[IMG: Bruised thigh] I have been monitoring the progress of my thigh, bruised heavily in my Exciting Fall last Thursday. As you can see, it only needs a few more shades to function as a Dulux colour chart. The bruise covers pretty much the entire front width of my leg and is, unsurprisingly, still a bit tender. But I'm soldiering on. Like the two little boys in Two Little Boys, there's room on my horse for me. A virtually full room for Three Man Roast made for a nice gig. I went for a drink with Billy afterwards and had ...
There are two cafés in the huge Waterstone's on Piccadilly: a generic, slightly dingy Costa Coffee in the basement and the glorious 5th View on the 5th floor, with space, comfy chairs and a great view out over London that my photograph does no justice to at all: Remember also to take a good look at the lifts which are, as estate agents would say, full of period features as if taken from an Agatha Christie novel. You can see all my cafés with view in London here and also in my Foursquare list.
On Saturday 20th August, the WestFest Committee is running a fundraising event - WestFiesta - at the Vine at the bottom of Roseangle (43 Magdalen Yard Road - opposite the Roseangle car park). It will be an afternoon and early evening of fun and music! Its £10 for adults £5 for under 12s first drink and food free - and silly games, a bar - and a bit of sun hopefully. This replaces the BBQ cancelled due to wind damage earlier in the year. Tickets are available by contacting anne@impc.co.uk, Frasers Fruit and Veg shop on Perth Road or call ...
When all the bloggers secretly hope all their readers will vote for them in the polls and yet publicly declare that they dont want to win but would quite like to be nominated Now I KNOW I wont win ...
OK maybe thats a little bit harsh but you have to wonder about her authoritarian credentials when you read her latest batch of proposals to keep the proletariat in check and stop them from rioting again. I darn near choked on ...
That sums it up in a nutshell for me. I am so bored of hearing the Conservatives harping on about the 'poor in society' and the part they played in the riots. The simple fact is, they are completely and ...
It is rare I find agreement with Bob Crow, but today I concur, Commuters are absolutely disgusted with potential rises in fares. Even without digressing into the poor performance of train services (long delays, lateness and horrendous overcrowding), the reasons presented for allowing the rise are completely flawed. The increase in fares on trains is due to a change on Gov formula which sets regulated fares combined with inflation. Yet in spite of the steady zero percent growth, fares are set to increase between 8 and 13%. This will apparently reduce the subsidy paid by the tax payers, moving the ...
As if we needed more information that Cameron got the political knee-jerk reaction wrong, it is further evidenced in today's Evening Standard. Seeking to condone Cameron's tough on crime line, the paper extols that 20-25% of those arrested were members of gangs. Or, to be blunt, 1,263 people were simply opportunists in a couple of nights of gratuitous theft and have nothing to do with gangs whatsoever. How can a newspaper use such a low statistic as a good thing? The figure 75% should be beyond dispute as evidence the violence and looting had nothing whatsoever to do with gangs. ...
I don't know the author of this blog post entitled Stupidmarkets but she is from my old stomping ground and she does make an extremely valid point. Please read her blog post as it is well worth it but the short version is she was accused of shoplifting in front of 100s of people at her local Tesco Express dragged through to the back of the store where she was finally told that she stole some shampoo and put it in her bag. Only problem being she hadn't and they refused to show her the CCTV which they said proved ...
Not only that, but this post on Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project board suggests that one of the tracks will be called "Descent of the Stiperstones". Surely this is too good to be true?
Liberal Democrats spend a lot of their time procrastinating about things. We often dissect even the smallest part into minutae and we often take a very long time doing it. But is the end result waiting for when the procrastinating ...
My first stop on the Shropshire Hills Shuttle was the village of Stiperstones. I wanted to have a coffee at the Stiperstones Inn and to see how the primary school was getting on. As you can see from the photo above, it is convinced that its future is safe because it is entering a federation with the school at Chirbury. I do hope these celebrations do not prove premature.
Last week's riots in a few English towns require a political response. That political response should be considered, sober-minded and far-sighted. Unfortunately, as we have seen in recent days that response, especially from the Conservative Party, has been blinkered, populist and irresponsible. In place of a measured reaction from the Tories we have had the usual mixture of right-wing and foolishly populist suggestions, including turning Wembley Stadium into an open-air cell, cracking down on social media, removing benefits and council tenancies from those found guilty of certain (often unspecified) crimes, reintroducing National Service and effectively enforcing martial law. The Prime ...
I rather grandly announced that I was going to take a pause from blogging. The idea was to take stock of what I write and perhaps take another direction. Sadly, there was no chorus of disapproval or petition demanding I continue writing. But the Total Politics blog awards forced my return to the keyboard. I have though spent some time reflecting on what the blog is all about. It began with a simple intention: to discuss how politics is communicated. It evolved into a place that discussed how one might move to a more liberal society with the occasional post ...
Total Politics has begun collecting entries for its annual blog awards. You can nominate your ten favourite blogs, bloggers and one Tweeter by clicking on this link. I recently wrote that I was going to take a few weeks off from blogging but felt I should highlight the awards. Now that I have broken by blogging pause I might just continue.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) sometimes lies in its propaganda. It has that in common with many governing authorities, particularly those which have evolved in historical circumstances similar to those in which the PA has evolved. So, when the PA claims to be paying £8 million per annum to the families of convicted criminals including terrorists, I don't know whether to believe such a claim - if I don't believe some of the other things that the PA says, why should I believe this? Nevertheless, the PA is making such a claim, and some people are connecting it to the £86 ...
How attitudes change over the years, I recently stumbled across this document published by the Competition Commission, basically it is a small snippet from an report concerning the aquistion by Trinity Mirror of a regional newspaper group MIN (Midlands Independent Newspapers) and I suppose, is really ancient history in media terms, dating back as it does to 1997. Currently as I understand it, the Office of Fair Trade, are consdiering evidence and comments from interested parties as to the likely effect of Kent Messenger Group's takeover (click here for postings on this subject) and back in the nineties, things were ...
In a powerful piece for Liberal Democrat Voice, Ewan Hoyle argues that our flawed drug laws were at the heart of the riots: "What if the only affluent men with big cars and ostentatious 'bling' living in these communities are the ones who have made that money by exploiting the drugs market? While the rare footballing and musical successes might up sticks and leave, the all too common drug dealer remains to demonstrate to all the children in the area that they can achieve wealth and power. They don't need to work hard, train, or practise skills. They just need ...
I wrote a letter to the Halifax Courier and Hebden Bridge Times this week on the topic of the Picture House cinema. The letter essentially sets out my concerns about the current model of governance proposed by members of Hebden Royd Town Council's Picture House committee. Under the current proposed model of governance supported by the Labour group only Hebden Royd Town Councillors would have any say in how the cinema is run. Other groups such as Staff, the neighbouring parish councils and the friends of Hebden Bridge Picture House group would be allowed to attend decision making meetings about ...
Over the weekend, Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Simon Hughes, penned a piece for the Guardian's Comment Is Free site arguing that Britain needs to become a more equal place both in terms of the distribution of wealth and of opportunity. Here's a sample: We must now focus on the redistribution of wealth. But this will not succeed by means of greater hand-outs. Financial benefits must seek to engage people positively. The redistribution of hope and opportunity means the redistribution as well as the creation of work. Co-operative and mutual businesses and social enterprise should be prioritised. The private sector, like ...
News reaches me from Cowley Street that two Liberal Democrat MPs have been appointed as parliamentry private secretaries. Duncan Hames (Chippenham) has been appointed PPS to the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne. And Simon Wright (Norwich South) has been appointed PPS to the Children and Families Minister, Sarah Teather. Congratulations to both.
You know when you're fighting computers to do what you want? You're staring at the admin interface of your website in your browser, trying to work out why what you're putting into your terminal window isn't having any effect at all. And then you look at your terminal window again, and realise that the path isn't what you're expecting, and it turns out you've spent half an hour editing one website, whilst expecting the changes to appear on a different one. And you know that feeling of complete, utter stupidity that comes right after that moment of realisation? Yeah, that. ...
Today DPM Nick Clegg went on the offensive against the rioters in order to build some resemblance of public confidence in the measures being deployed by the Government and their trust in the liberal democratic rhetoric that I believe is much needed at a time like this. Nick might be on to something, but I seriously doubt it! The announcement of a series of Probation Trust Payback Schemes should be welcomed as forcing all the rioters into prison will only give them the education they never received in the first place, however, this would be a higher education of crime ...
The crumbling hump on Breakspear Avenue The worst bit of Breakspear Avenue is clearly the hump at the bottom which has never been set right. Some temporary repairs have been done but this has hardly cured the problem. They have agreed: - to make this road the top priority for partial or total resurfacing next financial year (beginning 1 April 2012, I'm afraid) - to relay the pavement on Grimston Road in the same year. This is heavily used by people walking to and from the station.
Nadine Dorries has written an article on Conservative Home defending the idea of switching off social media during disturbances. There is plenty of comment out there in blog land regarding the rights and wrongs of this so I won't repeat what's already been said but this comment did catch my eye. Social media is used for good and evil. To compare the intention of a democratically elected, heavily scrutinised Government, to restrict social media use during a public disorder in this country, with the autocratic, secretive regimes of others such as Iran and China, is simply not a sustainable argument. ...
Dave has not had a good week. At this moment of crisis for the country I feel he has come up rather short. His handling of the crisis from the start has been far from sure footed. This started with his initially slow reaction from holiday, through responses which seem a little knee jerk and have ended in an unconvincing tone not quite connecting with the people. There has been no 'People's Princess' moment or set-piece like 'Thatch' the Leaderine, scarves flowing in a tank like a latter day Boudicca. Even Gordon Brown - brilliant yet dysfunctional - had something ...
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I think it was around 2006 that David Cameron first referred to himself as a 'liberal Conservative'. Three years later, he penned an article highlighting the commonality of purpose between Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, especially on civil liberties. And he's repeated the 'liberal Conservative' line ever since. For many the term was always an oxymoron but the English riots (Alex Salmond's smugness was right in this instance) must go some way to mark the death of liberal Conservatism. Cameron appears to have reverted to type with his list of ...
The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power. Franklin D Roosevelt Anyone interested in ...
[IMG: Cintra avenue trees 2] We have received notice that the following trees in Redlands could be felled in the coming weeks: Deodar Cedar Cintra Avenue on green opposite 3 Deodar Cedar Cintra Avenue on green opposite 1 Tilia sp. Cintra Avenue Front of 22 Myrobalan Plum Christchurch Road Front of 40 The reason for this is becuase they are either dead, sick or could pose a danger to the public if they fall. Although we understand entirely the reasons for these trees to potentially be felled losing these trees will be a huge loss to the local street scene and we are campaigning for them to be replaced as soon ...
[IMG: Clegg Q and A 25] [IMG: Creative Commons License] photo credit: Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg this morning announced a raft of very sensible measures concerning last week's riots: A "grass roots" independent inquiry itno the causes of the riots A "riot payback" scheme to make looters/arsonists face their victims Support for ex-offenders to find jobs There is some really good stuff in here, as reported by the Guardian: The community payback schemes, which see offenders carry out a period of service for their victims, will mean looters will do community service in riot-hit neighbourhoods. They will wear orange suits ...
I didn't really get in with this, and almost gave up after the first third: most of the characters too unpleasant and unengaging, too many cultural references that simply sailed past me. I stuck with it in the end, and appreciated as ever Powers' dense description and evocative spookiness, but didn't really feel I grasped what it had all been about or why it mattered at the end.
Last week during 'Newsnight' former editor of 'The Sun' Kelvin Mackenzie [ so we know what his views are don't we !!] rounded on a fellow panellist with the words " There is nothing to understand about this. They are thieves by any name and you can get thieves in any part of society". Well he got the last bit of that comment right. The trouble is that it is primarily only the thieves at the bottom that get caught & punished. Those at the top get rewarded. The Financial Times [not renowned for being left wing] had a fabulous ...
Tue 16th
16:04
August Books 13) A Reader's Companion to A Civil Campaign, edited by Nikohl K. and John Lenna
This is an absolute must-have for any fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books, which reach their dramatic climax in her 1999 novel, A Civil Campaign. The editors examine the novel's debt to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer and the works of Shakespeare as well as various other sources; they then give a set of page-by-page annotations to explain references and in-jokes as they come up, and finally a long long list of further reading (which I was gratified to discover includes ...
Collected links from around the webChina plans massive international high speed rail network, could go from Singapore to London How cool would this be? That China also expects international travel to be more and more common is indicative of movement in certain other areas as well. Would be great if it can happen, suspect logistics are going to be a headache though. (tags: transport china railways) Apple's Profit Share Among Top Mobile Phone Vendors Rises to 66% - iPhone clearly overpriced? Look at that change in fortunes-Nokia once taking a massive slice of smartphone sales profits, now making a loss ...
Today I have been deciding who to vote for in the Electoral Reform Society's ballot for it's governing council. I've been a member of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) for several years now, but a very inactive one. My main involvement has been to pay my subs each year and vote in the council elections. It was actually that ability to vote in those elections that was one of the main motivations behind why I joined. At the time ERS was going through a bit of a crisis. To put it crudely the Society had become factionalised between a group ...
Southport Flower Show Image Gallery and 2011 Webcams For all those unlucky folk who cannot come to Southport Flower Show follow the link
A short classic French novel, whose central character isn't so much Goriot as Eugène de Rastignac, who shares a Paris boarding-house with Goriot and falls in love with one of his daughters. The Goriot daughters have some nasty emotional manipulation going on with their father and their ennobled husbands, and Eugène is way out of his depth. One of his other fellow tenants is a master criminal in disguise, who makes Eugène the original offer that he cannot refuse, a line directly borrowed by The Godfather. (NB however that Eugène actually does refuse the offer.) I found the translation a ...
I've just got home from the ceremony for the re-opening of the Cabot Tower, one of Bristol's most famous landmarks. Even in the warm August drizzle, the view from the top was spectacular. I'm often asked what is the best thing about Bristol? I always mention the views, an advantage of our hilly city. And ...
Tue 16th
13:23
My mind has just well and truly been blown - 14 year old girls arriving at court with no parents
This just blows my mind. As the father of a 14 year old girl, I simply would not dream of letting her go to court on her own. It is just unbelievable.
Social Liberal Forum held its AGM on Saturday 13th August in Birmingham. You can download the following documents in pdf format: AGM Minutes 13th August 2011 Accounts 2011
As if we needed further proof that we are still in the silly season, this morning's Western Mail leads on claims by the Welsh First Minister, that Conservative-Liberal Democrat polices are a threat to both safety and employment in Wales. The fact that Labour don't have an alternative other than the sort of reckless behaviour they indulged in between 2000 and 2010 that got us into this mess in the first place is glaring. Their refrain that cuts are too deep and too fast do not stand up to scrutiny when compared the Alistair Darling's plans, which were very similar. ...
Sergio Aguero, who scored two goals for Mancehester City against Swansea last night cost the club £38 million. That is more than the cost of building the Liberty Stadium.
So, the cat seems to be out of the bag. The SNP, after months of dithering, have opted for the utterly disastrous option of a national Scottish police force. Far be it from me to suggest that the reason for the dithering was because nobody north of the central belt thinks this is a good idea so it was politic to keep their manifesto as detail free as possible so as not to put people off. And then they are projecting £1.6 billion savings in the Police in 4 years' time. Like....how? The Party has been touting its support for ...
GDP does a funny thing to the minds of economists. It represents the total value of goods and services produced in an economy over the course of a year, and in doing so says little about the actual content of an economy. The old example is a train crash and the resultant clean-up; the money ...
Tue 16th
11:55
Opinion: UK riots - the mystery of the David Willetts' rule of post-war baby boom peaks
We've seen and heard from dozens of pundits wheeled out over the last week to explain the riots we saw on the streets of some of England's cities last week. But here's an unasked question: did a Coalition minister unwittingly predict these riots with amazing precision, and in doing so offer up an explanation that has not as yet been suggested by any of the experts on our TV screens? I am currently reading The Pinch, a book by universities minister and Conservative MP for Havant, David Willetts. It was published in hardback last year, and in paperback this year. ...
Yesterday I reported with breathless excitement the news that legal sanity has reached the shores of Shropshire, whose county council no longer demands that people receive written permission before linking to their site. Today, another victory courtesy of Ipsos MORI. They regularly provide useful information on their site and chances are you have seen myself and other political bloggers often link to the results of polls on it. I've even found people such as Roger there very helpful when I have been in need of help locating information on their site. But... Someone, some time in the past was let ...
Former Liberal leader and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament David Steel has sensationally quit his role as an independent advisor to the Scottish Government on the Ministerial Code, citing Alex Salmond's and Kenny MacAskill's "appalling" criticisms of the Supreme Court. For those of you south of the border who may not have heard about this, in recent months, the Supreme Court has ruled that two convictions should be quashed on human rights grounds. Alex Salmond, Scottish First Minister and Kenny MacAskill the Justice Secretary have shouted long and hard about how the Supreme Court shouldn't be interfering in the ...
Proving that I am not just a moaning minnie when it comes to our Beloved Leader, the speech today was good. He said a lot of good stuff, including damning Ed Milispoons for his desperate gambit in calling for an inquiry of judges to harrumph for a year before publishing a 900 page report which no one will read. Instead the government proposal involves people affected by the rioting, which sounds like a great plan. He also made clear than those convicted will be made to repair damage in the communities they attacked and that prisoners will be 'met at ...
It has been brought to our attention that some drivers are parking inconsiderately in parts of Hexham estate which is causing a real nuisance for residents. One wrote to us and said: '[problems] include on Hexham Road parking all over the pavement which means people cannot get through especially at weekends, at nights and early mornings.' We have also had reports of up to 6 cars parking 'at all angles' on Hexham Road. Problems like this can create local tensions so it is important that they are tackled before they become serious problems. I brought this problem to the attention of the local Neighbourhood Officer Ashley Blackwood last week who ...
Interestingly, Southwold appears to have suffered from an overnight rain of ladybirds. They're everywhere. I wonder if it is in any way related to the presence of a bloody great nuclear power station down the coast...
We took advantage of the decent weather yesterday to take a trip up to County Tyrone, to see three ancient mystical sites. Ardboe The first of these is the ruined abbey and High Cross at Ardboe, on the shores of Lough Neagh: It was actually a strategic mistake to come here at noon; the cross is in an awkward place to photograph and it's rather difficult to capture properly. I think if one came in the evening the light from the west would be kinder both to the cross and to Lough Neagh, which is never going to win a ...
The Council's Transport Department has launched the initial stages of its consultation around the proposed University-Hospital area traffic study that I have blogged and written to residents extensively about. From the Council's website: 'Reading Borough Council wants to work with residents to improve transport throughout Reading in line with the strategy set out in its Local Transport Plan. Our vision is to improve the local environment and provide better connections to the places people want to go easily, swiftly, sustainably and in comfort. The aim is to prioritise residents and deliver wider benefits to the health, education and economy of ...
My latest post on the riots has been published on Lib Dem Voices this morning. You can read the full article here. It's my second posting on Lib Dem Voices, here's my little space on their website. Thanks for reading.
Well, the Tories seemed to be doing OK on equality. At least, they hadn't managed to completely screw anything up so far this parliament. (Or if they did, then LibDem ministers stopped them – but it is annoying that even the party faithful do not really know what battles are being fought in the corridors of power) Enter Mr. Cameron, stage right. Far right. Yesterday's speech on the riots (Conservative Home link – there be Tories here!) seems calculated to annoy minorities. And women. These riots were not about race: the perpetrators and the victims were white, black and Asian. ...
Stockport residents are already doing much better than the rest of Greater Manchester on recycling – and saving millions of pounds in the process. But there are areas we can do better still – making sure we properly compost food and recycle juice cartons and aluminium foil. Although we in Stockport composted 13,400 tonnes of food, there was 5,500 tonnes that still ended up in black bins, going to landfill. Remember that you can put all food – meat and veg, cooked and raw – into your green bin that's emptied weekly. Remember that juice cartons go in your blue ...
Our society really is big. And it suffers from no lack of definition. It's a big society. It's a broken society. It's a big and broken society. The big society needs to save our broken society. There is such a thing as society, but it's not the same as the state. And once, there was no such thing as society at all. There's as good a choice of societies as you'd find at a student freshers' fair. Cameron's election campaign was fought on his two favourite societies – the big one and the broken one. The big one bombed on ...
Lest we forget...Cameron has been in a spot of trouble before over inappropriate language talking about Twitter. Ironically - when making the point that politicians have to think about what they say. Do enjoy the film - and then think about signing the petition against state restrictions on using Twitter. Thanks
Aldwych Station Tour I found this entire website utterly fascinating, but this bit is the coolest. (tags: technology london) All the Robins. All of them. I keep giggling and thinking DRAW ALL THE ROBINS!!! in a CLEAN ALL THE THIINGS!!! type way. (tags: comics) "Too many protest singers, not enough protest songs" Why there isn't as much political music these days. (tags: music) Intro to ST: Voyager — The Hathor Legacy OMG YAY for new Voyager fans! (tags: startrek) Open letter to Cameron on justice QFT (tags: government) BBC Nature - Homosexual zebra finches form long-term bond Why is this ...
Seven years ago, give or take a day or so, two adults trying desperately to hide their anxiety and one slightly shy 5 year old showed up at a Livingston primary school. She may have been wary that first day but she soon learned that this was a safe, fun and stimulating place to be. I could not be happier with how the fabulous staff at the school encouraged her and gave her confidence right from the start. Today, the same two adults have just dropped their daughter off at secondary school. Only slightly nervous, because we're sure she'll love ...
Clegg has listened to the knee-jerks, and just the jerks in the political sphere spouting rubbish and he has put forward a much more suitable solution to the thugs and/or disaffected youth depending on your side of the political line. His speech today, reported in the I paper, will provide tangiable 'Community Payback Orders' which focus on not, as Boris would like, locking every so-called ruffian up in Pupil Referal Units, but instead a branch out of a life of gratuitous criminality and the blurred edges of society that have caused Cameron to refer to rioters as having a 'neutral ...
TweetWe all know that the Labour Government was never to keen on that pesky idea of Civil Liberties. It got in the way of their tub thumping tough on crime populist rhetoric. Never mind what the consequences might be, as long as they could seen to be locking up everyone, sod due process and the role of government. One of the biggest supporters of this strategy was former Home Secretary Charles Clarke. You'd think in 2011, he might have changed his mind just a little. He hasn't he's still sneering in the most condescending way. Clarke today wrote in the ...
I did a degree in geography because (as I said once in a job interview, perhaps unwisely) it meant I could study pretty much whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, which rather suited my butterfly mind. Economics, politics, biology, urban movement, history, even historical literature - as long as you could find a spatial element to it, it was geography. I was reminded of this yesterday when I read Ed Rooksby's piece in The Guardian, 'what does it mean to be a liberal?' It's a good summary of both the history of liberalism and the catholic groups and individuals who ...
I've been down in Manchester over the weekend, staying with friends in their city centre flat. I've been thinking a lot about the riots this week - hard not to when its been all over the news and I can see the consequences out of my friends' windows. I can dimly remember the Brixton and Toxteth riots in the 1980s. This doesn't feel like that at all. That was such a huge outpouring of rage over years of injustice. This feels much more like consumerism gone mad. It has challenged my pre-conceptions over who riots too. I guess I tend ...
The advantage of having been around when dinosaurs roamed the Earth is that a 50% rate band isn't that exciting. I am old enough to have assessed people using six different rate bands at once - the then basic rate plus 40%, 45%, 50%, 55% and 60%. And in those days, only fifteen or so years ago, I would calculate your tax bill on the basis of the information you gave me - none of this self assessment nonsense. Indeed, there were still amendments being issued where tax was chargeable at the now unthinkable rate of 83%, and my more ...
Thanks to Gavin Hamilton from The View from the Hills for adding me to his blog roll, always really appreciated.
The Huffington Post has a fairly simple business model: use liberal and/or left wing causes as a demographic marketing exercise, then make enough money from adverts to sell yourself to a corporation (in their case media giant AOL). It works well, because like any demographic we lefty liberals love being pandered to. Articles come from re-writing other people's work to within an amoeba's waistline of copyright infringement, providing a platform for self-promoters, and delivering a hefty dose of celebrity tabloid titillation. The approach is good business: all the advantages of digital media with little of that inconvenient, time-consuming "producing content" ...
We are still trying to trace two people in connection with the disorder in Cambridge on Tuesday (August 9) and would ask you to view two CCTV images we have released. Officers were called to reports of between 30 and 40 youths, some wearing face coverings, hanging around Midsummer Common at 11.35pm. The group made their way towards the Grafton Centre and some threw items, including rubbish, at officers. Two officers suffered minor injuries. The images can be found at the bottom of this email (web link). We are keen to hear from anyone who recognises these people. I would ...
It's a funny old world - but at times, a very pleasant one. Yesterday, I had the good fortune to be able to meet up with my Ysgol Dyffryn Taf 6th Form Class Teacher Pauline Brind, who I haven't seen in that whole 11 year gap since A-Level results day back in August 2000. We met up for a cup of tea and a snack in Cardigan's Pendre Art and caught up on old times! Catching up with my 6th Form Teacher Pauline Brind 11 years after leaving school! She wasn't only my form tutor for the entirety of those ...
We are still trying to trace two people in connection with the disorder in Cambridge on Tuesday (August 9) and would ask you to view two CCTV images we have released. Officers were called to reports of between 30 and 40 youths, some wearing face coverings, hanging around Midsummer Common at 11.35pm. The group made their way towards the Grafton Centre and some threw items, including rubbish, at officers. Two officers suffered minor injuries. The images can be found at the bottom of this email (web link). We are keen to hear from anyone who recognises these people. I would ...
Talking to Liberal Democrats in Whitehall about Cameron's misguided talk of social media bans during riots, the reactions range from the bluntly oppositional to the intriguing repeated suggestion that Cameron himself misspoke and didn't really mean to suggest anything more than looking at how the police can best use existing laws. So far, so good. The one caveat to watch out for is that in other areas Conservative ministers such as Ed Vaizey have shown a strong liking for self-regulation by industry. Applied to social media and riots, this could see attempts to encourage the industry to agree sweeping procedures ...
I was away in the USA when my neighbourhood got trashed. The road I live in was under siege, the shops I shop in were looted (and in at least two cases totally destroyed) and the bar I drink in saved only by the locals standing outside with the ubiquitous baseball bats. It was odd to be so far away looking at the TV pictures... Listening to reports of mob riots, looting, arson, murder ...happening in places I know – not some far off place that I have never visited. I was wondering what on earth I might return to, ...
Land between Blundell Lane and Three Pools must be kept as GreenBelt, insist local Lib Dem councillors Nigel Ashton, John Dodd and DavidRimmer. Sefton Council's Green Belt survey has identified the land,which is near Bankfield Lane in Meols Ward, as potentially suitable for housingdevelopment. The three Lib Dem councillors for Meols have put forward apowerful submission to Sefton explaining in detail why the land is unsuitablefor housing and must be retained as Green Belt. Flood risk - the area is in a flood zone. Sefton's own floodrisk prevention strategy warns against inappropriate development. Climatechange will make things worse. Agriculture - ...
The next leg of our trip took us to Santa Fe for two days of our five day stay in New Mexico, our first ever visit to the state so it was good to have the chance to explore some new ground. Not knowing much about Santa Fe we were very pleasantly surprised to discover such a gem of a town with so much to offer and so easy to find your way around. The place is simply overflowing with culture at every corner and Canyon Road is simply amazing, as gallery after gallery fight for your attention - and ...
