This is the Wilko branch in Market Harborough, which will close on Sunday. I feel sorry for the people here and around the country who are losing their jobs. You can be sure the top management that brought the company to this pass will have a more comfortable landing. Wilkinson's was originally a Leicester company. In 1930 when James Kemsey Wilkinson and his fiancée Mary Cooper opened a small ironmongers at 151 Charnwood Street in the city. The opened a second shop in Wigston Magna in 1932 and then a third on the Narborough Road. Charnwood Street is a lost ...
GDP stats: Sunak has failed to get a grip on the economy Nutrient Neutrality: Lib Dems to vote against removing water pollution rules PMQs: Davey raises Sunak's failure on cancer as 22,000 people wait more than 4 months for treatment Watchdog failing to audit water companies – Lib Dems call for inquiry Levelling Up Bill: Government overruled for nutrient neutrality laws GDP stats: Sunak has failed to get a grip on the economy Responding to latest GDP stats which show the UK economy shrank by 0.5% in July 2023, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said: The Conservative government's ...
In his Confessions: A Life of Failed Promises, A.N. Wilson remembers a conversation with the Queen Mother: Katherine and I had just been to an exhibition of portraits of the Queen, and I asked her mother why it was that, since Annigoni's masterpiece, now hanging in the Fishmongers' Hall, there was not a single picture of any merit. "It's because she has no interest in the visual," said the Queen Mother. "She was born without any aesthetic sense whatever. Princess Margaret and I look at all the designs for postage stamps, for example. They are sent to the Queen by ...
Climate breakdown is upon us. That's a fact. And with every passing day, our ability to do something about it diminishes. It's also painfully obvious that this isn't something we can leave to our political leaders to sort out. We all need to take action. And we need to take it now. As levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continue to rise and global surface temperatures increase, the catastrophic impacts of climate change become ever more apparent. Extreme weather events, wildfires, floods, droughts and species extinctions are daily headlines. And that's with only one degree or so ...
The Southern Planning Committee is to consider the application for a huge solar farm at Rocks Green Farm, Rocks Green on 19 September. The application is for a ground mounted solar generating facility with a capacity of 40 megawatts (MW) and 12MW of battery energy storage to manage flow to the grid (22/05424/EIA). The £26 million installation will generate enough electricity to power 1,500 homes (Ludlow has around 5,000 households). The scheme will be in place for 40 years. I will not be commenting on this application before the planning committee meets. Planning officers describe the use as "temporary". After ...
At the beginning of September, Sarah Dyke, the recently elected Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Somerton and Frome, began her work as an MP. Before she could take to the green benches of the House of Commons, she was required to be sworn in. Lib Dem social media channels showed a video of Sarah taking this oath. The ceremony is bland and matter of fact, what was of greater interest were the comments expressing outrage at the proceedings. Party supporters, activists, and voyeurs of the event on Instagram showed particular distain for the words of the swearing in. Every ...
This is the question Isabel Hardman poses at the beginning of her review of Chris Bryant's new book, Code of Conduct: why we need to fix Parliament - and how to do it. Hardman's own book, Why we get the Wrong Politicians (first published in 2018 and updated for a paperback edition in 2022) had already covered much of the same ground - on the 'toxic culture' of Westminster politics, the power of the whips over individual MPs, the neglect of parliamentary scrutiny of government legislation and decisions in favour of efforts to become ministers, and above all the strains ...
Labour's new Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology showed that yesterday on the News Agents that he knows absolutely fine that Labour can't win Mid Bedfordshire. He made the bizarre claim, on the News Agents podcast that: "If our candidate was gay, they'd be doing a family values campaign." He said that the we were running a "deeply personal" campaign against the Labour candidate in the by-election. Labour can't win there, but they can stop us. Is that really their aim? Our response was: People in Mid Bedfordshire are disappointed that Labour have chosen a London councillor ...
It probably wasn't the greatest idea to read the searing Ockenden report (on maternity care at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust) whilst recovering from a gynae op myself. Reeling from the misogyny of my own experience there was so much evidence to point to the fact that I was not alone. A year later I don't remember much detail from the report, just the miserable stench of its accounts of patriarchal and hierarchical condescension towards women patients in their hour of need, sometimes with their newborn baby's life hanging in the balance. One comment, however, lingers in the memory: ...
It may have lost our data, but the Electoral Commission has found some balls. Here's the Guardian on the commission's new Report on the May 2023 local elections in England: Hundreds of thousands of people could be excluded from voting in a UK general election because of voter ID laws, the government's election watchdog has said. The laws could have a disproportionate effect on poorer people, those with disabilities and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, the Electoral Commission warned. It said ministers should take urgent action to alleviate these impacts, including drawing up a wider list of documents that people ...
Yet more evidence that our exit from the EU is damaging our environment and our international standing comes in this article in the Guardian, in which campaigners allege that the UK has failed to ban 36 pesticides that are not allowed for use in the EU, barnding us the "toxic poster child of Europe". The paper says that although ministers promised the UK would not water down EU-derived environmental standards after Brexit, there have been multiple instances of divergence since the country left the bloc: Now, the country is failing to phase out pesticides that have been found to be ...
Victoria Gardens has a new toddlers group 'Little Green Fingers' that runs every Wednesday between 10am and 12 noon. This also provides a light snack for a donation. All welcome! If you are interested and want any more information, please contact Rachel on 07482 987479.
This autumn I will reach 25 years as a member of the Liberal Democrats, which causes me to reflect on the last quarter century (I was 18 when I joined) and think about the next 25 years for the party (by when I shall by 68 and just eligible for my state pension). This reflection has led me to seven questions that are key to what our party's future will look like. I write this article knowing (in fact, intending) that some people may disagree with some of what I say. I am interested in starting a debate about the ...
