Jo Swinson gave a very impressive performance under the grilling of Andrew Neil this evening on primetime BBC1. (You can view it here). She was confident, offering contrition on the mistakes of the coalition and outlining the Liberal Democrat positions clearly. There are plenty of past examples of car crash interviews with Andrew Neil at the helm. Jo did very well under his forensic questioning. Here's a selection of tweets reacting to tonight's programme: Isabel Hardman, assistant editor of The Spectator commented: My rankings of @afneil interviews so far: 1. Jo Swinson for having the guts to stick to her ...
Earlier today the Churches Conservation Trust tweeted the news that it has taken over responsibility for the remarkable St Peter and St Paul, Tickencote. I visited this Rutland church three years ago and wrote: St Peter and St Paul is a Norman church that had fallen into disrepair by the end of the 18th century. It was then rescued by the local Wingfield family. The chancel was restored, though possibly in a rather imaginative way. If its vaulting is a faithful copy of the original, it is something quite remarkable. A new nave was built that feels Georgian but pays ...
What to make of the Lib Dem general election so far, the MRP data and the number of Lib Dem leaflets? Liberal Democrat Newswire #132 has some of the answers.
Another hero of my youth died today: Bob Willis. Many readers will know him only as a grumpy pundit, but I remember him as a thrilling England fast bowler. The profile, written when he was chosen as one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year in 1978, sets out the first half of his career. The early success - he was plucked from the obscurity of Surrey seconds to join a victorious Ashes tour under Ray Illingworth in 1970/1 - and his subsequent struggles with injury. Through it all, he remained determined not only to bowl for England but to ...
Although Boris Johnson is staying frit, Jo Swinson tonight braved the expertise of Andrew Neil's questioning to be interviewed by him. And she showed Boris Johnson what a girly swot can do: Well, she had the guts to turn up, for a start. And to apologise, which is more than you can say for some *pursed lips* Good on both @afneil and @joswinson — Miranda Green (@greenmiranda) December 4, 2019 If you sign up for my blog posts digest you'll get a handy one-a-day email with links to all the latest posts. You can also sign up for a range ...
When the news of the killing of two young people by a terrorist near London Bridge last Friday was first broadcast my heart sank. This was partly, of course, in sorrow at yet another violent attack in our otherwase relatively peaceful society, but also that this incident could boost yet further the Tory lead. Past elections have sometimes been knocked off course by unexpected incidents. In the first one in which I stood, as he Liberal candidate in my home patch, the then Batley and Morley constituency in 1970, from the outset the main question was how big Harold Wilson's ...
Second paragraph of third chapter of Two Brothers:'I'm sorry, Frau Stengel,' the doctor said. 'The second child is stillborn.'Second paragraph of third chapter of My Century / Mein Jahrhundert (the chapter set in 1902): Damals war vieles neu. Zum Beispiel brachte die Reichspost reichseinheitliche Briefmarken in Umlauf, drauf die Germania metallbusig im Profil. Und weil allerorts Fortschritt verkündet wurde, zeigten sich viele Strohhutträger neugierig auf die kommende Zeit. Meiner hat manches erlebt. Ich schob ihn in den Nacken, als ich den ersten Zeppelin bestaunte. Im Cafe Niederegger legte ich ihn zu den druckfrischen und den Bürgersinn heftig aufreizenden »Buddenbrooks«. Dann ...
Dom Joly, the TV comedian, is throwing his support behind the Lib Dem candidate in Cheltenham, Max Wilkinson: For so long, due to our ridiculously unfair first-past-the-post electoral system, my vote has meant nothing when cast in a constituency with a massive majority for the sitting MP. This is why I'm so excited, having just moved to Cheltenham, to feel that my vote really can make a difference in this Lib-Dem/Tory marginal. I am putting all my support behind the Lib-Dem candidate, Max Wilkinson, as I think he will make a superb local MP. I feel that both major parties ...
After 11 years and 925 posts, it feels like it's time to stop blogging. Long past the time to stop, if I'm being completely honest. So I am going to stop. This is the last...Continue Reading The post The last post (probably) appeared first on ten pence piece.
This 40 page illustrated booklet was printed by Tinlings of Liverpool a well known printing company of the day. I was lucky recently to pick up a copy of 'The First Sixty Years' booklet which describes itself as 'A pictorial record of the Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport undertaking issued on the occasion of the last tramcar running in Liverpool on the 14th September 1957' It's a fascinating read and is well illustrated with photos of the trams, buses and indeed the people who worked for the Corporation's Passenger Transport Department up until that date. Now, of course, passenger transportation in ...
I'm writing this today because I've run out of things to say about the general election. What will be, will be. I would like to apologise also to anyone coming onto this page from somewhere other than the UK, and/or who googled "The Pod" in 2023 and have been thrown by this introductory paragraph. Don't worry, it's all Ween from here on. The Ween are a band – and with Ween, "band" almost doesn't apply – that came together in 1984 when two teenagers in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Aaron and Micky, decided to make music together. They chose the name ...
Wed 4th
10:04
It's the little things that count; pubs, local businesses and local community activists
Politicians like to talk big. A £ billion here and £2 billion there. Let's change this law, lets amend that law. All, of course, important stuff and much needs to be done at the national or macro level. But that ... Continue reading →
When the General Election campaign kicked off there was some general enthusiasm for the notion that Boris Johnson could actually lose his seat in parliament to the Labour Party. Heck some even thought Jeremy Corbyn's seat was in some jeopardy to the Lib Dems as the Remain wave swept over London. Some even thought Ian Blackford could lose his seat as the Lib Dems. None of these things are likely to pass but one other party leader that no-one is really talking about is actually in real danger of losing their seat and that is the Lib Dem leader Jo ...
As residents are aware, I have long campaigned for insulation improvements for the Logie area. Logie's properties are a hundred years old next year and, given the conservation status of the estate, cannot benefit from external wall insulation. I have therefore been pressing the council to progress internal insulation improvements and discussed this recently with Logie tenants at a residents' meeting I organised at the Lime Street sheltered lounge. I recently asked the council's Director of Neighbourhood Services for an update on progress and have received the following helpful reply : "I can confirm that we have completed two pilot ...
The Tories have been caught out again playing fast and loose with their online campaigning. As I noted a few weeks ago, they have already doctored videos of Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips and changed the name of its Conservative campaign headquarters press office Twitter account, which is followed by nearly 76,000 users, to factcheckUK from its usual CCHQPress. Now they have been accused of buying up a website address in the name of a Labour candidate - to tell voters to "stop Jeremy Corbyn." As the Independent reports, the domain name margaretbeckett.com - instead of promoting the former Labour ...
