Current Roger Zelazny, by F. Brett Cox Last books finished Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones Indigo, by Clemens J. Setz The [Unofficial] Dr Who Annual [1964], by David May The War in the Air, by H. G. Wells Next books Scherven, by Erik De Graaf The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake
Here we still are, twenty-three months in. But I think (and I know I've said this before) the end is in sight. The peak for infections in Belgium seems to have been passed about the time of my last ten-day update; hopitalisations, ICU numbers and deaths are still rising, but I think the first two at least are likely to peak next week. Even the most Eeyore-ish of Belgian health experts thinkswe'll be able to relax the restrictions soon. Apparently our 80% teleworking mandate is stronger than anywhere else in Europe art the moment - no more than one day ...
Shropshire Lib Dems' shadow lead for communities, culture, leisure and tourism says bus services in the county are under threat because of cuts in government funding. Nigel Hartin, the councillor for Clun, told the Shropshire Star:"The central plank to government's 'levelling up' strategy was called the 'Bus Back Better' strategy published last year. It promised £3bn in funding to transform bus services across the country."However, a Department of Transport letter recently leaked to the press shows that this pot has now been shrunk by more than 50 per cent by the Treasury to £1.4bn."This letter makes clear the lack of ...
The accuracy or reliability of opinion polls is often questioned, especially when the polls are about voting intentions ahead of elections. I've previously written about why 1,000 or so samples are large enough to measure views across a whole nation. But what about specifically the accuracy of voting intention figures reported by the polls? Let's take a look at the evidence. A recent study looked at 30,000 national polls from 35 countries across just over 70 years. The verdict? The polls are pretty accurate, and if anything have been getting slightly more accurate in recent years. Or in more detail: ...
My good friend Bob Robinson recently pointed me towards the podcast linked below:- open.spotify.com/episode/0BkowQ14PrKsFwsTQAregb Bob's take on it and indeed the whole issue of how governments keep on making the same mistakes over targeted regional investment are summed up here:- 'This is a 50-minute podcast and is the most accurate description of the chequered history of UK regional development, I have ever heard. I carry the scars as I was involved in submitting business cases to: the North West Development Agency (Improving Construction Industry Safety), the South West Development Agency (Construction Skills development) and the Welsh Development Agency (Redeployment of ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @alanbeattie: Can't have illegal Downing Street parties if there's no-one left working there. https://t.co/oqpNmbZ2s6 Fri, 18:09: Neither Unionist nor Nationalist: The 10th (Irish) Division in the Great War by Stephen Sandford https://t.co/P25ECIh0GA Sat, 09:03: Chapter and verse. https://t.co/yJgZ4bkh55
The seventeenth century had a big impact on British liberal thinking. In response to unrepresentative and unaccountable monarchical government, liberal thinkers developed a strong focus on dispersing power so that it was not all held by one individual, opening those who do hold power up to scrutiny and accountability - and in choosing those in power through election. They might not straight away have got to modern standards in all these areas - slight understatement! - but these fundamental principles remain central to how liberals and Liberal Democrats view power, society and government today. So - fast forward three and ...
I am grateful to the Menzieshill Road resident who contacted me recently to say that the work by City Fibre to install super-fast broadband infrastructure in Menzisehill Road had covered only part of the street, which would leave the remainder of the street without access to the system should they wish it as it becomes available. I contacted the City Council about this and it appears this error by City Fibre was due to a misunderstanding about what pavements were adopted by the local authority. It is now the case that the whole of Menzieshill Road's pavements are adopted. I ...
One of the many anachronisms continuing at the heart of the British constitution is the rule that 'homourable' members of the Parliament are forbidden from calling fellow members 'liars', no matter how obvious the lie, while Ministers can apparently continue to get away with misleading the House with no consequences. This was illustrated perfectly with the removal of an SNP MP for pointing out in the chamber that the Prime Minister had lied to MPs about his attendance at parties in Number 10 Downing Street, while Johnson continued to brazen it out in his seat. Whether the Speaker can force ...
