"I've been a Young Liberal for many a year...", we used to sing to the tune of "The Wild Rover" many years ago, and whilst that hasn't strictly been true for a very long time, you can't necessarily escape the gravitational pull of the Liberal Democrat youth and student wing forever. Having served as an officer of the National League of Young Liberals prior to merger - I was the only eligible person left in the room when the vacancy for Secretary General arose - and as (at various times) Secretary, International Officer, Treasurer and, for one slightly bizarre year, ...
The opening of Penelope Fitzgerald's review of a 1998 biography of John Lehmann provides a potted biography of his father Rudolf: The first volume of John Lehmann's autobiography, published in 1955, starts: "When I try to remember where my education in poetry began, the first image that comes to mind is that of my father's library at the old family home of Fieldhead on the Thames. It is an autumn or winter evening after tea, for James the butler has been in to draw the blinds and close the curtains, and my father is reading under a green-shaded lamp." He ...
Jacob Rees-Mogg announced in the House of Commons that fish in our territorial waters are "better and happier" because they are "British". Presumably now that Britain controls her own borders, the fish will turn back towards the British coast if they foolishly swim towards the UK's maritime borders in the Channel and North Sea. Are the fish happier? Well, not being fished by the UK fishing fleet
Our Parliament has a reputation as being one of the oldest and best in the world. Every time I walk through the Palace of Westminster, I am reminded of who has walked these same corridors. Shirley Wiliams, Barbara Castle, William Wilberforce talking about abolishing slavery, Lloyd George bringing forward the People's Budget, Aneurin Bevan bringing in the legislation that set up the NHS. All these great things, over centuries. In 200 years time, I doubt they'll be talking about the Day the Fish Smiled. It was Business Questions. The SNP's Tommy Sheppard raised the crisis in our fishing industry caused ...
Thu 14th
19:51
Fire cover could be lost in rural Shropshire if firefighters are not treated as frontline workers an...
Councillors in south west Shropshire are getting concerned that they could lose fire cover if firefighters are not vaccinated urgently. New rules have been introduced that require firefighters to self-isolate for ten days if they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive with Covid-19. That could decimate fire cover in rural areas of Shropshire and take out entire stations. Andy Boddington, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow North explains: "I have been contacted by a number of retained firefighters over the last few days. They are concerned that if one member of the crew on a shout has a ...
This post first appeared on the blog of Radix UK... Keir Starmer may just be a small phenomenon. I suppose that second guessing the current UK government is not actually terribly onerous. Starmer just has to stay a couple of days ahead of the government, as it twists and turns through the covid crisis, so perhaps it isn't very hard to appear perspicatious. But it does mean a difficulty for Boris Johnson and his government. It looks almost as if it is Starmer who is taking all the decisions. Every time, the government does another U-turn, whether it is about ...
Second paragraph of Part 3:It was not the Other. He was thinner, and not quite so tall.Clarke's first novel in the fifteen years since Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, a much much shorter book, in which the eponymous protagonist is one of two living inhabitants of a vast building which seems to be the entire world. Gradually the truth about the narrator's past and about the world they are in becomes clear. Intense and intricate. You can get it here.
If the last week has shown us anything, it's that 2021 could be stranger and potentially more worrying than 2020. The anti-democratic attack on the US Capitol Building was an awful thing to witness. Four deaths, countless injuries and more news coming out that suggest things could have been a lot worse. In the UK, the mishandling of the pandemic has cost lives and livelihoods. Depending on which figures you read, nearly 100,000 people have died from COVID-19 or because of it. Economists point to an impending double-dip recession, and across the country trust in the Government and its institutions ...
Ed Davey was interviewed recently for a podcast published by the Green Alliance. Shaun Spiers, executive director at Green Alliance, asks him about the historical commitment of the Liberal Democrats to environmental policies. Ed talks about his achievements in the Coalition, and the rather tepid support from the Conservatives since then for green issues. He also makes the case for regulation, and the opportunity offered post-pandemic to rebuild our economy on greener lines. At one point Ed reveals that, after the Coalition, George Osborne took legal advice about cancelling the 15 year contracts set up under the Contracts for Difference ...
Just when we thought that Marie Antoinette was dead and buried, up pops the Tory Candidate for London Mayor to disabuse us. The Guardian reports that Shaun Bailey has sparked controversy after suggesting that homeless people in the capital would be able to save up for a £5,000 deposit to buy a share in a newly-built affordable home. The paper says that Bailey has promised to deliver 100,000 affordable homes with his £4bn housing budget if he wins the election in April, many of them shared ownership, of which buyers would be able to purchase a share for as little ...
Wed, 12:56: How did the last Neanderthals live? https://t.co/HgzXpR9qKw Fascinating and a bit sad. Wed, 13:54: 80 years ago... https://t.co/82yDosAyhS Wed, 15:00: Looking Backward: from 2000 to 1887, by Edward Bellamy Julian West goes to sleep in his Boston home in 1887 and awakes in the year 2000 to discover that the entire world has been transformed into a Communist utopia. #nwbooks https://t.co/C72TRhvuvc https://t.co/KDuC2IOWiN https://t.co/Un52JOrwZv Wed, 15:26: RT @arrroberts: @nwbrux Bonkers book, in many ways. But in the 1880s it almost gave Bellamy as shot at becoming POTUS: https://t.co/oeT4T4o... Wed, 15:45: About Time: The Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who, 1963-1966, ...
I'm losing track of calls for vaccine priority for one group or another. Teachers, police, this morning port workers – one might logically add the whole food supply chain of 4 or 5 million people. Unpaid carers have been raised (currently in group 6 of phase 1 ahead of 60-64 year olds in group 7). And while everybody surely agrees with the priority given to health and care workers, some health workers are demanding the second dose on the original schedule. Not something I'm qualified to judge. Occupational priorities are likely to be part of phase 2 of the rollout. ...
The government PR machine appears to be manoeuvring to establish that the present danger of the NHS being overwhelmed by the coronavirus emergency is caused by the appearance of a new and more easily transmitted form of the virus and the failure of thoughtless minority of people to observe the government's guidelines. Given that the flue virus, with which we are familiar, changes its form every year, and perhaps even more often, that the corona virus should change its form should come as no surprise. As for the thoughtless minority, the Home Secretary, M/s Priti Patel, has instructed the police ...
One of the things that I do that occupies a lot of my time but which I talk about rarely is to be the chair of LAMIT. This is the short version of the Local Authority Mutual Investment Trust. This ... Continue reading →
In the aftermath of the November 2000 US presidential election, I was off-work with a stress-related mental illness. In a good way, this meant I had plenty of time to read about the Bush/Gore hanging chads dispute. As a result, I discovered Taegan Goddard's Political Wire. In the twenty years since then, hardly a day has gone by that I have not logged on to Political Wire – often several times a day. It is a news aggregation website which is "light touch" – providing a miscellany of key political news and articles each day. In the last few years, ...
Thu 14th
08:30
Whoniversaries January 14: Richard Briers, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Underwater Menace #1, Underworld #2
i) births and deaths 14 January 1934: birth of Richard Briers, who played the Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers (Seventh Doctor, 1988) and Henry Parker in A Day in the Death (Torchwood, 2008). 14 January 1963: birth of Adjoah Andoh, who played Sister Jatt in New Earth (Tenth Doctor, 2006) and Martha's mother Francine Jones in the 2007 series 3. 14 January 1965: birth of Jemma Redgrave, who played Kate Stewart (not my cousin) in several Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor stories. 14 January 1974: death of Paul Whitsun-Jones, who played the Squire in The Smugglers (1966) and the Marshal The ...
In the past few months, many residents have expressed concern to me about unofficial bike trails that have been created on Balgay Hill. Leaving aside their unauthorised nature and damage to the hill, the other concern is the health and safety of mountain bikers using these. I have raised this with the council's environment team who are tackling the issue and have recently placed some sensible signage about these and suggesting better and safer places where mountain bike skills can be practiced.
