The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway is one of our most mourned lines. Jointly owned by the Midland and the London and South Western, it ran from Bath to Bournemouth As well as carrying Somerset coal and agricultural produce, it brought holidaymakers to the South Coast. It's crack train was the Pines Express, which ran from Manchester to Bournemouth. My mother worked for the police in Somerset before I was born. She used to say that their exercise to test their preparedness for a civil emergency imagined the wrecking of this train. As you will see from this video, the ...
It has been a relatively quiet week for principal council by-elections - but a very successful one for the Lib Dems. Of the 3 elections held we won 2 of them! With one hold and one gain we are the undisputable winners this week! The first election was held on Wednesday on Powys County Council in Wales in Talybont-on-Usk ward. Congratulations to Councillor Raith Devlin and the team in Powys on holding this seat so convincingly - increasing the Lib Dem share of vote by a whopping 23%. This is the third by-election we have won in Powys in as ...
In a last throw of the Government's dice the Tories are hoping that they can fool people in to thinking that there will be more money in their pocket. Like most gamblers I think the Tory Government is now doomed ... Continue reading →
This week saw general elections in the Netherlands which led to the nationalist Partij voor die Vriejheid (PVV) or Party For Freedom as the largest party in the country's House of Representatives for the first time in its history. The PVV is led by Geert Wilders, who has called for, among other things, a ban on mosques and Qurans, and "Constitutional protection of the dominance of the Judeo-Christian and humanistic culture of the Netherlands". While coalition talks could take months and there are a number of mathematically viable options, Wilders looks set to be the country's next prime minister, in ...
It seems that it is not just the Welsh Tories who are guilty of shameless and inaccurate spin on the new default 20mph limit in Wales. The Welsh Government has been caught bang-to-rights as well. The BBC reports that the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has queried how statistics supporting the claim by Welsh Ministers that "most journeys will be around one minute longer" were presented. It said promotional leaflets posted to Welsh homes about the move lacked transparency and they expressed concern about how difficult it was for the public to understand and scrutinise the figure: The OSR comes ...
Following on from yesterday's blog about Tory budget spin, it transpires that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts show the freezing of income tax and National Insurance thresholds is due to raise £201bn between now and 2028-29. The figures also show 7.4 million people are set to be dragged into a higher rate of tax over the next six years. 4 million people are set to be brought into paying income tax for the first time by 2028-29, while 3 million will be dragged into paying the higher 40p rate. It comes despite a Conservative Party promise not to ...
We recently had concerns from residents about the continual flooding at the Ancrum Drive/Ancrum Road junction. This is right across the road from Ancrum Road Primary School and therefore pedestrian including pupil use is significant. We reported this to the Roads Maintenance Partnership to request the road drains are cleared and also asked environment management to remove fallen leaves at this location.
After this week's Wednesday by-election, Thursday brought two more principal authority by-elections. Both of these council by-elections had Lib Dem candidates, which is up one on the last time the wards were up. First up, a Lib Dem gain from independent: Queen Edith's (Cambridge) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 35.0% (-2.9) [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 31.8% (+8.1) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 21.3% (+1.9) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 11.8% (+1.6) No IND (-8.7) as previous. Liberal Democrat GAIN from Independent*. Changes w/ 2023. *Outgoing cllr elected in previous cycle. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) November 24, 2023
