Will Nigel Farage be made to pay for sharing that photograph?Here's an unexpected twist: the man who took the photograph of that "Making plans for Nigel" T-shirt is suing people - one N. Farage in particular - for using his work. It has, after all, been spread all over the internet. Alan Robertshaw, whose videos I post here occasionally, takes the opportunity to give us a quick guide to copyright law. My advice to fellow bloggers is to steer clear of photographs from the big agencies that cater for newspapers, because they will find you and invoice you. (more) |
Trapped pigeon freed from netting under bridge in Shrewsbury with 'verbal encouragement' by firefightersOur Headline of the Day Award goes to an old friend of this blog, the Shropshire Star. When I showed the judges this photograph, which has the bridge in question at its centre, albeit in the background, they said: "Oh well, I suppose it will have to do." (more) |
Starmer has come and gone but the 2024 election bills still need sorting by the governmentThe latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, is out and you can also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: Welcome to my latest update on work in the House of Lords, this time taking a look once again at how slowly the state sorts out its payments for the running of elections. Why does it still take the state years to do something volunteers have to do in weeks? [IMG: Keir Starmer ... (more) |
Let's fix social careAndy Burnham has rightly made fixing social care a top priority and seems, on the face of it, to be genuinely interested in reaching a cross party consensus. Social care has been a priority for Liberal Democrats for a long time as well – I shed more than one or two tears when I first saw some of our election broadcasts from Ed Davey talking about his experiences. The good news is that we don't need to wait for the Casey Review to conclude in several years – the answers are already out there. In 2019, the House of Lords ... (more) |
It is not just about paying for social careThirty years after the then Government established the "Royal Commission on Long Term Care", five years after the 2021 Health and Social Care Act was to sort out social care once and for all, social care is still in crisis and, at long last. moving up the agenda of Government. The NHS and social care need radical reform, restructuring and cultural change based upon a whole systems approach to liberate the hardworking professionals from the constraining contract culture into an enabling leadership one. Taking out functional divisions along patient / user pathways to create "whole task, right sized, multidisciplinary, inter-agency ... (more) |
Shropshire Hills project receives almost £1m from National LotteryThe National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £993,475 in development funding to Shropshire's Landscape Connections project. A report on the Heritage Fund website explains: The project brings together farmers, communities and young people to improve habitats and strengthen ecological networks across one of England's most treasured landscapes. With almost £1m in development funding awarded and the potential for a further £8.9m in delivery funding, the project will support long-term stewardship while helping more people connect with nature and heritage. Over the next decade, the project aims to work with more than 200 landowners across the Shropshire Hills, delivering four large-scale ... (more) |
Lord Bonkers' Diary: Clip the wings of the Russian BearI would point out that Lord Bonkers is more against Landlordism in principle than in practice, but my rent falls due on Lady Day. Saturday It was my old friend John Arlott who claimed that Manchester is the only city in Britain where they have lifeboat drill on the buses. No doubt the damp climate has encouraged its mayor to march on London to claim the crown - or at least the tenancy of 10 Downing Street. Yes, there is something Medieval about the whole affair; it's like an episode from a school textbook on the reign of King Henry ... (more) |
Hidden meanings in social careAndy Burnham has promised to 'fix' social care and to 'use some of his political capital on the issue'. The first steps are expected this week. Ed Davey, who has campaigned strongly on the issue, promises to work with him on a cross-party basis. All good. The problem is that people mean very different things by the 'social care' problem. The obvious priority is to help unpaid carers – around 6 million people, 1.7 million of whom provide care for over 50 hours a week – and those they care for at home. There are rather meagre carers' benefits but, ... (more) |
Procedures and rule books are the real heroes of this filmThe latest edition of the email newsletter for my podcast, Political Fictions, is out and you can also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: Welcome to the latest email for our podcast, Political Fictions: political drama on screen and on the page. Please do spread the word about the podcast to your friends, colleagues and even dastardly rivals who you want to distract from doing something else. They can all sign up here: Now, on to the proper business of ... (more) |
Is there a magic money tree?The Independent reports that an analysis by one of the UK's leading economic think tanks has concluded that Andy Burnham has been warned that he will have to raise taxes or cut spending if he wants to fund his new priorities. The paper says that economists at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) caution the prime minister and new chancellor John Healey that "there is no capacity to borrow any more" and that inflation will push up the cost of living much higher than the Bank of England (BoE) is forecasting: The warning comes amid questions over ... (more) |