Christmas Eve was always a sad day for Glynis. It is her late mother's birthday and she would get quite upset at times. Glynis always insisted on having all the shopping and present distribution done in the days before so she could spend Christmas Eve preparing food and getting ready for Christmas Day. Today has been especially hard for me as the smells of Christmas Eve, all the baking and the turkey and the gammon cooking were not there for the first time in 32 years. But all our children and grandchildren have been here today and we are all ...
Chris and the team would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
So thousands on the streets in Moscow... of course the health of a ninety year old Danish-Greek Prince may have drowned that out in the news in the UK. I have nothing against the Queen. However, the tide is changing. Nothing will happen while they still live. I wish all of us a merry Christmas, and I think 2012 may be a far better year, economically and politically than we fear now, yet I also believe that that we all need to think about what happens next. For that we need to think... but I see little evidence that we ...
Local people can find out when street lights in their community are going to be replaced and are being urged to watch out for letters alerting them to when work will start.They will also have a chance to comment on the replacements in advance.The work will also bring environmental improvements to Cambridgeshire by reducing energy use and carbon outputs while at the same time cutting around £350,000 a year from the maintenance and lighting budget.Contractors working on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council have started work on the project which will see more than 50,000 street lights replaced and maintained over ...
Chris Black writes: Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" begins and ends on Christmas Eve - and should have a special resonance for anyone who fancies themselves as a community campaigner. The hero of the film , George Bailey , is a superb worker for his community - but neglects his family and his home. The only thing that saves him and those he loves from tragedy , bitterness and failure
Avebury, Eric Haematology OPD 83y M de Lavallade, Hugues CLS 29-Sep-1928 D442931 / V6825848 05-Dec-11 08:33 Renal/Liver/Bone/Urea Sodium 143 [135-145 mmol/L] Potassium 5.0 [3.5-5.0 mmol/L] Urea 7.0 H [3.3-6.7 mmol/L] Creatinine 104 [45-120 umol/L] Estimated GFR 59 [mL/min] Calcium 2.26 [mmol/L] Corrected Calcium 2.18 [2.15-2.6 mmol/L] Phosphate 1.18 [0.80-1.40 mmol/L] Total Protein 75 [60-80 g/L] Albumin 44 [35-50 g/L] Globulin 31 [25-35 g/L] Bilirubin (Total) 8 [3-20 umol/L] Alkaline Phosphatase 72 [30-130 IU/L] Aspartate Transaminase 24 [10-50 IU/L] Gamma-glutamyl 17 [1-55 IU/L] Transferase 05-Dec-11 08:33 Full Blood Count WBC 3.57 L [4.00-11.00 10^9/L] RBC 3.10 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L] Hb 9.9 ...
Along with others from the Social Liberal Forum council I signed a letter to the Guardian earlier this week. Glad to see it got published. You can read it here
For anyone reading this I hope that Father Christmas brings you everything that you asked for tomorrow morning.
Happy Christmas to all my readers, have a good one, will be back in a day or two or even earlier, in the meantime I have a gammon to cook and a Turkey to stuff. I would particularly like to thank all contributors for their comments over the years (all 10,883), some I agree with, some I dont, but it's a free country so keep them coming, and lets hope next year is better than the last.
Accustomed as we are to being reviled in the media and held in low esteem by the public, we politicos can do with such crumbs of comfort as are offered to us. I am currently reading Understanding the British empire, a collection of essays by the eminent imperial historian Professor Ronald Hyam. Whereas historians often display a studied detachment or even mild cynicism towards the politicians they study, Professor Hyam comments: ...government is about taking almost impossibly wide perspectives, and it is an extremely difficult business. Historians should respect that fact, at least when they are assessing intelligent men [sic] ...
May I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year.
I won't be able to do any proper updates until Boxing Day, because we're busy doing family stuff with Holly's family, but I'm hoping to get Doctor Watson Investigates finished next week. I'm also going to start on a book on The Kinks, because I'm going to wait until we know exactly what's happening with ...
Some last minute advice from me, via the brilliant Garfunkel and Oates, to you. Enjoy, and, happy Christmas y'all.
The government's proposals to reform Britain's planning laws have been a welcome island of deregulation in a sea of disappointment. Both coalition partners went into the 2010 election promising a bonfire of regulation, but by February 2011 Ed Davey, the Better Regulation minister, was admitting in the Commons that not much had actually happened. In that light, the Draft National Planning Policy Framework is genuinely a step in the right direction. It reduces planning policy from an eye-watering 1,000 pages to a perfectly accessible 52 pages. This is no small matter: irrespective of the content of any regulatory framework, a ...
See the link for the website dealing with Florence Bellone's winning of the reporting prize for reporting on the English Family Courts scandal.Quoting from the website:Title of the articleGreat Britain: The Stolen ChildrenName of mediaRTBFThe Grand Jury distinguished the report for its investigative merit in highlighting a human rights issue occurring in a highly-developed European Member State.
(With apologies to all concerned.)
Friday: From Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar Day 23: Tree, probably from Endor or something PS: late today - been listening to JAMES BOND on the RADIO
Michael finds that not following instructions can lead to a Christmas cake not rising properly though for some interesting reasons.... Continue reading →
From The Press - York's daily newspaper: It's the last thing Santa needs two days before Christmas - police being called to investigate a row with unhappy elves. Officers were called to York's Winter Wonderland in Exhibition Square, as tempers flared between managers and staff. Two workers say they have only been paid a fraction of their wages after working there for weeks, and police were called to the grotto this week as angry staff demanded payment.The paper goes on to quote one of the unhappy elves: "I had always been promised I would be paid at the end of ...
Christmas Eve, watching The Muppet Christmas Carol, my favourite Christmas film, I am reminded of parallel's to the recent major BBC show Ian Hislop: When Bankers Were Good. While some have emphasised a need to return to Victorian Values, is this a good thing? Hislop noted the good work of people such as Samuel Gurney, Elizabeth ...
Sadly every year several cyclists on the streets of London are killed by lorries. Amazingly tipper trucks, skip lorries and concrete lorries don't legally have to have side guards. Typically when they turn left they have to move to the right and then turn left to make the turn. Very deceptive. Such vehicles are exempt from side guard rules in case it makes driving across rough ground tricky. This is a picture of a 1912 bus. In 1912 they recognised the dangers of not having side guards. 1912. Coming up to 2012 and after dozens of different governments during the ...
We've kicked off a petition for a better bus service on the 80 and 80 a route. During the day on weekdays its actually pretty good but once the evening comes and on Sundays its back to half hourly with only one of the routes being covered. This effectively means you've had it if you want to go, for example, from Brodie Avenue to Morrisons at Speke. Hard copies of the petition are making their way around the area but you can sign on line at this link
The news that Secretary of State Eric Pickles has given his approval to the outline planning permission for the stadium is to be welcomed - even by those of us very unsure about the project as a whole. Whatever the merits or problems of the stadium as a concept or on the basis of its location, it is right that this should be a decision taken in Cornwall and, so long as the decision is taken in a legally sound manner, it shouldn't be for the man in Whitehall to interfere. Early in the New Year we are expecting the ...
I wrote back in the summer about the threat to the green space on Woburn Road. The land is owned by Cornwall Council and an application to build five homes had been put in despite the unobstructed use for more than 20 years for play and dog walking and the wildlife and trees on the site. The good news is that the planning application was withdrawn and an application to give the land 'village green' status has been received and is now out to formal consultation. If granted, village green status would recognise that the land has been used as ...
If you have a device that needs music in MP3 format but you've downloaded everything from the iTunes music store then you have a problem, in that the music is in AAC (.M4A) format and won't be recognised. The good ... Continue reading →
Thursday You do hear a great deal about my old friend John Maynard Keynes these days, don't you? This warms my heart, because he was the soundest of men: an Apostle, President of Cambridge University Liberal Club, adviser to Lloyd George in the Great War and founder of the Arts Council. I never could quite get my mind around his economic ideas, but when you hear people say that we should borrow lots of money and, if we have trouble paying it back, borrow even more, while citing the great man in support of their views, I cannot help feeling ...
It's December which means for those who have them, it's been the time to get out those chocolate advent calendars! But for those of you who, like me, don't do such things anymore (and indeed for those of you who still do!), I thought I'd give my own unique little twist on this festive time of year with my Musical Advent Calendar countdown of my Top 25 favourite Christmas songs! I've been blogging a song a day, culminating today on Christmas Eve with this, my all-time favourite Christmas song. Cole's Musical Christmas Advent Calendar - Day 24! So this is ...
Although I have some sympathy for Tory MP, Simon Hart's crusade to tighten up the use of the Freedom of Information Act so as to eradicate frivolous requests we have to remember that for the most part the categorisation of submissions in this way is largely subjective. We have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water by introducing a restriction that will enable authorities to hide behind red tape even more than present so as to avoid releasing important information. Having said that, it is difficult to argue with the eccentricity of the top ...
So, there haven't been many posts here for a while, and this is probably the year I've done the least posts ever here, but I am still alive. And on that note, as ever, I've donated money to Shelter instead of sending out Christmas cards this year, so I'd like to take this opportunity to hope you all have a good Christmas and a great 2012. I might even post more then, but don't hold your breath in expectation. And here's a scene of how it's not looking down here this year:
Do you know someone in your community whose work deserves to be recognised? If so, go to www.southglos.gov.uk/communityawards before 3 February 2012 to nominate them for a community award. The award winners will be invited to a ceremony at BAWA, Filton on 29 March 2012.
A number of constituents have expressed concern about the inadequate bus services over Christmas and the New Year period - with no National Express Dundee buses at all on Christmas Day and New Year's Day and with the Sunday service on Boxing Day and 2nd January ending before 7.30pm. I have been in touch with the bus company about this. As always, Suzy Scott at www.dundeebuses.info has a useful update on bus services in Dundee over the festive season.
Normally I have several books on the go at any given time, reading fifty pages of one before switching to another. Last night I realised that I couldn't put down The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, as Lisbeth Salander's impending trial for the attempted murder of her father unlocks a chain of conspiracy within Sweden's intelligence services which takes us readers right to the top of the government. Larsson's story-telling technique is fascinating: he lays out his characters' knowledge and intentions in great (though not always complete) detail, which makes the intrusion of brutal violence into the narrative all ...
This year I've been doing a Christmas Advent Calendar of treats. So on Christmas Eve there can only be one treat in store a little Perry Como.
Happy Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and the very best for 2012. Council Bury Council's Customer Contact Team (the 253 5353 number) is CLOSED between Christmas and New Year (no we're not sure if that is a sensible idea either...) The emergency contact number for the Council is 0161 253 6606. Refuse collections are planned as normal between Tuesday 27 – Friday 30 December 2011 (none of us have collections on a Monday). If anyone has any urgent queries that need to be addressed between Christmas and New Year regarding bins etc please email one of us and we will do our ...
Before I start getting comments from all sides, I should explain that this piece is based on an article in the Guardian. Reading the article I get what he means. So does not believing in a god make you an ... Continue reading →
From Radio Four's Nick Sutton, who always tweets all the front pages @suttonnick here: http://twitpic.com/7xdvwr/full [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Peaceful and Healthy New Year At this time of year it is too easy for the mesaage of Christmas to get lost in the commerciality of it all, but I ask you to pause briefly and consider what Christmas is all about. You may not be of the Christian faith, or of any faith, but think about the message behind the faith. And have a good holiday, I'll be back after the New Year
The Meols Ward Lib Dem team wish you a Merry Christmas andall the best for 2012.
Most Sefton Council offices are closed from Friday 23rdDecember 2011 until Monday 2nd January 2012 inclusive. For Social Care EMERGENCIES during the Christmas and NewYear holidays and during the evenings (ie outside normal office hours) pleasecall the Emergency Duty Team - 0151 920 8234 For Social Care Emergencies during daytime on: 28th Dec,29th Dec or 30th Dec:- for Children's Social Care please call 01704 534 975 - for Adult Social Care please call 01704 704 389 THESE NUMBERS ARE FOR SOCIAL CARE EMERGENCIES THAT CANNOTWAIT UNTIL TUESDAY 3RD JANUARY 2012 Information is also available from Sefton Council's website or phone ...
You can find the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yib75Y9_jXs
