Before Richard passed away, he said he wanted to see his new great nephew Brodie. So the family came up from Wales and on 21st October, Richard got his wish and was able to hold the baby. This is the video I filmed on the day. Two days later Richard passed away.
The latest edition of our email newsletter eFocus for the NE11 and NE16 area has just been published. Key issues covered include:Woodland proposed for Whickham and Dunston Hill;Can you help plant up Whickham;Remembrance Day;Peter awarded medal;Tour of Britain in Sunniside;Central Gateshead congestion;Sunniside Post Office closes;New houses;Something completely different.Click on tis link to view
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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. At work, Anglo-American M left my office and moved in with a nice Bulgarian chap D, who I had actually introduced ...
We woke up this morning to the news that the UK is ready to kick off a legal fight with France, and possibly the EU, in the clash over Channel fishing rights as early as next week, according to reports from Boris Johnson. ... Continue reading →
Somewhat late to the party, we've been watching the first series of Parlement, a comedy set in and around the European Parliament. Here's a trailer: It is the story of Samy (Xavier Lacaille), a naive young French chap, who comes to Brussels in early 2019 to work for Michel Specklin (Philippe Duquesne), a French MEP who has been successfully practicing invisibility for years, and is appalled when Samy lands him with responsibility for fisheries legislation banning shark finning. British parliamentary staffer Rose (Liz Kingsman) steals every scene she is in. Here she and German staffer Torsten (Lucas Englander) put Samy ...
Only one more edition to go for the Low Fell Lib Dem Focus Team to reach 100! NO. 99 was published recently and includes:Gateshead Council say Dryden Centre will close from September 2022Dawn Welsh joins Focus TeamUpdate on Methadone in Low FellKells Lane Park gets new ship!Residents give their views to the PoliceLow Fell's new Post Office opens.You can read Low Fell eFocus on this link.
Richard passed away on 23rd October. An infection of the heart which he could not fight off because of liver failure, he died peacefully in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. My thanks to the hundreds of people who have sent messages of condolence. Richard had been in hospital since 23rd September. It was only a few days before he passed away that the doctor treating him told us to "Hope for the best
Fri, 15:29: RT @reclamation2022: We're sorry to announce that Zen Cho has had to withdraw as Guest of Honour owing to family commitments. We're very... Fri, 17:09: RT @CrisisGroup: As UNSC votes on renewal of mission in Western Sahara today, states should signal commitment to relaunch of talks & an eve... Fri, 18:03: RT @adamparsons: I've spoken to various EU diplomats about 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 fishing spat. All of them have said they'll back France. "There's no trust... Fri, 18:23: Friday reading https://t.co/rqg4n1DuxW Fri, 18:51: The Ambassadors of Death, by L.M. Myles (and Terrance Dicks) https://t.co/1HZBhjjJfE Fri, 19:31: The fight is ...
The Independent quotes Boris Johnson this morning as suggesting that civilisation could collapse "like the Roman Empire" unless runaway climate change is stopped. And yet as I pointed out here, his government's recent budget scrapped a planned fuel duty rise for the twelfth year in a row, effecctively offering a subsidy for drivers of polluting vehicles, and reduced air passenger duty (APD) on flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, adding to dangerous emissions. The Independent also points out that new analysis has found that the post-Brexit shift in trade links away from the UK's EU neighbours ...
COP-26 in Glasgow has been organised because of the general recognition that international cooperation on an unprecedented scale is required to prevent the Earth which we all inhabit from alternately sinking beneath the waves or burning to a crisp. Every country has to agree to concerted measures to reduce carbon emissions in order to keep global temperature rises down to 1.5 degree centigrade. It is a classic case of a chain being only as strong as its weakest link. The need for action was highlighted this week by a report from the UN Environment Programme that commitments agreed so far ...
Some weeks ago, I had a site visit with a member of West End Community Council and a City Council officer about several issues on Riverside Drive. We agreed that some cycle parking provision just east of the car park at the Bridgeview Station Restaurant would be a good idea, particularly as there is plenty space for this. I raised this with the City Development Department at the council and received a positive response. The Senior Project Officer, Active Travel Strategy has now advised further : "I am working on a wider cycle parking project which focuses on the city ...
"We need to find a way that we can return responsibility to local people and get all the sectors on board - to show how to build an economy that can save the planet and save our lives at the same time, and how the moving parts might fit together." David Boyle calls for a new-style national plan. Louise Whitfield has no time for Dominic Raab's plan to overhaul the Human Rights Act: "Watering down the HRA has long been one of Raab's pet projects - he quite literally wrote a book on it - but to human rights lawyers ...
