A little bit of Nottinghamshire railway goodness, with Caudwell's Mill very much in evidence at Southwell station. This passenger shuttle from Rolleston Junction lasted until 1959 and goods services until 1964.
Geoff Mulgan suggests Britain is suffering from an "intangible curse" that's corroding our ability to distinguish what's real and what's merely a representation. "The committee received just one, anonymous submission from a supplier. It said that they supplied Boohoo, Missguided, ASOS and others, and that all these brands were constantly asking suppliers to reduce their prices. Even when CEOs and managers at top brands knew the cost of clothing, the witness said, they squeezed prices and watched wages get cut." Olivia Windham Stewart on Leicester's garment trade. "Black people don't climb. Africans do not ski. That's white-people behaviour. I have ...
Time to begin another week at Bonkers Hall. If you are hoping for some respite in future, I fear it will take more than Liberator's switch to being a free online publication to silence the old brute. Monday The wireless brings sad news of the death of the composer Ennio Morricone, best known for his theme for the film One Upon a time in Rutland. This was the best known of the 'pork pie westerns' that did so much to revive the film industry hereabouts, my own studios included, but by no means the only one. The critics also praise ...
Mon 27th
19:38
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, by Mary Trump
Second paragraph of third chapter:But it was one thing for Donald to stay out of his father's crosshairs and another to get into his good graces. Toward that end, Donald all but eradicated any qualities he might have shared with his older brother. Except for the occasional fishing trip with Freddy and his friends, Donald would become a creature of country clubs and offices, golf being the only thing on which he and his father differed. He would also double down on the behaviors he had thus far gotten away with: bullying, pointing the finger, refusing to take responsibility, and ...
Members are just receiving an invitation to register for the first Liberal Democrat online Autumn Conference, being held from 25th-28th September 2020. The email from Geoff Payne, chair of the Conference Committee is as follows, minus my membership number (if you'll forgive me!): It's official: Registration is now open for our first-ever online conference! You'll need your membership number. Click here to register. At our conference you can shape party policy, virtually meet MPs, councillors and members from across the country, hear from experts on a range of topics at our fringe events and learn new skills at our training ...
The government's decision to demand a fortnight's quarantine from travellers returning form Spain was announced with little warning, but surely that's the way things are. Most of us are very critical of the government's slowness in imposing lockdown in the initial stages of the pandemic. Surely they are to be congratulated on seeing the light and now acting promptly, despite the consequent stranding of some travellers and the cancellation of the holidays of others. I have considerable sympathy for those who had booked this year's summer holiday last year or before March this year. They will have agonised as to ...
Mon 27th
17:41
Further delay to completion of Warwick Road roadworks - and more to come for Gospel Lane.
I am very disappointed to have to report a further delay to the completion of the works to renew the gas main under the Warwick Road in Acocks Green Village. These were due to be finished today but are now not expected to be completed until some point between 7th and 14th August. I am very concerned about the impact this will have on residents and the local businesses, so asked for a site visit to discuss the situation with the contractor. I was told that the delay was caused by the location of the water main which meant they ...
I can't say that I'm a huge fan of setpiece hustings – they tend to be a bit formulaic to my mind. And so, if you share that view, you might be interested to hear that Compass, who describe themselves as "a pressure group for the centre-left", are holding an event on the Liberal Democrats' leadership election with Ed and Layla (followed by a discussion with Jane Dodds and Jon Alexander) on 6 August, between 5.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. The event is titled "The Future of the Liberal Democrats and Progressive Politics" and is open to everyone. Here's the ...
Well these additions to the street scene are interesting:- Both can be found in Lydiate's Coppull Road, a road I cycle down regularly but I had not spotted them. However, local resident Jan Page did spy them and tipped me off. The shot of the book swap 'little library' is a pleasure to look at especially for me as someone who spent many hours trying to save (sadly unsuccessfully) 7 of Sefton's branch libraries from closure not so long ago. The 'bag it – bin it' anti-dog fouling facility is also great to see, although at the same time you ...
Many London Liberal Democrats will have been saddened this morning to receive an email from Mayoral candidate Siobhan Benita saying that she is regretfully standing aside. The election for London Mayor should have happened this May, but was postponed along with votes for the London Assembly and other local and regional elections round the country. [...]
As something of a governance geek, and a veteran Party bureaucrat, I tend to take an interest in how my Party is run and led. Policy is interesting yes, but you can tell a lot about any organisation by whether how it operates is in accordance with its declared values. The "problem" with that is, if your values refer to democracy, transparency and accountability, you might not achieve optimal efficiency, if efficiency is defined as "getting things done". It is a more pressing concern if you want to change things, and most, if not all, Party Presidents are elected on ...
Sun, 12:35: RT @JohnRentoul: From Netherlands to Bosnia: year of opening of 1st McDonald's in European countries. Map by @JakubMarian https://t.co/TotV... Sun, 20:15: RT @cstross: Arizona, with 7M people, consistently exceeding daily death toll in the UK, with nearly 70M people *AND PREVIOUSLY THE WORST-A... Sun, 21:43: The Moonbase / Doctor Who and the Cybermen https://t.co/KXjOZmR75E Mon, 08:58: Labour's unexpected 2015 victory (from POLITICO). https://t.co/QowrZVHsbZ Mon, 09:30: Whoniversaries 27 July: Harry Towb again, Alan Bennion again, Music of the Spheres, Olympic Games 2 https://t.co/RLWvgqa1GB Mon, 10:45: The death of the city https://t.co/TnB5g2vKH2 Frankly, I hope not. But things are changing. ...
[IMG: A funny coloured world] 'It's time to get back on the road.' A simple message sent by a friend on WhatsApp. After four months of living in lockdown, someone... The post A funny coloured world appeared first on Ambitiousmamas.
Social care needs a reset and must not simply revert back to the way it was prior to the pandemic, a coalition of councils, health and care organisations and charities set out today. Later today I am chairing a virtual ... Continue reading →
Mon 27th
09:29
No coronavirus cases in Ludlow for nine weeks - peak over but signs of a county uptick in cases
Yesterday I wrote on deaths from Covid-19 in Ludlow and across Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. This article looks at how many people have tested positive for Covid-19 locally, in the region and across England. The good news, and there has been little of that during this epidemic, is that there have been no Covid-19 in Ludlow for nine weeks. Previously, 31 people had tested positive for Covid-19. Sadly, eight died. We do not know whether Covid-19 was the cause of death, a contributory factor, or made no difference to a person's survival. This epidemic is not over. Yesterday, Shropshire ...
I have joined countless other people in a 48 hour boycott of Twitter because of their failure to deal with anti-Semitism on their site. The boycott has arisen because of anger over anti-Semitic posts by grime artist Wiley. The series of anti-Jewish comments made online by the musician was one of a number of incidents which also include the torrent of abuse faced by the former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and racist posts about the footballers Wilfried Zaha and David McGoldrick, none of which Twitter acted quickly enough to take down. The Guardian reports that Twitter's inaction has been ...
To celebrate Shirley Williams' 90th birthday, members of the Social Democrat Group executive have written four articles about her contribution to the party and to British politics. Below is a summary of each piece. To see the full pieces, follow the links. George Kendall joined the SDP when it was formed in 1981 and has been a member of the SDP and the Lib Dems ever since. He is acting chair of the Social Democrat Group. He writes that he was like many foot soldiers in the SDP in Shirley being his favourite politician. He loved her honesty and humanity ...
Mon 27th
08:30Whoniversaries 27 July: Harry Towb again, Alan Bennion again, Music of the Spheres, Olympic Games 2
i) births and deaths 27 July 1925: birth of Harry Towb, Osgood in The Seeds of Death (Second Doctor, 1969) McDermott in Terror of the Autons (Third Doctor, 1971), whose death I commemorated a few days ago. 27 July 1944: birth of Matthew Robinson, who directed Resurrection of the Daleks (Fifth Doctor, 1984) and Attack of the Cybermen (Sixth Doctor, 1985). 27 July 2018: death of Alan Bennion, who appeared as Ice Lord Slaar in The Seeds of Death (Second Doctor, 1969), Ice Lord Izlyr in The Curse of Peladon (Third Doctor, 1972) and Ice Lord Azaxyr in The Monster ...
With the London elections postponed until May 2021, members in the capital have today received an email from Siobhan Benita, the Lib Dem candidate for London Mayor. She writes: I am writing to let you know that, after much consideration and with sadness, I am standing down as the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Mayor of London. The demands of being a candidate are significant, particularly for an election of this scale, The nature of the role, which is unpaid, makes it very difficult to combine with other work. Sadly, at this stage, I'm simply not able to commit to another ...
Like many people, Liberal Democrat Voice will be maintaining a Twitter silence for forty-eight hours, starting at 9 a.m. this morning, to protest Twitter's abject failure to address the issues surrounding anti-Jewish material posted seemingly without consequence. We won't be silent otherwise, so for the usual selection of news and opinion, do drop in from time to time, and we'll aim to keep our readers engaged. And, if you're on Twitter, why not join us? The more participants, the more pressure on Twitter to act...
Next Wednesday - 29th July - you can Zoom into Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education​'s world of exciting career opportunities and new horizons its virtual Open Day. The college's admissions team and academic teaching staff will be on hand to answer any questions throughout the event. To register for the virtual Open Day, click here.
[IMG: Kiln Yard, East Farndon] East Farndon has no shop, no pub, no school and no post office. There is a church, a village hall and a defibrillator. Like a lot of village over the Northamptonshire border, you find that the modern main road bypasses its ancient heart. So East Farndon has an impressive hollow way and a Back Lane which is home to some of its most important buildings. [IMG: Hollow way, East Farndon] There you will find Farndon Hall, which is too much of a wedding cake for my taste, and The Manor. [IMG: Farndon Hall, East Farndon] ...
