The Eastbourne Herald reports: Ex-Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd, who is stranded in New Zealand due to the coronavirus outbreak, is leading the call for all holidaymakers there to be repatriated. Mr Lloyd and his partner Cherine arrived in Auckland at the beginning of March on the first stop of a holiday in New Zealand and Australia. They toured the North Island and headed to the South Island staying with friends and family but were then told their route home via Sydney in Australia on April 2 would have to be brought forward. But then Australia closed its borders and when ...
Great Central - Nottingham's base is at the former army depot at Ruddington. To reach it trains have to reverse down a branch after they have reached the line's northern limit. The site also houses a transport museum and stands in Rushcliffe Country Park.
Tue 24th
20:12
Ludlow Market cancelled and buses to run on an emergency timetable from tomorrow #coronavirus
Ludlow Town Council today reversed its decision to hold an open air market even though this is permitted under government regulations. The socially distanced market was a good reaction to the growing crisis. It gives an alternative to supermarket aisles where social distancing isn't possible. As the crisis grows, our town bus services are being cut back by around 90% tomorrow and some communities will no longer be served. We could have put in place a better service if Shropshire Council had not dithered about emergency subsidies to bus companies. The 435 service between Ludlow and Shrewsbury, travelling through Craven ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:Myra Shumway had not been telling the truth when she described herself to Doc Ansell as a newspaper correspondent For the past five years she had been a "dip." If you don't know what that means, just stand on any street corner and flash a fat bank-roll. Before long some dame will take it off you and you'll know nothing about it until hours later. That dame was a dip.This entertaining book is by a well-known writer of hard-boiled detective fiction, turning his hand for once to the paranormal. Miss Shumway has run away to Mexico; ...
This post first appeared on the Radix UK blog... It is the best of times; it is the worst of times. It is a time of excitement and of fear, of enthusiasm and exhaustion, generosity and selfishness. It is a moment for breaking rules; it is an epoch of clinging to tickbox processes. If I was Charles Dickens, I would probably go on. The key point is that it is an age of paradoxes, and especially when you start to think about the longterm results of this virus shutdown. In 1939, when we last declared war in this kind of ...
Well that title pretty much sums up where billions of people are right now (as I type this India has announced it will place 1.4 billion people in lockdown! I must say from a personal perspective I cannot quite believe what has happened or the speed at which we have gone from normal everyday life [...]
After yesterday's orchids here is a picture of rubbish This lockdown will have come as a real shock to some people, even though many saw it coming. When we decided to go into self-isolation we had two or three days to prepare ourselves, not only in terms of getting in food and other necessities, but also psychologically. Moreover, it was something we chose to do, rather than being forced on us. Today many, many people will suddenly, and perhaps unexpectedly, find themselves isolated and frightened. For some families this period will be fraught. Younger children had been shielded from the ...
The Chancellor has announced unprecedented levels of support for British business in the last few days. However, one group of people are not getting what they need to survive. Self-employed people have been told that they can claim for Universal Credit at the rate of SSP, which would give them a derisory £94 per week. Today Ed Davey called on Rishi Sunak to do much more to give our self-employed friends and neighbours, the people who clean our homes, cut our hair, walk our dogs and do so much to make our lives easier. "The 5 million self-employed people across ...
Responding to BBC reports that "prisoners in England and Wales will be confined to their cells for 23 hours a day and allowed out only to shower and use pay-phones, with all visits cancelled", Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:"This is a regrettable but necessary measure to limit the spread of coronavirus in prisons and keep prison staff, prisoners and our communities safe."However, it must only be a temporary measure for the duration of this emergency. It is vital that the Government recognises the damage this will do to prisoners' rehabilitation and the likelihood that it will lead to ...
IMPORTANT CHANGES TO WASTE AND RECYCLING SERVICESWaste is an essential service and we are doing all we can to continue collections during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak while protecting our staff and residents. This means making some changes to waste services so we can collect everyone's waste and recycling with reduced staff levels. From today (Tuesday 24 March): - Payments for garden waste renewals and new subscriptions have been suspended. - Collections for garden waste will continue until Friday 27 March. From Monday 30 March they will be stopped so available staff can be redeployed to collect black bin waste and ...
I think it was sometime in the 1960s when the electricity in one or more of the the London Underground lines failed and passengers were locked in carriages stranded in tunnels. After an hour or two patience and fortitude cracked, windows were smashed and passengers poured out onto the lines. Whether this was the result of anger or a dash for freedom is not clear, but some of the press reported it as the end of Britain's reputation as the home of the phlegmatic, "show them we can take it," stiff upper lip Blitz Spirit. Of course the Blitz Spirit ...
Last night, in a televised address, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did what he should have done at least a week ago by telling people to stay at home in an effort to curb the spread of the Coronavirus. For once it was not the joking Boris boasting about how we were going to "send [...]
Tue 24th
11:05
Follow the Money: another cracking Danish thriller, this time with an environmental twist
Another cracking Danish thriller. Those four words summarise, but hardly do justice to, Follow the Money.
Mon, 15:27: RT @DarranMarshall: Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill in tears in the Assembly as she is told by @JimAllister that one of his constitu... Mon, 17:32: North Macedonia's President Signs NATO Accession Document https://t.co/3uz4Ogll2C Congratulations to North Macedoni... https://t.co/tYrwo9m8I8 Mon, 18:26: September 2005 books https://t.co/UUsnUWeq01 Mon, 18:55: RT @vonderleyen: The #EU will support the @WHO global preparedness and response plan with €114 million to help weaker health systems tackle... Mon, 20:05: RT @LeftLost_Pltcs: Honestly, something has changed with @JamieBrysonCPNI His tweets are showing a nuance and maturity that wasn't there... Mon, 20:15: RT @IrishEmbBelgium: ❗️Availability of flights between 🇧🇪 ...
Like Gordon Brown and ex-US President Jimmy Carter, Alastair Campbell is someone we've probably come to respect far more after they've left the top job which made them famous. I'm sure there are other examples you can think of too. I like this 20 point guide by Alastair on how to survive isolation. Go on have a read and look past the politician you maybe once cared little for as he is far more than that. Here's a link to his blog article that may just help you through the coming weeks:- But look at number 9 again and ...
After the 2008 financial crash, many people on the Left took to their blogs (and sometimes, their newspaper columns) to write about how the crisis would mean the end of capitalism, the rise of socialism and the triumph of left over right. We all know how that one turned out. The Left is making a similar mistake again, at least so far they are. They are assuming that the crisis will work in their favour when they should be worried about the opposite taking place. The current left-wing theory about CoVid goes: as western societies, even ones governed by traditionally ...
Tue 24th
09:23
Merseyrail/Northern – As the trains reduced frequency or stopped running – Our local lin...
As our health crisis deepens here's a snapshot of the consequences on our local railway networks as of today End of the line from Wigan at Kirkby Station Kirkby – Wigan: replacement bus (as it has been for last few days) every two hours Ormskirk Station – The train in the foreground would have been Preston bound but it's being replaced by a bus now. Ormskirk – Preston: replacement bus every two hours and finishing early evening This one is still running once an hour to Manchester – A Southport bound Class 156 DMU at Burscough Bridge Station on the ...
A report by the Council of Europe sheds new light on why many of the Brexiteers wanted to leave the EU. As the Guardian reports, that body's annual review of each state's adherence to its social charter has found that the UK is out of step with social rights in six areas. They say that the UK's low age of criminal responsibility, minimum pay rates for young teenagers and the failure to outlaw all forms of corporal punishment breach Council of Europe standards for social rights: Criticisms in the report - which mainly covers the years 2014-17 - include permitting ...
From Feeling Strong : "Feeling Strong is delivering Food and Care Packages to those who are self-isolating as a result of COVID-19. These food packages will provide vital products that people who are self-isolating may not be able to get themselves, and the allocation of the packages will be conducted on a needs assessed basis. We desperately need donations so we can shop and get these to vulnerable people in Dundee - please spare what you can and thank you in advance for supporting your community - click here. If you would like to order a package then you can ...
