I made an extraordinary discovery on YouTube the other evening. Hinckley's Red River Theatre Group has posted two plays that each show us the current-day lives of the characters from one of Malcolm Saville's lesser-known and gentler series of children's books. Return to Nettleford catches up with Elizabeth the vicar's daughter, Sally and Paul at the Wise Owl bookshop and the rest of the gang. But things are not going well in Nettleford. No one goes to church any more and the Wise Owl is on its last legs. This reminds me of Flip Chart Rick's sobering account of what ...
I should have gone to Braunston yesterday, which is a Northamptonshire canal village that, with some justification, calls itself the "Heart of the Waterways". But the vital bus was cancelled - blame Brexit or Covid - so I spent the day wandering the back streets of Northampton instead. At one point a slightly Toy Town turret appeared in the distance. Eventually, it turned out to be the Clare Street Drill Hall, though the building looks far grander than that name makes it sound. Wikipedia tells us the it was designed "in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style" and opened in 1859 ...
The Guardian has news of a welcome evolution in tactics from people seeking cross-party cooperation to defeat the Conservatives and secure electoral reform: A grassroots campaign is hoping to raise £1m to bring more supporters of electoral reform to the Commons at the next general election. The group, called Win as One, will work with candidates from progressive parties who are well-placed to beat the Tories and are in support of proportional representation (PR)... Candidates would be asked to sign up to a pledge supporting electoral reform. The campaign would then aim to help support a caucus of pro-PR MPs ...
As I'd predicted, the early voting pilot in this May's elections in Wales has turned out to be a bit of a dud. In line with previous early voting pilots in the UK, administratively things went pretty smoothly in allowing some voters a chance to vote in person ahead of polling day. But also as with previous pilots very few people took up the early voting, and most likely a good chunk of even those who did would have voted anyway by other means. In this case, people in Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Torfaen and some parts of Bridgend were given ...
Judith Durham, the lead singer of The Seekers, has died in Melbourne at the age of 79. The Seekers, were an Australian group who played pop tinged with folk, and enjoyed enormous success in Britain in the 1960s. They won the New Musical Express poll for the best new group of 1964, were heavily played by Radio Caroline and had two UK no. 1 hits and three other top 3 singles before they returned to Australia in 1968. They were also the first Australian group to have major his in the US. One of their members, Bruce Woodley, co-wrote songs ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @JP_Biz: Fun fact: By Q1 this year Northern Ireland's economy had still not fully recovered from the 2008 recession. Output was still 0.... Fri, 14:04: Iconic stuff from @colin_davidson at the FE McWilliam @FEgallery. https://t.co/eDWNcx3g5n Fri, 16:05: RT @TheCriticMag: Lord Trimble could be characterised as a kind of Unionist Moses, says @LeeReynoldsUKNI, who never reached the promised la... Fri, 17:11: RT @JoshLowry13: If there wasn't an alternative to IRA violence why did Gerry Adams never join? 🤔 Fri, 18:56: 2022 Lodestar Award https://t.co/RXLkBsUVZp Fri, 22:42: Daily #173 2️⃣0️⃣⬛0️⃣4️⃣ 1️⃣5️⃣⬛1️⃣6️⃣ 1️⃣7️⃣⬛1️⃣8️⃣ 0️⃣5️⃣⬛0️⃣6️⃣ 0️⃣7️⃣⬛0️⃣8️⃣ 0️⃣9️⃣⬛1️⃣0️⃣ 1️⃣3️⃣⬛1️⃣2️⃣ 1️⃣9️⃣⬛1️⃣4️⃣ https://t.co/1E46GFXTgD #sedecordle ...
President Joe Biden is a foreign policy disappointment. He entered the White House with more foreign affairs experience than almost any of his predecessors—23 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during which time he met 150 heads of government. The world had hoped—no, expected—that the new president would inject an ordered wisdom into America's conduct of world affairs after the chaos of the Trump years. Instead, it has been presented with an increasingly disjointed and incoherent foreign policy which has fallen dangerously short of expectations. The latest example is the visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker of ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - SATURDAY 6 AND SUNDAY 7 AUGUST 2022 Riverside Drive (at Rail Bridge) - overnight (10.00 pm - 6.00 am) lane closures on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 August for bridge inspections. REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 8 AUGUST 2022 Miller's Wynd - closed at its junction with Hawkhill for major construction works. Start date Monday 27 June for 6 months. South Tay Street - 3-way temporary traffic lights from Monday 8 August for 3 weeks for footway resurfacing. Perth Road drop ...
A video from Led by Donkeys. Click the link
