You always come away from a David Howarth speech with your brain fizzing with excitement. Our former MP for Cambridge did not disappoint tonight as he delivered the Social Liberal Forum's Beveridge Lecture in a hybrid event hosted online and at the National Liberal Club. Our newest MP, Sarah Green, a former Director of the SLF, was in the Chair. The theme for tonight's talk was Liberal Equality – what should the liberal attitude be to equality. He started out by pointing out that unequal societies are unhealthier and unhappier – even if you have above average income. The financial ...
As COP26 - December's international convention in Glasgow - becomes a major media focus, the scrutiny of environmental plans and policies will be intensified. Parties across the political spectra are now preparing proposals that will sound good but not offend their core supporters. They've had plenty of practice. References to fine words buttering no parsnips date back to at least 1634. To identify the underlying causes of ecological distress one must first strip away mis-characterisations (it's just a natural cycle) and finger pointing or 'othering' (it's all their fault) and vested interests that stand in the way of progress. It's ...
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, 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. Lots of travel with my Georgian client that month, but no time for photographs: starting with a site visit in Tbilisi, ...
Politics and gardening don't easily mix. I remember ruefully discussing this with Councillor Stuart Galton as I was giving out the prizes at a West Yorkshire Allotments event years ago. Long before that, Ian Stuart said it to Helen and me in 1973, standing in our spare room and looking at what we had just achieved in our Manchester garden after two years of limited political activity (triggered by discontent with Jeremy Thorpe's leadership and the drift within the party). He'd moved in for the duration of the Manchester Exchange by-election, where our good friend and university colleague Michael Steed ...
Many people remember the saga in the past about Green Waste. I took a court case out against the City Council and the City Cleared up the waste, but the court decided to award costs against me. I took this through an appeal in the Admin Court and a second appeal in the Court of Appeal (both of which I lost). I then took it to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee where this week I won.
Wed, 14:39: RT @bleedingcool: Frank Miller No Longer Attending Thought Bubble After Creator Boycott #shortbox #comics #thoughtbubble #frankmiller https... Wed, 15:55: RT @TheRealBuzz: Imagine spending 8 days in space, including nearly 22 hours on the Moon and returning home to Earth only to have to go thr... Wed, 17:11: RT @timjudah1: Little known fact: Albanians eat more fruit than any other nation in Europe. https://t.co/6vxbWoG6Dg Wed, 19:01: 2021 Hugos: The Lodestar Award https://t.co/QhfnwEQqAE Thu, 10:45: RT @gorskon: Having unwillingly undergone a five week intensive exposure to "gender critical" arguments, I've concluded that a disturbing n...
Liberal Democrats have been strongly campaigning on mental health for several years now. Here is the party's response to Simone Biles' acknowledgement of the pressures she has been under. She has won a total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals in gymnastics and the expectations placed on her are exceptional. And if you are struggling, you need not be alone. There are multiple organisations and helplines that can be there for you. Just a few are below:@samaritans: 116 123@TheMixUK (for under 25s): 0808 808 4994@theCALMzone: 0800 58 58 58@switchboardLGBT: 0300 330 0630 — Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) July 28, 2021 ...
I have today welcomed news that bus passengers in the Tullideph Road/Ancrum Road area are likely to again have a bus service near to them, after months of being left high and dry without a bus service following Xplore Dundee re-routing Service 17 away from the area. The re-routing of Service 17 earlier this year so it now goes right along City Road was really bad news for the Tullideph Road and Ancrum Road area as it left them without any bus service. I felt strongly that every effort should be made to serve Tullideph Road and Ancrum Road particularly ...
With a Labour MP evicted from the House of Commons for calling the Prime Minister a liar, the focus has fallen back onto some of the more infamous untruths that have passed the Boris Johnson's lips. It is worth therefore harking back to this article in the Independent from May 2019 which lists seven of his most notorious, ranging from incorrect 14th century history to the EU banana police. They point out that Boris Johnson's flirtation with dishonesty has cost him at least three jobs and damaged his standing with the people of Liverpool and London. The first is when ...
Historic England's YouTube blurb says: The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs were the first-ever life-sized reconstructions of extinct animals, revealing to the public their first glimpse of lost worlds. Today these magnificent Victorian sculptures continue to surprise and engage visitors on how science and history intertwine. After Meg the Megalosaurus' jaw collapsed last May, Bromley Council successfully secured a grant of £19,870 from the Culture Recovery Fund to undertake emergency repairs. Watch our video to see how the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, Bromley Council and conservation specialists Taylor Pearce have used their funding to temporarily repair the Megalosaurus. You can glimpse ...
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