The undoubted highlight of this week's by-elections was a magnificent victory for ALDC's very own Thom Campion (now Cllr Thom Campion!) who held Castle ward on Newcastle Council after a hard fought campaign with an impressive majority of over 500 and 42% of the vote. Congratulations Thom! Elsewhere Lib Dem candidate Nick Brailsford finished a good second place in a by-election to Wingerworth Parish Council, while Marc Hadley came a very close third in a three-way contest in Penzance Promenade ward on Penzance PC. Elsewhere there were a number of district and parish by-elections in North East Derbyshire that went ...
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. My exciting work travel this month was to a conference in Dubrivnik, made rather more exciting when I got trapped by ...
Current Felaheen, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood The Bloodline Feud, by Charles Stross Last books finished The Return of the Discontinued Man, by Mark Hodder - did not finish Blood of Atlantis, by Simon Forward Hurricane Fever, by Tobias S. Buckell The Man Who Walked Through Walls, by Marcel Aymé The Ruby's Curse, by Alex Kingston Rose, by Jon Arnold The Massacre, by James Cooray Smith Next books Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, by Rebecca Hall "The Saturn Game", by Poul Anderson
Thu, 12:56: RT @ArleneFosterUK: Can't tell you how much I was willing the last wee fella on! #resilience #determination https://t.co/V3ACj39uZS Thu, 16:05: A Lesser-Known Photo of an Iconic 9/11 Moment Brings Shades of Gray to the Day's Memory https://t.co/nAUMOQlBUx Grim but fascinating. Thu, 17:11: British Council to shut offices in Europe and beyond amid financial crisis https://t.co/87V5uMlhls Global Britain latest: Cultural and diplomatic institution to close offices in 11 countries from Belgium to the United States. Thu, 18:39: The Primal Urge and Cryptozoic!, by Brian Aldiss https://t.co/foQ6FVOWTg Thu, 19:30: RT @Gooseberry62: @nwbrux Small island. Thu, 19:35: @purves_peter I don't know ...
The Guardian reports on research by the Health Foundation, which has found that scrapping the £1,000-a-year boost to universal credit next month will trigger mental illness and poorer health for thousands of people, and hit the sickest areas of the UK hardest. They also reveal that the UK Government has carried out no formal impact assessment of the dropping of the £20-a-week UC increase because it represents a return to "business as usual": The Health Foundation charity said areas such as Blackpool, Hartlepool, Wolverhampton, Peterborough and parts of east London - already suffering some of the worst health outcomes - ...
It is World Suicide Prevention Day. Tracey and Richard Huffer farm high on a hill in south west Shropshire. Tracey is also a health professional. Along with myself and four others, we are Lib Dem councillors in a very rural area. Sometimes it feels we can't sit down for a chat without mentioning the "s" word. Someone else has taken their life. And it is mostly younger people, mostly men. This article reflects how on the growing problem of suicide in rural areas. Richard was at the livestock market selling sheep recently. I was leaning against the railings at the ...
When tax rises switch from being theoretical to real, it's common for public opinion to shift. But this in YouGov's latest poll is ...
It is World Suicide Prevention Day. Tracey and Richard Huffer farm high on a hill in south west Shropshire. Tracey is also a health professional. Along with myself and four others, we are Lib Dem councillors in a very rural area. Sometimes it feels we can't sit down for a chat without mentioning the "s" word. Someone else has taken their life. And it is mostly younger people, mostly men. This article reflects how on the growing problem of suicide in rural areas and the struggles councillors have to get help in tackling the problem. Richard was at the livestock ...
Residents have contacted me about the state of the former and now derelict garage site at the top end of Benvie Road, which is in private ownership. The trees are needing cut back as they now overhang adjacent properties and some of the fencing has fallen and needs repaired. I have therefore written to the owner requesting that he takes steps to address these concerns.
Embed from Getty ImagesSatire is everywhere. I've been known to write it myself. But what does it achieve? Peter Cook, the godfather of the satire boom of the Sixties, was a realist on this question. He once said his own Establishment Club had been inspired by "those wonderful Berlin cabarets which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the second world war". And the most notable achievement of 30 years of Have I Got News For You has been to help make Boris Johnson prime minister.
Writing in the Evening Standard, Andy Burnham puts his finger on the central issue in funding social care:Boris may have introduced a cap on care costs but, at £86,000, it is still a huge sum of money. And the reason it is so high is because the Tories have stuck with the approach where only those who need care should have to pay. So the Tories are in effect sticking with a "dementia tax" policy which will still make people face the indignity of draining their parents' bank accounts to pay for often sub-standard care.And he proposes a solution that ...
