I have been slack about Big Finish recently - over the last few months, I picked up listening to the tremendous backlog of their output that I had not previously got to, but have blogged very little here. (In particular, I recommend Susans War with Carole Ann Ford, and the David Tennant/Tom Baker crossover Out Of Time 1.) Anyway, important to record that I got and thoroughly enjoyed the six Legacy of Time audios, released to celebrate Big Finish's 20th anniversary in 2019. Here's the promotional video: What the video doesn't say is that all six stories are about time ...
People have asked me recently on a number of occasions how I will put decency, honesty and transparency back in to our Council after the Caller report showed how much they are missing from our day to day work. I ... Continue reading →
We're told that about three quarters of the British people would welcome the introduction a Vaccine Pass. Superficially it seems a good idea. People can go to venues confident that the others there had protection, companies running events would be able to get back into business, and our access to "fun" would be expanded. However closer inspection shows these hopes to be spurious. Having been vaccinated may reduce someone's chancres of suffering severely from the virus if they catch it, but it doesn't prevent them from actually being infected and passing it on. So any meeting with another person, vaccinated ...
This is the latest post in a series I started in late 2019, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days (though this one is very soon after the previous one, which was late) I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia So I know that in the course of ...
Calvin Lawson is Labour's failed candidate in Low Fell, Gateshead. His attempts to snatch Low Fell from the Lib Dems in previous elections have not exactly been beacons of success. As he drifts further and further behind the Lib Dems, what could he possibly do to turn around his fortunes so he can realistically mount a challenge in the ward? Well, don't try this at home, but Mr Lawson's election
Sun, 12:11: Number of cases, yes, but there is a lot more testing now. On 4 March 2020 reported daily figures were 1661 new cases, 140 deaths, 5678 in hospital and 1245 in ICU. https://t.co/lVGt6yxoyC Sun, 12:35: Utterly delighted to be the Fan Guest of Honour at next year's Eastercon, @reclamation2022, along with @zenaldehyde @MaryRobinette and @philipreeve1 !!!!! Look forward to seeing you all there. Sun, 12:38: RT @dduane: Yay Nick!! 😀 https://t.co/ta8Vd6Ii2C Sun, 12:38: RT @njj4: Really looking forward to @reclamation2022, now officially voted in as next year's Eastercon. An experienced committee and a real... Sun, 12:38: RT @CSharpWords: ...
One of Ludlow's most significant employers, Flowfit, is on the verge of signing a deal for expanding its business in Wales. This move comes after Shropshire Council has failed to help the company find a site in Ludlow. Simon Parsonage is Chief Executive of Flowfit, a market leader in everything hydraulic, from distribution to systems and manufacturing has been based on Ludlow Business Park and celebrates 25 years in business in June. At the beginning of the year, Simon contacted Shropshire Council's Business Growth team. Flowfit has been expanding and wanted to expand further on an adjacent vacant site owned ...
Over at the Guardian, Zoe Williams has a few thoughts on the sleaze that is engulfing Boris Johnson's Tory Government and whether he is in breach of the Nolan principles on public life: Michael Nolan didn't have a lot to say about chastity or generosity or modesty or humility, I'm guessing because he assumed that the public would provide that firewall themselves. If a person was visibly greedy or wrathful or gluttonous, if they couldn't handle government money without funnelling it through their friends, or have juniors at work without swearing at them, or had such poor impulse control that ...
Mon 5th
08:56
We can't solve climate change and biodiversity loss without solving planning - a view from the grass...
I am writing from the heart following a battering few years trying to protect biodiversity landscapes from new developments and to get sustainable transport written into housing and supermarket schemes. On biodiversity, all we have got from developments in my expanding rural town is tokenism. Replacement trees within manicured landscapes. Not the untidy scrubby bits of landscape that are or will become biodiversity rich. On sustainable transport, the car remains king. There are no plans for bus routes to serve four major housing developments. The out of town supermarket, with the backing of councillors and planners, doesn't even have a ...
Mon 5th
08:52
We can't solve climate change and biodiversity loss without solving planning - a view from the grass...
I am writing from the heart following a battering few years trying to protect biodiversity landscapes from new developments and to get sustainable transport written into housing and supermarket schemes. On biodiversity, all we have got from developments in my expanding rural town is tokenism. Replacement trees within manicured landscapes. Not the untidy scrubby bits of landscape that are or will become biodiversity rich. On sustainable transport, the car remains king. There are no plans for bus routes to serve four major housing developments. The out of town supermarket, with the backing of councillors and planners, doesn't even have a ...
i) births and deaths 5 April 1946: birth of Jane Asher, who played Susan Foreman in Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman? (1994) and Andrea Yates in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (2007), and has thus played alternative 5 April 1991: death of Gerald Blake, who directed The Abominable Snowmen (Second Doctor, 1967) and The Invasion of Time (Fourth Doctor, 1978). 5 April 1999: death of John Wiles, innovative producer who succeeded Verity Lambert but did not last long in 1965-66. ii) broadcast anniversaries 5 April 1969: broadcast of fifth episode of The Space Pirates. The Doctor and friends find they ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 5 APRIL 2021 Riverside Avenue (at Wright Avenue) - off peak temporary traffic lights on Thursday 8 April for Scottish Water work.
Welcoming the revised Countryside Code published on 1 April, Clee Hill farmer Richard Huffer said: "It is timely for the Countryside Code to be updated. We have seen more people climbing stiles and crossing fields during the pandemic. But the revised code could have given greater prominence to the growing problems of dogs worrying livestock and the scourge of litter." "With all the restrictions we have had on travel and on getting out and about during the pandemic, many people have got a new pet. Taking on a pet is a big commitment but it has helped many people get ...
In June 2012 I wrote: Today the site of Greyfriars monastery and Herrick's garden is occupied by Greyfriars, Friar Lane and New Street. Leicester Chronicler says: very little survives of the medieval friary; just an archway in the basement of private property and some stones incorporated into the wall of an open air municipal car park. I suspect that is the car park behind the social services building in Greyfriars, which was securely locked when I was there this afternoon. But I did find this plaque across the road on the side of the old Nat West bank. And, somewhere ...
I welcome guest posts on Liberal England and am happy to publish posts on subjects far beyond the Liberal Democrats and British politics. If you would like to write for this blog, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. Here are the 10 most recent guest posts I have published: Unionism is making the Scottish Lib Dems irrelevant - Mark StephensWith Valour and Distinction: The 2nd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment in the First World War - Nigel AtterBelloc, Chesterton and the Distributist League - David BoyleLiberal Democrats for the Heart of England - Michael MullaneyTime for the ...
