Opened in 1851, Sheffield Victoria was the city's first major railway station. It closed to passengers in 1970. For some years after that - and I did this journey myself - trains from the remaining Sheffield station to Penistone would run through the derelict Victoria. (These days they take a different route via Barnsley.) And for one glorious weekend in 1973 Victoria reopened as the remaining station was closed to allow the commissioning of the new Sheffield power signalling box.
Embed from Getty ImagesDominic Raab's implication at prime minister's questions today that working-class people should not like opera is just part, not so much of the Conservatives' culture war, as their war on culture. We are currently seeing a cull of arts courses in the post-1992 universities, which are the ones that students from poorer backgrounds are most likely to attend. And this cull has received theoretical backing from David Goodhart, an Old Etonian whom I just missed seeing as one of the leading Trots on campus at York,* and my own MP Neil O'Brien, who went from a state ...
Fraud industry booming on the Conservatives' watch Independence Isn't the Answer to Westminster Overreach Defence spending facing £1.7 billion cut by 2025 Fraud industry booming on the Conservatives' watch Responding to UK Finance's Annual Fraud Report, showing total fraud losses up 8% to £1.3bn in 2021, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: On the Conservatives' watch, the fraud industry is booming. Criminal gangs are lining their pockets at the expense of innocent, often vulnerable people. People need far better protection from these vile fraudsters, but the Government is leaving them to fend for themselves. Boris Johnson and ...
Back in 2013, I wrote an article for the Scotsman newspaper outlining what issues were important to me in deciding what way to vote in the then upcoming Independence referendum. In the end I decided to vote Yes, as at that time I believed the risks involved were worth taking. Nearly ten years on, the circumstances are now quite different and if, as proposed yesterday by Nicola Sturgeon, there is another referendum next year, I would now vote No. It is very unlikely that the Supreme Court will confirm legality on the new proposals, as it is clear to even ...
The census data on population in England and Wales makes for interesting reading. The media have homed in on the changes in age profiles and the impact these will have on various public services, especially the NHS and adult social care. But my attention was caught by the changes in population at local authority level, because government grants to local authorities are based on population. The specific timing of the census during the pandemic means that the population figures may not accurately represent the situation once it is over. You can read the ONS report here. It usefully includes this ...
Tue, 12:56: RT @simoncoveney: NI Protocol Bill: It will damage the GFA, not protect it. It's a breach of Int. Law & will damage the UKs reputation. I... Tue, 16:05: RT @CER_EU: As the Northern Ireland Bill begins a second reading in UK Parliament today, @AntonSpisak outlines four reasons why the governm... Tue, 17:11: https://t.co/NAulUttxqE Tue, 18:05: Planetary photography https://t.co/0xO7ekQFQ0 Tue, 20:42: RT @KyivIndependent: ⚡️ Turkey lifts veto over Sweden, Finland's NATO bid. Turkey, Finland and Sweden signed a trilateral memorandum confi... Tue, 20:48: RT @ThreshedThought: Zelensky to G7: "We want to finish this war by Christmas" Let's just unpack ...
The camera follows a man on a hospital trolley. He gurns at the audience and is wheeled away with his hand up to some unfortunate woman who is screaming. "Welcome to the NHS" he opines to the audience. We all laugh. It's the opening of the series "This is going to hurt". About an obs and gynae ward. We all laugh. Women. Women down there. Women and their unmentionable bits. All intrinsically funny. Apparently. Not so funny is that during the pandemic the waiting list for gynaecological procedures grew by 60%. During the pandemic many more women who suffer extreme ...
Yesterday evening, Layla Moran appeared on the Political Slot on Channel 4 to discuss the problem of water companies flushing sewage into Britain's rivers. She said: Britain's countryside is something to be proud of. It's part of our national identity and its beautiful rivers, lakes and streams are no different. But that's under threat. In part because the water companies are dumping raw sewage into them. And shockingly that's legal. The government has repeatedly blocked bids to hold these water companies to account including a Lib Dem proposal to name and shame the water companies if they are found to ...
The Times reports that the Metropolitan Police has been put in special measures by the policing watchdog after it highlighted systemic problems including scandals and a failure to log 69,000 crimes. The paper says that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services cited "substantial and persistent concerns" about performance including failures to stamp out corruption and properly investigate crime: Matt Parr, the watchdog's inspector for London, said the abduction, rape and murder last year of Sarah Everard by a serving officer and repeated misconduct scandals had a "chilling effect on public trust and confidence". However, it was ...
Residents recently highlighted to us that this large branch that broke off a tree at Balgay Hill during Storm Arwen. It was on the south side of the path near the observatory. We raised this with environment management at the City Council and this has now been attended to. At the council's Neighbourhood Services Committee recently, Michael welcomed news that the council has secured £54 000 funding from "Woodlands in and about town" awards. This will allow for further forestry works, paths improvements and signage at Balgay.
