Click on the image of Northampton greyhound stadium above to view this film on the British Film Institute site. There the blurb runs:This exhaustively detailed account of Northampton in the early 1960s may lack cinematic flair but the passage of time has left us with a snapshot of a town on the up and keen to expand. This film was made for an unnamed company that was keen to relocate to Northampton - or as they tell us, to the town which has shopping facilities that compare with any London suburb and houses to rent for only 30 shillings a ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Davey calls for PM to put Martin Forde QC in charge of a Coronavirus Inquiry Davey: PM must take second wave risk seriously Government gaps in support for freelancers leaving employers to pick up the tab Government must apply same human rights standards to US when it comes to exports Dodds: 'Swansea Tidal Lagoon is a vital part of our post-Covid recovery' Davey calls for PM to put Martin Forde QC in charge of a Coronavirus Inquiry Today Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey has written to the Prime Minister with a plan for an immediate inquiry into ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Ballot papers are going out shortly, giving Liberal Democrat members the power to choose between Ed Davey and Layla Moran as the party's next leader.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Tue 28th
18:01

Comet NEOWISE

The weekend before last, I was lucky enough to see Comet NEOWISE from my sister's in darkest Burgundy - F and I waited for it to become visible on Saturday night, and once we had located it in Ursa Major, everyone came out and saw it on the Sunday. It was clearly visible with the naked eye; young S's small binoculars really enhanced it, though not enough to see the split in its tail. If you haven't seen it yet, but you have clear skies and you're in the northern hemisphere, you still have a chance of cathcing it this ...

Lib Dems support the union because we believe there is strength in unity. We support the principle that decisions should be made at the most appropriate local level giving power to the people. We aspire to achieving mutuality and respect between the home nations and between the regions. We see fundamental flaws in the current constitutional arrangements whereby there is little or no real devolution in England and different approaches to devolution where it does exist. There is no common approach or equality in the way that power is administered across the UK and this gives rise to tensions, inconsistencies, ...

Posted by Barry Turner on Liberal Democrat Voice

Who are the Liberal Democrats? How far does their leader embody their party? In what way would their leader be a desirable UK Prime Minister? As Liberal Democrats go to the polls to elect a leader these should be the questions members of the party have at the front and centre of their minds. These are the questions voters will ask. We need a leader who has manifold capacities to govern the country, providing sound leadership on a global stage into the next decade. Many will not believe such a thing possible. Many unbelievers will be Liberal Democrats. But just ...

Posted by L M Sue-Too on Liberal Democrat Voice

I've recently migrated from Anchor to Podbean for my podcast, Never Mind The Bar Charts. Here are some tips that I've learnt along the way. Create your new Podbean account. As an aside, if you are going to use your own domain name, as I do with www.NeverMindTheBarCharts.com, then configure that in Podbean early on. That way, you can avoid having to double-back on other configuration and content later on. From your podcast dashboard, go to Settings and then Own domain to do this. Get the feed (RSS) address for your Anchor podcast. If you don't already know it, login ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Tue 28th
14:29

Arabs in the UK

According to the 2011 census there were almost exactly 250,000 Arabs in the UK, though I suspect that when next year's census data are gathered that figure will rise significantly. So much has happened across the Middle East and North Africa over the past decade, causing large numbers of Arabs displaced by conflict or political [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

Lord Bonkers, it appears, will not be taking sides in the current Liberal Democrat leadership election, but he does have trenchant things to say about the party's decision to allow the candidates to pile up more nominations than the rules of the contest require. Tuesday Much to the bookies' chagrin, it has turned out to be a meagre field in the latest contest for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. So much so, that we are down to just two candidates: the splendid Ed Davey and the equally splendid Layla Moran. I had been one of those urging the MP ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

With this May's scheduled elections for the Mayor of London and London Assembly postponed to next May, there's a huge knock-on for the candidates involved.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
YouGov
Tue 28th
11:00

My tweets

Mon, 20:10: RT @newsthump: NEWS! Quarantine chaos as Brits returning from Benidorm unaware they went abroad https://t.co/EXD1jgvlLs https://t.co/VOgS2g... Mon, 20:38: Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, by Mary Trump https://t.co/G7GlKi7F5e Tue, 09:30: Whoniversaries 28 July: Colin Douglas, David Weston https://t.co/w5jShF4fNO

The one feature of this pandemic that has impacted on nearly everybody is the requirement to work from home of at all possible, but despite the environmental benefits there are some clear downsides to an extended period of such a regime. The Independent reports that half of all Britons fear their work-life balance has worsened because working from home means they find it difficult to switch off and they miss talking to their colleagues. They say that a study of 2,000 employees who've spent recent months working from home found half wished they had a better balance and 42 per ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

I'm happy to announce my Etsy Shop is now back online with new products, including artwork, handmade cards and mala beads. Burnham-On-Sea, Somerset. Good luck watercolour card. Mala Beads on waxed linen, knotted by hand. Click on logo to open my Etsy Shop in new window.

Posted by Trisha xx on ripplestone review

[IMG: Living Wage Foundation] How short are memories? During lockdown and shielding people depended on all sorts of key workers - and the gov and public praised them. But now, the Conservatives on South Glos Council have refused to increase pay to care workers and other key workers the Real Living Wages - £9.30 an hour. They were happy enough to agree to write to the PM asking for a medal for everyone who contributed during lockdown - but the Tories would not back Lib Dem & Labour Councillors who proposed the Council pay key workers a fair wage. Don't ...

The sujet du jour; at least on Twitter, seems to be "cancel culture". I'm a newbie on Twitter and as I have scrolled through my feed and seen various threads; I've noticed a schism between Lib Dems, on this particular issue. On one side there are Lib Dems, advocating the necessity to protect the individual, human and civil rights of the oppressed and that freedom of speech doesn't come with freedom from consequence. On the other side are those Lib Dems who see freedom of speech as a key tenet to liberalism. An article by Tim Farron (advocating the latter), ...

Posted by Christopher Stafford-Smith on Liberal Democrat Voice

This one does the rounds each year and has been doing so for as long as I can remember because Sefton Council only seems to cut back the overgrown foliage when a complaint is made about it. Well Sefton gave it a haircut yesterday after a complaint was made by me (possibly by others too?) via Borough Councillor Pat O'Hanlon. I don't have a before shot but I can assure you it was approaching the time when a machete would be needed to walk through it! Here's the short back and sides 'after' view:- Top photo looks towards Southport Road ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Births and Deaths 28 July 1912: birth of Colin Douglas, who played security chief Donald Bruce in The Enemy of the World (Second Doctor, 1967) and lighthouse keeper Reuben in Horror of Fang Rock (Fourth Doctor, 1977). 28 July 1938: birth of David Weston, who played the valiant Nicholas Muss in the story we now call The Massacre (First Doctor, 1966) and Tharil leader Biroc in Warrior's Gate (1981). No pictures of The Massacre survive. Not much else, I'm afraid. More tomorrow.

Further update - for Tuesday 28th July - from Councillor Fraser Macpherson (West End) and Councillor Craig Duncan (Broughty Ferry) SHIELDING PAUSEDThose who have been shielding can now meet indoors with up to eight people from two households, as long as physical distancing is observed. They can also visit indoor shops, markets and pharmacies, museums, galleries, libraries and cinemas, and attend hairdressers and barbers. They can also meet outdoors in groups of up to fifteen people from a maximum of four households per day. They can also choose to go to pubs and restaurants with outdoor spaces, though it is ...