South of Freeman's Common Lock and north of Aylestone Meadows lies St Mary's Mill Lock. This was once a heavily industrialised area, but the mill buildings now represent a last survival of that era. Now the Faircharm Industrial Estate, they occupy the site of a medieval mill. They were home to the John Bull Rubber Company, later Dunlop, until 1971. Three years ago, Leicester City Council gave permission for the site to be cleared for housing, but the owners have not gone ahead with the plan and industry remains here.
I have been exploring The Box Of Delights Archives. It carries interviews with some of the cast members from the 1984 BBC television adaptation. One of them is with Geoffrey Larder, who played Foxy-Faced Charles. In it he reveals that he took the part after Alan Rickman had turned it down.
Sat 23rd
20:01
Two new London constituency polls show Lib Dems up sharply and Umunna close to winning
According to a new constituency poll from Deltapoll, Chuka Umunna and the Liberal Democrats are within 6% of winning in Cities of London and Westminster – and with a large Labour vote still there to be won over with tactical voting arguments: Cities of London & Westminster, constituency voting intention: CON: 39% (-8) LDEM: 33% (+22) LAB: 26% (-12) GRN: 1% (-1) via @DeltapollUK, 14 – 21 Nov Chgs. w/ GE2017 — Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 23, 2019
The Lib Dems commitment to revoke Article 50 is not a problem for them, argues Nick Tyrone, but he is baffled by their decision not to attack Boris Johnson's Brexit deal. "It's becoming increasingly clear that our existing economic order is no longer working. It promotes the needs of capital above those of people." Simon Perks introduces the New Economics Foundation's 'Change the Rules' project. Edward Lucas travels to Prague to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. "A playwright can only flourish in an educated society, a society that can design and build and maintain theatres, a civilised ...
The most crucial event of January 2004 was that little U took her first steps, at 13 months. My first work outing of the year was to the Liberals' New Year reception in Brussels, after which I note that I had an awful lot of whisky with Graham Watson (then an MEP, now a work colleague). I was on a panel with the Bosnian and Croatian foreign ministers as well. (Fraser Cameron sitting between them. The Croatian minister was newly appointed after the election.) This was shortly after returning from a conference on Moldova in Munich. We also did a ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @andymcsmith: 1/3 My favourite story about the late Chris Moncrieff - possibly apocryphal - is that he was sent to Aylesbury one morning... Fri, 14:21: RT @poppy_northcutt: My father's response to the ad was "The only thing that could make me prouder would be to see your engagement announce... Fri, 16:05: RT @laurasnapes: In recent months I have been dealing with a bizarre situation with Amanda Palmer. I blocked her years ago, I think we had... Fri, 18:35: "Catch That Zeppelin!", by Fritz Leiber https://t.co/aTLvVjrpsJ Sat, 10:45: RT @hhesterm: So the debate about the NHS and free ...
Sat 23rd
09:53
Why the political media truism "The Lib Dems Revoke Article 50 policy was a mistake" isn't true. The...
The Lib Dem campaign is in trouble. At least, this is becoming the narrative, which during a general election campaign means it is reality. Political pundits are looking at all elements of the Lib Dem campaign and finding fault in every corner. This is standard: in successful campaigns, every element is seen to be genius, even the ones that really were a little dodgy, and every part of an unsuccessful campaign is deemed to be a mistake, even the bits that would have worked if they were inside of a better campaign. A truism that is developing is that it ...
Those arguing that Labour's commitment to hold a people's vote on a deal that they have negotiated with the EU puts them in the remain camp, may wish to reflect on the precise position the party's leader is taking. As the Guardian reports, Jeremy Corbyn plans to take a "neutral stance" in a future Brexit referendum. That is in no way a 'remain position': Labour's Brexit policy is to negotiate a new deal within three months of coming to power - and then put it to a referendum, alongside an option to remain in the EU, within six months. Despite ...
A mock-up of a Class 777 – The new Merseyrail trains that will soon replace the Class 507/508 EMU's Place North West has the article on its website – see link below:- Another shot of a mock-up of a Class 777 Stadler EMU as displayed in Birkenhead a while back The new Class 777 Stadler EMU's should start to arrive in the UK very soon. Note:- My understanding is that the photo in the Place North West article is of the Kirkdale site before the works to upgrade it were done.
Jo Swinson had the hardest job out of all the leaders on the BBC Question Time special last night. First of all, the audience was stacked against her: BBC confirm that the #bbcqt #LeadershipDebate audience was stacked based on current party representation in the commons ie numbers of MPs. So there were effectively 2 Lib Dem's in that room. @joswinson handled it with grace& passion. Sustained pressure but she didn't buckle once. — Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP [IMG: 🔶] (@agcolehamilton) November 23, 2019 Diamonds are formed under pressure. Our Lib Dem diamond did us proud by going into that fire pit ...
It's fair to say that the Question Time audience last night for the party leader slots last night didn't seem to show much warmth to the Liberal Democrats. And that's because, Alex Cole-Hamilton has tweeted, the BBC choose to make it that way. More specifically, the BBC 'balanced' the audience based on the number of MPs each party has in the House of Commons, rather than – say – the party's current levels of political support. Or (as is done in some TV debates overseas, and which would be my preferred option) making up the audience of undecided voters. That ...
Lib Dems: Creative subjects are at the heart of plans to build a brighter future Liberal Democrats will put creative subjects back at the heart of the school curriculum as part of their plans to build a brighter future. Under the Conservatives, a combination of school funding cuts, high-stakes testing and targets have squeezed creative subjects out of the classroom. Around 3,500 fewer secondary school teachers are employed in art, music, drama and design & technology compared to 2015. The number of hours spent teaching D&T in secondary schools has fallen by almost a quarter over the same period. Liberal ...
West End Christmas Fortnight starts this morning! Events today include : Making Dundee Home Soup and Pudding Lunch - Dundee West ChurchP6 football competition at Harris AcademyEco Christmas Fayre - The Gate/Little Green LarderBalgay Parish Church - Christmas Fayre This is the 19th year of West End Christmas events - a whole fortnight of fun for all the family! Download the full brochure of West End Christmas Fortnight events here.
