I visited the Hop Garden in High Spen today. I've been to this community garden a number of times before. Today Sarah and David who run the site were selling produce from the garden. I ended up with a large oyster mushroom and a bag of bashed apples for my goats. The cost me 2 boxes of quail eggs and a bottle of my homemade gooseberry ketchup, plus a modest cash donation.
Published this weekend, edition 40 of Low Fell eFocus, covering: Boer War Memorial on Durham Road to be cleaned Extra bin trial - your views wanted Making Chowdene Bank safer Empty houses but Council spends thousands on temporary accommodation. You can read eFocus on this link.
I was in Whickham this morning to deliver 120 Focuses. It may have been breezy but thankfully, this time, there was no rain, though there were lots of hills to climb! I had only one conversation during the hour I was pounding the streets, about diesel powered cars and their disappearing second hand value!
Focusing on unpopular policies and unpopular people is an odd approach, to say the least, to political strategy. And yet that's what we've seen this week. First, here's a little comparison between Labour and the Liberal Democrats: How they've fared so far this year: Party membership Lib Dem [IMG: ⬆] Labour [IMG: ⬇] Number of councillors Lib Dem [IMG: ⬆] Labour [IMG: ⬇] Number of MPs Lib Dem [IMG: ⬆] Labour [IMG: ⬇] Opinion poll ratings Lib Dem [IMG: ⬆] Labour [IMG: ⬇] — Mark Pack [IMG: 🔶] (@markpack) August 16, 2019
When Jo Swinson was asked on the Today programme if she had talked to Ken Clarke and Harriet Harman about the possibility of them leading a Government of National Unity, my first thought was "Do you know nothing about her?" Jo does her homework. There is no way on earth she would have said that Corbyn didn't have the support to become temporary PM if she wasn't sure of the figures. When she said that Corbyn couldn't command the support of the House of Commons it is because she had had the conversations and worked that out. When she said ...
This song popped into my head from nowhere yesterday. So much so that I had to look it up to see who the singer was. It turned out to be the great Harry Nilsson. It comes from his 1977 album Knnillssonn ("everyone else spells it wrong, why shouldn't I?"), but I know it because it was released as a single in the UK, reaching no. 43. When he began, Nilsson was known for his vocal range, but here is voice is oak-aged and simple. This contrasts with the backing provided by strings and the boy choristers from St Paul's.
The absence of tac'd-up police heavies charging the other way indicated to me that we were in a 'puppy about to hurl' scenario. Continue reading →
Sat, 12:26: I nipped across town to the @TudorStuartIre conference, where Melissa Shiels has got into character for a paper on... https://t.co/MCB1wfj513 Sat, 12:56: RT @Barristerblog: Kicking criminals is easy, but who will speak up for the accused? https://t.co/JGs7f0SQRs Sat, 13:23: The performance of the Catechism of Cliche by @slovobooks and myself as reported by @FrankmcnallyIT. Original text... https://t.co/QhVWm3hjgz Sat, 14:24: RT @kevinhorourke: This is a truly bizarre take. The EU has never pretended that a hard border could be avoided if the U.K. chooses to rem... Sat, 14:28: RT @Dublin2019: "Musicians are still using the quarter-inch audio jack 150 ...
[IMG: The proletariat is fighting back] A friend of mine who has never been interested in politics, ever, has asked me whether she can accompany me to the next march I attend. Another friend has been asking me to explain Jo... The post The proletariat is fighting back appeared first on @ambitiousmamas.
For a start, here is my letter to the Guardian which they did not publish. It is surely obvious that the best person to head up an interim multi-party government is an interim Prime Minister - a person with no longer term ambitions who is not going to try to use their interim position for their own advancement or that of their party? It should be a person who commands respect around the House of Commons and who is not standing again at the next General Election. As for Mr Corbyn, can he be trusted on Europe? We all know ...
How do you win a Parliamentary constituency at a general election? Here's what I told Putney Liberal Democrats.
I have highlighted over the years the superb job the City Council made of Seabraes planting each year. 2019 is again no exception - see below - a real credit to the City Council's environment team in Neighbourhood Services :
