"A striking thing about the history of modern Russia is how littered it is with the corpses of democrats and friends of open society." Brian Stewart reviews a book on how Putin took over Russia. Steven McCracken explains the strange rise of Darren Grimes. "West African soldiers from the British colonies of Nigeria, the Gold Coast (now Ghana), Sierra Leone and the Gambia were crucial in winning the six-year jungle war in Burma (now Myanmar), fighting in appalling conditions to defend India from being overrun by Japan in World War Two." David Rae, Ed Emeka Keazor and Ngozi Eneh Ojo ...
Representatives of 29 Lib Dem-run councils have signed an open letter opposing any move to impose unitary authorities across the country. The Saffron Walden Reporter quotes from the letter: "We are not in principle opposed to unitary councils of reorganisation, but it should only ever be locally driven, designed to empower communities and respond to local needs. Now is not the time to be disbanding our high performing councils and creating new ones. "Reorganisation may benefit some places, but not all and not now. Continuing with mass reorganisation at this time risks scarce resources being diverted away from the Covid ...
Mon 24th
19:15
Foldgate Lane development will have smaller houses and contractors will work later into the evening
The housing market is always changing. The Foldgate Lane housing scheme is limited to 137 dwellings under its planning permission. Developer Crest Nicholson has decided the current market demands smaller two or three bedroom homes. It has reduced the size of homes in the first phase of the development and increased the number of market dwellings from 14 to 21. To keep within the cap of 137 homes, the later phases will have larger homes than previously planned. Under emergency coronavirus legislation, Crest Nicholson has been given permission to work until 7.30pm on weekdays and 5pm on Saturdays. Work has ...
This was the month that B finally moved out, initially to a centre up near the Dutch border for a few months. It was of course for the best that she should be with people professionally trained to look after people with her needs. But we found it a pretty difficult transition. She was generally pretty doped up for her last few weeks with us, but I did get a nice picture of her on the final day. Despite all this, I managed two trips that month, to the frankly disappointing Octocon in Maynooth, and to London at the very ...
As Mary Regnier-Wilson has pointed out in a comment on David Murray's article, the Liberal Democrats Party is meant to support proportional representation; yet the Scottish and Welsh state party representatives on every committee are there to represent only a small proportion of the party's total membership while the English state reps are meant to represent the rest, which is not proportional at all. The practical effect is that the members in Scotland and Wales have built-in massive over-representation on federal committees. It is a bit like the US electoral college which gives more say over the White House per ...
Sun, 12:56: RT @RTaylor_LibDem: @chris48163264 @Turloughc @afneil (2/2) TBH @Conservatives "& unionist" party need unionist bit removing; through #Brex... Sun, 13:45: RT @PhilHoganEU: 1) I wish to apologise fully and unreservedly for attending the Oireachtas golf society dinner on Wednesday night last. Sun, 14:28: The Man Who Loved Trains: Paul Delvaux at Train World https://t.co/tzGuexGRwd Sun, 14:43: I'm moderating a @CColumbus2020 panel on "Researching the Golden Age" in just over an hour, with @effjayem (Pleasant Profession of RA Heinlein) and @nevalalee (Astounding: Campbell, Asimov, Heinlein, Hubbard and the Golden Age). Here is the 2nd para of each book's 3rd chapter. ...
One of the many tensions within the coalition of interests that form the UK Conservative Party is over planning. A number of developers and builders donate large sums towards Tory election campaigns and no doubt expect a sympathetic ear to their troubles and problems when the party they are bankrolling is in government. On the other hand, many Tory activists have built their careers on nimbyism within their own communities, especially in the more prosperous and rural parts of England, and do not look kindly on any government diktat that is going to threaten the quality of life of their ...
... some of them made campaign videos on good old VHS tapes and sent them to voters, as this example from then Lib Dem MP Brian Cotter shows.
Mon 24th
08:30
Whoniversaries 24 August: William Morgan Sheppard, Stephen Fry, The Dominators #3, Volcano Day
i) births and deaths 24 August 1932: birth of William Morgan Sheppard, who played the older Canton Everett Delaware III in The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon (Eleventh Doctor, 2011) 24 August 1957: birth of Stephen Fry, who played C in Spyfall (Thirteenth Doctor, 2020) and also wrote an untelevised script for the Tenth Doctor. ii) broadcast anniversary 24 August 1968: Broadcast of episode 3 of The Dominators (1968). Zoe, Cully and the other Dulcians are being used by the Dominators as slave labour. Cully escapes, but the Doctor is captured, and yet another episode ends with falling ...
Liverpool Waterfront Panorama My good friend Andrew Blackburn has a bit of a thing about vlogs entitled 'Cruising the Cut' of which there are a great many. He showed me a few some time ago and you know there's something mesmerising about them and I've now watched quite a few myself, although I'm told that therapy may help:-) The reason I'm blogging about this is that in October 2019 the vloger, former TV presenter David Johns*, came to Liverpool to experience crossing the Mersey estuary in a narrow boat. And here's his vlog of the experience which sits with his ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 24 AUGUST 2020 Riverside Esplanade - off-peak nearside lane closure on Tuesday 25 August for Scottish Water manhole repair. Forthcoming Roadworks Blackness Road (at Urquhart Street) - temporary traffic lights on Monday 31 August for Scottish Water investigation work. Lochee Road (at Polepark Road) - overnight (7.00pm - 2.00am) temporary traffic lights on Monday 31 August for Scottish Water investigation work. Strawberrybank - closed from Thursday 17 September for 5 working days for wall maintenance works.
