Stanlow and Thornton was opened in 1940 to serve a plant producing aviation fuel for the RAF. In those days there were extensive sidings here, but they vanished as the plant turned into Britain's second largest oil refinery. It is still served by jetties on the Manchester Ship Canal though. This week the Stanlow refinery has been in the news, as its owners Essar Oil UK have been hit by a "deepening financial and corporate governance crisis". Anyway, enjoy the video. The general views in the YouTube comments is that the road to the refinery is open to pedestrians and ...
Rural communities and rural crime are given a low priority by the police. This video contains my pledge to do better. See it here The post Tackling Rural Crime first appeared on David Watts.
As usual, I'm looking at the Hugo finalists as owned on Goodreads and LibraryThing - LibraryThing is my first love, but Goodreads seems to have about 30 times as many users, so I am including stats for both. (I prepared this a couple of days ago so it may not be 100% up to date.) The tables below give the number of people who have reviewed each book on Goodreads, their average rating, the number of LibraryThing owners who own each book, and then the average rating. They are listed in order of the geometrical average of the first and ...
Members of the Liberal Democrat Voice team pay tribute to Shirley Williams Paul Walter: I took the (rather fuzzy) photo of Shirley (above) at the Spring Conference in Brighton in 2013. My mother is not "Political" although she has a great political understanding, with a small "p". Back in the late 1960s, she saw Shirley Williams as her favourite politician. Simply because she was, in my mother's words, "so sensible", I knew what she meant. There was always something about how Shirley spoke. In debates she would never get heated or involved in "argy-bargy". She would listen carefully to the ...
I first met Shirley as a teenage student. I served with her on the Labour Committee for Europe. I was at her side as she chaired every session of every SDP conference. And latterly I worked with her closely in the Lords where initially she was my leader and, more recently and improbably, I was hers. Over these 50 years, Shirley didn't really change. She was passionate about the things she believed in – principally social justice and Europe. She was fearless in advocating these things and was prepared to take political hostility head on to promote them. But what ...
The timing could not have been more aggressive. Derek Chauvin's trial for the murder of George Floyd started and, on the same day, the UK Government press-released the findings of its report into institutional racism: an investigation that had been sparked by the murder and ensuing civil liberties movement. The released findings were incendiary- Britain was free from institutional racism and race was not such an important issue anymore. And then the controversy grew deeper.
Many warm tributes have been paid to Shirley Williams, who sadly passed away yesterday. Here are a selection of the tributes: Heartbroken. Shirley Williams was a shining inspiration. For more than half a century, she deployed her sharp intellect and fearless passion in service of an open, just and more equal society. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/xpXdvsX0v9 — Jo Swinson (@joswinson) April 12, 2021
Ian Sherwood, former mayor of Briton Ferry, writes: So very sad to hear of the passing of Shirley Williams. She was one of my earliest politics heroes heroine s for so many different reasons. She was one of the reasons i knew that the SDP. Liberals Alliance, Lib Dem's was the right place and political home for me. In these days of political populism and extremism on both the right and left of politics. It seemed to me that she stood for decency tolerance and sensible pro Europeanism centerist politics. Her experience as a junior minister in the 1960 s ...
Mon, 12:56: RT @BSFA: Fifty years ago, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed o... Mon, 16:05: RT @thomas_wier: Weekly Georgian Etymology: ჩაქაფული čakapuli, lamb stew made with tarragon, onions, coriander and dry white wine. Particip... Mon, 16:38: This is lovely - BBC interview with the woman who, as a five-year-old girl, was the first to greet Yuri Gagarin when he landed in her grandmother's potato field. https://t.co/ImHVwL46dL Mon, 17:11: How an online 'Lego' gamer infiltrated the White House press corps https://t.co/rgToCT3zlN On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. ...
When the Southampton Daily Echo ran a story recently featuring the likely sea-rise impact on Southampton, it unleashed a torrent of outraged climate change denial. Climate Central's data was viewed as preposterous, extremely unlikely and unwarranted fearmongering. Barely 20% of respondents agreed with the report. That reaction - the refusal to countenance the full impact of the way we live now - is perfectly understandable. There are not many things these days as trusted as bricks and mortar...as safe as houses. Unfortunately, that trust flies in the face of science. While countries are firmly in the grip of an addiction ...
The death of Shirley Williams has touched me deeply; she was a unique politician and a very good and decent human being. As a fresh-faced lad new to Liberal politics in 1980 I was soon swept up in the most amazing political experience; the Crosby by-election. I met many famous politicians of the day during that campaign such as Roy Jenkins, David Steel & Jo Grimond but it was Shirley who I grew to know, respect and admire. Apart from her boundless enthusiasm and ability to put in many hours of hard slog day in day out she was the ...
The Welsh Lib Dem broadcast made a like piece of television history, being the first party political broadcast comprising solely of women.
Amongst all the other news this week, we must not lose sight of the fact that the government's insistence on a hardline Brexit is continuing to hamper the UK economy's recovery. The Independent reports on a new survey that has found Boris Johnson's Brexit trade deal with the EU has put the future of many exporting businesses at risk, with 41 per cent reporting decreased overseas sales in the first three months of the new arrangements: The British Chambers of Commerce called on the UK government to get back round the table with the EU for fresh negotiations to lower ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats made television history last night with this party political broadcast (above) comprising solely of women. The broadcast shown on ITV Wales at 18:25 (to be repeated on Friday on BBC1 at 22:35) features Party Leader Jane Dodds, education minister Kirsty Williams and three female candidates who are all running for Parliament for the first time. Speaking about the broadcast, Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds said: Too often politics is seen as an all-male club. I'm proud to be a leading my party in this election, and I'm equally proud to be joined in this broadcast ...
i) births and deaths 13 April 1929: birth of David Fisher, writer of The Stones of Blood (Fourth Doctor, 1978), The Androids of Tara (Fourth Doctor, 1978), The Creature from the Pit (Fourth Doctor, 1979) and The Leisure Hive (Fourth Doctor, 1980). 13 April 1941: birth of Christopher Tranchell, who played Roger Colbert in The Massacre (1966), Steven Jenkins in The Faceless Ones (1967), and Andred in The Invasion of Time (1978). Happy 80th birthday, Chris! 13 April 1951: birth of Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor from 1982 to 1984, and subsequently. Happy 70th birthday, Peter! 13 April ...
With 232 candidates standing for 74 Shropshire Council seats, twenty more candidates than in 2017, the elections on 6 May are looking to be lively. On the right there are two councillors each for UKIP and Reform UK. The Conservatives are fielding a candidate for all 74 seats. Next up are us Lib Dems with 57 candidates, the highest number we have fielded over the last three elections. The Greens and Labour also have a record number of candidates, 41 each. Fifteen independents will also stand. Candidates for Shropshire Council elections Only one seat, Albrighton, is uncontested and that has ...
A second day Bonkers Hall and we meet inhabitants of Rutland Water that we have not come across before. Tuesday I awaken in a sunnier mood and, after the eggs and b and a read of the High Leicestershire Radical, I go for a brisk walk on the shores of Rutland Water. There is a first hint of spring in the air and, sure enough, it has brought out the mermaids. They sit upon the rocks combing their long hair and polishing their scales. How splendid they look! It is a pleasure to hear them singing each to each and ...
I have recently received concerns about the deteriorating road surface towards the west end of Hillcrest Road. This part of the road was not resurfaced some time ago when the rest of the street was given an improved surface and I therefore raised ths with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership. I have now had a helpful response as follows : "An inspection has been carried out at Hillcrest Road and there are currently no actionable defects. However an order has been raised to repair non actionable defects when resources are available. Non actionable defects are minor defects and have ...
Today's Headline of the Day Award proves once again that all the best news comes from Shropshire - or at least the Shropshire Star.
Embed from Getty ImagesI was very sorry to hear of Shirley Williams' death. Her warm, sensible, conversational style reminds us of what has been lost from British politics in recent years. Her Guardian obituary speculates that she might have made a more attractive leader of the nascent SDP than Roy Jenkins, which makes a lot of sense. Yet I cannot remember this possibility being talked about at the time. Put it down to sexism. It also worth pointing out that Shirley Williams was not an insipid moderate. In her Labour days she was seen as being in the mainstream of ...
