I've blogged before about my discovery that the broadcaster Bryan Magee, who died in 2019, was evacuated to Market Harborough as a boy and lived literally around the corner from where I did as a teenager. His television series Men of Ideas, in which he interviewed leading contemporary philosophers about the discipline's greatest figures, was broadcast while I was having my interviews for a university place to read philosophy, so it was wonderful preparation. In his Growing Up in a War, Magee describes his time in Harborough. For most of it he lived in Logan Street (yes, it's named after ...
Work at the train station to install a lift will begin on Sunday 15 October. The lift will give access to the footbridge on Platform 1. A new power supply to the platforms, lighting and CCTV will also be installed along with emergency stairs and refuges. The work is due to last until next spring or summer. The lane closure will be in place throughout the station works, except over Christmas and New Year. Fourteen car parking spaces will also be lost for the duration of the work on the lower deck of Galdeford car park, along with spaces in ...
Discipline has a bad rep. It brings to mind the notion of being chastised, punished or forced to obey. Of being yelled at, grounded or sent to one's room. But discipline lies at the core of the intentional life. It's the route to achieving the freedom to be who you want to be and to live how you want to live. The things we want in life don't just happen. We have to make them happen. We have to put in the effort, the hours, the blood, the sweat, the tears. Consistently, repeatedly and unrelentingly. We have to choose the ...
It has been a quiet week for principal council by-elections with just two taking place. However there were positive results in both - including a great hold in Suffolk - and we also had a great town council gain too. We held Woodbridge division on Suffolk County Council - winning over 50% of the vote. Congratulations to Councillor Ruth Leach and Suffolk Lib Dems on holding the seat in a more crowded election than when it was last fought with over half the vote. Suffolk CC, Woodbridge Liberal Democrats (Ruth Leach): 990 (51.2%, -12.3%) Conservative: 642 (33.2%, -3.3%) Labour: 301 ...
It has seemed as if our party leaders may have been hanging back from committing the party to radical policies which we hold, such as the pledge to build 380,000 new houses, reasserted at the Bournemouth Conference after a Young Liberal amendment, and the policy passed at the Spring York Conference to tackle poverty in general and end deep poverty within ten years through the establishment of Guaranteed Basic Income. Lack of commitment by the leadership to promote these policies, together with the announcement of ending our policy to add 1p on income tax to pay for investment in the ...
Shropshire Liberal Democrats have turned themselves into a mighty vote-winning machine. And there's not just Helen Morgan's victory in North Shropshire to prove it: look at the succession of council by-elections they have won. The most recent of these was in the Worfield division, just to the east of Bridgnorth. And it's the subject of an article on Conservative Home by the hereditary peer Gavin Hamilton - Lord Hamilton of Dalzell - who is the president of Ludlow Conservatives: The recent Worfield by-election in Shropshire serves as a sobering wake-up call for Conservative councils and formerly safe Shire seats. This ...
Allowing people to take responsibility for their own choices does not tend to feature very often in the Welsh Labour Government's agenda, they would much rather be controlling our choices than educating us about them. That is evident in the latest nonsense from First Minster, Mark Drakeford who, according to the BBC, believes that vapes should only be available on prescription for people quitting smoking. This is despite the fact that he has also quoted the Australian government's website as saying that there was "insufficient evidence" to promote their use for stopping smoking. Consistency does not appear to be a ...
They may not be sexy or glamorous, and they may rarely come up on the doorstep when talking to residents. Yet since the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, the demand of allotments has skyrocketed, and we as a party need to start talking about them more. Allotments have the potential to do so much to help some of the important issues facing our country. Growing our own fresh food dramatically reduces food miles and the carbon footprint of supermarkets. Studies have indicated that allotment sites vastly increase biodiversity, showing that they can increase insect populations by 70%. Also, with our ...
Two principal authority council by-elections this week, and both with Liberal Democrat candidates, hooray. Prestbury (Cheltenham) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🏘] PABG: 32.7% (-8.5) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 27.9% (+9.7) [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 20.0% (+5.4) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 14.9% (-6.5) People Against Bureaucracy Group HOLD. Changes w/ 2022. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) October 12, 2023
Residents will recall our previous updates about the poor pavement surface in Hawkhill west of the Peddie Street junction, around Sinderins Court. We were pleased that the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership responded positively to our request for pavement surface improvements here and Fraser is pictured at the pavement during slurry seal improvement works, which have really improved the pavement surface here.
