Wisdom is easy after the event. So here before the results of the Ed Davey versus Jo Swinson contest are announced is how various pieces of evidence are looking. Liberal Democrat Newswire survey Points to: A Jo Swinson victory in the vicinity of 60%-40%. Caveats: In the last contested leadership race, the LDN survey was very accurate, but even so this is not a full opinion poll with all the rigour and safeguards that go with that. Harry Samuels informal poll Points to: A Jo Swinson victory by 54%-46%. Caveats: Nearly as accurate as the LDN survey in the last ...
Thursday 18th July 2019 was the day of the Northumbria PCC by-election. As my video diary shows, I had plenty of other activities to occupy me, including attending a NECA scrutiny meeting in Sunderland and full council in Gateshead.
Layla Moran writes for the Guardian: "Genuine supporters of Palestinians' rights are fighting for equality, justice and freedom, aims that are in diametric opposition to any form of antisemitism. True champions of these causes both fight for Palestinian rights and also against any form of racism, including antisemitism." "Liberalism's main problem is that its vision of a life well lived has been corrupted - not by too much licence and self-expression, but by an overemphasis on economic freedom that has undercut its own promise." Samuel Moyn channels Edwardian New Liberalism. Chris Dillow explains the rise of Jeremy Corbyn: "His popularity ...
Market Harborough comes out top of a league table of the most 'liveable' places in England, reports the Guardian. The table was produced by the former Treasury economist, Chris Walker for Your Housing Group. Positions were calculated by balancing the affordability of homes with factors like employment opportunities and the performance of local schools. I recall that, years ago, David Boyle produced a report on 'clone town' Britain - the way that every high street is now home to the same chains. Market Harborough was mentioned as being on the cusp. It had the national chains, but had retained a ...
When I heard Matthew Sturgis was writing a biography of Oscar Wilde, my initial reaction was "Why?". Surely everything had already been said? I have two whole bookcases full of books about Wilde and his work and his circle of family and friends, including three volumes of my own. For many years, Richard Ellmann's Oscar Wilde (1987) [...]
On Wednesday housing developer Lok held a consultation event at Sunniside Club about their plans for 24 houses on land to the north of Gateshead Road in Streetgate. The site was formerly greenbelt but we lost the battle to save it from housing when Labour passed the revised Local Plan in 2014. The plan for 24 houses is the start of the development of this site which is currently divided
Mike McCahill's Guardian review makes me want to see The Edge: The Edge's second half provides an unexpected analysis of the cost Flower's militarised push for glory took on his troops, seeing off 10 years of post-match interview spin to pursue a more candid line of testimony. Wicketkeeping warrior Matt Prior concedes: "Life as a professional sportsman doesn't necessarily lend itself to you being a good person - because it's about winning." A painfully vulnerable Jonathan Trott breaks down in tears.
This was the Spencer Davis Group's first single after the Winwood brothers left. They were replaced by the guitarist Phil Sawyer and the keyboard player and singer Eddie Hardin. One of the musicians who auditioned but did not make the cut was a young pianist called Reg Dwight. Time Seller is very 1967 and I suspect it was written before some of the songs we now assume influenced it. Oddly, it sounds most like a superior version of the sort of song Dave Mason turned out for Traffic before he was ejected from the band for writing Hole In My ...
It was perfect weather for getting out in the Caterham today. Rather than head up into the peaks as usual, I decided instead to meander towards Rutland Water. The drive along the A6006 and A606...Continue Reading The post A blat to Rutland Water appeared first on ten pence piece.
Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of 101 Ways To Win An Election, and the maintainer of the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. Welcome to a round-up of the latest voting intention figures from each of the polling firms who have conducted at least one poll since the European elections. Although there's some significant variation between the pollsters, the upward trend for two parties looks to have stalled. The Greens were threatening to break into consistent double figures but have, for the moment at least, plateaued short of that. The Brexit Party, ...
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If ever there was a seminal week in the decline of the once great Labour Party, I suspect this last week will be regarded as the one. Let's just consider: 67 Labour Peers, all of whom have given many years' ... Continue reading →
Second paragraph of third chapter:There was a new self-consciousness, yes, and probably some bewilderment when the book was published. But confidence, too, from the fact of having written the poems. In 1966 Marie and I were living on a housing estate on the outskirts of Belfast, a characterless sort of a place, and I remember getting my six free copies, probably in late April. The actual book looked very good: a lime-green and solid-pink dust jacket, and on the back a list of the Faber poets. Fabulous names: Auden, Eliot, Hughes, Larkin, Lowell, MacNiece, Spender. It was certainly strange.I don't ...
Another bit of catch up - I filmed this on the day before the Northumbria PCC by-election. In the morning I was in Whickham delivering PCC by-election leaflets but was then called away to deal with a bee swarm. In the afternoon I attended a council seminar and then headed to Sunniside Club to talk to developers wanting to build 24 houses in Streetgate. A typical summer day!
This post is catch up after the PCC by-election. I met Northumbria Chief Constable Winton Keenen on Tuesday last week to be briefed on various issues relevant to the policing of the area and to have a bit of amusing speculation on what a Jonathan Wallace PCC would be like!
Sat, 12:56: RT @IFLScience: In 1959 a librarian called the police on 9-r-old Ronald McNair after he refused to leave a segregated library without letti... Sat, 14:48: Britain of the welcomes. https://t.co/E4or1YR5SB Sat, 15:47: The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame https://t.co/nmcmSZze2M Sat, 16:05: A 50th, a 100th and Shooting for the Moon (Cautiously) https://t.co/MZvdM9TglE Reflection from my @APCOWorldwide colleague @MyNameIsEarl. Sat, 17:15: EU officials don't relish the idea of no deal - but they are prepared to play hardball https://t.co/KhLuoRPC2h @CER_Grant nails it. Sat, 20:00: My week on Twitter 🎉: 100 Mentions, 34.3K Mention Reach, 331 Likes, 115 ...
The mess of their own making in the Labour Party has just got even messier. While the party of Corbyn and his comrades turns a blind eye to anti-semitism in their own ranks, anyone who is critical of The Great Leader is purged (and you are also sent to the Gulag if you admit to voting Lib Dem). The latest incident of Corbynite lunacy comes with the decision by the former constituency party of
We are nearly at the end of this Leadership election, with voting closing tomorrow. Regardless of who you're supporting, I want to thank every member who has engaged with this campaign. Everyone who came to a hustingsmeeting, emailed a question to Ed or to me, posted onto social media or caught up with us on visits - thank you. There is a golden opportunity ahead of our party now. I have been so excited to see all the new members coming to hustings meetings, hearing their questions, thoughts and ideas. We have a unique offer and vision for the country ...
I have recently finished reading Moneyland by Oliver Bullough, which goes into some detail as to how money is stolen from poor countries and stashed off-shore in tax havens, out of reach of those who might want to repatriate it or demand taxes on the money and assets. In the book, Bullough shows how some countries sell passports to very rich people to enable them to remain out of reach of their home governments, and to facilitate their purchase of property, where their ill-gotten gains can be put to work. He also points out that the UK has a reputation ...
No surprise that most of the focus on the Liberal Democrat leadership contest is on who will win and what that may mean for the party. But there will be another outcome too: the release of Vince Cable to a new role. With the party having a new economics spokesperson (and one who Vince Cable is very supportive of), a simple return to his pre-2010 role as the key economics voice in the party is not looking quite so certain. Which is why in Cable's farewell interview with The Observer this part is particularly significant: Cable is keen that his ...
Sadly it seems that things are moving forward to frack on land in Great Altcar to the east of Formby and north west of Lydiate. The link below gives some detail on what is proposed:- And here's a link to a previous posting of mine on this matter associated with The Moss Alliance campaign group when they addressed Lydiate Parish Council last September:- I remain opposed to fracking.
The London Review of Books published a piece on Tom Crewe's The Strange Death of Municipal England in 2016 The piece makes the point: "Because councils have little political 'ownership' of the cuts they make - they are seen, rightly, as a consequence of central government decisions - normal accountability mechanisms cannot operate. Voting one party out of their council seats and another in won't make much difference: whichever party is in control will face the same financial situation, and will have as little choice about reducing services. Labour and the Liberal Democrats won control of Walsall council from the ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water ironwork repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Perth Road (between West Wynd and Seafield Road), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Sunday 28 July 2019 for 1 day. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes are available via Perth Road / Nethergate / West Marketgait / Hawkhill. For further information contact 433082. Head of Roads and ...
Sun 21st
06:53
Shropshire Council throws out plans for a community lottery - it is obsessed with major building sch...
Shropshire Council has rejected the idea of a community lottery for our county. The idea, which I proposed in December 2017, was to create a county wide lottery framework to allow small organisations such as village halls to sell lottery tickets. Although the council's deputy leader claimed then that the council was already looking at a scheme, it is only now that we have the council's view a lottery is not on. I don't buy its reasons for rejection - that it will divert money from other causes and that it will encourage gambling. The real reason is that it ...
