"Asylum Monologues" was presented today, but was preceded by information on how a dossier has been produced on what has happened to the 10 adults and 5 children that were arrested and removed from Tees Valley and sent back to the very unsafe conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Work done with Amnesty International has made interviews possible with those that there was still contact with. What happened to those that left Kinshasha airport. What happened to them in a country the Government deemed safe to send people fleeing for thier life back to. The report will be launched ...
So, what does Internationalism have to do with the State*, I hear you cry? Well, it's the starting point of a long argument that will take several posts. The first part of this is to look critically at the State, and see what we think of it. Leviathan, or Violent Monopolies? So why do we think government should exist? What is the basis for having a State? Weber said that the state was any body which held a monopoly on violence to impress order onto a set of people. This takes the rather Hobbesian position that people, left to their ...
I had difficulty with blogger recently. The problem seems to have cleared up now, but meanwhile I've decided to move to Wordpress. I've also reverted to the name of my original blog - Mira's Picture. The new url is https://miraspicture.wordpress.com/
From the Guardian: Labour leader Ed Miliband told the Yes to the Alternative Vote campaign at a private meeting that he would not share a platform with Nick Clegg during the referendum campaign. He said Clegg's name had become so toxic with Labour voters he would put off potential AV backers. This reminds me of the Shooting Stars "handbags" moment:
It's not the fault of MEPs that the European Parliament still has more than one home, says Disgruntled Radical. Blame the national veto. "It was clearly a poll funded by some malingering trotskyite trade union with various leading questions about the horrid cuts." Living on Words Alone is polled by Yougov and finds that it confuses "deficit" and "debt" and also gets the name of the Liberal Democrats wrong. Liberal Burblings supports the campaign to save Bude Sea Pool, which " is refreshed by the sea at nearly every high tide and was partly hewn out of the cliffside". "The ...
So here I sit on a Sunday afternoon looking for something to watch while relaxing before a new work week and what do I foolishly stumble across? A BBC 4 documentary on Ronald Reagan. I've never been a fan of ... Continue reading →
The philosopher Alain de Botton has made the argument for the nanny state on the BBC's website. Part of his reasoning is that he believes that the libertarian notion, that we must be free, has won. Those who argue for a liberal society, a society where the individual controls their life, might be surprised to hear that as they tend to think there is more work to be done to establish a liberal world. Putting that to one side, many people take the view that people cannot make decisions on their own and need help. Reading de Botton's piece I ...
When Baroness Warsi's speech in Leicester was the lead story in the news (before she had made) I suggested that it was not because of the intrinsic interest of what she said but because she was being set up by her opponents in the Conservative Party. Yesterday's speech by David Cameron, in which he said that "state multiculturalism" has failed, was also a lead story. Ironically, Baroness Warsi had already said much the same - in her Leicester speech. Those remarks do not appear in the text of her speech (which, impressively, is on the Leicester Mercury site), so they ...
Princes Customer care have replied to my email on their fishing practices. The Greenpeace response to this can be read in my erlier posting. Thank you for contacting us recently and voicing your concern. Princes has a serious and genuine commitment to improving sustainability within the tuna fishing industry and your feedback on this important issue is welcome. We would like to provide you with a response to your email and additional information about our latest activity and progress in relation to sustainability. This progress is being made alongside our high standards relating to food safety, traceability and quality. Although ...
We all know about the cuts. And the claims that getting the public finances in order will act as a spur to a revival of private sector economic activity. We're all - quite possibly including the Government - less clear on quite how that revival is going to occur. We are promised a budget for ...
Now, back to some normality with my Dancing on Ice commentary after my 7 day lapse last week. Tonight we saw the final 10 contestants perform and the theme was 'Vegas' with the skills steps sequence added this week to notch up the pressure on those remaining. But first of all before we start, as I've done over previous weeks, we start with a vintage performance by Torvill and Dean. This time it's the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. As I've already mentioned in my initial 'Dancing on Ice' blog post, I can actually vividly remember watching this performance and jumping ...
Pam's blend blog has the full story. I agree with her – when people are scared of their neighbours in their own home and that home gets burnt to the ground then that's in a way `terrorism`.
I wasn't sure which song to give you today, so when I heard the news that Gary Moore has died I thought I would make it a tribute to him. Parisienne Walkways, not surprisingly, was the one he saved for the encore. This performance of it, recorded in Belfast in 1989, contains a pause longer than most other guitarists' solos.
So David Cameron thinks that multiculturalism has failed. But - and I can't believe I'm saying this - my memory is longer than his, and I can remember the days when landladies could put up notices stating 'No Irish, no blacks'. The so-called colour bar was a genuine topic of discussion in the UK, with plenty of people ready to defend it, whether in golf clubs, hotels or in the workplace. And I've written before about my grandfather who was an unemployed miner in the Welsh Valleys during the 1930s Depression, and how he took a job as a street ...
Don't worry, no mentions of Reg Varney, or even Stephen Lewis, coming up. Today, I decided to leave the car at home and have a day out on the bus. There's a little known bus pass up here called an Explorer which, for the princely sum of £8, lets you have free run on pretty much all the buses from Berwick down to Scarborough and all points between. So at 10 o'clock this morning I was at Sunderland Interchange waiting to board the number 23 to Peterlee. My plan was to head down towards Darlington and then maybe go on ...
Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council. May I start with two apologies. First this is a day late coming out, and second it will be a bit shorter than usual. The reason for both is the same. I'm afraid that I have tonsillitis, and so I've not been up to collating everything that I usually do. This is also the reason that I haven't replied to all my outstanding correspondence yet, so if you're still waiting for a reply I will get back to ...
yep we are in the middle of a recesion. yep it's the middle of winter. and yes there is always stuff to do when there is an 8 month around. I dont take life 100% seriously. Sometimes people do take life seriously. And there is quite obviously a time and place for everything. Yet as English we still have a hint of the stiff upper lip. I do quite a responsible job so naturally a little humour here and there doesn't go amiss. People appreciate you being down to earth. I just hope that as a nation, at this miserable ...
I've been busy with local LibDemmery the last couple of days which meant that I haven't really spent a lot of time watching TV and the national political goings on, but after catching up this evening with some reading I ... Continue reading →
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 207th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere ... Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (30th January -5th February, 2011), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. Don't forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down: 1. I ...
Just heard that guitar legend Gary Moore passed away this morning. I have been a fan of his since the late 70s; though I must admit to being somewhat out of touch with his later work. His outstanding contributions to not only Thin Lizzy (Black Rose) but also Greg Lake and the blues, means his work will be remembered for a very long time. Check out Back On the Streets; Corridors of Power; Still Got The Blues; After Hours; Thin Lizzy's Black Rose and G-Force.
If you are free on Saturday 10-12am and want to meet and discuss local issues I'll be at the Arbury Community Centre holding our monthy Liberal Democrat surgery. If you have any issues you would like your local Councillors (both City and County) to work on over the coming months please feel free to drop in - you'll find us just inside the main entrance (but we have the meeting room booked if you'd like to discuss anything in private). See you there! NB: If you would like to ask any of us a question and you can't make the ...
[IMG: Jammed parking on Mount View Road] I've been told by the Council that letters will go out this week notifying residents that the extension of the Crouch End Controlled Park Zone (CPZ) is going ahead. The zone will be extended further east from the centre of Crouch End up to and including Ferme Park Road. The extended zone will bisect Weston Park and Mount View Roads with the western halves of these roads inside the CPZ, but the eastern ends outside. This extension will all be in the 'Crouch End A' zone, with parking controls from 10am till 12 ...
Local Lib Dem councillors are calling on Test Valley to charge developers who open fast food outlets for litter bins. In a motion submitted to the next council meeting I and Cllr Celia Dowden from North Baddesley are proposing that any application for a fast food outlet should automatically be subject to a legal agreement calling on the applicant to pay for litter bins in the vicinity. One of the biggest causes of litter in our town centres is the thoughtless discarding of takeaway wrappers and food. At present the tax payers have to pay for litter picking and bins. ...
Or is it some sort of self-parody?
I went to Liverpool today to see the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown. There were many crowds there to watch the entertainment, firecrackers as well as a fun fair and market. Roads such as Berry Street and Great George Street were closed off giving it a carnival feel. Below is a video I recorded ...
I happened to fall upon the realisation earlier that today is the 59th anniversary of the death of King George VI in February 1952. Interest in this under-stated monarch has been rejuvenated of late because of the success of the cinematic block-buster, 'The King's Speech' which I have gushingly written about here, here, and here. I've always had an interest in the Royal Family - an interest that begat a more general fascination and love of history in the whole as I mentioned in my blog here. A Second Elizabethan Age? Today therefore sees the 59th anniversary of the accession ...
I had already read three out of the five novels on the BSFA shortlist, so have duly equipped myself with the other two. This is a story of a near-future cyberdisaster in California, with all the adults' brains corrupted by a massive software malfunction and two teenagers caught in the peculiar interactions of the badly damaged society. Neuromancer meets Hurricane Katrina, perhaps. I previously had tried Sullivan's Maul, which made the shortlist for both BSFA and Arthur C. Clarke awards a few years back, and wasn't enthused, completely failing to spot the link between the two story lines until I ...
The City Council's Environmental Health and Trading Standards Department has advised me that the existing air quality monitoring unit, situated on Lochee Road (at the bottom of Cleghorn Street), is being upgraded. It is proposed to undertake this work within the next three months. This air quality monitoring unit will be replaced in the coming months with a larger unit, similar to the one in the picture. The proposed upgrade does not require planning permission. The City Council further advises : "With regard to the air quality monitoring unit at Lochee Road, at present only monitoring for nitrogen oxides is ...
On Friday, along with a number of other city councillors, I attended a very thought-provoking seminar on corporate parenting and ensuring that we all do our upmost for looked-after children. The session was led by Who Cares? Scotland, who have been commissioned by Scottish Government to deliver training across Scotland about the importance of corporate parenting and emphasising the role elected members of local authorities and members of Scotland's health boards have in doing our best for children and young people in care. You can get more information at www.givemeachancescotland.org.
I have been a long-time Top Gear viewer and I know there is casual xenophobic remarks. You deal with them as they offend everyone and also offend each other. It is part of the nature of the show and of real life. If people don't think they offend others then they are nave in the ...
This anthology should not be confused with a quite different book with exactly the same title, but edited by Jim McGarry, which I read and didn't much care for just over a year ago. I did like this one. Haining has constructed it as an introduction to fantastic literature for readers interested in Ireland, rather than desperately grabbing anything vaguely genre and Hibernian; this does mean that some entries don't strictly fit the remit - "The Canterville Ghost", by Oscar Wilde, has no Irish connection apart from its author, and the final piece by Ray Bradbury (who also supplies an ...
The Oral Questions segment of Full Council is recorded and I've attached the recording from the December 2010 meeting. Unfortuantely it starts with a question asked by Councillor Sedgwick-Jell who failed to use the microphone provided and so both the question, and some of the comments, have not been recorded (although the answer has). The recording is made by Democratic Services and is only used to allow them to put together the published minutes (available here as Appendix C on the County Council website) and is then destroyed. This information will be recorded *anyway* - it's needed to put together ...
The proposed development by Kylun Ltd to construct two towers at the centre of the Vauxhall gyratory system, will be discussed by Lambeth's Planning Applications Committee on 15 February. The proposed development at Vauxhall. Copyright Squire and Partners. The council has received 57 letters of objection, 23 letters of support, and 5 letters of comment regarding the proposal, which would see the construction of a 41-storey tower and a 32-storey tower, containing between them 291 apartments, a 179-room hotel, office, retail, and community and leisure facilities. The proposal is to be discussed at the Planning Applications Committee so that council ...
I've read the whole transcript of Cameron's speech yesterday. Reading the headlines, I thought: "Why is the PM choosing to make a major speech about multi-culturalism in Munich, of all places?" But it turns out that his speech was on terrorism. Helpfully, he even said so at the outset: Today I want to focus my remarks on terrorism For him, it was quite a short speech. I know, I managed to get through it without losing the will to live (which I have done with many of his massive enterprises). The gist of the multi-culturalism bit was that we'll stop ...
A presumptuous and Americocentric quiz on Facebook decided that the USA was my natural country, that I liked fast food and was not interested in the finer things in life. I reject it thus:I like fast food and the finer things in life - Laphroaig, Runrig, Rumpole, Wodehouse, Paltrow, Agutter, Patrick O'Brian, Anthony Powell, the Cuillins, Venice (going there next week), Harvey's Bitter, cats,
Following the initial popularity of the TfL Barclays Cycle Hire scheme, and issues raised by Vauxhall residents and commuters regarding peak-hour availability, Lambeth Council has approved the addition of 20 Cycle Hire docks to the existing Cycle Hire point under the Kennington Lane railway bridge, by the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. This will increase the number of cycle docks in the immediate vicinity of Vauxhall Station by 69%, from 29 to 49, hopefully easing some of the difficulties that local residents have in either finding either a bicycle, or a dock. TfL has not yet announced when the docks will open, ...
We're on to Season 16, and the Quest for the Key to Time! As it happens I had rewatched the first episode of The Ribos Operation quite recently, giving my eleven-year-old son a taste of each of the Old Who doctors in a sequence that somehow ended up with a lot of Robert Holmes scripts, so I was prepared for the cracking dialogue and scene-setting. It gets off to a cracking start with the White Guardian scene, and the Doctor hiding behind K9 as Romana appears, and then the Holmes trick of paired characters sparking off each other - apart ...
I've been working my way through various works of Asian religion recently (see my takes on The Koran and Ta Hsüeh and Chung Yung from last year). The Mahābhārata is much more accessible than the other two, though also much much longer - the Penguin edition is 800 pages, and that is with two thirds of the text brutally summarized. Of course, it helps that there is a plot as well as profound philosophical, theological and moral discourse; perhaps the fairer comparison is with Homer (where I think the Mahābhārata still wins). I did sometimes find it difficult to keep ...
I get a lot of positive comments about my Moo Cards with QR codes. As I prepare to go off to Mobile World Congress, I thought I'd add a couple of extra designs into the mix. [IMG: QR Moo Cards Fanned Out] Feel free to use these as templates – but please remember to change the QR Code! BlackBerry Torch [IMG: BlackBerry] Windows Phone 7(I think this is a little too wide – still came out well) [IMG: Windows Phone 7]
We have asked for the bin to be emptied
Should be an announcement early this week regarding this project, it may well be in the Daily Post on Monday.
No, this isn't about anything productive. I'm not talking about any book or article I'm about to publish or even a piece of coursework I desperately need to finish. Several posts to this blog remain in drafts hell. Most have never left my head as the idea I had while walking to the playground evaporates ...
It seems that Bill Hicks was something of a Nostradamus. Or a Cacye. My husband introduced me to the joys of the humourous sociologist, Hicks, the man who said "The Human Race is a virus with boots". I think Hicks should be taught in Schools alongside Dirkheim, Giddens and Fauste. Feminists all over the world have probably made this post already, but it was the link that caught my attention today
Well done to Councillors Nathan Bale and Nigel Pearce for their excellent campaign to save Bude Sea Pool. You can "like" the campaign here on Facebook and their latest update is below on You Tube. Bude's sea pool is an extraordinary rare feature. It is refreshed by the sea at nearly every high tide and was partly hewn out of the cliff side. I "learnt to swim there" – otherwise known as being caringly chucked in and told to get on with it! Hundreds of thousands of visitors have enjoyed its exceptional charms over the years. In the Guardian, Alexandra ...
[IMG: Posted by Picasa]
You told us in 2006 you wanted better lighting on the streets of East Dulwich because you said it would make you feel safer and reduce crime. So your local Lib Dem candidates made an election promise to modernise all East Dulwich ward street lighting. We have made sure that 62 of East Dulwich's 65 streets now have modernised street lighting. The final three will be modernised in the next 4 weeks with replacement lamp posts taking 8-12 weeks to complete. Friern Road - ALL 34 street lights will be upgraded to Cosmo bright white light and 1 structurally unsound ...
Over the next four years an extra £400m is planned for talking therapies by the Lib Dem / Tory coalition government. This should mean an extra 1.2 m people suffering from depression and anxiety will be treated rather than prescribed drugs or left with no treatment. Part of this is aim for early intervention with kids where apparently around half of kids who fail to complete secondary education have mental ill health. Amazingly 90% of prisoners have mental health problems. Sadly this will only translate into around 500,000 people fully recovering with others showing various levels of relief from their ...
Vauxhall-based property company CLS Holdings have announced proposals for the redevelopment of the site bounded by Bondway, Parry Street, Wandsworth Road, and Miles Street, and for the construction of a 'Linear Walk' through the centre of Vauxhall. Linear Walk, and Proposed Vauxhall Square development. Copyright CLS Holdings plc. The developer's proposals include two residential towers, approximately 40 storeys in height, 200,000 sq ft of offices, 80,000 sq ft of retail, a 300-bed hotel, 240-bed student housing and a six-screen cinema, with the creation of a public square. The linear walk would be a landscaped walkway that connects the proposed Vauxhall ...
Yesterday, I wrote about the way that we consume news has, and is, changing. Part of the way we consume news depends on what we want from our news. Broadly speaking it is probably safe to assume that most people want to be informed and at times entertained. That balance may change depending on what is going on in the world. Some like to have their news from a certain political slant while others want news to be short and to the point. My own preference is for news to be reported as objectively as possible with the expert insight ...
One can hardly avoid the uprising in Egypt in the last week. However, I have serious objections to the strategic and motivated comments by the West. Tony Blair, the most ironically titled man in the world as Middle East Peace Envoy, has been rendered to the back shelves of Radio 5 Live "taxi driver opinion" debates on the matter, which is more than he deserves. However, Obama has been waxing
Just come home from a very windswept walk around Marl Woods with my wife and "Jelly" the dog, it really is a walk to be recommended. The wild garlic is sprouting, wild Snowdrops and another week or so the Daffodils will be in bloom. The "Catkins" are also out and the lambs jumping around and chasing each other and playing in the fields. I can remember as a kid, Marl used to be yellow and white with the daffs and snowdrops followed by the lush green of the wild garlic again followed by white as the garlic flowers. I really ...
Let's go back to October 21st 2008. It was a proud moment for me as I watched Willie Rennie, then MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, introduce his Ten Minute Rule Bill which eventually changed the law to enable driving instructors to be suspended from the register. This was in response to a constituent's awful experience of having been sexually assaulted by her driving instructor, who was convicted, but the next day was back out teaching. The procedure for having someone struck off the register did not provide for suspending them even in the wake of such a serious conviction ...
When I first set out writing my blog I never imagined I'd be writing about my own wedding nor that my family would be people who read it, but whether it is only the wedding that has drawn both together, I'm not 100% sure. 2011 is the year of Royal Weddings it appears, first there was Roger & Andrew, next will be William & Kate and finally Zara and Mike will end the run later this year. I jest, if ever there were two gay men you would never class as Queen's, then it has to be Roger and I ...
[IMG: Julian Huppert MP, Mike Pitt and Clare Blair] Yesterday's read-in at Arbury Court Library was a great success. The library was packed with people reading and determined to do what they can to help support the Library Service and save it from damage. Julian Huppert came along to lend his support after his morning surgery, and in the rather posed photo at the top you can see me, Julian and East Chesterton Councillor Clare Blair. Many residents took up the chance to chat to Julian about libraries and other issues. There was also a photographer from the Cambridge News, ...
Continuing with my Dancing on Ice commentary, here is my belated response to last week's second round of the competition proper. The Final 11 We're now down to the final 11 contestants for the competition proper and last week saw the first ever 'Ice Pick' where the celebrities picked the contestant to be voted off the show. Johnson Beharry gave another solid but in my book, unspectacular routine. Chloe Madeley, Laura Hamilton and Jennifer Metcalfe all continued to give very promising performances. Chloe's, with the 'neck breaker', looked horrifying but fair play she pulled it off well. Laura's 'wrist breaker' ...
The Six Nations International Rugby tournament got under way this weekend. Much as I like, and write about, footie my first sporting love is, and always will be, Rugby Union. Under the watchful eye of coach Andy Robinson Scotland have managed 6 wins out of their last 7 matches including beating World Champions South Africa last autumn. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes of these things but from my vantage point Robinson seems to have turned things around - a remarkable achievement especially considering his previous job was coach of the "Auld Enemy" England! Yesterday we had ...
Today's Washington Post carries a piece by Will Bunch that discusses the five myths of Ronald Reagan's presidency: Reagan was one of the most popular US presidentsReagan was a tax-cutter Reagan was a hawkReagan shrank the federal governmentReagan was a conservative culture warriorYou can read the full article here.
ThirdSector reports: After an all-night sitting in the Lords, Chris Rennard tells Third Sector how his group hopes to pin down some practical measures for building the big society... The Liberal Democrat peer pours a strong coffee, sips it and perks up. He says electoral reform is one of his big interests because it is an important way of getting people to take an active interest in the issues that affect their local area. He believes the same is true of the voluntary sector's work, which is why he agreed to chair the Commission on the Big Society, set up ...
This is a copy of the news release relating to last Fridays announcement from the Scottish Government. HOUSING LEADER'S REACTION TO SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT PAPER The City of Edinburgh Council's Housing Leader Councillor Paul Edie has welcomed the Scottish Government's policy paper 'Housing Fit for The 21st Century today'. Cllr Edie said: "The paper sets out many of the innovative proposals which we have already been developing in partnership with the Scottish Government. These include being the first local authority to sign up for the National Housing Trust Initiative, delivering mid market rental housing and developing our 21st Century Homes programme ...
I finally got round to filling in my energy suppliers application form for cavity wall insulation on line yesterday. One of the questions was 'in what year was your house built'. I live in an inter-war house built around 1928. Immediately my form was rejected on the grounds that it was too old to have cavity walls. Now this is poppy-cock. During a campaign we ran in Birkdale last year to increase the take up of insulation I learnt that in Southport we have had cavity walls since the 1880's. For some unknown reason Southport builders introduced this innovation fully ...
This morning's Independent on Sunday claims that a manual offering the top ten tips for new members of Government reads like something from The Thick of It. Absurd it maybe, but consultant speech is rarely funny. The advice that Ministers should start team-building on their first morning and that they should exert control over their own workload so as to manage stress and enable them to have time for creative thinking is just commonsense. As is the suggestion that they avoid the dangers of "private office anxiety syndrome", in which a minister suddenly becomes "heavily dependent on what can be ...
broadcast anniversaries 6 February 1965: broadcast of "Inferno", fourth episode of the story we now call The Romans, and nothing to do with the 1970 story of the same name. The Doctor accidentally sets fire to Nero's plans for Rome, and Nero decides to burn the city down. The time travelers are reunited, the Doctor and Vicki unaware of Ian and Barbara's adventures. 6 February 1971: broadcast of second episode of The Mind of Evil. The Doctor speaks Chinese, but the Chinese assistant attacks the American delegate to the peace conference. 6 February 2008: broadcast of Meat (Torchwood), the one ...
[IMG: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein] Robert A. Heinlein's
Multiculturalism like it or not is here to stay. Governments can't change the mind of those that already live in different cultures. As someone who has a baby from a mix of cultures and races I don't see multiculturalism as an issue. The real issue is living separate lives and lack of mixing. Having more people from a bicultural background incorporating British culture would improve our understanding of each other and breakdown our cultural barriers. Now please people just get on with it and don't concern yourselves with such terms like Multiculturalism all you need is respect and understanding.
I heard yesterday that Inspector Mick Couldridge will be moving on as the local Inspector covering Dunmow and Stansted. He says that when he arrived in Dunmow just over a year and a half ago, the quote I heard most often was "Welcome, but how long will you be staying? You'll be our fifth new Inspector in five years." His response was that I was "here to stay for as long as Essex Police would let me and for as long as I had your support to remain." The Neighbourhood Policing Inspector for Uttlesford will be Inspector Kevin Wakefield. My ...
Meeting with Hendfield Court Residents The management committee of Hendfield Court had written to Colin, Monica and myself with some concerns about the plans for one way access into Beddington Gardens included in the Wallington Integrated Transport Package. I had arranged to meet with them to discuss the proposals and their concerns. Although I had brought ...
A quick aide-memoire for those who are so loyal in Ulster that they can't quite remember the words of the National Anthem....
I originally discovered After The Ice thanks to a comments thread at Jennie's blog about the top 100 non-fiction books. As I'm trying to broaden my knowledge of history, it seemed like a good book to get hold of, as my knowledge of prehistory is pretty poor. Luckily for me, this is a very good book for filling that gap in knowledge – Mithen takes the reader all around the globe, looking at every continent except Antarctica from 20,000 to 5,000 BCE, exploring how human societies changed and developed throughout a period of dramatic climate change, and how the building ...
Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat Euro-MP for South East England, is the highest placed British person in the GFS Power 50 list of the most influential figures in global financial regulation. [IMG: Sharon Bowles] The list is voted on by readers of Global Financial Strategy, and Sharon Bowles came out twentieth due to her role as Chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. This committee of MEPs has an important role in debating and amending European-wide financial regulation, including new rules on bank capital and bankers' bonuses. Sharon Bowles came ahead of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (25), former ...
Milton Friedman once said that "we assume that Government is a way in which you put unselfish and ungreedy men in charge of selfish and greedy men, but government is an institution whereby the people who have the greatest drive to get power over their fellow men get into positions of controlling them". The best part of 3,000 years earlier, the psalmist, allegedly only a few generations out of slavery to Egyptian princes, was more direct: "Put not your trust in princes...in whom there is no help" (Psalm 146). And the story goes that God gave the insistent Israelites a ...
Before I leave Venus and Cupid I thought that I would show you a couple more photos. It is an ideal setting as there are so many angles that show you great backgrounds of Morecambe Bay. What would I do if I were able to make the decision about keeping this statue? Well the debate is not about living within our means. We just don't do that. The debate is about priorities. If you think about Morecambe and its attractions you may think of Eric's statue, the Stone Jetty and the Midland Hotel. I have told people to come over ...
Today is the fifty-ninth anniversary of the Accession of Our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth II. Today it was that the sad news was published everywhere that THE KING IS DEAD In the words of Pathé And so it was that on the sixth day of February in the year of our Lord one ...
