Liberal Democrats: Government must grant EU citizens proof of settled status Slow economic growth reinforces need for furlough extension Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group at risk of collapse shows need for furlough extension Liberal Democrats: Sunak's offer does not go far enough Liberal Democrats: Government must grant EU citizens proof of settled status The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to grant EU citizens the automatic right to stay in the UK, with the physical proof they need, as new Home Office figures reveal thousands are being refused and 1.8 million have not been granted the right to stay permanently. ...
Here is the second instalment of Jim Butler's latest Hidden Histories series. It shows just how much Leicester suffered in the civil war. Part 1 was posted on Tuesday. Part 3 will be along soon.
Eighteen months ago - you can't have forgotten - I blogged about plans to provide extra parking in the centre of Market Harborough to cater for visiting coaches. But today Harborough FM, which these days provides the best local news service, reported: Plans to build a coach park in Market Harborough town centre have been put on hold because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Council bosses have taken the decision in light of the downturn in the coach tourism industry, potentially impacting on demand for such a facility. They had set aside £400,000 to build it on land off Northampton Road ...
It's only one poll, but this is far from encouraging. The latest YouGov opinion poll shows the following levels of support for the parties: % Conservatives 41 Labour 38 Green Party 6 Liberal Democrats 5 The messages the vaguely interested voter will have heard from the party in recent weeks is that we have not been listening and that we have watered down our commitment to the EU. So perhaps this poll finding should not be such a surprise. Meanwhile Ed Davey continues his listening tour...
Opposition parties are right to challenge government mismanagement of the coronavirus epidemic. Competence is crucial to saving lives, maintaining wider public health, and not unnecessarily constraining personal liberty. So far, the UK government has got it spectacularly wrong on all these counts. The twin major government failures in managing the pandemic have been Insufficient PPE in March. As a result, many thousands of people died. Care homes have since achieved zero infection with full PPE. Insufficient tests in September. As a result, thousands of uninfected people are now subject to 14 days avoidable quarantine, losing their liberty and their work. ...
Second paragraph of third section:I travelled with my mother (sceptical. anxious), my widowed aunt Annie, who had been married to my mother's brother (calm), and my fifteen-year-old son (curious). In Vienna we boarded a smaller plane for the 650-kilometre trip east, across the invisible line that once marked the Iron Curtain. To the north of Budapest, the plane descended over the Ukrainian spa town of Truskavets, through a cloudless sky, so we could see the Carpathian Mountains and, in the distance, Romania. The landscape around Lviv — the 'bloodlands' described by one historian in his book on the terrors visited ...
Donald Trump and I have something in common. We are both on steroids. And I can tell you from personal experience, that heavy doses of steroids can affect you mentally – and physically. It can make you angry and a shade irrational. Just ask my wife. In fact she says I should delete the word "shade". In my case it affects my feet and hands as well; swelling the feet and making the hands shake. The reason for these changes is that steroids dramatically and rapidly push up your sugar levels. It is a bit like suddenly swallowing a kilo ...
When I was a child, mental illness was seen as a matter of shame. The most severely afflicted were incarcerated in "lunatic asylums" (or loony bins, as far too many people called them, reassuring themselves that they would never end up there). My adoptive mother's sister was institutionalised but the subject was taboo. Then she [...]
At this year's Air Quality Day York is proudly leading the way nationally by working to implement ambitious plans across the city to improve York's air quality and move towards becoming carbon zero by 2030. Earlier in April new research had revealed that York's air quality had seen significant improvements during lockdown. This follows a positive long-term trend that has seen carbon emissions decrease by 37% over the last 13 years. Whilst similar reductions in air pollution have taken place across the country, here in York we aim to capture, retain and speed up this trend to aid in the ...
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to extend furlough as new figures (GDP monthly estimate, UK: August 2020) reveal growth in August was slower than the expansion seen in both June and July. Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Christine Jardine said: "These figures make it clear that despite the massive effort people have made to fight this virus and its economic implications, the road to recovery is going to be rockier than we feared."The Chancellor has to recognise that people, businesses and the economy need more support than he is currently offering. Furlough has to be extended until next ...
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to grant EU citizens the automatic right to stay in the UK, with the physical proof they need, as new Home Office figures reveal thousands are being refused and 1.8 million have not been granted the right to stay permanently.The latest EU Settlement Scheme statistics, which were published yesterday, revealed 16,600 people have been refused Settled Status - including 5,700 in September alone. They also revealed that 1.6 million have only been granted temporary 'Pre-Settled Status' and 180,000 are still waiting for a decision.On Monday, the House of Lords passed a Liberal ...
In my childhood boys up to the age of 13 or so were expected to wear short trousers and long socks held up by elastic garters. The elastic soon lost its springiness and the socks easily shuttered around the ankles (see the illustrations in the "Just William " books.) When our performance in whatever was under discussion failed to come up to expectations we were often told to "Pull your socks up." Biddable boys so instructed but as yet unfamiliar with the nuances of metaphor would bend down, pull up their socks, and wonder quite how that would help in ...
Thu, 12:00: RT @UKPoliticalNews: Will there be a #Brexit deal at the end of the tunnel? Perspectives from @apcoworldwide colleagues in Brussels, Berlin... Thu, 12:56: Time seems to move at a different pace in rural Northern Ireland - and even the cats seem to sense it https://t.co/nKfXos91pP Lovely post. "Before August, I thought it odd that my boyfriend's family have a caravan an hour's drive from their house." Thu, 13:01: RT @NobelPrize: BREAKING NEWS: The 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to the American poet Louise Glück "for her unmistakable poeti... Thu, 15:10: RT @CharlesMichel: Un pangolin de 9 ...
It was inevitable I suppose, that the UK's nomination of Liam Fox for director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should end in ignominous failure. The Independent reports that Tory right-winger, Fox, who famously said the EU-UK trade deal after Brexit would be the "easiest in history", failed to make the last round of the contest, which will be between South Korea's Yoo Myung-hee and Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Why exactly Boris Johnson thought Dr Fox might be a credible candidate for the role is difficult to understand, after all most of the Tory party and their pro-Brexit allies have spent ...
Yesterday evening, I published the latest data for positive Covid-19 cases in Ludlow and the county. The rising number of cases is a disturbing trend but hereabouts there is no need to panic. The increase was long expected. We don't need to change what we do. Just do it more carefully. I thought it might be useful to publish a set of graphs that demonstrate the trends in cases for Ludlow, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, the West Midlands and England. There is a caveat to these graphs. During the first peak in May, Covid-19 testing was not universally available. The ...
The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework was due to be published on 5 October 2020 with a special meeting of Bury Council on 21 October 2020 to agree the plan. Assuming that the plan had been agreed by all ten Greater Manchester councils then the public would have had a seven week consultation in November and December. Publication of the plan was cancelled on Monday (5th), press reports blame a dispute between Tameside and Stockport councils around an industrial site at Bredbury Park.... Apparently the "Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, is currently being finalised and will be published once necessary final changes ...
Bury Council and NHS have issued the following update on Covid-19 cases in Bury (8 October 2020) The four-week summary in Bury: Week ending 3 October: infection rate 277.5 (530 new cases) Week ending 26 September: infection rate 224.6 (429 new cases) Week ending 19 September: infection rate 165.5 (316 new cases) Week ending 12 September: infection rate 101.1 (193 new cases) The full update for the week is here. Local Testing Options (Please note this is correct at 9 October 2020, for the latest local and national options and booking information go to: https://www.bury.gov.uk/coronavirus-testing or call 0161 253 5515. ...
Free community tennis sessions have returned to St Mary's Park in Prestwich to help improve people's physical and mental wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic. National sports charity Tennis for Free have relaunched the sessions on Sunday (4 Oct) in partnership with Bury Council and the LTA. The sessions will be led by a professional tennis coach and take place every Sunday from 1pm to 2pm, initially for over-12s only. All you need to do is sign up at: www.tennisforfree.com Tennis For Free co-founder Patrick Hollwey said: "It has never been more important to get communities active again, especially those who ...
Saturday 10 October 2020 is World Mental Health Day and this year's theme is 'mental health for all'. During this difficult year, many local people's lives and livelihoods have been affected and this has been particularly tough on people's emotional health and wellbeing. More information on the day here, and for the UK here. Bury residents are reminded that Early Break's Getting Help Line offers non-clinical, non-urgent support for anyone experiencing low level emotional health and wellbeing difficulties. On the phone: 0161 464 3679 - Monday to Saturday from 8am to 8pmBy email: GettingHelpLine@earlybreak.co.ukOnline: earlybreak.co.uk/gettinghelpline If you would like to ...
Fri 9th
08:30
Whoniversaries 9 October: Cumming, Letts, first filming, Mission to the Unknown, Hand of Fear #2
i) births and deaths 9 October 1912: birth of Seymour Green who played two villainous sidekicks, Hargreaves the butler in The Seeds of Doom (Fourth Doctor, 1976) and Mestor's chamerlain, Slarn, in The Twin Dilemma (Sixth Doctor, 1984). 9 October 1937: birth of Fiona Cumming, director of four Fifth Doctor stories and variously involved in other ways too. 9 October 2009: death of Barry Letts, producer of Who from Doctor Who and the Silurians (Third Doctor, 1970) to Robot (Fourth Doctor, 1974-75), director of Enemy of the World (Second Doctor, 1967-68) and The Android Invasion (Fourth Doctor, 1975), writer of ...
Many thanks to the residents who recently highlighted concerns that a TV aerial on a tenement on Blackness Road was hanging precariously. Given the potentially disastrous consequences if it fell onto the busy road and pavement below, I immediately contacted the City Council about this. A Building Standards officer very promptly updated me as follows : "I attended the property ... (and) it was noted when on site that the aerial attached to the tenement building appeared loose and was hanging over the footway. I contacted the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to allow access to the aerial and review ...
