No deal Brexit causing panic for people with diabetes (see here) Lib Dems table amendment to give the people the final say Cable: Govt defeat shows rejection of May's time wasting Lib Dems table amendment to give the people the final say The Liberal Democrats have today tabled an amendment calling for a People's Vote with the option to stay in the EU. The Liberal Democrats have ensured that there is a People's Vote amendment for MPs to get behind on every single Brexit vote in the House of Commons. Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said: In an attempt ...
I was on BBC Look North this evening, talking about community asset transfers, especially as they affect bowling greens. I was interviewed at the green in Marley Hill. I've been helping the club with its community asset transfer. Marley Hill is at the forefront of transfers of bowling greens and the people running the club are very enthusiastic about it. The story starts 10.12 into the programme.
Responding to the defeat of the Government's motion this evening by 45 votes, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:"The vote this evening demonstrates a complete failure of Theresa May's Tory Government and Parliament's rejection of more reckless time wasting as they drag us closer and closer to the cliff edge."Theresa May's brinkmanship may seem to her as a clever tactic in trying to force MPs to support her deal, but tonight Parliament rejected this ploy. The reality is the Prime Minister's political games in refusing to take no deal off the table is having a serious effect ...
The second is this series of videos looks at a prehistoric earthwork that is now partly beneath the runways of Heathrow.
Having disposed of Lord Bonkers, I can post my review article on Jonathan Coe'e Midland England from the current Liberator. These two photographs of Bridgnorth appear with it in the magazine, albeit it in black and white. Middle England Jonathan Coe Viking, 2018, £16.99 I was taking a short holiday at the Prince Rupert Hotel in Shrewsbury and planning my days out - Ludlow or Much Wenlock? Ironbridge or Bishop's Castle? - when the August 2011 riots broke out. The news of arson, looting and murder in London, Birmingham and Leicester came from a completely different country, but it is ...
Thu 14th
19:35
Shamima Begum: The approval of the right wing press should not be part of what happens next
I read the interview with Shamima Begum in today's Times (£) with mixed emotions. I have There is no doubt that she has made some utterly horrendous decisions in her young life which will take a lot to unravel. My instinctive reaction, though, is that rehabilitation must be at the heart of what happens next. She is a British citizen. So is her soon-to-be-born baby. She cannot be denied access to this country. If she does make it back here, there will have to specialist intervention and risk assessment but the overarching aim should be to get her to a ...
Thu 14th
19:29
When the Conservatives insisted on Churchill's demotion before they would join a wartime coalition
Yesterday we were debating Theresa May's habit of scraping the mould of the top of a jar of jam and then using it. Today it is "Winston Churchill: Hero or villain?" For what it is worth, I suspect May is right. We are too squeamish about food these days. And Churchill? He was in many ways a flawed character, but I am glad he was there in 1940. Without him, it is unlikely that Nazism would have been destroyed. Churchill, of course, was a Liberal for a while and at the forefront of the Asquith government's social reforms. Those Conservatives ...
This article first appeared in the Ludlow Advertiser on 7 February 2019. There are two models of councillors and councils. One is that they run a town or parish. I have met too many councillors who think they have power in their local areas. I have a different model in my head. I see the job of councils and councillors as greasing wheels to make life easier for residents. That involves planning. Troubleshooting. Reacting. Advising. And when we have money, funding. Along with battling policy decisions that will harm our town. We have brilliant examples of this in Ludlow. Ludlow ...
As ever, the Shropshire Star is first with the news: Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski has apologised and admitted he was incorrect in stating that Great Britain did not receive aid under the Marshall Plan after the Second World War.The paper goes on to quote him: "It has been pointed out to me by eminent academics/professors and senior researchers in the House of Commons Library that Britain did receive aid under the Marshall Plan. "The line in my tweet which stated that Britain did not benefit was therefore inaccurate."I would like to apologise for putting this inaccurate sentence within my tweet."If ...
My Conference agenda arrived this morning. I know I can see it all online, but I like that I can write all over the paper copy and highlight things. It's old-fashioned but it's kind of like sitting down with a cup of tea and the Radio Times at Christmas and ticking off what you want to watch. The agenda has details of all the debates, speeches and almost all the fringe events and exhibitors so you can at least try and plan out your weekend. You might also want to know that Alistair Carmichael is having a whisky tasting on ...
I have actually completed a meme! For the last 20 days I have been posting a contextless, commentless picture from a movie once per day on twitter. The constraints were that the films had to mean something to you, and that you could only post a pic, no comment. But you all knew I wouldn't be able to resist verbiage in the end, didn't you? So here is the list of films, the pictures I chose, and why I chose them. 1, 12 Angry Men (1957) [IMG: A still from the movie 12 angry men] This is actually a live ...
Around the turn of the century, while I was still teaching part-time, I was dragooned into compulsory after-school in-service training. The speaker was a big-wigs from the Local Education Authority (LEA) whose mission was to instruct us in the importance of Citizenship Education. Young people should know the importance of voting, the important things the council did over and above the collecting of rubbish, how it was vital in a healthy democracy for citizens to be informed and to participate by exercising their vote As frequently the only social science teacher on the staff, I have several times been lumbered ...
Wed, 12:18: RT @nick_gutteridge: 1/ EU countries are ready to help May drag out the Brexit talks until March 21, when they will try to stitch together... Wed, 12:56: RT @peteqconsult: @pmdfoster https://t.co/WyH4NJJ0RL Wed, 13:40: Vote Leela and @Lou_Jameson !!!! Er, that is, vote for Chris Boucher. https://t.co/Bj7vg2ocxa Wed, 16:05: Spain's trial of Catalan separatists is worse than an outrage - it is a terrible mistake https://t.co/ETqHfSiAwC Indeed. Wed, 16:34: RT @HenryNewman: I don't get the fury about Olly Robbins's comments. Isn't the obvious truth that either MPs back the deal eventually OR... Wed, 17:11: The EU looks like the ...
One common interview question, which we used when hiring our Organiser and is used in many jobs, is that of prioritisation: you have lots of demands on your time and are faced with a long list of tasks, which do you do first? Prioritisation seems to be an ever-present task as PPC. There is only one of you but 1001 things that need doing. Help?! Yesterday I went through three sets of my list – the first version which I had written the night before on how I would get things done the next day as the asks seemed insurmountable; ...
For a long time, as many of you know, I was certain that May wouldn't allow no deal Brexit to happen. Now, I don't know. Perhaps parliament will figure out a way to stop it, if that's what it comes to, but even that I have no strong confidence in. I'm not saying no deal Brexit will now happen, just that for a long time I thought it was pretty much impossible. We have come to a point where I have to admit that I really don't know. What Theresa May is doing now has no internal logic to it. ...
The Liverpool Echo has the article on its website – see link below:- This has to be good news for our local seaside Town, assuming of course that the Council's bid is successful. My good friend Sefton Councillor Nigel Ashton from Southport's Meols Ward puts it well when he says – 'We've been calling for something like this for years'. A link back to my recent posting and in particular the postcard depicting Lord Street in its heyday seems appropriate:-
The Planet Money podcast from NPR in the US has a lovely tradition each February to make Valentines Day. It honours those they are envious of.
After months of threatening to do it, the government finally took away one bit of recess from the Commons; MPs were meant to pack their bags and head to their constituencies until February 25th, but are now required to come back to the Palace on Monday. There won't be any important votes next week, and MPs [...] The post Why the parliamentary recess being cancelled is bad for us all appeared first on Radix.
I am a bit behind in catching up with this article on Wales-online, but that does nothing to lessen the seriousness of the issue that they have highlighted or its impact on public policy. The news site reports that the independent board which monitors Cardiff prison has found that half of the men released from HMP Cardiff have nowhere to stay when they are released and many will deliberately reoffend in order to be sent back to prison, where they can at least get regular meals and can be warm: Of 23 men interviewed on the day of their release, ...
New polling carried out by BMG indicates majority public support for delaying Brexit beyond 29th March if the choice is between that and exiting with no deal.
The Evening Standard flies off with our Headline of the Day Award. Wizard.
Our Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West, Christine Jardine, wrote passionately in August about the worry facing many about provision of life-saving medicines in the case of a hard Brexit. Today she has backed charities' calls for the Government to provide urgent information on how supplies of life saving drugs, like insulin, will be safeguarded if the UK crashes out of the EU. Christine says: This goes far beyond politics. This is about people's lives. It is unimaginable that this Tory Government is prepared to let people suffer the anxiety of not knowing how or even whether they will be ...
From the City Council : THE ROADS (SCOTLAND) ACT 1984 - SECTION 62 THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of the Dundee Trades Union Council Anti-Cuts Protest Parade HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in: 1 Blackness Road (Urquhart Street to Hawkhill)2 Hawkhill (Blackness Road to West Marketgait)3 West Marketgait (Hawkhill to Nethergate)4 Nethergate (West Marketgait to High Street)5 High Street (Nethergate to Reform Street)6 Reform Street (Murraygate to Meadowside)7 Meadowside (Reform Street to Chapel Street) This notice comes into effect on Saturday 16 February 2019 ...
Thu 14th
05:18
Shropshire Council blocks early review of Ludlow parking permits - that will damage local businesses
I attended Shropshire Council cabinet yesterday morning to press the case for a review of the new parking regime due in May to be brought forward to March. This was refused outright. This means that any changes will not be implemented until mid-summer, if not longer. But people are struggling right now with the new regime. Visitors who want to book a self-catering apartment or a B&B room are being put off by having to park up to one kilometre away. We need the economy of our town to thrive. Parking is part of our economic package. But Shropshire Council ...
