Embed from Getty ImagesRichmond, Twickenham and Kingston aren't just a cradle of Liberal Democrat ambitions.They also played an important part in the British popular music of the 1960s. You can here the story in Raving Upon Thames, the latest edition of The Strange Brew podcast: Discover how Richmond upon Thames changed the face of rock music. Richmond's Crawdaddy Club launched the careers of the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds while at Eel Pie Island, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page found inspiration. From 1956 to 1971, the riverside suburbs of Richmond, Twickenham, and Kingston were the breeding ...
Thursday was one of the best nights for Lib Dem by-election results in recent years! Out of 4 principal council by-elections we made gains in 3 - winning seats from both Labour and the Conservatives. In the other we moved forwards from fourth place to second place! There is so much to celebrate this week! In Dudley, Cllr Ryan Priest and the local Lib Dems gained Cradley & Wollescote ward from Labour by winning over 50% of the vote and a 14% increase in Lib Dem vote share. Congratulations to Ryan and the team. Ryan just missed out on the ...
Particularly given the authors, this book coming out later in 2023 looks like it will be well worth a read.
It's with a moderate sense of accomplishment – and no small degree of relief – that I've finally finished reading Bertrand Russell's 778-page History of Western Philosophy. I started it when I was in my first year of university, which was back in 1996. So it's only taken me 27 years to get through it. Furthermore, Russell published the book in 1946, so technically I'm still almost 80 years out of date. But we'll gloss over that. Having worked my way through the history of philosophical thought, from the pre-Socratics to logical analysis – by way of Anaxagoras, Plato, Aristotle, ...
On the doorstep, and on social media, in the ward where I live there has been one main topic recently – ULEZ. And of course it hugely influenced the by-election result in Uxbridge, which should have been a pushover for Labour. Sadiq Khan's rollout of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (and a daily charge of £12.50) to the whole of Greater London at the end of this month has been greeted with anger and derision, not to mention conspiracy theories. This has put Liberal Democrats in a position which is sometimes difficult to articulate in political soundbites. On the one hand ...
With waiting times in the NHS in all three nations spiralling out of control there is no doubt that urgent action is needed to put our health service on a more even keel. What is not helpful though is government ministers seeking to blame others for their own policy and organisational failures. The Independent reports that Rishi Sunak has blamed striking doctors for pushing up NHS waiting lists in a fiery exchange with an A and E worker. The paper says that the prime minister was taken to task over his pledge to cut soaring waiting lists, which last month ...
Four principal authority council by-elections this week, all with Liberal Democrat candidates – and that's one up on the last time these wards were up. The number of Lib Dem councillors in these wards is now also up with some great gains. But first another result, impressive in its own way too: Norcot (Reading) Council By-Election Result: LAB: 58.2% (+0.2) LDM: 17.5% (+11.4) CON: 13.1% (-4.8) GRN: 6.3% (-3.6) IND: 3.1% (-0.3) TUSC: 1.8% (-0.1) No LIB (-2.8) as previous. Labour HOLD. Changes w/ 2023. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) August 4, 2023
At this year's council budget, SNP council administration forced through cuts to council-supported bus services which will sadly mean that the 204 service across parts of the West End will be axed next year along with other services including the sheltered housing shopping bus service. The 204 - although it sadly does not serve some of its original area around Newhall Gardens, Invergowrie Drive and Glamis Drive - remains a vital service for residents in the Magdalen Yard Road/Windsor Street area and also in Scott Street and Tullideph Road - all streets that lack main bus services. The sheltered shopping ...
