Set in the late 16th century, SJ Parris's Heresy follows the travails of a novice English spy, Giordano Bruno, on his first mission - to hunt out a Catholic conspiracy at Oxford.
A drop of East Midlands disused railway goodness. We are taken on a walk along the track bed of the disused line from Sutton-in-Ashfield to Pleasley Colliery.
Here are what I think were some positives and negatives about our campaign messages and strategy. They are based largely on the points made to me as a candidate by voters or members and other party activists have endorsed the points I make. They are not in any particular order of priority. Some of the negatives were to some extent beyond our control, but they are matters we need to face better in future. Positives We said correctly that we are by far the strongest party for Remain. Our manifesto was full of excellent proposals and was the only credibly ...
Responding to yesterday's High Court judgment declaring the Home Office's £1,012 fee for registering a child as a British citizen unlawful, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine said:"We owe congratulations and thanks to the campaigners who brought this case on behalf of children who are being denied their rights by these outrageous, extortionate Home Office fees. "I've almost lost count of the number of times this Conservative Government's immigration policies have been ruled unlawful. "Instead of wasting taxpayers' money defending their bad decisions in the courts, Home Office Ministers should get on with fixing our immigration system so everyone ...
Responding to the Queen's Speech, Liberal Democrat Acting Leader Ed Davey said:"Boris Johnson's government have set out a disastrous agenda which will force through a hard Brexit, undermine our public services, destroy opportunities for our communities and cripple living standards. Brexit will hinder our ability to safeguard our NHS and reduce our capacity to tackle the climate crisis. "The fact that radical climate action has been ignored is a hallmark of a government which is setting all the wrong priorities. Boris Johnson has the votes to secure much-needed legislation to reduce emissions by insulating our homes, investing in renewables and ...
Currently I have a lot of people on my Twitter feed asking ex-Labour members like me to re-join the party to wrest control back from the Corbynites. For a fleeting second, I do feel a tiny pull, the old vestigial loyalty flickers for a moment but then just as swiftly dies. Since I joined the Liberal Democrats just over a year ago after a long (too long) time in Labour, I have discovered that this party is the true home of radical, progressive politics. As someone on the Centre Left, I feel far more comfortable here than I ever did ...
A week on from Britain's General Election and I'm still struggling to absorb its implications. The scale of the Conservative victory still hasn't sunk in: in terms of the stages of grief I haven't got beyond denial. So I don't have much useful to say on them yet. Besides, the most important thing in British ... Continue reading What happened to the Liberal Democrats?
Congratulations to Norman Lamb who has been announced as the new Chair of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He will take up his post in March 2020. Norman told the Norwich Evening News: I'm delighted and really excited by it. Stepping down from parliament was a big decision and I wanted to focus on mental health in the future. This is probably the most prestigious mental health trust in the country serving a disadvantaged part of London, so there are massive challenges that it faces. It's a fascinating and exciting organisation to be part of. * Mary Reid ...
So it's happened again. Despite hoping against hope that the polls were wrong, and that we were having an impact in the target seats way above our polling levels, we've been left with a diminished parliamentary party for the third successive general election. We started with such high hopes, but end with the cause of Remain now surely lost, and a hard-right Tory government with a majority big enough to do more or less what it likes. Are there any reasons to be cheerful? The seeds of our possible regrowth are contained in our defeat. We must start by holding ...
[IMG: 1974 housing article from newspaper from Terry Preston] It was a pleasure to see former Councillor Terry Preston at the Folkestone and Hythe District Council Christmas meeting on 18th December. At that meeting, after months of calls by the Liberal Democrats and others for the District Council to move beyond the previously announced Council house building progamme or 300 houses over 5 years, David Monk announced he was now going to push for 1,000 new Council homes to be built over the next 10 years. This is clearly excellent news for the district - as long as this is ...
I've been involved in politics for five years - although it has felt a lot longer - and experienced three General Election campaigns. Each one has been disappointing for the Liberal Democrats and each has led to a lot of soul-searching after polling day about what went wrong. The answer is almost always the same: the Lib Dems got squeezed out by the playground bullies of the British political system and failed to stand out from the crowd. That sort of answer then seems to lead directly to the usual articles in tabloid newspapers about the relevance of the Liberal ...
We must always grow – Change is rapid and profound – Smarter not larger!!
The first meeting of the Federal Policy Committee since the recent internal committee elections took place on Monday night. Clearly our discussions were much coloured by the General Election and some of its consequences, but nevertheless we had a constructive and positive meeting. It was great to welcome several new members of the committee: Helen Cross, Aria Babu, Alyssa Gilbert, Peter Thornton, Elinor Anderson and Rob Harrison. We were very pleased also that the party's new chief executive, Mike Dixon, joined us for much of the meeting, which was very helpful. First up was some committee business: Sally Burnell and ...
Thu, 12:56: Cats review - a purr-fectly dreadful hairball of woe | Peter Bradshaw's film of the week https://t.co/FdjpMEarqS Me... https://t.co/dVNyJRyg57 Thu, 16:05: Labour shouldn't have fought this election, but chose the only strategy it could despite getting its tactics wrong... https://t.co/hunYUE1c9k Thu, 17:11: 10 of the worst ad campaigns of the decade https://t.co/z8hB2MYwhm Yep, these are bad. Thu, 18:27: Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo https://t.co/39hkNLG7Wl Thu, 18:59: RT @joss_prior: So here's my tl:dr thread on the Maya Forstater Tribunal. Did she win? As if! 😂 Here's a few bits I've picked out of the... Thu, 19:13: RT @Transsomething: ...
Fri 20th
10:29
Breaking... Diamond Bus get contract to run the Ludlow to Kidderminster service from January
Worcestershire and Shropshire Councils have confirmed this morning that Diamond Bus will replace R&B Travel on the 292 service between Ludlow and Kidderminster. The timetable will remain the same from the takeover date of 5 January but could be changed. Shropshire Council is to call a meeting early in January to look at adjustments to the timetable. At present it is too tight, allowing only 58 minutes between the two towns. In bus, that's hard to achieve with a fair wind behind the bus. But this is a 30-mile route over Clee, where the weather can be bad. Then there ...
I am reeling. It's not just the catastrophe of this election, but what feels like our country sliding inexorably into darkness, to which we've been turning for more than a decade and which, despite our good intentions, could not have happened without LibDems. One of the few benefits of disaster, is that it forces you to take stock and examine things you might never question otherwise. It drives you to redefine and rediscover what is really important to you: to find a firm foundation on which you can rebuild when everything else has been swept away. We are in a ...
[IMG: A party leader isn't a pet to be mollycoddled] Halle is a new addition to the family. She is a wee little thing and is only 13 weeks old. If there was an award for best loved pet Halle would be in the running.... The post A party leader isn't a pet to be mollycoddled appeared first on @ambitiousmamas.
If anybody was in any doubt what a majority Boris Johnson government will mean, then yesterday's Queen's Speech must surely have dispelled their illusions. As the Guardian reports, the new Brexit Bill has stripped out protections for workers' rights, watered down a commitment to take unaccompanied refugee children from Europe, and removed parliament's say on the future relationship. It also inserted a ban on the government extending the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020. That last clause alone gives rise to serious concern. It means that any trade deal with Europe can only be an intermediate or incomplete ...
I don't know about other progressives and Remain Alliance (Lib Dem, Green & PC) supporters but I've noticed that many of the Facebook Groups I subscribed to before the General Election who were backing Remain and also encouraging progressives to vote tactically are now little more than recruiting sergeants for trying to turn the Labour back into a Social Democrat Party. My thoughts on this are:- * Why did the centrists, moderates & social democrats leave Labour in the first place? * Isn't Labour now a Socialist Party which has thrown off its Blair era past to be a narrower ...
Fri 20th
09:03
Why Keir Starmer might have a better chance of becoming the next Labour leader than many think
This article could simply be some form of optimism rearing its head after having digested the general election result and decided to look on the bright side of life again. Bear that in mind. But I think Keir Starmer might have a much better chance at winning the leadership contest early next year than a lot of people – including myself at times this week – have assumed. I think it will come down to Rebecca Long-Bailey versus Starmer. I would love to think that Yvette Cooper had a real shot because she would be amazing, or that Jess Phillips ...
t's that time of year again. No, I don't mean the season of good will, holly, mistletoe, reindeer, white-bearded elves, and midnight mass. I mean the time to look back and forward at the world political scene. And there is so much to write and so little space. Britain has just had its Christmas election. America has had its Christmas impeachment. Hong Kong is still in turmoil. Latin America is going through another of its political crises. The Chinese economy is shrinking. America's Democratic Party cannot decide which way to go. Iran, Iraq and the Lebanon are rioting, so are ...
Just to wish all residents a very happy Christmas and the best wishes for 2020. Thank you for your help and support in the last year.
The ICV scheme ensures that custody facilities at Greater Manchester Police are independently checked and monitored by volunteers. Members of the local community, who are aged 18 and over and have no direct involvement with the criminal justice system, are invited to consider becoming a volunteer and carry out tasks with the aim of supporting the welfare and wellbeing of people held in police custody. ICVs look at a number of factors including the treatment of detainees and behaviour of custody staff, as well as the effectiveness of custodial processes. Recommendations from ICVs can lead to changes being implemented to ...
Individuals and teams were rewarded for 'going the extra mile' at Bury Council's annual STAR (Special Thanks And Recognition) awards. The 2019 winners are: Employee of the Year – Sarah Hodgkinson. Sarah is a personal advisor with the Extra Mile service, and has supported many vulnerable people to develop their skills. Sarah regularly gets extremely positive feedback from the people she works with who wouldn't be where they are today without Sarah's support and guidance. Team of the Year – Older People's Staying Well Team. The team is passionate about improving the lives of older residents by supporting them to ...
Information for residents on Council services over the Christmas and New Year period, including changes to bin collection days. Bins Across Bury there will be some changes to bin collection dates over the two-week festive period. A date change leaflet and a new collection calendar is delivered to all households prior to Christmas. Bin collection date changes are as follows. Normal collection date Will change to Monday 23 December Monday 6 January Tuesday 24 December Monday 23 December Wednesday 25 December Tuesday 24 December Thursday 26 December Friday 27 December Friday 27 December Saturday 28 December Tuesday 31 December No ...
The council's City Development Committee agreed to further flooding defence works at Riverside. This will cover the western section from the Bridgeview Station Restaurant to the airport; as residents will be aware the area east of this was completed at the start of 2018. The Team Leader in the council's infrastucture team has updated me as follows : "The works generally consist of repointing the existing sea wall, replacing existing damaged stone copes and resurfacing the existing car parking area directly in front of the new flood-defence set-back wall. Works also include the installation of a new footpath and drainage ...
