Apologies for returning to the recent post about my schooldays, but there is an irony and an important lesson in this passage from it: When I told Barbara Jacobs (now a successful author) that I was off to the University of York for another interview, she told me that she had met a member of the Philosophy department there at a party while Mark was doing his PhD. He was called Roland Hall and was a very nice man. I arrived at York to find that, sure enough, my interview was with Roland Hall. I was filled with a sense ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Some think only in what is often called binary ways, left, right, black, white, male, female, rich poor, young, old, sick, well, us, them... I see things differently. I have often put it like this: why should the answer to that which we do not like, automatically be considered to be the opposite of it? Why does it have to be, either, or, why can't it be neither, and something more?! Group think is herd mentality. But that is not quite herd immunity. But herd immunity, in theory or practice, is not one thing. And the government strategy is not ...

Posted by Lorenzo Cherin on Liberal Democrat Voice

News of the delay in this May's local elections by a year is a sign of just how serious the coronavirus outbreak is. It also means that for many candidates, agents and campaign teams who were gearing up for May, there's now an unsettling vacuum in their political lives. What was going to be a peak of effort, with big impacts on the lives of people who are or aren't elected, is now suddenly put off. There's also the weird situation that some councillors - along with their families - find themselves in. Those who were expecting to retire in ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sat 14th
14:00

Midnight Cowboy

Midnight Cowboy won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1969, and picked up another two for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (a relatively low tally, and exceeded that year by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). It lost in four other categories - both leads were nominated for Best Actor, Sylvia Miles for best Supporting Actress, and also for Best Film Editing. The other Best Picture nominees were Anne of the Thousand Days, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hello, Dolly! and Z. IMDB users rate it second on both systems, with Easy Rider first on one ranking and ...

Sat 14th
14:00

Corona Virus and the NHS

I am receiving grave concerns from NHS staff as to the lack of preparation for Corona virus. First is testing: there is no testing at UK borders. In hospital testing of patients with respiratory problems is only performed if there is also a history of recent travel. There is no change in procedures. At ward and community level, it is business as usual. People with breathing difficulties (status unknown because they haven't recently travelled) are interacting with cleaners, carers, pharmacists and porters as normal. There is no additional PPE being issued for staff, at whatever level. Cleaners are not being ...

Posted by Martin Veart on Martin's View

Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Daniel Lewis and Yaso Sathiy, are holding their next advice centre in Churchtown. We will be at Botanic Gardens cafe (Settle Inn), from 10:30 to 11.30am on Thursday, 26th March. We also hold a monthly advice centre in Crossens, at St John's School, Rufford Road, Crossens every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month from 11:00 am to 12:00. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary, just pop in.

Posted by John Dodd on Meols Lib Dems
Sat 14th
11:00

My tweets

Fri, 12:00: 20 hours left to nominate for the 2020 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards, and the 1945 Retro Hugos! Time to get... https://t.co/SpKpdk3yym Fri, 16:53: Quarantine strikes close to home for us. The foundation where our two girls live told us today that we cannot visit... https://t.co/JTYXFnD8eH Fri, 21:25: RT @tconnellyRTE: BREAKING: huge rise in numbers of parents using devices at the dinner table under the pretence of getting "the latest" on... Fri, 22:00: 10 hours left to nominate for the 2020 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards, and the 1945 Retro Hugos! #HugoAwards https://t.co/tJaBpRNN0C Fri, 23:00: 9 hours left ...

Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of 101 Ways To Win An Election, and the maintainer of the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. Although most attention understandably and rightly is on other things, the polling companies are now up and running again in this Parliament with semi-regular voting intention polls. Below the table, you'll find the option to sign up to email updates about new polls and also a set of answers to frequently asked questions about political polling. General election voting intention polls Pollster Con Lab LD Grn BXP Con lead ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

For very good reasons, the ongoing Brexit crisis has fallen out of the news recently, but that does not mean that it has gone away as this article in the Independent illustrates. They report that future British governments could be unable to repeal new laws on workers' rights, the environment, and health and safety, under the terms of the EU's proposed Brexit trade deal: A leaked draft of the agreement drawn up by the European Commission and seen by The Independent insists that "future levels of protection" brought in by both sides must be maintained as a condition of UK ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Namaste. The way that we live and work is changing during the Covid-19 outbreak. Meetings and conferences are moving online. People are flying less and flights are being cancelled. We have long needed to change the excessive consumption of our society. To manage business, travel and tourism in a different way. We must do that to tackle the climate emergency alone. Will the arrival of coronavirus change the way we live our lives? Or will it be business as normal as soon as the spread and fear of the disease fades? Nothing can or must distract from the threat of ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington
YouGov

A reminder, that Sunday 3pm residents are going out to clear footpaths around the Brimsham Park estate - meet at the play area in the park. Bring your gloves, but bags and litter pickers will be provided.

A holiday in the lovely town of Tynemouth last week gave me the chance to check out Tyne & Wear Metro. This is what I made of it in comparison to my local rail network Merseyrail:- Merseyrail Class 508 EMU at Maghull Station T&W Metrocars at Whitley Bay Station In some ways these two rail commuter systems are similar but in others they are quite different. They both serve large northern metropolitan areas – Tyne and Wear & Merseyside respectively – plus they both like painting their trains and stations yellow, grey and black. What's more both are about to ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Following the advice of the Electoral Commission, local elections that were to be held in early May are now going to be held a year on. Same goes for the London mayoral elections. While the year delay probably won't make a difference to who was going be mayor of London, getting to wait until 2021 to have that set of local elections is extremely helpful to Keir Starmer and the Labour Party. The reason is simple: the party is in a terrible place right now and Starmer having to face a set of elections only a few weeks into his ...

Posted by Nick on nicktyrone.com

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - SATURDAY 14 AND SUNDAY 15 MARCH 2020 West Marketgait (Greenmarket to Nethergate) - northbound lane closure on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 March for building maintenance works. Nethergate (South Tay Street to West Marketgait) - closed on Sunday 15 March for building maintenance works. REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 16 MARCH 2020 A90 Perth Road (at Bullionfield) - overnight (7.30pm - 6.30am) lane closures in both directions on Tuesday 17 March for traffic loop installation works. Smellies Lane (junction with Lochee Road) - ...

Transport minister Grant Shapps has announced that he will consult on a pavement parking ban in the summer. That's good news and it's long overdue. Parking on pavements is mostly unnecessary. It happens because people who rarely walk on pavements, use disability scooters or have children in buggies prioritise smooth flow of traffic over the safety of pavement users. This selfish behaviour cannot continue. The government has stalled on this since 2015, when a Private Member's Bill was withdrawn on the promise of action by the government. Nothing happened. On Thursday, Grant Shapps promised a consultation on banning parking on ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington