Call me a hopeless romantic if you will, but I have to admit that I've grown fond of local government in a way that, had you asked me two decades ago, I would have snorted with derision. Perhaps that's the difference that being a councillor at the very lowest tier of local government makes, even though my ambitions at any higher level are, at best, dormant these days. Suffolk currently has three tiers of local government - County, Borough/District and Town/Parish. Not so long ago, we had seven local authorities forming the second tier - Babergh (think South Suffolk), Forest ...
From the Leicester Mercury: A stolen narrow boat was boarded by officers after possibly the slowest police chase ever encountered. The tension, for police and suspects alike, must have been unbearable as the 13-mile 'pursuit' unfolded earlier today on the Grand Union Canal. It ended up being a cross-county border affair - at speeds of up to 4mph - as officers with Leicestershire's Harborough Police teamed up with Northamptonshire colleagues to bring the incident to a safe conclusion. The photo above shows North Kilworth in Leicestershire, where the boat was stolen. Contrary to the hope expressed by one of my ...
I heard an extraordinary programme on Radio 3 yesterday. Looking at the history of Beethoven's ninth symphony, it opened with an extract from the performance that Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted for Hitler's birthday in March 1942. Though some have claimed to detect a subtle protest in it, with those added drums it sounds a full-blown Nazi anthem to me. I have added it above as I don't know how long the radio programme will stay on the BBC site, The piece it reminds me of is Laibach's reworking of Queen's One Vision to reveal the totalitarian impulse that can be present ...
Fifty years ago, the Labour MP for my home town of Lincoln was Geoffrey de Freitas. In those days, Lincoln was a very safe Labour seat and Geoffrey de Freitas was a very wealthy man. In common with many MPs of that era, de Freitas did not maintain a home in his constituency (a practice that at least had the merit of incurring no controversial expense claims). Indeed, he spent little time in his constituency at all. On the rare occasions he paid a visit, he and his wife would get in the Rolls Royce and drive north to Lincoln, ...
By consideration and consolidation of the various bits and pieces that have come my way, I have discovered that I am related to the writer of "The Star-Spangled Banner". Phillip Keye (1696-1764) and Susannah Barton Gardner (1705-1742), who were among the early Maryland settlers (moved there in 1640, which was obviously not so great for her) were my 7xgreat grandparents. Two of their sons were my 6x great-grandfather, Richard Ward Key (1727-1765) and his younger brother Francis Key (1731-1770). Richard's daughter Mary Key (1752-1796) was my 5x great-grandmother. Her first cousin was John Ross Key (1754-1821). Mary married Daniel Charles ...
This graph is from an Australian source and relates to the situation as at August 2020. It was sent to me by a friend who now works out there. You will see that Australia is proudly in the top right-hand corner, in terms of deaths per million, outstripped by only Japan and Korea, and by minimal economic shrink only by South Korea. In the bottom left hand corner, with the most deaths per million of population, is the UK. We also have the largest percentage fall in economic activity. Of course this graph shows only ten countries (plus the over-all ...
During the working day I am a lawyer. For most of the rest of my time I am an activist. But I am not an activist lawyer. Despite the dangerous arguments that have been bandied around by the Conservative-run Home Office over the past week, Priti Patel should know that this is something that just doesn't exist. The reality is that, under our legal system, the personal views of a lawyer won't have an impact on the outcome of a case. I've always privately held liberal political views and for the past four years I've been an active Liberal Democrat. ...
I've just finished my first corporate resources scrutiny committee since January. It was held online and much of the discussion was about what we have learnt from the lockdown in terms of how the council operates. I strongly pushed for the council to offer as a right where appropriate the opportunity for council staff to work from home. I argued that it will help with mental and physical health
Sun, 13:03: Wow. Get well soon, Bill. https://t.co/1b5smPYiVJ Sun, 14:44: A fossilized tree. https://t.co/uNk6XoExeF Sun, 15:33: RT @ianbremmer: Serbian President Vucic finds out he's moving his country's Israel embassy to Jerusalem. #RealTimeDiplomacy https://t.co/nd... Sun, 15:33: RT @ianbremmer: This one is better. Cheers, @rjarborg. https://t.co/BoPWSimlhC Sun, 17:19: December 2007 books and 2007 reading https://t.co/Sta4XuyOou Sun, 19:22: RT @GavinBarwell: Given the Withdrawal Agreement & Political Declaration David Frost negotiated last autumn were 95% the work of his predec... Sun, 20:48: A good thread, but I don't agree with all of it, notably here: if Johnson needed a deal of some form, surely ...
The Guardian carries the astonishing news that the Prime Minister plans to tear up the legally binding withdrawal agreement by publishing legislation that will row back parts of the UK's agreement with the EU on state aid and customs arrangements for Northern Ireland. In doing so, he will effectively end trade talks with the European Union, by proving once and for all that he cannot be trusted to keep to negotiated agreements, and no doubt rauise doubts amongst other countries as to whether the UK are reliable trade partners, and make a no deal Brexit inevitable. His actions may also ...
i) births and deaths 7 September 1917: death of Ewen Solon, who played Chal in The Savages (First Doctor, 1966) and Vishinsky in Planet of Evil (Fourth Doctor, 1975). 7 September 1959: birth of Rona Munro, so far the only person to have written TV stories for both Old Who and New Who. She wrote Survival, the very last story of the 1963-89 series (Seventh Doctor, 1989), and The Eaters of Light (Twelfth Doctor, 2017). 7 September 1960: birth of Christopher Villiers, who played Hugh Fitzwilliam in The King's Demons (Fifth Doctor, 1983) and Professor Moorhouse in Mummy on the ...
Below you'll find a link to a short Museum of Liverpool video on You Tube showing mind maps detailing the experiences of participants:- Our daughter Jen is one such participant and her mind map is at about 1.30mins into the video and it's also at the head of this posting. Click on the mind map grapic to enlarge for reading
I am passionately pro-European. I wish we were still part of the EU. I want our party to remain the most pro-European in the House of Commons. Most of all, however, I want us to actually win the argument over Europe, because if we see a future for Britain in Europe, we need to create one that ordinary people feel meets their hopes and dreams, not one that tells them how wrong they are for not supporting us. The phrase "politics is about winning hearts and minds" means the hearts and minds of those with whom we initially disagree. It's ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 2020 West Hendersons Wynd - closed from Monday 7 September for 3 days for carriageway resurfacing. Riverside Esplanade - off-peak nearside lane closure on Thursday 10 September for Scottish Water ironwork repair. Forthcoming Roadworks Strawberrybank - closed from Thursday 17 September for 5 working days for wall maintenance works.
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