On refusing to be outraged at Nick Clegg's new jobNick Clegg stopped being deputy prime minister almost three-and-a-half years ago. By modern standards he has waited a couple of aeons before taking the corporate shilling. Fairly or unfairly, Nick is unlikely to able to continue a career in British politics and is still too toxic to be of much help to the Liberal Democrats, so he does need to find something to do with his life. And I suspect he was always cut out to be a Eurocrat or corporate insider than a campaigning politician. As James Kirkup once wrote: Politics is about arguments, about persuading people, by fair ... (more) |
Nick Clegg to move to 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CaliforniaThe Guardian reports: Facebook has hired Sir Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, as its head of global policy and communications. Clegg, 51, will join Facebook as it struggles to cope with mounting political pressure over issues including fake news, data protection and the threat of government regulation. The former head of the Liberal Democrats will move to Silicon Valley in January. While the appointment of Clegg to a top role at a Silicon Valley giant may come as a surprise, rumours had been circulating for weeks that the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was close to appointing a ... (more) |
Missing Adventures, ed. Rebecca LeveneSecond paragraph of third story ("The Tunnels to Heaven", by Andy Bodle): All was still but for the occasional passing functionary. The Reminder Screens were projecting the same old slogans. The Facilitator at the desk was reciting her Tenets as if today were a day like any other. A set of short stories about Bernice Summerfield's life before she joined the Doctor. Most of them are OK; the first ("Biology Lesson on Mal Oreille", by Xanna Eve Chown, a Malory Towers spoof)) and last ("Thirty Love", by Eddie Robson, in which she tries to explain tennis) are rather good; the ... (more) |
What should we make of Michael Caine?Michael Caine is to be admired as someone who worked his way up from south London poverty to being a star name. He has honed his technique such that it looks effortless, that he is just being himself, yet he can act out of character if pressed to do so. Nor is he precious about it. He has passed on his expertise in master-classes. On The Man Who Would Be King, he ensured that he did not receive more screen time than his friend Sean Connery. In an interview in the latest Radio Times, he recalls that he felt it ... (more) |
More evidence on how to change people's minds on immigrationStories based on personal experience and distrust of economic statistics are central to negative perceptions of immigration in the UK. That's the finding of new research reported on by Heather Rolfe, who leads the Social Policy team at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Although the past five years have seen a big shift towards a more liberal attitude towards immigration in the UK, there is still widespread hostility. It's a hostility that is often resistant to the facts around the net benefits of immigration. One reason for this is that a significant chunk of people hostile to ... (more) |
ALDC by-election review - 18 October 2018There were 2 by elections to keep us ticking over this week before the 11 by elections on Super Thursday next week. With candidates standing in 2 Labour safe seats it was a challenging week for the local Lib Dems. Hackney LB, Victoria - Labour Hold Lab 1311 [57.6%; -9.7%] LD Pippa Morgan 436 [19.2%; +10.3%] Green 296 [13.0%; -4.0%] Con 148 [6.5%; -0.3%] WEP 84 [3.7%; +3.7%] Our best result of the night came in the safe Labour London Borough of Hackney. Despite Labour holding the seat, Lib Dem candidate Pippa Morgan ran a great campaign resulting in an ... (more) |
The Blood is the Life for 19-10-2018miss_s_b | The Blood is the Life for 18-10-2018 I posted The Blood is the Life for 18-10-2018 to my dreamwidth blog miss_s_b | Lib Dem Conference Attendees: a request I posted Lib Dem Conference Attendees: a request to my dreamwidth blog miss_s_b | Report back from FCC 18th October 2018 I posted Report back from FCC 18th October 2018 to my dreamwidth blog If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: [IMG: Paypal Donate Button] [IMG: Buy Me an uncaffeinated beverage (because I'm allergic to coffee) at ko-fi.com] [IMG: ... (more) |
Dutch Liberal Leader tells Britain: We want you back for goodThe new leader of the Dutch social liberal party D66 channelled Take That in a speech in Westminster about Brexit this week. Rob Jetten, who at 31 is the second youngest political leader in Dutch history, met MPs and peers – and impressed them too. We don't want your money. We don't want your jobs. We don't want payback. We want you back. Zojuist mocht ik spreken ik in de House of Commons over #Brexit. Thank you @vincecable and @Andrew_Adonis! [IMG: 🇪🇺] pic.twitter.com/LB3Q2Ji9fh — Rob Jetten (@RobJetten) October 17, 2018 The speech is worth reading in full because this guy ... (more) |
My tweetsThu, 12:56: George R. R. Martin, Fantasy's Reigning King https://t.co/Jm5fDstf6h Great NY Times profile. Thu, 14:49: RT @OliverKamm: Anthea Bell OBE, Order of Merit of 🇩🇪, died this morning aged 82. She was a literary giant: among great C20th/C21st transla... Thu, 16:05: Less than Six Months After Revolution, Why We Should Still Be Watching Armenia https://t.co/24hlUz36c3 Or, why has... https://t.co/E3UKLhwuMz Thu, 18:26: Here's My Card, by Bob Popyk https://t.co/DJfjIDZmSR Thu, 20:48: I'll Look at Your Facebook Profile Before I Tell Your Mother You're Dead https://t.co/0PWdwlMliM Strong piece. Fri, 08:36: Brexit's 'doom loop': the 'blood red lines' that drive May's DUP ... (more) |
Irish Studies in LondonIt was a pleasure to be at the Irish Embassy last night to celebrate the launch of the M.A. in Irish Studies offered at the London campus of the Irish Institute of the University of Liverpool in Finsbury Square. As well as looking the work of writers from W.B. Yeats to Seamus Heaney (and my [...] (more) |