Tories guilty of 'shocking intransigence' Responding to comments from Andrea Leadsom on the Marr show, Liberal Democrat spokesperson Tom Brake said: What we saw this morning from Andrea Leadsom was shocking intransigence. There is absolutely no clarity on what sort of deal the government is seeking with Labour and no real plan to move forward. The country will never accept backroom deals done at the 11th hour to push through Brexit. It is time for the Conservatives to compromise and by giving the people the final say in a vote on their deal with an option to stay in the ...
This blog post was first published on the Radix site... I found myself in agreement with Norman Lamb last week that his party (and mine) was in danger of becoming an equally irresponsible version of the European Research Group on the Remainer side. What I did find unexpected was how much agreement and symathy there was for his position in the comments below the line on Lib Dem Voice. I also have huge sympathy with him because I feel what he must feel, this terrible sense of guilt and alienated disappointment that I find myself so out of kilter with ...
During the eight years I was based in Brussels covering the European institutions and European external policy, I had a nice little sideline as a film critic for the weekly English-language glossy magazine, The Bulletin. That meant two films on a Monday morning and two films on a Tuesday morning in distributors' screening rooms. To [...]
Before the Midland Railway built its own London terminus at St Pancras, its trains used this line to reach King's Cross. Look for the vast airship hangars at Cardington ("the Bedfordshire pyramids" as James Hawes has called them), a crossing on the level with the Oxford to Cambridge line near Bedford and an arrival at an unreconstructed Bedford Midland The last passenger train on this line ran in December 1961, but goods services lasted until 1964.
One of the stars of the early years of Liberal Democrat blogging was Nick Barlow. The other day he announced (on Medium) that he had decided to let his blog What You Can Get Away with disappear - though it is still available via the Wayback Machine. In making that announcement he wrote: In the way that all ageing men looking back on their youth remember it as a golden age, that period up to around 2005 was the heyday of British blogging, especially political blogging. There was a community and a network of writers, reading and responding to each ...
Mon 8th
18:56
Bird netting at Rocks Green in Ludlow ripped away - a bad move ahead of a planned protest
The green netting put in place to prevent birds nesting at Rocks Green has been pulled away. This was not an act by the developer or the landowner. It was an action by eco-protesters. But this is a stupid way of protesting. A demonstration was organised next Sunday against this scheme and in support of the growing national campaign against hedge netting. But there is no longer a backdrop to the banners. The media are now unlikely to turn out. The developer has confirmed that new netting will not be reinstalled. I don't approve of netting except under the most ...
Once again I'm running the statistical ruler over the finalists for the Hugos - this year, more than ever. This has not often been a useful guide to which books will win; however I think it does show the extent to which they ave penetrated popular consciousness, at least to within an order of magnitude. In each case, the books are ranked by the geometrical average of their number of owners on both Goodreads and LibraryThing. To start off with, the 2019 finalists for Best Novel: Goodreads LibraryThing owners av rating owners av rating Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik 120,184 ...
A common jibe of leavers used to be "So Remainers just want to re-run the referendum until they get the result that suits them? How many referendums do you want? The best of 3, the best of 5?" Now they have gone a bit quiet on that one, since Theresa May has used exactly that tactic in a vain attempt to force Parliament to swallow her deal. Bringing it back again and again until, in a vivid metaphor from The Independent, "it began to resemble the indestructible cyborg from the film The Terminator...crushed by a machine press, shot and blown ...
With the Brexit cliff edge ever closer, attempts to rescue something continue to multiply. And today, Vince Cable has written to the Prime Minister with his suggestion for next steps... Dear Prime Minister, MEANINGFUL VOTE 4 Now that the talks between yourself and the Leader of the Opposition about some form of "Soft Brexit" have stalled, I write to suggest an alternative way forward. While media sources have written up last week's indicative vote exercise as inconclusive, there is one clear conclusion which can be drawn. There are up to 280 votes in support of a confirmatory referendum, which could ...
(I have a new computer which seems to change font size at will and I haven't yet learned to do anything about it. Apologies) I suppose there's nothing particularly surprising about the title, but this policy was blatantly exposed in an article by Labour party apologist Owen Jones in last Friday's Guardian. Under the title, "Go for a soft Brexit, Labour: it will finish off the Tories,"Jones argued that, if in Labour's talks with Mrs May a compromise involving a customs union and "close alignment with the single market" were reached, this would split the Tories for generations to come ...
For the past few decades, pollster Maurice de Hond (our Professor Curtice) has published his political opinion polls every Sunday. Now that the possibility of a No Deal Brexit looms as of next Friday, it is interesting to see what Dutch political parties think of the present Brexit situation and what should be done. First of all, there is a broad Dutch consensus, the parliamentary and procedural shenanigans in the Commons since December having convinced many Dutchmen that the structures and culture of British politics are totally wrong for solving existential questions like Brexit-or-Remain. The winner-takes-all mentality instilled by the ...
Sun, 12:56: A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy https://t.co/O0oy3AFQ8d Candida auris, the fungus that will not die. Sun, 14:48: Jim Marshall: Sarajevo then and now https://t.co/sTpPQKMyXt Photographs from 1996 and 2019. Sun, 16:02: RT @jhcoakley: @LLocock I fear this shows the system working exactly as its originators intended. Sun, 16:03: The system is working exactly as it's originators intended. https://t.co/TcFRSmRgvn Sun, 16:05: Agreed - a completely bizarre kerfuffle. https://t.co/nbR0C95zh1 Sun, 18:27: Brussels of the Bront�s https://t.co/xP3HNB5srr Sun, 19:01: I did not know your mother well, but I liked her a lot. https://t.co/Jw7Gn01A93 Sun, 20:48: RT ...
Figures from a recent survey suggest the UK is lurching towards authoritarianism. Is this actually happening, and is it surprising if it…
I found myself in agreement with Norman Lamb last week that his party (and mine) was in danger of becoming an equally irresponsible version of the European Research Group on the Remainder side. What I did find unexpected was how much agreement and symathy there was for his position in the comments below the line [...] The post The rather sad story of the Lib Dems appeared first on Radix.
The Independent reports on a new government white paper, which proposes that social media companies including Facebook and Twitter will be legally required to protect their users, including plans to introduce a regulator. They say that the long-awaited government proposal, which would also see bosses of companies personally liable for harmful content on their platform, will ensure internet firms meet their responsibilities, which will be outlined by a mandatory duty of care. They propose that the regulator will have the power to issue "substantial fines, block access to sites and potentially impose liability on individual members of senior management". These ...
One of the most spectacular results of the 2018 local elections was the Liberal Democrat gain in South Cambridgeshire. A striking example of the difference it makes when the Liberal Democrats are more powerful in local government comes with the council's welcome moves to help some of those most in need: South Cambridgeshire District Council has announced its intention to resettle three to five refugee families within the district. By providing suitable accommodation the Council plans to offer a genuine humanitarian response to families requiring urgent medical treatment, who are survivors of violence and torture and include women and children ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT Forthcoming Roadworks - West End Ward Glamis Drive - Invergowrie Drive to Hillside Road (Phase 1) and Hillside Road to Glamis Road (Phase 2) - closed in phases as stated for Monday 15 April for 2 weeks for footway resurfacing works. Only one phase closed at any one time.
The new episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is up, on "Tweedle Dee". Today, finally, after several weeks of hearing about black people's music getting ripped off, we hear how one black woman fought back ... Continue reading →
