This post was first published on the Radix UK blog My brother-in-law appears to be becoming some kind of bellwether of British electoral politics - he has voted at least four ways to my certain knowledge in recent years, since retiring as a headteacher. And - to my great surprise - this time he voted enthusiastically for Johnson. Why? Because, as far as I can see, it would be one in the eye for the media for complaining endlessly about who paid for the famous Boris curtains. This is of course one of many explanations flying around the press about ...
I have blogged several times about the BBC television play Responsible Child, which looked at the way the British legal system deals with children accused of serious crimes. In one of those posts I said that its young star Billy Barratt gave "the best performance by a child actor I have ever seen". It seems I was not alone in estimating it so highly. In November 2020 Barratt won an International Emmy for the best TV performance by an actor that year. This is a big deal. Recent winners of this award include Kenneth Branagh and Dustin Hoffman. Responsible Child ...
Schindler's List won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1993, and six others: Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. It lost in another five categories, all to different films, including one to that year's Hugo winner, Jurassic Park. That year's other Best Picture nominees were In the Name of the Father and The Piano, which I have seen, and The Fugitive and The Remains of the Day, which I haven't. Apart from the two just mentioned, I had seen another six films made that year: ...
For the Liberal Democrats, the polling-heights of 2019 and the lows of 2021 can easily be chalked up as the before and after effects of Brexit, which has come to dominate so much of our political discourse. But with the Greens rising as a challenger to the mantle of progressive third party during the local elections, a moment of reflection must come for the party's messaging.Bollocks to BrexitIn 2019, the Liberal Democrats showed the public a hard, clear and distinct view towards Brexit in their vocal and unified opposition to it. In many ways, the anti-Brexit stance was a perfect ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @davidallengreen: Forget the old joke about the two 'What teach you/don't teach you at Harvard Business School' books comprising all hum... Fri, 14:12: RT @pmdfoster: It's out!! My latest #Brexit Briefing which looks at stormy outlook for Northern Ireland. Not at all clear either EU or UK i... Fri, 15:50: RT @Girlinthe: Morning all. For everyone missing @greensideknits, I've just had confirmation that her funeral service will be streamed onli... Fri, 16:05: RT @Tim_Burgess: Total love for @PrivateEyeNews https://t.co/UueRj9kf9v Fri, 17:07: RT @DanielFerrie: 👇This is entirely incorrect. The Protocol, and the tailor-made solutions found in Dec 2020, ...
Lib Dem MSP for Orkney Liam McArthur has been elected as one of two Deputy Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament for new session. While the new Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone is required to relinquiish her membership of the Greens group and be completely impartial, Liam and his fellow DPO, SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing, continue to be members of their groups. Unless they are actually chairing a debate, they can take part in business as normal and vote. I've certainly had worse days at the office. Humbled to have been elected as Deputy Presiding Officer and really looking forward to ...
Sat 15th
10:16
It was a bloke's world in the Super Thursday elections here in Shropshire - why do so few women stan...
With thanks to the Fawcett Society and the Democracy Club, we can analyse the gender of the more than 21,000 candidates that stood in elections on 6 May. Just one third were women (33%). Of the major parties, the Greens had the highest proportion of women at 43%, followed by Labour (41%), the Lib Dems (31%) and the Conservatives (27%). I was one of 232 candidates standing for Shropshire Council on 6 May. It was depressingly like the national picture. Only 28.4% of candidates were women: Green 48.8%; Labour 31%; Lib Dems 29.8%; Conservatives 18.8%; and Independents just 14.3%. The ...
[IMG: russia-95311_1920] I have always avoided blogging about current issues in higher education. There are various reasons for that, including that it would make blogging a bit of a busman's holiday. But current developments at Leicester University caught my eye. The business school is making redundant academic staff whose work is deemed no longer to fit with the school's current strategy. Nine members of the school stand accused of engaging in critical management studies and/or political economy and, consequently, have been given their marching orders. Professor Susan Halford, in her capacity as President of the British Sociological Association, has published ...
i) births and deaths 15 May 1925: birth of Roy Stewart, who played Toberman in Tomb of the Cybermen (Second Doctor, 1967) and Tony in Terror of the Autons (Third Doctor, 1970). 15 May 1937: birth of Darrol Blake, director of The Stones of Blood (Fourth Doctor, 1979) 15 May 1990: death of Peter Grimwade, director of Full Circle (Fourth Doctor, 1980), Logopolis (Fourth Doctor, 1981), Kinda (Fifth Doctor, 1982) and Earthshock (Fifth Doctor, 1982) and writer of Time-Flight (Fifth Doctor, 1982), Mawdryn Undead (Fifth Doctor, 1983) and Planet of Fire (Fifth Doctor, 1984). ii) broadcast anniversaries 15 May 1965: ...
I am starting to lose count of the potential scandals that are currently circling the Prime Minister and his party. There has been the controversy over Tory donors winning massive contracts for PPE, issues around preferential lobbying, inquiries into who paid to refurbish the Downing Street flat, a County Court Judgement being issued against Boris Johnson for an outstanding debt, and now questions as to whether a holiday in Mustique costing between £15.000 and £30,000 was properly declared as a gift in kind. Despite all of this Johnson appears to be as popular as ever and according to the last ...
Residents have highlighted to me recently that the road markings from the top of Blackness Avenue, from the junction with Blackness Road, south to just around the bend in the road by Hillcrest Road, are very worn. There is a 'hatchet" section in the middle of the road that has almost completely disappeared. I raised this with the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have received the following helpful response : "An order has been raised for these road markings to be refreshed as soon as is feasible."
The current fighting in Israel is different. It was not sparked by a suicide bomber from Gaza, Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority or an Arab state. Hamas did not decide to test its rocket capability with a random attack. No, this time the cause is the long smouldering fuse of discontent by the Palestinian's living inside Israel. And because the roots are internal, the problem is even more intractable and dangerous. Not all the Palestinians fled Israel during the 1947-1948 war of independence. Some of them simply refused to go. Some actually savoured the thought of living in a democratic country. ...
"Marta tells us that just a few weeks ago, she was detained by British border authorities at Heathrow Airport, transferred in the middle of the night to the nearby 'Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre' (defined as a 'prison' even by Google Maps), and deported with a flight to Milan the day after." Antonello Guerrera on how Britain now treats EU nationals. Geoffrey M. Hodgson outlines his long journey from socialism to liberalism. "This decision is a crime. A brutish act of narrow Philistinism that will rob all future generations of a unique living, human tradition that took almost five centuries to ...
I've waited a few days before dissecting the Liberal Democrats' performance in the Scottish parliamentary elections. I very much doubt that what I say will be much different to what I would have done a week ago but, in the circumstances, I felt it wise to give our candidates, activists and indeed our parliamentarians time to recover from a bruising campaign before writing a critical piece. The pause has also allowed time for personal reflection and the opportunity to engae in interesting and productive discussions with other party members. Disaster There is little point in avoiding the obvious reality: the ...
