The current issue of Private Eye celebrates the life and work of Christopher Booker. People of may age and younger will know Booker through his campaigning journalism against the European Union and measures to combat climate change. This was wrongheaded and, as far as he had influence, harmful to the national interest. But, though he made the mistake of going on holiday in the Eye's early days and returned to find himself ousted as editor by Richard Ingrams, it is clear from his contributions reprinted in the current issue that Booker was central to the organ's view of the world. ...
I've been a regular visitor to Bracknell for twenty years. It's the town in Berkshire whose 1960s centre was so unloved that it was recently demolished so that it could be rebuilt in 21st century...Continue Reading The post Random musings from Bracknell appeared first on ten pence piece.
I've recently lost a substantial amount of weight. That's not a humblebrag, it's going to be relevant, I promise. It's taken the best part of 20 years to find something that works for me, and I'll come back to that later. How our society discusses diet and weight was mostly to blame for why it's taken so long. When I was a teenager, I used to voraciously read women's magazines while keeping out of the sun during the hottest hours of the day on holiday. Oh, the diet articles in some of those. It was awful. Everything was egg whites ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: During my weeks there I had only two bad nights. Once when I dreamed that the tower was crumpling and, once, sliding forward into machine-gun fire and no pit to creep into, slithering on through mud to mutilating death. And then my screams too joined with the night creatures. Well, there was a third sleepless night but that came much later and for a different reason. I saw the film with Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth when it came out in 1987, and greatly enjoyed it; the original book is very short, but very intense. ...
First, if you were wondering why the blogging has been light, a short recap... After thirty months in Downing Street, I left with the rest of the May administration, having advised on pretty much everything economic beneath the level of the Pound. (The Pound I left to Douglas, who is still in post – so [...]
Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of 101 Ways To Win An Election, and the maintainer of the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943 and which gives the historic context for the latest polls. Welcome to a round-up of the latest voting intention figures from each of the polling firms currently active. Scroll down to the end of this post if you'd like to receive news of new polls by email. General election voting intention polls Pollster Con Lab LD Grn BXP Con/Lab gap Fieldwork YouGov 32% (+1) 22% (+1) 19% (-1) 8% ...
Jane Dodds celebrates victory with helpers at the Brecon campaign HQ in the early hours of Friday 2nd August Many thanks to Callum Littlemore for letting us show some of his behind-the-scenes photos, from Friday morning, at the Brecon and Radnorshire campaign HQ in Brecon. Jane Dodds praises agent James Lillis Jane Dodds applauds campaign helpers Helpers celebrate Jane's victory Jane Dodds addresses campaign helpers Helpers celebrate Jane's victory * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Having reported that Jonny Keeley is standing down as councillor for Bishop's Castle, it seems the right time to choose a track by his band Fight the Bear. They were formed back in 2004, but the four members knew each other at the town's primary school long before that. The music critic of the Shropshire Star once said of them: The band are heavily influenced by American ska punk band Sublime. However, Fight The Bear are no carbon copy. They fuse the best elements of ska punk with their own, unique personality. The result is gut wrenching riffs, neat rhythms, ...
When I first went to Kazakhstan in 1994, the fledgling nation was struggling to get on its feet. As the train I was travelling on trundled across the steppe from the then capital of Almaty to the frontier of Uzbekistan, old women wrapped up against the cold stood by the side of the track selling [...]
I was recently asked to assist a campaigner who is a part of the fight against Highways England's plan to build a new road right through Rimrose Valley Country Park. The ask was for me to help with obtaining a copy of a 2004 report on the options for transport access to the Port of Liverpool. Rimrose Valley Country Park on a lovely Sunday morning. A Lone cyclist can be seen in the distance. Firstly, I had to obtain a copy of the report and with a little help that was achieved. The report is titled 'PORT OF LIVERPOOL STRATEGIC ...
Sat, 12:49: RT @Diamond_Jax: (I am 6 months pregnant) Me after ordering my coffee: Stranger at Starbucks: you know you should be drinking decaf when... Sat, 15:49: The Showstoppers, by Jonathan Cooper https://t.co/6wLTPjerWg Sat, 16:02: From a commentator who knows what he is talking about. https://t.co/tNQO399rZm Sat, 16:56: This from the same genius of legal analysis who argued a month ago that Brexit had already legally happened on 31 M... https://t.co/lNNNGyYXs0 Sat, 20:00: My week on Twitter 🎉: 88 Mentions, 27.9K Mention Reach, 328 Likes, 171 Retweets, 3.14M Retweet Reach. See yours wit... https://t.co/40rHwhNPOe Sun, 07:46: RT @mpcorr: Can we ...
A sunny day yesterday so I headed over to Crawcrook to go to the village's annual fair. A pleasant day had by all, including the donkeys!
The first being "JO VOTED WITH THE TORIES ON X, Y AND Z!! SHE'S A YELLOW TORY!!!" - always referring to some vote that happened between 2010 and 2015. Now the people doing this know full well how coalition works, they are just choosing to ignore it to make a partisan point. If they were to look at voting records unencumbered by a coalition agreement, though, they might well find a different picture: St Jeremy of Islington, since becoming Labour leader, has voted the same way as Boris Johnson 21 times. In the same timescale Jo has only voted with ...
Since I last wrote about a partnership parliament' we have won the Brecon by-election and a lot of the talk, quite rightly, has been about the 'Remain Alliance' which helped to deliver victory to Jane Dodds. What the by-election has absolutely demonstrated is that politics has become so factionalised that there will not be a Parliament in which one Party will have an absolute majority after the next General Election. If we are to have a 'Partnership Parliament' then perhaps, we ought to consider a partnership approach to the elections which will precede it. In many ways the one is ...
Dog run area seen looking towards Sandy Ln. The public right of way is to the left where the corner fence post is I've blogged a few times over the issues surrounding the route of this public footpath/public right of way and the fact that this matter came to light as a consequence of Lydiate Parish Council creating a fenced in dog-run area on its Sandy Lane Playing Field earlier this year. Anyway, there was a site meeting a few days ago between Lydiate Parish Council and Sefton Council's Rights of Way Officer, which I was unable to attend but ...
The City Council has reminded residents not to lose their democratic voice by making sure they complete and return the annual canvass form to their local Electoral Registration Office. Forms, which ensure that anyone not on the Electoral Register can register to allow them to take part in future elections, were issued just over a week ago. A spokesperson for the electoral registration office said : "It is important that residents respond as soon as possible, so we can make sure we have the right details on the electoral register for every address in Dundee. "Check the form when it ...
