The other day, looking for posts from this blog that might be useful to someone writing a book, I discovered that I had posted the track The English Motorway System by Black Box Recorder twice within five months a couple of years ago. Do you know what? I don't care. And because I like it, here it is again and it's not even Sunday. Black Box Recorder? Consisting of Sarah Nixey, Luke Haines (of The Auteurs), and John Moore (formerly of The Jesus and Mary Chain), Black Box Recorder were an indie band who flourished around the turn of the ...
Jane Dodds, the only Lib Dem member of Senedd, allowed Labour's budget for Wales to pass today by abstaining on the vote. As a result it was passed by 29 votes to 28. Deeside.com reports the concessions that the Welsh Lib Dems won in return for allowing the budget to pass: The deal with Ms Dodds, the Lib Dems' only Senedd member, included a promise to ban greyhound racing in Wales and allocate £15m for a pilot of £1 bus fares for under-22s. The MP-turned-Senedd member secured £30m for childcare, £30m for social care, £10m for playgrounds and leisure centres, ...
A length of Ludlow's medieval town walls collapsed 12 years ago and has never been repaired because the town council and the Diocese of Herefordshire cannot agree who is liable. Now comes news that a meeting in the town has been told there is a risk of further collapse: At the weekend the Ludlow Town Walls Trust told the meeting the wall extending from the collapsed section was "in a tenuous condition of stability". ... The section still at risk, the meeting of about 80 people heard, was the part extending eastwards from the collapse to the rear of the ...
The continent must unite to survive without America's support. Federalism is the way. The Europe we know and love is under threat. For President Trump, 'America First' means everyone else last, allies included. In a dizzying flurry of official announcements and offhand remarks, the man in the White House has undermined Europe's economies, security, and ultimately, its very existence. By threatening to withdraw military support for Ukraine, Trump has signalled America will no longer be the world's policeman and protect Europe. The continent needs to stand on its own two feet. But it's stumbling. Soon-to-be German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hit ...
How would Britons react if the country was placed on a war footing? My question is provoked by a letter from a certain Freya Hartley in this Sunday's Observer. Her two short paragraphs are worth quoting in full: "I feel strongly that our government should be bold and forward thinking and put itself and the country on the equivalent of a war footing. It needs to push through fast a raft of measures to improve our self-sufficiency, especially in food, energy, and defence. As we did in the Second World War. They need to hold cross-party brainstormings, initiate a blitz ...
The images from the Oval Office were grotesque. Donald Trump, a man who prides himself on his ability to "make deals," sat across from a beleaguered Volodymyr Zelensky and did what can only be described as political hazing. Instead of offering assurances of support, Trump harangued and hounded the Ukrainian president, all while dangling an exploitative mineral deal before him — one that offers no security guarantees, only the faint scent of transactionalism masquerading as diplomacy. It was a moment that should chill anyone with a passing knowledge of history. Because what we witnessed wasn't just another Trumpian tantrum; it ...
The Chief Executive of Liverpool Samaritans receiving a well deserved award for her branch from Mark Blundell, his Majesty's Lord Lieutenant on Merseyside. Since I became Lord Mayor of Liverpool 10 months ago, I have been out to see dozens of good volunteer organisations who do so much to keep the fabric of our city intact. Some of them help the environment, some with disadvantaged children, some with music and the arts, and some with our parks. Whatever they do one set of volunteers really has caught my imagination as an organisation to whom we need to give thanks On ...
Our joint weekly ward surgeries take place tonight. This week they are as follows : Blackness Library (Tuesdays 5pm - every week during school term time) Ancrum Road Primary School (1st Tuesday of each month at 5.45pm during school term time) All welcome - no appointment necessary!
