Please support our bid to save Penrith’s Lonsdale Alhambra Cinema The hundreds of protesters, who I joined outside the Cinema on Saturday were amazing. There was real verve, energy and exuberance in the streets. I never thought I’d see so many people (still less end up standing between Darth Vader and Borat). I love […]
Transcript This debate is an example of why changes such as those in the Bill are so difficult. All the arguments that Labour Members are making-all the “Yes, buts” we have just heard-show that we live in a strange world. Many Labour Members have said how much they support initiatives such as those in the […]
Article first published in The Guardian on 2 January 2011. This winter, 130 activists gathered to discuss superfast broadband in a village hall in Cumbria. They had come from 100 villages, by 100 paths. Ali had presumably travelled north along the shore of Ullswater, rounded Loadpot Hill and turned south down the Lowther valley, until […]
As I write, the sun is setting on 2010: a year of two severe winters. Many Cumbrians have struggled with the soaring costs of heating oil, with the roads and with the cold. Now, it is warmer outside my cottage than in: the sheep are no longer burrowing in snow, the last of the ice […]
Rory received a petition, on Friday 17th December, calling for the introduction of a compulsory charge on the issuing of single use carrier bags. The petition, which was prepared by the Transition Town group; Penrith Action for Community Transition (PACT) urges Government to exercise the power it has under section 77 (and Schedule 6) of […]
Praise for Cumbria Constabulary’s Budget Measures Rory met with Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary, Craig Mackey, on Friday December 17th at the constabulary’s Carleton headquarters in Penrith to discuss the forthcoming reductions to the county force’s budget. Rory was very impressed by the professionalism with which Craig Mackey and the Cumbrian police have approached […]
The Independent newspaper asked me what I would include if I were able to edit the Today Programme for a day. Here is what I chose… The historian Jonathan Spence would describe how a seventeenth century Jesuit, built a ‘memory palace’ in his mind, which allowed him to learn thousand Chinese characters in a […]
It has been a tough winter already and it is difficult not to think we are entering many years of harsh winters. Government must radically improve its response to everything from fuel poverty to the condition of our roads. The snows cancelled some of the fairs, which I was looking forward to seeing, from Bampton […]
A number of broadband related blogs I have enjoyed reading recently: To read Barry Forde on the unforseen consequences of Broadband, click here Click here to learn about the importance of Rural Broadband from Charles Paxton To scroll through John Popham’s account of the Great Asby Big Society and Broadband days, click here […]
In a two and a half hour debate in the House of Commons, Rory praised Cumbrian pubs and recommended the Cumbrian approach as a model for the country. Praising the importance of pubs in village life, Rory said “we have 280 pubs in the Eden district alone for 50,000 people-a density of pubs that is more than six […]