This was David Gower's first tour as England captain, and he hit upon the novel idea of taking the two best spinners available to him. The selectors took some convincing - Edmonds was too bolshie, Pocock too old - but he got his way and won the series. As we're told at the start of the interview, Pocock had long gaps between his clumps of test appearances. I once heard him say that, over their long careers, he and John Emburey had very similar figures for runs conceded and wickets taken. But Pocock had achieved those figures in significantly fewer ...
At around 7am yesterday morning, a reversing delivery truck from a convenience store struck a glancing blow to the BT telephone booth on the corner of Upper Galdeford, Lower Galdeford and Tower Street. It's beside the Ludlow Mural at the former Budgens and directly opposite the Queens. By late morning, the leaning phone box had become an object of wonder. A work of art perhaps. People stood, stared and talked about the new attraction in Ludlow. The "leaning tower of Ludlow" at least one wag called it. There is a part of me that wanted to leave the phone booth ...
light was in his eyes: just a man, but always more; modern-day martyr
Danny Chambers is the Liberal Democrat PPC for Winchester, where we finished less than a thousand votes behind the winning Conservative at the last election. He turns up in today's Guardian in a story about Bobi, a Portuguese mastiff who died last year, supposedly at the age 31 years and five months. He was briefly listed as the world's oldest ever dog, but Guinness World Records has now withdrawn its recognition. As the Guardian story reveals, some people always had their doubts: Just days after Bobi's demise, Danny Chambers, a vet and council member of the Royal College of Veterinary ...
I enjoy publishing guest posts on Liberal England. So drop me a line if you've got an idea for something you could write for this blog. As you can see from the list below, I accept posts on subjects far beyond the Liberal Democrats and British politics. I'm happy to entertain a wide variety of views, but I'd hate you to spend your time writing something I wouldn't want to publish. So do please get in touch first. These are the last ten guest posts on Liberal England:61 councillors have changed their allegiance since May's local elections - Augustus CarpMany ...
In 2022, the Liberal Democrats passed a number of reforms championed by party president, Mark Pack, which included, but were not limited to, the reforming and slimming down of the Liberal Democrat Federal Board (similar to the board of directors for a company). The reforms, which I supported at the time, have led to genuine change in how we function as a party, and I remain of the view that we made the right decision. However, the slight pitfall in the reforms from a personal perspective was that in the subsequent board elections, I finished fifth, missing out on a ...
I believe that Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, was right to allow a number of amendments yesterday. We must break the binary parliamentary system if we are to have a Parliament we can be proud ... Continue reading →
This is not unexpected news. Brown and Francis is too small a store to thrive in an age where pharmacies are underfunded by government and the range of services pharmacies must provide is increasing. A 30% cut in NHS funding in real terms has led to the closure of 1,400 pharmacies in England since 2015. MPs, including Helen Morgan MP, have protested in a letter to the government but to no avail. Ludlow's three pharmacies handle around 21,000 prescriptions a month, down from 23,000 a year and a half ago. That drop will be down to more patients ordering their ...
Michael's ward surgeries take place today and every Thursday during school term time. They are as follows : Thursdays at 5.45pm prompt - West End Campus (come to reception area of St Joseph's RC and Victoria Park Primary Schools) Thursdays at 6.30pm prompt - Harris Academy reception area All welcome - no appointment necessary!
The Guardian reports on the childish behaviour of MPs in the House of Commons last night over motions calling for a ceasefre in Gaza. The paper says that Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has apologised to MPs after the House of Commons descended into chaos when Conservative and SNP MPs walked out of the chamber in protest over his handling of the debate: Commons Leader and Tory MP Penny Mordaunt claimed Sir Lindsay Hoyle had hijacked the debate and undermined the confidence of the House in its longstanding rules by selecting Labour's bid to amend an SNP motion calling for an ...
