Yesterday I revisited Camley Street Natural Park, an urban nature reserve close to King's Cross and St Pancras stations run by the London Wildlife Trust Once a coal depot for King's Cross, the one hectare site was reclaimed by nature in the 1960s. After a campaign by the Trust to save it from redevelopment it opened as a natural park in 1985. My first visit was in 2008, when the King's Cross redevelopment was imminent. As I wrote in the New Statesman* at the time: This poses a dilemma to those involved with the park. They want its work to ...
The Guardian reports that a National Audit Office (NAO) investigation has found that quarantine hotels for inbound travellers to the UK during Covid have cost the taxpayer more than £400m, including almost £100m in unpaid room bills and fraud. The paper says that while the government expected the hotels' costs would be covered by the occupants, it has emerged that the taxpayer has been left responsible for more than half of the £757m bill. The rooms were for those travelling to the UK from high-risk "red list" countries during the pandemic: The Department of Health and Social Care, which issued ...
In exactly two weeks from today, 32 London boroughs will be holding their four year all-in/all-out elections. (The City of London has already done its own thing). And this is what it looked like in 2018: Here's the new London political borough map! Make sure to read our blog on the results as the dust settles from Thursday's #LE2018 and keep an eye out for Friday's LDN election special with more in-depth analysis https://t.co/MyySy3yWzh #LDN #elections pic.twitter.com/FphgbSgSKM — London Communications Agency (@LDNcomms) May 8, 2018 As you can see we do have our own yellow wall in the southwest corner ...
Wed, 16:11: Very pleased with this! Daily Quordle 86 7️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣4️⃣ https://t.co/Cm9zc2fDBW ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ Wed, 16:59: RT @navalny: 1/18 Je me rends compte de l'ironie de la situation: un prisonnier politique russe s'adresse aux électeurs français. Mais tech... Thu, 10:45: RT @amandaknox: A few months ago, in that blurry haze of new motherhood, I left my infant daughter Eureka on the couch for just a few secon... Thu, 10:51: RT @niallodoc: Many thanks to @irelandrepbru for hosting last night's networking event for our @socandpol @nuigalway MA students with ...
[IMG: Shorncliffe Trust promotion] Following on from our news about the Canadian First World War Archive Box donated to the Trust by Mr. Richard Steacie, we are pleased to invite you to view an exhibition of some of the artefacts and the medal collection of Colonel Charles A Smart, commanding officer at Shorncliffe Garrison from April 1917 to December 1918. When a statement such as this is made after opening the box, you know you will be in for a unique insight into his time at Shorncliffe: "We had no idea what was going to be in the box, and ...
Ahead of the vote today on whether to refer the Prime Minister for investigation by the Committee of Privileges following his repeated lies on Partygate, North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has written to 50 Blue Wall Tory MPs. These MPs have slim majorities and are vulnerable to a public backlash over their support for Boris Johnson. The vote this afternoon will be on a motion that refers Boris Johnson to the Committee of Privileges for misleading the house over partygate. The motion tabled by Labour is also signed by the leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru. Lib Dem, Green, Social ...
From the Oxford Mail in 2007: In Life in the Fast Lane: The Johnson Guide to Cars, published this week, Mr Johnson wrote that he just let the parking tickets pile up until they disintegrated in the rain on the windscreen of his old Fiat 128 – dubbed the Italian Stallion – as it had Belgian licence plates. In Life in the Fast Lane: The Johnson Guide to Cars, he writes: "A Fiat 128 two-door saloon, 1.2 litres, the Italian Stallion was the trusty steed that emancipated me from the shackles of childhood. "Before traffic wardens became bonus-hungry maniacs, and ...
Following the changes to junction arrangements at Lochee Road/Cleghorn Street to prevent some right turns, numerous constituents have contacted me about the need for better signage and also to ensure close monitoring of the junction. Following my raising this with the City Council, the road safety team leader has undertaken a site visit to the junction and monitoring will continue. However, if you are going to have signage to highlight the situation - at least get the name of Cleghorn Street correct! I raised this error with the road safety team leader who has replied as follows : "I will ...
I spent the afternoon in London and the evening drinking with Liberator friends. Now home again, I've found a Steve Winwood documentary on YouTube. Winwood's album Nine Lives came in 2008 and heavily featured his Hammond organ playing. I saw him at the Roundhouse a couple of years later, and that evening it was when he came out front with a guitar that I felt I was in the presence of greatness.
