@msanfieldpark
Pauline Powell. Retired non practising solicitor. Worked in local government environmental & regulation - Licensing, Consumer Protection, Public Health, Health&Safety…. Loves France, LFC, Arts & Crafts/decorative arts, cooking….
“A revolution is on the way, and it's partly because we no longer take our standards from the tweedy top.” — Pauline Boty
Spotlighting three 'Hidden Women' from the RCA's history: Kathleen Mary Easmon, Ulla Goodman, and Pauline Boty.
Read their stories: https://bit.ly/4laaKKh
#IWD2026
Not even the Nazis expressly announced they were committing war crimes. Indeed, at Nuremberg war crimes were denied.
But here, openly, the US Secretary for Defense is explicitly admitting to committing war crimes.
This is the company the UK government has embedded in the nation’s services. Seriously, fuck everyone who is excusing this.
In the history of self-owns, this is a big one. Out of touch, contradicts their vehement argument that cis women aren’t safe around trans people, and manages to come across as a total joy sump in the process. Amazing work
Oh gosh, lots! But thank you.
Yes, it’s the law - see s123(2). There are general/deemed consents allowing some types of sale at an undervalue, but otherwise auction sales are a good way to demonstrate compliance
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/7...
Not at all!
And here’s a copy of the decision record. It’s pleasing to see it published, but it doesn’t tell you much more. It does say local councillors were consulted so you could always give one of them a call? I’d be surprised if it’s anything more than “we don’t want/need it, maybe somebody else will”
Cash strapped Councils often look to sell bits of land they judge they could do without. County councils sometimes own freehold of some highway land . I’m old enough to remember early Skem developed. My best mate moved there when we were about 7. Within a couple of years they moved again, to Canada!
Description: a pair of grass verges buffering residential properties and pathway
Red line identifying land included in the sale
No it is info from the sales advert - images attached.
You made me look Paul! The path isn’t up for sale, just the two grass verges that flank it. Seller is Lancashire CC. Perhaps they hope owners of houses beside the path will want to incorporate into their footprint, save costs as you say. Have to wonder why not included with houses to begin with?
Because many people attracted to 'Blue Labour' are racists, and even more think the majority of the country are racists and want to appeal to them. Incidentally, the Chevening scholarships were rightly understood as British diplomatic soft power, so it's also a needless injury to *us*.
Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab) 10 March 2026
"I care profoundly about rape victims facing intolerable delays for their day in court. I know only too well what that feels like, because, after being raped at an event that I attended (as an MP), I waited 1,088 days to go to court"
My home borders a small disused burial ground, a wondrous place full of stones documenting local nineteenth century history. When we were buying a colleague, looking at the particulars, asked “is there a a garden” & when I said no, it overlooks a small burial ground, she squealed and dropped them!
Yes, this. I’ve twice switched interrail itineraries mid journey, one was to avoid the worst of a heatwave across Europe. As long as you aren’t wanting to shift to France, where the supply of Interrail reservations for the most popular routes is often woeful IME & need to be booked well in advance.
And so we write to brilliant postgraduate students from Sudan, withdrawing the offers and scholarships they won in open competition with the best in the world. A sad day for the University of Oxford.
Sudanese scientists have their careers trashed so Shabana Mahmood can burnish her credentials with the Daily Mail and a "government spokesperson" talks of "the UK’s steadfast commitment to bringing about an end to the conflict and supporting the people of Sudan". For shame.
Thank you Paul, good tip; following
Lucky you, pink fir apple have been difficult for us to obtain for our allotment shop for two years now. Anya instead, nice enough but not the same nor as good.
I planted some first earlies in bags two days ago. 2 seed potatoes per bag, 6 bags. I plant second earlies in bags also. I tend to plant main crops in the ground (but have used bags) somewhat later than other people do, because I’m away from the U.K. at key times. I always get to harvest potatoes!
RIP
A Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip. Frame one Calvin’s dad calls from his seat on the front door step “hey honey you’re missing a beautiful sunset out here” Frame 2 Calvin’s Mum, inside and gripping the sink surrounded by dirty dishes, mutters to self “I’ll count to 10 and then *pow*” Frame 3 Calvin to Dad: “Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn’t they have colour back then?” Frame4 Dad replies: “sure they did. In fact those old photos are in colour. It’s just the world was black and white back then” Frame 5 Calvin asks: “Really?” And Dad replies: “yep. The world didn’t turn colour until some time in the 1930’s and it was pretty grainy colour for a while too” Frame 6: Calvin: “that’s really weird” Dad answers while drinking from a green mug: “Well, truth is stranger than fiction” Frame 7: Calvin, arms outstretched, asks: But then, why are old paintings in colour? If the world was black and white wouldn’t artists have painted it that way? Dad replies: Not really. A lot of great artists were insane Frame 8: Calvin pushes back: “But, but how could they have painted in colour anyway?Wouldn’t their paints have been in shades of black and grey?” Dad replies: “of course, but they turned colour like everything else in the ‘30’s” Frame 9: Calvin asks: “so why didn’t old black and white photos turn colour too?” Dad replies: “Because they were colour pictures of black and white, remember?” Frame 10, Calvin is with Hobbes who is straddling a tree branch. Calvin remarks to his pal “The world is a complicated place, Hobbes” and Hobbes replies “Whenever it seems that way, I take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner”
Here it is.
My first thought too!
Explains a lot about the failure of Brexit that its main adherents should right now be prostrating themselves before the US because they think that's what an independent UK means.
We were interviewed as part of the research for the Brexit Couples project, housed at Bristol, report now out: I burst into tears during the interview and apparently that happened fairly often - brexitcouples.ac.uk/publications...
It should not be even remotely conceivable for a foreign army to order hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their homes under threat of annihilation.
How have we got to this point?
Congratulations!
Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …
Dear Shabana,
Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.
Both of my grandfathers were dead before I was born; one of them before his youngest son, my father, reached his first birthday. Like one of yours he was a tram driver, in his case in Liverpool.
Grandfathers: 1. soldier/bricklayer/soldier/prisoner of war
2. tram driver
Grandmothers 1. Seamstress/munitions factory worker/cleaner
2. Widowed for the second time by 1933, a lone parent with 7 children with neither income nor time for paid work