I'm starting my look at how to 'rejuvenate' various pop-culture/genre characters with Tarzan, because his is the most obvious, and I'd be very astonished if someone hadn't done this already. The thing about Tarzan is, if you just look at the character, it's almost impossible for anyone today to write him as a hero. Here you've ...
This week is over, it's not coming back. It's dead. This article will stand as a testament as to some of what happened. When history reviews it, historians will probably be confused and slightly disappointed before moving on to some sort of more accurate record instead. Hmm, that's not a great opener. Ah sod it, that'll do. Has Adam Price MP gone to America already? His blog has been unusually silent recently... In fact silence is a Plaid theme this week. Normally Plaid bloggers love to talk about how their esteemed leader is 'single handedly saving the world economy', 'beating ...
Onto more serious matters, I watched Songs of Praise this evening as it featured my local market town, Witney and featured an interview with the local MP, one D. Cameron esq. Now I feel a little guilty at constantly having a go at the great man as he is genuinely a 'nice guy' but watching him in an interview is never comfortable as he can barely answer the question 'what's your name' without equivocating for England. This show naturally featured an interrogation about his religious beliefs - dangerous territory in our mercifully sceptical country - and Dave's answers were as ...
Harriet Harman has had a distinguished career as one of this country's most outspoken female MPs. She is well known across the land for her vigorous campaigns against the sex industry, for which she has my wholehearted support, and her open endorsement of positive discrimination in the workplace, for which she does not. Now she is calling on Angela Merkel and Hilary Clinton to join her in an international coalition to enable women to take a leading role in rebuilding the economy after the recession and "bring about change". However, the Minister for women and equality, with all the Orwellian ...
Again a willing band of volunteers led by Jenny Medhurst are opening a Traidcraft Shop in Middlesbrough, this time near to last year's at 20 Dundas Street. It is open now from Modnay to Saturday, 10 - 5 until December 21st and you can buy gifts, cards, clothes, homewares and food. A real opportunity to make sure that when doing your Christmas shopping or shopping for Christmas goods you can...
Do hard working talented people deserve more money?
Well, I've just seen the first episode of the new sitcom by Miranda Hart, titled quite sensibly 'Miranda' and it zinged. I had heard it on the radio before so I was concerned I might find it a bit tedious but not a bit of it. Miranda Hart has comedy timing Eric Morecambe would be proud of - I love slapstick and I regret that there isn't more of it - and she can deliver a line like a sniper's bullet. I love comedies and I try to watch them all. It is rare to laugh out loud throughout a ...
Iain Dale has done a small blog on the Times report that a climate change poll that shows that 'Britain's Are Unconvinced'. See this extract from Iain Dales blog 'A poll for The Times shows that only 41% of people accept that global warming is taking place and is largely man-made. Thirty two per cent believe the link is not yet proved. Eight per cent say it is environmentalist propaganda and 15% say that the world is not warming' This has highlight a concern I have, which is, will the left hijack the green debate and in doing so change ...
One of the things about producing a Focus leaflet is making sure that you have enough material. And given that not much happens in a District Council ward as a rule, any help that you can get can only be a good thing. However, there is a point to seking material from other sources. The residents of Stowupland and Creeting St Peter don't just vote at District level, they have votes at Parish, County, Westminster and European levels, so my Focus leaflet is a means by which other candidates and representatives can get a message out. I'm told that this ...
With Iowa, New Hampshire and Super Tuesday still over two years away, aspirational Republicans are jockeying for Conservative grass-roots support should they want to mount a White House bid against Obama in 2012. Some are doing it subtly behind the scenes, courting high-profile strategists and staff. Some not so subtle... The big names making noises: - Sarah Palin has just started a national media tour to promote her book, "Going Rogue." Eager to show her conservative credentials, she recently endorsed grassroots-backed conservative Doug Hoffman over the GOP-supported candidate in an upstate New York congressional race. - Tim Pawlenty, two-term Governor ...
This afternoon, I had the huge honour and profound pleasure of attending a party for adopted children and their parents held by Calderdale Council. It was an incredibly fun event, well put together and thoroughly satisfying. It is important to remember that at a time when vilifying social workers has become a national pastime, spurred on by the red tops, that the overwhelming majority do a mighty fine job most of the time. It is only when things go wrong, as they sadly do at times, that they impinge on our consciousness, and then all hell breaks loose and we ...
Just how little power lies in local government was illustrated by a recent study carried out in 13 Council areas, likely to be typical of the rest of England. In these areas while £7,000 is spent on average on services like health, education and care for the elderly, only £350 is controlled by local politicians. In one area as many as 49 different organisations spend taxpayers money including the health service, the police, the probations service and benefits agencies. Does this matter? I think it does and for two main reasons. The first is that delivery by so many different ...
As thoughts turn to Christmas and picking up some nifty little stocking fillers, shop of the week this week is Selection Box in Trelowarren Street (next door to the old Woolworths - can hardly believe it's been nearly a year since it closed it's doors for the last time). This shop has been a fixture in the high street for many years now and it's nice to see familiar faces behind the till each time I pop in there. There are loads of household bits and bobs that I pretty much always buy from Selection Box. What never ceases to ...
The BBC is reporting that one in eight pupils were rewarded the wrong level in this year's end of key stage two tests. The one big flank of the political parties' argument is that the Key Stage Two tests are a consistent test to demonstrate standards across the primary phase. But if marking isn't consistent, then the results are not consistent and the league tables are not consistent. So let's
Like Friday on My Mind, this is a song I have always known but would have been hard pressed to tell you who sang it until I looked it up. Chris Farlowe, one of the great underrated voices of British blues and soul, topped the singles chart with this Rolling Stones song in 1966. Farlowe has his own website and is still performing. A work colleague saw him and Alan Price in a concert a few weeks ago.
Matthew Parris hit on a wonderful idea here: what would you write to your 16 year old self if you could do so now? And he has executed it brilliantly, with some corking ideas: By acting bravely we become brave; not the other way round . . . You can walk away from bores: they're used ...
After the shortsightedness shown by the county council (see below) it was a pleasure to talk to Mrs Barbara Carpenter of Roman Way who, rather than complaining about the lack of buses, is doing something about it. She has recently started a petition calling for more buses in Andover, especially on Sundays. The petition has widespread support particularly among older residents who rely on public transport and who are unable to get any where on Sundays unless walking or paying for expensive taxis. This lack of buses was highlighted on Remembrance Sunday when many residents who would have liked to ...
We have been amazed at the response to our petition to save the Southport Library. On this occasion we have run an online petition to compliment the paper one. This has given people the opportunity to add comments. I produce below a selection: Many people come from overseas each year (mainly from USA & Canada) to do local and family history at the library. Only this week a man came from Bristol to do research in the library and photograph local documents for that reason. How will this reflect if people come here and records are unaccessible?Putting the documents into ...
After all the slagging off of Simon Cowell this week, let's at least give him some credit. It takes an enormous amount of hard work to take a group of largely talented people, give them an all time classic song, and yet still produce a a cover version of that song which genuinely is appalling. Still, Simon Cowell has managed to achieve this through his release of the X Factor contestants cover version of Bohemian Rhapsody.
If you think you have an answer to everything, it's probably wrong.
The BNP are holding their party conference – in a gym on the edge of an industrial estate near Wigan, with no journalists allowed – and the big news there is Nick Griffin's plan to stand for Parliament in Barking next year. Keen students of geography may notice that Barking is some way from the constituency that Mr Griffin currently represents in the European Parliament – the North West of England. Clearly, whatever other objectives Nick Griffin might have, actually doing the job he was elected to do in June isn't one of them. Could the BNP win Barking? It's ...
The MEP for the North West who thinks it appropriate to stand for the UK Parliament in a London Borough. Stand up and collect your prize Nick Griffin.
[IMG: bus.jpg] I was disappointed to see that in the revised bus timetables for Andover Stagecoach is proposing to pull out of two routes and restructure several others. This has apparently all been welcomed by the county council which is ultimately responsible for public transport services in Hampshire. Particularly disappointing is the fact that these changes have been agreed without comment from our local county councillors. No wonder some people see the county council as increasingly irrelevant to the needs of Andover and a retirement home for aging Tory politicians. At a time when the world is facing major environmental ...
On the 12 Nov 2009 I posted a blog entitled More Misinformation From The Moreton West and Saughall Massie Conservatives, in which I refuted the statement that the Moreton Family Centre on Pasture Road is to close. A few hours after posting I received a reply from Conservative Councillor Chris Blakeley (Moreton West & Saughall ...
Inspired by Millennium Elephant's little moan, I've put together the DEFINITIVE and ABSOLUTELY CORRECT list of the world's 15 most powerful elephants. Like any such power list, my list is by definition correct, flawless, unimpeachable and put together with top secret methodology that you can't be told. So, drum roll please, here is the list in reverse order: 10. Five, the first elephant known to play the harmonica. The West Midlands music scene has never been the same since. 9. Packy, the Oregon elephant. An obvious inclusion. 8. Ruby, the painting elephant who died in 1998. A path-breaker for artistic ...
Sun 15th
17:55
'Why do they have Italian salad leaves on Lamb Hot Pot?!' - A Story of a newly nationalised railway....
Travelling by train in the dark is always a very odd experience but today I am travelling back from London to Scotland, using the newly renationalised rail service - East Coast, that took over from National Express yesterday. To be fair there is little difference in the service, except that I have to admit I am ...
Stockport celebrates the UK's first Inter-Faith Week from 15th to 21st November. On Wednesday 18th November there will be a celebration at Hat Works from 5pm to 9pm. Stockport's Inter-Faith Network invites you to an evening of dance, music, drama, food and hats! There will be a short school production, music workshops, and drama by Stockport Youth Theatre. The Bishop of Stockport will be present and he will lead a demonstration of headgear by members of different faith groups. In addition to this event, sports events have been organised in partnership with Stockport Sports Trust, CMA, (Cheadle Muslim Association) and ...
Yesterday was London Region's autumn conference, during which I heard from two recent converts to Twitter. First, Keith House – leader of Eastleigh Council and probably the person with the best record of election results at both local and national level year in, year out in any council run by the Liberal Democrats.* Perhaps understandably given his record of electoral success, he hasn't been chomping at the bit to innovate online - but even Keith has now seen the benefits Twitter can bring and joined himself. Keith highlighted how much greater the role of the internet would be at the ...
[IMG: Original] Lee Green residents will no doubt remember that last year, the planning application for the new Northbrook School building on the corner of Wantage and Taunton Roads caused some controversy. The plans were eventually approved by the Council's strategic planning committee back in October last year. Ther planning department have now received an application to vary the planning permission that was granted. The applicant team want to alter the windows to integrate some louvres and also to change the colour of the render used around the windows. The original plans included render in various shades of green and ...
Lao-tzu Chinese Philosopher "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue" is about to be published. Examination of advance copies has revealed that it is an extended whinge about the John McCain camp, often based on "mis-remembered" incidents. The New York Times sums it up quite well: ...the most sustained and vehement barbs in this book are directed not at Democrats or liberals or the press, but at the McCain campaign. The very campaign that plucked her out of Alaska, anointed her the Republican vice-presidential nominee and made her one of the most talked about women on the planet — someone who could command a reported ...
For some strange reason, I enjoyed learning about the US Prohibition at school. It seemed to be a classic example of total folly: Try to reduce the consumption of something (in this case, alcohol) by doing something (i.e making it illegal) which actually drives it underground. And indeed, the Prohibition was spectacularly unsuccessful and led to thousands of illegal Speakeasies and the rise of Al Capone. End of amusing but salutary historical tale. – But not quite. I was astounded to learn this week that there are still parts of the USA where, as a 'leftover' from the Prohibition (1919-1933), ...
The flying goalkeeper pictured here failing to save a penalty is Noel Eduardo Valladares, one of the heroes of the Honduran national football team that recently qualified for next year's World Cup in South Africa. Fortunately, he tends to save more than he lets in, which may explain why he has earned nearly seventy caps for his country, and why Honduras had the best defensive record in the final CONCACAF qualifying phase - all important when you consider that they edged out Costa Rica on goal difference. So, watch out for him, as it might be Wayne Rooney and the ...
It came as quite a shock when this came into my email inbox today, and as you can imagine I clicked to see quite what the story entailed. The Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was on the verge of speaking to the nation following the receipt of the following text message from his Transport Minister, John ...
Welsh Liberal Democrats have said that they are "appalled" at the attitude of the Welsh health minister, who has refused to look into claims that £1bn of NHS cash is being poorly spent. Last month, Paul Davies, of the All Wales Directors of NHS, told the assembly finance committee that a fifth of the £5bn annual health budget was not used correctly. He said: "Far too many patients end up in the wrong place, either being hospitalised when they shouldn't be, or they stay in hospital too long, or they stay in primary care, and they should be in hospital. ...
Jon Sopel's selection of the best clips is now up on the BBC website, including an interview with one of the members of the so-called Turnip Taleban.
[IMG: St. Winifreds] You might remember that last year I gave a plug to the appeal for ex-St. Winifred's staff and pupils to come forward with their memories, stories and photos of the school for a 'Memories of St. Winifred's' publication. The work's now complete and the book is at the printers and expected to be ready later this month. The editorial team are delighted that so many people contributed to the project. If you'd like a copy of the book, please email Rose Gibbs, Co-Ordinator of the Editorial Team at roseanngibbs {at} onetel(.)com with your postal address.
It's Mitzvah Day today. Mitzvah is the Hebrew word for 'good deed' and Muswell Hill Synagogue had about one hundred of its congregation out doing those good deeds today. The Rabbi, David Mason, joined parents and children at Stationer's Park planting tulips, daffodils and crocus bulbs around the base of the trees. In February - it will be awash with blooms! There were also lots of other activities such as outside Sainsbury in Muswell Hill where more volunteers asked those going into shop to buy one extra thing to give to a local charity. Last year - when I helped ...
One of my rules for this blog is never to comment on the day job. Just over three months ago I left The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and joined the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE). I had spent four and a half years at the CIOT. It has been a fascinating and rewarding experience but it was time, for me, to move on and develop my public policy expertise by working on other issues. During my time at the CIOT I helped campaign for a 'taxpayers' charter'. Last week it was launched and you can read about it ...
Today I attended the annual Civic Mass, this year at St Joseph's Church in Leyton. There were many Mayors representing other London boroughs as well as the Chairman of Essex County Council and some councillors of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The Principle Celebrant Father James Boothman gave the Homily. It was great to see such a large congregation in which is an obviously a very busy
So the BNP are going to ballot its members on a constitutional change to allow anyone to join the party. Maybe anti-fascist parties should encourage its members to join the BNP. If enough do they can bring the BNP quickly to its knees, but voting out the party leader, changing policy and contest elections standing up for all Britons.
Mark Reckons writes about The Sun's disgusting coverage of the family of Professor Nutt yesterday. The Sun published comments and photos from the family's Facebook pages. Some might say: 'well, if you put stuff on Facebook, it's fair game'. Well, hold on a minute. When you put photos and comments on Facebook, you are not necessarily publishing them, as far as I can make out. If you close down all your privacy settings so that only a few friends can see any of your profile, comments or photos (and indeed you can even make your presence on Facebook invisible to ...
A couple of weeks ago I hadn't noticed I was sent a new bank card (to come to my own defense I had only just received a new card after my previous one had come to the end of it's life) so when I used it, it was swallowed up by the cash point machine. I couldn't access any of my money as all my accounts worked though the one card. I decided there and then I would set up a simple savings account
Yesterday, The Sun published a nasty smear of Professor Nutt's children. Mark Reckons has posted a good overview of the non-story, and The Daily Quail has an excellent spoof of the article. It is pathetic that The Sun has resorted to these low tactics. It shows how desperate those arguing for the continuation of prohibitionist drugs policy have become. What is particularly curious is that earlier this week, Professor Nutt contributed to The Sun. He wrote an article giving an overview of his research into a safer, healthier pseudo-alcohol. They really have no shame, do they? Anyone else who is ...
In a previous post, I was speculating on a Lib Dem response to the Cameron theme of the 'big society'. I suggested that one way to approach the Conservative narrative was to focus on the core liberal principle of making sure people have as much control over their lives as possible. Neil Stockley posed the following question: "What messages do you believe that the Lib Dems tell about public services / inequality? What story does the party tell?" Before I directly answer that, it might be useful to quickly review where the parties are at the moment. New Labour's proposition ...
I didn't realise the disadvantage of having to use crutches for the simplest tasks in the office, with mounds of paper accumulating all over the place. The act of retrieving one pile requires moving a chair so that one can sit down on it to reach the pile. Then having picked it up, working on each individual document requires a variety of further actions: it can be binned, or filed, or be scanned and sent with a covering email to someone, or reference to be made to another document already in the files, and all of these mean getting around ...
An African perspective on the fall of the Berlin Wall - care of Sara Scarlett at Liberal Vision New from old: A Friendly Society - the Devil's Kitchen makes the libertarian case for the return of the friendly society The Government that cried 'WOLF' - Angela Harbutt gives her take on the Times report that 41% of people in the UK are unconvinced on climate change and for contrast here is Neil Stockley's reaction to the same story... Climate change not our problem, say UK voters UK child migrant apology planned - BBC reports on the story of poor children ...
This story in The Guardian details the horrifc consequences of the use by the US government of white phospherous in Falluja; Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers Although doctors say the source of the deformities is ...
The Liberal Democrats have often (wrongly) been accused of being soft on crime, but here is a story you won't find in any mainstream press – so I have to thank David Mitchell (yes, that one!) for pointing this one out to me. I firmly believe that gun and knife crimes are one of the biggest problems we face in Britain today, but I do think that the story of Paul Clarke illustrates that Labour have gone too far by turning our country into a nanny state. Think what the outcome of this story would have been if it had ...
It seems that the bin collections will be changing starting from November 16th. Some households will be given twin bins with the blue and brown bins being empties on the same days as the black bins, but alternate weeks (i.e. blue one week, brown the next). Households with kerbit boxes will be switched to having their kerbits emptied on the same day as the bin days, but fortnightly. However I've not been given details as to who is affected by the changes and where, so all I can do is advise people to look out for leaflets from the Council ...
Liberal Demorat Voice (http://www.libdemvoice.org/) is the best read independent website for LibDems - is run by a collective of Liberal Democrat members, activists and bloggers. Here in Scotland, we have a small collective of bloggers (if 'collective' isn't too soviet sounding for a LibDem!) who take turns to write articles for LibDem Voice under the title "Haggis Neeps and Liberalism." As 15th November is my latest turn, you can read my article by going to http://tinyurl.com/haggisneeps or by clicking on the headline above. I note the Sunday papers are making clear that, far from winning 20 Westminster seats at the ...
Another month, another set of figures show that Welsh families are more likely to be facing unemployment and hardship than most other places in the UK. We are continuing to see high unemployment, high economic inactivity, and high claimant counts. What is even more concerning is that all the data is beginning to show a trend of harsh and nasty unemployment among young people. We are at increasing risk of losing a generation to unemployment, poor health and resulting social problems. These are problems which will continue long after the recession comes to an end, and the Government's cuts to ...
With the permission of the Friends of Dundee Botanic Garden, I'd like to give a mention of their excellent 2010 calendar, now available. As the Friends advise : "The 2010 Calendar is a convenient desk size, and is ideal for posting to family and friends further afield at Christmas time. Or for "first footing" nearer to home. We are indebted to the combined efforts of Friends who have donated their photographs via the internet site, Flickr, and to Wendy Maltman for her design work." The calendar is on sale at the Garden Visitor Centre, cafe and via the University of ...
Labour's crushing victory in the Glasgow North East By-election was hailed by the victor Willie Bain as a resounding endorsement of Gordon Brown and a "a resounding 'No' to David Cameron." Well, maybe in Glasgow North East, but I suspect extrapolating the Labour victory in this constituency as having huge implications across the UK political scene would be foolish. The SNP said throughout the Glasgow North East campaign that the by-election was a two horse race and, after the nationalist victory in Glasgow East last year, victory for them was possible. A case of all too predictable SNP hope over ...
Sun 15th
11:31
"Electoral watchdog under fire as Lord Ashcroft inquiry threatens to run into election"
From today's Observer: Controversy over Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative party deepened last night after Labour MPs demanded an urgent meeting with Britain's elections watchdog. Placing more pressure on the Tories, Labour MPs want to know why the Electoral Commission's official inquiry into an Ashcroft-controlled company, which has given £3m to the party, has dragged on for 10 months and threatens to run into the general election campaign. You can read the full story here.
A local business has contacted me expressing concern about the state of the roadway in Greenmarket. See photos below. It appears that a track was excavated some time ago on the public roadway, adjacent to the Seabraes car park. Although a temporary repair was undertaken, the promised permanent reinstatement has yet to be undertaken and the excavation here is becoming very deep, presenting a road safety hazard. I have raised the matter with the City Council requesting that permanent repair takes place before the road deteriorates further.
Yesterday, the The Times online published results of a poll that demonstrates that the overwhelming majority of the British public believe that climate change is man made (anthropogenic). Bizarrely, they chose to mis-represent ("spin") the results with the headline Global warming is not our fault, say most voters in Times poll.First, I'll fess up. My headline is also spin. The poll didn't ask
When Professor David Nutt was sacked by Alan Johnson as head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs a couple of weeks ago, The Sun newspaper made it clear that it thought Johnson had been correct to do so. Although I disagree with The Sun and I feel that they often distort the debate about drugs I do understand that there are people who have real fears about what liberalisation of drug laws could mean (although I think they are misguided). The Sun is entitled to their opinion about this. They make their case and it is up ...
This made me chuckle this morning as I chopped down on my apricot jam drenched toast this morning: There is something a little pitiful watching Gordon Brown tell the country how worried he is about immigration, and how it must not be a taboo issue. Like watching a paralytic drunk explaining in slurred tones ...
I arrived home from Plymouth yesterday to see news reports of the crush injuring 60 people at Millennium Point. Watching the video coverage above it seems cancellation was the only option. But that's about the only thing the organisers got right on the day. Where was the emergency access? Who on earth didn't realise JLS would attract that many people at a free event? We need a full investigation now. The Christmas lights switch-on has become increasingly popular year-on-year and adding acts such as JLS and the Sugababes was only going to increase the demand. Any future free events like ...
argh! i am loathed to write on this topic - but i can't be the only one a little cheesed off by it all - x factor. i do watch it. i am impressed by some of the contestants. it does make a bit of a mockery of the whole reality tv siuation. honestly - i do realise it is just a front for simon cowell making money. i do feel sorry for some of the contestants who clearly have little to no talent. some are are really good. some are diabolical. take for instance jedward. how on earth did ...
In this morning's Observer Ronan Keating gives his first interview since the sudden death of Stephen Gately last month. I'll warn you now have the tissues ready before you click this link to the story. He tells of the little things that make things hard, the missing laughter of Stephen, his number appearing in his mobile, the book they were both reading that Stephen never got to the end of and the feeling he had when he did, the premiere they had planned to attend together. Gately may have been a year Keating's senior but his boyish charm made Ronan, ...
This is how you deal with neighbourhood crime problems - not by paying for a private police force.
Blair didn't do God. Brown doesn't (although his father was a Minister of the "Kirk"). But Cameron does do God. Indeed, he does Songs of Praise. Reading through his comments, he seems very much a luke warm Christian, if I may say so, and one wonders if it might have been better if he had not gone on Songs of Praise, particularly just before an election. I am getting a little tired of Cameron ramming photo opportunities down our throat. At the risk of sparking a comments war with Laurence Boyce, I have to say that I am a Christian. ...
This morning, the Metropolitan tube line carried the following tweet: Metropolitan line trains are not stopping due to shortage of staff. Anywhere in particular? If they don't stop at my nearest station at Watford, they'll really be hitting the buffers ...
I suspect the one across the road used to have this explanation too.
The Prime Minister faces some major challenges on the foreign policy front if this poll reported in the Independent on Sunday is anything to go by. They say that seven out of 10 Britons believe that there should be a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. They tell us that a report by Oxfam reveals how women and children in Afghanistan are bearing the brunt of the ongoing conflict, undermining the international community's claims that they are the very people being helped by the West's activities. The paper suggests that the contents of the report will add to mounting concerns ...
[IMG: earth] Ok, back from the USA - and just a tad jet-lagged so apologies for the delay in this post. But only back 24 hours and I notice that according to The Times yesterday only 41% accept as an established scientific fact that global warming is taking place and is largely man made. Look at it another way only 1/3 (32%) agree that climate change is happening but believe it has not yet been proven to be largely man-made. Should we really be that surprised? Afterall we have become not just sceptical of politicians, but actually assume that if ...
For those people in the Canary Wharf area of the Docklands in London the HSBC tower is a part of the skyline in London along with the Citigroup tower and the main tower itself. Well, this week HSBC sold their London HQ for a massive £772.5 million. The tower has been sold to the National Pension Service for Korea, although HSBC and it's staff will remain in the building for the remaining 17.5 years of its lease paying £46million per year in rent. HSBC sold the 42-storey tower to Spanish property company Metrovacesa for £1.1bn in 2007, buying it back ...
It's Sunday. It's 7am. And by popular demand, it's time for another peanut butter gem from YouTube. But first, the news. 2 Big Stories MoD probes new Iraq abuse claims The Ministry of Defence has said it is investigating new allegations of abuse by the UK military in Iraq. Lawyers acting for former Iraqi detainees are calling for a full public inquiry into 33 abuse claims made during UK military involvement there. One allegation is that two soldiers raped a 16-year-old boy in 2003. Armed forces minister Bill Rammell said such claims were taken seriously but formal inquiries must be ...
Thankfully both the driver and his passenger were not seriously hurt and as reported in both the Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News it was Friday the 13th! Utter hogwash, as someone born on the 13th I find this superstitious malarkey utter nonsense. Here is the picture of the lads car upturned in the basement flat garden in Edinburgh. Off street parking is always a premium.
[IMG: snow-scene.jpg] There was great controversy earlier this year when the county's systems broke down - not just in relation to gritting but also in terms of communications about school closures. Updated winter communications for Hertfordshire now in place With winter on its way, and following last year's severe weather, Hertfordshire Highways' fleet of 61 gritters has been on standby since the beginning of October. A major part of recommendations of the Scrutiny Topic Group into Winter Maintenance concerned communications, notably with partners such as transport operators, other councils and public services, and especially schools. All the actions from the ...
Well done, Your Grace: The mindset of most of the writers at Liberal Conspiracy is not that of the liberal. It is that of the conservative. These are people who hate diversity, who despise people who don't think like they do. They are Tories of the left.Judge for yourself.
Yesterday the BNP voted to change its constitution to allow non-whites to join. The choice was change or become illegal so I wonder how the debate went. "Let's vote - all those in favour of letting non-whites into the party. All those who want to become illegal". It's a bit like asking turkeys whether they want to vote for Christmas. In practice this means no difference. Nick Griffin talked about the duress involved in the change. Of course attitudes haven't changed and I am not sure how this change will actually change anything apart from giving the BNP more publicity. ...
