Introducing Doctor Who In An Exciting Adventure With the Daleks... ...as it was named when first published. Remarkably, the title's still true. Even more remarkably, it's now back in print in two different editions, one of them under the original title and the other simply as Doctor Who and the Daleks. David Whitaker's 1964 novelisation of the Doctor's original encounter with the Daleks on their dead planet Skaro was the first ever Doctor Who novel. But on the page here William Hartnell's original Doctor is less the lead character than one of many threats faced by first-person narrator-hero Ian Chesterton ...
Six months ago I thought the world had gone mad, but now I know the world has gone bad. For Liberal Democrats and others of good faith 2016 is proving to be an annus horibilis like no other in living memory. First there was the Brexit vote, followed by Donald Trump's election "victory", confirmed today [...]
Well, it has been a long time since we have been able to report on the maiden speech of a Liberal Democrat MP. Sarah spoke today in the debate on the impact of Brexit on science and research. Until a few weeks ago she was working at the National Physical Laboratory, which lies just across the Thames from her Richmond Park constituency, so she has an insider's view on the subject. Here is her speech (taken from the rolling feed on Hansard which may be subject to correction): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me and giving me the ...
The London and North Western Railway Society tells us the history of Uppingham station: The London & North Western Railway opened this short branch in 1894. Five trains were provided daily all connecting with services to and from Rugby. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1960 but the station remained open for school specials until the line closed to all traffic in 1964.It also says The site of Uppingham station is now a small industrial estate but the goods shed and stables survive.I went to look for them after travelling to Uppingham on the 747 bus. I didn't find the goods ...
Tales of mince pies and Christmas dinners could easily fill up the Mayor's diary this week but instead I want to start by telling you about some of the really inspiring meetings I have had with young people. Picture by Conrad Ainslie I have attended two presentations from students who have completed the Prince's Trusts Team programme. The first was at Hugh Baird College in Bootle and the second was sponsored by the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. The 12 week scheme offers work experience, challenging community projects and an adventurous five-day team building residential trip. It was clear from ...
Good news in the Leicester Mercury: it seems the former Black Boy pub in the city may yet be saved. The paper's report says: Planning officers at Leicester City Council have ... thrown a spanner in the works of the developers by refusing to allow the 1920s pub in Albion Street to be knocked down.It's not clear whether this means a recommendation has been made to the council's planning committee or already been accepted by it. And any refusal of planning permission for demolition and redevelopment can be appealed against. Still, it's good to see the council standing up for ...
What's the problem then? According to Rightmove, terraced properties in Peterborough sell on average for £136,416. Detached properties sell on average for £260,357, while semi-detached properties fetch £167,997. Reports in 2014, stated that the average salary in our city was £411 a week (before tax), so put simply a local person needs to get a [...]
At the weekend the Conservative Government proposed that civil servants and other holders of public office should be required to swear an oath to "British values". I suggested that such a move would be superficial and divisive and here's why. This is a reaction to 'The Casey Review: a review into opportunity and integration' where she found small pockets of minority communities who were not integrating with the rest of society. These people represent a tiny proportion of the UK population but the report had the effect of further demonising minority communities generally and the Muslim community in particular. Of ...
Nick Clegg's fourth 'Brexit challenge' paper, calling on his experience as an international trade negotiator to set out what negotiating Britain's departure from the European Union really means, takes a look at justice and home affairs matters. You can read it in full below, and you can catch up on my coverage of previous Brexit [...]
Rogue One: A Star Wars Movie (PG-13)Director: Gareth EdwardsWebsite: Rogue One Christmas isn't Christmas without a Christmas movie and this year's latest addition to the Star Wars Trilogy/Hexology-on the-way-to-being-a-Nonology, was just the ticket. We had nicknamed it episode 3.5 (or episode three and half for those of a more poetic nature) and had tried to imagine how to make a prequel to the first movie made a long, long time ago in another century, which is in fact the fourth in the series overall.... keeping up? The premise to this movie is simple. Explain how the plans to the Imperial ...
The Guardian newspaper has the story on is web site – see link above It is probably fair to say that some voters would willingly suffer any amount of person financial loss to leave the EU 'at any cost', but they will be a tiny minority of course and usually very wealthy too. BREXIT WILL AFFECT THE POUND IN YOUR POCKET But this article on the Guardian web site shows how many folks, who clearly voted for Brexit, are now seemingly concerned that it will cost them money. In other words they voted out but not 'at any cost' ...
At the request of the Party President and the Federal Executive I am undertaking an independent inquiry into improving process and culture within the Liberal Democrats, focusing specifically on race and ethnicity. I have not been asked to address particular individual cases but as part of the party's commitment to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society this inquiry has been commissioned to focus on issues and/or barriers faced by BAME members and supporters of the Liberal Democrats. Among the questions I am asking are - Are there barriers to participation for BAME members? If so, what and ...
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton has today branded Conservative proposals for a British oath of allegiance as "gimmick politics" after the UK communities secretary Sajid Javid proposed that public servants could be required to swear an oath to British values. Speaking after an interview on Good Morning Scotland this morning, Mr Cole-Hamilton said: "These ... Continue reading Cole-Hamilton Slams 'Oath of Allegiance' as 'Gimmick Politics'
Embed from Getty Images Politics in the West has entered a new era. Those on the left of the political spectrum sit around scratching their heads on why power they had once taken for granted, has been taken from them. Why has the left failed to engage with the same people who they champion? From the EU Referendum and the American presidential election, there was a common theme that Leave campaigner Michael Gove put so unashamedly, "people in this country have had enough of experts." Slogans and punchy one liners were repeated tirelessly by Donald Trump and Nigel Farage until ...
Just as the Supreme Court Article 50 hearings finished, another two potential cases appeared which could affect the government's Brexit negotiating strategy, both of which address significant legal uncertainties remaining. The first is a case developed by Jolyon Maugham QC that was crowdfunded in 48 hours last weekend. It seeks to resolve two legal uncertainties, i) whether Article 50 is indeed irrevocable (something that was not an issue in the recent Supreme Court case), and ii) whether the UK would automatically withdraw from the single market or European Economic Area (EEA) when Article 50 is triggered. The separate EEA Agreement ...
Responding to the Scottish Governments announcement that it will invest £10 million in mental health, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said: "What the SNP seem to be failing to understand is that we need a step change in our approach to mental health and not just tinkering at the edges which is ... Continue reading Cole-Hamilton: 'Step Change Needed on Mental Health Approach'
Responding to the latest report in yesterday's Sunday Times ahead of Keith Brown's meeting with Amazon executives today, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP said: "These reports reflect what many people have told me about the working arrangements within Amazon. It is important that everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We have these ... Continue reading Rennie: 'Amazon Needs To Deliver'
The Parliamentary Counsel Office has been putting its skills to work drafting legislatively clear versions of Christmas carols. How many can you identify?
David Mellor, the former Tory minister of many various portfolios under both Thatcher and Major, was on Murnaghan this weekend, talking about Theresa May and the various comparisons to Thatcher she is always receiving: "When I was a minister for four years she treated me with even more disrespect than my mother did, but Margaret Thatcher knew what she wanted do and did it. I don't think Theresa May knows what she wants to do. Her advisers appear to be the ones that create the headlines. I think she is sitting there and she is infirm of purpose, and she ...
The first Liberal Democrat internal elections to take place using 'One Member One Vote' (OMOV) have now been completed, with a disappointing turnout of just under 10% of the eligible membership taking part. Some are blaming the time consuming voting system and I have to admit that it took me the best part of an ... Continue reading First OMOV Lib Dem Elections Produce Low Turnout
Today, Co-Rapporteur of the dieselgate Inquiry Committee, MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (ALDE), released the draft report of the dieselgate Inquiry Committee, together with Co-Rapporteur Jens Gieseke (EPP). Commenting on the draft report, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy said: "Dieselgate would not have happened if our national governments and the European Commission had acted in line with their legal and ... Continue reading ALDE Release Report Into 'Dieselgate'
Below are listed the bin collection dates for Christmas and New Year's weeks in Clitheroe and the Ribble Valley. Normal Collection Day Christmas Collection New Year Collection Monday Tuesday 27 December Monday 2 January 2017 Tuesday Wednesday 28 December Tuesday 3 January 2017 Wednesday Thursday 29 December Wednesday 4 January 2017 Thursday Friday 30 December Thursday 5 January 2017 Friday Saturday 31 December Friday 6 January 2017
Embed from Getty Images Today, the US Electoral College will meet in 51 separate locations to decide who will become the next President of the United States. The decision these individual men and women make will determine the outcome of every significant global event for the next decade, if not the next century. Earlier this year, on 4th August, the Harvard Republican Club issued a press release stating that, for the first time in their one hundred and twenty-eight year history, they would not be endorsing the Republican nominee for president. The presumptive nominee, they said, was not just unfit ...
Niklaus Pevsner writes: Could these leaves of the English countryside, with all their freshness, move us so deeply if they were not carved in that spirit which filled the saints and poets and thinkers of the thirteenth century, the spirit of religious respect for the loveliness of created nature? The inexhaustible delight in live form that can be touched with worshipping fingers and felt with all senses is ennobled ... by the conviction that so much beauty can exist only because God is an every man and beast, in every herb and stone. The Renaissance in the South two hundred ...
Avon Fire and Rescue Service needs to save £5 million a year thanks to cuts in the funding it gets from Government. They are now asking you to have your say on their proposals on how to do this. Their ideas include Yate station losing its full-time status - instead of it being staffed by crews 24 hours a day, it will only be staffed in the day time with "on-call" firefighters (Retained Duty System) at night. Retained Duty System crewing adds 3.5 minutes to target response time from the moment of the call to the fire engine leaving the ...
In many respects the dispute as to whether Jeremy Corbyn walked out of a Christmas party after rebel politicians sang the New Labour anthem "Things Can Only Get Better" and chanted "We want Tony" is academic. The Independent repeats a claim by the Daily Mail, which has its own agenda, that Labour MPs also sang The Beatles' "Back In The USSR" at the seasonal karaoke in a jibe at the Labour leader's inaction over Aleppo, which has been decimated by Russian bombing. The MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips though, has denied the claims. The paper says that the report ...
The latest Adult Learning newsletter for the city has just been published - covering the winter - and you can download it here. Here's details of the adult learning opportunities available in the West End area :
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year
More financial trouble from Ukip. For all its disdain over the management of European Union finances, Ukip itself is in trouble over allegations of abuse of EU funds by a think tank linked to it: The European Parliament suspended payment of some €90,000 to a think tank linked to Nigel Farage's UKIP because of suspicions that it obtained donations via improper means, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. In the latest of a series of financial setbacks to hit Euroskeptic parties and associated bodies over allegations of misuse of public funds, the UKIP-linked Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe ...
This is the shortest scientific paper ever published Zero words. (tags: writing ) Tales from the Coffeeshop: Keeping the negativity in the family Latest Cyprus commentary. (tags: Cyprus ) Barbican - Into the Unknown SF exhibition in London next saummer (tags: Sf london ) The sow's ear, Britain's approach to Brexit's negotiations Brief but pithy. #fb (tags: ukpolitics brexit eu )
