Many years ago, wandering the streets of West Kensington, I came across what had clearly been an important public building. The next time I stayed with my Liberator friend Stewart Rayment, who had books on such things, I discovered that it had been the headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank. So important was this building, it had its own railway service - an unadvertised working from Clapham Junction to Kensington Olympia and back. Jago Hazzard tells its story in this video. You can support his videos throufj his Patreon page. An earlier video posted on this blog shows that ...
Fri 24th
17:53
Why our new policy on extending the £20 Universal Credit to the legacy benefits is important
On Sunday morning Conference agreed to not only make the £20 a week Universal Credit uplift permanent but to also extend it to the legacy benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseekers Allowance. When the £20 uplift for Universal Credit was introduced it was stated that about half of claimants were on Universal Credit and half still on the legacy benefits. It will cost about the same to extend this uplift to those on the legacy benefits as it did to implement for those on Universal Credit. Most of these people on legacy benefits then are still on ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:But even knowing this, I had no all-consuming desire to commit words to paper. I'm an action gal, not a pen-pusher. I wrote my first book just so all of time and space wouldn't get ripped apart - the book already existed, you see, so not to write it would be a paradox. Melody Malone: Private Detective in Old New York Town was me telling the story of events I'd lived through - the time when the Doctor lost my mother and father for ever. The decision to give myself a hardboiled alter ego was therefore ...
Current Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson The Wych Elm, by Tana French Last books finished Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, eds. Zelda Knight & Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls, by Matt Ruff Great Glowing Coils of the Universe, by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor The Rain-Soaked Bride, by Guy Adams Retour sur Aldébaran, Épisode 2, by Leo Retour sur Aldébaran, Épisode 3, by Leo Kipps, by H. G. Wells 4.50 from Paddington, by Agatha Christie Next books John Quincy Adams: American Visionary, by Fred Kaplan Time Must ...
Over the summer the party's Federal Policy Committee has been thinking hard about our programme of future policy development, with a firm eye on attracting voters to support us, and the FPC has now approved the creation of three policy working groups. One will look at affordable housing, sustainable communities and development. A second will focus on social care and disability and the third on early years education and childcare in England. The FPC is seeking applications from members to join the groups. You should apply by 5 October. The prime role of all three groups will be to develop ...
The biggest planning decision in Shropshire Council's history is edging towards becoming a scandal. I would not be surprised if it ended up in court. One of the reasons councillors originally rejected the application for 1,075 homes was because of the increased traffic pressure on local roads, especially the Gaskell Arms Junction in Much Wenlock. Now we learn that a crucial report on traffic impact on the Gaskell Arms Junction was not made available by Shropshire Council to committee members and the public before the meeting, even though it was commissioned to inform the planning committee. It is unacceptable that ...
Thu, 17:11: Dan Savage Revolutionized Sex. Then the Revolution Came for Him. What does he believe now? https://t.co/VjvYRs0PEr Fascinating profile. Thu, 18:04: March 2013 books https://t.co/4RfLpc804q Thu, 19:01: First indoor in-person event! (@ Renaissance Brussels Hotel - @renbrussels in Ixelles, Bruxelles, BE-BRU) https://t.co/17uuv14dUV Fri, 09:38: First train was 30 mins delayed, connection running 10 mins late, so overall that will be a 2 hour commute this morning... (@ Gare d'Ottignies - @sncb in Ottignies, Walloon Brabant) https://t.co/NjYJmceczE Fri, 10:45: RT @GeorgePeretzQC: Delighted to have contributed to this piece by @pmdfoster, in the excellent company of @CSBarnard24 and @SirJJQC. https...
Did our Leader Ed Davey in Conference, and can we as members on the doorsteps, explain a distinctly Liberal point of view? Ed told us we should say that we stand for a fair deal, and are decent politicians who care about you. We perhaps confirmed that at Conference with the passage particularly of the F24 motion, A Fairer, Greener, More Caring Society, which was built on the Themes policy paper. Liberalism is certainly not populism, but we Lib Dems do incline to believe that a large proportion of the British public share our moderate, centrist views, together with our ...
Following the selections of Bobby Dean and Zoe Franklin comes news of a third Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate selection: I'm delighted to lead the @LibDems campaign to win Cities of London and Westminster at the next general election. Thanks to the local party for choosing me and to colleagues at HQ for their support. — Edward Lucas (@edwardlucas) September 24, 2021
Reluctantly, I have registered with the NHS App and got myself a covid passport because the Labour-run Welsh Government insists that I cannot attend Swans games without it. The registration process was both bizarre and unsettling, requiring me to record a selfie video reading out four letters to enable authentication. Is this really acceptable and why are Welsh Labour backing up the Tories in this potential data-breach minefield? Are Labour Ministers comfortable with the lack of transparency behind contracts and data storage involved in this process? The Guardian reports that undisclosed companies are analysing facial data collected by the NHS ...
Nurses, care home staff and other health and social care workers will pay over £900 million more in tax under Boris Johnson's increase to National Insurance, new research reveals. Analysis by the House of Commons Library commissioned by the Liberal Democrats estimates that those working in health and social care will pay 12% of the £7.4 billion expected to be raised from employees through the tax rise. The estimate also doesn't include those working in health and social care who are self-employed, meaning the real figure is likely to be even higher. The Liberal Democrats said this showed the government ...
It's been a year since I somewhat unexpectedly became Vice Chair of the Mid Suffolk South group of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils, and last night saw the election cycle come around to reset. It is occasionally hard to believe that it's been a whole year but... In truth, there wasn't a huge rush to challenge me. After all, the job of Vice Chair is quite undemanding, but the Chair of the County Association was kind enough to say that I'd added value as the County's representative on the National Assembly of the National Association of Local Councils, which ...
Six principal authority council by-elections this week. Unusually, half of them were Liberal Democrat defences. Helped by that, it's yet another week with a full slate of Liberal Democrat candidates. First up, commiserations to Anne Pallett: BY-ELECTION RESULT Soham North, East Cambridgeshire District Council Con: 484 Lib Dem: 369 Lab: 71 Green: 28 Con GAIN from Lib Dem A tough loss. Commiserations to our candidate, Anne Pallett. pic.twitter.com/9Sww2G69Nt — ALDC (@ALDC) September 23, 2021
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water investigation works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Nethergate (westbound between West Marketgait and South Tay Street), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Tuesday 28 September 2021 for one day. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available via West Marketgait / Hawkhill / Perth Road / Nethergate. For further information contact 433082. Executive Director ...
The sooner we get Lord Bonkers back into action the better, if you ask me. And when I read this entry I was hopeful of doing so. "You should have stood down in more seats" At the count I also met my old friends Freddie and Fiona, those ultimate Liberal Democrat insiders. They were full of their plans for a 'Progressive Alliance'. "All we need do," said the latter, "is change the Labour Party constitution, have all the parties agree a common manifesto and then get them to stand down wherever we think they should." I reminisced that the Liberal ...
Fri 24th
00:14
Independent panel says Keith Vaz should be ashamed of his behaviour towards Commons clerk
Embed from Getty ImagesBecause of the background of his victim, the Belfast Telegraph has the fullest report of today's findings against Keith Vaz, the former Labour MP for Leicester East. The newspaper says: A former MP bullied a member of parliamentary staff in a "hostile, sustained, (and) harmful" way, a report has found. An independent panel said former Labour MP for Leicester East MP Keith Vaz bullied and harassed Northern Ireland woman Jenny McCullough, who has waived her right to anonymity, to such an extent that she left her career in the House of Commons. And the panel said Mr ...
