It seems that I am not a natural supporter of either of the front runners for the Labour leadership. The VoteMatch site quiz tells me that I'm closer to Diane Abbott than any of the others. Though perhaps I'm really closer to Andy Burnham who didn't manage to get his answers in on time! Whatever, it's far more interesting than the constant Milliband Brothers show which seems to be the standard
My weekly session with Richard Kerrigan my personal trainer at the Newhaven David Lloyd gym is now switching to Tuesdays. My start weight on 16th August 2010 was 128.3kg, at the end of week one I was down to 125.8kg and today I lost another 2.5kg and now weigh 123.3kg. So, I have lost 5kg or 11lbs in just two weeks. I am really, really pleased with this. Last night I did a late evening gym session and a short slow run in the morning! Today yet again Richard put me through my paces, and today I was so determined ...
A story appears in today's Daily Telegraph concerning a rather unfortunate man who, instead of removing a spider the humane way decided to spray it with an aerosol can of hairspray instead. There followed a series of misadventures that resulted in him being taken to hospital with burns to his arms, legs and face and breathing difficulties: A spokesman for Essex Fire Service said: "It appears the wife had spotted the creepy crawly in the bathroom and asked her husband to capture it. "He sprayed it first with an aerosol where it was lurking behind the toilet bowl and when ...
I was pleased to see the news this morning that Bjorn Lomborg's views on climate change have shifted, particularly as his scepticism has often been rather thoughtful. In particularly, he opened up an important debating by pointing out that money spent on stopping global warming needs to be judged against not only global warming's likelihood and likely impact but also against the benefits that could be got from spending the money in other ways, such as improving basic health services across the developing world. Reading the coverage today closely, it does seem as if the extent to which he has ...
Extracts from Tony Blair: A Journey will be posted on the book's website at 11.30 this evening. Later. Nick Robinson says that the Daily Telegraph says that Tony Blair says that Gordon Brown drove him to drink in his latter days as PM.
Peter Kellner's article led me to the YouGov poll on Britain's Finest Year. Apparently Liberal Democrats tend to choose a year of social or democratic advance rather than military. I find the choice difficult. I'd reject The Magna Carta - 1215 as in reality too limited a reform which at the time affected only the aristocratic class. I'd also reject Women's Suffrage -- 1928 as nothing to crow about since other countries had granted women the vote years earlier. I'd also reject The NHS -- 1948 on the grounds that other European nations were setting up socialised health care at ...
Peter Fraser, Head of Partnerships & Insight in the Chief Executive's office at CBC has announced the date of the next Town & Parish Council Conference for Central Bedfordshire: 13th January 2011 at Priory House, Chicksands. A post conference report that summarises the event on 9th June 2010, together with a response to all of the questions that were received, and the results from the feedback questionnaire, plus a copy of the presentations can be found on the Council's website using the following link: Did you go? What did you think of it? What would you want out of ...
The ban on councils selling renewable electricity ended on 18 August 2010. This will open new sources of income including the full benefit of the feed in tariff which incentivises renewable electricity. It could mean up to £100 million a year in income for local authorities across England and Wales. Currently councils are able to put any renewable electricity they generate to local use, and to benefit from the associated feed in tariff for projects smaller than 5MW. But they are restricted from selling any excess renewable electricity into the grid and also from benefiting from the additional export component ...
As a child I didn't have a television, so I've had to learn a lot of the cultural references that many people of my age take for granted. One of these is the famous Levi Jeans advert staring Nick Kaman. My ignorance aside, though, this is an iconic (moving) image of the mid-eighties. Enjoy! Andrew
Central Bedfordshire Council is backing Wheels2Work, an initiative to help people without their own vehicle get to-and from work and college. The scheme was launched earlier this year and has proved a great success so far. So register now, take the basic training and start benefiting from this scheme for the new term. Wheels2Work provides transport advice and support to individuals without access to alternative transport for up to a nine-month period until they can find a longer-term solution. Users are offered a 50cc Yamaha scooter loan, which is provided complete with comprehensive vehicle insurance, road tax, safety equipment and ...
35) The Slitheen Excursion, by Simon Guerrier 36) Fallen Gods, by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman As sometimes happens, my scheduling of Who books in my reading pile produced an odd synergy, with Simon Guerrier taking the Tenth Doctor back to a Slitheen incursion on ancient Athens, and Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman (in a Telos novella) taking the Eighth Doctor to the soon-to-be-destroyed citadel on the island of Thera. Both storied feature the cataclysmic Thera eruption at a distance (of space in The Slitheen Excursion and of time in Fallen Gods), both have a character called Deucalion, both have ...
I wish to apologise on behalf of Central Beds Council for the inept way it conducted its recent consultation on transport: very little and last minute. A press release issued on 3 August gave a range of dates when an 'exhibition' would be touring the constituency, none of which were within the Barton-le-Clay, Bushmead, Sharpenhoe, Streatley, Sundon ward and the latest of which was 21 August. Or you may e-mail comments to myjourney@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk Meanwhile, please come along to our CBC Councillor next surgery in Barton-le-Clay library, 10-12am on the second Saturday of the month: 11 September to have your say. ...
Stephen Tall writes today at Comment is Free that not only is it healthy to be open about disagreement within the coalition, but that it could be good for future Lib Dem – and coalition – success. He cites the results of this week's Lib Dem Voice survey, in which 84% of respondents still support the coalition partnership between the Lib Dems and Conservatives - yet just 17% believe it will be good for the party's prospects at the next general election. Far from being taken for a ride by the Tories or being carried away by power-hunger, as some ...
Things are quiet at work at the moment but the Liberal Democrats and the church are both keeping me busy. On becoming membership secretary I was sent a list of the local party members, many of whom I did not recognise. So, along with Elvie, our local leader, I am going 'on tour' around the constituency to hopefully meet a few members and/or supporters each week. This weekend, bank holiday, was a bad one to start with - as many people were away - but hopefully on the next few Sundays I can meet a few new friends to say ...
From the excellent VoteMatch site - try it yourself to see which of the Labour leadership candidates you are closest to – in policy terms.
Levis's, Gap and Timberland have joined the tarsands campaign. The Alberta Enterprise Group has called on Albertans to boycott Levi-Strauss, Gap and Timberland. I've just bought my first pair of Levi's for about twenty years (and they are very comfortable). Meanwhile the indefatigable Professor Schindler of the University of Alberta has produced a report showing that the tarsands monitoring by government is totally incompetent -- conclusive evidence for what we already knew was probably the case. Not long after we came here we decided that since Environment Canada and Environment Alberta could not be trusted on the tarsands, or the ...
Part 16 of blogging my way through my first reading of Atlas Shrugged. You can find the first part here. Chapter 16: Miracle Metal This chapter is annoying. Annoying not in the standard Rand sense of teenage characters having pretend angst, but rather in the sheer number of obvious stupidities it crams into relatively few ...
Being in opposition can be very easy. You simply jump up and down and make as much noise as possible about every decision the government makes. But while this may be easy, it is a sure-fire way to keep your ... Continue reading →
Over at The Guardian's Comment is Free website I have an article proposing the Lib Dem leadership take a Coalition chill-pill, and start disagreeing more openly with our Conseravtive partners... We're masochists: it's the only explanation that makes any sense. How else to explain the desire of Liberal Democrats to continue in a Coalition most of us seem to believe is destined to ruin the party? According to a survey of some 600 paid-up party members for LibDemVoice.org, 84 per cent still support the coalition partnership between the Lib Dems and Conservatives – yet just 17 per cent of us ...
A very large part of me finds people like Ken Mehlman and Crispin Blunt disgusting. Feeling like that isn't right, but it doesn't make me stop feeling that way. These politicians have same sex attraction (I don't wish to call them gay as, to be honest, I don't think they deserve that title) yet spent their time in office calling for LESS rights for LGBT people. For example. Crispin Blunt: In 2001, Mr Blunt voted against not only the equal age of consent, but also against gay couples adopting. He also voted in favour of the bill designed to make ...
Any suggestion that the Foreign Secretary's relationship with Chris Myers is anything other than a purely professional one is wholly inaccurate and unfounded I cannot believe the ludicrous and appalling homophobia in the comments on a certain blog site which is continuing to follow up this story.
I work for an organisation that still has Bank Holiday Tuesdays - no I don't understand them either and it looks like they will be got rid of soon. Anyway we had one today and as it was lovely and sunny I locked myself in a cinema to catch up on some films I had missed from being away.
.....Or not after you look into this story. On Sunday the Express screamed: TOWN hall snoops have been caught red-handed using the DVLA's database to spy on people. They then go on to say... The Big Brother tactics emerged after councils were given the green light to use DVLA car registration records, strictly to track down owners of abandoned vehicles. Instead, and in breach of the rules, "inflated" bureaucrats have been checking up on residents suspected of offences that have nothing to do with motoring. As a result, several councils have been banned from accessing the database. Hull City Council ...
It is reported on the Get Bracknell website that Parking is down by 6% in line with the recession. This could be put down to a recession as the chief executive at the council stated in the article. However looking at the Berkshire Observatory web site I noticed that it was only Bracknell that replied. I think figures for the local area would of really gave some more enlighten statistics on national trends or rather local trends. See Berkshire Observatory. I wonder if Bracknell was compared to the rest of Berkshire if it's decrease would be greater. I imagine having ...
It's been a very special summer for us. Our older son Stuart was married on 21st August to Gwyneth McBride in Carnmoney Church, Belfast. Both are professional musicians, as are most of their friends, so we began with half an hour of glorious music from a nine piece string ensemble (a nonet?). They were then joined by a band and singers during the service itself. Stu surprised Gwyn just as they were about to march down the aisle by singing 'Can't take my eyes off you' in a version that he had recorded earlier, and we all joined in 'I ...
My first Kindle arrived yesterday. It's a birthday present. I wanted it primarily as a travel accessory, but also because my whole personal library is going to have to be shipped back to Blighty in a few years time, and with that in mind I've been operating a strict one-in-one-out policy for paper books. Now I can expand my library electronically without guilt. The jury is still out on whether or not e-books are less environmentally damaging than paper books. Cleantech in Los Angeles claims that Kindle is environmentally friendlier, but the study assumes that a Kindle user would otherwise ...
Evan Harris, writing in the Guardian today, shares his blueprint for better RE teaching. He says that the evolution-creationism debate in schools should take place in RE lessons as well as science lessons: Secularists like me believe that RE is a valid subject for study in the curriculum but should be about what different religions (and other world views like humanism) believe; it should not be about what ought to be believed. So Catholic schools should be allowed to use RE lessons to teach that the Catholic church opposes contraception and believes that homosexuality is a sin, but not that ...
A Home Office press release from 19th August (don't say that this blog isn't at the cutting edge of political comment! *ahem*) gives a bit more detail on the legislation that will enact a temporary ban on legal highs (my emphasis): The government will introduce new legislation which will enable police to confiscate suspected substances and the UK Border Agency will seize shipments entering the country. The penalty for supply will be a maximum of 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine. Possession of a temporarily banned substance for personal use would not be a criminal offence to prevent ...
I've discovered a very bizarre story on the Local Government Chronicle website today (unfortunately, it's behind a paywall). A very angry idiot has terrorised Lincoln City Council with an axe. The man rampaged through the Customer Services department, smashing computers and windows in his ... Continue reading →
In less than 24 hours Tony Blair's memoirs will be hitting the book shops and political anoraks and opinion formers will be thumbing through the pages looking for the juicy tit bits. Thursday's newspapers will no doubt be full of extracts, given the lack of a serialisation deal and very little advance "leakage" from the publishers. So when the opportunity to pen an exclusive preview for my blog came my way I grabbed the chance with both hands and here is the first official review of "A Journey". Granita Pact Tony Blair reveals the truth behind the deal that saw ...
Laurent Fignon, twice winner of the Tour de France, has died. However, I didn't get to see him until after his wins when Channel 4 started the first regular British coverage of the Tour (every night at 6.30, if I remember correctly) and so my overriding memory of him is from the 1989 Tour. Specifically, ...
Within milliseconds of the Coalition announcement of the plan to replace NHS Direct with a new non-emergency NHS service, Labour politicians were up in arms. Because this plan from the Coalition obviously bears absolutely no relation to Labour's plan, as spelt out on page 35 of the party's 2010 manifesto. A new national 111 telephone number will make nonemergency services far easier for people to access and book. This, we need to understand, is totally different to replacing NHS Direct. What Labour had in mind, as they planned their £44 billion savings, must have been to keep NHS Direct just ...
After more than 20 years, the Bill will tonight come to an end, when its final episode 'Respect - Part 2' is aired. The episode will centre around the Sun Hill team cracking a murder and gang rape on a nearby estate. Anybody who is anybody has appeared in country's longest running police procedure drama, including Russell Brand and Kiera Knightley. The programmes viewing fingers have steadily decreased though, and not even a format change for a 1 hour 9pm slot could save the show. On March 25th ITV announced they would not recommision The Bill, and tonights final episode ...
Labour members may be denying that the Labour Party leadership campaign is turning into a civil war but they cannot refute the overriding impression that the level of passion and personal abuse currently manifesting itself will lead to some sore losers next month. Today's Independent is reporting that Labour's grandees are locked in a furious battle of words as they take opposing sides over which of the Miliband brothers should succeed Gordon Brown: Peter Mandelson, Labour's veteran spin doctor, was the first to ignore the pretence that supporters of the rival camps are all good friends really to make personal ...
Tue 31st
13:50
EXCLUSIVE: 84% of Lib Dem members back Lib-Con Coalition - but 46% say it will be bad for party's el...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government's budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems' and Government's performance to date. Almost 600 party members have responded, and we're currently publishing the full results of our survey. First, let's take the temperature of the party membership regarding their view of the Lib-Con Coalition agreement, now some two months old: Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives? 84% - Support 11% - Oppose 5% - Don't know / No opinion ...
Given that it was such an awful weekend weather wise, I spent much of my time this weekend reading and lounging about in the house, particularly on Sunday which is no hardship, since reading the papers is one of the joys of any weekend. A favourite of mine being Kent on Sunday, which this weekend has a story (page 5) concerning Dr. Ellie Lee a lecturer in social policy, at the University of Kent, not entirely sure what err social policy is as an academic subject but assume that it is some woolly minded, vaguely political sort of stuff, that ...
There are very few top class sportsmen who wear their glasses while participating in their sport. But the bespectacled face and flowing mane of blond hair tied back in a ponytail were what earned Laurent Fignon his nickname as the Professor on the professional cycling circuit. We and he knew this day was coming when we would bid farewell to a two-time winner of the Tour de France and the man last man to ride unto the Champs-Élysées in the maillot jaune to lose it by the narrowest margin ever, only 8 seconds to American Greg Lamond. Last year he ...
John Pugh has ignited an important debate about the role of the state in Liberalism. In his article for Lib Dem Voice John sought to reconcile a policy of deficit reduction with support for the idea of what he described as a 'strong state'. The posting has attracted a large number of responses and the discussion has broken out in other parts of the blogosphere notably over at Liberal England. John would have excited less reaction if he has used the term 'democratic state' rather than 'strong state'. Liberals are suspicious about any concentration of power whether that is in ...
The latest edition of the Royal Institute of British Architecture's Journal has a short piece about the plans for a new theatre on Clifton Terrace (by Finsbury Park tube station). The story is here (you scroll down the text by dragging the small round circle down and the relevant photo is the second of the thumbnails on the right side of the page).
Hot on the heels of the revelations of Labour run Knowsley Council's plans to exhibit at the Labour Party conference in Manchester next month the deficit deniers have now tabled a motion criticising the Coalition plans to raise VAT to 20% from January next year. As has been said before by many commentators Labour's criticism and moral outrage about the VAT increase lacks any credibility whatsoever when it has been confirmed by none other than Alastair Darling, the now Shadow Chancellor, that he had also wanted to raise VAT when in office.Darling conceded in an interview with Andrew Marr that ...
A peaceful and exciting weekend of Test cricket was thrown into turmoil after the News of the World printed allegations that some members of the Pakistan cricket team were paid to bowl 'no balls' at specific points in the game. Investigators from Pakistan will be in England to join Scotland Yard into looking at the allegations made against captain Salman Butt, Mohammed Amir, Mohammed Asif and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal. While VN would not wish to pre-empt the conclusions of any ongoing investigation, the evidence seems pretty damning. The most worrying aspect is what has gone before, and will never be ...
I've been thumbing through the directory for the Liverpool Lib Dem conference. It's much thicker than usual and by my reckoning there has been a significant increase in outside organisations, charities, special interest groups and companies attending this time. I guess being in government brings more interest in conference, as well as just increased security and bag checks at the entrance (I'm
In a motion submitted to nextmonth's borough council meeting I am calling for the county council to continue to provide all the discretionary elements of the borough's current concessionary fare scheme (Farepass). The motion has cross party support and is seconded by Andover Harroway councillor Jan Lovell. Changes introduced by the outgoing Labour government mean that from April next year concessionary fares will be the responsibility of Hampshire County Council who may not fund all the services such as all day travel, companion passes and travel vouchers currently provided by Test Valley. The county council has recently carried out a ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government's budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems' and Government's performance to date. Almost 600 party members have responded, and we're currently publishing the full results of our survey. Today we take a look at the performance of the Lib Dems and our leader. First we asked: Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track? 69% - The right course 17% - The wrong track 15% - Don't know ...
Moving to a different way of running the services that we own and use means we need to know what this means. Vigoda has excellently put together his thoughts on the subject which are worth highlighting. He states that in this new era people have a duty to become engaged in collaborative activities with Government ...
Northern Democrat No 53 August 10 The August edition of the Northern Democrat was sent to members over the weekend and is now ready to view of Scribd.
Alright, I need to get to work. So, I head for the station to catch the 9.12 to Liverpool Street which, to add to the gaiety of nations, I find is being terminated at Ipswich this morning, for reasons unexplained. So far, so NXEA. And then, an announcement. "For passengers on platform 1 awaiting the 9.12 service, we regret to announce that this service has been cancelled.". Ho hum, thinks I, I'd be better off on the 9.29 anyway, so I cross the footbridge and head for the station shop to buy a newspaper. As I head back along the ...
This morning I had a debate with John Prescott on Twitter regarding NHS Direct. I reckon we both fought our respective corners and fought them hard. Figurative punches were being thrown much to my relief. Me pointing out the lack of money to do everything and the rational for looking at what was essential and therefore needed to keep being funded was what was important. The fact that nurses currently on the NHS Direct lines will be returned to front line duties and actually treating people. At one point John seemed to suggest that NHS Direct nurses in their current ...
The other day Eric Pickles and Philip Hammond wrote to council leaders calling on them to reduce the number of signs, railings, bollards and advertising hoardings. They should go to Clun, where this magnificent collection of signs can be found next to the bridge. Note that the corners of some of them have been curled round by passing lorries. The Shropshire Star recently photographed the same scene.
"We're out of money!", appears to be the constant refrain of Coalition spokesmen when called to account for the latest 'unfortunate' consequence of its policy decisions. And yes, they have a valid point - if you're an economist or a market trader. The problem is, most of us aren't. Worse still, the public aren't either. Let's be honest for a minute. If you're going to cut a structural deficit on the scale created by the Labour Party, someone, somewhere, is going to get hurt. Actually, make that quite a lot of someones, virtually everywhere. The key question, and one that ...
At the start of last month, I raised with Scottish Water the mess around the Riverside Drive/Riverside Avenue junction (pictured right) where waste water has blown through the manhole cover. At the time, Scottish Water responded, but this has since happened again, and I have again raised this recurring problem with Scottish Water.
I've taken advantage of the weekend to re read the Lib Dem / Tory national coalition agreement. Clear that it is an amalgam of both parties manifesto pledges and serious compromising took place to agree this document. My favourite bits - blimey so many big national policies I've cmapiang ed for so delighted. Favourite, so to speak extras, that I hadn't expected to see - sustainable communities act will be implemented aimed at helpng local communities remain local, promoting anaerobic digestion of waste to reduce landfill, restorative justice. What you do like or hate in this agreement?
Dacorum Borough Council has a duty to promote well-being within its boundaries. But it seems to have forgotten this. The local economy would be boosted - and a large amount of personal distress would be alleviated - if it was made easier for people to claim the benefits to which they are entitled. But no, despite my asking last year, in January, in March, for more resources for the Revenue and Benefit Section they are still not forthcoming. There is still a 4 to 6 week backlog in processing claims. Families could get evicted for the lack of rent within ...
Tonight is another meeting of the Council's Internal Scrutiny committee. Its name might induce sniggers in the occasional teenage boy, but its purpose is more serious. It is the only body scrutinising the work of the Council's Cabinet, which is the group of top Councillors running Bury. There's a new system of scrutiny in Bury this year, and I don't think it's working very well at the moment. The way it should work is that the Cabinet make decisions which affect Bury, and we get to take a look at them after, or preferably before, they've been taken to ensure ...
[IMG: I has a happy!]
I've just been doing a quick morning browse online of the newspaper headlines and my regular blogs and discovered on Lib Dem Voice that my spoof press release issued last week was the most read blog of the week!! Humbled by the news that I was top of the blogs I now feel under pressure to maintain my new found fame and write something equally thought provoking or humourous this week.......no pressure there then! Thanks to all those folk who clicked on the link and took the time to read it, hope it amused you as much as I intended ...
Via way of the Hedon Blog comes news of (in my book) one of the randomest festivals in the UK - The Wonderful Paull scarecrow festival. The streets of Paull are filled with dozens of brightly coloured scarecrows, you buy a map and amble around this ancient village viewing them in all their glory - a great day out! For those who read this blog from outside of the East Riding of Yorkshire Paull is a village to the east of Hull and it is well worth a day visit to see the wonderful displays.....before popping back west into Hull ...
On Saturday I blogged about the breaking news that the coalition government were planning to scrap NHS Direct and asking whether this in fact was the right decision. Well it looks like the proposed changes will only improve the current service - straight away the new 111 service will be free to call unlike NHS Direct now, you pay for that privilege. Where NHS Direct can only highlight other services, when you call NHS 111 you will be able to book a GP appointment or go straight through to local out of hours services. If you do need an ambulance ...
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of a variety of key issues, and what you make of the Lib Dems' and Government's performance to date. Almost 600 party members have responded, and we're currently publishing the full results of our survey. Today we're looking at the Alternative Vote, the measure of electoral reform the Conservatives conceded in their 'final offer' to the Lib Dems to secure the Coalition agreement. A preferential system of voting (in which the public can, if they choose, rank the candidates in order), AV is not a ...
The Independent newspaper's Bank Holiday edition gives blanket coverage to Ed Miliband's Labour leadership campaign. This is not the place to discuss Ed Miliband's pitch to the core Labour membership, nor even to wonder why the Indy is giving so much space to this particular candidate. What is worth looking at is his contention that Labour, under him, would appeal to Liberal Democrat voters. Political editor Andrew Grice quotes him as offering "a home to former Liberal Democrats and bring together a social democratic economic policy, redistribution, greater equality and putting individual liberty at the centre of who we are." ...
i) births and deaths 31st August 1932: birth of Roy Castle, who played Ian in the Doctor Who and the Daleks movie with Peter Cushing (1965). 31st August 1991: death of Gerry Davis, script editor of Doctor Who from The Celestial Toymaker (1966) to part 3 of The Evil of the Daleks (1967), co-writer of The Tenth Planet (1966), The Highlanders (1967), and Tomb of the Cybermen (1966-67), and sole writer of Revenge of the Cybermen (1975) 31st August 2005: death of Michael Sheard, who played Rhos in The Ark (1966), Dr. Summers in The Mind of EvilPyramids of Mars</b> ...
Almost every utterance by a coalition minister is scrutinised for any signs that it may mean there are splits between the coalition partners over policy. So it's no surprise to see Vince Cable's discussion of immigration policy put under the media microscope. Now, before I get into this, I should make clear that personally I am an advocate of open borders. Of course, as an advocate of a stateless society I'm really an advocate of not having borders! That's not entirely true - in a stateless society the only borders that would matter would be the borders around everyone's property. ...
So, a couple of posts ago I wrote about Benjamin Tucker's "State Socialism and Anarchism" essay which I had just published as an audio reading, and a real-life Marxist complained to me that it was a travesty of Marxism to call it "state socialism". Now I've had a number of quite long, late into the night, Twitter conversations with this chap, and very civil they have been too, and it has ended up with me reading "The State and Revolution" by one Mr Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. My Twitter correspondent's contention was that Marxism is a libertarian ideology (is it right ...
Getting things done « Francesca Elston Notes on finding a job (and other things too) (tags: life) Ultonia: Building the vote Lee Reynolds references an older post about Ulster Unionists On self-preservation « Ian James Parsley Parsley references my recent post about Ulster Unionists (tags: northernireland)
I was speaking with a retired man today who had worked all over the world. My obvious statement was that England must be the best place to live if he has chosen to live here. I know there are lots of other influences on where we live and he answered that he prefered Australia and Brazil. I know that there is racism in this country so I asked if he had met racism in other countries and he said that he hadn't. I mentioned the word limey but this did not stir any memories. I got the impression that nobody ...
