Jago Hazzard explains the history and many names of Barbican station. This is the John Betjeman poem he mentions. Monody on the Death of Aldersgate Street Station Snow falls in the buffet of Aldersgate station, Soot hangs in the tunnel in clouds of steam. City of London! before the next desecration Let your steepled forest of churches be my theme. Sunday Silence! with every street a dead street, Alley and courtyard empty and cobbled mews, Till "tingle tang" the bell of St. Mildred's Bread Street Summoned the sermon taster to high box pews, And neighbouring towers and spirelets joined the ...
I enjoy publishing guest posts on Liberal England. So if you've got an idea for a post you could write for this blog, please drop me a line. As you can see from the list below, I accept guest posts on subjects far beyond the Liberal Democrats and British politics. I'm happy to entertain a wide variety of views, but I'd hate you to spend your time writing something I really wouldn't want to publish. So do please get in touch first. These are the last ten guest posts on Liberal England:The Secret Diary of Charles Dickens aged 13¾ - ...
It's Festival time in Edinburgh and I've been to my first shows since 2019. On Sunday, I went (with my parents, who would, I am sure, want me to make very clear that they are definitely not Lib Dems) to see Penny Mordaunt talk to LBC presenter Iain Dale. It was probably the first time we had been to a show together since we saw The Great Soprendo in Wick Assembly Rooms circa 1980. The venue, Edinburgh's EICC, once the scene of a Lib Dem Spring Conference, is lovely. I was a bit worried that the unusually comfortable seats and ...
Some of the railings which were cleaned out last week after a request made to me by Penny Lane Wombles. I will continue to deal with the small things in my community because together they can add up to much ... Continue reading →
Gene Logsdon was a farmer. And if I were writing this in 1920, we'd probably just leave it at that. But this is the twenty-first century and farming has moved on from its small-scale roots. Especially in the US corn belt, where Gene farmed until his death in 2016. Gene, however, liked to do things differently. Gene operated a mixed arable and livestock farm on 32 acres of Ohio soil. He ran an efficient and profitable enterprise, while eschewing the tendency of modern farming to expand acreage and livestock numbers in search of greater returns. He did not reject modern ...
The Independent tells us that a new report has revealed that Britain's energy suppliers are set to rake in a massive £1.74bn in profits from hard-pressed customers' bills over the next 12 months. The paper adds that a separate study has found that regulator Ofgem's energy price cap is preventing customers from accessing lower tariffs, harming competition and boosting inflation: Rishi Sunak's government has indicated it is unlikely to step in again to protect Britons still struggling with their energy bills - dismissing the idea of another subsidised price guarantee. However, despite the ongoing cost of living crisis, UK energy ...
Until the COVID pandemic arrived, Ninewells Hospital operated a swimming pool for patients, staff and public use. It has never reopened since the pandemic period, which seems a waste of a facility. We contacted NHS Tayside asking if re-opening it was a possibility and received this rather disappointing response from the NHS Tayside Head of Soft Facilities : "A full assessment of this facility has identified that there is an extensive amount of investment required to bring this pool up to current health and safety standards. NHS Tayside continues to prioritise capital investment informed by an assessment of the risks. ...
