This is, it seems, the only guidebook that focuses entirely on Albania. No, there isn't a "Lonely Planet Albania", usually my first choice of guidebook if I'm going somewhere a little of the beaten path. No, if there's a guidebook to the Southern Balkans, you might find a section on Albania, but I guess that the demand isn't there. I get that. Albania isn't a huge country, with a population of less than three million, internal travel isn't straightforward (don't ask about trains), and there haven't traditionally been many direct flights to Tirana, although that is changing, and fast. But ...
Madeleine Davies reports on the Makin Review of the Church of England's response to the abuse perpetrated by John Smyth: "Among the conclusions reached by Dr Elly Hanson, the clinical psychologist whose psychological analysis of Smyth is appended to the review, is that 'the beliefs and values of the Conservative Evangelical community in which John Smyth operated are critical to understanding how he manipulated his victims into it, how it went on for so long, and how he evaded justice.'" "Though Farage has been forced to justify his past praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, there are much deeper questions ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with party leadership ratings. 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 PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Techne 27% (nc) 29% (+1) 12% (-1) 7% (nc) 17% (nc) 2% 20-21/11 GB More in Common 28% (-1) 25% (-2) 13% (+2) 8% ...
I have now established a tradition that birthdays with a zero in them merit a trip to somewhere new and, potentially, exciting. Admittedly, it's a tradition that might not get much of a run, given that I'm now officially in my sixties, but nonetheless, if in twenty years I report back from Luanda or Dili, you'll know that I'm still in decent form. But, given that we're been doing a lot of travelling, I wasn't going to be quite so ambitious for this particular celebration. And, I'd heard a lot about Albania - apparently an up and coming destination, now ...
On Wednesday we said farewell to my friend Professor Norman McCord. He had passed away in October and his funeral was the occasion for some of the lecturers from my day as an undergraduate and postgraduate at Newcastle University to meet up. It was good to see them again. Norman had been one of my lecturers but also my mentor when I was working on my PhD thesis back in the late 80s and early 90s.
I was due to take some of our goats to the Whickham Library Christmas fair this morning. They would have been cunningly disguised as reindeer. Sadly, the weather has put an end to that plan. We are under about 10cm of snow that started falling about 6am. Goats and snow don't mix!This is the 2nd cancellation for the goats at a local fair. The Sunniside Community Hub are switching on their
One down. A lot more to go. The infamous and totally unsuitable Matt Gaetz on Friday withdrew his name for consideration as Donald Trump's Attorney General. The world heaved a sigh of relief. Trump must have been furious. Gaetz was just the sort of MAGA loyalist he wanted as the nation's top cop. As Gaetz has demonstrated repeatedly in the past, he would do whatever Trump told him to do. The demise of former Congressman Gatez wasn't a real surprise. He is one of the most unpopular lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He is regarded as a bombastic egotist tainted with ...
The West End Christmas Fortnight starts next Thursday - 28th November - and has lots of great Christmas activities for all the family. We are pleased to give details of all the events below - please go to www.facebook.com/WestEndChristmas for full information and any booking details or please call Dundee 459378 if no Facebook access : Thursday 28th November 12 noon to 2pm - West End Blethers from Dundee Pensioners' Forum - at The Friary in Tullideph Road. Aimed at older people in the West End. Enjoy a cup of tea/coffee, cake, scones, and a bowl of soup. No booking ...
The Guardian reports on the view of a leading thinktank that large parts of England's adult social care market face collapse as a result of tax and wage rises announced in the budget, with devastating consequences for vulnerable and older people who rely on care services. They add that the Nuffield Trust said that while the government has consistently spoken of its long term ambition to reform the social care sector, there may be "little of it left" to reform unless it takes urgent action to stabilise the care market financially: The care sector faced an extra £2.8bn cost burden ...
