Dramarama was an ITV series of one-off plays for children. Each had a science fiction or supernatural theme. After a one-off programme was shown in 1982, it ran to seven seasons between 1983 and 1989. The genuinely unsettling Snap, with its echoes of M.R. James and Romney Marsh locations, was shown in 1987.
I used to be sceptical of the idea that traumatic memories could suddenly resurface. But in recent years I have had some experience of this myself as two memories - not traumatic but a little disturbing - reappeared without warning. The first dates from my days as a student at York. There was not much to do on campus on Sunday afternoons, so I got into the habit of walking to the next village and buying a meal from the one shop that was open there. I remember these Sunday afternoons as being always foggy with an almost violet light. ...
So now we know: no new leader for at least another fourteen months. This comes on the back of the cancellation of the Spring Conference, and talk of the cancellation of this Autumn's conference as well. Cancelled along with the Spring Conference, of course - and up for re-cancellation if Autumn is indeed cancelled as well - were the party's sorely-needed consultative sessions on our values, on the 2019 general election, and on our 2019 manifesto, as well as the regular opportunities to hold party bodies and office-holders to account. The decision to cancel the Spring Conference, and any similar ...
[IMG: A midlifer trying to stay worry free over the Corona Virus] Having reached the midlife phase, one thinks that one has seen everything. We are the generation that lived through the stock market crash of the... The post A midlifer trying to stay worry free over the Corona Virus appeared first on Ambitiousmamas.
So, we're on our tenth day of lockdown here - it started at noon on Wednesday 18th, and here we are at the end of the first full week under new conditions. And it has just been announced that the lockdown will be extended to 18 April. New conditions for me, that is. A lot of people who I know were already working from home and had well-established routines. A lot of people weren't working at all. My wife and son are both full-time undergraduates at the local university, and they have shifted to fully online studies. I have colonised ...
Ten days ago, when the world was a different place, I wrote about going for a walk on Box Hill. We were in voluntary self-isolation but without any symptoms, and it seemed safe to go for a drive and then a walk, well away from other people. That was, in fact, the last time either of us left the house, apart from one hospital appointment. Days before lockdown was imposed on us all, we had decided to stay safe within our own boundaries. Our son has been FaceTiming us each day, and yesterday he did so while he was out ...
In a second victory over developer's plans for Ladden Gardens, Councillors have thrown out plans that would have diverted the Jubilee Way into the main estate road, rather than retaining its direct link from Brimsham park out to the countryside. The Jubilee way is a 27 mile national trail from Aust to the Cotswold, created in 1985 for the Ramblers Jubilee. Through 43 years of development the Trail has never had to be diverted, developers have always accommodated the trail.... until now. Right from the masterplan for the development, the line of the Jubilee way had been protected. Developers were ...
On 24th March 2020, the Education Endowment Foundation said the attainment gap for children from the poorest homes will widen while they are not in school. So here is a short version of the speech I was to make at a fringe conference meeting. It has long been known that early years care and education is extremely important for people's education for life. So why is spending per pupil on this down at the bottom? The expansion of free childcare with inadequate funding for staff, reduces the quality of provision. Our Spring 2018 conference paper identified that. This January an ...
So here we are Friday afternoon, day 9 of our respective lockdown. Firstly I have to admit I have very well behaved kids for the most part. They have been really receptive to home schooling and cabin fever has definitely not hit (yet). We have attempted to go for our once a day exercise everyday [...]
Fri 27th
13:52
Shropshire Council pledges £295,000 for voluntary and community groups to help with #coronavir...
Shropshire Council has announced a fund for local community and voluntary organisation activity. It will provide a total of £75,000 for local community groups, including community centres and village halls, through grants up to a maximum of £500. An additional £100,000 will be available for groups and initiatives providing food and home supplies to older people and vulnerable residents. There will be an additional £120,000 "investment in our key voluntary organisations, to enable them to both deliver vital support, and provide support to our communities to do this." The £75,000 funding for community groups etc will be made available through ...
The coronavirus pandemic is a global problem. It requires cooperation at the local, regional, national and international level. Political point scoring, unilateralism and nationalism have no place in defeating Covid-19. Pandemics are no respecters of bank balances, social position and especially not borders. Unfortunately, the leaders of the Western democracies are failing to rise to the occasion, and the result could very likely be long term damage to our political system. Ever since World War Two, the world has looked to the United States for leadership in times of crisis. Not this time. Nearly four years' experience of Donald Trump's ...
The Guardian reports on a warning by food charities that millions of people in the UK will need food aid in the coming days as the coronavirus outbreak threatens to quickly spiral into a crisis of hunger unless the government acts immediately to reinvent the way we feed ourselves: In just a few weeks, experts say, the pandemic has exposed the extraordinary fragility of the food system. And they worry whether it will withstand the growing pressures expected in the coming weeks and months. Supermarket distribution systems, based on "just in time" supply chains, are struggling to cope with a ...
Fri 27th
12:15
Coronavirus: the Hong Kong experience and what next for British politics? Never Mind The Bar Charts ...
In the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, I speak with Professor Phil Cowley, one of Britain's leading political scientists.
Fri 27th
11:24
Lib Dems secure Govt assurances on human rights and scrutiny of emergency coronavirus powers
When the Coronavirus Bill reached the House of Lords last Wednesday, the Liberal Democrats secured assurances from the Government that the wide-ranging emergency powers will be compliant with human rights law, and that Ministers will have to justify keeping the powers in force.An amendment tabled by Liberal Democrat peer Sarah Ludford pressed the Government on ensuring the legislation, which include extra powers for police and immigration officers to detain people and the power to restrict or ban events and gatherings, would be used only as necessary and proportionate. The Government Minister, Lord Bethell of Romford, assured the House that it ...
Responding to the Chancellor's announcement of support measures for the self-employed, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey said:"It does seem that Liberal Democrat pressure for a package for the self-employed has paid off, but I am hugely concerned about how long this will take to deliver."Many sole traders like taxi drivers, hairdressers and cleaners will not be able to wait until June. "I also worry about people who have been self-employed for less than a year who seem to be forgotten by this scheme. Many will have risked their savings to get started and it looks like they ...
Fri 27th
11:00
In a liberal society, should police be using roadblocks and drones to enforce the virus lockdown?
The Guardian reports that the police are using roadblocks and drones to enforce the virus lockdown: Derbyshire police tweeted drone footage taken near Curbar Edge, in the Peak District, and said they had checked the numberplates of vehicles in the car park and found that some cars were registered to addresses in Sheffield, a 30-minute drive away. ...In North Yorkshire, police said they would set up checkpoints to determine if drivers' journeys were essential. The move was being introduced to ensure motorists are complying with government restrictions, North Yorkshire police said. Officers will be stopping vehicles and asking motorists where ...
Thu, 12:56: RT @wadds: New blog. The public relations industry has lost one of its foremost scholars and practitioners. Remembering Dr Roger Hayes, a t... Thu, 13:23: RT @russelldavies63: HELLO FAITHFUL VIEWER. This is me, on Twitter. Ready to livestream and livetweet tonight. let's have fun. Dark days, b... Thu, 13:42: RT @pmdfoster: Ivan Krastev's 7 #coronavirus takeaways: 1. More BIG govt 2. More NATION state 3. Return of EXPERTS 4. More appetite for BI... Thu, 13:52: RT @bigfinish: Talk about phoning it in! We're in production RIGHT NOW, with Tom Baker, down the line to producer @RichardsonBF and directo... ...
Fri 27th
10:56
How long will the pretence of "real Brexit" happening on December 31st, 2020 be kept up by the gover...
The government is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis at present, so one certainly cannot reasonably expect daily briefings on how the negotiations with the EU are going. For those of you who are interested, they are understandably not going at all; with the EU up to its neck in CoVid related problems as well at present, there are no negotiations to speak of. The fact that the main negotiators on both sides have contracted the virus certainly doesn't help. Yet whenever Brexit does come up, the government insists that if there is no deal in place by the ...
Last night thousands. some say millions, of people stood by their doors and windows at 8pm and clapped for the NHS. It's hard to believe that only four months ago these self-same people gave an 80 seat majority in parliament to a party that had starved the NHS of resources for ten years, and aspires to break it it up and flog bits to the highest profit maximising bidder. To be fair, maybe most of the clappers weren't Tory supporters at all, but enthusiastic Socialists, Liberals and Scottish National. And, to be accurate only 44% of those who voted supported ...
Recycling, waste collection and street cleaning services in St Albans District are currently operating as normal during the Covid-19 crisis. St Albans City and District Council's contractor Veolia is continuing to provide the essential services for residents. Both organisations are working to minimise disruption with resources being monitored closely to ensure services can be delivered [...]
Shropshire Council has joined councils around the country, including Telford and Wrekin, in offering a council tax holiday for households whose cash flow is suffering from the Covid-19 outbreak. The deal is that you can delay council tax payments due on 1 April 2020 to 1 June 2020. At that point you can either pay the entire bill or the usual ten months of payments. If you already have payments spread over twelve months, this scheme will make no difference to you. The application form is straightforward. You will need your council tax bill to hand to provide the 13-digit ...
The Federal Board met remotely yesterday and agreed to postpone the election for the Leader of the party until next year. The party's President, Mark Pack, issued this statement: Not only are we going through what could become the country's biggest crisis since 1945, but we're also entering a very new world that will persist once the immediate crisis is over. I'm proud of what we have achieved so far by championing NHS workers and pressing the Government on issues such as offering a better deal to the self-employed. Throughout our history, we have always put the national interest first. ...
From Sheena Wellington : I am sure you expected this but, sadly, the current Covid-19 health emergency means all classes, recitals and concerts at Wighton Heritage Centre, Dundee are cancelled until further notice. We have had to cancel some first rate artists and, as you will know, this is a tough time for musicians who have all seen months of gigs, their livelihood, disappear almost overnight. Below are links to the websites of the artists we have had to cancel. Buying or downloading a CD through their webpage would help them and entertain you if you have to be in ...
