Government meetings must produce results for families over the festive season Welsh Liberal Democrats welcome progress on Christmas Travel Government meetings must produce results for families over the festive season Responding to reports that the UK Government will hold meetings to try to develop a UK-wide approach to restrictions for the festive period, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said: It is welcome that the governments of the four nations are listening to the Liberal Democrats' calls. With so many families desperate to be back together this festive season, we simply cannot allow political bickering and fractured guidance to ...
When I was a student 40 years ago or more, there were two rail routes from Sheffield to York. The loco-hauled trains passed through the near-derelict station at Normanton and did not travel via Leeds as they do today. Or you could take a DMU along the Dearne Valley line and pass through Pontefract Baghill. Baghill is now the least used station in West Yorkshire, but I remember the line as being well used. Like all Dearne Valley stations, it is below the level of the track because of mining subsidence.
It would be nice to think that with the US presidential elections only a few days away, and Trump trailing badly in the opinion polls, that the end of nearly four years of right-wing populism a la Donald Trump is in sight. This is a false hope on so many levels. For a start, he may still win. And, a massive question mark hangs over the issue of whether or not Donald Trump will accept defeat at the polls. "If I lose, the election is fraudulent," Trump asserts with unbelievable arrogance and disregard for basic democratic values. If the president ...
Courtesy of NALC, I've received notification that The Committee on Standards in Public Life is carrying out a landscape review of the institutions, processes and structures in place to support high standards of conduct. The cynics amongst us might suggest that the only way to ensure high standards of conduct in some quarters would require an electric cattle prod, especially given the increasing tendency for some politicians to simply lie on the basis that, if you lie with sufficient conviction and consistency, enough people will fall for it, or want to believe it, you can win. And, you might argue, ...
Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of both 101 Ways To Win An Election and Bad News: what the headlines don't tell us, along with maintaining the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. The next general election is most likely several years away, but political polling of voting intentions for a general election is in full swing. Half-a-dozen firms are polling regularly, with a handful of occasional surveys from others too. Below the table, you'll find the option to sign up to email updates about new polls and also a set of answers ...
[IMG: Fancy playing Solitaire where the Queen is the top card?] It is a game played in royal circles, Prince Albert was a keen Solitaire fan, and it was referenced in Great Expectations, the Charles Dickens... The post Fancy playing Solitaire where the Queen is the top card? appeared first on Ambitiousmamas.
I joined the Conservative Party in the early 1970s at the time of the first referendum, and from 1999 served for ten years as an MEP. Last year, after increasing unease at the Party's lurch to the Right, I joined the Liberal Democrats where I instantly felt at home. More Tories will surely follow, especially as so many are not renewing their membership given the clumsiness of the cabal currently at the top. Conservatives are not the only ones to be unhappy: young people are being disadvantaged and even damaged by the triply toxic cocktail of Covid plus Boris Johnson ...
September 2008 was the start of our new lives as Belgian citizens, a mere five months after applying. In other family news, my sister C had her baby daughter S, still my youngest relative on that side of the family. I started the month in Slovenia, as noted, and also travelled to Salzburg for another conference. No photos this month, as far as I can see. My plan to read the whole of Shakespeare's plays was getting well under way by now. I was combining reading the scripts with listening to the Arkangel Complete Shakespeare, a methodology that I would ...
As a Liberal Democrat and a Muslim, I condemn the senseless murder of Samuel Paty and the attacks in Nice on 29 October. Such heinous attacks are completely against the teachings of Islam, which prohibits terrorism or extremism under any circumstances. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, the people of France and with everyone affected. These horrific attacks, perpetrated on the false pretext of defending the honour of Muhammad, The Holy Prophet of Islam ("The Holy Prophet") have led to outrage and exacerbated tensions between Muslims and French society. They risk damaging relations in Britain too. ...
The BBC faces criticism from people across the political spectrum for perceived bias. The left accuse it of being full of Conservative Oxbridge graduates; the right accuse it of being stuffed with do-gooding lefties. Remain voters shame it for giving Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson a disproportionate voice; Leave voters are convinced that its coverage verged on making it a campaigning tool for Remain. On the whole, this suggests that the BBC gets it broadly correct. I myself feel it leans too much towards a sort of moderate conservatism, but then as a proud liberal leftie myself, I suppose that's ...
Fri 30th
11:20
Roadworks on New Road and Sandpits will break for Christmas and resume in the New Year
The £1.3 million plus scheme to replace the sewerage pipes on New Road and Sandpits Road is will not be complete this year. However, work on New Road will be suspended on 9 November until the second week of January. The road will be returned to two-way traffic when the works are suspended. In the New Year, Seven Trent Water's contractor, Amey will mole drill under Gravel Hill to connect the New Road pipe with the work on Sandpits. Work on replacing utility services on Sandpits Road will continue beyond 9 November but will be suspended for the holiday season. ...
Windmills to the Sea now available as a Kindle Edition, click on photo to find it on Amazon. 'October 2020 This year has been hard for everyone. Some of these poems have been written in response to the pandemic, some are from past years. My poems are the compass my heart travels with through life. Walk, for a while, with me. '
Thu, 12:56: The EU's €140M 'zombie committee' faces pressure to reform https://t.co/UC3jBk5P4P Why does the EESC still exist? Other EU institutions are very diligent about outreach to stakeholders these days. Thu, 14:25: The first five Amber books, by Roger Zelazny I enjoyed re-reading the books. There are so many great descriptive passages and succinct one-liners. There are flaws, but I am reading for entertainment. #nwbooks https://t.co/dwtMoLinK6 https://t.co/Ew4dkeZ1AR https://t.co/6BdxfhLhOr Thu, 15:25: The Life and Death of King John, by William Shakespeare It's a somewhat weird meditation on the political process. While the Bastard is the author's creation, it is not at ...
Nobody can accuse the BBC of being insensitive to criticism, or at least not when it is the government, their paymasters, finding fault. Their new rules for the way journalists and frontline current affairs broadcasters use social media are designed to keep government ministers happy by preventing employees from expressing a "personal opinion on matters of public policy, politics, or controversial subjects": The guidance states staff should avoid using disclaimers such as "My views, not the BBC's" in their biographies and profiles, as they provide no defence against personal expressions of opinion. It also advises staff against using emojis which ...
Hundreds of thousands of extra email addresses are being made available to Lib Dem local parties via the Lighthouse system.
Fri 30th
08:30
Whoniversaries 30 October: Myth Makers #3, Deadly Assassin #1, Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith #2
i) births and deaths 30 October 1978: death of Brian Hayles, writer of The Celestial Toymaker (First Doctor, 1966), The Smugglers (First Doctor, 1966), The Ice Warriors (Second Doctor, 1968), The Seeds of Death (Second Doctor, 1969), The Curse of Peladon (Third Doctor, 1971) and The Monster of Peladon (Third Doctor, 1974). 30 October 1997: death of Sydney Newman, without whom etc etc. ii) broadcast anniversaries 30 October 1965: broadcast of "Death of a Spy", the third episode of the story we now call The Myth Makers. Steven and Vicki are imprisoned by the Trojans; the Doctor designs the wooden ...
Recently, residents have asked me when the hedging at Victoria Park will be trimmed. I took this up with the City Council and the Environmental Management Area Officer has advised : "... the hedge cutting with tractor mounted flail has commenced and is working its way across town east to west and this hedge is programmed in to be done and should be done in the next few weeks. As you will be aware we have not been able to carry out our normal program of works at the usual time of year due to the covid-19 situation and most ...
