It's time to fire up the risographs, dust off the rosettes, and hit the doorsteps. The sleaze scandal that has engulfed the Tories this week has reminded members up and down the country why Boris Johnson's Government must be beaten. Politics must be better than this. And the North Shropshire by-election is a great chance to send them a message they can't ignore – and help cement the party back on the political map. There was much speculation in the media yesterday about a possible "unity independent anti-corruption" candidate. On Friday morning, Labour ruled this out – so it's not ...
It's politically promising territory for the Liberal Democrats: Fire up the Bar Chart Machine! https://t.co/r5R59s82lo — Mark Pack [IMG: 🔶] (@markpack) November 5, 2021
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation in 2001, beating Chicken Run, the three-part TV Dune, X-Men and Frequency in that order. (The only one of those I had previously seen was Chicken Run.) It was also top of the nominations ballot. It also won the 2001 Nebula for Best Script, beating X-Men again, also O Brother, Where Art Thou? (which I started but could not finish, and is surely only barely genre) and the Buffy episode "The Body" (which I have of course seen, and would rate as one of the best-written Buffy episodes, if ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @StuartHumphryes: This is Annie. It was taken in the chill of a January morning, but in which year? Is this the 'Cathy Come Home' of the... Fri, 16:05: RT @LibyaLiberty: I sent my daughter out of the secure nest of the family home to college in America, into the jaws of a craven and wild wo... Fri, 16:34: Current The Book of the War , ed. Lawrence Miles The Burning God , by R.F. Kuang Last books finished The Unspoken https://t.co/RL0dFGa1qS Fri, 17:11: The Doom and Destiny of Tolkien's Chaucer Research: A Note on John M. Bowers, ...
It has been a simply outstanding week for the Lib Dems - with a number of sensational performances and results in by-elections across the country at every level. There was a double-helping of principle-authority gains from the Conservatives in West Sussex and Gloucester where both campaigns were helped by a Fighting Fund Grant from ALDC. West Sussex On West Sussex County Council the Lib Dems gained Bourne Ward from the Conservatives - with a 23% increase in our share of the vote. Congratulations to Cllr Andrew Kerry-Bedell and the local Lib Dem team on a fantastic gain. West Sussex County ...
The consensus now forming around the Owen Paterson affair is that the whole battle to exonorate the former MP and disband the standards regime that found him to be in breach of the normal rules governing public life was actually a proxy war to save the Prime Minister from further inquiries. The Independent reports that Boris Johnson is facing the prospect of two fresh sleaze inquiries into his own behaviour, as signs grow that his botched attempt to save a senior Tory MP from punishment for paid lobbying has shaken his authority within his own party. The paper says that ...
Here's my latest from the party website: The merits of standing in a council by-election we have a chance of winning are obvious. So too for wards which we might hope to win in the future and where the by-election is a chance to accelerate that progress. But there are also huge benefits in standing even in wards that we are not likely to win for a very long time yet (if ever). One set of benefits comes from the opportunity to practice, train and learn. Winning elections isn't easy and some of the skills required are very hard to ...
Every day the amount of money that the council has lost, misapplied or simply failed to collect during the calamitous time of Labour control under Mayor Joe Anderson's leadership seems to grow. The latest public scandal is yet another update ... Continue reading →
Climate change affects every single one of the7.8 billion people living on planet Earth and each one of them is an individual with homes, jobs, families, friends, dreams and aspirations. Already these are being shattered by floods, fires, droughts, desertification and storms. Millions have already been affected. Below are a sample of specific cases that herald future problems for the rest of the world. Cecile Rvanavaluna used to work in her local rice paddy every day. Now Madagascar's rice fields—which take up a third of the East African Island's agricultural land—are dust. Madagascar has been suffering a drought for a ...
Two planning applications have now been submitted for the major refurbishment of 77 homes on Sandpits Avenue (21/05057/FUL; 21/05056/FUL). They give more details of the scheme, which will be the largest investment in social housing in Ludlow for many years. Residents whose houses are being refurbished will be moved into another house in Sandpits. Their homes will have major refurbishment, new floors, new heating, new electrics, new bathrooms and kitchens, new plastering and new roofs where needed. The residents will move back to their original homes again at the end of the work. The housing will be more energy efficient ...
Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of both 101 Ways To Win An Election and Bad News: what the headlines don't tell us, along with maintaining the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. The next general election is most likely several years away, but political polling of voting intentions for a general election is in full swing. Half-a-dozen firms are polling regularly, with a handful of occasional surveys from others too. Below the table, you'll find the option to sign up to email updates about new polls and also a set of answers ...
On 11th November the garden will be remembering local people who have served in the armed forces. Some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice and others who lived to remember. Come along, remember and make your own poppy. You can find out more at the garden's blog at https://bit.ly/3Ek96PB
No one moves as quickly as the Liberal Democrats requesting donations for a by-election campaign: the party already has a page up for the North Shropshire contest. A tweet from Jim Pickard, chief political correspondent at the Financial Times, tweeted earlier today quoted a Lib Dem official as saying: "there was a scintilla of examining..an independent unity candidate of a Martin Bell nature..compliance rules & electoral legislation has changed dramatically since then making it virtually impossible" But even if a Martin Bell candidate were possible in North Shropshire, would it be desirable? As Andy Boddington points out on Lib Dem ...
