New Doctor Who Post on Mindless OnesAfter a couple of weeks of not being able to type much because of arthritis, here's the final post in my look at Doctor Who season twenty-two, on Revelation of the Daleks. Patreon backers can also find an ebook of ... Continue reading → (more) |
On BBC Radio NewcastleI was asked by Radio Newcastle to go into the studio last Wednesday to be interviewed about bus lane camera enforcement. I agreed - and was then told they needed me in the studio at 7am! Gateshead Council are introducing cameras on 6 lanes. I have no problem with the cameras being installed but I have concerns that two lanes will not be open for taxis to use (any using the two lanes will be (more) |
Every Lib Dem member ought to fight the ageism against Vince CableVince Cable is 74. To put that into context, the retirement age for people who are now in their fifties is 67. Given the low rates of wage growth many will probably have to work beyond that. Pensioners are seen as a prize political grab when it comes to votes. Donald Trump (I can't stand him just for the record), Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are closer to Vince in age. Politics, historically, was the domain of older men. Lord Palmerston was 70 years old when he was appointed in 1855. William Gladstone was 82 years old when appointed in ... (more) |
Locomotion to return to NewcastleBefore Labour turned Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums into a one-party state, I was a member of the joint committee that ran the service. So I was made aware then that Stephenson's Rocket is to return for a temporary stay in Newcastle, where the locomotive was built. It will arrive in 2018 for the Great Exhibition of the North but will then be returned to the Science Museum in London, the (more) |
On not being able to get into St Peter and St Paul's, ExtonPevsner says: There are no churches in Rutland and few in England in which English sculpture from the C16 to the C18 can be studied so profitably and enjoyed so much as at Exton. The church contains nine important monuments, and several of them are of outstanding value.And the church's webpage says it is open during daylight hours. But when I got there today I found that, despite notices about CCTV and Church Watch, not to mention Divine Omniscience and the possibility of Eternal Damnation, it was locked. So I enjoyed a wander round the churchyard and the views of ... (more) |
On Leavers, informed or otherwiseThe Brexit debate, on social media at least, shows few signs of abating. It shows every sign of continuing to be vociferously unpleasant on the occasions people venture outside their echo chambers and encounter an incorrigible who disagrees on the wisdom of Brexit. In some respects, therefore, little has changed. But in other respects things have become more interesting. Vince Cable speculated that Brexit may never happen. His elevation to leader of the Liberal Democrats might - or might not - impart greater momentum to the Brexit opposition. Jeremy Corbyn is finally nailing his colours to the mast and his ... (more) |
Alistair Carmichael: "Liam Fox is acting like a tinpot dictator"Embed from Getty Images Andrea Leadsom demanded that BBC journalists should be "patriotic" - which in her mind consisted in telling everyone how well the negotiations with the European Union are going. Now Liam Fox has written to the BBC's director general complaining that the corporation consistently runs negative stories about the economic effects of Brexit and demanding a meeting. The Guardian report quotes someone giving the right response: The Lib Dem chief whip, Alistair Carmichael, called the letter "a blatant attempt at intimidating the BBC and undermining the independence of our media". "The BBC shouldn't be bullied into publishing ... (more) |
Corbyn's economics - the Alternative Economic Strategy of 1976Embed from Getty Images If Peter Harrison, a fellow member of Wrekin Young Socialists with whom Jeremy Corbyn once climbed that Shropshire hill to plant the red flag, is right to say: "I knew him when we were 18 or 19, and his views have not changed. We are talking about the thick end of 50 years ago." it follow that we should look back to those days if we want to understand the Labour leader's economic views. And that brings us to the Alternative Economic Strategy which Tony Benn put to the Labour cabinet (with some support from Peter ... (more) |
Yes, we are all individuals!Josh Friedman's recent article for Time, "It's Okay to Be a Coward About Cancer", is an interesting piece about the language that surrounds the disease. It's written from the perspective of someone who has experienced cancer for himself. In it, he takes issue with the dominant interpretative repertoires (*) of "fighting" and "surviving" the disease. When I was first diagnosed ... The post Yes, we are all individuals! appeared first on ten pence piece. (more) |
Farron comments on Fox trade mission(Warning: poultry metaphors are in operation) Fox running into trade negotiations like a headless chicken - Farron Commenting on reports that Liam Fox is happy to import US chlorinated chicken as part of a UK-US trade deal Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron said: "Liam Fox is running into these trade negotiations like a headless chicken. "Parliament will not back a reduction to food standards as part of the repeal bill. This is a betrayal of British poultry farmers who currently work to the highest standards in the world. Liam Fox's dangerous grovelling to the US is only going to see ... (more) |