As many Conservatives feared, the government's fiasco over the Owen Paterson affair is giving traction to accusations of "Tory sleaze". You can argue whether Mr Paterson's conduct actually merits this description, but a fair appreciation of the facts matters little in this kind of rough and tumble – a rough and tumble that Conservatives are ... Continue reading If Labour want to capitalise on Tory sleaze they need a political alliance
Less than a week to go for Hugo voting, later than usual this year for reasons we are all very familiar with. This will be my second last post on this year's finalists. I'm not a fan of the Best Series category. I feel it's importanf that the Hugo Awards represent the best in the genre of the previous year. With the Best Series final ballot this year, we are being asked to judge between a series that started in 2009 (October Daye), four recent trilogies (one of which has some associated short fiction) and a series of novellas capped ...
Second paragraph of third chapter of Splinters and the Impolite President:"I need to have a word with you," Coach Prince said. "It's about your linemates for the tournament."Second paragraph of third chapter of Splinters and the Wolves of Winter:"First," said Elsa, "a shooting challenge. Second, a skating challenge. You have to pick different players for each. The overall winner gets a medallion. What's that for? Later." She bounced the puck high in the air, spun round on her skates as it arced above her, caught it perfectly on the blade of her stick, and pointed with her stick at the ...
The other day I received by post a booklet titled 'Steaming Back To Kirkby Loco – Life on the Lines in the days of Steam – At Kirkby in Ashfield Loco Shed'. The booklet has been written and published this year by David Amos and Keith Murray. Here's the front cover:- As a Kirkby lad by birth (I lived there until I was 6) I found the booklet very interesting and informative. My understanding is that my Uncle Ken Calladine (on my Mother's side of the family) was both an engine driver and he worked, at least for some of ...
Tue, 12:00: How two BBC journalists risked their jobs to reveal the truth about Jimmy Savile https://t.co/jcHmKDvUwb Grim and gripping. Tue, 12:56: A really good point. Would be resolved by splitting legislature from executive and making Ministers accountable to Parliament but *not* members of it. Plenty of places do that - USA, Belgium, etc. https://t.co/zOTjYQRFvY Tue, 16:05: RT @hammard_1987: Thread where I am now publishing the results of my survey of readers of SF award winners: I got a good response from SF... Tue, 17:11: RT @Mij_Europe: To dissuade UKG from triggering Article 16, EU is drawing up a package ...
Another day, another example of Labour incompetence. At a time when the Council is desperately short of money, it's looking for £34 million of savings for the next financial year, the Labour members of the planning committee have reduced the ... Continue reading →
If I were to associate Iain Duncan Smith with any product then it would be hand sanitiser, and lo-and-behold I was right. The Guardian reports that the former cabinet minister and past Conservative Party leader is facing questions over his £25,000-a-year second job advising a multimillion-pound hand sanitiser company after he chaired a government taskforce that recommended new rules benefiting the firm. They say Duncan Smith chaired the Task Force on Innovation, Growth, and Regulatory Reform, which reported back in May after he and two other MPs were asked by Boris Johnson to recommend ways of cutting supposed EU red-tape. ...
I thought it was worth reproducing in full Wendy Chamberlain's speech from the Standards debate she successfully led on Monday. Wendy has been our lead spokesperson on two of the biggest recent news stories – the events around the sentencing of Sarah Everard's murderer and now the Government's attempts to dilute the disciplinary processes after one of their own MPs was found to be in breach. Wendy also smashed various media interviews on Monday. She did the full morning round and here are some clips: "The Government have driven a coach and horses through the standards process." @WendyChambLD ahead of ...
Just 372 new "rapid" electric vehicle chargers were installed in the last three months 80% of public charging points would take 8 hours to charge small electric car as Liberal Democrats demand more investment needed Windsor, Swindon and Stockport the worst places to charge your electric car Windsor, Swindon and Stockport have the least amount of rapid chargers per electric cars, analysis of official statistics by the Liberal Democrats can reveal. Electric car drivers in these areas are most likely to be stranded by slower charging points taking at least 13 hours to charge a Nissan Leaf. Rapid chargers however, ...
Responding to the government tabling a motion to scrap its proposed new standards committee, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain, who led Monday's emergency Commons debate on standards, said: "It is a victory for democracy and decency that the government has finally scrapped their crony committee for good. "This reflects the strength of feeling shown by MPs across the political spectrum at yesterday's emergency debate. "But this U-turn comes too late to undo the damage done to Boris Johnson and his government's reputation. People won't easily forget that the Tories tried to change the rules and undermine our democracy just ...
As residents know, I have been very critical of the City Council for for continual delays in bringing forward proposals for residents' priority parking in the West End. The council undertook consultation meetings with local residents over the issue at two very well attended meetings in Blackness Library in March 2020 - just before the onset of the COVID-19 health emergency - but has failed to progress scoping the scheme since then. The council administration's excuse for this is that it had not started the consultation process in two other wards - Maryfield and Coldside - but as I have ...
