We published our latest eFocus for the Whickham area last night. This edition is the first to be extended to Dunston and Teams ward. Issues covered include: Tour of Britain race Plans to tax buses could lead to more pollution Greenhouses at the former Central Nursery to be demolished £620 for a meal for two at a plush London hotel - at council taxpayers' expense Back to the 1940s at the Tanfield
It's high time we returned to my stack of old Inland Waterways Association Bulletins. This advertisement comes from the August 1969 issue.
Exactly a year ago, on the last Saturday of September in 2018, at a Palestine conference organised by Middle East Monitor, I met the Saudi journalist and former Saudi royal family intimate, Jamal Khashoggi. He seemed a little distracted, which I put down partly to the cold he was trying to fight off and anticipation [...]
There is nothing quite as forgotten as a forgotten writer. Yet as I once blogged: The historical novelist Vaughan Wilkins must have had a huge following in the 1950s. At one time every secondhand bookshop in the country had a copy of the World Books edition of Fanfare for a Witch. For that reason, almost as a joke in fact, I started collecting his other books. Now I even have a couple of signed first editions.I could have added that one of his books was filmed as Dangerous Exile in 1957 and that everyone wanted to film his first one, ...
Brilliant launch of @DrPhillipLeeMP as @LibDems PPC for Wokingham Great turnout of members – ready to take on John Redwood & to fight to #StopBrexit pic.twitter.com/7NOK0msb0L — Ed Davey MP [IMG: 🔶] (@EdwardJDavey) September 28, 2019
For most advisers toiling within government, the standard daily routine is simple: "wake up/go to work/try to do things/get told you can't by the Treasury/grumble a lot/go home". OK, I exaggerate: there is the whole maddening business of government by collective agreement to wade through. This means that any other department, from the mighty Home [...]
After three and a half years of very solid Lib Dem activism, I'm taking a break, dropping most of my party activism and planning to spend the next two years outside the cycles of internal Liberal Democrat politics and campaigning activities. This may seem an odd time to do so, with the UK hammering towards [...]
Whilst the parliamentary party is rightly focuses on finding a way through this crisis there is also serious work to be done internally if we are to capitalise on our growing army of members. I worry that lean times in recent years have hindered policy development. In some important areas I feel that whilst solid decisions are taken, some of our policies could be much more cutting edge, ambitious and better reflect our collective expertise. We must find a way for associations to be better consulted and for working groups to be more diverse, inclusive, and meritocratic. Good social policy ...
This afternoon it's been announced that Phillip Lee will be taking on John Redwood for the Liberal Democrats at the General Election. He will move from his current seat in Bracknell to Wokingham, which is considered winnable for the party. According to the Wokingham Paper: THE Liberal Democrats have announced that their candidate for Wokingham will be one of its newest MPs, Dr Phillip Lee. It sets up a Leave v Remain contest against the incumbent, Sir John Redwood. Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats deputy leader, announced the news to a packed meeting of Wokingham party members held at ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: The cabin was a single small room near the water. Its walls were shrunken planks, not insulated; in January, February, and March, it was cold. There were two small metal beds in the room, two cupboards, some shelves over a little counter, a wood stove, and a table under a window, where I wrote. The window looked out on a bit of sandflat overgrown with thick, varicolored mosses; there were a few small firs where the sandflat met the cobble beach; and there was the water: Puget Sound, and all the sky over it and ...
We crossed at the edge of the West from our wider plain / towards a higher fall; We crossed above the head of navigation leaving fertile plains / for the western fall... We sailed at dusk, the tide in flood, our logic flawed, in baffled honesty; We held a course towards the outer islands – enticing, in [...]
Sat 28th
12:02
Opinion: There is a vital role for the Conservative Party, if only it can solve the Brexit Crisis
Writing about the future of the Conservative Party on the eve this year's conference feels like the proverbial challenge of pinning jelly to a wall. That's hard enough when the wall is fixed and steady, but in our current political and constitutional crisis everything feels shaky. Plus, the party in its Johnson incarnation seems intent on remaking the mould itself - no longer the scion of the establishment and its institutions but instead an unapologetic champion of the grassroots determined to take on the vested interests lined up against their referendum mandate. That's the story for now and, given the ...
Quite what to make of Dominic Cummings has moved from an esoteric topic for political geeks to an issue of mainstream concern given his huge power in Boris Johnson's administration. It's the subject of the first live event for Never Mind The Bar Charts, the podcast from Stephen Tall and myself. Unfortunately, due to a late change in my diary, I now won't be able to make it as I'll be doing a hustings meeting for Lib Dem President. But that means we (or rather, Stephen) will have not one, but two awesome guests with him for the recording: Polly ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @JenniferMerode: Leo Varadkar on Brexit withdrawal treaty: "not the kind of thing that can be amended or cobbled together late at night"... Fri, 12:58: Brexit, Padfield, and the Benn Act https://t.co/22a9qAo44u Fri, 13:10: RT @danbloom1: Dominic Cummings this morning: "Who said it would be a walk in the park?" -> Reporter: "You said it last night at a book lau... Fri, 14:45: RT @DanielBoffey: Ehm, we did have riots. This cabinet minister must be a special sort of muppet... Reduces list of potential culprits to a... Fri, 15:31: Most interesting point of a very interesting thread about ...
Just how serious governments are in achieving their 2050 climate change targets can only be measured in the priority given to necessary actions in their budgets. Talk is cheap, only by putting their money where their mouths are can Ministers convince us that they are serious about this issue. Such a commitment is going to require some tough decisions, if this article in the Independent is anything to go by. They quote a government report, which states that the UK will need investment worth billions of pounds every year to remove enough greenhouse gases from the air to meet its ...
I've blogged about Southport's long gone tramways previously. Here are a few links back to my previous postings about them and Southport Corporation Transport:- The reason I return to this subject now is that I've recently visited the volunteer preserved tramway in Manchester's Heaton Park. This lovely little tramway is well worth a visit (check when it's open before travelling) but sadly soon after we visited they had some overhead cantenary cable stolen which curtailed their ability to run their heritage trams. The good news is that Manchester Metrolink has stepped in to get them up ...
The CCTV system in Ludlow's town centre has long needed an upgrade. Dating back to 2003, the current cameras are low resolution. Faces cannot be recognised on the recordings. Discussions have been underway for a while about replacement cameras. Now Ludlow Town Council is ready to go ahead. First, the scheme needs planning permission and an application has now been lodged with Shropshire Council (19/04207/FUL). This is a like for like replacement meaning there will be no impact on the town centre's historic landscape. Ludlow town centre is a low crime area compared to the centres of Shrewsbury and Oswestry. ...
That was a common question in the 2017 general election when people had national direct mail arrive with their post or got door-to-door paid delivery of items such as national Lib Dem newspapers.
News of Dominic Cummings describing the present Brexit chaos as "a walk in the park" nails the idea that what's been going on recently is an inept Prime Minister making a mess. Boris Johnson has been talking of a "People v Politicians" election soon. He could do well, especially if he gets to dictate the timetable. Horror at his conduct is causing a surge of support for the Liberal Democrats, and there is the temptation to support an election because it will almost certainly produce many more Liberal Democrat MPs, but the real risk is that they will be opposing ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - SATURDAY 28 AND SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2019 Perth Road (at Westfield Lane) - temporary traffic control on Saturday 28 September for Scottish Water ironwork repair. REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2019 Riverside Drive (Tesco roundabout to Bridgeview Café) - closed overnight (10.00pm - 6.00am) on Wednesday 2 October for bridge inspection works. Forthcoming Roadworks SSEN Pit four Area Cable Renewal - Phase 1: Pitfour Street (City Road to Roseberry Street) closed eastbound; Phase 2: City Road (Pentland Avenue to Scott Street) ...
I could never vote for Jeremy Corbyn. I would prefer Ken Clarke or Harriet Harman as Caretaker Prime Minister. But at the end of the day, Corbyn does not have the Parliamentary numbers to implement any Labour policies if appointed as a Caretaker Prime Minister. He could only do as the alliance of Opposition parties and Independents instruct – extend Article 50, call an election. I would expect an interim Cabinet to consist of representatives of all the Opposition forces and for no tails to be wagging any dogs. I can, therefore, see exactly where Nicola Sturgeon is coming from ...
There are a number of very disturbing headlines circulating that report that Dominic Cummings, advisor to Johnson, said, in response to disgusting attacks on our elected representatives MPs will stop getting threats and abuse if they "respect" the EU referendum result. None of the reports use quotation marks that I can see so I assume these headlines are a precis or intepretation of words that are a direct quotation: "If you are a bunch of politicians and say that we swear we are going to respect the result of a democratic vote, and then after you lose you say, we ...
