Jonathan Meades reviews Tina Brown's book on the royal family: "They are out of their depth. The prurient, hypocritical red-top mentality leaves them incredulous and perplexed. They would rather not touch. When they do touch they find they are tiny pions in the dripping maw of cannibalistic brutes." "Emanuel Gomes was an outsourced Ministry of Justice cleaner. He died after working for five days with suspected COVID symptoms in a near-empty office, because he believed he could not afford to lose income." Caroline Molloy on the government's treatment of low-paid staff. Tideline Art goes mudlarking in New York, finds an ...
Dominic Cummings' interview with Suzanne Moore has garnered plenty of attention, but for me the most remarkable thing about it is the hole at its centre. Do you still think it was right to leave Europe? A lot of people, especially the centre-Left in London, thought joining the Euro would be a success. Now we know we are best off out of it. When the Euro came under pressure it completely wrecked the Greek economy. That took the blinkers off for me. Especially now, when you look at how history worked out, and knowing that Covid was coming, it's very ...
This post first appeared on the Radix UK blog... In the heyday of Gordon Brown's chancellorship, I went to a conference about the future of 'extended schools'. The first speaker was an amazing headteacher, Debbie Morrison, then the head of Mitchell High School in Stoke on Trent, who provided me with the first story in my book The Human Element. She told the dramatic story about how the school had been turned around, and also her first day in post. There had been a commotion outside her office and her secretary warned her to remain where she was. An angry ...
The scenes at the airports this week have been rather worrying. OK, so in the grand scheme of things arriving a day late at a holiday destination may not appear to be a serious matter, but for the families involved it can be very challenging. Some are trying to have their first family holiday since the pandemic, and in many cases this has involved some belt-tightening as the cost of living spirals upwards. Anyone who has travelled with young children will know how frustrating it can be when plans are upset. Amongst those caught up in the chaos are people ...
Temeside will be closed between Old Street and the former gasworks from 6 June to 26 June. This is to allow work by Seven Trent Water (STW) to investigate the subsoil prior to a major scheme to stop sewage overflows from the sewerage works on Temeside into the Teme river Site of Special Scientific Interest. These works will involve deep trial holes to investigate the subsoil conditions and any issues with services such as gas and telecoms. At a later date it is expected that Temeside will be closed again to create greater capacity for dealing with storm overflows. These ...
Army logistic personnel should run travel command centre to keep airports, roads and ports moving More flight cancellations on the way and motorways tipped for deadlock The Liberal Democrats have called for the army to be brought in to help solve unprecedented levels of travel disruption as queues at airports up and down the country reach critical mass going into the Platinum Jubilee weekend. With families facing their bank holiday getaway being cancelled or heavily delayed, the party has urged the Government to call on the Armed Forces "best and brightest" to run point on logistics. This would include the ...
The way journalists venerate the pursuit of a story can bring brilliant investigative scoops. However, it also comes with a high risk, because even textbooks setting out how to be a journalist often praise those who have lied or cheated, as long as it was in aid of getting a good story. Consider the case of two of the most famous – even inspirational – journalists of the twentieth century. The pair admitted in a book about their work that they had deliberately lied to one of their sources in order to trick him into revealing information that he had ...
Tue, 12:56: RT @AlexandraErin: "How about instead of trying to be 'woke' or 'PC' we all just try to be decent human beings?" Listen, I've got news for... Tue, 14:11: Daily Quordle 127 4️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣7️⃣ https://t.co/Cm9zc2fDBW https://t.co/44rvFMBO6y Tue, 14:14: Daily Octordle #127 🕚5️⃣ 4️⃣6️⃣ 7️⃣🔟 8️⃣9️⃣ https://t.co/j7MjyMDtNS Tue, 16:05: RT @jtlevy: Someday I'm going to write a short story about all the challenges facing a Protestant vampire/ demon hunter: no holy water, no... Tue, 17:11: Some top tips in this list. https://t.co/9t0A5oLIpP Tue, 18:10: May books https://t.co/vFetn2PlxM Tue, 18:43: May books https://t.co/lL6VW6zKAL https://t.co/ruwA9r6pqz Tue, 20:48: RT @DrEmmaKatz: With so many ...
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The Journal of Liberal History: A special edition on Liberals and the American Civil War
The Spring 2022 issue of the Journal of Liberal History has just been published. One of our themed special issues, this edition covers the important topic of Liberal attitudes and responses to the American Civil War. The war was a pivotal event in American history but one which also sent shockwaves around the world, provoking argument and debate on questions of Republicanism, democracy, nation-building and, of course, slavery. The entire period of the Civil War (1861-65) took place during the Liberal administration of Lord Palmerston, and the contents of the special issue look at some of the significant Liberal and ...
Over the last couple of weeks, new Liberal Democrat council leaders have been taking up their posts all across the country.
Sometimes those in positions of authority manage to get straight to the heart of a matter with a simple question. Yesterday though, was not such an occasion, when Christopher Geidt, the Prime Minister's independent adviser on ministers' interests, used his annual report, to say that there is a "legitimate question" about whether receiving a fixed-penalty notice for breaking coronavirus rules constituted a breach of the ministerial code. As the Guardian reports, Geidt, who is meant to advise Johnson over whether ministers have breached the code, dodged the question of whether the prime minister himself had done so - apparently for ...
It's the day after the next General Election here in the UK and progressives are seemingly in a majority, if you mistakenly assume that all Labour MPs are progressive which of course they're not. There is a lot of celebrating as the Conservatives have finally lost their majority but it will take a 'coalition* of willing progressives' to create a workable left of centre government. Here are a few reasons why that 'progressive alliance', for want of another term, is likely to fail in short order leading to another populist government of the right. Firstly, Labour, who have won some ...
I have been really saddened by the way that Labour and ex-Labour members have been trying to make a scapegoat of Liverpool's Chief Executive, Tony Reeves, to cover up their own part in creating the worst council in the UK. ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Energy Rebate graphic] Folkestone & Hythe District Council has launched the next phase of the energy rebate scheme. The government is providing a £150 rebate to council tax payers in bands A-D (and E if in receipt of disabled persons reduction) to help with rising energy costs. This is a one-off payment and will not have to be repaid. The payment has already been made to more than 26,000 households in Folkestone & Hythe who pay their council tax by Direct Debit, equating to nearly £4m. Letters will be sent to those households who do not pay by Direct ...
The UK government is refusing to take responsibility for the dereliction caused by the coal industry, both private and nationalised, before Wales was given a measure of devolution. The following statement has been issued by Cardiff Bay: The Welsh Government is consulting on proposals for a new legislative management regime for disused coal tips in Wales. This includes proposals for a new supervisory authority. The proposals aim to ensure a consistent approach to the management, monitoring, and oversight of disused coal tips. The framework could also be applied in the future to other spoil tips in Wales. Find out more ...
Responding to the news that Lord Geidt has judged there to be a "legitimate question" over whether Boris Johnson broke the Ministerial Code following his Partygate fine, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said: "This scathing criticism shows even Boris Johnson's own ethics adviser no longer trusts him to tell the truth. He is not fit to hold public office. "It's no wonder the Prime Minister has been trying to water down the Ministerial Code and rewrite the rules. The only person he cares about is himself. "The net really is closing in around Johnson. He's missed the boat ...
We recently received complaints about the poor condition of the tactiles at the crossing point on the south side of Perth Road just west of Shepherd's Loan. See photo below : We raised this with the Roads Maintenance Partnership Manager who has responded positively below : "With regard to the worn stick down tactile slabs, we will look to replace the damaged items in due course."
