John Rogers joins Iain Sinclair on a walk. The route takes them from Liverpool Street station through the City of London to the Thames, then east through Wapping to the street mentioned in W.G Sebald's novel Austerlitz at Stepney
Ed Davey, our Co-Leader, has written tonight to members asking them to convert their campaigning zeal towards helping their local community in this time of crisis: We can all make a difference - each and every one of us. One of the many things that unites Liberal Democrats is our campaigning zeal for our communities. Our drive to change things for the better. A way of working that engages local people in our campaigns. Today, I'm asking you to turn your campaigning zeal wholeheartedly towards helping your community during this Coronavirus crisis. To help you, we're issuing new guidance to ...
As Ed Davey has rightly highlighted in an email out today, there's an important part to play for Liberal Democrat campaigners in their communities during the coronavirus crisis: working with others to share information, boost volunteering and help those most in need. As his email mentions, the party's own advice to members and supporters has been updated today. Please do check it out as it has changed since the first advice issued in the light of developing events and new public health guidelines. Here is Ed's email in full: We can all make a difference - each and every one ...
As a teacher I can't help be mystified that we've slammed on the break with regards to "mass social gatherings" nonessential transport, home working pubs etc but at the same time I'm expected to turn up to a building with 1600 + adults and children tomorrow As an ex Council Leader who had a small part to play in managing a civil emergency I'll chuck in a couple of pennies worth of thoughts. 1) The worst thing people can do at the moment is second guess the people managing the situation. I place my trust not in Boris but the ...
The grim news of July 2005 was the 7/7 bombings in London, in which 56 people died, including the bombers themselves (and a friend of a friend). It's weird to think that this was actually the first Islamist terror attack in the UK. I had one extended trip in the middle of the month, combining a work visit to Georgia and South Ossetia and my cousin's wedding in England. This was still three years before the war of 2008, and it was awkward but not impossible to visit South Ossetia. Mr Dzhioev, the Foreign Minister, received me hospitably enough. However, ...
Today we have gone into self-isolation. I live with my husband, Ian, and we have not got any coronavirus symptoms, nor have we been in contact with anyone who has, as far as we know. But Ian's immune system is compromised so we decided a few days ago to isolate ourselves at home 'for the duration' (as they said in the war). Now it may surprise those of you who know my digital credentials that we still have a daily newspaper delivered. And we've decided to continue with it as we like leisurely working our way through the news, reading ...
So, as promised, here is one of the policy motions scheduled to have been debated in York over the weekend, something that probably isn't that controversial in Liberal Democrat circles, but I never fail to be surprised by Liberal Democrats, so let's see what comes in... Conference believes that: Child refugees who have been forced to flee their homes and separated from their families are some of the most vulnerable people in the world. We must do all we can to protect them. The UK has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those in need, but now the Conservative ...
May you live in interesting times. These 'interesting times' we find ourselves in are frightening, doubtless. My 'boomer' mother admitted the restrictive measures are definitely 'weird', even in her lifetime. I am forced to turn to memories of my father, who better remembered far darker times. He was born around the time of the great depression, and died around the time of our great recession. It was a life marred by personal tragedy, one in which he had, I believe, almost always felt a powerless observer. He rarely spoke of being a young boy at the edges of the blitzed ...
Sun, 12:56: Sword-fighting Films - Robin Hood https://t.co/ermEnJdA1f A quick guide. Sun, 18:09: Doctor Who, Series 12 (or 38), 2020 https://t.co/P9B6fy3nZy Sun, 20:15: ISIS tells terrorists to steer clear of coronavirus-stricken Europe https://t.co/HFUUhzf8Fr There's always a silver lining. Sun, 20:40: RT @michaeldthomas: The Hugo Awards as seen in Knives Out are for sale. https://t.co/iwY6s5vSeh Sun, 20:48: Coronavirus Showed That America Wasn't Up to the Task https://t.co/rFrrZEDIDV Scathing from @anneapplebaum. Mon, 10:45: RT @hthompsn: And there you have it https://t.co/hrLbmzUezf
Mon 16th
10:20
In the face of the Coronavirus crisis, it would be utterly mad for Boris not to extend the transitio...
We were living in strange times before the Coronavirus struck; they are now surreal beyond the imaginings of an objective viewer from five years ago. Lots of people are politicising the crisis, you know, imagining that what's happening demonstrates the folly of austerity, or shows us what life would have been like under a Corbyn government, or demonstrates that "inequality kills". I am not trying to add my own addition to this trope here. What follows is not a Remainry rant that is an attempt to halt Brexit in disguise. It is just dealing with the new political reality we ...
In the coming weeks, I will be publishing several articles on Covid-19 to keep us all up to date with an infection most of us barely understand. My thanks to Dr Catherine Beanland for this article which has been prepared ahead of an emergency meeting of health, business and council stakeholders in Ludlow tomorrow. Follow the #coronavirus conversation as it develops. Introduction There is an outbreak of novel (new type) Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Mainland China which has now spread to many areas. People are considered to be most infectious while symptomatic (with symptoms), however there is limited evidence that asymptomatic ...
Today I have joined fellow Liberal Democrats in calling on the Health Secretary to announce the public health grant for 20/21 amidst the Coronavirus crisis. I have done this both as Leader of the Liverpool Liberal Democrats, and Liberal Democrat ... Continue reading →
One of the most impressive threads I've seen on Twitter about Coronavirus is by Professor Francois Balloux, a computational/system biologist working on infectious diseases, who has spent five years in a world class 'pandemic response modelling' unit. What solution did he offer? He offered none, and that was what was so impressive. He said that, after considerable study, he had failed to identify the best course of action, and wasn't even sure there was an acceptable solution. He thought a more severe wave of the pandemic in the winter is the most plausible scenario. He linked to the graph below ...
POWER FROM PEOPLE Our first local poo bus is being launched here 3pm, Yate Bus Station today Monday 16th. All welcome. The biomethane fuel is being produced at the Avonmouth Sewage Works - so your poo could be fuelling the bus!! (The title power from people was first used about Avonmouth back in the 1980s, when our very own Paul Hulbert was involved in connecting an electricity generating plant at the sewage works using methane to the mains. The evening post headline at the time was Power FROM the people. ) In technical terms, the fuel is no better for ...
Regular readers of this blog site will know that I'm a keen cyclist, so it's probably no surprise that I found the cycling part of the new Liverpool on Wheels exhibition in the Museum of Liverpool very interesting. Here's my photos of cycling items on display The comment above could easily have been written today, particularly about Lancashire and Liverpool roads! I recall when I was a teenager I bought a Harry Quinn racing cycle second hand but whilst it was a lovely bike (and incredibly light) I went off cycling for some reason and sold it on..... This has ...
There have been some political lows in the past, but yesterday's news that Donald Trump offered a German medical company "large sums of money" for exclusive rights to a Covid-19 vaccine must feature as one of the lowest. The Guardian says that the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, under the headline "Trump vs Berlin", reported Trump offered $1bn to Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac to secure the vaccine "only for the United States". They say that the report prompted fury in Berlin. "International co-operation is important now, not national self-interest," said Erwin Rueddel, a conservative lawmaker on the German parliament's health committee. ...
Which planet in our solar system is closest to the Earth? The answer may surprise you...
One of our occasional commenters contacted me before the weekend, and asked if we might publish his prepared debate speech, given that he wouldn't have a chance to make it "for real". My first thought was, "it'll be a bit on the long side", which he accepted. However, it strikes me that we could do something to enable people to debate the various policy motions after a fashion, and so, today, I'm going to try a little experiment. I will publish one of the motions due to be debated, and invite you, our readers, to "debate" it. My thoughts on ...
Normally, my Monday West End Ward surgeries would be taking place later today at Harris Academy and the Mitchell Street Centre. After much thought, I have taken the decision to suspend surgeries with effect from today, given the on-going situation concerning Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). I am very conscious that many of the residents who attend the three surgeries I run every week are elderly and at higher risk. It makes no sense to hold public surgeries when all residents can contact me in other ways and residents are very welcome to call me at home on Dundee 459378 or by ...
