I hope Mr Trump remembers retirement is for life, not just until the next presidential nomination contest.
courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol And so, the wearying drama of the last four years is at an end, and we can look forward to something resembling proper governance again. It comes as a relief, and whilst today was emotional for many, I personally look forward to a degree of relative dullness for the next four years. That, perhaps, sounds a bit like "damning with faint praise" but I genuinely mean it as a compliment. The thing is that good governance is a bit dull, happenstance if you like. You should, in truth, be able to take it ...
What is the most frightening television programme you have ever seen? Back in 2007 I answered that question like this: For me it is probably the episode of Sexton Blake in which the hypodermic-wielding villain measured Tinker for his coffin while he was still alive. Mind you, I may have been as young as seven when I saw it. After that, as I went on to say in that post, it was Don Taylor's television play The Exorcism, which I saw when I was 12. According to an upload on YouTube only one episode of ITV's Sexton Blake series of ...
The ghost sign on what is now the British Heart Foundation shop in Market Harborough has undergone a striking restoration. It now looks magnificent, even if it has been robbed of its ghostliness. You can see what it used to look like (on a much sunnier day) below. The restoration was carried out by Alex Scott.
Last week, a 'big poll' predicted that the Liberal Democrats would lose almost all of their seats at the next General Election. This caused quite a stir on social media. Liberals love to bash their own team and polling results are a regular self-flagellation. But while polls can be very accurate near an election, there are good reasons why we shouldn't fret over them 3 years out - and a clear task for us to focus on instead.
Another week and another eFocus from Gateshead Lib Dems, this time from the Low Fell Team. Issues covered in edition 81 include:Proposal to build 18 apartments in Low Fell amended and resubmittedCouncil budget - have your sayResurfacing workFixing potholesYou can read eFocus on this link.
Second paragraph of third chapter:He lay quietly for a while and listened to the rain. It was a good sound, clean and substantial: above suspicion. The weather was (save himself) the only thing he could trust.This was the first book I finished in 2021 (I've already written up two others, because they fitted with other projects). It's one of three original spinoff novels from everyone's favourite enigmatic TV show; I've read one of the others and must look out for the third. (There are a few other later ones as well.) Perhaps I am easily pleased, but I rather enjoyed ...
Wed 20th
17:16
US Presidential inauguration - potential meteorological impact of millions of simultaneous signs of ...
If all 7.7 billion of people alive on earth jumped up at the same time, apparently (when they hit the ground afterwards) there would be a huge ear-piercing sound of 200 decibels and severe ground shaking which could cause 4-8 scale earthquakes and a tsumnami with 100-feet waves. I wondered about that prospect when I read the words "Trump departs the White House" this morning. I certainly heaved a huge sigh of relief. I should imagine that millions of other people did the same thing at roughly the same time. So one speculates that all these sighs of relief may ...
To judge by the silence in the media, Brexit is done and dusted, and the country has already moved on. Or perhaps it was all a bad dream and never happened. Of course, the covid-19 pandemic has eclipsed much of the other news, but this is not entirely explained. There have been plenty of problems: mountains of red tape that never perished in any bonfire, failed deliveries, cargoes of rotting fish. Of course, the Government has played these minor irritations down, no surprise there. But more puzzlingly, Kier Starmer has staged a judicious retreat from the Brexit battlefield, fearful no ...
I spent 16 years as a Borough Councillor and for the last two of those years I sat on the Planning Committee, something I said I would never do. You see some councillors fall head over heels in love with planning and the mere suggestion they should maybe just possibly sit on another committee instead could lead to all kinds of emotional turmoil. I didn't then and I still don't get what the draw of the planning committee is but accept that to others being on such a committee is a bit like what Bill Shankly said of football i.e. ...
Tue, 12:56: Can Joe Biden restore exceptional global leadership? https://t.co/Y6fkDp4Y8F Thought-provoking from @IdoAharoni in @Jerusalem_Post. Tue, 15:00: The Secret River, by Kate Grenville A heartfelt novel about early convict settlers in New South Wales: the intense drama of eking out a precarious existence and brutal conflict with the indigenous Australians. #nwbooks https://t.co/wQebDJRhUV https://t.co/f3Buu3xFqf https://t.co/kzd58UIrjo Tue, 16:00: The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury A lot of the stories are allegories on mid-century America, dressed up as SF tropes, and perhaps a little odd in the pulps where most of them were first published. #nwbooks https://t.co/X3u67XzlRO https://t.co/Z9R2BOYe3x https://t.co/Xju2b6cyK0 Tue, 16:05: RT @eurorealist: ...
The pressure for new housing, especially affordable, has highlighted the gap between the party's national policy of pressing for new homes for new families through the community-focused effort by the local Liberal Democrat parties and the opposition from the communities they try and serve. Because of this gap, the housing campaign becomes two-dimensional and revolves around arguments on the new development's location, construction times, transport links, and on-road access. There is an easy (dare I say lazy) tendency to slip into NIMBYism; allowing those who shout the loudest drown out the area's needs and those who want to call it ...
Wed 20th
10:05
Liverpool Labour sell the City short with pathetic response to the current political situation
Liberal Democrats will move an amendment to a motion by the acting Mayor at tonight's Council Meeting describing it as a weedy and insignificant response from a Council in crisis. The amendment suggests that the Council must recognise the difficult ... Continue reading →
Back last century I secured a flurry of media interest for writing a short guide to the Maastricht Treaty and sending it to then Cabinet member Ken Clarke.
In one of those parallel universes where government ministers can be forced to keep their word, the then environment minister, Michael Gove, speaking on behalf of the government, stood up in front of the National Farmers' Union annual conference and promised British food standards will not be lowered "in pursuit of trade deals". That was in February 2019, when Gove also vowed to minimise the risk that food producers will be left at "competitive disadvantage" in the face of cheaper imports that are below EU standards He was seeking to quell fears that the UK will allow the importation of ...
i) births and deaths 20 January 1934: They don't come much bigger than this - birth of Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor from 1974 to 1981 and has reprised the role on occasion since. For me he remains the definitive Doctor. Happy birthday, Tom! 20 January 1936: birth of Ralph Watson, who played an unnamed generator scientist in The Underwater Menace (Second Doctor, 1967), Captain Knight in The Web of Fear (Second Doctor, 1968), the miners' leader Ettis in The Monster of Peladon (Third Doctor, 1974) and principal lighthouse keeper Travers in Horror of Fang Rock (Fourth Doctor, ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water mains repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Strawberrybank, Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Thursday 28 January 2021 for 1 day. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available via Magdalen Yard Road / Windsor Street / Perth Road. For further information contact 433082. Executive Director of City DevelopmentDundee City Council
