This blog first appeared at www.radixuk.org It is one of the great ironies of history that, east and west, the liberation of the agricultural slaves and serfs - the people who carried out most of the work in the fields of Russia and eastern Europe and the plantations of the southern US states - happened almost simultaneously. The slaves were freed by the Emancipation Declaration of Abraham Lincoln in January 1863, though it required another two years to win the Civil War and finish the job. But the Russian serfs were freed from bondage to the land at almost the ...
In all the swirl of tittle-tattle, mystery and intrigue that was generated yesterday by Hunt's marital infidelity and possible illegal actions as Health Secretary you might be forgiven for having missed the fact that it was Armed Forces Day yesterday. ... Continue reading →
I wrote back in March about the mystery of the baby found in a Philadelphia park in 1917, how her children and I had got in touch through ancestry.com and how I had definitely identified the baby's mother, and also tentatively identified the baby's father as a distant cousin of my grandmother's. As often happens when you work on these things, a niggle of doubt continued in my mind about the baby's paternity. The mother's identity was clear enough; but I worried that my candidate for the father, who I referred to as "Bill" in my previous post, was really ...
You may just have heard that Ed Maxfield and I have written a book, now on to its third edition, about how elections are won. If you've not yet read it, here are six reasons to give it a whirl...
The discovery of Health Secretary Matt Hancock who has spent the last fifteen months urging us to keep two metres social distance from others, even grandchildren, in a clinch with a member of his department was an opportunity for Hancock and the Prime Minster to show there was still some understanding of common decency at the top of the Government. It would have been honourable if Hancock, "caught bang-to-rigths, Guv" had resigned at once rather than waiting 24 hours for pressure from Tory party members and MPs to recognise that his continuation in the job was untenable. As he did ...
Sat, 12:56: Belgitude: the art of Belgian zen https://t.co/fWrHEvAKIp Fair. Sat, 16:24: 2021 Hugos: Best Graphic Story or Comic https://t.co/3WmUJZuVIG Sat, 19:17: RT @tnewtondunn: Breaking: Matt Hancock has resigned. Sat, 19:21: RT @GaryLineker: Who would have thought it? Matt Hancock is out before England. Sat, 19:32: RT @ianjamesparsley: @GaryLineker @nwbrux Even before Wales. Just. Sat, 19:35: RT @NaomiOhReally: Northern Ireland's @naomi_long busts a few myths about the Protocol in two minutes that are as clear as Evian water http... Sat, 19:38: RT @RobotArchie: https://t.co/mp4FbwWX1i https://t.co/hNkjWWgQPt Sat, 19:52: Very sad news. A colleague at @CEPS_thinktank when I first moved to Brussels. ...
The amazing Liberal Democrat win in last week's Chesham & Amersham by-election was the first electoral setback the Conservatives have had since 2019. So it's not surprising that it has sparked a fresh wave of debate across non-Conservative politics about what can be learned from it, one of which is around varying types of a progressive alliance. It's important to understand WHY people are talking about a progressive alliance in the first place. For me it starts with three key reasons – The Conservatives have won 4 successive General Elections and judging by the opinion polls and recent election results, ...
No, it's not a great record, but it's an interesting one. In 1974 I was all over Radio One, Radio Luxembourg and the charts, which means I have a lot of half-remembered songs at the back of my mind. This is one of them and I recently discovered what it is. Adam Faith was one of the pioneers of British rock, but his ballads suddenly sounded old-fashioned when groups took over the scene. By 1974 he was better known as an actor than a singer, and a very good actor he was. Talking Pictures channel recently repeated Budgie, his finest ...
Brexit and the UK Government's policies on migrant workers have struck again. According to the Guardian, school meals could be disrupted for the remainder of this term by delays and shortages of food supplies across the country as a result of a dearth of lorry drivers in the UK. The paper reports industry representatives have told Boris Johnson that the driver shortage - exacerbated by Brexit and the pandemic - is causing a "crisis" in the food supply chain, with the UK road haulage sector having a shortage of 100,000 lorry drivers: Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy at the ...
Our foreign affairs correspondent, Tom Arms, this week defends the use of the filibuster in Congress but criticises the Republicans for making it more difficult to vote. Joe Biden, desperate to avoid the addition of America to the sad list of states buried in Afghanistan's imperial graveyard, is to throw money at the country problem's rather than soldiers. The first round of French local elections show President Macron to be in deep trouble and right-winger Marine Le Pen is not far behind him. The Australian government's reaction to UNESCO's warnings on the Great Barrier Reef show that the country is ...
i) births and deaths 27 June 1991: death of Milton Subotsky, who produced and wrote Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966), the two cinema films starring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who. ii) broadcast anniversaries 27 June 1964: broadcast of "The Unwilling Warriors", second episode of the story we now call The Sensorites. The Sensorites threaten to take Susan to their own planet as a hostage.
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 Tay Rail Bridge repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Riverside Approach (between Magdalen Yard Road and A85 Riverside Drive), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 28 June for 5 nights (7pm to 6am). Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available A85 Riverside Drive / Perth Road / Magdalen Yard Road. For further information ...
Under relentless pressure after he was pictured in a romantic clinch in breach of coronavirus restrictions, Matt Hancock last night resigned as secretary of state for health. He told Boris Johnson: The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis... We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance. He is replaced by former home secretary and chancellor, Sajid Javid. Matt Hancock ...
