It's fashionable at the moment to pile on to Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP for Mansfield, and I see no reason to discourage this. So here's one tweet Bradley has not deleted: Except 1 in 3 kids don't live in poverty, thats an absolute fallacy. Labour's measure of 'relative' poverty is meaningless. If Richard Branson gets richer, more kids get 'relatively' impoverished. Its just an arbitrary line on income, ignoring things like local cost of living etc https://t.co/UpOyDBgtdJ — Ben Bradley MP (@BBradley_Mans) October 22, 2020 No doubt a lot has changed since my schooldays. But, judging by this and ...
What seems clear to me is that a position of global leadership should be the result of what a state does. It is an earned position, to which the US has no greater inherent claim than any other nation.
Earlier this week, all five Shropshire MPs voted against giving children from poorer families school meals during school holidays. The MPs, who seem not to know what it is like to be on the poverty line, think families can thrive on Universal Credit. It was their "let them eat cake moment". The MPs include Philip Dunne who has recently taken on a part-time job alongside his supposedly fulltime job as Ludlow's MP. Fortunately, cafes, restaurants and businesses around the county have stepped in and are offering food to families with children who qualify for free school meals. Our communities are ...
This week, Wera Hobhouse, as Lib Dem Equalities spokesperson, too part in the Black History Month debate in the House of Commons. Watch her speech here: I have been listening to and speaking with members of the black community in Bath. We need to reject and dismantle the culture war that is being actively promoted in our society. It robs our country compassion and is the death of a tolerant, liberal society. pic.twitter.com/Yzc2U3zEqR — Wera Hobhouse MP [IMG: 🔶] (@Wera_Hobhouse) October 21, 2020 Christine Jardine also made an intervention, talking about the history of the streets in Glasgow. On that ...
This is the latest post in a series I started last November, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia. We spent most of August in Loughbrickland as usual, catching the partial solar eclipse on our way over and the total lunar ...
It looks like Christmas is not going to be the same at all, and pretty miserable for many who are usually with family and friends but this year cannot be. There are many in that position that often get invited to someone else's house for the day, go along to a community meal, as well of course, those that are just on their own. So I thought of how we could encourage some cheer into an otherwise lonely day. Why not "raise a glass", at say midday on Christmas Day. My ideas is that people go outside, just like they ...
As a final tribute to Spencer Davis, here he is taking the lead on the group's own composition Sittin' and Thinkin'. Before he formed the Spencer Davis Group he performed folk blues with guitar and a harmonica on a harness, like Bob Dylan. This performance comes from the West German TV show Beat Beat Beat, which was better at preserving its tapes than most of its British equivalents. As a result, there are some great compilations of performances from the show to buy on DVD. And the best obituary of Spencer Davis is in Rolling Stone - I didn't know ...
Image: The Trussell Trust (April 2017) There's been a big political story this week - and the long and short of it is that Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford is widely seen a hero while 322 Tory MPs are perceived as "scum". You'll know what I'm talking about. Mr Rashford's articulate tweets in support of extending free school meals (FSMs) through school holidays during a pandemic situation led to Labour putting forward a motion to provide FSMs to children entitled to them during all holidays until Easter 2021. Sadly, and predictably, MPs voted along party lines. Opposition parties supported to ...
Oh what a week that was! Liberal Democrat peers can hold up their heads in some pride after a remarkable week in the Lords in which the Government suffered a massive defeat on the Internal Market Bill, three issues were ping-ponged back to the Commons, and Liberal Democrats fought the battles while the Labour Party disgraced themselves by abstaining on several vital motions. There's a pattern. Since the August recess the government have been defeated in the Lords no fewer than 17 times. But they've won eleven votes and on all but one of those the Labour Party sat on ...
The Independent reveals that Boris Johnson is facing growing condemnation for failing to act to end an "appalling" Tory alliance with neo-Nazi and anti-Muslim parties across Europe. They say that this extraordinary pact sees the party's MPs sitting alongside the "heirs of Mussolini" in Italy and an Estonian party that celebrates its wartime collaboration with Hitler, among other far-right groups in the Council of Europe. Yet. Lord Balfe, who was kicked out of the European Conservatives Group for protesting to No 10 after the group "invited in" the far-right so-called Democratic Alliance, has revealed that his repeated attempts to persuade ...
Sat, 13:25: A Wayfarer in Sweden, by Frederic Whyte An entertaining little book about Sweden, whose author was both my first cousin thrice removed and and my second cousin twice removed. #nwbooks https://t.co/y5joXFVw28 https://t.co/HguwpUvknZ https://t.co/rHTH5EpGh1 Sat, 14:25: The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen Long and tedious book about the disastrous Christmas celebrations of an elderly couple and their three adult children. Was probably meant to be funny in places, but I did not laugh. #nwbook https://t.co/eoqCbju0vX https://t.co/bT3REDSqpK https://t.co/oZRvkcjR6x Sat, 15:05: The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner I almost completely bounced off this book about a decaying family of the ...
I think it was around 2002 that Sheila, Jen and I had a holiday in Canada and my abiding memory of that lovely country was how safe it felt; far safer than the UK. Indeed, I recall that during a bus tour around Montreal the guide proudly told us how safe the city was and how little crime took place compared to many western cities. Imagine my surprise then when I came across the video on You Tube:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYVzM0ku_J4 Ok, yes, I'm a railway enthusiast and our holiday in Canada all those years ago was by rail up the eastern ...
In August, my husband James, and I had the wonderful surprise of discovering that we were expecting a baby. We were over the moon as we were waiting for this little bundle of joy for a certain time. After the emotion and the joy came quickly in my mind the question of "When should I announce it to everybody?" Obviously, the close family will know soon enough but a bigger shadow came to hover over my head. At that time, I was in the middle of my regional selection process for next year's Scottish election. It took me a lot ...
broadcast anniversaries 25 October 1975: broadcast of first episode of The Pyramids of Mars. The Doctor and Sarah land in the future UNIT headquarters, the Scarman brothers' family home, and encounter robotic mummies and various Egyptian relics. 25 October 1980: broadcast of first episode of Full Circle; first appearance of Adric. The Tardis falls into E-Space; Mistfall threatens the people of Alzareus; and the Marshmen rise. 25 October 1986: broadcast of fourth episode of Mindwarp (ToaTL #8). Peri is killed by brain transplant!!! (Or is she?) Her last appearance as a regular character anyway. 25 October 1989: broadcast of first ...
Residents will recall that the consultation on residents' parking was abruptly suspended in March shortly after the two consultation meetings, due to the COVID-19 health emergency. I have been in touch with the City Council about its position regarding getting the consultation concluded and a residents' parking scheme introduced. The Head of Sustainable Transport and Roads has now updated me as follows : "As you note, there are options to either progress the outstanding consultation online or postpone until physically distancing requirements are relaxed. Engagement with non-digital persons is a concern with the former of these two options. Associated with ...
