There used to be a locomotive shed at Market Harborough. It stood to the north of the station and west of the tracks. Opened by the LNWR in 1864, it was closed by British Rail in 1965.I remember it being demolished in 1977, when I was 17 and old enough to regret such losses. But what, I here you ask, does this have to do with the photo above? That photo shows a pipe that crosses the Welland beside the Farndon Road bridge. This is the site of Bloodyman's Ford, where Charles I was almost captured as he fled from ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

It's no exaggeration to say that my lockdown(s) mental health has been saved from the abyss by volunteering on my local community radio station. I worked as a freelancer on the wonderful Radio 210, the local commercial radio station for the Thames Valley, from 1979 until 1984. This started with, literally, recycling gash recording tape ... Continue reading Kevin Ayers, John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett – all on the same radio show

Posted by paulwalternewbury on Liberal Burblings

Yes, four months is a long time to keep you waiting for the answers to a quiz. I hope you weren't holding your breath. The answers are: Saltash Hayle Penzance Redruth Bodmin Marizion Fowey Falmouth Bude Padstow

Posted by paulwalternewbury on Liberal Burblings

Many will have noticed that the gateway at the entrance to St Leonard's Churchyard has been covered with scaffolding for a while because the top of the arch is beginning to tilt forward towards Corve Street. A functional rather than architecturally distinguished construction, the arch commemorates the consecration of the burial ground, gifted by Viscount Clive to St Laurence's, on 27 August 1824. St Laurence's Parochial Church Council is now proposing to remove the arch, leaving two stone pillars supporting the cast iron gate. The Clive Plaque will be relocated nearby. The Clive Arch is Grade II listed for its ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

The Scotsman reports an innovative policy idea from the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Christine Jardine: Ms Jardine wants the UK Government to cover postage for online orders from independent shops to make them more favourable destinations for present buying. She said: "So many gift shops and retailers across Edinburgh, and elsewhere, have been hit hard by the Covid-19 restrictions and now their major market of the year could also be undermined by the competition from huge retailers who can cater for the fact that many people have to shield or are uncomfortable going into shops. "The Chancellor has already acted ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

A couple of months ago, Anne and I went to the Fondation Folon in La Hulpe to see the art of Jean-Michel Folon on display. Like all other indoor cultural attractions, the Fondation is closed at the moment; but if you're in central Belgium and you feel like sampling his work, you can see a number of his sculptures on display at Villers Abbey, no reservation necessary, last admission at 4pm, get there before 21 February. The biggest of the installations is the Alley of Thoughts, eight sculptures from the late 1990s, set up in the nave of the ruined ...

Here is the current list of candidates so far selected for the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2021. At the time of writing, they were 23 male and 17 female in the constituencies and 22 male and 17 female on the lists. This is a slight improvement from 2016 but we still need to get to 50/50. There are also concerns that we need to work on all diversity strands. Regional lists North East Scotland 1. Rosemary Bruce 2. John Waddell Lothian 1. Alex Cole-Hamilton 2. Fred Mackintosh Glasgow 1. Carole Ford 2. Andrew Chamberlain Highlands and Islands 1. Alan ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

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 ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Ed Davey was on Any Questions last night. The other panelists were Kim Darroch, the UK's Ambassador to the US until last year, Diane Abbott and Prisons minister Lucy Frazer The first question was on the various comings and goings at No 10. Ed pointed out how awful it was that in the middle of a huge public health and economic crisis, the people around the Prime Minister were jockeying for position. He also reminded us how Dominic Cummings was the biggest opponent of free school meals during the coalition years when he was Michael Gove's Special Adviser. Obviously that ...

Posted by Caron Lindsay on Liberal Democrat Voice

As if they didn't have enough problems with anti-semitism, the Guardian this morning reports that more than half of Muslim members of the Labour party do not trust Keir Starmer to tackle Islamophobia, with nearly the same proportion saying they do not have confidence in the party's complaints process. The paper says that the report by the Labour Muslim Network (LMN) is the latest sign that the party's new leadership is losing the trust of minority ethnic members and supporters, even as it struggles to recover from an antisemitism crisis that led to a collapse in support from Jewish voters: ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black
YouGov
Sat 14th
11:00

My tweets

Fri, 12:31: RT @FrancisWheen: A good moment to recommend that everyone should read the eye-opening, jaw-dropping chapter about the Yorkshire Ripper in... Fri, 14:35: City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer VanderMeer plays all kinds of fascinating mind games with the reader here - the fact that Ambergris boasts a bookshop called Borges is clue enough. #nwbooks https://t.co/usRiXQRQD4 https://t.co/gNxTHus2tu https://t.co/9tyxEhi5Wm Fri, 15:05: Floater, by Lucius Shepard "Dempsey hated the mornings before his drugs kicked in." From the very first sentence, you know this is going to be something special. #nwbooks https://t.co/lum2DEYWEs https://t.co/afnU3tCutH https://t.co/Enhxy6tao9 Fri, 15:35: Democratisation in Southeast Europe, ...

Sat 14th
10:55

Lib Dems mark Diwali

Ed Davey has released this message for Diwali, highlighting how friends and family are not able to celebrate as they would wish because of the Covid restrictions: My warmest wishes to everyone celebrating Diwali this year. pic.twitter.com/WwmAiEP47V — Ed Davey MP [IMG: 🔶] [IMG: 🇪🇺] (@EdwardJDavey) November 14, 2020 Happy Diwali from all of us at LDV.

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice

Whilst many have discussed obesity as a national health problem, this framing ignores the curtailing of individual liberty that obesity produces; from the limits it often imposes on everyday activity to wide-ranging health risks and even potentially shortened lifespans. This framing is probably why the substance of obesity discourse revolves around how this often agency limiting phenomena is supposed to be ameliorated by limiting agency. As a Liberal whose BMI straddles the line between overweight and obese, I think that obesity reduction policies should be based on expanding the agency of people, rather than curtailing it through Pigouvian taxes or ...

Posted by William Francis on Liberal Democrat Voice

i) births and deaths 14 November 1959: birth of Paul McGann, who played the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who - The Movie (1996) and The Night of the Doctor (2013) - see below. ii) broadcast anniversaries 14 November 1964: broadcast of "Crisis", third episode of the story we now call Planet of Giants. Barbara is poisoned; the Doctor starts a fire to draw attention to what is going on; and all ends well. 14 November 2013: release of The Night of the Doctor. Took me by surprise! 14 November 2015: broadcast of Sleep No More. The Le Verrier space station ...

I am supporting Adoption Week Scotland 2020 that runs all next week and the City Council is promoting this excellent yearly event to promote adoption and fostering in Dundee. The Dundee adoption and fostering Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/dundeecityadoptionandfostering and will have daily posts throughout the week.