Back in January I blogged about plans for a poetry pharmacy in Bishop's Castle. It opened last month - "to eager crowds" according to the Shropshire Star - and this video let's you see inside it.
You have to hand it to the Corbynistas: they never forget who their real enemy is. The Shropshire Star reports colourfully: Last Saturday shoppers on Shrewsbury's Pride Hill were greeted by Labour campaigners handing out leaflets listing the virtues of Dr Laura Davies as the town's potential MP. Three days later and Dr Davies is no longer the face on the party's Shrewsbury leaflets, or its choice for a general election candidate, having been deselected by the national party, just 37 days from polling day.Davies lost a vote of no confidence in the local party back in June, but as ...
Current Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding The Highgate Horror, by Mark Wright, David A. Roach, Mike Collins, Jacqueline Rayner and Martin Geraghty Two Brothers, by Ben Elton Last books finished The Calcutta Chromosome, by Amitav Ghosh Normal People, by Sally Rooney The Camelot Club, by Brian Killick The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison Next books A Close Run Thing, by Allan Mallinson "Catch That Zeppelin!", by Fritz Leiber
At the moment, this path is still sort-of passable, as the mud only comes up to your knees. Continue reading →
Looking back over the general elections I’ve lived through.
Many Lydiate folk attended one of the local Moss Alliance meetings held in September:- That Government has brought in a moratorium on fracking is on one level welcome but does it mean that fracking has effectively gone away for good, bearing in mind mid Sefton Borough has a potential fracking site being developed yards away in Great Altcar? Probably our first reaction is one of saying, hang on we are in an election period so with fracking being so unpopular this could well be just a political ruse to try to take it off the political agenda. My view is ...
Are you fed up with Brexit? I certainly am. It's dominated our political discourse for 3+ years and has meant that we have had no debate on things that I think are important such as the NHS, climate change, education ... Continue reading →
So far, we've had six constituency opinion polls released, one full set of MRP data (which is a large scale national poll then used to model the results in individual constituencies) plus of course the 2017 general election results in all seats. How do they compare? Let's look at those six seats for which we have all three. In five out of six cases both the constituency poll and the MRP data used agree on which pair of parties is currently in the top two slots (and hence who should be considered as potential recipients of tactical votes). Three of ...
Another constituency poll, and the same story as with the others in seats where the Lib Dems have hopes: Lib Dems surging, Labour dropping back. South East Cambridgeshire Voting Intention: CON: 42% (-11) LDM: 31% (+12) LAB: 16% (-12) BXP: 8% (+8) Others: 4% (+4) Via @Survation, 25-28 Oct. Changes w/ GE2017. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) November 5, 2019
Jeremy Corbyn suggests today that we could leave the EU without damaging our economy and public services. He'll tell an audience in Essex, according to the Independent: Mr Corbyn will say: "If you want to leave the EU without trashing our economy or selling out our NHS you'll be able to vote for it. He'll outline a Labour policy that involves negotiating a new deal and then the Government will decide after that whether it will back the deal in a referendum or vote for Remain. Kier Starmer sounded very uncomfortable as he explained all this on the Today programme ...
Britain needs to change the way it votes if we want a better and more representative political system.
Mon, 12:27: RT @EarlofLeuven: @nwbrux Yes a lot of DUP not happy this morning. Yet since the formation of the DUP they have fought FST a grand total of... Mon, 12:56: RT @dduane: Thread... for those trying to understand WTH's going on up there. https://t.co/cROQtfrcx0 Mon, 16:05: Epic. https://t.co/qH2bAn9XCf Mon, 17:11: Brilliant. https://t.co/AsL5MmlMRk Mon, 18:58: RT @Rob_Malley: On the 40th anniversary of the #IranHostageCrisis, check out our latest graphic illustration of U.S.-Iran tensions and the... Mon, 20:30: The Camelot Club, by Brian Killick https://t.co/vpfzxZSgX9 Mon, 20:48: The Superman Clause https://t.co/xFKaH6cM4B Hugo eligilibity extension has been only rarely invoked. "This may ...
Jo Swinson said this as she congratulated Sir Lindsay Hoyle on his election as Speaker last night: I thank the Father of the House for the way in which he conducted this election. Congratulations from the Liberal Democrat Benches on your new role, Mr Speaker-Elect. You have been clear that you want to be a strong champion for Back Benchers in this place, and have always conducted yourself with good humour and taken great care of Members in this place. The focus that you placed on the importance of health and wellbeing—particularly mental health—in your election campaign is very welcome ...
Tue 5th
10:04
Why the Lib Dems need to attract former Tory voters and how they can do so without alienating Labour...
As one could have predicted, the squeeze is on. The Brexit party is seeing their poll numbers decrease, with a corresponding increase in the Tory polling numbers, while a lot of people saying they would vote Lib Dem are thinking they are going to vote Labour again because that's how these things work. The Lib Dems are now polling around 15-16-17%; they need to get back up in the twenties again, quickly, or this election is going to get away from them. The Lib Dems need to get more people who voted Tory in 2015 and 2017 to vote Lib ...
Tue 5th
09:30
LibLink: Chuka Umunna: What are ITV playing at excluding Jo Swinson from its Leaders' Debate?
Chuka Umunna has been meeting senior executives at ITV to try to persuade them to include Jo Swinson in their Leaders' Debate. Been meeting with senior execs at @ITV tonight. No prizes for guessing the topic of discussion.#DebateHer pic.twitter.com/WoVofWyoiY — Chuka Umunna (@ChukaUmunna) November 4, 2019 And he used this week's Independent column to take them to task for not inviting her to take part: He first highlights ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall's positive record on diversity issues: Dame Carolyn is widely regarded as a role model for many women in leadership and has said "we need to inspire the ...
There are three Scrutiny Committees to scrutinise the work of the Greater Manchester Mayor and other Combined Authority functions in Greater Manchester. Prestwich councillor Tim Pickstone represents Bury on the Corporate Issues and Reform Scrutiny Committee, and is this years chair of the Committee. Tim reports from the last meeting: Greater Manchester Plan The main focus of our meeting was to review performance against the Greater Manchester Plan. This is the strategy document that sets out the objectives that the Mayor and Combined Authority want to achieve and what measures they will use to determine how successful they have been. ...
Commenting on reports that Number Ten is blocking the publication of the Intelligence and Security Committee's report until after the General Election, Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary Chuka Umunna said: "It is unacceptable that Boris Johnson is blocking the publication of this report until after the election. It undermines our democratic process. "The report may contain crucial information that the Liberal Democrats believe should be in the public domain before the country goes to the polls. "That is why I have written to the Cabinet Secretary, Mark Sedwill, to ask that he do everything in his power to secure the ...
On Sunday 10 November 2019 a parade will set off from the Longfield Suite at 10.40am walking to the Prestwich cenotaph (the junction of Rectory Lane and St Mary's Road). A minutes silence will be held at 11.00am and wreaths will be laid to remember people who gave their lives both World Wars, and other more recent conflicts. All welcome. With thanks to the voluntary work of the Prestwich Remembers group who have made sure this event happens. Poppies have been installed on Prestwich lamp posts A first remembrance event at the Somme Memorial in Heaton Park takes place at ...
The Guardian reports that Boris Johnson has been accused of presiding over a cover-up after it emerged that No 10 refused to clear the publication of a potentially incendiary report examining Russian infiltration in British politics, including the Conservative party. The paper says that Downing Street has indicated that it will not allow a 50-page dossier from the intelligence and security committee to be published before the election, prompting a string of complaints over its suppression: The committee's chairman, Dominic Grieve, called the decision "jaw dropping", saying no reason for the refusal had been given, while Labour and Scottish National ...
Six planning applications in the last month. Please note the application for a variation of planning permission for the row of former commercial buildings opposite Transformations on Bury Old Road, and the application for a temporary wider access point to the Heaton Park reservoir on Heywood Road. Please just let us know if you have any queries. Single storey extension at side/rear 23 St Austells Drive, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1LURef. No: 64807 | Received: Mon 21 Oct 2019 | Validated: Mon 21 Oct 2019 | Status: RegisteredSingle storey side and rear extension 3 Ferndene Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 2RBRef. No: ...
Ahead of the party's General Election launch, the Liberal Democrats have declared a Liberal Democrat government will Stop Brexit and use the £50 Billion Remain Bonus to invest in public services and tackle inequality. Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson said: "The Liberal Democrats are the only party standing up to stop Brexit and build a brighter future for the UK. "Brexit has taken far longer and cost far more than anyone said it would. But any form of Brexit will damage our jobs, our economy and our public services, starving them of vital cash as the economy struggles ...
As people will no doubt have noticed .... a UK General Election is taking place on Thursday 12 December 2019. To vote in a general election you need to Be 18 or over on the day of the electionBe a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizenBe resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years)Not be legally excluded from voting You also need to be on the electorial register. If you've moved recently or changed your name, you may need to re-register. ...
Later in November is the NHS 'Self Care Week'. The Bury Directory is supporting the Self Care campaign and helping people know about pvital information, advice and local events. The team will be out and about during November to help people discover how the directory can help them to use self-care in all aspects of their life. This might be looking for a local club, an activity, a service or finding out more information about a health and social care need. You can meet the team on the following dates (all meetings run from 10.30am to 1.30pm): Tuesday 12 November ...
We launch our general election campaign today. We haven't yet had time to get fed up of our new slogan – Stop Brexit, Build a Brighter Future because it was only unveiled last weeK. We start to talk about what that brighter future might look like – in the form of more money to spend on public services that is directly linked to deciding to remain in the EU. Stopping Brexit, we argue, will generate a Remain Bonus for the public finances because under Remain, the economy will grow faster than under Brexit, leading to higher GDP and consequently higher ...
ASDA used to be Associated Dairies and employed the friendly chap (they were usually chaps) who delivered your daily milk and, if the bottles lined up out side uncollected, realised something was wrong and did something about it. Now ASDA is a supermarket and after a period of continued British ownership, is now part of the US Walmart empire. Last Saturday ASDA staff were forced to accept new contacts or lose their jobs. I am neither an employee, shareholder nor a customer of ASDA, so have no personal axe to grind, but am appalled at the apparent conditions implied by ...
