Autumn Statement: NHS budget slashed by £5bn next year Net migration figures: Conservatives need to accept that their approach isn't working Welsh Lib Dems leader calls for funding of the arts in Wales Autumn Statement: NHS budget slashed by £5bn next year The Conservative Government is cutting annual NHS spending by almost £5 billion in real-terms, figures buried in the small print of today's Autumn Statement have revealed. Jeremy Hunt has cut day-to-day spending in cash terms for NHS England in 2024-25 from £165.9bn in his March Budget to £162.5bn in the Autumn Statement, a cut of £3.4 billion. In ...
I remember Tom Browne, who compered Radio One's Sunday afternoon chart show Solid Gold Sixty in the early 1970s, as having a deep, warm voice. And Wikipedia does indeed tell us that, like Stuart Henry, he was an actor before he was a DJ. A graduate of RADA, no less, But when I found a clip of him, I was still startled to find that he sounded exactly like James Mason. Not exactly poptastic, great mate. The clip does confirm my memory that the charts in 1975 were a mess. They were choked with novelty records, glam had died and ...
Christmas Shockwave - Were Christmas cards were first referenced in 1829? On Wednesday the 2nd of November 2023, I went to a talk by Steph Mastoris, Head of National Waterfront Museum, Swansea on Christmas Cards. During this talk he elaborated on Sir Henry Cole's and John Callcott Horsley's card in 1843. This has been accepted as the first commercial Christmas card. He then showed a article from the Hampshire Chronicle from Monday 07 December 1829, on Page 6 [1]. In the Weddings and Engagements section, announcement reads "A Cordial Welcome.— We learn that the "Olde Winchester" Christmas and New Year ...
Alwyn Turner argues that the roots of the Daleks are to be found in the second world war: "That night 165 people were killed, hundreds of houses were destroyed and Llandaff Cathedral was so badly damaged that it was closed for the next 15 months. A couple of hundred yards from the cathedral, ten-year-old Terry Nation was alone in an Anderson shelter. ... He spent that night and many others sheltering from the Luftwaffe's bombs on his own, reading adventure stories and listening to incongruously cheerful programmes on the radio." "The Conservatives now have a choice, they've even invented a ...
Thu 23rd
19:37
Ana Savage Gunn wins Name of the Day - and will be the Lib Dem candidate if there's a Wellingborough...
Congratulations to Ana Savage Gunn. Not only has she won this blog's rarely presented Name of the Day Award, she's been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate in the event of a Wellingborough by-election. This will take place if the recall petition for Peter Bone receives the necessary 7940 signatures. North Northamptonshire Lib Dems tell us all about Ana: Ana was born and raised in Northamptonshire, and brings a wealth of experience in public service and care with her. She joined Northamptonshire Police in 1985 and rose to the rank of Inspector, serving across the county - including in Wellingborough ...
I had completely forgotten that I wrote this back in 2017. It has though aged rather well and is still very relevant. So enjoy... There's a lot of talk at the moment about how artificial intelligence, powered by machine learning, may develop. Will we end up in a world where not only have robots taken our jobs but where their artificial intelligence has become dominant, unintelligible to human minds and powering robots to have control over us? To answer that, let me take you a little into the very plausible future. It's one where many households have domestic robots. Those ...
The Guardian reports that the Chancellor's carefully constructed narrative of Tory budget measures relieving the tax burden on lower and middle income workers may not be as compelling as Jeremy Hunt believes. They say that an analysis by the Resolution Foundation has found that the tax cuts worth £20bn in the autumn statement favoured the richest 20% of earners, undoing much of the progressive policy changes made during the parliament's first half. The top fifth will gain £1,000 on average, five times the gains seen by the bottom 20%, who will be only £200 better off from measures that include ...
Congratulations to the team in Powys on another successful by-election defence: Talybont-on-Usk (Powys) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 51.0% (+23.4) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 34.9% (+10.8) [IMG: 🙋] IND: 12.0% (New) [IMG: 🙋] IND: 2.0% (New) No other INDs (-48.2) as previous. Liberal Democrat HOLD. Changes w/ 2022. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) November 23, 2023
Thu 23rd
07:00
Christmas market, schools' concert and lights switch on the West End today! #dundeewestend
Today sees the start of this year's West End Christmas Fortnight! Events include : 4pm to 8pm - CHRISTMAS FORTNIGHT HIGHLIGHT! - West End Christmas Market at the Miller's Wynd car park and community fridge in Perth Road. Join us to browse Christmas gifts and we'll also have some hot food and drink stalls and music and entertainment for you to enjoy. We will be having a lights switch-on at 7pm. There's also a visit from Santa and Dundee United's mascot Terry the Terror, who will be distributing Christmas goody bags to the children and the fantastic Duende Voices community ...
Thu 23rd
06:53
Channel 4 highlights human rights concerns of Caithness women facing 2.5 hour journey to give birth
The A9 from Wick and Thurso to Inverness is a long road, even at the best of times. I've travelled it in all weathers. In the Summer of 1980 as my parents went to the Royal Garden Party at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. In the depths of an icy 1984 Winter to my Grandma's funeral in Inverness. Even though they have made the hairpin bend on the Berriedale Braes a bit easier and the Dornoch Bridge has cut off a good half hour from the journey, it's still a long and twisty road. Definitely not one you would want to ...
