The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct carries canal boats across the River Dee near Llangollen in North Wales. At 336 yards long and 126 feet high, it is the longest and highest navigable canal aqueduct in the world. I've been across it in a boat, and the lack of any barrier on the side opposite the towpath makes the whole experience feel like sailing across an infinity pool. This Trekking Exploration video shows us the Aqueduct drained for maintenance. We see the bolts that hold the structure together and the plug that was once pulled to drain the canal into the Dee below. ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: In the run-up to a Budget, and immediately after one, there is usually plenty of speculation about whether it will give the government a bounce. But do Budgets really move the polls? Short answer: no. For the longer answer, featuring graphs, let's start with... Find out more by reading this edition of The Week in Polls here, and you can sign up below to receive future editions direct to your email inbox:
I've seen it claimed and now I have confirmation from the horse's mouth. The Liberal Democrat peer and former MP Paul Tyler is a direct descendant of the Cornish hero Bishop Jonathan Trelawny. To be precise, Paul tells me he is the bishop's great great great great great great great great grandson. That's eight greats. As the glee club at Liberal Democrat conferences never seems to know the tune of Trelawny, here's the Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir to help us.
You couldn't imagine a less dyslexic child than me. When I was eight I had a reading age of twelve and a half, had few problems with spelling and was always starting to write stories - even if I didn't finish many of them. But I had difficulty in remembering which way round the letter p and the figure 9 went. This was not a problem in schoolwork once I was past infants school. If I knew I was in letters mode then I got the p right, just as I did every other letter. And if I knew I ...
Across 1.2 million emails and 21,000 podcast downloads over the past year, there's been a common purpose: collating, filtering, analysing and explaining news about the Liberal Democrats, and the key relevant evidence from the polls and academic research. That's going to be all the more important, and I hope useful, as we near the Westminster general election. The mainstay of it all, Liberal Democrat Newswire, is most likely the longest-running single-authored political email newsletter in Britain. Eeek. It, along with all my other email lists about the Liberal Democrats, remains free for anyone to sign up to and receive all ...
I walked today for walking's sakealong the former railway line –heading out cross-countryaway from house-backs crowding in,past schools and smallholdings – cut and banked, civils large:a theatre of citizens ~ Some seemed intent, but most friendly:the steppers, joggers, dog walkers,pairs of red-faced cyclists,that little girl on her first bikehurtling to her mummy –and just this [...]
Shropshire Council has a huge range of responsibilities and services. Many, such as education, planning and social care are statutory. Others are discretionary. Pest control has already been abolished at Shropshire Council. If you want to control rats you will have to hire a private company for the task. Some other duties are not well defined. There is a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service but that hasn't stopped councils reducing the number of libraries and scrapping mobile library services. As part of its push to save £62 million in 2023/24, Shropshire Council is to axe ...
You'll have seen several takes on Jeremy Hunt's budget already I'm sure, I'm going to focus on the built environment. You know we've got a climate emergency, a cost-of-living emergency, it's also the case that we've got a public sector buildings emergency. There's a massive repairs backlog for schools, hospitals, council houses, prisons, police stations, ... Continue reading Budget 2024: The day the roof caved in
Something important happened at the end of the Seventies: singles began to matter again. For most of the decade it had been albums that mattered, while the singles chart was left first to Chinn and Chapman and then to novelty records. The result of this renaissance of the single was that a really good song like When You're Young, which made the top 20 in early 1979, was not to be found on any Jam album until the superior greatest hits compilation Snap! Weller has a lot to say, almost too much to fit the tune. But the lyrics contain ...
Keep your eye on Israeli politician Benny Gantz. He is currently the bookies' favourite to be Israel's next Prime Minister. More importantly, he has hinted at a willingness to discuss the two-state solution. This has put him in direct conflict with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right coalition members of his government. They are totally opposed to the two-state solution which is being pushed by the US, Europe, the Arab world and virtually everyone except Netanyahu and Co. Gantz's political flexibility earned him an invitation to visit Washington where this week he met with Vice President Kamala Harris and ...
According to the Mirror, Rishi Sunak's obsession with helicopters has paid off for the Tory Party. The paper reports that the Rishi took a £10k helicopter ride to a supermarket tycoon's back garden to rattle his tin and came away with a £250k donation: And figures just released by the Electoral Commission reveal how lucrative Mr Sunak's trip was. Mr Arora donated £250,000 to the Conservative Party in December - one of the party's biggest single donations of the year. It's Bobby Arora's first political donation, according to the Commission's records - though his brother Simon has previously given £50,000 ...
Ros and I took the short walk to St Mary-le-Tower last night, for a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion. Not a piece that I'd actually heard before, but I do enjoy his St Matthew Passion, so what could be the harm, right? The Choir of St Mary-le-Tower were joined by the Tower Sinfonia and, whilst the acoustics seem somewhat flawed, it was enjoyable enough to reward the attention of a decent enough audience. Daniel Joy, appearing as The Evangelist, as well as the odd additional aria, held things together rather well in what is an arduous role, ...
At the last council meeting, Shropshire Council's portfolio holder for transport, Dan Morris, refused to give an estimate of the cost of the four-mile North West Relief Road in Shrewsbury saying that would lead to contractors bidding up to that estimate. Just three days later, Shropshire Council published a tender for construction that revealed the cost as £110m, an eyewatering £38m a mile. No wonder that the council leadership didn't want councillors to know or perhaps they didn't know. They voted through £95 million of funding for the road before without realising it was wrong, though now that looks close ...
As we get ever closer to an election, it is essential a Liberal Democrat voice and viewpoint is in every policy sphere – including tech and digital policy. Policy-making on online safety, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data protection, and digital competition will shape everyday life in Britain, as well as our success as a country on the world stage. Our counterparts, DigitalTories and LabourDigital, frequently speak out about their parties' viewpoints on tech and digital matters so it is crucial for the Liberal Democrats to be equally represented in this conversation. That's why we are proud to announce the launch of ...
The pedestrian crossing at Ancrum Road outside Ancrum Road has unfortunately been out of action for a short period following - firstly - a vehicle driving into one of the poles and demolishing it - secondly - the urban traffic control team working really fast to replace that pole the following day, then - thirdly and amazingly - another vehicle demolishing the other pole in an unrelated accident the following day. As the crossing was over 20 years old, the decision was taken to replace the crossing with a new state-of-the-art one and we asked the urban traffic control team's ...
