If the first part of the year was dedicated almost entirely to the Party, the mid-section of dedicated to me. It was time to travel at last, and boy, did I travel. I set off around the world, visiting the Valladares manse (see picture, surprisingly people free - it's never like this normally), meeting the communists, making new friends, trying a new career or experiencing a sense of angst. The
The Oxen Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock,"Now they are all on their knees",An elder said as we sat in a flockBy the embers in hearthside ease. We pictured the meek mild creatures whereThey dwelt in their strawy pen,Nor did it occur to one of us thereTo doubt they were kneeling then. So fair a fancy few would weaveIn these years! Yet, I feel,If someone said on Christmas Eve,"Come; see the oxen kneel "In the lonely barton by yonder coombOur childhood used to know",I should go with him in the gloom,Hoping it might be so. Thomas ...
I'd like to wish everyone who knows me through the blogosphere the best possible Christmas. Also, particular thoughts go to my new distant cousin Adam, who came in to this world on Wednesday. He's no fool - after all, he wasn't born yesterday. There will be four of us for a special turkey dinner on Monday, the family Black plus an old work friend. The present I'm hoping for is a CD from
Catching the train is when it starts for me. Somehow - regardless of the railway’s attempts to put its passengers in a bad mood by jacking up the prices, cramming the carriages with cattle customers, and ensuring we’re all late for wherever we’re meant to get to - the mood is more cheery. It’s one of the only occasions in the year you’ll be on public transport when almost everybody is heading
On Thursday we reported that the Shropshire Star had reported that Lembit Opik is "to be quizzed by Liberal Democrat officials following nationwide publicity surrounding the new love in his life". Today the fount of all useful knowledge says: Liberal Democrat leaders in Mid Wales have called off a meeting with Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik over national publicity surrounding his personal life. In a statement, they said they were “fully satisfied” that the end of his relationship with TV weather presenter Sian Lloyd, and his new affair with Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia, was “entirely private”, and had “no political implications”.Mind ...
I've been blog tagged by Ellee Seymour, who was herself tagged by Iain Dale, on the meme of the seven best things I've done this year. 1) Getting married, the most incredible day of my life. 2) Deciding not to run for Parliament, ever ! I've finally got my life back. 3) Teaching some great lessons during my school's Ofsted Inspection. It was so good to be part of such a good inspection for my school. 4) Taking up blogging and burying the hatchet with Iain Dale. 5) Finally getting the Council to shelve plans to close a toilet ...
In the fifth part of my seasonal rant about things that wind me up about Christmas, let me nominate ... Last minute panic shoppers. I remember about 15 years ago witnessing two women literally fighting over the last turkey in Marks and Spencer, similarly, I have been to shops on Christmas Eve where every loaf, every point of milk, all the teabags, indeed, every basic item had been taken by people in a blind panic worrying about how they will survive for two days, yes, TWO DAYS without the shops being open. It's not even as if there ...
Just back from delivering a bundle of Christmas cards from councillor Danny Hughes and I to residents in part of Speke. We like to do this (although when my feet are hurting that's not quite how I would put it!). Its a nice way of saying thank you to people and sending good wishes.. but sadly there are also some people for whom this is one of the few, or sometimes the only, card they get. It's usually cold and getting dark when we are doing this - but the walk round shows just how really inventive some people ...
Fish. The new EU quotas for catches are announced. Again a political uproar, and one that is of high interest to LibDems since a considerable number of our MPs representing fishing communities. In Scotland it may sway a whole national election. The Marine Conservation Society is not happy, saying that cod quotas should actually have been set at zero. Endangered cod falls victim to EU blunder…? Fishing is of course a world-wide activity. The current issue (No. 65, December 2006) of the Institute for Development Studies information journal “id21 insights” is on “The Importance of Fisheries in ...
As I was finishing off that post, Spurs were scoring to get back in touch with Newcastle - but by half-time another goal conceded and it looks at best a difficult fight from 3-1. Anyway, BBC said that our goal (from Danny Murphy) was a bit comical to say the least, with a total miskick going in off a Newcastle defender. This was the description of the Spurs goal on our own club website: 14.18mins: GOAL - SPURS. Chimbonda cross from right, Malbranque missed overhead kick, Murphy volley into ground clipped off Taylor and beat Given. It ...
Just a quick post to wish anyone stopping by a very happy Christmas. I'm now safely stowed at my sister's in St.Alban's until Boxing Day morning (thanks to Monica for the lift, all those presents for my niece would not have made for an easy tube journey...). Bit of a disaster at St.James' Park it would seem, Defoe injured in the warm up and so Malbranque playing up front... We are 2-0 down within 10 minutes, doesn't look like being a fun day for us in Newcastle. I remember being there with my mate Matt for a great 2-0 ...
It is a new one on me. The University Hospital of North Staffordshire have threatened to sue me (or more precisely their lawyers have threatened to sue me) over a letter I wrote to them. I wrote to them asking for them to tell those people who have secret medical files that there are secret medical files. They responded by a) Refusing to write to me and/or talk to me directly and passing the
Dear All, Am off to London for Chrstmas to stay with my in-laws,i will miss the Vale as its a very special place this time of year!This will be our Baby Lilis first Christmas&New Year so very very magical to me and my wife mary.So a big thanks to all my friends and family for all their support this year and i look forward to working together in 2007.Be safe,enjoy and please check any elderly neighbours who are on their own..# All the best, Mark Mary Lili
Todays link is here. This site tells you all about the history of Christmas Cards. Apparently the first commercial Christmas card was made in Britain in the 1840s but it was not until 20 years later that the greeting card business was established. In the Victorian era when a person paid a formal call on a friend, it was customary to leave a visiting card as a reminder of the visit. These cards were typically small, about 2 by 3 inches. In 1860, Charles Goodall & Son, a British publisher of visiting cards, began mass producing cards designed especially for ...
Lib Dem Voice will likely be maintaining radio silence for a few days, so have a merry Christmas, and if I don’t see you before then, a happy new year. christmas
After 13 months in prison, the holocaust denier David Irving is back in the UK, painting himself as the victim of an atrocity. The sad thing is that in this case he is telling the truth. Atrocities are, of course, relative. 11 million people died in the Holocaust (or 14 million, or 20 million, or seven, depending on whom you ask) and by comparison 13 months in prison is small beer. But there remains a qualitative link between banning a man’s freedom of speech (whether or not you think he is crazy or evil) and other, more ...
It would appear that the Conservatives have accepted £100,000 from the wife of a foreign arms dealer. Afic Said, the aforementioned foreign arms dealer is barred from making political donations in Britain. He and his British wife Rosemary are accused of exploiting a loophole in the rules to fund the Conservatives.
Since the last blog postings on Wednesday, have been busy delivering the last of my newsletters and Christmas Cards to constituents. Had a useful meeting on Wednesday with a member of Leisure & Communities staff about progressing the administrative aspects of the Friends of Magdalen Green project, together with meetings with the Council Leader and with Finance staff. On Thursday, the City Centre and Harbour Community Council meeting was rudely interrupted by an emergency evacuation of the Central Library! We continued the discussion over a nice Christmas meal at Braes in the Perth Road. I am genuinely very sad ...
I am sure I am not the only person on this side of the world who had hoped that Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath would retire before the Ashes' series and not some time after. In making this consideration I have put to one side those disloyal voices who argue that the England and Wales cricket team would still have lost. Nevertheless, once the duo do walk into the history books it seems that several lucrative careers beckon. Whether they will pair up and seek to out-do Mark Ramprakash in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing however, is another matter. ...
It’s interesting to see that David Irving, the holocaust-denying Briton, has now been released by the Austrian authorities. It raises some challenging questions about other European countries’ attitude to freedom of speech, and the use of Nazi symbols and texts. Irving describes himself as a historian, which he’s free to do, but he of course has [...] 
If this doesn’t get you in the Christmas mood, nothing will.
There’s a good - if slightly pretentiously written - interview in today’s Indy with that musical virtuoso Jarvis Cocker. (And if you’re still looking for a Christmas present for any wannabe indie ‘90s’ throwbacks you know, then I heartily recommend his solo album, Jarvis.) His monochrome Sheffield drawl pretty much guarantees anything he says - bon mot, or simple statement - can be defined as
"It was an early morning yesterday and I was up before the dawn" are the Supertramp lyrics on my mind as I write this. It was another early morning start today with a 6.30am visit to a sorting o...
Saturday: "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." – President Abraham Lincoln That Pink Dog has yipped at me to point out that The The Today Programme's "Great Repeal Act" – as Mr Mark Pax has already said – is CLEARLY COPIED straight from Liberal Democrat Mr Clogg's "Christmas Repeal". (IMPORTANT NOTE: this is NOT about the REPEAL OF CHRISTMAS before Ms Anne Atkins and the League of Righteous Dowagers and Ranting Christian Women get on their HIGH HORSES yet again! Christmas has NOT been cancelled and it never was; ... | < | December 2006 | > | ||||
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