A short review of Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt by John Grindrod which I mentioned in a previous post. It is due to be out in hardback on June 1st. Although I got hold of an advanced proof copy, I did buy his previous book and would have bought this […]
Entries Tagged as 'Politics'
Outskirts
April 13th, 2017 · Comments Off on Outskirts · Life, Politics
Tags: Books·Nostalgia·Reviews·Town Planning
Green Belt
April 13th, 2017 · Comments Off on Green Belt · Politics
I have just finished reading a book about the green belt, which was more fun than it sounds. One passage in particular really stopped me in my tracks while I was reading: ‘One of the things that impressed me most about my dad’s take on it, because he was surprisingly left wing as well, was […]
Tags: Books·Town Planning
Trolling Trump
February 9th, 2017 · Comments Off on Trolling Trump · Politics
I really don’t know how this is not a thing yet, but surely the best way to have a bit of fun with Trump would be for loads of people on Twitter, and news broadcasts, and newspapers to routinely refer to him as “the millionaire Donald Trump”. The superficial reason is that it would wind […]
Tags: Trump
Petitions
February 2nd, 2017 · Comments Off on Petitions · Politics
I may have mentioned before that petitions are generally a waste of time, but that didn’t stop me from signing the one about Donald Trump not making a state visit to the UK. I did not sign it because I thought it would actually stop a state visit. I imagine that once the PM has […]
Swearing an oath
December 19th, 2016 · Comments Off on Swearing an oath · Politics
I am in equal parts baffled and irritated by this business about public servants swearing an oath to British values, not least because nobody seems to be able to say what they are. Are they the values that most people hold or the ones that people in the Westminster bubble think that most people hold, […]
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Solving the Southern Fail problem
October 19th, 2016 · Comments Off on Solving the Southern Fail problem · Life, Politics
During my daily commute I congratulate myself on transferring away from London to the local branch of my company and replacing an expensive, overcrowded, uncomfortable and unreliable train journey with a 5-minute walk, and even more so on strike days. Mind you, I hear that even non-strike days are now pretty dreadful and for the […]
The Trump taxes
October 5th, 2016 · Comments Off on The Trump taxes · Politics
I was not greatly surprised to hear those revelations that Donald Trump declared losses that could have led to him paying no income taxes. I am a little surprised that all the emphasis has been on the not paying taxes bit rather than the making a loss bit. Trump’s main claim has always been that […]
Tags: Trump
Things to cut
July 10th, 2016 · Comments Off on Things to cut · Politics
According to the BBC there might be cuts to the defence budget, depite the NATO committment to spend 2% of GDP on it – because GDP is likely to fall by two or three percent after the referendum. If that is the case I do hope the priority stays on things like Chinooks, Bushmasters, decent […]
Double hats
May 24th, 2016 · Comments Off on Double hats · Politics
I have been meaning to moan about this for a long time now, and tonight I am going to do it. It is the topic of councillors who serve on both a borough/district and a county council.
Tags: Elections·Local Government
Painting the town red
May 9th, 2016 · Comments Off on Painting the town red · Politics
The recent election campaign was one I think I will remember for a long time. With Crawley council having a Labour majority of just one seat it was always going to be a fight to keep control. Of the thirteen seats involved, eight were seats we were defending. Two of them were wards where there […]
Tags: Crawley Council·Elections