Tonight I should have been at Sunniside Club helping to broadcast via Zoom a presentation by Sunniside History Society about local train journeys that are no longer possible due to rail closures, mainly in the 1960s. Alas, we learnt last night that the Club has suddenly had to close for a deep clean following a positive test for covid for a Club member. We therefore pulled the plug on the meeting
In Tenet, celebrated director Christopher Nolan adapts for the big screen a previously unknown novel co-authored by Ian Fleming and Rod Serling. Or at least you could be forgiven for thinking that. After an unnamed American special services agent (John David Washington) is almost killed during a mission by a bullet that appears to fire [...]
Click on the still above to view this film on the British Film Institute site. There the blurb runs: This silent travelogue intended to familiarise ITV audiences with their new Midlands region takes us to north Nottinghamshire - a part of the country that ATV in reality rarely visited. Contemporary audiences knew all about local hero Robin Hood from the hugely successful ITV series starring Richard Greene. The Robin Hood Pantry at Edwinstowe nods towards the enduring popularity of the outlaw, even though their afternoon teas lack a certain rebellious zeal. Other landmarks featured include Lord Byron's home at Newstead ...
"The story of Solidarity should also provide some hope for those of us who, four decades later, believe ourselves to be in politically impossible positions. There cannot be many more unlikely stories than the triumph of Solidarity, and the total collapse of the Communist empire it helped to bring about." Andrew Page marks the 40th birthday of the trade union that changed Polish history. Oz Katerji argues that Jeremy Corbyn's blunders over the Salisbury poisonings were central to his polling collapse. "Cults, extremist political or religious ideologies and closed communities of all kinds draw their strength and their toxic influence ...
On a bit of a whim last weekend, we went to the museum of the Fondation Folon in La Hulpe, one of the southern suburbs of Brussels. Jean-Michel Folon was another one of those Belgian artists whose work you recognise instantly, though I don't think I had ever heard his name before. If you are of a certain age close to mine, and ever stayed up late watching television in France, you may have seen his evocative animation which closed every night's broadcasts of the Antenne 2 channel, featuring his trademark blue men in pork-pie hats: Folon's art is instantly ...
Once we have honed our listening skills we should surely seek to improve ways in which people are themselves empowered. How can they make their voices and their votes more effective ? Here are a few immediate and urgent opportunities: Fair Votes Despite the Conservative manifesto promise to make sure "every vote counts the same - a cornerstone of democracy" the current inequality is outrageous. It takes 33 times as many votes for Green Party supporters to elect an MP as for SNP supporters, with big differences for Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats in between. Voters are cheated by the ...
Ed Davey's reshuffle of his top team is being done in parts. Yesterday, he announced the top three offices of state. Christine Jardine is going to Treasury, Layla Moran to Foreign Affairs and Alistair Carmichael takes on the Home Affairs brief. Today, we discovered via Twitter that Wendy Chamberlain is taking on the role of Chief Whip alongside the Scotland and Wales and Work and Pensions briefs. Wendy's professional experience as a Police Officer and as a manager and trainer makes her an ideal choice for this role. The Chief Whip also has a role in managing the LIb Dem ...
Following the news of Layla Moran taking up the party's foreign affairs brief, she is being succeeded as education spokesperson by Daisy Cooper.
Bury Libraries invite you to join a virtual author tour with Lesley Pearse on Thursday 24 September at 7pm on their Facebook live platform. The popular British author is working with Libraries Connected to promote her new book "Liar". In a Shepherd's Bush bedsit, Amelia White dreams of being a reporter, but the closest she's come is selling advertising in the local paper. But one fateful day she stumbles on a shocking scoop, discovering a murder victim among the rubbish near her home. When the police and reporters descend, Amelia is horrified at the assumptions made and lies soon to ...
Please see below details of the most significant roadworks scheduled for the Prestwich area in September 2020. (On Bury New Road some of these relate to work to create a temporary cycle lane.) For the full list see the GM Roadworks site here. Junction of Kersal Mood Road and Moor Lane (just in Salford) 8-10 September 2020, Multi-Way Signas, United Utilities.Hilton Lane, near Beckley Avenue, until 4 September, Two-Way signals, Bury Council. Bury New Road, north of Portugal Road, 2-7 September, 2 way signals, Transport for Greater Manchester. Bury New Road / Scholes Lane, 2-7 September, multi-way signals, Transport for ...
We published another edition of eFocus for the NE16 and NE11 area over the weekend. It covers:Chase Park surveymuseums and galleries starting to reopenmodest rise in Gateshead coronavirus positive casesWhickham Library 2nd hand book saleDunston gym reopensEd Davey chosen as new Leader3 billy goats gruffYou can read eFocus on this link.
A rather busy week doing farming and self-sufficiency activities for this is a bit late - I am very pleased to see Ed Davey elected as new Lib Dem leader. I've known Ed since 2002 when I was working for the party on policy and I was allocated to the Parliamentary team around him. Key for me, then and now, is the green agenda and I am confident Ed's experience will be put to great use to move
Mon, 12:07: RT @BeschlossDC: Nixon telegram to JFK after he was hospitalized with knee injury—JFK had informed him that he would not campaign until Nix... Mon, 12:56: Cerne Abbas chalk giant is not prehistoric, snail remains suggest https://t.co/8bPBFRcj0o "Famous 180ft figure on Dorset hillside may only be a few hundred years old, new analysis finds" Darn. Mon, 13:25: Well put. (Incidentally Sloan was from Killyleagh.) https://t.co/z9DAUB2k45 Mon, 14:00: I have to say Tintin is not the only person this happens to.... https://t.co/Y3b6Y5u36G Mon, 16:05: RT @joonloons: Bit late to give advice. https://t.co/ZVMICmM3be Mon, 17:11: 'Bitter Lemons' Durrell Cyprus property for ...
I was just 13 when I first saw It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (available on BBC iPlayer just this week) on the wide screen at one of Manchester's largest cinemas and I remember that I wished I could just stay in my seat and watch it all again. That is despite the fact that [...]
Rishi Sunak has a problem. He's spent an awful lot of money to enable the economy to limp through the pandemic and to save millions of jobs. And now, he has to find a way of staunching the flow of cash and to start to restore the national finances without causing the calamity he sought to avoid in March. That's going to be easier said than done. As Government ministers and right-wing pundits have realised, without people returning to town and city centres, those jobs can't be protected forever, and as financial support is gradually withdrawn, businesses that didn't have ...
Neil Gray, the SNP MP for Airdrie and Shotts, is seeking selection as a candidate for the Scottish Parliament. If he's selected, the SNP's rules require him to stand down from the Westminster Parliament: Pleased to announce that I've written to the convenor of Airdrie & Shotts SNP branch & SNP National Secretary to confirm that I'm standing to be the SNP candidate for Airdrie & Shotts at the Holyrood elections. Thanks to all who've encouraged me to stand. My full statement below: pic.twitter.com/K71AZdlraA — Neil Gray MP (@neilgraysnp) August 31, 2020
Having blogged on Sunday with reference to Peter Geoghegan's book, Democracy for Sale, I was only partly surprised to see the headline in today's Guardian claiming that the Tory's have ambitions to scrap the Electoral Commission. I am no fan of the Electoral Commission. In my experience they are weak, incompetent and not fit for purpose. But that is an argument to reform and strengthen them not scrap them all together. Peter Geoghegan talks about the manipulation of our democracy by right wing thinktanks and social media, and makes the case to reform regulation to restore a level playing field. ...
The article on the Guardian/Observer website – linked below – caught my eye because it involves the Beatles and Lidl:- The former Albany Cinema in Maghull, which was renamed twice to Astra and then Apollo, closed many years ago but its link with the article above is that when demolished it became and still is a Lidl store and that the Beatles also played there in the 1960's. This photo is of my old friend Jim Byrne, who is sadly no longer with us, at the then derelict site of the former Albany Cinema prior to its demolition. The ...
Tue 1st
08:30
Whoniversaries 1 September: Burn Gorman, Destiny of the Daleks #1, Thorington, Roz's funeral
i) births and deaths 1st September 1974: birth of Burn Gorman, who played randy (and later undead) medic Owen Harper in the first two series of Torchwood (2007-2009). ii) broadcast anniversary 1st September 1979: broadcast of episode 1 of Destiny of the Daleks, opening episode of Season 17. Romana regenerates; the Tardis lands on a radioactive planet; the Doctor is captured by the Movellans, and Romana threatened with extermination by the Daleks. 1 September 2012: one of the most successfully unspoilered twists ever as Jenna-Louise Coleman prequels her future companionship in Asylum of the Daleks, the first story of Ne ...
Bill introduced to give health and care workers right to remain The Liberal Democrats will today [01/09/2020] introduce a Bill calling on the Government to offer indefinite leave to remain to foreign nationals currently working in the health and social care sectors. Home Affairs Spokesperson Christine Jardine, who is moving the Ten Minute Rule Bill, has warned it is unacceptable that people who put their lives on the line during Covid-19 should not be welcome to stay. The Liberal Democrats have secured cross-party support from Labour, Conservative, SNP, Green, Plaid, DUP and Alliance MPs. Ahead of the Bill's reading on ...
I am grateful to residents who highlighted blocked drains in Hillside Drive at its south end. I contacted the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership regarding this and have received the following positive response : "An order has been raised to clean two gullies in Hillside Drive."
