I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those who attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in Southern Cemetery on Friday, 11th November. The ceremony was the first to be held at the cemetery's war memorial for many years and attracted a wide variety of people, from veterans to school children. Political differences were put aside as MP John Leech was joined by Cllr Mike Amesbury, Manchester Council's Executive member for Culture and Leisure and local Councillor's, to commemorate the 1,300 war dead laid to rest in the cemetery. The ceremony, organised by the Friends of ...
We've gone from three dwellings to three in five weeks. That's quite an undertaking for anyone, but when you consider ...Continue reading »
A look at today's modern high-rise offices from 1963.
[IMG: The new Veolia depot in Stationers Park] The Friends of Stationers Park have organised a public meeting with the Council's new bin contractor Veolia, to discuss the ugly fenced depot they have been allowed to build in the middle of Stationers Park. The meeting will be this Tuesday evening (15th) at 7.30pm in the Hornsey Vale Community Centre on Mayfield Road and is open to all members of the public. The Friends have listed four concerns they want to present to Veolia: erecting an imposing and aggressive fence in our green space to protect their litter trolleys. the fact ...
The big political chat of this week has to be the Italy debt crisis; to be honest not many folk could really claim to be shocked. Silvio ran a debt ridden country whilst floating about like arrogant womaniser. The "smile incident" between Sarkozy and Merkel from a couple of weeks ago highlights just how well regarded the man was in the rest of Europe. The problem is that Silvio has created a bubble that is too big to burst, and the markets know that just as much as the French and German governments. Italys problem with Berlusconi has really been ...
All is well, with exception of some wet weather and the bad cough that I've picked up from my resident survey drops. I've spent today mulling through responses and typing up replies, my fingers are sore with the bashing of the keyboard and I've achieved a paper cut, which led to me having to reprint a couple of letters. P.S if you get a response with my name not being in bold then you will be happy to know that your initial copy was replaced with a reprint. I found myself double booked on Wednesday evening just passed and had ...
Alex's Archives now has an associated Facebook page. If you prefer to keep up with posts through FB, rather than through subscribing to the blog directly, we're good to go. So give us a Like. Go on, you know it makes sense [IMG: :-)]
In tomorrow's Guardian Vic Marks will pay tribute to his former Somerset teammate Peter Roebuck who committed suicide yesterday: Peter Roebuck's suicide in Cape Town was a terrible shock. Of course it was. But it was not a complete shock. One of the most gifted writers about the game was a complex man with a brilliant mind. He was also far more troubled and insecure than he liked to let on. He would bare his soul on anything to do with cricket - or politics - fearlessly, with wit and brutal honesty and often at great length. About himself he ...
A fifth day in the company of Rutland's most famous peer. Friday Though they are too independent to be much use on the hunting field, I have a soft spot for cats - I recall giving a scientist fellow called Schrodinger the bum's rush after he tried carrying out an experiment on the stables tabby. Because of this, I have long been a donor to the Battersea Cats Home (a sort of Home for Well-Behaved Orphans of the feline world) and was delighted to see one of our alumni, Larry, employed as Official Mouser at 10 Downing Street. "Cor lumme!" ...
Trudy McLeay, myself and Ronnie this afternoon For the past 15 years, Ronnie Clark has been postman in Hazel Drive, Glamis Terrace, Glamis Drive, Dunmore Drive and surrounding areas. Ronnie's been a super, efficient and caring postman - a real part of the community. Ronnie would get the mail delivered rain, shine or snow and would keep an eye out to see that older residents were doing ok in the winter months. This afternoon, I was delighted to be invited to a large gathering of local residents at a party in honour of Ronnie, to thank him for his many ...
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 247th 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 (6-12 November, 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. My dear wife ...
There had been a lot of outrage from Tories about what a wreath of remembrance apparently laid by a Lib Dem with the logo of the party in the middle. Earlier when this outrage started I did a quick google search and screen grab. As you can see it was from the website of Mark Garnier Conservative MP for Wyre Valley. If you look in the middle of his wreath you can make out a logo. Here is the close up. The picture also included John Holden the Conservative Mayor of Kidderminster Council and his fellow Mitton Ward Conservative Councillor ...
This blog will be contentious especially as it is written on Remembrance Sunday. What does the poppy signify? Well it is a memorial of war made famous by the poem In Flanders' Fields. The response to this poem was another poem called "We shall keep the faith". Ypres, and battles in general, are places for heroes where valour is shown and where the dead are honoured. Unfortunately history is littered with dishonourable acts of war, some of them caused by disobeying orders, some by obeying them, and some accepted by authorities until they were discovered - and that just accounts ...
This morning at mass I experienced a remarkable example of how a well-known story can change its meaning when its historical context changes. This week's Gospel was Matthew 25.13-30, the story of the talents. Here it is in full: 13 "Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour. 14 For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 ...
Just a reminder to anyone going to Thought Bubble next weekend that the Mindless Ones will have a stall there, where you will be able to buy my books Sci-Ence! Justice Leak! and An Incomprehensible Condition and get them scribbled in if you want. Dan White will be selling his great comics, and David Allison ...
This is a project I developed for OTA11 – but didn't feel confident showing it off. Not least because I was one of the competition judges! Preamble Many people download BitTorrent files. There are no BitTorrent search engines which are mobile friendly. Users have to try to navigate non-mobile-optimised websites. This is slow, inefficient, and may cost the user money in bandwidth charges. People who run Bit Torrent sites are often sued. The Problem BitTorrent search engines have a nasty habit of being sued (not something I want to happen to me!) Lawsuits arrive based, usually, on one of the ...
It was a great honour to stand among the many who thronged Newbury's Market Place this morning for the Remembrance Day service. This was the first time the service has been held in the Market Place. As a result, the whole thing no longer had the cramped "jambed into a corner" feel that the service always had around the cenotaph. For once, most people had a reasonable view of what was going on. Standing there, looking around, I had the thought that this is perhaps the one time of the year when, to a large extent, the community of Newbury ...
The location inevitably influences the content and atmosphere of any international professional or political gathering and such was certainly true over this long weekend at the 2011 Congress of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) in Bucharest. The affiliated local organisation is the Romanian Association of Independent Journalists (who hosted us delightfully) and the significance of ...
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November Books 14) Doctor Who: The Prison In Space, by Dick Sharples (ed. Richard Bignell)
This is a beautifully produced edition of one of the most notorious lost Doctor Who stories, a Second Doctor adventure scheduled for Season 6, which had reached the point of casting and costume design before the production team pulled the plug on it. There are a number of other known lost stories out there, many produced by Big Finish in the last couple of years, but I think only two other published scripts, both from the very first season - Anthony Coburn's "The Masters of Luxor" (a rather dull robot tale) and Moris Farhi's "Farewell, Great Macedon", about the death ...
Today's Sunday Times [£] has an interview with Nick Clegg in which he talks for the first time about his mother's time in an internment camp during World War II. As a child, when Nick Clegg heard his mother talk quietly about her time in "the camp", it conjured up happy images in his mind of a Butlins-style summer vacation. The truth was very different, as he would later find out — a discovery that brought home to him the grim reality of war, he reveals in his first interview about his mother's wartime experiences. "My mother Hermance, her two ...
A few Tuesday's ago I was lucky enough to be off work sick and able to lay wrapped in a duvet watching Deputy Prime Minister's Question Time and see two of my favourite politicians speak, and on a matter that could be quite decisive. Tim Farron asked Nick Clegg about the possibility of lowering the threshold of voters down to 16 years old.He said in words to this affect; "When can youths who can get married, have children, pay taxes and even serve in the military be rewarded with the ability to vote?" Nick responded by answering that the Commission ...
In the absence of law and order, human life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" according to Thomas Hobbes. We would then live in the 'state of nature' with unlimited freedoms and unlimited chaos. To avoid this, civil society has subjected some of its rights to a sovereign, through what Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau call a 'social contract'. The idea of subjecting part of our freedoms in return for security and welfare has been developed in late 17th and early 18th century and has served as a basis for creation of current political ideology. Centuries passed and political ...
In Memory of David Barnsdale On Friday 11th November, Armistice Day, a Memorial Service took place in Tring's St Peter and St Paul Parish Church at which military standards were dedicated and Cpl David Barnsdale was especially remembered. David came from Tring and lost his life just over a year ago to a roadside bomb near Ghereshk in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Today a large congregation again filled the St Peter and St Paul Church for a special Morning Service, followed by the usual Remembrance Day ceremony at the War Memorial by the High Street outside. Many present knew David Barnsdale ...
After my mildly caustic comments about Barnet Liberal Democrats' Quiz Supper, the whole thing was a great success. Two colleagues arrived to find a hall filled with joyful people tucking into the caviar canapes before the main course of venison, all washed down by the finest wines in all of christendom. Then (seriously) they realised that they'd gone to last year's venue, in Mill Hill, and were at another local body's quiz supper. They realised their error in time to join us in Whetstone for the fish and chips and questions including: In the British Cabinet, who is the Secretary ...
We normally try to steer clear of political claims and counter-claims on this blog, but we feel, after being contacted by several residents, that in this case we have no option to correct claims the Conservatives are making. The Conservatives have made a claim in their latest leaflet that's so misleading – and worrying for people – that we've decided that we do need to let people know the facts. The Conservative leaflet says: You may be interested to note that 7 "travellers' sites" have been proposed for our immediate Ward and neighbouring areas: * 2 in Cheadle & Gatley ...
One of the sillier things that people like me sometimes say is: "Why can't people bang on as much about other conflicts as they do about Israel/Palestine?" It is silly because I myself often bang on about Israel/Palestine, so I can't blame others for also doing so. However, I can't help saying what I'm now about to say. When Israel and Hamas fought their Gaza War in 2008/9, the world and its media treated it as the number-one crisis of the day, with saturation news coverage, student sit-ins and emergency motions in support of the Palestinians. Now I look at ...
Maria Pretzler has an excellent blogpost on Welsh Labour proposal to replace the Assembly's semi-proportional voting system with first-past-the-post. As she points out, the effect of this would be to create a permanent Labour majority in Cardiff Bay. This is how she believes it would impact on Labour in Wales: ■ May 2011 (AMS): 42% of the vote, 50% of the seats (30 of 60) ■ Estimate for double FPTP in May 2011: 42% of the vote, 68% of the seats (41 of 60) Under the new system, the 55% voting for the other three parties in the assembly would ...
South Gloucestershire Council took down the web page we advised you to check for updates on when more bags for cardboard recycling would be available. We're now told that you can ring 01454 868000 and ask for a bag to be delivered to your home.
I was lucky enough to see Brian Paddick yesterday afternoon in central London. He is a busy man. He fitted in a meeting early in the afternoon and had three others that day! As the Liberal Democrat Mayoral Candidate he is showing that the role of Mayor is one you need to work at. He has been around to so many places already to ask Londoners what they want from a Mayor. On Thursday Brian Paddick visited the threatened Earl's Court Exhibition Centre with Councillor Linda Wade and other campaigners, followed by the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates, the ...
Janis Ian is touring Britain at the moment and is getting good reviews - this from the Edinburgh Evening News: extraordinary that Janis Ian still sounds as remarkable today as she did back in the late 60s and early 70s.From the outset Ian has the audience captivated and they hang on her every word. Renowned as one of the great American songwriters, it would be an injustice not to add "storyteller" to that title. Almost every song of the evening is accompanied by an anecdote told with such heartfelt emotion, you might have been right there with her when it ...
There has been much talk about the demise of the great British pub. People up and down the country are now sadly used to seeing boarded up pubs, many with rather optimistic to let boards outside. There are many reasons given for the closure of pubs, but a closer look at the names on the To Let boards, often written in small writing, reveals the most fundamental. The names Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns, the two largest pub-owning companies in the land, with around 12,000 pubs between them, are finding it harder and harder to find people to take their ...
This is the last of my posts commemorating Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. I wanted to shift focus from remembrance to the practical action which the Poppy Appeals facilitate. To that end, I have chosen three videos and I make no apologies for the quantity or length of these. The first is a fantastic poppyscotland video in which various veterans share their experiences and impressions of military life and facing action: Next, a young man who was given practical help and advise through the Royal British Legion: And finally, another poppyscotland video which also features a young man who needed ...
This morning's Independent reports that, following the decision by the UK Government, David Cameron today faces a revolt of business leaders, councils, environment campaigners and unions furious at his decision to cut funding for household solar energy, severely undermining his claim that the coalition would be the "greenest government ever". The 55 individuals and groups warns that the Government will "strangle at birth" Britain's booming solar panel industry, threatening 25,000 jobs by halving the state subsidy for the popular "feed-in tariff" scheme: The feed-in tariff scheme is one of the most popular environmental measures introduced by any government. It has ...
Why are Liberals, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Socialists, Plaid Cymru, and non-party supporters funding the Labour Party? "In 2008, an overall financial contribution of £646,000 (2007: £646,103) was made to The Co operative Party". The Co-operative Group website. Every non-Labour supporter should read this. My friend Keith Turner told me a couple of years ago that he didn't bank with the Co-operative Bank because they funded the Co-operative Party. I had seen nothing about this and thought it unlikely given that our party have had an affinity deal with the Co-operative Bank for years. I was upping my holdings in the ...
Blue Badges for people with mobility problems are to be reissued through a national scheme, with new designs and added security features. The scheme is designed to look after disabled people whilst getting rid of the half a million badges that the National Fraud Office estimates are misused every year. Despite the national issuing service, councils will still decide whether a person is eligible for a badge and will be responsible for enforcing the scheme. The maximum charge allowed for issuing a badge will be £10, though the actual charge will be decided locally. For further information about the Blue ...
On Thursday I posted a news clip on Liberal Democrat Voice about Circle partnership's takeover of Hinchingbroke hospital. There have now been 42 comments beneath the post. They are worth reading. They represent an informed and impassioned debate about this significant development. The article and the comments are here. Image credit: Some rights reserved by tuc.org.uk [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Earlier this month, I advised that Scottish Water had promised to undertake necessary pavement repairs in City Road, opposite Milnbank Gardens. I am pleased to advise that work did indeed commence last week as the photo below indicates. Hopefully the road will be reopened and the footpath back in good condition very soon.
Top court overrules German rules for European elections 5% threshold struck down. From @LWvdLaan. (tags: elections germany eu ) How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests Great piece. (tags: economy usa ) Documentary focus on unique deviant burial find Irish vampires! (tags: archaeology ) Saving Fitzbillies A Cambridge landmark resurrected. (tags: cambridge ) The memory of sexist abuse online "if you're not paying, you're not the customer, you're the product." (tags: sexandgenderandsexuality internet ) Alan Turing, by Alan Garner "He killed himself when an ignorant and uncouth judge gave him the choice of a prison sentence ...
Superb 80s hit from Stevie Wonder ...
Just when you thought that the madness could not go any further – it does. Sitting down with a much-needed glass of wine last night to catch up on fellow bloggers activities elsewhere, I casually click over to see what Dick Puddlecote has to say about the world.... WTF? He tells me that far from the planned plain-packaging ban on all tobacco products being the "pièce de résistance" on the anti-smoking groups activities – they have much more in mind... RATIONING Yep – that's right... rationing. Some anti-smoking nutter (I am sorry but I can find no other word for ...
Later yesterday - after a drive up to Aberdeen's rather impressive Cults Academy campus - I had the pleasure of speaking at the North East Scotland Liberal Democrat Regional Conference. It was a well-attended event and party leader Willie Rennie was on top form, speaking about defending Scotland's colleges from SNP cuts, against police centralisation and the need to support affordable housing. Above : Willie Rennie addresses the event Above : I address the conferenceAbove : Beautiful morning in Aberdeenshire, on the way up to the conference
Welsh Labour has finally made a decision about its response to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries which will be introduced for 2015 (BBC report). They consider these changes unfair, which is hardly surprising. As a response - who'd have thought it - they are proposing to make our electoral system less proportional. No – don't click away now! This matters! Because the best response to a perceived unfairness is, quite obviously, an effort to introduce even more unfairness. But let's start from the beginning. The boundary reforms decided by the Coalition in Westminster are supposed to do two things: ...
(Click the tag to see parts one and two of Watson's tale) I shall relate the story Miss Travers told me in, as far as I can, her own words. "I do not know where to begin when recounting my tale, or what details may be important to a more analytical mind than mine, so ...
