This blog's favourite newspaper, the Shropshire Star, has a new owner: The Shropshire Star and Express and Star have been sold to a new publisher, it has been announced. The two titles, which have a combined physical circulation of 23,000 and previously run by the family-owned Claverley Group, have been acquired by National World. The purchase will increase National World's daily sales by about 40%. Phil Inman, CEO of Claverley Group, said selling was an "extremely difficult decision". National World currently owns the Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman, and in the West Midlands owns titles including the Rugby Advertiser and ...
There was exciting news on Harborough FM yesterday: Teddy bears will be taking the plunge from the top of Market Harborough's St Dionysius Church tomorrow! The teddy zip-line challenge is on from midday until 4pm, as part of an event to raise money for the Market Harborough C of E Primary Academy. Youngsters are invited to take their teddies along to give them the dare-devil experience. So that's what I saw going on in town earlier this afternoon - in an earlier life, I was a governor at that school. I should emphasise that every bear I saw risk the ...
Caroline Pidgeon will bring 16 years of service as a Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member to an end when she stands down in May. In her farewell speech to Conference this week, she reflected on her time at City Hall. Enjoy. The text is below. Conference, thank you so much for that warm welcome. I have to say talk of 25 years of elected service makes me feel rather old. I did the maths to work out what that time period equates to... in the most modern, short unit of political measurement...Liz Trusses. It seems my 25 years is 207 ...
Sunniside Club hosted a Macmillan coffee morning yesterday so after feeding my livestock, having breakfast and doing some casework, I took the 5 minute walk to the Club for coffee and cake. Well done to all those who helped out, and to those who arrived to eat cake and part with their money!
I visited the Material Recovery Facility at Teeside on Thursday. This is the plant where the the waste for recycling from Gateshead is sent for separation, processing and onward sale to companies for whom the material is a resource. The plant occasionally has a problem with sea gulls so the help of birds of prey is regularly sought. An old fashioned solution to a modern problem!I filmed a short
Party members at Autumn Conference may have noticed my slightly breathless, short interjection towards the end of the debate on the pre-manifesto paper "For a Fair Deal". I spoke briefly on House of Lords reform after it had been mentioned by earlier speakers. I submitted a Speaker's Card barely 30 minutes before the end of the debate, saying "I will speak for only thirty seconds". I had done similar five years ago, speaking for one minute precisely when the Chair at the time, Zoe O'Connell, knew me well enough to gauge that I'd do as promised. It gave me an ...
I admit that I've probably watched the Lawrence Fox drama play out with a certain sense of wry amusement. Perhaps that's because I understand that, with actions, come consequences. And, if you don't want to accept the consequences, your options might not be terribly palatable. That means that there are certain rules to be adhered to. For example, the right to free speech is balanced by an acceptance of the consequences of expressing them. If you really are a free speech warrior, then that's actually quite easy. Say something vile, be thought of as vile by a bunch of people, ...
It has to be said that those scientists who have developed a simple test in the search for alien life, using artificial intelligence to determine with 90 per cent accuracy whether a sample is biological or not, have got their timing just right. With the Tory party conference due to start today, I expect the test to be deployed in Manchester conference centre immediately.
Uncertainty – political and economic – is the buzzword doing the rounds as the world faces the imminent collapse of Chinese property giant Evergrande. And the market – in fact everyone – hates uncertainty. No one knows how the secretive Communist Party leader Xi Jinping will react. Will he take the view that Evergrande is too big to fail or too big to save? What will be the reaction of the millions of Chinese who are set to lose the money they gave to Evergrande and Country Garden (the other Chinese property company on the brink of collapse) for unfinished ...
Dundee Age Concern has run the Fiveways Centre in the city for many years and it provides superb, friendly day care for older people, with lots of activities and lovely meals. Further information in the poster below :
