A search for more footage of Freda Jackson turned up this video. Anthony Wager played the young Pip in David Lean's classic adaptation of Great Expectations, which was released in 1946. The film first shows him at home with his family and, if it's not evidence of what children were like in 1946, it is at least evidence of how people liked to think they were like. So we see the boy washing up and feeding the chickens to show he is not spoilt. It's interesting that there's no sense here that some jobs are for boys and some for ...
Congratulations to Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the London Assembly since 2018, who has been awarded the Freedom of the City of London. Sadly, despite what is widely believed, this honour does not bring with it the right to drive sheep over London Bridge. As Murray D. Craig, Clerk of the City's Chamberlain's Court, once explained: Can you take sheep over London Bridge? The answer is no because the City of London Police are not keen on this custom in the 21st century. This is not altogether surprising because of all the busses, taxies, commuters, Boris ...
We need to be careful with our responses to the government's economic policy. We had been calling for a freeze of the energy price cap, and wanted it to be at the April level of £1,971. The government has frozen it at £2,500 a year, saying this will cost £31 bn, up to April 2023. They also responded to widespread demand to provide similar support for businesses at the cost of £29 bn for the six months they are providing it. So we are broadly in favour of these policies, as with the government's reversal of the National Insurance increase, ...
Having finally received them I have passed the released reports on the Beautiful Ideas Company to the tax office following revelations that copious amounts of cash were taken from football punters for matchday parking which was not properly accounted for. ... Continue reading →
The Guardian has broken a horrifying and believable story that Liz Truss raised £500,000 in donations for her Tory leadership campaign with "about half of it coming from donors linked to hedge fund bosses, venture capitalists and other City financiers". In August Liberal Democrat Voice ran an article where I suggested that the Tory leadership campaign was looking like a presidential election — with a tiny, and unrepresentative electorate. That tips power further from Parliament to No.10 and pretends that the new leader has an entirely false legitimacy. News of these donations takes this to a whole new level. Of ...
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award for this tale of life in High Leicestershire: A man has admitted to leaving pornographic images around three Leicestershire villages over a "significant period of time". Hundreds of the images, which were printed onto A4 paper, have been found around Billesdon, Tilton on the Hill and Hungarton, police said. Officers arrested a 62-year-old man from Oakham under the Indecent Displays Controls Act 1981. Reader's voice: What this post needs is a pay off involving a village in that part of the county. How about: "It's a good thing he didn't leave ...
Thu, 12:23: RT @SRFantasyClub: The Lannisters and Targaryens have plenty to teach about management! Come and hear business expert @DrFionaMoore talk ab... Thu, 12:23: RT @ChairmanYaffle: @SRFantasyClub @JulietEMcKenna @drfionamoore @nwbrux got this for me (and even got it signed by @drfionamoore in person... Thu, 12:56: Albanian and Dutch PMs: The European Political Community is a good idea - POLITICO https://t.co/f7ubXgCPSF Thu, 13:01: RT @NobelPrize: BREAKING NEWS: The 2022 #NobelPrize in Literature is awarded to the French author Annie Ernaux "for the courage and clinic... Thu, 16:05: RT @spectator: Crash course: how the Truss revolution came off the road 👇 ✍️ ...
The argument that our new unelected monarch is just a figurehead with minimal political influence has never been an accurate one, as was illustrated by this news story from a few days ago. The Guardian reported that King Charles had been allowed to vet and potentially lobby for changes to emergency legislation to freeze rents in Scotland because the measures could affect tenants on his private Highland estate at Balmoral. They say that the King's involvement in a bill to stop landlords unjustifiably raising rents for the next six months because of the cost of living crisis, under rules known ...
Former Lib Dem leader Vince Cable has just published a fascinating new 'his and her' memoir, 'Partnership & Politics in a Divided Decade', with his wife Rachel. It covers a tumultuous decade in British politics which saw the creation of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, Brexit and beyond. I asked Vince about the book and his reflections on the era... You published a well-received memoir, Free Radical, in 2010, so why write a second volume? Certainly, two bites of the cherry is rather self-indulgent. I justify it on the basis that the really important things, politically, happened after 2010. And why ...
Six principal authority council by-elections this week, with a full slate of Lib Dem candidates too. That's up one on the last time these seats were up. Huge respect to our local candidate #SandraJervis @GlynPreston her agent & the whole team for such a stellar performance from a standing start. Special thanks also to @BandRLibDems candidate @LibDemDavid for moonlighting this pm in #Lampeter #LlanbedrPontSteffan #LiberalRevival [IMG: 🗳] pic.twitter.com/zDavlxFNnT — William Powell [IMG: 🔶] (@WmPowell2021) October 6, 2022
Since the reopening of the Riverside Recycling Centre after the initial COVID lockdowns, we have had complaints about the lack of both paper and cardboard facilities. We have repeatedly raised this and have now had this welcome update from the council's Waste Services Manager : "I can confirm that paper and carboard can now be placed in the same skip for recycling, as per our new contractual arrangements that were reported to committee last year We have been on site today and reminded the attendants of this. We previously provided small chain lift skips for separate paper recycling but as ...
Here's the latest tally of seats changing hands in principal authority council by-elections held since the last May round of local elections.
