When I lived in Belgium as a young man, the Feast of St Nicholas (6 December) was always a much bigger deal than Christmas Day (25 December). Children received presents on 6 December and too much was eaten and drunk. There is actually an overlap between the two celebrations, as the Greek St Nicholas or ...
I was helping out in two by-elections over this weekend. On Saturday it was phoning for Elwyn Watkins in Oldham. If like me you've not been able to make it there in person (yet!), making phone calls is a really effective way of doing something for his campaign from home. To offer your services, contact Elwyn's HQ. Then this morning it was off to Tower Hamlets to help Fernando North in the forthcoming council by-election there. [IMG: Fernando North, Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats] The ward in which Fernando North is standing typifies many of the issues across Tower Hamlets, and ...
On 24th November Nick Clegg told students that they should: "Examine our proposals before taking to the streets. Listen and look before they march and shout" Frankly, the more I examine the proposals, the more I want to take to the streets. The more I "listen and look", the stronger the urge to "march and shout". I believe that the trebling of tuition fees will be a disaster, here's why. First of all, it is not simply the question of raising fees. The increase in fees is combined with an 80% decrease in state funding for university teaching. This goes ...
Egglescliffe Comprehensive School is open as usual tomorrow, Monday, following satisfactory inspections of the roof and ceillings. No excuses for staying away! Stockton Council's website has no updated information for Durham Lane, Egglescliffe CE or The Links primaries so parents will need to wait till tomorrow to find out the situation. Meanwhile Junction Farm Primary teachers will be posting
I've never met Tom Griffin to my knowledge, but I'm grateful to him for putting together what I believe to be a largely accurate list of where Liberal Democrat MPs are on this issue. I have heard rumours of at least one resignation from the Government, and think it in the interests of the Party and of higher education as a whole if this happens. It appears that the numbers of definite 'rebels' – those pledging to keep to their pledge – are now at 14. That is less than one-quarter of the Parliamentary Party and not a sufficient ...
So MI5 and the Home Secretary have detained Mike Hancock's Russian researcher and are seeking her deportation. Mike has said that he knows of no evidence of her having undertaken any illicit or illegal activity and has demanded proof if it exists. I can't comment on the rights or wrongs of the case as I don't know the details. But the BBC has made clear the very low threshold of the sort of information being passed on which might constitute espionage. It appears that even perfectly open source information might count as spying. If that is the case, then I ...
[IMG: Tron Poster] Well, looks like I was right. The good folks at ShowFilmFirst did treat us to an advanced screening of Tron: Legacy. They specifically asked us to embargo our reviews until 2200 tonight. That's given me plenty of time to ruminate on just how disappointed this movie left me. This review is spoiler free. By which I mean, there's so little plot, there's not much to spoil. Neo goes into the Matrix, fights Boba Fett, recovers Excalibur, Learns A Valuable Lesson, gets the girl. WARNING! This review contains EXCESSIVE CAPITALISATION. Tron Legacy isn't the sort of movie to ...
What a bit hoohah hey! I was there the other day watching the build up on BBC News with the coverage from Switzerland. But I had to go out so heard that it was Russia and Qatar. This isnt terribly surprising. This is a political move, startegic to develop football in new regions. That's what they did with South Africa. Russia and Qatatr represent new reaches for the world cup bandwagon. Lets face it whilst some would have wanted the fiesta to come to UK its much more interesting to go somewhere abroad. And for me, not being a footie ...
Wow. I've just visited the official Coronation St website and on it, it has a 2 minute spoiler preview for the week ahead. An explosion at the Joinery sets off a terrifying chain of deadly events that leads to the tram crash as the week unfolds. There will be episodes each night of the week and they will be played in 'real-time'. Every minute of the unfolding drama will play itself in the same way that '24' did. It's going to be the biggest thing the cobbles of Coronation St has ever seen in 50 years and is quite likely ...
I've updated Flock Together to make it easier and more reliable to register for events (mainly by shifting from the script.aculo.us javascript library to the jQuery library). Just hit one of these radio buttons: Flock Together now also pulls any by-elections that it doesn't already have semi-automatically off the ALDC website. It doesn't show them all – just the ones with contact details – but it should help keep Flock Together more easily up to date.
I've been trying to assist the residents in many of the tenements in Bellefield Avenue over the past few days to get the stair lights on. This is a problem that first emerged 5-6 years ago when all the communal lights went out in the 8 of the 9 tenements on the west side, plus 47 Magdalen Yard Road. With the help of the council's Environmental Health team and Scottish & Southern Energy, the problem was sorted on that occasion. This time, the same tenement stair lights went off, but also some on the east side. On Friday, at my ...
The reform of Housing Benefit for private rented sector tenants made it back into the newspapers today. The Observer ran a story on the inside pages under the headline Ministers 'bury' report on cuts to housing benefit. The report they are referring to is the Impact Assessment (IA) entitled Housing Benefit: Changes to the Local ...
[IMG: katya-zatuliveter-and-lib-dem-mp-mike-hancock] Might be one way in which the BBC show Spooks could spin today's revelations that assistant to Portsmouth MP Mike Hancock, Katya Zatuliveter, is facing deportation as her presence is deemed "not conducive to national security". This based on an implication she and Hancock vigorously deny, that she is a Russian agent. All the ingredients are there. The glamorous Russian assistant. A Coalition government MP who looks like a cast extra from Fiddler on the Roof, already compromised by arrest on unrelated allegations, serving a City whose struggling football team was once owned by a Russian oligarch, and ...
Towards the end of last week, I received the following concern from a local resident : "Corner Speed St/Hyndford Street - Water is gushing from main valve in middle of the road. Given the current weather conditions and forecast for frost, there is imminent danger of the whole road icing up - all the way down to Perth Road in the worst case." I contacted Scottish Water regarding this and am very grateful to them for the very prompt overnight response.
It was concerning to learn last night about the vandalism of vehicles in the Windsor Street, Windsor Place and Magdalen Yard Road areas that occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning. It was totally mindless vandalism of residents' property and I have been in touch with our local Police Officers who advised me this evening that there are positive lines of enquiry.
Saturday morning I received a call at around 08.45 informing me that a bus carrying passengers had skidded off the road and into a garden on Victoria Drive. I understand that there is to be an investigation into this matter, early information is that passengers have praised the efforts of the driver and that if it were not for a garden wall and conifers the bus may have hit the property. It is also reported that there was some black ice in this area. The driver was shaken by this incident and also I believe that an elderly passenger was ...
According to the Telegraph, the Federal Reserve may embark on another programme of quantitative easing. It looks like the Hayek/Keynes argument continues...
Prior to the recent very challenging weather (as can be seen by the photo taken on the day!) I met with a constituent and a representative of the City Council's Housing Department to discuss the continual flooding across parts of the pathway of Pentland Avenue. The Housing Department has agreed to engage an architect to hopefully get a solution to the significant flooding problem here.
As the temperatures plummet I still see young people wandering around scantly clam. That's up to them. I am snuggly warm The story starts a good while back when one spring I took myself off to walk the Western Islands -south to north. I was on the final stretch and had just visited the Callinish Stones. My destination that evening was Garenin on the NW coast of Lewis. In the late afternoon I came across little corrugated iron shed, the door was open and inside were three other walkers talking to an elderly man who was operating a weaving loom. ...
[IMG: Gritter in Arbury] Gritter in Cambridge Conservative county councillors have been holding a Gritting Review. Here is a summary of changes we have heard about to date: Cycleways: good news and bad news: A quad-bike will be gritting cycleways in the city centre. This is the good news, but the bad news is that major out-of-town cycleways will remain untreated. Lib Dem councillors are demanding that they are included. Another positive result is that the Lib Dem campaign to have Mill Road gritted has been successful. All in all, there is more bad news than good news. In total, ...
I've watched two premiership rugby matches in the last two day. London Irish v Leicester, and Saracens v Harlequins. Clearly the topic of the week for the Premiership's pile of inconsistent referees is the non straight put in at the line out. For this they award a scrum. Where invariably there is a non straight put in, totally against the laws of the game, which they totally ignore. Half the
Welcome to my weekly round-up of two blogging highlights from the past week: the post that I found most interesting or enjoyable to write and the post from someone else that I found most interesting or entertaining. A post from me...The politics of windmills Whether you want to call it community politics, the Big Society or the Good Society, dozens of windmills display in miniature the mix of public and private that many politicians are now reaching for more widely. That mix - committed residents, public sector grants in the broadest sense (more likely from sources such as English Heritage ...
Yet more flats are proposed in Grange Hill which in my view is leading to an over development of a small and special village. The decision will probably be driven throe over the local residents views. There have been so many developments planned with most not even having consideration for affordable housing. These flats on the site of the Bald Hind Pub will also mean that this public house will be lost forever. With the plans of the Jenkkins Garden Site also residents are acutely aware that even green belt land is not safe. I ask the question what the ...
I should, of course, publish a long reply to Ed's well-informed remarks on tuition fees. For the moment, I content myself with saying that his view of higher education - and it's a common one today - is a commercial one in which education is regarded as a commodity and the student as a consumer. Many people in government share this view. It may explain why another feature of the settlement is
You may recall that I was preparing for my approval interview to be a potential candidate in next year's District Council elections. Well, this afternoon saw that moment arrive, and Ros drove me to Little Finborough, a village just outside Stowmarket, where the panel awaited. There was tea, and a chance to catch up with John Field, one of our District and County Councillors, whose wife was on the approval panel. Chaired by Ros's replacement as County Councillor for Bosmere, Julia Truelove, and with two District Councillors, Patricia Godden (Ringshall ward) and Tony Fowler (The Stonhams ward), making up the ...
The answer to the film quiz was "The Way Ahead" also featuring David Niven, Stanley Holloway, William Hartnell and many others. I suppose nowadays it would have been titled "Going Forward". The other film in which Ustinov was a North African innkeeper was "Hotel Sahara". Congratulations to John Leston who got it first and to Hoonaloon who half got it later.
Harold Evans in the FT Iain Dale on his blog "Tom Paine"
Tomorrow sees a great tram crash in Coronation Street. It sets the scene for a dramatic week of deaths, a wedding and a birth - just a normal week in suburban Manchester then! It will culminate with the soap celebrating its 50th birthday this Thursday, 9th December with a live 1 hour episode. To pay tribute to the world's longest current runnning soap, I'm blogging a quote a day from Corrie's past up until the big day. Today's quote is from the longest serving female character Emily Bishop. An ever-present since 1961, she is a Corrie cobbles legend. This quote ...
You can read it here.
Sun 5th
16:35
LibDem MPs should vote for graduate contribution proposal - NUS campaign is disingenuous
After tossing and turning on this issue, I am now convinced that as many Liberal Democrat MPs as possible should proudly vote for the government's tuition fees policy. By abstaining or voting against, they would be caving into protests based on ignorance and wrongly giving the impression that the government proposal is a bad one. The NUS campaign has completely disingenously whipped up students and school pupils into a state of hysteria. Most of them have absolutely no idea what they are actually protesting against. The coalition proposal is progressive and improves the system to encourage less well off students ...
It's the afternoon of the second Sunday of Advent, and I'm now back at Andrew's after church this morning. There was a party after the service so that the church family – or beloved community – as they call it there could come together to celebrate something of the Christmas joy that is not always ...
I rarely give praise to Boris Johnson, but he deserves it for THIS action he has taken. It's clear that FIFA are utterly corrupt, preferring to talk about the evils of the English Press rather than questioning why in Russia journalists are murdered for speaking out against the government. Let's ensure Mr Blatter never sullies these shores again, and if he does, let's make sure he's paying for the privilege.
The eight, and final, season of 24 has just aired on my DVD player. The last season is a touch darker than the others with our hero, Jack Bauer, played with increasing anguish by Kiefer Sutherland. The concept and delivery of 24 has been a master work of high-octane entertainment. The plots are brilliant, and ludicrous. The characters are completely engaging. More than that, the show doesn't shy away from complex ethical issues. Tributes have to go to everyone involved but special mentions are needed for Sutherland and the creators of the show, Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Here's the ...
MI5 have arrested Katia Zatuliveter who is a parliamentary aide to Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock who is a member of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. You can read about it here. However I wonder why the Russian bother to have so many spies in the UK when so much information is so often leaked. Surely spying for the Russians in the west is being affected by the law of diminishing returns thanks to Wiki leaks and laptops on trains. In these days of leaks is spying on the West really worth it?
Over the last two weeks the Borough's Liberal Democrat Council group has received a setback. First five councillors resigned after a controversial group meeting, during which they called for a vote of no confidence in the Leader, Irene Davidson, who was in hospital after major surgery. Then two further councillors resigned over the next three days forcing Irene ...
Mad Men, season four came to an end this week. I believe the next season will be shown exclusively on Sky, so those without Sky boxes will have to wait and buy the DVD. It rolls along taking in the social, political, fashionable and sexual changes of the 1960s but for me stays firmly in the territory of melodrama. Not to say that it isn't well written and acted but it cannot quite reach the heights of The Wire. Then again, what can? If you want to get no idea what the programme is about then take a look at ...
[IMG: England Bidding Nation] The BBC are reporting that Boris Johnson has withdrawn an offer of a free stay at the Dorchester Hotel for FIFA executives during the 2012 Olympics. The free rooms were handed out by Locog, the Olympic organising committee. Boris discussed the issue with Sebastion Coe who is the chairman of Locog as well as being a member of the Board for the England 2018 bid. Sebastian resigned as chairman of FIFA's ethics commission to take his place on the bid's board. I doubt the offer would have been withdrawn if the England bid was successful so ...
After years of warnings, the police are cracking down on illegal parking outside schools with a zero tolerance policy, which started from 1st December. Please be considerate: drive safely and park legally if you need to drive to school. Councillors will be kept up to date by the police on how many tickets have been issued at each school.
Nick Clegg has given an interview to the Independent on Sunday in which he's talked about all sorts of aspects of being in Government. I'll maybe write more about what he's said later, but I want to separate off his comments about the issue of the moment, tuition fees. You have to remember that it was the Labour Party who set up the current system, where graduates started to pay back their fees when they earned £15,000. It's the Liberal Democrats who are raising that threshold by over a third to £21000 and ensuring that students from the lowest income ...
I have read and re-read many articles on the predicament of our Party over the past few days. This is one of my favourites. We all know D'ancona's politics – however, his wry impartiality shines through. We're lucky that Labour are in such a mess otherwise there'd be a lot more focus on Nick's leadership. ...
Saw this yesterday from Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie: Off to a probably inquorate meeting of party council. Glasgow and Edinburgh folk will make it, but few others. Now I was actually confused by this because I thought that the Scottish Greens were against people travelling to meetings. Certainly thats the impression you get when they oppose things like road upgrades/extensions or improved airport capacity. I would have thought that the Scottish Greens would have used telephone conferencing or arranged teleconferencing for people to access their meetings. Allegedly its not that hard or expensive. After all its what they wanted ...
The saga over tuition fees continues. First there is the backlash after the coalition announced it was going to raise the current cap. Then there has been will he, won't he episodes over whether Vince Cable will vote for the shift in policy, abstain or vote against. Now a new day brings a new announcement that the poorest in society will only leave with two-thirds of the level of debt than
The solution focused approach looks for signs of strengths to build on and today the News of the World have given the Lib Dems one of the best compliments to be given in to parties in power; although not given in the traditional way compliments are given: If Nick Clegg had grown up wanting to ...
[On 24 November 2010, I was pleased to be the guest speaker at the Hackney Liberal Democrats' AGM. Below is an edited version of my speech, "rebuilding the Liberal Democrats' identity"] We should start by being clear about the Liberal Democrats' brand image - what it is and how it has developed. Just what are we trying to "rebuild"? In the run-up to the last general election campaign, the Liberal Democrats were seen as the nicest, most caring party - "for ordinary people, not the best off" and the most "honest and principled" party. [click here] But most voters saw ...
Sun 5th
12:09
The government just doesn't get it - Why are the middle classes ignored or assumed to be rich ?
As a means of winning over wavering Lib Dem MPs, the government is supposedly offering the possibility of students from poorer backgrounds the possibility of having their tuition fees paid for a year or two. My simple response is, what about the middle classes ? An 18 year old who has middle class parents earning £22k a year each (above the limit at which the government would have students repaying their loans) are no better off than students from poorer backgrounds. These middle class parents are not rich, they have no large disposable income, and they certainly do not have ...
The second Luton related story I wanted to write about is a less happy one. Last month the independent report commissioned by NHS East of England into the care received by Tennyson Obih, the man who murdered Bedfordshire PC Jon Henry in Luton town centre in 2007, was published. The report found that the death of the police officer could have been prevented if Obih's mental illness had been treated properly. A series of "management and clinical failings" in the mental health services that covered Luton meant that Obih, who had paranoid schizophrenia, was untreated and unmonitored at the time ...
I just thought that given the interest in the Government Equality Strategy – it might be useful if I posted a fuller version. The entire document is available on the GEO website – but this is a useful synopsis for those who are interested. Government Equalities Strategy 2nd December 2010 In my conference speech this autumn I spoke about my vision for "an equality which sets people free, rather than imprisons them with rules." Today the government was able to realise this vision with the publication of the government's cross-portfolio strategy for equalities. The strategy sets out the government's commitment ...
i) broadcast anniversary 5 December 1964: broadcast of "Day of Reckoning", third episode of the story we now call The Dalek Invasion of Earth. This is the fantastic episode with Jenny, Barbara and Dortmun fleeing across London to Francis Chagrin's amazing music, followed by Dortmun's last stand against the Daleks. ii) date specified in canon 5 December 1920: Kathy Nightingale is transported to Hull from 2007 by the Weeping Angels. (As seen in Blink, 2007.)
This morning's Wales on Sunday reports that Economy and Transport Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones has been accused of elitism after protecting the north-south air service and the first-class train coach from his constituency to Cardiff, while cutting cash for road safety and bus services. The air link, dubbed "Ieuanair" because it links deputy first minister Mr Jones' Anglesey constituency to his Cardiff office, was reprieved this week when the Welsh Assembly Government signed a four-year contract with airline Manx2, putting in a £1.2m subsidy from public funds. The Government also pays £400,000 a year for the air service's civilian terminal ...
Mike Henney is more or less a one-man band. He's a cider-maker. You'll see his cider, Henney's, in all the supermarkets. Yet, he doesn't own a single apple tree, or bottling plant, or press, or mill, or distribution network, or labelling plant. He started in 1996 making 5 gallons of "undrinkable" cider in his airing cupboard. 2010 production was over 200,000 gallons! His business is a master-piece of outsourcing and simplicity. He concentrates on what he is good at – the cider-making – and relies on partners to do the rest. But it's all done by the book to produce ...
Bath Ringmaster Message Number 567.Blagdon Park, Bath.Between 2200 hours on Friday 26th and 1150 hours on Sunday 28th November 2010, unknown person(s) attempted to gain entry to a secure property by forcing a ground floor window. The window cracked, but no entry is believed to have been gained. If you have any information regarding this incident please contact the Police on 0845 456 7000...
Having finally installed iOS4.1 on Heathers phone, I managed to get the AirPrint installed (hacked) on to my Windows 7 machine. Several test prints worked fine, but then when Heather gave it a go nothing came out. Looking at the print queue I could see the incomplete job "printing", but attempt to cancel or delete did nothing. With this item at the top nothing else would print. Turning the printer off for a few minutes did nothing, nor did rebooting the PC. So in the end with a bit of Google this was the solution: In Control Panel open "Administrative ...
The Big Society has opened many opportunities for local authorities and communities. However, not all are going in the same direction and some are not happy with the direction their councils are taking. The Big Society is less a vision than a gesture. With local authorities having a brutal cut in their budgets it essentially ...
I note that Labour and Plaid Cymru politicians have adopted a new line of attack over the delay in announcing a timetable for the electrification of the main line railway from London to Swansea. They are arguing that Wales is one of the only countries in Europe not to have any electrified rail track along with Moldova and Albania. There are of course good historical reasons for this including the fact that most of Europe's infrastructure was rebuilt after the Second World War, whereas in the UK we have embarked on piecemeal modernisation. It is also the case of course ...
The public toilets at Cheadle library have been closed for a while due to blockage issues. They have now been re-opened (and, of course, as part of the Community Toilet scheme you are very welcome to use these toilets whether or not you're using the library). The blockage issue hasn't been fixed (some issue with a narrow pipe that's some distance from the actual toilet, I understand) so library staff will continue to monitor and it may have to be closed again. There are two other community toilets in Cheadle - at Jackson's Fish Bar on Ashfield Road and the ...
I have been reflecting on the excellent housing research conference put on by Shelter Cymru and Wisard that I attended on Friday and still cannot get the opening presentation by Rhodri Morgan out of my head. Rhodri delivered a wide-ranging review of the way that housing has been treated under devolved Welsh governance emphasising its links with economic development. It is a shame that this was not recognised in the first Welsh economic development strategy that he produced. During questions he was asked about regeneration in the South Wales valleys and in particular how we might motivate people to get ...
Yesterday, I posted about the cautious cause for optimism that the UK economy may be recovering and can stand the projected public sector cutbacks. However, there is a big "but". The picture is far from uniform across the country and more needs to be done to help depressed communities, that never saw the fruits of the boom, to develop an indigenous enterprise culture, rather than the only approach that has worked to date, bribing multinationals to inwardly invest. Inward investment works in the short term but in the North East we have seen many firms come in and then go ...
I started a new job this week so have been somewhat too busy to collect my thoughts on some of the pressing issues of the day. Instead I've decided to simply send you off to see other's writings which I, broadly, agree with. Andrew Rawnsley: Nick Clegg's unexpectedly swift journey from idol to hate figure Dan Carlin (podcast): It's All Bismarck (RE: Wikileaks) Millennium Dome: Day 3622 (again): On World AIDS Day... Some People SHOULD be Ashamed Enjoy! If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist
I have bought, but not yet read, David Laws's account of the formation of the coalition,"22 Days in May." However, I'm already enraged (that's not too strong a word) by the title of his second chapter, "First moves in a hung parliament." If we Liberal Democrats won't use the positive and more accurate term "balanced" to describe such a parliament, who on earth will? I have no prejudiced objection to the importation of American terms: many of them are both accurate and evocative. "Credit crunch" is from the US. One of my favourites is the "hot potato theory of money ...
Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now. Day Two: Nine things about yourself. Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart. Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot. Day Five: Six things you wish you'd never done. Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever) Day Seven: Four turn offs. Day Eight: Three turn ons. Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now. Day Ten: One confession. Day Five: Six things you wish you'd never done. Waiting so long to seek therapy, instead of ...
As winter holidays are creeping up on us again, and people are talking about gifts and cards: a reminder of my own feelings:I like to give, because making people happy is good. I typically only give to close friends and family, though if I find something awesome that someone would love, I'll still get it if I can, just as I do year round. Similarly, I won't give to someone just because that's what people do at this time of year if I can't find something they'll love - gifts should have thought put into them as well. I prefer ...
Sun 5th
01:37
Escapology And Eschatology 1 (of 7) : The Omega Point (Return Of Bruce Wayne: What Really Happened)
This post is, in a way, about the last issue of Return Of Bruce Wayne. However, my fantastic filing system (which involves putting comics in random piles around the living room until my wife makes me tidy them up, when I put them into one big pile) has somehow failed me, and I can't actually ...
Members of the public are being asked for their views on proposals to change the way that people with drug and alcohol problems are treated. The aim of the proposed restructure of Hertfordshire's drug and alcohol treatment system is to put a greater emphasis on recovery and reintegration. The new-look service would offer a number of treatment hubs around the county with satellites covering areas of smaller population size or lower levels of need. All individuals will be able to access services within a 10 mile radius of their home. Consultation is taking place now so that proposals can be ...
Some of these reviews can also be found on Amazon.In November 2010 I read the following books: 1. Backroom Boys: The Secret Return of the British Boffin, by Francis Spufford - Very good: 4/5 Unashamedly biased, this paean to engineers is written in much the same vein as popular science books are. In other words, it's light on detail and it focuses to a far greater degree than is strictly accurate on a few individuals, painting them as heroes battling against an enemy. This makes it good light reading. It tells a few short stories, and tells them well, aiming ...
Liberal Democrat Councillors Steve Guy & Trevor Snaith have submitted the following motion which will be debated at the next full council meeting on 13th December. The meeting is open to the public. (i) The following Notice of Motion is submitted by Councillor S Guy and seconded by Councillor T Snaith: "The Comprehensive Spending Review requires that all Local Authorities realise savings as part of the national effort to reduce the structural deficit. This Council is facing tough decisions as it plays its part in making those savings in coming years. This Council has earmarked £750,000 for preparatory activities designed ...
A large proportion of the Netherlands is below sea level. We have the technology to reclaim land and the Dutch do it very well. We have the opposite problem in Morecambe. We want to reclaim the sea, specifically we want a marina and we have wanted one for years. The ideal time would have been when the speed limit was imposed on Lake Windermere five years ago. Business at Windermere was really hit hard and there was an obvious gap in the market but Morecambe didn't look through that window of opportunity. In this week's Morecambe Guardian there is a ...
