Stockpiling For Brexit https://t.co/mgSu5pbX7T Useful advice from @BootstrapCook. Sun, 13:14: RT @uk_domain_names: 140+ factual, fully-sourced examples of the impact Brexit is already having on the UK. Jobs going, investment drying u... Sun, 14:48: Annalisa Barbieri: in 10 years as an agony aunt, this is what you've asked most https://t.co/OqpxEOHTh4 Interesting. Sun, 16:05: A bucket of cold water on the German hacking story from @BuzzFeedNewsDE. https://t.co/RZy6glf4Bh Sun, 17:07: This poll is going the wrong way!!!!! Davis hugely important in DoctorWho history, but only one of his 3 novelisat... https://t.co/csHFdQR6Ci Sun, 17:45: Favourite writer: It's close ...

This is a very, very strange time for British politics. The Article 50 period runs out in a mere 81 days. Having thought it through, I don't see how we're not on the verge of a new political era, very different even to the one we've inherited since June 24th of 2016. Yet it doesn't [...] The post We are on the verge of a whole new political era, no matter what happens. So why doesn't it feel like it? appeared first on Radix.

Posted by Nick Tyrone on Radix

This is a very, very strange time for British politics. The Article 50 period runs out in a mere 81 days. Having thought it through, I don't see how we're not on the verge of a new political era, very different even to the one we've inherited since June 24th of 2016. Yet it doesn't feel that way, on the street, in the media, online. Everyone seems convinced somehow that things will just continue on as they have done. Let's briefly run through every believable scenario and examine the political aftermath of each. Although it looks unlikely at the moment, ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

As the 29th of March comes ominously closer, the eerie reality of the political situation in Westminster is slowly becoming clearer. The Commons is in deadlock, with none of the solutions proposed gaining signification support on the green benches and party infighting rife. This is, however, nothing inherently new. When faced with such monumental events such as these, the responsible and pragmatic response from our politicians would be a compromise. A 'Government of National Unity' has been proposed, but in such times, the idea of unity it is, as always, an illusion. The country is evidently deeply divided, as is ...

Posted by Patrick Maxwell on Liberal Democrat Voice

There was a damning piece by Andrew Rawnsley in yesterday's Observer in which he argued that if we are to stop Brexit, then Jeremy Corbyn will have to be dragged kicking and screaming to support a referendum on the final deal. It is not a new sentiment. It has been clear for some time that Corbyn is actually in favour of us leaving the EU. As Rawnsley says, the clearest thing the Labour leader said in a recent interview was when he attacked the EU's rules on competition and subsidies: "I don't want to be told by somebody else that ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

I have been a member of the Liberal Democrats for nearly a year now and a supporter since about 2012. I respect the party's decision to advocate a second referendum in order to give Britain the opportunity to remain. Since the PM came back with her deal, I've put a lot of thought into whether to personally support a second referendum or not and have concluded that as a party we are playing with fire, a fire that will catch to a tinder dry nation and isn't something we're going to be able to control. Even if you disagree with ...

Posted by Henry Wright on Liberal Democrat Voice

From the City Council : ♻️🎄If you have a real Christmas Tree remember to recycle it! ♻️🎄 You can take it to your nearest Recycling Centre or the council can collect it for you. To arrange for the council to pick up your tree or to find your nearest Recycling Centre click here.

This is the second article highlighting how Shropshire Council's leaders have had an oddball start to the New Year. In an interview on BBC Radio Shropshire on Friday morning, Shropshire Council leader Peter Nutting denied that Shropshire Council has been making cuts. Pressed hard by the interviewers, Eric Smith and Clare Ashford, he refused to agree that that the council had been making cuts. It had been trimming and moving to working differently but not cutting. Smith pressed on the "C word" but Nutting refused to utter it. With the council leader in denial over Shropshire Council has been making ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington
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