[IMG: Karma makes an appearance in the Rose Garden] Victories can be false ones and it is only the utterly reckless, stupid and arrogant who would lack a store of common sense and prescience... The post Karma makes an appearance in the Rose Garden appeared first on Ambitiousmamas.
It's hard to credit if you visit Welshpool today, but the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway used to make its way through the town from its modern Raven Square terminus to the main line station. This beautiful footage from 1963 shows a train on this lost line. It would be something to be cherished just for the colour views of Welshpool back streets. Click on the still above to view it on the British Film Institute site.
Twenty years ago, a young Baroness moved an amendment to the Transport Bill then under discussion which was intended to make it easier to establish Home Zones and Quiet Lanes. At the time, the Minister, Lord Whitty, was not entirely convinced but wanted to take it away for more thought. The outcome was Section 268, Transport Act 2000, and the young Baroness, who had been in the Lords for less than three months, was Ros. The significance of that certainly didn't hit me at the time - not only did I not know Ros, but the relevance of the legislation ...
James Baillie blogs on the Liberal Democrats' first virtual annual conference and Ed Davey: "His charge of the party 'failing to listen' came across poorly to those in the membership who feel that over the past decade, it has tended to be the leadership in which Ed has often featured, not the membership, who have often failed to address the reasons why the party lost many voters' trust and to move forward effectively from the party's time in government." "For all of the country's flaws, Britain is not America. Trying to understand its racial dynamics through the lens of another ...
Forced to choose, four times as many Lib Dem voters would go for a Labour government headed by Keir Starmer than a Conservative one headed by Boris Johnson.
The council agreed its Environment Strategy and Climate Emergency Response Plan at the recent Environment & Neighbourhoods Committee. The report included pledges and tips from residents compiled during the consultation. As a vegetarian for 30 years and keen recycler with a hatred of food waste I thought I was doing fairly well at reducing my [...]
Next in my write-ups of works that won both the Hugo and Nebula, which I am now doing year by year. The 1978 Hugos and 1977 Nebulas were awarded in 1978 for work published in 1977. As is sometimes the case (most recently three years ago), three out of four written fiction categories were won by the same work for both awards. The second paragraph of the third section of "Jeffty is Five" by Harlan Ellison, which won both Best Short Story awards, is:Her husband managed to drag himself out of the old easy chair and went to her. He ...
Sun 4th
13:00
Why we need to decriminalise abortion and give women agency to make their own decisions
Abortion has been high on the social agenda in recent months. The Coronavirus pandemic necessitated a change in practice. So regulation around home abortions were adapted and the pills needed for early medical abortions (before 10 weeks) were allowed to be taken at home. Unsurprisingly, this thoughtful kindness to allow women to go through this devastating experience privately, at home, sparked a huge debate on both sides. Advocates of the decision looking to make a permanent change to the draconian 1967 Abortion Act and other, most notably, Christian Concern, claiming the decision goes against the purposes of the Act and ...
The news that the Coronavirus has struck at the heart of the American Government is both shocking and unsurprising. Shocking because in theory the President is one of the most protected people in the world. Unsurprising because he has led ... Continue reading →
I'd been thinking of including a Helen Reddy song here for some time and then came the news that she had died. Though she is more or less forgotten now, she sold a lot of records in the Seventies and was even cast in a leading role in a Disney family film, Pete's Dragon. Most of the coverage this week was about Reddy's feminist anthem I am Woman, which was all the more effective for sounding middle of the road and Radio 2 friendly. But some of her hits, such as this and Delta Dawn, had a surprising edge.
I saw David Lean's Dr Zhivago (available on BBC iPlayer for the next three weeks) when it came out in 1965 and was bowled over by it. It triggered a passionate interest in Russia and its early 20th century history and I have never been able to get the Lara theme from Maurice Jarre's score [...]
As Spitting Image is returning to our screens, it may be interesting to return to an old controversy over it: did its unflattering portrayal of David Steel damage the Liberal Party?
Sat, 12:56: RT @Beathhigh: Can't help but post this stonking review by Mark Sanderson in today's Times. Wow. https://t.co/7hIRf0dYZz Sat, 13:08: Yep, got it! https://t.co/Z02lKVilRY https://t.co/Aqw6pqXcIj Sat, 13:21: Thread. https://t.co/4xJx5k2slB Sat, 14:48: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World's Oldest Continuously Run Libraries https://t.co/UbS0xKR312 Wow. Sat, 14:53: I'm at M - Museum Leuven in Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant https://t.co/PxrzH0HBOR https://t.co/pFUcSqcNxo Sat, 16:05: Kamala Harris is the first candidate based outside what are now the Eastern or Central Time Zones that the Democrats have *ever* had on their presidential/VP ticket - apart from the very dubious case of Joe Lane in 1860. ...
We are in the middle of the Tory Party's virtual conference, and it is not just the technology that is struggling to find its purpose. The Independent reports that Boris Johnson is facing pressure from his own party's MPs to get out of his "bunker" and shake off his reliance on controversial adviser Dominic Cummings. They say that confidence in the prime minister within his own party has been shaken by his handling of coronavirus, doubts over a Brexit deal and recent rows over lockdown restrictions, bizarre plans to send asylum seekers to the south Atlantic and threats to break ...
We've just got through the leadership election and now two of our other MPs are facing off against each other. Well, their cats are. Wendy Chamberlain's Hobbes and Jamie Stone's Hattie are taking part in Purr Minister 2020, run by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. Lib Dems have been successful before. Annette Brooke's Billy won in 2015. Wendy and Jamie have both taken to Twitter to drum up votes for their gorgeous cats. #VoteHattie because I went through the effort of writing a poem for her [IMG: 👉] https://t.co/n8fGhlp1QL https://t.co/ffUEEacQ58 pic.twitter.com/d9gKHQSJNB — Jamie Stone MP (@Jamie4North) October 1, 2020 His ...
i) births and deaths 4 October 1922: birth of Dudley Simpson, composer extraordinaire. Here's the Fourth Doctor's theme. 4 October 1987: birth of Daniel Anthony, who played Clyde Langer in the Sarah Jane Adventures. ii) broadcast anniversaries 4 October 1975: broadcast of second episode of Planet of Evil. The Doctor finds the pool which is the interface between the universes of matter and anti-matter; and falls into it. 4 October 1976: broadcast of a Doctor Who segment of the children's radio programme Exploration Earth, starring Tom Baker as the Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith exploring the geological ...
You might say 'God help us we are desperately in need of dynamic political leadership on the left', although in my case it would be your God as I don't actually have one but you get my drift. And indeed drift is what has got the left of UK politics into the mess that it is. But where did the rot start? For the Lib Dems after Charles Kennedy bowed out as their leader, for Labour probably when the wrong Miliband was elected their leader. Yes we can argue about when the rot started but when will it stop? I ...
Further update - for Sunday 4th October from Councillor Fraser Macpherson (West End) and Councillor Craig Duncan (Broughty Ferry) FLU VACCINE ADVICE NHS Tayside is encouraging members of the public in at-risk groups, as well as health and social care staff, to take up the offer of a free flu vaccination. The seasonal flu vaccination programme has now launched and NHS Tayside will be offering those who are most at risk the opportunity to protect themselves from flu. • People aged 65 and over, adults with a long-term health condition such as heart, lung or kidney diseases, unpaid carers, and ...
