I know it's silly, but as a schoolboy this always used to tickle me on this day in 1743, Great Britain, Austria, and Savoy-Sardinia signed the Treaty of Worms. It always conjured up a picture of a rather dicomfitted dog being cared for by the royalty of Europe. Puerile I know but what the hey!
This was the 17th annual celebration at the Buddha Grove at Springhill Prison, the first of a series in English prisons. There is chanting by the monks, a few short speeches, a splendid meal produced by Thai supporters of Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy, and an address by the Ven Khemadhammo Mahathera OBE, the Spiritual Head of the Buddhist Chaplaincy.
ne of the things I was proudest about since starting this blog – something that nobody except me would have considered remarkable – was a sentence from Gavin B in the comments section to my ridiculously popular NHS post. Speaking to a troll, Gavin said, in part, "Generally on Andrew's blog we play the ball, not ...
[IMG: Plymouth Naval Memorial (12 Sept 2009)] The weather in Plymouth this weekend was fabulous. I took a lovely long stroll around town on Saturday, and managed a few snaps with the digital camera. The Hoe, of course, produced the best shots. The one above is the Naval Memorial, with the Sun hidden by the memorial itself, giving it an attractive bright glow. [IMG: Plymouth Hoe (12 Sept 2009)] And this is the classic Plymouth shot. Smeaton's Tower, with Drake's Island and Mt Edgcumbe in the background. In both photos the sky is a brilliant blue... Saturday was a fabulous ...
Today was Arts Fresco day in Market Harborough. It brought thousands of people into the town, helping local businesses at a difficult time and reminding me how the town has changed since I moved here in 1973. If some of the acts are art then so was my impersonation of Lord Bonkers at the Lib Dem Conference back in 1997. I should offer to take part next year. Still, it was all great fun. And I did meet the chair of the organisng board, who turned out be to be someone I acted as agent for in a local by-election ...
I've got out of the habit of blogging my responses to the Lib Dem policy consultation papers of late but the Quality of Life one caught my eye and I thought I'd have a stab at it. My overall response is that, while I applaud the party for wanting to tackle this issue and personally consider it to be very important, the direction that the consultation paper is taking somewhat concerns me. Unlike some, I don't think this is an area where government should not intervene, but it needs to be realistic about what it can achieve and it would ...
Courtesy of Philobiblon.
There can't be many children of today or yesterday that haven't enjoyed the stories of Roald Dahl, beautifully complemented by Quentin Blake's illustrations. Asked to name her favourite Roald Dahl book, my daughter cam up with a list of six, none of which were the two best known - Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and ...
They always say "Never change a winning formula". So It is odd to see how much the X Factor has changed this year. Gone are the cosy intimate auditions done in front of a camera crew and the four judges, instead replaced by performing to 2500 people in an arena making the show virtually indistinguishable from Simon Cowell's other hit show Britain's Got Talent. Also gone are the unaccompanied auditions instead replaced by full backing tracks making it harder to work out if the singers really are that good. Gone too are the judges disagreeing about contestants. Now every judge ...
What do: -Jimmy Lea, bass player of mega pop group Slade -Pamela Stephenson of Not the Nine O'Clock News and -Connie Booth co-writer of Fawlty Towers have in common? Have a go on the comments and I'll post the answer in a day or so.
...digitally, at least! I have created the "Trust not Fear", group. I have recently seen the "I am NOT a Paedophile!" group as well. Are there any other groups set up? Is it worth gathering together into one big group, with all the admins of the separate group in one? I think the biggest danger with this campaign, is that everyone becomes outraged, but that the anger is dissipated. At present it lacks a focal point to gather and direct that anger into real opposition. So, I'm urging everyone to talk to each other, work out where these groups are, ...
In politics one should never count chickens, yet the American Press, in the shape of the Washington Post and Time magazine is arguing that a powerful pattern seems to be emerging across European politics. They detect nothing less than the eclipse of Socialism as a political force. In Germany, the re-election of Angela Merkel as Bundeskanzelerin seems a foregone conclusion but the Socialist SPD is set to fall to its lowest result in over a generation. The left in Germany, France, Italy are facing eclipse. Even in Sweden, home of the "Social Democratic model", the Social Democrats have after nearly ...
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the new ISA regulations that are due to come into force next year and that could mean millions more adults having to undergo checks to ensure they are deemed fit to run other people's children to and from clubs and sporting events. There have been contributions to the debate from various bloggers including Caron, Costigan, James Graham and Iain Dale amongst others. Charlotte Gore seems to have stayed up half of last night doing an excellent post which is a rallying cry for all who value liberty to boycott the new ...
So, the Government is likely to perform a welcome major u-turn later this week and allow product placement, this reflects a major shift in Government policy and will also only affect commercial broadcasters. The BBC will not be allowed to do any product placement, although I have a big issue with the Beeb as they advertise so many of their shows etc when they aren't supposed too. That is another blog post for another day. Anyhow, I am wondering if the change in policy is a back door approach to the tax breaks the film industry have been campaigning for ...
Liberal Democrat Education Forum for Denbighshire A new education forum for Denbighshire by the Welsh Liberal Democrats has been formed to campaign on all matters educational, pertaining to Denbighshire. The group will meet bi-monthly in Denbighshire and all Liberal Democrat members from the Vale of Clwyd, Clwyd South and Clwyd West constituencies are most welcome to attend and share their thoughts about education in Denbighshire today. Petula Field from Rhyl is the group's spokesperson. If you would like to attend the next meeting of the group or get involved in future campaigns, please e-mail the group's Convenor, Penny Maudsley for ...
I wonder how Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is feeling tonight. With one driver out on the first lap of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and the other only getting a point because it was thrown into his lap, his team's championship challenge took what could be a mortal blow. Nobody's counting any chickens, of course, but perhaps he's regretting stirring it in an interview he gave to the press intimating that Jenson might not quite be up to the Championship challenge. Brawn's retaliation was swift and lethal, with flawless performances from Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button and ...
Bob Stanley wrote in The Times earlier this year: Until relatively recently she was seen as one of a crop of stars of the era famous enough to be known by their first names — Cilla, Sandie, Lulu and Dusty. All of them scored a string of hits between 1964 and the turn of the Seventies; all of them had their own TV series. Yet whenever a new starlet has appeared this decade, be it Amy Winehouse, Duffy or Adele, Dusty is always the one cited as a reference point. This recording of the Bacharach and David song reached number ...
Ouch, I cannot say much more than that. Labour is hurting the national pocket and our individual pockets. Nick Clegg is writing in today's Scotland on Sunday and as usual for Nick Clegg, it is a good piece picking up the key points and setting out our stall for the annual conference in Bournemouth later this week. One thing Nick has sensibly highlighted is the astronomical debt that this Labour Government has got this country (and therefore us) into. Labour this year is borrowing £5,500 per second! So, in the next minute, that will be more debt £330,000 and in ...
'll be writing more Hyperpost later – at least my reply to pillock, possibly some more posts, but a suggestion I made on Twitter and which seemed to be received quite well was that I review the Beatles mono box set at a rate of one album per week. When the Beatles' back catalogue was ...
A strange letter in last Friday's Southport Visiter gives me the opportunity to share the 'quote of the week . The letter was anonymous (aren't they always-though for the life of me I can't see why the Editor agreed to preserve the anonymity of the writer. I've a hunch that the writer didn't even attend the meeting.) The letter complained about the Southport Area Committee meeting held earlier this month on Wednesday 2nd September. The letter suggested, in a non-specific way, that councillors should have been reprimanded for "trying to pull down various members of the public". Councillors of all ...
Welcome to the 134th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th – 12th September 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, partly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. I wish Gavin Webb ...
Recently a number of major economies have come out of recession (France, Germany and Japan). This lend me to think about the definition of coming out of a recession. It seemed odd that 2 quarters of economic decline is required for a recession and only one month's economic increase required to pullout of a recession. To me this seems wrong; surely you would need to have 3 months of GDP expanding to actually pull out of recession. I agree that technically the recession is over if for one month a country pulled out of one, however if the economy took ...
Over on my personal/economics blog, I've posted some thoughts on the latest LibDem idea Scepticism about VAT-for-apprenticeships idea Nick Clegg has announced that what the economy needs is for the VAT cut to be reversed NOW, and the £billion or so be spent on providing paid internships to 16-24 year olds. In the email, he claims that "Under our plans more than 800,000 young people will be given a leg-up into industry via paid internships." They have announced it on Lib Dem Voice, too. I am not a fan. Here's why: - I like the VAT cut. I've blogged on ...
The 10th Sandgrounder Beer Festival has been happening over the last few days at the Arts Centre-where I wonder will they go during the refurbishment? I visited on Saturday afternoon. As the picture shows the beers were lined up as a War of the Roses; Yorks v Lancs. Pride of position went to the Southport Brewery with the award winning Golden Sands best bitter-also on their mini stand were the session bitter Natterjack (3.8%) and Carousel (4%). It is truly amazing how many micro breweries are now operating. There seemed to me to be a lot of 'golden' bitters which ...
I'm going back in time. I started off by watching Carl Sagan's "Cosmos", which was inspired partly by Bronowski's "Ascent of Man", which I then watched. In turn, Bronowski's series was made as a reaction and follow-up to Clark's "Civilisation".Both Cosmos and Ascent of Man were enjoyable surveys of their subject, and while I have a few minor factual quibbles and found both presenters slightly irritating, they pale in comparison to Civilisation.I've only watched the first episode of 13 so far, but it's just awful. Sure, Bronowski also had some rather quaint 1970s views, but Clark's aren't just quaint, they're ...
Following my recent post on the idiotic government proposal to put 11million adults on a "big brother style" child potection database, I was pleased to see the Sunday papers littered with criticisms of the new regulations. The scheme due to be introduced next month will, if carried out, force millions of parents to undergo paedophile and criminal checks if they are asked by schools or clubs to help out with ferrying the kids around. Perhaps most influentially, the NSPCC has come out against the plans, saying that it threatened "perfectly safe and normal activities". Ester Rantzen (the founder of Childline) ...
Yesterday's Times revealed that Jack Straw signed a secret deal with Libya three years ago guaranteeing the Libyan killer of a British policewoman will never be brought to justice in Britain: The Libyan killer of a British policewoman will never be brought to justice in Britain after a secret deal approved by Jack Straw. The Foreign Office bowed to Libyan pressure and agreed that Britain would abandon any attempt to try the murderer of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, shot outside the Libyan embassy in London 25 years ago. Anthony Layden, Britain's former ambassador to Libya, said this weekend he had signed ...
So are means tested benefits the way forward for Labour? In their attempt to enscapusulate their core voters, they are talking about changing some of their universal benefits to means tested benefits, such as child benefit. However, I think this needs to be done with utter caution. Yes, some of the universal benefits are not needed for those who are more wealthy in society, especially at a time of extreme public debt. Nevertheless, there are various problems that come with means tested benefits that have to be taken into account, so the situation does get better, not worse. Firstly, means ...
Actress Tina Fey has won an Emmy Award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice-presidential contender Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. "Mrs Palin is an inspiration to working mothers everywhere because she bailed on her job right before Fourth of July weekend. You are living my dream. Thank you, Mrs Palin."
While the SNP is busy sticking the boot in over a Liberal Democrat MEP's expenses Vincent Cable has penned a piece for the Sunday Mail on the potential complications of Scottish independence. I have to take Vince to task a little; one thing should be clear from the start, if the Scottish people want independence ...
Here's Don Foster's take on the subject: In the current financial climate, we have to look at all revenue options including product placement. The previous Secretary of State, Andy Burnham, was wrong to have ruled out the option of product placement. With Google now having a larger advertising revenue than ITV, the commercial television companies need to fight back and it's welcome that the new Secretary of State is using common sense and allowing product placement to be part of their armoury. Given how controversial product placement was in its early days in US TV and in films, I'm struck ...
I fear that this fag-end Government is going to dump a big turd of a law onto us with the ISA. As I've said in other posts I'm not against the barring of individuals who are going through the legal process or have done so with regard to abuse of children and adults. What I ...
I don't think I have ever treasured my hum-drum life with my family more than when I watched Rich Man, Poor Man: A Knight's Tale about John Madejski. It's a fascinating film made brilliantly by Ian Denyer. This man, Madejski, has everything except a partner and/or family to share his home with. Sad? Well £250 million, 18 companies, the Madejski stadium, the Madejski Academy, the Madejski Fine Rooms at the Royal Academy of Art, the John Madejski Centre for Reputation, the Madejski Palazzo at the Victoria and Albert Museum, a kighthood, being Chancellor of Reading University and Deputy Lieutenant of ...
David Mitchell has a great article on the Comment is Free section of the Guardian today. Behind all the sarcasm (which is very funny), Mitchell makes a really serious point. Cameron is enjoying a very big lead in the polls and looks likely to win the next general election, but what does he stand for? Where are his policies? Cutting the price of sandwhichs in parliament is great but hardly going to change the way we live! So I'd ask anyone who was thinking of voting conservative at the next election, do you really know what they stand for?
Shirley William's memoirs, Climbing the Bookshelves, is published on 24th September, and you can order it from Amazon using this link (and earn the party some commission). Today's Sunday Times serialises the book: "the rebel 'Gang of Four' politician, reveals her maverick streak was rooted in a free-spirited childhood". Here's an excerpt: I was a competitive child. I liked risk, matching myself against challenges. Climbing my father's bookshelves to the very top was one such challenge. So later was amateurishly climbing mountains, breaking fingernails as I clung on to wet rock. Risk was one of several things that attracted me ...
Sun 13th
13:59
Why you still don't know what Party Committees are up to (part 5) - ghosts in my machine...
There will be those who will suggest that I am calling for the various committees to be exempted from criticism, that communication should be unidirectional. Far from it, far from it. The problem is, as I have described, a multi-faceted one. However, if the relationship between reporter and audience becomes, or is even perceived to be, one of abuser and victim, the desire to communicate will be extinguished. Yes, be persistent in your questioning but also be grateful for what you get, lest it be lost. As I said at the time, you break it, you pay for it. And ...
I've been impressed by the quality of Lib Dem blog posts about the Independent Safeguarding Authority over the past few days. Caron Lindsay, Charlotte Gore and Costigan Quist all make excellent points, albeit from different perspectives. The line in Caron's post which I thought was most worth highlighting was this one about the Soham case: The idea is that Ian Huntley, the man responsible for the Soham murders, would have been caught out by this new register because his previous charges or complaints against him would have come to light. But what if he had been identified and removed from ...
Yesterday I popped in to a really interesting arts event at the "bombed out church" in Liverpool. Organised by local charity Genie in the Gutter it was a mix of performance, film, exhibition and actual creation. The Church is kept open by arts organisation Urban Strawberry Lunch. I hadn't actually been in there before and it is well worth a look. The Genie in the Gutter organisation is also well worth finding out about. It's basically film, drama etc involving people with substance and alcohol abuse problems.
Last year I wrote about the nature reserve at Camley Street next to St Pancras station for the New Statesman website: Each year more than 50 schools visit its oasis at Camley Street, which is open to the public seven days a week. Into two acres beside the Regent's Canal are packed ponds, wetlands, woodland and open grassed areas. Within them you will find kingfishers, reed warblers, reed buntings, rare fungi and a teeming variety of insect life. Geese, mallards, coots and herons make regular visits, while the cutting of the grass is subcontracted to the park's resident rabbits Coco, ...
Between one and three hyperposts coming later, but for now, some links.. The big political news at the moment has been the plan to ban people from working with children on the basis that they look a bit funny so they're probably a kiddy-fiddler. Charlotte is, as you would expect, outraged, while Costigan considers the implementation ...
[IMG: proms_crowd] Last night wifey, me and 7 of our friends spent a truly enjoyable evening at Salford's Proms in the Park, hosted in Buile Hill Park for the second year running. This was my first visit to a 'Prom', so I was unsure just how much of the music I would enjoy - I'm hardly a big fan of classical music, as my iPod is more likely to be filled with The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy rather than Saint-Saens. However, I may need to find some room on my iPod, as I have found a new appreciation for ...
Congratulations to Lord Freddie Windsor and his new bride actress Sophie Winkleman. Not only has the 32nd in line to the throne and his bride, half sister to It Takes Two presenter Claudia, tied the knot but they have also refused to let the celebrity press pay £600,000 for their wedding day pictures. Instead of taking £100,000 more than 11th in line Peter Philips last year, apparently with the Queen's disapproval, they gave one of the Royal magazines Majesty exclusivity for free. A spokesman for the newlyweds said they had turned down the "life-changing" amount of money for the exclusive ...
There are a few things in life that upset me enough to make me so angry I could scream and explode in anger, this is one of them. How does anyone have the right to end someone else's life just because they choose to sleep with someone else of the same sex? Well done to my colleague Alan Muhammed for spotting the story and circulating it on Twitter. The story, in today's Observer, talks about the destruction of Islam by the gay people in Iraq! It is such a load of crap, honestly, but it does show that gay people ...
I'm hoping to have loads of good things to write about Rubens Barrichello after the Italian Grand Prix later today. He and his Brawn team-mate Jenson Button are in a very good position. Although they are only 5th and 6th on the grid respectively, they are way ahead of their Red Bull rivals and they are really heavy with loads and loads of fuel so they only need to stop once. I reckon that the podium should be them and Heikki Kovaleinen of McLaren. Fingers crossed - particularly or Rubens' gearbox. I'd had a whole litter of kittens by the ...
Odd story of the day comes from Peter Black: As testimony to an enduring but rather extreme fascination with Egyptology, the mummy worshippers - many wearing robes and head-dresses - STROLL into the display room containing Tem Hor's bandaged body and involve themselves in "unusual practices". Exhibitions officer Roger Gale said: "They were quite a problem before we introduced the security cameras but now they appear to have come back. "They occasionally come to the museum on weekends and just seem to want to be in the presence of Tem Hor. "They tend to bow low in front of the ...
ClickLiverpool.com has the story: Cllr Paul Twigger has been unanimously selected by the Liberal Democrats to fight the next General election for the West Derby constituency. At 28, Paul Twigger will be one of the youngest prospective candidates to stand for the Lib Dems. Mr Twigger will go head to head with Labour's Stephen Twigg in 2010 for the Parliamentary seat. ... As well as being the city's youngest councillor, Paul Twigger also works as a Field Officer for the charity Age Concern Liverpool, looking after some of Liverpool's most vulnerable citizens. Cllr Twigger said: "I am delighted to have ...
I got back from church this morning to find a bundle on my doorstep. It contained a year's supply of biodegradable liners for the brown food waste bin. If you don't receive yours within the next week or so then phone the Council on 8547 5560. Actually, I have to admit that I still have a large number of liners left over from the last delivery. But I certainly don't put any food waste or flowers in my wheelie bin, instead the food waste goes down the garden to my Green Cone and flowers go in the compost bin. A ...
I wrote this piece the other day about the new requirements to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority for anyone who volunteers with children's groups. While this requirement to register for volunteers doesn't yet apply in Scotland, it soon will. There have been a few very interesting comments in response to this article not only on this site, but on my Facebook page. With the authors' permission, I wanted to reproduce those comments here: Sandra Grieve wrote: "I think this blog covers all the bases. Neil, your memory serves you well, there has been a Scottish version of this for ...
When Swine Flu first reared its head we were assured that a vaccine could be available as early as the first weeks of July. This date passed and we were then told it would be August. As August rolled on we were then told it would be September. Now, it appears, it will be October at the earliest that the vaccine will be here. I've made this point before, but the government's planning for pandemics was based on H5N1 Bird Flu, which has a kill rate of about 60%. This means that for every 100,000 people getting it, 60,000 die. ...
During this week I was one of the Houghton Regis town councillors who attended a consultation meeting of East of England Regional Assembly (EERA). The purpose of the meeting was to obtain views on how fast the region should grow and broadly where that growth should go. As the meeting was held at Chicksands, the questioners were by and large from Central Beds, and Luton areas. There were appeals for the A5-M1 bypass to be built first (Cllr PeterWilliams, Houghton Regis), and for other infrastructure (roads, hospitals, schools etc. ) to be in place before building starts. General response: government ...
At a Special meeting of the Houghton Regis town council this week, councillors resolved to continue with the current arrangement of Planning and Licencing committee meetings approximately every three weeks. At these meetings parish councillors get to comment on local planning applications, and if they feel it necessary, can alert a Central Bedfordshire councillor to a particular application. In turn, that Central Beds councillor can "call it in" and the application will be looked at by a committee of Central Beds council. The Houghton Regis Town Council does not decide planning applications. Town councillors also resolved to ask the town ...
One thing that struck me while watching coverage of Plaid Cymru's conference in Llandudno was the continual references to London: 'the London parties', 'London politics', 'the London parliament', the other parties' 'London masters' and seemingly infinite variations thereof. These are phrases that are heard frequently in Plaid Cymru, but until now have been reserved for the untamed attack dogs within the party – the Leanne Woods and Bethan Jenkinses of this world. Now however, they seem to have been adopted by the great and the good: Ieuan Wyn Jones' keynote speech on Friday made constant mention of the above phrases. ...
The roadway of Shaftesbury Place is in a really poor state and has never been adopted by Dundee City Council. Following requests from residents, I have written to the City Engineer about the matter. It seems strange that the street was not adopted, given that all the adjacent streets are on the list of public roads. I have asked the City Engineer what steps might be taken to have Shaftesbury Place upgraded and brought up to adoptable standard.
is Archie. Currently resident at Llys Nini animal centre, he has the voice of a small fog horn that proudly declares he is ready to be waited upon and is competing to win Whiskas for life and to appear on their packaging. Help a homeless cat make good by voting for him here. This is a public service announcement on behalf of Llys Nini which is currently full to bursting and in need of responsible people to adopt pets
As the first hint of autumn arrives with cool evenings in Lisbon, some people, at least, are getting into general election mode. The country will go to the polls on 27 September, with the photogenic socialist Prime Minister, José Sócrates, campaigning hard for re-election. While I was sitting at the Brasileira café last night, I ...
The brother of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi says he ('the Lockerbie bomber') is on the "brink of death". Reports say his health has deteriorated "markedly" in the last few days. I take no pleasure whatsoever in that. However, in a grim way it tends to support the rationale behind the man's release. I suspect that there were doubts in many people's minds as to whether Al Megrahi had pulled a fast one and would live for quite a long time in Libya. (He looked reasonably chipper coming off the plane in Tripoli and chatting with Colonel Gaddafi.) THose doubts ...
Using the official information on which MP is attending which fringe meeting, this is how the league table looks: 17 Cable 11 Goldsworthy Hughes Lamb Laws 10 Farron 9 Baker 8 Webb 7 Browne Clegg Davey Featherstone Huhne 6 Brooke Teather 5 Foster Gidley Moore Mulholland Rogerson Williams, S 4 Horwood Opik Rowen Swinson 3 Alexander Barrett Harris Thurso Willis Willott 2 Brake George Holmes Kennedy Pugh 1 Beith Breed Bruce Burstow Campbell Hancock Harvey Hemming Howarth Leech Rennie Taylor Williams, R Note: I have included MPs marked as "tbc" and "invited" but excluded those who are not listed even ...
Welcome to the Sunday edition of LDV's Daily View. And as Mark Pack of this e-parish is (apparently) forraging for chocolate in Bristol, it falls to me to bring you today's supplement with extra multimedia entertainment. 2 Big Stories NSPCC and Nick criticise new Government regulations for parent helpers Today's Telegraph reports: Ministers are under intense pressure to scale back plans for a "big brother" child protection database which will force millions of parents to undergo paedophile and criminal checks. In a major blow for the Government, Britain's largest children's charity, the NSPCC, criticised the regulations for parent helpers which ...
Having been away I thought a bumper by-election round up would be a good idea. Over the last couple of weeks we made a good gain in West Worcestershire, fought another two by-elections and have a couple coming up:
Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales have claimed that the NHS in Wales and providers of care and housing may be "institutionally ageist". Speaking on BBC Wales' The Politics Show its equalities manager claims that anecdotal evidence suggests an "abundance" of ageism in the public and private sectors. Martyn Jones said: "We have considerable evidence which concerns us about the possibility of there being institutional ageism in both policy and practice in the NHS in Wales but also in other service providers such as care providers, housing provision. There really is an abundance of this issue in ...
I was very surprised and honoured to get an invitation from the lovely people at Brits on Pole not only to write an article for them about Brawn GP but to contribute regularly to their site. Lisa and Andy, who run the site know everything there is to know not just about F1 but about every single open wheel racing series in the world, including some I'd never heard of. They are serious petrolheads and if you are too, go and have a look at some of the stuff they've produced. They also do a very good weekly newsletter, which ...
The Wales on Sunday reports that chanting mummy worshippers have returned to plague a South Wales museum. They say that the mummy-obsessed visitors deserted Swansea Museum after CCTV cameras were introduced five years ago. But now they are back, sometimes spending hours prostrated before the remains of Tem Hor, a mummified priest who lived on the banks of the River Nile in Egypt more than 2,000 years ago: As testimony to an enduring but rather extreme fascination with Egyptology, the mummy worshippers - many wearing robes and head-dresses - STROLL into the display room containing Tem Hor's bandaged body and ...
Yes, it's the Hampstead Gail's street party - a great riot of colour, smells and tastes - lots of breads, cakes, sausage, homegrown direct marketed products. It was yesterday (Saturday) in Hampstead (just off the High Street and Heath Street) and was absolutely packed. Lots of children, families, older folks as well as the traders and performers. A huge well done and thanks to Ran the owner of Gail's - I'm absolutely sure that small scale festivals such as this add to the atmosphere of a community like this and only for the better. Once again thanks.
BLDGBLOG has a post on these World War II forts in the Thames Estuary. It quotes the Underground Kent site on their history:Their purpose was to provide anti-aircraft fire within the Thames Estuary area. Each fort consisted of a group of seven towers with a walkway connecting them all to the central control tower. The fort, when viewed as a whole, comprised one Bofors tower, a control tower, four gun towers and a searchlight tower. They were arranged in a very specific way, with the control tower at the centre, the Bofors and gun towers arranged in a semi-circular fashion ...
Curse those evil politicians wanting to protect our children and vulnerable adults! Comments in some quarters come close to equating the new Independent Safeguarding Authority to the East German Stasi. For example, Charlotte Gore's post on the ISA was originally titled "Britain is turning into a totalitarian state" (see the URL) and interprets the ISA's guidance as a snooper's and snitcher's charter where rumour, innuendo and the most minor of infractions could see you branded a sex-offender in the eyes of the local community. Charlotte makes some excellent points, but her attack goes way over the top. Those who are ...
I guess it's time to start my new series of posts. From now on, every Sunday I'll be posting details of a walk – usually around the Colchester area – with some photos and links included for you to find out more. This serves a double purpose – getting me out for some more exercise and hopefully also encouraging people to get out walking around here more. While we may not have the stunning mountain scenery of some parts of the country – what's termed a hill round here is normally referred to as a speed bump in the rest ...
I always thought that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were meant to have achieved the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It is quite a surprise, then, to read this in the Times: Two months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Margaret Thatcher told President Gorbachev that neither Britain nor Western Europe wanted the reunification of Germany and made clear that she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it. In an extraordinary frank meeting with Mr Gorbachev in Moscow in 1989 — never before fully reported — ...
This post has turned into a bit of an epic - I apologise. This stuff needs saying. The more I read about the ISA, the more anxious I'm becoming. ISA stands for Independent Safeguarding Authority, and are a Quango with the job of deciding whether or not people should go into the "Child's list" and/or the "Adult's list." If your name appears in these lists, you are barred from working with children or vulnerable adults either on a professional or voluntary basis. End of story. Quote, "it is not a punitive sanction. It's a proactive measure to protect children and ...
Carmel and Charlie Preston organised an excellent coffee morning up a Marshside today. The women and men there are getting a reputation for their home baking and today they put on a great spread and a goodly crowd turned out-helped by the fact that Southport were playing away at Gainsborough Trinity where they ran out 2-4 winners. I've stocked up on ginger and orange marmalade and managed to get a bag of scones before they all went.
The certainly know how to put on a good Pea and Pie supper in Norwood Ward and there were lots of people there on Friday night sample the catering of Pat and David Sumner and their team. There was a fiendishly difficult quiz about Southport that occupied us whilst the first course was cleared away. (Did you know that the last man to put in the stocks in Churchtown was a Rimmer?) The quiz -with a bottle of House of Lord Whisky as first prize-raised a record amount. Many thanks to all who helped put on the event.
The Straegic Housing Land Availability Study for Birkdale is out. Few can deny that folk living longer and more smaller households there is a real unmet need for housing. In Southport we are desperately in need of homes for keyworkers and those looking for their first home. This report looks at all the available land. We have been campaigning for some while to bring some of these sites in to use-especially those owned by housing associations that have been vacant for years. Some of the site are more problematic. The document is out for consultation. We would be pleased to ...
Students face loans chaos That's the frontpage headline in today's Times, which reports: "Tens of thousands of students could start the academic year with no funding and unable to register at university because the loans company is in crisis and struggling to cope with a deluge of applications. Weeks before the start of term, 150,000 applications out of almost a million still have not been processed." If only someone had had the sense to see this problem coming - well they had! As long as 7 months ago, Birkdale's Councillor Simon Shaw, and Southport MP John Pugh were voicing their ...
I am just writing a brief blog today as I have had a full day taking wedding photographs. On my drive back from Manchester I passed two sets of roadworks that told me to slow down as there was a workforce in the road. My thoughts on speed limits are that we should adhere to them. They are there for a reason. In fact I would lower the national speed limit. If we are serious about lowering our carbon footprint and using less energy then this would be a really simple way of doing it. Some people would say that ...
