Ministers must put energy into fixing test and trace to "get a grip" on virus PM must fix the test and trace system Ministers must put energy into fixing test and trace to "get a grip" on virus Following today's briefing from Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, warning of "significant rates of transmission" of coronavirus in parts of the UK, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Munira Wilson said: People right across the country will be alarmed to hear that, despite the heartbreaking sacrifices of these past six months, we are now facing a ...
It's 1959 and, says the blurb on the British Film Institute site, Beryl Reid is on at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham, a trolley bus passes the Palais de Danse and the Christmas tree is present and correct in Old Market Square. Most intriguing of all are the Nottingham characters posing for the camera at the start of this amateur reel shot by local filmmaker F. Pole. A forgotten fragment of 1950s life preserved for posterity. Click on the image above to view this film on the BFI site.
Yesterday I posted my answers to a short questionnaire about some of my favourite and least favourite reading. One of the books I mentioned was Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall, and today I found this comment on that post: Waugh's "Decline and Fall" is a good choice. I once used it in the Commons debate on the Academies Bill to general mystification as no-one who would have read it could have missed the irony of that particular proposal. Philistines ! "The Bill suggests that simply calling schools academies without the dosh will work some special magic. I am personally intrigued ...
Second paragraph of third chapter of Book One: The Boroughs:He could remember how he'd got out of the life, the business, the proverbial 'Twenty-five Thousand Nights', as he'd heard it referred to. Far as Freddy was concerned, it might have happened yesterday. He'd been under the arches down Foot Meadow, sleeping out the way he did back then, when he'd been woke up sudden. It was like he'd heard a bang that woke him up, or like he'd just remembered there was something that was happening that morning that he'd better be alert for. He'd just come awake with such ...
In an early episode of the American cartoon sitcom Family Guy, the central characters are in their sitting room experiencing a case of spontaneous speech synchronization – they keep saying the same things at the same time. The sketch ends with them all spontaneously saying the name of the same person: "Ruth Bader Ginsburg". The joke worked because Justice Ginsburg was someone who everyone knew, but rarely talked about. Like any good lawyer and judge, her late career was marked by a fight for fairness, equanimity, and rapport – values hard to come by in an age of increasing political ...
Gareth Roberts, Liberal Democrat Leader of the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames (LBRUT), tells York Membery about the challenges he's faced in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, the specific Lib Dem approach he's sought to pursue, and his misgivings about the Johnson government's response to the pandemic... How has the LBRUT coped with the fallout from the pandemic? Reasonably well. Every local authority has been hit in one form or another but in terms of keeping infections down, limiting the number of deaths in the borough, keeping residents and businesses supported and, vitally, keeping residents informed we've performed well. ...
I had a phone call yesterday from my good friend and former Maghull Councillor Roy Connell to tell me that his friend of many years John Kitson had died. I met John just the once myself and the link below outlines the circumstances:- I don't think that anyone involved in Lydiate Parish Council from the 1980's onwards recalls John due to him being a councillor back in the late 1960's/early 1970's but never the less I feel it important to acknowledge his work for the community even though it was a long time ago. If you've clicked on the ...
Sun, 12:56: RT @felixmlarkin: This by @FrankmcnallyIT made me laugh out loud over breakfast. And we all need a laugh in Dublin today! https://t.co/Zh... Sun, 13:48: "The government may have the brute power to seek to make the governed comply with the law but not the legitimacy to insist. That is quite a loss for any government. And that is what was thrown out of the car window on that journey back from Barnard Castle." https://t.co/fWYMbqhlAY Sun, 14:48: RT @vanitaguptaCR: "I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs ...
So, having unexpectedly gotten myself elected to be Vice-Chair of my Branch of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils, I am also a member of the County Board, which is a bit of a step up for the Chair of a small, albeit perfectly formed, Parish Council. And that means that I have to take it rather more seriously than I might have done hitherto. For me, a key task when joining an experienced and knowledgeable group on a committee is to find out exactly what its role is, make sure you understand the rules, and acquaint yourself with the ...
Mon 21st
09:15
I'm not a COVID sceptic, but there must be no more free passes for this incompetent government
I'm not a COVID-sceptic. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I am willing to accept that the government needs powers to fight the virus. But it's time to face up to the fact that the opposition has given Boris Johnson more than enough room. There should be no more free passes to restrict our day-to-day freedoms while his band of incompetents are in charge. As much as nearly everybody I know accepts collective action and the need to build consensus, we must also strongly oppose more unchecked powers. The record is pretty clear and it has led to thousands of unnecessary ...
Whatever the rights & wrongs (in recycling terms) of Sefton Council indroducing a 4th wheelie bin per household the issue is one that has many Sefton folk hot under the collar about, indeed some folks have been asking me (I'm a Lydiate Parish Councillor) to explain to them why it's happening. My understanding is that Sefton Council's leaders must beleive there's a good reason to separate out glass bottles and jars from other recycling materials which presently all go into the Borough's brown wheelie bins like paper, cardboard, plastic, tins etc. It must be a good reason, or at least ...
Surprise, surprise, the Guardian reports on the view of one technology expert that Dominic Cummings' lockdown travels and the exams fiasco could have contributed to dooming the government's Covid contact-tracing app before it even launches. The app, which is due to launch in England and Wales on Thursday 24 September, will use the bluetooth signal in mobile phones to track close and sustained contact between users and then warn those who may have been exposed to an infectious person that they should self-isolate. But Imogen Parker, the head of policy at the tech thinktank Ada Lovelace Institute, has cast doubts ...
i) births and deaths 21 September 1960: birth of Sue Vertue, producer of The Curse of Fatal Death, daughter of Terry Nation's agent Beryl Vertue and married to later Who show-runner Stephen Moffatt. 21 September 2010: death of Geoffrey Burgon, who composed the memorable incidental music for Terror of the Zygons and The Seeds of Doom, and also the music for Monty Python's Life of Brian and much else besides. For his birthday I linked to the Terror of the Zygons music; here's The Seeds of Doom. ii) broadcast anniversaries 21 September 1968: broadcast of second episode of The Mind ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2020 Strawberrybank - closed until Wednesday 23 September for 5 working days for wall maintenance works. Riverside Esplanade - off-peak nearside lane closure on Thursday 24 September for Scottish Water ironwork repair.
