The other day I promised you a video about the history of Stamford's medicinal spring. Here it is - a few in jokes and hobbyhorses too many, but still interesting to anyone who loves this remarkable town. It also explains why I included a photo of Tinwell pumping station in that first post about the spring.
David V. Johnson defends Mill's On Liberty in an age of conspiracy theories. "Several anecdotal reports have highlighted the increased community cohesion resulting from both the organisation process on a street and the 'playing out' sessions themselves. The University of Bristol study found both a strengthening of existing connections and building new connections between neighbours." Alice Ferguson on the benefits brought by the 'playing out' movement. Barb Drummond offers a cultural history of the scarecrow, taking in Henry Williamson, Traffic and the Watersons. "Nothing like it had ever been seen on BBC television and even the natives, already familiar with ...
A leaked Change UK / The Independent Group memo, not denied or 'clarified' since its appearance this morning, sets out an aggressive plan for the party in its approach to the Liberal Democrats. It eschews seeking any sort of formal relations: No mergers, pacts or alliances. But it goes much further, with an objective for the new party of replacing any role for the Liberal Democrats in UK politics: Objectives: Single party, brand, entity and leadership team for progressive politics at the next General Election including all progressive traditions (centre-left, One Nation and Liberal). No sense of cooperating in any ...
Another day, another Change UK Euro candidate hastily departs. This time is Joseph Russo.
Wednesday: With apologies to Mr Yeats: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst "Are full of passionate intensity... "...And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, "Slouches towards the Euro Elections to make a fast buck?"Oh look. Here is Ms Ann Widdecombe saying: "Britain is an international laughing stock." Definitely not a laughing stock Ms Widdecombe is the homophobic dinosaur who as a Home Office minister chained pregnant women to their maternity beds while they gave birth yet, imponderably, by describing her boss, Michael Howard, as "something of the night" - thus scuppering his (first) bid to ...
The Mojo is a Google Assistance device very much like the Google Homes. I got one on import a while ago for my desk. Now we don't have a Google Home nor an Amazon Alexa so I can't compare to them, but as someone who isn't an audiophile I'm pleased with the audio quality that come out of them. Now I primary listen to Radio 2, RadioX or Spotify at my desk, whilst all of this is possible via my laptop, my laptop speaker isn't great, I also use sites that need sound, so I had to adjust one and ...
Second paragraph of third story ("Six Impossible Things", by Simon Guerrier):He lay on the cool, hard floor, waiting for someone to make the obvious gag that their luck would have to change sometime. But no-one spoke and he couldn't hear them breathing. Just across from where he lay, something stank of burning flesh and plastic.A collection of Bernice Summerfield short stories, set in the middle of Season 11 of the Big Finish audio adventures, which I don't seem to have written up and can't now remember much about. The two audio stories that bracket the collection are both by Eddie ...
It seems inevitable that the elections to the European Parliament will be read as a vote on Brexit. That risks the election campaign being a rehash of the referendum, alienating an electorate frustrated by #BrexitShambles, and putting the emphasis on whether we should be there rather than on what our we are electing people to do. Instead of this, campaigning on the core of the programme of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe gives us a chance to shift the debate, adding something new and inviting supporters of Brexit to see things differently. ALDE's programme begins with a ...
Is taking ideas from other countries the way to make things better, or are dreams of a new centre party just reanimating a corpse?
I, as some of you who read me often know, am a staunch defender of the polling industry. Anytime someone pips in with "Yeah, but they got this or that election wrong", I am keen to point out how amazingly close pollsters come to getting the results of most contests correct. As a good for instance, how YouGov called the hung parliament in the 2017 general election when that was on no one's radar. Had they got that one wrong and we'd ended up with a Tory majority, it could have cost the company their reputation – good on them ...
Wed 24th
13:28
We must safeguard our younger members and be radical - reasons why we should not raise the age limit...
It has been the buzz for years and the main topic within our echo chamber of an organisation: the Young Liberals want to raise the membership age ceiling from 26 to 30. But this isn't the type of "raise the roof" action that the organisation should be taking. In previous articles written, you've heard about the issues that the Young Liberals face. Yet, at the same time, you can be a supporter of our campaigns and guide us without being in the organisation. We already turn to our elected members, local parties and other inspirational people in the party for ...
As one of our lead members at the Local Government Association, I have worked to ensure that our national campaigns are linked to what's happening in local communities. There are a variety of ways to do this, but I hope this article is a helpful example. In 2015, the Conservative Government launched a consultation on a 'joined up' approach to Police and Fire Services. Nationally, Fire Brigade Union General Secretary Matt Wrack, in January 2016, described the national proposal as a "half baked suggestion" and accused "one or two" PCCs supporting the plan of "empire building". He told the BBC: ...
[IMG: Conservative Party logo] Part 2: from the 1940's generational change to the growing hostility to Europe Reading Alan Clark's history of the Tories 1922-1997 (Phoenix/Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1999), and Alan Sked and Chris Cooks "Post-War Britain" (Penguin, London, 4th. ed., 1993), you see how in 1940-51, while party leader Churchill was concentrating on foreign affairs (winning a war until '45, then uniting Europe in his "interlocking circles": Europe, the Commonwealth, and NATO), the other parts of the Tory party reacted to more domestic modernising trends and proposals. (See about Churchill's priorities: Clark, Tories, p. 321-22; Sked & Cook, Post-War, ...
Tue, 12:56: This is lovely. https://t.co/xbhYEGO7Jd Tue, 13:07: RT @pmdfoster: So. IDS and fellow Brexiteers are back punting the Malthouse compromise...and @theresa_may has "reluctantly" agreed to look... Tue, 15:34: RT @StevenJNorris: OK, cards on the table. Johnson is the only MP who if elected PM would cause me to leave the Tory party. Everybody likes... Tue, 15:46: RT @nick_gutteridge: In many ways backstop is red herring. Ultimately quandary is & always has been v simple - in July '16 UK made commitme... Tue, 16:05: RT @MavenOfMayhem: Sharing this a second time so folks can retweet it without a heap of ...
As a community politician I work very closely with the police locally in trying to deal with issues as they arise. Unfortunately, although we have three excellent PCSOs, the warranted PC who manages them is often taken away from the community for other duties. It is a sign of the times. There are simply not enough police officers to cope with the workload, and the reliance on PCSOs to handle the community level policing is hampered by the failure to give them the powers to do the job as many of them, and others would like. In South Wales for ...
Not everyone in the country takes a lot of interest in the intricate details of electoral systems, and that probably includes most politicians including the new Chukkers on the block, and almost all the media. A lot of people know that you can have "first past the post" (FPTP which in practice usually means the candidate who has got closest to the post when the whistle goes) and "proportional representation" which includes all the other systems ever invented. And that's about it. The thing is that the way the votes are counted is one of the two things (together with ...
A Southport bound train running into Wigan Wallgate Station – April 2019 That the service on this important rail route has been below standard for far too long is sadly a given but unlike our other local rail line run by Northern Assist (Ormskirk – Preston) it has not really picked up enough since the well publicised troubles flowing from the May 2018 timetable changes. In simple terms the trains on this line suffer from the following problems – being short-formed i.e. too few carriages, being terminated short of their destination, being cancelled. The reasons for these troubles seem to ...
I have been watching the progress of the Mental Capacity Bill closely. One of the reasons I, and many activists I'm sure, became involved in politics was because of our concern over mental health, the marginalised, and mental capacity issues. Indeed, my other half researches in this area, so I have an in-house expert on mental capacity and I'm well aware the law needs improving. The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill as introduced in July 2017 was radically improved by the Liberal Democrats and is set to pass its final stages in Parliament before becoming law. This is a very important ...
The next Friends of Balgay meeting will be at 2pm on Saturday 27th April at the Mills Observatory. Keith Walker, local artist and archivist, will give a talk on "Old Balgay - 1600 to 1800" - and all are very welcome to attend.
