Back in the Fifties, before I was born, my mother worked as a secretary for the police in Somerset. Many of her stories of those days involved a particular officer: PC Bodger. There was the time he stopped the Suffragan Bishop of Bath and Wells and his wife because their car was going so slowly. "What's the matter? You drunk or summat?" My mother saw the resultant letter of complaint; "Such a lifelike imitation of the Gestapo one never thought to see in England." And there was his finest hour: the opening of the Chew Valley Reservoir. The stories of ...
Some thoughts, not necessarily connected. The first is inspired by a letter to the Guardian in September this year. The writer criticised general vaccination measures as not cost effective when judged against hospital admissions and deaths. These are very short term and limited criteria. There is now a mountain of evidence showing that, even among those who get covid mildly, the long term effects on their body is significant - albeit currently not detectable - with notably increased risk of cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks, compromising of kidneys, liver and other organs, increased likelihood of diabetes and other long term ...
Leeds based company Future Sound Events has applied for a licence to hold up to 15 events, each with a maximum audience of 7,000, at Ludlow Castle from 2024. Shropshire Council is consulting on the licence. Comments to licensing@shropshire.gov.uk by 21 December. Should this be approved, up to 21 days in the castle will be dedicated to ticketed events between the beginning of May and the end of September. Allowing for set up and take down time, the castle and Events Square could be closed for one in five days over the summer season. The planned events will bring trade ...
Nick Harvey and Paul Tyler talk to Arthur Snell about their book Can Parliament Take Back Control? He says they have "produced a short, easily readable book which contains a set of clear proposals, around elections, parliamentary procedure, reform of the upper house and standards in public life. Although it's just about parliament, this book could be titled How to Fix Britain, because if its recommendations where followed, our national life would be improved immeasurably." Post-Covid transport recovery, supporting the night economy, from-the-ground-up regeneration, harnessing Smart Cities tech. It's all in the Liberal Vision for Urban Britain from Matthew Pennell. ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention poll from each pollster currently operating in Britain. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRUKCon leadFieldwork WeThink 25% (-3) 45% (+1) 11% (+2) 5% (-1) 9% (+1) -20% 7-8/12 YouGov 22% (nc) 45% (nc) 10% (+1) 7% (nc) 11% (+1) -23% 6-7/12 Techne ...
A colonial era Latin American border dispute is threatening to blow up into a major conflict involving the United States, Brazil, Venezuela, the tiny country of Guyana and possibly Britain as the former colonial power. The catalyst is the discovery of large oil and gas deposits off the coast of the Essequibo region which is claimed by both Venezuela and Guyana. It has been occupied by Guyana since 1840. On December 3, President Nicolas Maduro held a referendum in Venezuela in which 95 percent of those balloted voted in favour of annexing the 100,000 square mile Essequibo region which is ...
The Dundee West Church Christmas Concert takes place tomorrow - Sunday 10th December. It is a family Christmas Carol Concert and includes the Discovery Brass Band and others. Taking place at the church at 132 Perth Road it starts at 7pm - all welcome!
