Fri 9th
19:11

Friday reading

Current Middlemarch, by George Eliot The Separation, by Christopher Priest The Last Pharaoh, by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir Last books finished Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko Riding the Unicorn, by Paul Kearney Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse Next books Empire Games, by Charles Stross The Kingdom of Copper, by S. A Chakraborty

If you're within reach of Leuven, and on the look-out for something a bit different to do this weekend, you could do worse than visiting the Abdij van Park, south of the city. We know it well - Anne actually volunteered in the museum for a few months, a couple of years ago. I started a videoblog entry about it last summer, but never completed it; this was the intro. The abbey now hosts a religious art museum, Parcum, with a permanent exhibition and a rotating set of temporary displays. This summer - now scheduled to finish on 29 August, ...

Ed Davey is back out on the campaign trail and was in Guildford, part of that shaky looking Blue Wall, today. Here's a snap from the trip: A pleasure to photograph Ed Davey today knocking doors in #Guildford #BlueWall pic.twitter.com/qapNMr8e8u — John Russell (@john4london) July 9, 2021 Email* Enter Email Confirm Email Name* First Last What would you like to receive?* Liberal Democrat Newswire: monthly newsletter Polling UnPacked (political opinion polling news): max 1 email per day Mark Pack blog posts and council by-election results: max 1 email per day Lib Dem news from www.LibDems.org.uk and the media: max 1 ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Well, it is for the Labour and Conservative parties anyway as they desperately try to respectively regain or cling onto this particular section of voters who are, by a majority, backing the Tories in recent years. For Labour, this is a conundrum to which they seem to have few if any answers and it may well be why Starmer and Labour tend to be keeping their heads down when it comes to acting like an opposition. My feeling is that they fear alienating the white working-class vote even more so until it starts to slip from the Tory's grip best ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Seven local council seats across six wards up for election in this week's by-elections. Five wards and six of the seats had Liberal Democrat candidates, with one ward seeing a candidate this time when there was none last but also one seeing no candidate when there had been one last time around. It was a pretty wild set of results, with six seats changing hands. Feniton, East Devon Todd Olive stood for the Lib Dems after three no-shows in a row for the party in this ward. Feniton (East Devon), council by-election result: CON: 53.5% (+40.9) LAB: 28.2% (+23.4) LDEM: ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
Fri 9th
11:00

My tweets

Thu, 12:56: Alastair Campbell: Why England are a team to be proud of https://t.co/GlhI2P85S4 @CampbellClaret on the football - a critical friend to England. Thu, 18:33: The Johnstown Flood, by David McCullough https://t.co/ySIy8xZc0u Fri, 09:59: RT @MichaelAodhan: Great to see more trade deals but not great to see more hyperbole -Less tariffs does not mean no red tape - this is not... Fri, 10:45: RT @JohnSpringford: .@DavidGauke: Cummings and Johnson thought talk of the Irish trilemma was mere "babbling" https://t.co/3BVc1vnr5n Fri, 11:04: From @gilliantett: 1) Carbon price and tax 2) Push China on reducing coal use 3) Help poorer nations ...

The Government appears to have forgotten why, the predominantly Conservative, Coalition Government introduced the "triple lock" whereby the State Pension increases in line with earnings, prices or 2.5%, whichever is the greatest. It was an attempt to reverse the 30 years of erosion since Margaret Thatcher replaced the "earnings link" with a "prices link". And after only ten years there is a long way to go to restore the pre 1980 relative value. Prices are about the cost of static living. Earnings are about the standard of living and quality of life. As the economy grows so too do the ...

Posted by Chris Perry on Liberal Democrat Voice

The cost of the legacy of Joe Anderson is still mounting up with a report to next week's Cabinet indicating costs to improve the Council of £2.5 million over the next 3 years. The costs include the costs of the ... Continue reading →

Posted by richardkemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?

Having written 150 blog posts on coronavirus since March 2020, and as a recipient of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, I was eagerly looking forward to the publication of this book. When it dropped into my Audible inbox this morning, I immediately began listening as I ploughed on with my daily business of a councillor while living in self isolation. I was not disappointed. Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University. Dr Catherine Green is also at Oxford, where she is an Associate Professor in Chromosome Dynamics at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics. Together they tell the story ...

Posted by Andy Boddington on Liberal Democrat Voice

In recent weeks, I have had a lot of complaints from residents about the overflowing bins and recycling area at Pennycook Lane - see photo. I have raised this with environment management to ensure this is tackled.

YouGov

The Irish news agency, RTÉ News reports that the UK is liable to pay €47.5 billion to the EU as part of its post-Brexit financial settlement. They say the figures are contained in the EU's consolidated budget report for 2020, which states that the UK owes the EU €47.456 billion under a series of articles which both sides agreed as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement: The issue of what Britain would owe the EU after Brexit has been highly controversial, with eurosceptics claiming that the UK would not have to pay it if there was no deal on either ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

Having published 150 blog posts on coronavirus since March 2020, and as a recipient of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, I was eagerly looking forward to the publication of this book. When it dropped into my Audible inbox this morning, I immediately began listening as I ploughed on with my daily business of a councillor while living in self isolation. I was not disappointed. Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University. Dr Catherine Green is also at Oxford, where she is an Associate Professor in Chromosome Dynamics at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics. Together they tell the story ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington

Harborough FM, which these days provides the best local news service, reports that the government is again looking at the idea of electrifying the railway from Market Harborough to Sheffield. A Department for Transport spokesperson has told the radio station: "Enabling and design work is currently taking place to progress electrification of the Midland Mainline beyond Kettering to Market Harborough, as well as to enable the introduction of the new bi-mode trains to be introduced on the route in 2023. "Further electrification of the MML to Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield is currently being examined by the Department and Network Rail, ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England