I went to Whickham this morning to deliver my latest Whickham South and Sunniside Focus. Unlike the past two weeks, today we had sunny weather, bringing people out into their front gardens. This always slows me down as I end up stopping to talk to residents. So, the issues raised today by people with me included some recent casework, the latest news from my smallholding, where's my wheelbarrow
Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might have done well to remember the experience of Theresa May before he called a snap election two years before he needed to. In 2017, with soaring poll ratings, May decided to go the polls to get a bigger majority to neutralise the more excitable Brexiteer wing of her party. Pride came before a fall as she ended the night on June 8th with no majority at all. The campaign was hers to lose and she did that in style. Her claim to bring strong and stable government was in tatters after a u-turn ...
This is the latest post in a series I started in late 2019, 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. The BBC commissioned a piece from me that I am really proud of - outside my usual area of commentary, but ...
On Thursday one of my residents contacted me to ask where he could drop some stuff for the Afghan Refugees coming to Liverpool. I replied, "drop them off at my house because I've got some stuff to take as well". ... Continue reading →
Sat, 12:56: RT @NewYorker: The Texas abortion law is not only a radical departure from convention, it's a repudiation of due process. A more judicious... Sat, 14:48: Why Texas Republicans' Abortion Ban Could Backfire - The Atlantic https://t.co/RizMVOE9kS Most American voters have quietly understood for a long time that most politicians who claim to be "pro-life" are hypocrites. These politicians do not really mean what they say, or anyway,... Sat, 14:54: Frog. https://t.co/MIGeJw0ifL Sat, 16:05: Letters from an American https://t.co/6pxwA7WsL6 The Texas abortion law and civil rights. Sat, 17:00: Shakespeare in Love https://t.co/64P7l0RszB Sat, 18:26: RT @BenRosher: This is the ...
Mary Reid's article about the Paralympics is a beautifully presented snap shot of where we are as a nation and the trail blazing role this country has played in changing global attitudes to disability. Changing mainstream culture rarely happens organically or quickly and so often it is seemingly "small" things that get noticed and have the most effect. When compounded, lots of "small" things can become a game changing culture shift. The calling out of casual sexism, casual racism, casual homophobia over the past two decades plus, has led to an awareness of the responsibility we have as individuals to ...
Controversy about the Tories Elections Bill continues to grow with the Observer reporting on an open letter from charities including Save the Children, independent campaign groups such as Greenpeace, and the trades union movement accusing the government of trying to rig future elections by stifling opposition and deterring participation. The bill, which will confer new powers on Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove over the hitherto independent Electoral Commission, which oversees elections and regulates political finance: The government says the bill has been drawn up to ensure "that UK elections remain secure, fair, modern, inclusive and transparent". But its many critics ...
Talking Pictures TV is always discussed by the press in terms of nostalgia, but the old British films it specialises in are not as tame and twee as we are told. Matthew Sweet once wrote: Observe, say, 1950s Britain through its top-of-the-bill films and it emerges as a land populated by pipe-smoking, twentysomething men who drive vintage Bentleys, usually with Muriel Pavlow in the back. Explore it from the bottom of the bill and you'll encounter something different: tracts of featureless industrial estates, a world in which Wolseley police cars clatter under railway bridges in Croydon and mid-price actors occupy ...
From Tomorrow's World, a long-running BBC show that showcased scientific and technological developments in prime time.
To nation build or not to nation build? That is the question vexing Western capitals in the wake of humiliating defeat and failure in Afghanistan. Is it nobler to continue to attempt to export/impose Western political and cultural values to the rest of the world or does Afghanistan spell the end of a policy which has dominated foreign affairs since the end of World War Two? When NATO forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 they had clear goal: Remove the ruling Taliban from power so that the country ceased to be a base for international terrorism. But then the policy ...
Residents will recall that I recently highlighted the potholes on the road at the south end of Union Place. I highlighted this to the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now received the following helpful response : "An order has been raised for pothole repairs to be carried out."
Sun 5th
06:23
"Give us back our Youth Centre!" Protest at Ludlow Youth Centre Tuesday 3.30pm. Please come
Shropshire Council has absurdly restricted indoor youth activities of Ludlow Youth Centre to three people. That is of course impractical as it means indoor youth sessions are restricted to one young person and the required two youth workers. This is a move to close the Youth Centre to youth activities. It is beginning to look like the endgame for the Youth Centre. Shropshire Council has already transferred the music room and breakout rooms to commercial and other services. Now, it is putting obstacles in the way of reopening the building to youth use. We are calling on friends and users ...
