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Ed Davey has pulled out of the Radical Association hustings because James Baillie was to chair it: "I hope sincerely that this conduct by Ed's campaign has been a one-off which they will on reflection agree was not up to the standards to which they would wish to hold themselves, and is not representative of their wider attitude to my fellow party activists." Chris Grey surveys the latest developments in the disaster that is Brexit: "Brexit has in effect declared culture war on Britain's middle-class - or at least the most productive, active parts of it. It's that which is ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:'Whose writing is this?'A year or so ago, the group of friends with whom I had previously read War and Peace and Anna Karenina at the rate of a chapter a day decided to give Charles Dickens' last complete novel a go, but with the twist of reading each of the monthly installments of four to six chapters at the start of each month, simulating how the book's original readers would have encountered it. I bought it then, but failed to get with the programme when it started; then a couple of months ago Our Mutual ...
A week or so ago, I was asked by the Radical Association to chair their Liberal Democrat leadership hustings event. As a former Association Chair, as an academic historian experienced in moderating discussion events, and as someone who has not endorsed, nominated, or campaigned for any of the candidates, I was happy to accept. Unfortunately [...]
Each week, LDV invites the leadership candidates to write a post for us. This is Team Ed's for this week. As a new MP, I'm passionate about making sure we build a party that can succeed in elections from 2021 and beyond. I want more people to feel the same excitement and joy that we felt when we won St Albans. If we want to replicate the success right across the country, the job our next leader faces is huge. The election review, rightly, didn't pull any punches: it set out in detail the big, fundamental changes that we need ...
A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carré reminds me of the work of three other authors. First, Terry Pratchett's final Discworld novel, Raising Steam.
[IMG: FHDC Ward Grant Application 2020] Folkestone and Hythe District Councillors have up to £3,000 per Councillor they can agree as ward grants during the course of a year. New for 2020 the forms and guidance notes to make an application to a Councillor are online at: There are, clearly, a large number of projects and organisations that could make use of grant funding, and the money is limited. I'd massively prefer if you contact me to discuss any potential application and project before starting to complete the forms - I don't lke to disappoint people, but the nature ...
One of the driving forces for people writing autobiography is the need to slay demons. That was certainly the case with my childhood memoir, Eccles Cakes, whose production was painful but therapeutic. And I suspect that has been equally true for the actor and politician Michael Cashman with his much more substantial book, One of Them [...]
Sun 9th
11:56
Rocks Green Sainsbury's supermarket runs into objections from highways agency on drainage and screen...
Highways England has issued another holding recommendation on granting planning permission for the proposed Sainsbury's store off the A49 at Rocks Green, Ludlow. The objections from the government highways agency are not major, except for its concern that a barrier proposed is not strong enough to prevent vehicles crashing out of the proposed car park onto the A49. These objections will mean that Blackfriars Property Group will have its work cut out to begin work before the winter as it had hoped. The earliest the application can be considered by the Southern Planning Committee is 22 September. It might not ...
On Friday evening BBC4 broadcast a documentary on The Real Thing, the black Liverpool soul and funk band who enjoyed chart success in the 1970s. But Eddie Amoo, whose younger brother was the band's leader, was around in the Merseybeat years - his first band, The Chants, was briefly managed by Brian Epstein. Amoo wrote the remarkable A Man Without a Face, which was a protest song about racism and released as a single in 1968. He once told Alwyn Turner: Man Without a Face ... was a good record for its time. And very heavy, as well. That was ...
It wouldn't be a leadership election if we didn't talk about PR at some point. Layla and Ed have both written for the Electoral Reform Society setting out what they want to see in terms of changing our rubbish voting system. Here are some highlights: Layla Under my leadership, the Liberal Democrats would therefore look to establish a common cross-party statement of support for legislation for PR ahead of the next elections. The aim would be to establish a firm pre-election commitment to PR with support from across different parties. Keir Starmer has voiced his support for a fairer, proportional ...
Sat, 12:56: Anyone who has missed this glorious literary experience - scroll right up to the very top, weeks ago, and read from... https://t.co/7EAjKUPImt Sat, 14:48: A Question of Retribution? by Anthony Blunt https://t.co/QdlMrSuNHm An interesting case of supposed "cancel culture" from forty years ago. Sat, 15:35: Yugoslavia's Implosion: The Fatal Attraction of Serbian Nationalism, by Sonja Biserko https://t.co/Gv81mmYdht Sat, 16:05: RT @igorvolsky: 1/ I just finished reading @NewYorkStateAG's 169 page lawsuit against @NRA and I'm shocked beyond belief at the level of co... Sat, 16:48: Nine months later, this is still a classic tweet. https://t.co/Rftm7whB0m Sat, 20:42: Amy Dillwyn ...
Over in the Guardian Opinion pages, Jonathan Freedland reminds us how it has taken just twelve months for Boris Johnson to create a government of sleaze. The examples he quotes include: Wasting at least £156m of taxpayers' money on 50 million face masks deemed unsuitable for the NHS. They were bought from a private equity firm through a company that had no track record of producing personal protective equipment - or indeed anything for that matter - and that had a share capital of just £100. But this company, Prospermill, had a crucial asset. It was co-owned by one Andrew ...
I've been getting a little frustrated with seeing, via the media, Covid 19 stats that are only broken down by council areas. Sefton Council Logo In my local case the council area is Sefton which is a geographically large/long Borough with numerous diverse and in some cases unconnected communities except that they sit within a creation of the Local Government Boundary Commission. Let's be honest Bootle, Southport and Lydiate, for example, hardly have much in common, so being told that in Sefton Borough the number of positive cases is 'X' in any particular week is almost meaningless. But then a ...
Channel 4 runs a regular political slot and this week it was the turn of our Christine Jardine to highlight an issue close to her heart. Our Home Affairs spokesperson made a passionate case for immigration and why we need to welcome and support immigrants. This was filmed at the height of the pandemic and she did a Zoom interview with a doctor who was working long hours and taking huge risks, yet still faced exorbitant fees and visa stress to be able to work here. You can catch up with the three minute programme here.
i) births and deaths 9 August 1920: birth of Graham Leaman who played four roles in five Old Who stories: the captive Controller in The Macra Terror (1967), Price the communications office in Fury from the Deep (1968), the Grand Marshall of the Ice Warriors in The Seeds of Death (1969), and an un-named Time Lord in Colony in Space (1971) and The Three Doctors (1973). (Some dispute whether it is actually the same Time Lord.) 9 August 1931: birth of Alethea Charlton who plays Hur in An Unearthly Child (First Doctor, 1963) and Edith in The Time Meddler (First ...
Harris Education and Recreation Association is running a short programme of online classes in September. You can enrol for one of the Zoom classes via our website. Enrolment will open at 6pm on 19th August, and close on 26th August. Full class details will be available at www.heradundee.org.
