And so, the formal response is on its way, and I can relax just a little. Here's my summary of our thoughts as a Parish Council... It would be fair to say that Creeting St Peter has lived with the prospect of development of the site for a quarter of a century or more, and we are realistic in terms of our expectation as to its future. However, we feel that there is an opportunity for the District Council to create something which is an exemplar in terms of the future of the workplace post-Covid, offers a positive experience not ...
Embed from Getty ImagesOn Opinion, the Parlia podcast, talks to Timothy Garton Ash about the state of liberalism - its past failings, the threats it faces from Left and Right today, and whether it can be rebuilt for the 21st Century. He argues that liberalism is to blame for its troubles - over-exporting free-market ideas, and under investing in culture, community and politics in a world of massive, destabilising change. He argues for a "conservative-socialist-Liberalism" - a civic patriotism focused on the common good deeply embedded in national communities. On the back of his recent manifesto for liberalism's renewal in ...
Wed 24th
18:02
Shropshire councillors must support the Climate and Ecological Emergency bill tomorrow
Shropshire Council has given a commitment to tackle the climate emergency. In parliament, a private members bill is moving towards its second reading next month. It aims to strengthen the government's resolve and actions to tackle the growing climate emergency and the devasting loss of biodiversity. A motion tomorrow will ask the council to support the bill. It will be a test of Shropshire Council's resolve. Is it up to the mark on tackling the climate and ecological emergencies? Will the whipped Tory majority reject it? Council leader Peter Nutting is in the camp that wants to fudge climate change ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:Across the gleaming, sterile expanse of her dojo-esque office chamber her assistant, Vincent Lee, braces on his feet. Lee is twenty-three, groomed and polished to CPB junior executive standards, and quite unaccustomed to delivering such bad news so early in the day.One of the 2015 Clarke Award submissions which failed to grab us at the time, but I felt worth coming back to. It's a brisk action story of mercenary-turned-brothel-keeper Koko, who dscovers the hard way that her former friend and colleague is trying to have her killed, and teams up with an ex-cop who is ...
At last year's Autumn Conference, Liberal Democrat members voted overwhelmingly to adopt Universal Basic Income (UBI) as party policy. Now, we have our first opportunity to make this vital policy part of our campaigning platform for the bumper set of elections coming up on 6th May. Not only are there council seats and mayoral positions up for grabs all over the country, but there are also the elections for Members of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd. So now it's time for the really big questions: How do we "sell" Universal Basic Income to the voting public? How do ...
With the vaccine for Covid 19 being rolled out to a significantly larger slice of the population, there was an interesting piece on BBC Radio Wales this morning reported on here. With the UK justice secretary arguing it may be legal for companies to insist new staff are vaccinated, a solicitor told the station that her phone has been "ringing off the hook" with companies asking if they can refuse to employ someone who has declined a Covid jab. Elissa Thursfield, an employment lawyer at a practice in Denbighshire, said she expected to see employment tribunals over 'no jab, no ...
The government has recently confirmed that its 'high risk, high reward' research agency, the Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA), will go ahead. This was initially the pet project of Dominic Cummings (alarm bells!) but seems to have survived his departure from Whitehall. The buzz has all been about the potential to cut red-tape and bureaucracy in order to unleash scientific innovation. For a scientist and science fiction nerd like myself, it sounds quite exciting but, Liberals should be wary of anything that reduces oversight and accountability - especially from this government. The full details of how the agency will ...
Not everyone can open a bank account. A bank will only offer you an account if they think they will make money out of it, and they do that when you have an overdraft on which they can charge interest or a substantial balance which they can lend on. Poor people with poor credit histories aren't allowed overdrafts and don't have large balances. Not having a bank account is one of many ways that being poor can cost you money. It also costs everyone who does business with you money, and that includes the government. Almost everyone, however, does have ...
Tue, 12:08: RT @peterjbirks: @nwbrux Yes, started in France (presumably from England in December?), now looking to be in Netherlands. Have to expect an... Tue, 12:56: UK universities plead to keep EU cash post-Brexit https://t.co/LmupfcVKBY But Whitehall and Westminster show no sign of listening. Tue, 16:05: Moondust Could Cloud Our Lunar Ambitions | WIRED https://t.co/IGnc85JH1M Great piece (from 2019) Tue, 18:36: Sugar and other stories, by A.S. Byatt https://t.co/iDzq6KkyFq Wed, 08:51: Nobody in Brussels seems to be paying any attention to the extraordinary political situation unfolding in #Moldova. I have seen no English-language reporting apart from @DionisCenusa's tweets. Come on ...
Wed 24th
10:03Food on a budget in south west Shropshire - Healthwatch Shropshire wants to know your views
Food banks in south west Shropshire have never been busier. Ludlow Food Bank alone gave out 560 food parcels in 2020, up from 471 the year before. Bishop's Castle food bank has also been busy. Now Healthwatch Shropshire is conducting research aimed at understanding food insecurity in south west Shropshire. It wants to hear from those who are struggling to get enough affordable and nutritious food. Food insecurity is when you do not have enough affordable and nutritious food to help you live healthily. Some people in rural communities can face additional challenges in getting food locally and need to ...
[IMG: Vaccines Without Borders] Vaccines are the most effective way out of the pandemic. However, there won't be enough supply to vaccinate the world's population until 2023 or 2024. That's why I joined NOW! (@NOW4humanity) to pressure vaccine manufacturers such as Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer to allow other companies to develop its COVID-19 vaccine and have #VaccinesWithoutBorders. But this is not enough. All companies must follow suit. Oxford, Valneva, Novavax and CureVac, are now working with the Government to produce the vaccines in the UK. Johnson & Johnson have applied to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use listing to ...
i) births and deaths 24 February 2019: death of Graeme Curry, who wrote The Happiness Patrol (Seventh Doctor, 1988) ii) broadcast anniversaries 24 February 1968: broadcast of fourth episode of The Web of Fear. Lethbridge-Stewart (*sigh*) leads a sortie to the surface but returns battered to the base as the only survivor; and the Yeti break in, with the possessed Travers. 24 February 1973: broadcast of first episode of Frontier in Space. The Doctor and Jo land on a space freighter and are accused of being Draconian spies; the freighter is attacked by Ogrons but the crew think they are ...
Residents have complained about a loose manhole cover on Blackness Road, just east of the junction with Blackness Street. It is very noisy when vehicles pass over it and I raised this with Scottish Water, whose cover it is. I am pleased to say I have now received the following helpful feedback : "I have been able to find out that the work to replace the noisy manhole on Blackness Road is scheduled to be carried out on 2nd March."
A charming video from Stephen Richards.
