What is Paul Marshall, the cash if not the brains behind The Orange Book, doing with his money now? Solomon Hughes in the Morning Star writes about the new right-wing websites and magazines that heve recently appeared: UnHerd's "sugar daddy" is Paul Marshall, an investor with an estimated £600m fortune. Marshall used to be a big Lib Dem donor. He pushed the Lib Dems to more free-market Orange Book politics, which led them to their coalition with the Tories. Marshall broke with the Lib Dems over Brexit, which he firmly supported, but his support for UnHerd suggests he still wants ...
I blogged about the 1948 film No Room at the Inn the other day. Even when I was watching it, I noticed parallels between it and a better-known British film from that year: Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol. Both involve a death by falling down a staircase that was a murder in the original story. In The Fallen Idol that was Graham Greene's short story The Basement Room and in No Room at the Inn it was the play by Joan Temple. The above paragraph may contain spoilers. Both have a performance by a woman actor that brilliantly captures a ...
Last week I wrote of my own emerging awareness of ethnicity and discrimination, awareness from childhood. This immediately elicited a parody on social media, which I personally found hilarious – imitation, even parody is a form of flattery; however, I did wonder whether any other contributions to Lib Dem Voice would be met with such a response, so swiftly were they written by someone from a well represented or powerful group, though you might well believe that this is more likely in that case. I leave it to you to speculate on whether this is part of the a great ...
Today I received an email with the final finished version of this, so thought today would be a good day to tell people about it. Forgotten Lives is an unofficial Doctor Who anthology, not licensed by the BBC but with ... Continue reading →
Where would I be without the Shropshire Star? So I am pleased to see the judges have given it today's Headline of the Day Award.
"A very deserving congratulations to our first winners of today's Pink News Awards - Layla Moran takes Politician of the Year for being an open and visible role model" - Pink News
Wafting through the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and across the parade ground of military headquarters in Rawalpindi is an interesting political rumour: Will Pakistan be the next Islamic country to recognise Israel? If it does it will not be so much a feather in the Israeli-American cap as a full-sized Native American war bonnet. Only Saudi recognition would beat it as a diplomatic coup. But is the rumour likely to become a reality? Diplomats say that such a move is possible. But set against the brick wall of political realities it is highly improbable. For a start, the political, ...
Fri 4th
13:10
As we begin our first weekend in Shropshire after lockdown, what is the role of Covid-19 Marshals an...
Is a Scotch egg a substantial meal in a pub? Maybe not. Serve it with chips, it might be substantial. Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps does not count. But a plate of posh crisps with sides might just be substantial meal in premises that have "class and calibre". Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin are both in Tier 2, High Alert areas. Alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. Who enforces these regulations? The police have a role. And step forward the new phenomenon of Covid Secure Marshalls. Covid Marshalls for short. They are called ...
Thu, 12:56: Brilliant books. Let Kelly Link @haszombiesinit tell you why. https://t.co/PH9wj8SFHU Thu, 17:42: 'with all faults', by David Low An unexciting autobiographical account of running a second-hand bookshop in Charing Cross Road in the middle of last century. Published in Tehran in 1973 for some reason. #nwbooks https://t.co/SYnIUUa8Qe https://t.co/noSiYLeuag https://t.co/ZADH2EwzOk Thu, 17:44: Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography Sladen comes across as a modest person, driven by her instinctive desire to be an actor, prepared to tell of her bad experiences as well as the good. Moving foreword by David Tennant. #nwbooks https://t.co/8MQIwmnoCw https://t.co/qLsfTWCyje https://t.co/YtYCGWZrb9 Thu, 17:44: Interpreting Irish History: The ...
if we are not yet up to the wire on completing a post-Brexit deal with the EU then we must surely be only days away from it, sp what exactly is Boris Johnson's government playing at? Well according to the Independent the Prime Minister is seeking to disrupt the talks further by pressing ahead with new legislation to overwrite the Brexit deal signed by Boris Johnson earlier this year: With less than four weeks to go until a no-deal, Jacob Rees-Mogg on Thursday confirmed that ministers will reinsert controversial clauses removed by the House of Lords from their Internal Market ...
At the English Council tomorrow (Saturday 5th Dec) Callum Robertson (incoming joint Chair of the Young Liberals ) and I will be proposing a motion which seeks some substantial changes in the way the English Party is run. That sentence probably prompts questions among LDV readers: what is the English Council and how does it relate to the rest of the Party? In most of the Party - local associations, regional parties and the Scots and Welsh State parties and the Federal Party the governance structure is based on One Member One Vote, but the English Party has a system ...
broadcast anniversaries 4 December 1965: broadcast of "The Traitors", fourth episode of the story we now call The Daleks' Master Plan. OMG, Katarina gets killed by a mad space criminal!!!!! Last year we had Susan leaving, this year we have a companion dying - what will they do next year, try and change the lead actor or something? (Also debut of Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom, killing off her brother Bret Vyon who was played by Nicholas Courtney.) 4 December 2003: webcast of fourth episode of Scream of the Shalka. The Doctor reclaims the Tardis, but there's a Shalka in ...
I often cycle along Sandy Lane/Mickering Lane in Aughton on my daily rides and as I peddle under its railway bridge I sometimes wonder about the days before the Liverpool – Preston rail corridor was severed at Ormskirk. And then out of the blue I was recently offered some old railway photos by the Maghull family of a Mr Reston who used to work for British Railways and who had sadly passed on. As a lifelong railway enthusiast I was of course delighted to accept the offer and I've been working my way through them. Most of the locations, across ...
Many thanks to West End Tennis Club for this fabulous update : "Our Courts at the West End Tennis Club are now all re-surfaced, pristine and smooth; and we have our new accessible pathway in place. It looks amazing. The timing could not have been more fitting, as the courts were available very shortly after the release of Lockdown in July, and have seen non-stop action ever since. Fortunately, tennis is a sport people have been able to enjoy despite Covid, and with appropriate measures in place, the Club has never been busier. We are delighted to have continued our ...
