Inspired by the research of Tony Marsh, Paul and Rebecca Whitewick travel to Northamptonshire and the Grand Union Canal to look for signs of two tunnel alignments at Blisworth that were begun and abandoned before the one we know today was completed. They also find some remains of the railway that was used to ship goods over the hill before the tunnel opened. There's more from Paul and Rebecca Whitewick about their railway and canal explorations on their website.
If on Monday you had told most people, MPs and political pundits that a general election would be called before the end of the week, very few would have believed you. Yet here we are. At long last, tens of millions of voters across the country have the opportunity to throw our disgraceful Conservative government out of office. Expect the next six weeks to be dominated by a bitterly fought campaign by all the major parties. But as we go to the country, what should the Liberal Democrats offer to an electorate that is still struggling with the NHS crisis, ...
Yesterday, day 2 of the election campaign, was the first full council meeting in Gateshead since the council annual meeting, which happened to be last week! The highlight of the agenda was the Lib Dem motion calling for a secure tenancy for Gateshead Football Club at the Gateshead International Stadium. The council are looking to transfer the stadium to another operator and Labour made it clear
Rishi Sunak's shambolic election campaign rolled into Belfast today and James McCarthy of Belfast Live was not impressed: Having been informed by the Conservative Party that the visit would be taking place at a fourth-floor office block in the Titanic Quarter, reporters arrived to find no PM and no press conference. After a flurry of frantic phone calls we were directed to a car park half a mile away from where we had been originally sent to and once again, there was no sign of the Prime Minister or his officials. Several more phone calls and a WhatsApp location pin ...
Following in the footsteps of the likes of Dominic Raab, two more senior Conservatives facing a full-on Liberal Democrat campaign in their seat are standing stood down. First with the news today was John Redwood, who talked about spending more time with his website (!): Long time MP & former minister Sir John Redwood not standing at the election [IMG: 👇🏻] pic.twitter.com/fsRyg7Su62 — Rob Powell (@robpowellnews) May 24, 2024
It was inevitable really that the first gaffe of the general election campaign had to come from Rishi Sunak. As Nation Cymru reports, the prime minister scored an own goal with a footballing gaffe as he met brewery staff in Wales on his campaign tour: The Prime Minister asked the workers whether they were looking forward to the football later this summer as a potential source of revenue, despite Wales not qualifying for the Euro 2024 tournament. There was an awkward pause after Mr Sunak asked: "So are you looking forward to all the football?" One brewery employee answered: "We're ...
Just the one electoral test this week following Rishi Sunak's general election announcement. It was in Leicestershire: Wymondham (Melton) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🌳] CON: 65.6% (-6.1) [IMG: 🙋] IND: 34.4% (New) No LAB (-28.3) as previous. Conservative HOLD. Changes w/ 2023. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) May 23, 2024
Residents have contacted us about the poor state of the road surface in Beechwood Terrace - see photo. We raised this with the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have had the following feedback : "An order has been raised for repairs to be carried out." We have also had an update on the promised resurfacing of the top two-thirds of West Park Road from the Senior Engineer in the Roads Maintenance Partnership as follows : "The work is currently scheduled for 21st October."
