Tyler Ballgame: For the First Time, AgainThe Guardian introduces us to Tyler Ballgame - this is the title track from his first album, which was released last month: "Not long after his first trip to London, a video of him performing live at a Los Angeles bar called the Fable began circulating online. By the time he came back to the UK to perform at Brighton industry showcase the Great Escape, he had signed to Rough Trade. Critical hosannas began raining down on Ballgame: he has variously been compared to Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Jim Morrison and Tim Buckley." And ... (more) |
Tom Arms' World ReviewEndangerment Finding It is true that, as President Trump says, that ending the 2009 "Endangerment Finding" of the Obama Era will be a major boost for the American car industry. It will probably help the Europeans as well. It is also true that it will save car buyers more. Trump is on the money when he says that the move will knock $2,800 off the price tag of every new car that rolls off a Detroit assembly line. It is also a gold-plated economic fact that the deregulation will put billions of dollars in the pockets of fossil fuel companies ... (more) |
What next for the government on Palestine Action?The Guardian reports that judges have humiliated ministers by insisting Palestine Action should not be banned under anti-terrorism laws in a ruling that has left thousands of its alleged supporters in legal limbo. The paper refers to the verdict of the high court on Friday that the government's proscription of the direct action group was "disproportionate and unlawful" and that most of their activities had not reached the level, scale and persistence to be defined as terrorism: The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, was urged to respect the court's decision after the three judges said the ban, introduced by her predecessor ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1475Degenerate Art on Donald Trump's concentration camps and what can be done to resist their building: "When you consider the number - again, in the tens of millions—that the administration is promising to detain or deport, and when you look at the network of planned facilities that we already know about, what we're witnessing is the express repetition of a project on the scale of the larger concentration camp systems in history - the Soviet Gulag, the Nazi concentration camps, and Chinese labour camps in the People's Republic of China." "Westminster's moral compass went haywire a long time ago, and ... (more) |
Observations of an Expat: PanicTrump is panicking. He knows that come November the Republicans are highly likely to lose control of the House of Representatives. They may also lose control of the Senate, but it would take an electoral miracle for the Democrats to win the two-thirds majority necessary to boot Trump out of the White House. But loss of the lower house would be bad enough. It is the lower house that could impeach him for the third time. Democrat-control of the House of Representatives, can, make it very difficult for Trump to continue to implement his far-right agenda. They can investigate all ... (more) |
Latest voting intention and leadership ratings opinion pollsWelcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and 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 19% (-1) 17% (-2) 14% (-1) 15% (+2) 30% (+2) -13% (3rd, vs Ref) 11-12/2 UK Find Out ... (more) |
A plaque to a bread makerLocal history a bit closer to home this week, with the only blue plaque in my council ward. It is situated in Lynn Street in Cwmbwrla on the side of a corner house, which may once have been an old bakery, and commemorates a gentleman by the name of David Ayres Jones. Interestingly, the plaque is not listed on the council's official site, which suggests that it may have been mounted privately. According to this historical marker database, David Ayres Jones was an engineer and inventor of Bakery Machinery, being responsible for creating the Worlds first bread moulder in 1947. ... (more) |