Before going off to work for Facebook Nick Clegg had a go at being a media personality. One effort in this direction was his podcast Anger Management. And on 12 July 2018 he interviewed former US Vice President Joe Biden.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Joe Biden's victory in the American Presidential election feels like the first bit of good news in a long while. For the present, at least, it seems as though its not just Donald Trump who has been defeated and diminished, but whole worldwide far-right populist movement. Besides this powerful symbolism, the American people will now enjoy better government and the wider world will benefit from the US rejoining the Western mainstream. Biden has already announced that the US will rejoin the Paris climate agreement, for instance.. And we in Britain may be brought to our senses. The idea that a ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I did sigh a bit when it was announced that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden would be speaking at 8pm local time that night. After four days of sitting up till the wee hours waiting for that count to move off 253, I could have done with an early night. There was no way I was going to miss it though. Especially as I'd sat up on Thursday to listen to Trump's outburst. I had planned to go to bed at 11pm but at 10:50, he outgoing President (how lovely it is to write that) announced a press conference at ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

More than one person tweeted this clip yesterday, but I thought I would immortalise it here. This 'social media' is all very well, but you can't beat old-fashioned blogging.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

Third section of 2021 Doctor Who annual (click to embiggen): Well, I've complained bitterly about the inadequacy of the first two annuals of the Thirteenth Doctor era; I'm glad to say that this winter's offering is a step up. The bulk of it consists of summaries of this year's episodes from Season 12 (or 38), but they are nicely done in the form of diary entries from the regulars, and there's also some exploration of how the stories link back to the rest of the show's history. There are also seven pages at the end looking forward to the Time ...

In the 19th Century, freak shows were extremely popular, on both sides of the Atlantic. Devoid of many of the sorts of entertainment we today take for granted, people of all classes were prepared to pay a few pence to gawk at bearded ladies, Siamese twins, dwarves and giants. Seen through contemporary eyes, this practice [...]

Posted by jonathanfryer on Jonathan Fryer

It was so strange watching the Festival of Remembrance from a virtually empty Albert Hall last night. This will be a very strange Remembrance Sunday. Most of the usual services have been cancelled. I normally buy my poppies in the supermarket, but as they are out of bounds at the moment for me, and I'm sure for many of you, here is the link to the Royal British Legion's poppy appeal in case you want to make a donation to support the work that the Legion does to support veterans and their families. I took this photo at the Tower ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice
Sun 8th
11:00

My tweets

 

As if it were not bad enough that government contracts are being given out willy-nilly to companies with little track record in their chosen field, with links to key government members and advisors and with minimal, if any, competitive tendering, we now have allegations that the head of the UK's vaccine taskforce has hired eight public relations consultants at a cost to the taxpayer of £670,000. The Independent says that Kate Bingham, who was appointed to chair the group by Boris Johnson, reportedly "insisted" on hiring the team from London agency Admiral Associates. They says the consultants have been overseeing ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

I've long been a little ashamed that the first album I bought with my own money was Band on the Run by Wings. But I have no such feelings about the second, which was Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits. And as we have all been thinking about America these past few days, this seems a good time to choose one of Paul Simon's greatest songs. It has appeared here before, but I've decided that, as this blog has been running so long, repetition is a service to most readers.

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England
YouGov

What will America do with Mr Trump when he ceases to be President? There will be those who believe that the relatively narrow margin of Biden's victory means that America is still a bitterly divided country and that the healing process means that any question of prosecution would be a non-starter because it would 're-open the wounds". Trumpism will not go away even in the unlikely event of the man himself disappearing into the sunset sometime in January. But national divisions are nothing like as simple as the binary choices of a two-horse race or a yes/no referendum. Going against ...

Posted by Geoff Reid on Liberal Democrat Voice

i) births and deaths 8 November 1927: birth of Lennie Mayne, director of The Curse of Peladon (Third Doctor, 1972), The Three Doctors (Third Doctor, 1972-3), The Monster of Peladon (Third Doctor, 1974) and The Hand of Fear (Fourth Doctor, 1976) 8 November 1941: birth of Nerys Hughes, who played scientist Todd in Kinda (Fifth Doctor, 1982) and Rhys's mother (therefore Gwen's mother-in-law) in the exceptionally silly Torchwood episode Something Borrowed (2008) 8 November 1956: birth of Richard Curtis, executive producer of The Curse of Fatal Death (interim, 1999) and writer of Vincent and the Doctor (Eleventh Doctor, 2010) 8 ...

Sun 8th
08:27

Cometh the hour...

If anyone is made for this moment, it's Joe Biden.

Posted by jfefleming on Whatever's Left

From Tayside Police Division : "Well the summer time has officially gone, as the clocks went back at the weekend there, and it's time for our annual Operation After Dark. As part of this ongoing effort to raise winter home security awareness, this week officers will be out on both high-visibility and plain clothes patrols in areas that are often targeted by thieves. They will be identifying any property which appears to be vulnerable, speaking with occupiers of identified addresses, and delivering security advice leaflets. Some basic crime prevention advice for the darker / shorter days includes : · Ensure ...