The latest edition of our email newsletter for the Whickham area, eFocus was published on Friday. Issues covered include: Christmas lights switch on events in local villages; Thank you from our Lib Dem general election candidates; Top marks for Sunniside surgery; Work starts on converting the Victorian Marley Hill School building into housing; Information on Christmas bin collections; Lobley
Neil Weatherley was a true gentleman. Sadly, he passed away on 11th December. He will be a loss to Gateshead Council where he had served as a Labour councillor for twenty years. A former mayor, he chaired meetings fairly, ensuring my side was heard with respect. All sides regarded him in a pleasant, positive light. His funeral service was held today at Birtley Crematorium. Fittingly, it was
The general election may have been over earlier this month but Lib Dem campaigning in Gateshead never stops! On Saturday we held an action day to deliver a few thousand seasonal greetings cards in central Gateshead. By the end of the day, only a handful of bundles were left to do so I took one with me to do before 25th!
Best wishes from everyone on the Focus Team!
A short post, prompted by a comment from one of our Lib Dem Voice editors. She was keen to read something other than Brexit and post-election analysis on these pages. I haven't read a proper book in what feels like months - the election campaign left little time or energy for reading. This is something I plan to put right over the Christmas break and there are two books in particular which I have in mind. Firstly, I'm looking forward to re-reading Penhaligon, about David Penhaligon MP, written by his widow Annette. He represented the seat where I stood in ...
There's a lovely write up on the front page of this week's North Liverpool Champion newspaper all about Mike and Viv Penn being nominated for and indeed winning a BBC North West Christmas Star award. I've known Mike for many a year and count him as a friend so I'm delighted that he and Viv have won such a prestigious award for their efforts on behalf of those who are less fortunate. What's more this award follows one they were given by Rotary quite recently. I first got to know Mike when we were both governors of Green Park Primary ...
June 2004 was the month I switched from my old explorers@whyte.com email address, which I'd had since 1997, to my Gmail address, which I've had ever since. Ronald Reagan died; the new European Parliament was elected. Those were more innocent times. I also posted my Hugo finalists review. This was the month of my one and only trip to Russia, a hasty 48 hours in Moscow (actually a bit less, two days and a night). We also published reports on Moldova and Bosnia, and I had an op-ed on Moldova published in European Voice which seems to have vanished from ...
The article by the American BBC journalist, Anthony Zurcher, "Does UK hold clues to Trump's Fortunes?" referred to by John Leaver yesterday, compares Wrexham, recently much in the limelight, with the rust belt in Trump's America. I have lived in Wrexham all my life and fought the seat five times as a Liberal candidate. Due to the defection of Tom Ellis from Labour to SDP in 1982 and his choosing to fight the neighbouring South Clwyd seat, 1983 produced the closest three way result in the UK, with less than 2000 votes separating the parties. I was third. By the ...
'Where there is no vision, the people perish'. The Lib Dems did not communicate a positive vision to the electorate because we have not created that vision for ourselves. Vision is derived from values and without a vision there is no plan. Our manifesto was wishy washy; no ifs, no buts, we failed to "Get it Done" and hence the General Election result. Here are some ideas for debate. We need a Lib Dem vision and thereby a radical and progressive agenda. The Athenian leader Cleisthenes (507 BC) introduced demokratia, or "rule by the people". Europe, its birthplace, and now, ...
The book trade gave me an early Christmas present with making my book due out next year already available for pre-ordering: Bad News is a popular guide that helps you make sense of the news wherever it appears – print, broadcast or online. Peppered with examples from around the world, the book turns a serious subject into an enjoyable read. You will learn as you are entertained. Readers will discover all the tricks they need to work out whether to trust a story based on an anonymous source, when big numbers are really small and when small numbers are really ...
The Kims, a poor South Korean family living in a dank and smelly basement dream of extracting themselves from their misery. Clearly, folding cardboard pizza boxes isn't going to make them rich. Then, through a friend, the son — who learnt English during his military service — is offered the chance to be English-language tutor [...]
I thought it was time to have a look at the progress of the major road works to turn the M58 'Ashworth Junction' in Melling into a full junction. Here's some shots taken on 22nd December:- Looking in the Maghull direction with the new pedestrian/cycle access running down to Giddygate Lane. The present access to Giddygate Lane which will be lost when the new western access road to the M58 is finished. Looking across the M58 with the slope of the new access road for traffic coming from the Switch Island direction clear to see. My understanding is that the ...
When mathematicians discuss categories such as groups, rings and fields, they are all agreed about exactly what they discussing. Unfortunately, much political debate today degenerates into a dialogue of the deaf, because we fail to define our terms precisely enough. This is particularly true with the subject of inequality in society. Let me illustrate. Country A - an unequal dystopia In country A, the top 1% own over 6% of total wealth, and the top 10% own almost 49% of total wealth. This contrasts dramatically with the bottom 50% of the population. They own only 1.5% of total wealth. Indeed, ...
Sun, 12:12: Once again at the windswept, dangerous Perron 14, where @delijn asks us to dodge bikes and remain standing. (@ Perr... https://t.co/zxDWsLi3m6 Sun, 12:56: RT @sciborgue: counterfactuals, what would we do without them Sun, 15:28: My media in 2019 https://t.co/DI3piWW2rX Sun, 15:30: My top Instagram posts of 2019 https://t.co/s6Yzq1ugzd Sun, 15:32: My top Facebook posts of 2019 https://t.co/aslfBqerSb Sun, 15:34: My top tweets of 2019 https://t.co/E4bOepvTt9 #le19 #ge2019 #3bestsfnovels #3favouritesfnovels Sun, 15:36: My top Livejournal posts of 2019 https://t.co/DhTmBWijdU Sun, 19:08: Who is he talking about? Read the thread. https://t.co/zl6VoNjebY Mon, 10:45: RT @simongerman600: #Languages change as this #map ...
... is that they are focusing on the seats Labour lost in the 2019 general election. At first glance, that may seem sensible. But even if Labour had not lost a single seat in the election, it would still have lost badly. Indeed, if it had not lost a single seat, and on top gained back all the seats it had lost through defections and the like, Labour would still have been 64 seats short of the magic 326 seat tally. Worrying about why Labour went further backwards makes sense as part of a postmortem. But if all you are ...
On Friday night I was on my way home from a wonderfully festive day with amazing colleagues who spend huge amounts of time and energy helping vulnerable people solve their problems. I was feeling at peace with the world. Then I made the mistake of logging onto twitter and I saw some news that changed my mood completely. Our new government had sneaked some amendments into their revised version of the Brexit withdrawal bill. Despite repeated promises to the contrary Boris Johnson has dropped the government's commitments to work to reunite unaccompanied refugee children in Europe with their families here ...
The racist incidents at football games over the weekend are unacceptable, but unfortunately also appear to be part of a growing trend. I did not see the Sky Sports coverage, but according to the Guardian Gary Neville was applauded for saying the Premier League need to "stand up" to the problem. The former England player reportedly said that while critics were quick to point out racist incidents occurring abroad, "we have a racism problem in the Premier League in England and the Premier League have got to stand up, they hide behind the FA on this issue". Neville added that ...
With thanks to Suzy Scott, a full guide that gives you all the information you need for all bus services during the festive season across Dundee and the surrounding area that makes up the ABC Dundee bus travel zone is now available. You can download it here.
