Five years. Five years without posting. Oops, that wasn't intended. We've moved house, new desk I've setup with the laptop and a spare monitor--the linux desktop doesn't appear to have survived 6 months in storage, propably fixable, it''s On The List, but nowhere near top. Anyway, going to try to start posting regularly, because, well, Facebook is evil, Twitter sucks and Mastodon is a bit of a loss. So, memes are easy, right? ( long Q&A about cooking ) That was long. Oops, was meant to go to Tesco before it shut, ah well. And the DW markdown editor doesn't ...
GDP figures show need for more radical action from Government Using mock exams won't resolve grade award crisis Welsh Liberal Democrats launch campaign calling for Rishi Sunak not to tax carers COVID bonus GDP figures show need for more radical action from Government Responding to the news that the economy is facing the worst recession in UK history, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said: Ministers must take immediate action to save jobs and livelihoods as the true economic impact of Covid-19 comes to light. The Treasury must explain how it is going to stop mass redundancies when ...
Wed 12th
22:20
Infotagion podcast looks at Russian interference in public and political life in the West
Embed from Getty ImagesIn his first ever on-the-record broadcast interview, Trump-Russia dossier author and ex-MI6 officer Chris Steele joins Damian Collins MP for a special extended edition of the podcast. They discuss the extent of Russian interference in public and political life in the West, and why governments are behind the curve tackling the threat. Joining them is Luke Harding, Guardian journalist and author of the new book Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia's remaking of the West. Dr. Charles Kriel wonders what new methods the Russians might be developing behind the scenes.Listen to this edition of the Infotagion podcast. ...
For more han half a century, Rupert Murdoch has been a sort of Deus ex Machina in Western politics, not so much saving as sinking the forces of reason. He never really got over the fact that his father, an Australian media magnate, died before bequesting him his stable of titles. Instead, Rupert received just [...]
Since May 2019 I've had the pleasure of being one of the Consorts of the Lord Mayor of Bristol. Prior to the Covid lockdown I attended dozens of events with my friend Cllr Jos Clark. At most of them at least one person would ask us what was the difference between the Lord Mayor and [...]
Wed 12th
20:23
From Barrows to Bypass: Excavations at West Cotton, Raunds, Northamptonshire, 1985-1989
Second paragraph of third chapter: Following the early Saxon occupation the area was returned to agriculture, as shown by the cultivation horizon which accumulated over the early Saxon features. Apparently this persisted throughout the middle Saxon period. A single ditch may have formed a field boundary relating to this cultivation which divided the area along a line mid-way between the main palaeochannel and the southern course of the Cotton Brook. In the north-western corner of the site faint linear "features" may represent plough-furrows aligned parallel with the suggested field boundary.Back in the autumn of 1985, when I was 18, I ...
Please see below a list of planning applications received in the last month. Please just let us know if you have any queries. Single storey side extension 42 Beeston Grove, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6UFRef. No: 65785 | Received: Wed 29 Jul 2020 | Validated: Tue 11 Aug 2020 | Status: RegisteredSingle storey extension at side Contacted agent to request response re: ext of time (12/08) 405 Middleton Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M24 4QZRef. No: 65776 | Received: Tue 28 Jul 2020 | Validated: Tue 28 Jul 2020 | Status: RegisteredSingle storey rear extension and raised patio 13 Pine Grove, Prestwich, Manchester, ...
Essential Metrolink maintenance work taking place in August is meaning some temporary disruption to city centre services. Market Street and Shudehill stops are closed and trams will not run between Victoria and Piccadilly Gardens for approximately nine days, from Saturday 8 to Sunday 16 August inclusive. Services between St Peter's Square and Piccadilly Gardens (towards Piccadilly) will be unaffected. The work will take place on the corner of High Street and Market Street outside of Debenhams and access to businesses will be maintained at all times.
Residents are being invited to walk or run 10k and be in with a chance to win prizes. The September challenge has been set by the Bury Live Well Service and is open to everyone in the borough aged over 16. Top prize is a six-month Active Lifestyles Membership with Bury Leisure, with four prizes of free entry to the Run For All Bury 10k race next year. To participate in the My Bury 10K event, simply complete a 10K circuit (walking or running, or a combination of both) within Bury anytime during the month of September and post/tweet your ...
The figures from the Office of National Statistics today are startling. It was widely expected that Britain would be declared to be in a recession (technically two consecutive quarters of negative growth) but no-one expected the April-June performance to show a fall in GDP of 20.4% — the worst among the G7 economies. Twice as [...]
Wed 12th
16:41
20 years after Parliament votes for online imprint rules, government moves to implement them
It's eleven years since I wrote about "the Government's farcical slowness over updating election imprint rules" to deal with the internet.
There's a great quote from Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the US Congress: "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring in a folding chair." Maybe it was the combination of the heat and the Ben and Jerry's ice cream sandwich I'd just eaten, but when the news broke last night that Kamala Harris has been selected to be Joe Biden's running mate, I whooped and woo-hoo-ed. A lot. Only four women have ever been named by a major US party as a presidential or vice-presidential nominee, and none of them have been elected. ...
Students and teachers are often disappointed with some or all of their grades, and this will always be so. Don't let us be consoled by this and dismiss the anxiety over grades as a temporary, COVID driven problem requiring only an immediate, pragmatic solution. I was for several years in the early 2000s, a senior A level examiner. I set papers, wrote mark schemes and participated in grade reviews before grades were published. I participated in meetings that manipulated mark schemes after students had completed papers but before they were marked – also in the meetings which manipulated grade boundaries ...
"In the past two decades, the list of British calamities, policy misjudgements, and forecasting failures has been eye-watering: the disaster of Iraq, the botched Libyan intervention in 2011, the near miss of Scottish independence in 2014, the woeful handling of Britain's divorce from the European Union from 2016 onward. As one senior British government adviser put it to me, 'We've had our arse handed to us recently.'" Britain's performance on Covid-19 has been poor, but Tom McTague argues that we were failing long before the virus struck. "The problem is that the Party's democracy is performative, not real. We have ...
A couple of weeks ago I took part in a virtual conference with a Tory Minister. You'd think she came from another Country or even, for that matter, another planet. Wherever it was she came from the Government had protected ... Continue reading →
Dear Lib Dem Mum, My local party is moderately successful (we have some councillors but not an MP) and I want to help out. There are some great people in my local party, both elected to public office and on the executive committee, and I really want to help further the cause of liberalism. However, the only thing they ever want me to do is deliver leaflets, and I am not physically capable of doing a delivery round due to mobility problems. What can I do to show them that I can be useful in other ways? Frustrated, Yorkshire Dear ...
Stephen Williams asks - do the Tories really expect us to cross this to get from the park and ride to the bus stop? They have to be jokingRemember all the press hype about a new park and ride by the Council office on Badminton Road? the one without a bus stop, or safe crossing to a bus stop? S Glos say they can't take buses actually to the park and ride, leaving people to run across the A432 to and from the bus stop opposite..... They blame the bus company. So the Lib Dem Focus Team tackled the bus ...
Tue, 12:56: RT @frank_cranmer: @qikipedia @dnpocklington The Court of Appeal of England & Wales refused to allow a baby girl to be named 'Cyanide': Re... Tue, 16:05: RT @RevDaniel: I don't know why she blocked me. I did what she asked. https://t.co/B1oRElByTi Tue, 18:42: August 2007 books https://t.co/4LdSInKBES Tue, 18:45: Subtweet: He already knows all the answers. Stop confusing him with, y'know, actual facts. Tue, 20:41: RT @File_770: Retro-Hugo Superman Correction https://t.co/SpObNaD0pZ Tue, 20:48: RT @Danika_Lyle: if I could give any advice to my 8 year old self? stop talking abt how much u like owls all the time. Ur ...
Wed 12th
10:04PODCAST - Compulsory voting: how it happened in Australia, and could it happen in the UK?
Time for an international turn on Never Mind The Bar Charts, with Judith Brett, author of From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia got compulsory voting.
"They think it's all over" - the crowds have flocked to beaches and beauty spots. Pubs and restaurants have reopened albeit with social distancing and face masks - Life is slowly getting back to normal. Come September, children will go back to school. The Government's strategy is to engineer an economic and a public health recovery and deliver Brexit - a massive economic restructuring exercise. Punchy three-word injunctions, a time honoured oratorial stand-by are back in vogue. I use 3WI's myself – as you may have noticed this includes the title of my piece. 3WI's ring a bell. I just ...
Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece questioning a proposal for managing the Party through a Steering Group, pointing out that, based on what I had been led to understand, it appeared to duplicate existing bodies while adding another step between those in charge and those to whom they are accountable. Subsequently, there were reassurances given, which I think were reasonable. But today, I have another question. When the Liberal Democrats were formed, it was said that it was a merger of one Party whose motto was "never trust the members" with another whose motto was "never trust the leadership". ...
Some good news on the civil liberties for a change, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the use of automatic facial recognition (AFR) technology by South Wales Police is unlawful. As the BBC report, this ruling follows a legal challenge brought by civil rights group Liberty and Ed Bridges, 37, from Cardiff: The court upheld three of the five points raised in the appeal. It said there was no clear guidance on where AFR Locate could be used and who could be put on a watchlist, a data protection impact assessment was deficient and the force did not take ...
Wed 12th
08:30Whoniversaries 12 August: John Nathan-Turner, Nev Fountain, Anne Tirard, Alec Wallis, The Middle Men
12 August 1947: birth of John Nathan Turner, producer of Doctor Who for the last nine seasons of the classic run, starting with the Fourth Doctor's final season and continuing for the whole of the last three Doctors of Old Who. Controversial and colourful, like him or loathe him, nobody can dispute the depth of his influence on the show. I recommend Richard Marson's biography. 12 August 1969: birth of Nev Fountain, author of many tie-in media and Nicola Bryant's other half. 12 August 2003: death of Anne Tirard, who played Locusta the poisoner in the story we now call ...
I am grateful to the residents who highlighted to me at the weekend damage to one of the swings in the playpark at Lochee Park. I have reported this to environment management at the City Council asking for a repair and a safety check at the other swings here too.
