One of my favourite podcasts, Backlisted, which looks each fortnight at a book that has fallen into neglect, celebrates its fifth birthday with an episode on the four Molesworth books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, which are published in one volume as The Compleet Molesworth. Published between 1953 and 1959 these books are a satire on English prep schools of the period, narrated by the schoolboy Nigel Molesworth. Searle illustrations accentuate Willans' words and introduce a strange humour of their own. No one who has seen his Romans and Gauls or his gerunds will forget them. I read these ...
South Glos is proposing to do some work on the A46, where the road up from Codrington/Westleriegh and the road to the Compass Inn meet it, close to the M4 junction. That has always been a dangerous junction and South Glos want to cut the number of serious accidents there.. Claire Young, and local residents have been working to get the Council to take action.(Picture below of Claire and residents campaigning back in 2018 when South Glos put in temporary lights) Officers have now published their plans: some raised red hatching and a change in speed limit. Here are the ...
You can imagine how much I enjoyed writing Cllr Liz Barrett in the ehadline. I am still ridiculously excited about Cllr Barrett's victory in the Parth City South by-election on Congratulations to Liz Barrett @scotlibdems new councillor for @PerthandKinross Perth City Centre ward a fantastic result and thoroughly deserved pic.twitter.com/rLchGGcSMy — Peter Barrett (@CllrPeterBarret) November 27, 2020 Liz is the second person in her household to be elected a Councillor. Her husband Peter has represented Perth City Centre ward since 2003. We will let him away with getting Liz's ward wrong in his tweet. Liz has written an email to ...
Responding to the Chancellor's announcement that the foreign aid budget will be cut, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran said:"Today the promise of 'Global Britain' became hollow. Shirking away from our global responsibilities by cutting development spending during a worldwide pandemic is short-sighted and wrong. "The Liberal Democrats enshrined the 0.7% in law precisely so it was flexible with the economic reality. By changing the law the Government is breaking its promise to the British people and to the world's poorest. "The Liberal Democrats will always stand up for the life-changing power of UK aid, and I will work ...
Responding to the Chancellor's Spending Review, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:"With the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic, the Chancellor needed to ensure today that no one is left behind. That was the litmus test, and he has failed."Far from a radically new approach to the recovery that tackles deep-seated inequality and builds a new green economy, we have a Government that is failing to support carers, children living in poverty and everyone in need of mental health services." "The Chancellor has also made some unforgivable political choices today. He has chosen to continue to ignore ...
This is the latest post in a series I started a year ago, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia. I started February with a trip to Geneva, and then went to the USA for my usual east coast run, starting ...
I've just accepted an invitation to speak to the UK section of the European Youth Parliament later in mid-December. What a great opportunity it will be, as this once great nation of ours slides into chaos, to reaffirm my belief ... Continue reading →
I thought I would choose Canned Heat's Going Up the Country, which became a sort of anthem for the Woodstock Festival in 1968. That was until I researched it. Because it turns out that it is more or less a cover of a much earlier record: Bull Doze Blues by Henry Thomas, which was recorded in 1928. Wikipedia makes Henry Thomas sound a mysterious figure: His life and career after his last recordings in 1929 have not been chronicled. Although the blues researcher Mack McCormick stated that he saw a man in Houston in 1949 who met Thomas's description, most ...
Disconnection from one's past can be an unsettling experience. Re-establishing the link even more so. In his mid-30s, Kit (Henry Golding) returns to the Saigon (never referred to as Ho Chi Minh City) that he left aged six with his parents and brother as boat people, fleeing the unpleasant likelihood of a Communist re-education camp. [...]
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that's fine, we're grateful for people taking the time to read the site. You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways: 1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there's something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you're an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or ...
Sat, 12:05: The Happy Prince and Other Stories, by Oscar Wilde I'm not actually certain that I would give these stories to a child to read - they are all so very sad. The happiest ending is The Selfish Giant, and even then he dies! #nwbooks https://t.co/lJyxlCHmkU https://t.co/zVbuyEJeFz https://t.co/bMRUvMpaKq Sat, 12:36: RT @jdevans141: @nwbrux Very sensible targets. Meanwhile in England we are about to reopen the pubs and restaurants in over half the countr... Sat, 12:36: RT @conbrunstrom: @nwbrux Nightingale and the Rose is the most gut-wrenchingly bleak and awful. Sat, 12:40: Henry IV Part 2, by William Shakespeare A ...
It turns out that it is not just the UK Government who have questions to answer over the awarding of contracts. Wales on Line reports that Bridgend Council has no record of how it awarded a home insulation contract to a company run by one of its own senior councillors. Investigations into the contract started when complaints came in about poor workmanship on houses in Caerau, near Maesteg whose owner occupiers participated in the scheme, known as Arbed. The subsequent report stated: "Total funding of £315,875 was received by Bridgend Council from the Welsh Government: The funding for both projects ...
Here's my latest piece from the party website: The Liberal Democrat gain this week in Scotland was part of the final contests of the year. Which means we can also tally up the net score for each party during 2020. It's the Lib Dems who come out on top: Liberal Democrats: net 4 seats gained SNP: net 1 seat lost Labour: net 2 seats lost Conservatives: net 2 seats lost That's it for by-elections this year. Just 37 took place, down from 199 last year, and no more set to happen till March. Definitely a missed opportunity in the summer ...
A Pacer at Preston Station The 27th November saw Northern's very last Pacer in service. It left Kirkby Station on Merseyside heading for Wigan following a small ceremony which had been kept quiet due to Covid restrictions. Here's a video of the final departure from You Tube by Kieran's Transport Diaries:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AbmiSDLz14 I've blogged about these unloved diesel units many times particularly with regard to the campaigns to get rid of them. Here's a post of mine from February 2018:- I for one will not be sorry to see the back of them. Buses on railway wheels, sometimes called ...
i) births and deaths 29 November 1942: birth of Michael Craze, who played Ben Jackson, companion of the First and Second Doctors, in 1966-67. 29 November 1971: birth of Naoko Mori, who played Toshiko Sato in the first two series of Torchwood (2006-08) and the Doctor Who episode Aliens of London (Tenth Doctor, 2005) - in fact, in the very first scene fimed for New Who. ii) broadcast anniversaries 29 November 1975: broadcast of second episode of The Android Invasion. The Doctor realises that their surroundings are fake, including the android Sarah. 29 November 1980: broadcast of second episode of ...
I recently received a number of complaints from residents about blocked road gullies in Perth Road east of Harris Academy towards West Park Road. I raised this with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have received the following positive response : "The gully machine operator is going to check these gullies past the cemetery to West Park Road area."
It's difficult to find anyone with more liberal blood running through their veins than Tony Greaves, says an interview in the Yorkshire Post. The Lib Dem peer talks about his career in the Liberal Party and the Liberal Democrats and then gives his view on what the Lib Dems must do now to rebuild: "The party's grassroots operation is nothing like it was 20-25 years ago. "But it is still there in substantial factions, where it exists, and that is what is going to give the party the chance to rebuild. "And if the party doesn't do it that way ...
