It's Labour's favourite tradition in Gateshead - blame the Liberal Democrats for everything. War, famine, plague, climate change. Just blame the Liberal Democrats! At full council last week, Angela Douglas, cabinet member for leisure, took the opportunity to blame everything that has happened since 2015 on the Lib Dems. We don't often hear from Angela. In January, cabinet debated the future of
This starts with footage of Leicester's trams set to Leone's theme from Once Upon a Time in the West, surveys the city's lost shops and factories, before ending with the numerous institutions in which Leicester people might find themselves incarcerated. HMP Gartree near Market Harborough and Leicester Belgrave Road, the city's lost railway terminus, are in the mix too. Oh, do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit.
Stopping in the village of Markyate just south of Dunstable at the weekend I spotted something I never thought I would see again - a Benskins pub sign. Back in the 1980s when I first started frequenting hostelries, nearly all the pubs in Watford and indeed a wider area of Hertfordshire, where the company had bought out smaller brewers, bore the red and gold insignia of the Benskins brand. Although Benskins had been a Watford brewery, it had been taken over by Ind Coope in the 1950s, the brewery closed in 1972 and demolished in the late 1970s. Indeed the ...
Wed 29th
17:15
30 senior Lib Dems call on the party to be less cautious - and the leadership fluffs its reply
Thirty senior Liberal Democrat members have signed a letter to the Guardian arguing that the party under Ed Davey is being too cautious and needs to explain to voters what it stands for before the general election. You can read the whole letter on the newspaper website, but here is its opening: Rishi Sunak's government is tired and incompetent, but what comes next? As the election draws nearer, Keir Starmer's caution only grows. There is a massive opportunity for a liberal alternative based on internationalism, environmental awareness and modernising Britain. But we believe the Liberal Democrats are swerving this opportunity, ...
Another example of the difference it makes getting Liberal Democrats elected: new housing built, and it's super environmentally friendly.
Dear Ecosia, Your mission, as you put it, is to use environmental projects to turn the profits from web searches into meaningful action, especially through tree planting, to reduce and absorb carbon emissions. It is an important endeavour, and one that we hope will go from strength to strength as we desperately need it to [...]
Ed Davey used his question to the Prime Minister today to highlight hold-ups in the building of the mythical 40 new hospitals promised in the Government's 2019 manifesto. Especially as the National Audit Office thinks it won't meet that commitment. Ed said: Three years ago, the Government made a commitment to 40 new hospitals and significant upgrades to hospitals in most need, but today many schemes are badly delayed. The Royal Berkshire—stuck at the development stage, with not a single pound transferred for construction. Harrogate District Hospital—still waiting on £20 million for urgent upgrades after reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was ...
I am very pleased to not only announce a £3,000,000 fund for care leavers today but also with the fact that I managed to get the pop up stand up all by myself!! As you will have seen from a ... Continue reading →
Thirty Liberal Democrats, including the chiefs of staff to two of the three most recent leaders, a former policy director, a peer, members of federal committees, councillors and current and former candidates have called for the party to be bolder in the run-up to the General Election. In a letter to the Guardian, they said: There is a massive opportunity for a liberal alternative based on internationalism, environmental awareness and modernising Britain. But we believe the Liberal Democrats are swerving this opportunity, not seizing it. It is crucial that we are brave and honest about the challenges a new government ...
The takeaway from this article is that Sainsbury's hasn't taken off in Ludlow. It is only trading at 60% of the company benchmark for that size of store. M&S Food will be a head to head competitor. If M&S opens, Sainsbury's will lose more trade. If the analysts are correct, it will then be trading at just 55% of the company benchmark. The planning system supports competition. If one supermarket leads to closure of another, that is of no concern to planners. Sainsbury's might not close but in the current retail environment any business that is not hitting high fives ...
Oh dear, they're at it again. The Independent reports that the so-called senior Tory, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has issued a warning to the Prime Minister, employing yet another of his ridiculous historical allusions. The paper says that Mogg, in an extraordinary attack on his own party, has warned Rishi Sunak he must wake up and act or lose the next general election, suggesting that Sunak's government is the most inert since the reign of Henry VI in 1453. Is he trying to institute another War of the Roses? Presumably he sees himself as a modern day Earl of Warwick: "The ...
As part of West End Christmas Fortnight, tomorrow - Thursday 30th November - sees the West End Community and Business Awards night taking place. It takes place at The Vine in Magdalen Yard Road. Guest speaker is Dr Erin Farley of Dundee Libraries who will speak about the Wellgate Project. Call Dundee 459378 for more information. All welcome!
Study the bombsites in A Canterbury Tale closely and you realise that a lot of matte painting and model-making has gone into producing them. I wrote that back in the summer. So here are some photographs of life in Canterbury after the German 'Baedeker' raid of 1942.
