This dates from Classic FM's 20th birthday celebrations in 2012, but it's rather wonderful and certainly appropriate to this week. I don't see any of the shoppers complaining that classical music is "elitist".
Dacorum local election 2023 results in full as Liberal Democrats earn majority with six seats gained while Tories fall says the headline. Below it is a picture of Ed Davey driving a tractor and demolishing a blue wall of straw bales. Let no one tell you that our now-traditional cheesy media stunts don't work. But the headline also invites two questions; where is Dacorum and why is it called that? Those of you who follow the minutiae of Lib Dem campaigning will remember that Ed's stunt was filmed in Berkhamsted. So Dacorum is in West Hertfordshire. And one answer to ...
PMQs: Sunak refuses to ban water company bonuses amid sewage dumping scandal Retained EU Law: Govt have dug themselves into a hole Victory as Lib Dems force Govt u-turn on sewage regulation bonfire PMQs: Sunak refuses to ban water company bonuses amid sewage dumping scandal During Prime Minister's Questions today, Rishi Sunak refused to back the Liberal Democrat demand to ban water company executive bonuses. The Leader of the Liberal Democrats raised the multi-million pound bonuses paid to water company executives, despite their firms destroying rivers and coatlines with sewage discharges. Conservative MPs were heard to be laughing at the ...
Rise in homelessness shows ban on no-fault evictions needed now Bridgen should resign and cause a by-election Lib Dems force vote tonight to kill Illegal Migration Bill Rise in homelessness shows ban on no-fault evictions needed now Responding to the latest figures showing a rise in homelessness in October to December 2022, Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: The shameful failure of the Conservatives to ban no fault evictions is directly responsible for this shocking increase in homelessness. The Conservatives first promised to ban the practice when Theresa May was Prime Minister, yet still nothing has been done. ...
'The British press ... converted the book into their native tongue, that jabberwocky of bonkers hot takes and classist snark. Facts were wrenched out of context, complex emotions were reduced to cartoonish idiocy, innocent passages were hyped into outrages.' J.R. Moehringer on his experience of being Prince Harry's ghostwriter. 'Our research revealed 30 different characteristics and qualities of a woman's identity that emerged as points of criticism creating barriers to women's success. The clear message to women is that—whatever they are—they are "never quite right.' Amy Diehl, Leanne M. Dzubinski and Amber L. Stephenson find that, whatever women are, they ...
The Isle of Wight County Press reports: An independent Isle of Wight councillor has jumped ship — resigning from the Alliance group which runs County Hall, and joining the Liberal Democrats. Cllr Michael Lilley has been a member of the Alliance group since its creation, in May 2021... He now joins fellow Isle of Wight councillors Andrew Garratt and Nick Stuart to make a party of three — the third biggest, behind the Alliance Administration and the Conservatives, both holding 16 seats. Sign up to get the latest news and analysis
Embed from Getty ImagesWriting for Comment Central, Vince Cable looks at the Liberal Democrat performance in last week's local elections: The Lib Dem results were more impressive than the numbers suggest. They built on exceptionally good results in 2019 when the seats were last contested and a record 700 seats were gained. The aggregate vote share of 20 per cent was even higher than the 19 per cent in 2019. There were also strong results in some areas where Labour was the opposition, notably in Hull where the incumbent Lib Dem council held off a strong Labour challenge and even ...
He hasn't been successful throughout his career. A former civil servant and ex-accountant, his political party has lost every general election since he became their leader in 2010. And yet, despite this, millions of Turks now look to him to save their country from their autocratic President and fulfil his promise to restore democracy to their country. He is, of course, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People's Party and head of the National Alliance. Comprised of six opposition parties, many hope the National Alliance will finally unseat incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ending his grip on power. In four ...
Every four years Londoners elect the Greater London Authority in the form of the Mayor of London and the 25 members of the London Assembly. As it happens the elections due in 2020 were postponed a year, so when the elections take place in May 2024 the current incumbents will have been in place for just three years. The main focus is on the election of the Mayor of London, which for the first time will be chosen using First Past the Post. In the past there has been a supplementary vote, so voters could express a second preference. That ...
The Independent reports on the fear of industry bosses that new Brexit red tape on EU imports could push up food prices and see more shortages in the supermarkets. They say that food sector leaders are worried that port authorities are unprepared for the implementation of a series of checks, including health certifications on some animal, plant and food products from the EU, that are set to be phased in from October 2023 under Boris Johnson's exit deal with Brussels: New fees on goods coming into Britain from the EU will also add "hundreds of pounds" to the cost of ...
As residents will be aware the section of West Park Road roughly north of the junction with Beechwood Terrace up to Blackness Road is a road in very poor condition. Last year, we requested that it be considered for inclusion in the 2023/24 capital programme for resurfacing and this was agreed by the Roads Maintenance Partnership. Unfortunately, thanks to the cut in the Roads Maintenance Partnership budget made by the SNP administration, it did not make it into the finalised programme this year and we again contacted the Roads Maintenance Partnership about this. The Senior Engineer has since assured us ...
The pundits have fallen over backwards to predict the reult of the next gerneal election from last week's local results. It's not straightforward. Not so many people vote in a local election as in a general, many vote differently, and the local election didn't cover the whole of the UK. Leading pundit Professor Sir John Curtice says the best guide - and it's only a guide - is the numeber of seats WON. These were Labour 2 6675, Conservative 2 296. So Labour is ahead, though not by much. However (and this is me, not Curtice), if you then add ...
Folklorist Amy Boucher shares tales of ghosts, witches, mermaids and devils from her home county of Shropshire in The Devil in Shropshire, the latest episode of the Tracing Owls podcast, Through her blog Nearly Knowledgeable, Amy explores Shropshire folktales that highlight the county's unique cultural and historic identity and also an immense amount of high strangeness. Among the many tales discussed are stories of ghost barges carrying victims of the Black plague, encounters with the Devil (known in Shropshie as Owd Scratch) and the life of the last known Shropshire sin eater. Amy ends the episode off with tales of ...
