This blog's hero J.W. 'Paddy' Logan gained Harborough from the Conservatives at a by-election in May 1891 and held it at the general election the following July. The Leicester Chronicle (8 August 1892) reported the resultant celebrations: On Saturday afternoon the Liberals of the Harborough Division visited the residence of Mr, J.W. Logan, M.P., at East Langton Grange, to celebrate the triumphant return of that gentleman to Parliament. An immense number of people were present from all parts of the division, long special trains running from Leicester. Tea was partaken of in the riding school, and in the evening a ...
From HFM News: Tennis-court sized areas of woodland known as 'Tiny Forests' are set to be created in two parts of the Harborough District. Areas on The Headlands in Market Harborough and Devitt Way in Broughton Astley have been selected for the project, which will see hundreds of fast-growing trees put in the ground. Tiny Forests? Earthwatch explains: A Tiny Forest is a dense, fast-growing native woodland, about the size of a tennis court. These forests are not only great homes for butterflies, birds, bees and other wildlife but also a place for people to connect with, and learn about, ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: During the 2019-24 Parliament, it was often commented that many 2019 Conservative voters in the polls had switched to don't know, rather than making the move all the way over to picking another party. That caused debate about whether it meant the Conservatives had a plausible route to recovery, and whether Labour was failing as an opposition party. It also meant differences opened up between the pollsters, with their figures varying depending on how they treated the don't knows... But now perhaps ...
Somehow I feel the need to explain myself with this one... Way back when I was in my teens, liking certain sorts of music entailed not liking others - at least if you wanted to avoid having your friends mock your record collection and stop being your friends. So it was not OK to like The Clash and Yes, or indeed REM and Matt Bianco. Both at the time and subsequently, the latter were often cited as the epitome of 80s Uncool. I remember reading an article by Paul Morley where he expressed this view as a fixed truth, requiring ...
I came across a singles chart from 1979, and there among the New Wave classics was a disco track: One Way Ticket by Eruption. I was pleased to be reminded of it - it's a good record - and almost chose it for today's Sunday music video. But then I got into the history of One Way Ticket and found that the original version had been on the B-side of Neil Sedaka's 1959 hit Oh! Carol. (Carol, as you probably know, was Carol Klein, a former girlfriend of his, who we know as the singer and songwriter Carole King.) One ...
I have blogged a number of times on plans by the new Labour government to build an additional 1.5 million homes during their first term, most notably here and here. Now, with proposals having been published to set individual targets for each planning authority and new rules that will allow for housebuilding on poorer quality green-belt land, one leading housebuilder has stepped in to point out that it isn't as simple as reducing 'red tape' and centrally mandated diktat. The Guardian reports that the Barratt Redrow chief executive, David Thomas, when asked by the BBC if there were enough workers ...
Trump vs FBI Trump clashed with FBI director Christopher Wray from the start. So much so that he didn't bother to turn up for his swearing-in ceremony in 2017. Wray led the investigation into Russian collusion; refused to condemn his agents as products of the "deep state"; attacked the January 6 riots as "domestic terrorism" and started the probe into the Mar-a-lago documents case. When Wray refused to do as ordered during the George Floyd riots, Trump tried to fire him. He was blocked by the Attorney General. "Over my dead body," said Bill Barr. This week Wray bowed to ...
With thanks to SJ Bogue and Dundee Memories, a birds-eye view of the Royal Highland Show at Riverside back in 1949 :
