I didn't have much time to explore Rushden - a Northamptonshire village that mushroomed into a major centre of the boot and shoe trade in the late nineteenth century - so I made straight for an attraction I already knew about. This plaque is on the Rushden home of the novelist and short-story writer H.E. Bates. He was born in the town and educated at Kettering Grammar School. Rushden appears in several of his works - notably the novel Love for Lydia - as Evensford, while his Uncle Silas stories are set in the Northamptonshire countryside. But Bates's best known ...
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: Sign up to The Week in Polls "*" indicates required fields Email* Enter Email Confirm Email If you submit this form, your data will be used in line with the privacy policy here to ...
Lynton Crosby's divisive approach to politics has wedged the Conservative party into a corner from which they cannot escape, says Adam Bienkov. Nearly three thousand prisoners are still serving indeterminate IPP - imprisonment for public protection - sentences, which are a relic of New Labour's authoritarianism. Alice Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture, explained the need for reform on the eve of an important vote in the Lords. In the event, peers agreed to the government amendments she supported. Carol Nicholson discusses Richard Rorty's views on patriotism and how they mesh with his wider philosophy: "National pride, he argues, ...
America has a love-hate relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC). At the moment it is a virulent hate. Ironically, Washington also claims to be the chief supporter of International law. "The United States does believe that international law matters," said John Bellinger, the State Department's chief Legal Adviser. "We help develop it, rely on it, abide by it." The problem is that you cannot cherry pick the law. To do so is to choose the road called hypocrisy which leads – eventually – to chaos. It is the charge of hypocrisy that America risks in its relations with the ...
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is holding a public pre-consultation exercise titled 'Shaping Our Future Service: Your Say'. on the future of the service. Dundee Liberal Democrats councillors have responded to the consultation making clear our view that any loss of fire stations and staffing across the city would be strongly resisted and we want to see the return of appliances removed from Dundee in 2023 part of temporary measures to help plug an £11 million budget gap. Scottish Fire and Rescue Service firefighters undertake vital work to keep people safe and deserve good work conditions and improved resources. ...
