What do you expect from an ex Chelsea/Everton/Manchester United player?
His best days were on loan at West Brom. What a career he could have had if he signed for the Baggies rather than Everton.
Not a patch on leading Inter to Serie A title for the first time in a decade. A mere bagatelle compared to being top scorer in the Championship every alternate year I think we can agree.
Michael Gove and Sarah Vine split raises Covid distancing questions
Cabinet minister refuses to say whether he broke rules as he announces 20-year marriage will end in divorce
Michael Gove on Friday night became the second senior Cabinet minister in a week to split with his wife as Downing Street refused to say whether any social distancing rules had been broken.
The Cabinet Office minister is one of four people who have been making unprecedented decisions about people's private lives during the pandemic, sparking questions about their own domestic arrangements.
On Friday afternoon, after months of intense speculation and rumour, Mr Gove and his wife Sarah Vine, a prominent journalist, said in a statement that they had "agreed to separate" and were finalising their divorce after almost 20 years of marriage.
The announcement came within hours of the polls closing in the Batley and Spen by-election – a seat the Conservatives had been expected to win but lost, with blame falling on the Government's handling of revelations about Matt Hancock's affair with aide Gina Coladangelo.
Ms Vine wrote a column in a newspaper on Sunday about the scandal, in which she spoke of the difficulties of sustaining a political marriage.
Can anyone have a stab at how many fans we will wangle into the Olympico tomorrow? I’m hoping for 10,000.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK suggested that there were a lot of Ukrainians living and working in Italy. A different question is whether there will be more Ukrainian fans than England fans.
Michael Gove and Sarah Vine split raises Covid distancing questions
Cabinet minister refuses to say whether he broke rules as he announces 20-year marriage will end in divorce
Michael Gove on Friday night became the second senior Cabinet minister in a week to split with his wife as Downing Street refused to say whether any social distancing rules had been broken.
The Cabinet Office minister is one of four people who have been making unprecedented decisions about people's private lives during the pandemic, sparking questions about their own domestic arrangements.
On Friday afternoon, after months of intense speculation and rumour, Mr Gove and his wife Sarah Vine, a prominent journalist, said in a statement that they had "agreed to separate" and were finalising their divorce after almost 20 years of marriage.
The announcement came within hours of the polls closing in the Batley and Spen by-election – a seat the Conservatives had been expected to win but lost, with blame falling on the Government's handling of revelations about Matt Hancock's affair with aide Gina Coladangelo.
Ms Vine wrote a column in a newspaper on Sunday about the scandal, in which she spoke of the difficulties of sustaining a political marriage.
Why I don't want Italy winning the Euros...and why I really dislike Italian approach to football..this is all far too common, along with the constant petty fouling.
Injured Italian player suddenly recovers when Italy scores
"'A period of silence on their part would now be welcome': Blairite Lord Mandelson slaps down Angela Rayner and the hard Left who hoped for Labour defeat in Batley in order to topple Keir Starmer"
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
Why I don't want Italy winning the Euros...and why I really dislike Italian approach to football..this is all far too common, along with the constant petty fouling.
Injured Italian player suddenly recovers when Italy scores
Why I don't want Italy winning the Euros...and why I really dislike Italian approach to football..this is all far too common, along with the constant petty fouling.
Injured Italian player suddenly recovers when Italy scores
Why I don't want Italy winning the Euros...and why I really dislike Italian approach to football..this is all far too common, along with the constant petty fouling.
Injured Italian player suddenly recovers when Italy scores
Why I don't want Italy winning the Euros...and why I really dislike Italian approach to football..this is all far too common, along with the constant petty fouling.
Injured Italian player suddenly recovers when Italy scores
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
According to ONS, 57% of reinfections of COVID are asymptomatic and even with symptomatic cases in general much lower viral load (which in itself is a decent indicator of ending up in hospital / death).
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
According to ONS, 57% of reinfections of COVID are asymptomatic and even with symptomatic cases in general much lower viral load (which in itself is a decent indicator of ending up in hospital / death).
That is great news. Everyone I know and their dog appears to be testing positive up here right now. None seriously ill fingers crossed.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
Even as a child it was a mystery why anyone would be so bothered. The bloke the other side had a thorn bush which meant you had to duck to get past. But that was OK.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
Who owns what random strip can be confused and historical evidence inconclusive or contradictory.
It still shouldn't take so long, but I cannot imagine anyone on the legal side or the courts is that fussed if it is not undertaken speedily, given the smallness of most of it (though arguments over ransom strips can have a big pay off for the winner).
These are the seats Labour would lose if the swing in Batley and Spen happened everywhere:
Alyn and Deeside Bedford Canterbury Chesterfield Coventry North West Coventry South Dagenham and Rainham Hemsworth Newport West Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Oldham East and Saddleworth Stockton North Wansbeck Warrington North Warwick and Leamington Weaver Vale
These are the seats Labour would lose if the swing in Batley and Spen happened everywhere:
Alyn and Deeside Bedford Canterbury Chesterfield Coventry North West Coventry South Dagenham and Rainham Hemsworth Newport West Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Oldham East and Saddleworth Stockton North Wansbeck Warrington North Warwick and Leamington Weaver Vale
Bradford South Doncaster Central Doncaster North Gower Halifax Hull East Lancaster and Fleetwood Newport East Wentworth and Dearne Wolverhampton South East
Why I don't want Italy winning the Euros...and why I really dislike Italian approach to football..this is all far too common, along with the constant petty fouling.
Injured Italian player suddenly recovers when Italy scores
I saw AC Milan at Arsenal in 2008. They were the reigning European champions, but they weren’t interested in playing football (which is odd considering the away goal rule). Gattuso spent most of the game feigning injury.
On Monday, Galloway, the divisive candidate and pro-Palestine campaigner who won more than 8,000 votes in the West Yorkshire constituency, suggested he would stand in Leicester East should there be a byelection there after the trial of Claudia Webbe, the Labour MP turned independent who is facing a harassment charge.
Meanwhile Apsana Begum, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, faces trial in July on housing fraud charges, which could trigger a byelection if she is found guilty. Census data indicates it had a Muslim population of 33.6% in 2011.
Can anyone have a stab at how many fans we will wangle into the Olympico tomorrow? I’m hoping for 10,000.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK suggested that there were a lot of Ukrainians living and working in Italy. A different question is whether there will be more Ukrainian fans than England fans.
I suspect more Ukrainian fans.
It doesn’t matter. One side will take to field believing they can win it, the other feeling they have already achieved something.
"The holding of Batley and Spen now appears to be a massive victory for Keir Starmer’s leadership. The chances of Labour winning yesterday had been built up as mission impossible, making it seem miraculous that they managed to triumph in the end. And while there were elements here out of the government’s control – for instance, just how much the left of Labour seemed to be banking on their own party losing the by-election – Downing Street allowed the narrative to set that the Conservatives were on course for an historic victory."
These are the seats Labour would lose if the swing in Batley and Spen happened everywhere:
Alyn and Deeside Bedford Canterbury Chesterfield Coventry North West Coventry South Dagenham and Rainham Hemsworth Newport West Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Oldham East and Saddleworth Stockton North Wansbeck Warrington North Warwick and Leamington Weaver Vale
Bradford South Doncaster Central Doncaster North Gower Halifax Hull East Lancaster and Fleetwood Newport East Wentworth and Dearne Wolverhampton South East
Does that tell the whole story though, your swingometer? 🙂
Achieved les±s and less votes in same constituency at last two elections suggests there, and all the ones you kindly listed, you have pretty much reached your peak, and from this moment forth only deteriorate.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
We had this situation three decades ago. The family owned some land that it used as a holiday area. It was a few acres accessed by a long track, a third of a mile long by about three or four metres. We bought it at an estate sale in the early 1960s. The sale had ben based on an estate map, and the track was denoted by two lines, separating it from the adjoining lots containing fields.
Some surrounding line was eventually built on, with gardens of expensive properties right up to the edge of our track. One man - a retired Major or somesuch - claimed that the piece of driveway by his garden belonged to him.
The problem was that the plan he had been sold included the track - the builder had based it on the same plans. We had bought the land in the 1960s from an estate sale, and on that part of the map, the lines denoting our track narrowed. It had been poorly drawn at a relatively low scale, where the driveway was barely wider than the line drawn with a thick pen.
He blocked off our access, and built part of a tennis court over the track. Stuff was stolen off our land. It all eventually went to court; he lost and got costs. From memory, the only reason we won was that the court found it very unlikely that whoever had drawn the plan had intended the track to narrow, to the advantage of the field next door. It was also clear the track had been drawn up to be used for access to our parcel of land. ISTR he later tried to sue the builders.
So one answer is: poorly drawn historic maps and people acting unreasonably.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
Video man says he bought it from a neighbour. Which means he has 3-10k on the line if true, which he might lose.
No idea what the Tory farmer wants, but there was a Planning Objection previously.
It looks like a classic "just add that wasted corner to my garden" done 10 years ago and sold on. But impossible to tell. IF it's been enclosed that's the De Facto boundary anyway - how it works in a densely occupied land.
Green space within modern housing estates always just "gets added" to the end of gardens (and bugger the wildlife).
Farmer should have offered arbitration, and had his ducks in a row.
Italy were fantastic last night. The fastest game of football I've ever seen bar the final 10 mins which was, well, whatever. The Italians are quite incredible and if England face them we don't stand a chance. Although the loss of Spinazzola is a big blow to them.
Re. the mention of Sunak below, it's brilliant if we forge greater economic ties with China. The Telegraph have been commenting on this for some months with some very astute observations. The future does not lie with more sinophobia but greater economic trading.
As for the thread topic, Starmer should be safe for now. If England don't win the Euros and their poll slide therefore continues then he'll be secure until the next General Election.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
There's a thing called the "General Boundary Rule", which is that no boundary is more fixed than the width of a line on a map - because you can't tell. Very rational, but relies on people being on the whole reasonable.
You can mutually create a "determined boundary" with GPS etc, but that will cost £500-600 just for a small one as you need a RICS surveyor or similar with their equipment.
So a surveyor uses things called "boundary features" (eg old tree, or corner of a building) to determine the actual boundary.
It is why a foundational principle of Planning Law is that land ownership is "not a relevant planning matter". I can get PP to build a house on your garden, but 'implementing' that is a different matter which is not to do with the Planners.
Have been chatting to someone else on PB about doing a couple of pieces to explain some basics to inform planning debates, but it is quite a daunting prospect to boil down - HUGE subject.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
We had this situation three decades ago. The family owned some land that it used as a holiday area. It was a few acres accessed by a long track, a third of a mile long by about three or four metres. We bought it at an estate sale in the early 1960s. The sale had ben based on an estate map, and the track was denoted by two lines, separating it from the adjoining lots containing fields.
Some surrounding line was eventually built on, with gardens of expensive properties right up to the edge of our track. One man - a retired Major or somesuch - claimed that the piece of driveway by his garden belonged to him.
The problem was that the plan he had been sold included the track - the builder had based it on the same plans. We had bought the land in the 1960s from an estate sale, and on that part of the map, the lines denoting our track narrowed. It had been poorly drawn at a relatively low scale, where the driveway was barely wider than the line drawn with a thick pen.
He blocked off our access, and built part of a tennis court over the track. Stuff was stolen off our land. It all eventually went to court; he lost and got costs. From memory, the only reason we won was that the court found it very unlikely that whoever had drawn the plan had intended the track to narrow, to the advantage of the field next door. It was also clear the track had been drawn up to be used for access to our parcel of land. ISTR he later tried to sue the builders.
So one answer is: poorly drawn historic maps and people acting unreasonably.
Incidentally this is one example of the two sides of landowning.
A field is great for fun and future development if it is close to existing. But your field will have a margin of beer cans, bottles and rubble chucked over the bottom fences of all the adjoining gardens.
And if, for example, you have cattle or horses in it, you try and prove who chucked the bottle your horse stood on.
Or if dogwalkers have been using it, then you can end up with a Right of Way or a Village Green just by not keeping an eye on it.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
Even as a child it was a mystery why anyone would be so bothered. The bloke the other side had a thorn bush which meant you had to duck to get past. But that was OK.
OK for you.
But - for example - perhaps not for a pensioner using the snicket for access in their mobility scooter, who's life could be badly upset by the selfish neighbour.
Incidentally this is one example of the two sides of landowning.
A field is great for fun and future development if it is close to existing. But your field will have a margin of beer cans, bottles and rubble chucked over the bottom fences of all the adjoining gardens.
And if, for example, you have cattle or horses in it, you try and prove who chucked the bottle your horse stood on.
Or if dogwalkers have been using it, then you can end up with a Right of Way or a Village Green just by not keeping an eye on it.
We bought the land in the sixties (mainly) as a holiday place and investment - it contained a walled garden, and was a magical place for us as kids. One of my regrets is that the little 'un hasn't had that experience.
I should have added: the track was denoted not just by a line on the map, but by long-established hedges (as part of our evidence, we showed second-world war aerial photos showing them). It was clear the lines on the map honoured the hedgeline.
Being uncharitable, we think the major (aka 'git') knew that if he had that part of the track, he cut off access to our land. This would make the walled garden and surrounding land less valuable as it had no access. If he owned that part of the track then he controlled the access, so if he bought our land, it could regain that value.
Incidentally, my family has been in building for over 150 years - we're the first generation not to have anybody directly in the construction industry. Land was always seen as something we had - apparently we still have a few parcels scattered around the country. My brother and sister have both bought land near their homes. I, as the black sheep of the family, have not. We're not land magnates by any means, and most of the land is rented out to farmers who maintain it.
You are right about costs of landowning - my dad paid the farmer who owned most of the adjoining land a small amount each year to come along and cut the hedges on our (track) side. It wasn't much, and kept him sweet. He also kept an eye on the land, and was the one who told us about the Major ripping out the hedges alongside his garden. He also used our track to access some of his fields at times, which we let him do for free - under a strict legal agreement saying he had no right of way. So the Major took on not just us, but the guy who owned the farmland surrounding his house as well.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
Even as a child it was a mystery why anyone would be so bothered. The bloke the other side had a thorn bush which meant you had to duck to get past. But that was OK.
OK for you.
But - for example - perhaps not for a pensioner using the snicket for access in their mobility scooter, who's life could be badly upset by the selfish neighbour.
IMV the whole thing is massively complex. And it's not just ownership - access rights are another hoary issue, and one I take a different view about to most of my family.
I know of a house whose only access is across a ford. A few times a year, the ford floods preventing access, even to large vehicles. The previous owner agreed with the farmer next door that they could drive along a track across the farmer's land, avoiding the ford.
The house was sold, and the new Yuppy owners - complete with sports cars - argued with their neighbour. When the ford flooded, they found the gate onto the farmer's land firmly blocked. They tried to argue that it was a right-of-way, but the farmer and previous owner had drawn up a legal agreement that did not extend to the new owners.
The legality of that must be very complex. But it was funny, as the new owners were (ahem) not quite acquainted with country life ...
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
My father and a couple of neighbours spent nearly a decade in legal dispute with the bloke at the end of our terrace who had erected a fence not at a perfect right angle to his property so as to make the exit from our back snicket narrower at one end than the other. I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
Why do these things take so long to resolve? Shouldn’t it be straightforward to measure whether it is or is not in their property?
Even as a child it was a mystery why anyone would be so bothered. The bloke the other side had a thorn bush which meant you had to duck to get past. But that was OK.
OK for you.
But - for example - perhaps not for a pensioner using the snicket for access in their mobility scooter, who's life could be badly upset by the selfish neighbour.
IMV the whole thing is massively complex. And it's not just ownership - access rights are another hoary issue, and one I take a different view about to most of my family.
I know of a house whose only access is across a ford. A few times a year, the ford floods preventing access, even to large vehicles. The previous owner agreed with the farmer next door that they could drive along a track across the farmer's land, avoiding the ford.
The house was sold, and the new Yuppy owners - complete with sports cars - argued with their neighbour. When the ford flooded, they found the gate onto the farmer's land firmly blocked. They tried to argue that it was a right-of-way, but the farmer and previous owner had drawn up a legal agreement that did not extend to the new owners.
The legality of that must be very complex. But it was funny, as the new owners were (ahem) not quite acquainted with country life ...
Wise old farmer. Permission letters are a very powerful tool to prevent claims for 'as of right'. If he had not blocked it, they could have gained that right - Thomas More 'silence implies consent' (sort of). Their recourse would be against the person who sold it to them or their own solicitor, if they asked the question or were deceived into believing it.
Classically a verbal agreement to park on somebody else's land, turns into a Right by Prescription.
Incidentally this is one example of the two sides of landowning.
A field is great for fun and future development if it is close to existing. But your field will have a margin of beer cans, bottles and rubble chucked over the bottom fences of all the adjoining gardens.
And if, for example, you have cattle or horses in it, you try and prove who chucked the bottle your horse stood on.
Or if dogwalkers have been using it, then you can end up with a Right of Way or a Village Green just by not keeping an eye on it.
We bought the land in the sixties (mainly) as a holiday place and investment - it contained a walled garden, and was a magical place for us as kids. One of my regrets is that the little 'un hasn't had that experience. ... Incidentally, my family has been in building for over 150 years - we're the first generation not to have anybody directly in the construction industry. Land was always seen as something we had - apparently we still have a few parcels scattered around the country. My brother and sister have both bought land near their homes. I, as the black sheep of the family, have not. We're not land magnates by any means, and most of the land is rented out to farmers who maintain it.
That makes the rest of your family evil landbankers.
Incidentally this is one example of the two sides of landowning.
A field is great for fun and future development if it is close to existing. But your field will have a margin of beer cans, bottles and rubble chucked over the bottom fences of all the adjoining gardens.
And if, for example, you have cattle or horses in it, you try and prove who chucked the bottle your horse stood on.
Or if dogwalkers have been using it, then you can end up with a Right of Way or a Village Green just by not keeping an eye on it.
We bought the land in the sixties (mainly) as a holiday place and investment - it contained a walled garden, and was a magical place for us as kids. One of my regrets is that the little 'un hasn't had that experience. ... Incidentally, my family has been in building for over 150 years - we're the first generation not to have anybody directly in the construction industry. Land was always seen as something we had - apparently we still have a few parcels scattered around the country. My brother and sister have both bought land near their homes. I, as the black sheep of the family, have not. We're not land magnates by any means, and most of the land is rented out to farmers who maintain it.
That makes the rest of your family evil landbankers.
Shhhhhh.
Yes.
Although to be fair, we don't buy the land to build on. Some of it has been in 'the family' for over 100 years, and the vast majority is farmed. Some could never be built on, We've slowly sold most of it off over the years, often to the tenant farmers.
Land was just in our blood. It was something we did. I can't really be bothered.
Italy were fantastic last night. The fastest game of football I've ever seen bar the final 10 mins which was, well, whatever. The Italians are quite incredible and if England face them we don't stand a chance. Although the loss of Spinazzola is a big blow to them.
Re. the mention of Sunak below, it's brilliant if we forge greater economic ties with China. The Telegraph have been commenting on this for some months with some very astute observations. The future does not lie with more sinophobia but greater economic trading.
As for the thread topic, Starmer should be safe for now. If England don't win the Euros and their poll slide therefore continues then he'll be secure until the next General Election.
"he'll be secure until the next General Election."
Excellent.
"Starmer more popular than Galloway in B&S" is about the only popularity contest he is winning.
Starmers fortunes have already changed. His enemies were gearing up for a challenge. That’s not happened.
His enemies haven't gone away, you know....
Well, they sort of have, for now, for a bit. Meanwhile the gilt is coming off Boris's gingerbread and not just over Batley and Spen. For the past fortnight or so, Conservative backbenchers have been publicly restive over lockdown, the economy, planning reform, old randy Matt Hancock and all.
Good morning. Threat of rain here, but looks OK at the moment.
The easy (!) way for Starmer to quieten his 'enemies', his opposition within, is to dish the PM a few more times in the Commons, bearing in mind of course, that we're close to the summer recess, but during that to get out and about, being seen doing ordinary things and meeting ordinary people.
"As Boris Johnson travelled to Chequers in the wake of the Conservatives’ defeat in Batley & Spen yesterday he was feeling sanguine.
Allies say that the prime minister did not expect to win the seat and, while disappointed, believes it brings politics more into line with where they should be midway through the parliament." (£)
On Monday, Galloway, the divisive candidate and pro-Palestine campaigner who won more than 8,000 votes in the West Yorkshire constituency, suggested he would stand in Leicester East should there be a byelection there after the trial of Claudia Webbe, the Labour MP turned independent who is facing a harassment charge.
Meanwhile Apsana Begum, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, faces trial in July on housing fraud charges, which could trigger a byelection if she is found guilty. Census data indicates it had a Muslim population of 33.6% in 2011.
These are the seats Labour would lose if the swing in Batley and Spen happened everywhere:
Alyn and Deeside Bedford Canterbury Chesterfield Coventry North West Coventry South Dagenham and Rainham Hemsworth Newport West Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Oldham East and Saddleworth Stockton North Wansbeck Warrington North Warwick and Leamington Weaver Vale
Now do the same for the Tories and C&A level swing to the Lib Dems.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
On Monday, Galloway, the divisive candidate and pro-Palestine campaigner who won more than 8,000 votes in the West Yorkshire constituency, suggested he would stand in Leicester East should there be a byelection there after the trial of Claudia Webbe, the Labour MP turned independent who is facing a harassment charge.
Meanwhile Apsana Begum, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, faces trial in July on housing fraud charges, which could trigger a byelection if she is found guilty. Census data indicates it had a Muslim population of 33.6% in 2011.
"As Boris Johnson travelled to Chequers in the wake of the Conservatives’ defeat in Batley & Spen yesterday he was feeling sanguine.
Allies say that the prime minister did not expect to win the seat and, while disappointed, believes it brings politics more into line with where they should be midway through the parliament." (£)
This should not be a particular cause for celebration for Starmer or Labour. They held the seat by a few hundred votes after a massive campaign.
I wonder where Galloway's votes will go next time, when he's moved on to upset somewhere else. Three options, of course Labour; quite likely, Tories; a few perhaps, Will not Vote; somewhat more likely than Tory. Which will return B&S to 'almost certainly Labour' as it has been for some time.
This should not be a particular cause for celebration for Starmer or Labour. They held the seat by a few hundred votes after a massive campaign.
... down from a few thousand last time - and this time a former Labour MP got 22% of the votes. The Tories were big favourites to take the seat, let's be reasonable and let Starmer celebrate a bit.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
Heard yesterday about another 300 houses which have received PP in the constituency.
Then there are another 400 which will come in next to one currently being built just 10 minutes walk from me.
Then the nearly 2000 (1800 I think) over 15 years on the old Rolls Royce development site in Hucknall.
Plus another 1500 the other side of the bypass over perhaps 15 years once PP obtained, which may be another few years.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
Most of the Welsh former coalmining seats are still in Labour hands at the moment. Maybe that could change.
Incidentally this is one example of the two sides of landowning.
A field is great for fun and future development if it is close to existing. But your field will have a margin of beer cans, bottles and rubble chucked over the bottom fences of all the adjoining gardens.
And if, for example, you have cattle or horses in it, you try and prove who chucked the bottle your horse stood on.
Or if dogwalkers have been using it, then you can end up with a Right of Way or a Village Green just by not keeping an eye on it.
We bought the land in the sixties (mainly) as a holiday place and investment - it contained a walled garden, and was a magical place for us as kids. One of my regrets is that the little 'un hasn't had that experience.
I should have added: the track was denoted not just by a line on the map, but by long-established hedges (as part of our evidence, we showed second-world war aerial photos showing them). It was clear the lines on the map honoured the hedgeline.
Being uncharitable, we think the major (aka 'git') knew that if he had that part of the track, he cut off access to our land. This would make the walled garden and surrounding land less valuable as it had no access. If he owned that part of the track then he controlled the access, so if he bought our land, it could regain that value.
Incidentally, my family has been in building for over 150 years - we're the first generation not to have anybody directly in the construction industry. Land was always seen as something we had - apparently we still have a few parcels scattered around the country. My brother and sister have both bought land near their homes. I, as the black sheep of the family, have not. We're not land magnates by any means, and most of the land is rented out to farmers who maintain it.
You are right about costs of landowning - my dad paid the farmer who owned most of the adjoining land a small amount each year to come along and cut the hedges on our (track) side. It wasn't much, and kept him sweet. He also kept an eye on the land, and was the one who told us about the Major ripping out the hedges alongside his garden. He also used our track to access some of his fields at times, which we let him do for free - under a strict legal agreement saying he had no right of way. So the Major took on not just us, but the guy who owned the farmland surrounding his house as well.
Not a good idea...
My Neighbour turned up at my door in an anxious state one afternoon a few years ago. He said he owns our garden, based on some document from a hundred years ago - even though the title plan for both properties indicates otherwise, as well as the reality on the ground.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
My Neighbour turned up at my door in an anxious state one afternoon a few years ago. He said he owns our garden, based on some document from a hundred years ago - even though the title plan for both properties indicates otherwise, as well as the reality on the ground.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
Important point, that.
When one thing arises, everybody checks everything and all the issues get flushed out at once.
I think "found in my favour" is the wrong terminology. AIUI the Council have no power to make such a finding - only to decide their opinions and how their process should operate.
He should have taken his advice from a solicitor or MRICS.
On Monday, Galloway, the divisive candidate and pro-Palestine campaigner who won more than 8,000 votes in the West Yorkshire constituency, suggested he would stand in Leicester East should there be a byelection there after the trial of Claudia Webbe, the Labour MP turned independent who is facing a harassment charge.
Meanwhile Apsana Begum, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, faces trial in July on housing fraud charges, which could trigger a byelection if she is found guilty. Census data indicates it had a Muslim population of 33.6% in 2011.
I suspect we haven’t seen the last of George Galloway.
Certainly Webbe is a dead loss locally, and will be deselected if not booted out by the courts. She has made no effort at all to reverse her unpopularity locally. For all his faults Keith Vaz knew how to cultivate local popularity.
There are numbers of Palestinian flags on cars and houses in the constituency, but East Leicester is not Bradford or Bow. The Asian community is more mixed, being Muslim, Sikh and Hindu, and the Muslim part being mostly Gujerati and Somali, so different issues apply.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
Most of the Welsh former coalmining seats are still in Labour hands at the moment. Maybe that could change.
At various points, they've shown big votes for UKIP, so yes, they probably will slip away from Labour eventually.
My Neighbour turned up at my door in an anxious state one afternoon a few years ago. He said he owns our garden, based on some document from a hundred years ago - even though the title plan for both properties indicates otherwise, as well as the reality on the ground.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
Important point, that.
When one thing arises, everybody checks everything and all the issues get flushed out at once.
I think "found in my favour" is the wrong terminology. AIUI the Council have no power to make such a finding - only to decide their opinions and how their process should operate.
He should have taken his advice from a solicitor or MRICS.
Well they agreed that I had filled out the correct ownership certificate, meaning that on the evidence before them he doesn't have any interest in the land. But you are right that this is not a binding finding over the issue. That would need to be determined in a court.
What was interesting is the fact that the land registry plan is not really absolute in relation to boundaries, there is also a procedure of changing title plans if they are incorrectly drawn based on earlier information. So this type of problem can really happen to anyone - I've come to the view that freehold land isn't really what it seems.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
Most of the Welsh former coalmining seats are still in Labour hands at the moment. Maybe that could change.
At various points, they've shown big votes for UKIP, so yes, they probably will slip away from Labour eventually.
The difference is that those seats are economically very depressed. They can’t move on in the way places like Bolsover can due to their location.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
Most of the Welsh former coalmining seats are still in Labour hands at the moment. Maybe that could change.
At various points, they've shown big votes for UKIP, so yes, they probably will slip away from Labour eventually.
Coal mining communities are a breed apart. It is a particular mindset of interdependence to be an underground miner. More than that though, the old heavy industries of coal, shipbuilding, iron and steel were heavily unionised, while the replacement industries very lightly so.
It will be interesting to see if an era of Labour shortage reinvigorates worker demands, whether via formal or informal unions. I think there is potential for Labour in a new workers charter to regulate ZHC and Gig employment. Not to outlaw it as there are some benefits to freelancing in terms of flexibility, but to prevent the more egregious exploitation, and the tax dodging of fictitious self employment.
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
This should not be a particular cause for celebration for Starmer or Labour. They held the seat by a few hundred votes after a massive campaign.
... down from a few thousand last time - and this time a former Labour MP got 22% of the votes. The Tories were big favourites to take the seat, let's be reasonable and let Starmer celebrate a bit.
It’s interesting that’s viewed as a failure of the Tories not a failure of the pundits.
Despite the fact that quite a few of the smarter betters on here made decent money betting on Labour
My Neighbour turned up at my door in an anxious state one afternoon a few years ago. He said he owns our garden, based on some document from a hundred years ago - even though the title plan for both properties indicates otherwise, as well as the reality on the ground.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
Car parking spaces are a big thing in our village. One of my elderly near neighbours came to my door twice a while back, asking for help/support. Once he even brought legal documents/maps with him. His house has one driveway space, and another space allocated in a shared car park. His next-door neighbour's house is large, and contains five adults (two adults, three young adults). And (I think!) six cars, as one of the lads is into his fast cars. (All from memory; I'm keeping out of it, aside from suggesting he talk to the council.)
The neighbours use his parking space in the shared car park, including storing a dishevelled non-runner in it. His documents show clearly they 'belong' to him (the actual land ownership is a very different matter). It's all got very messy, and sometimes nasty. They sometimes park on the pavement directly in front of his house, blocking it (which annoyed me when I had to use a pram.)
It will get much more common with time as the horde of kids in our young village grow up and get cars.
IMV six cars for a four/five bedroom house with two parking spaces, in a built-up area, is a tad unreasonable. If you want that many cars, buy a house with more land ...
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
Much of the left is socially right wing. This was not in dispute, why else do you think Blair needed "Tough on Crime, Tough on the Causes of Crime" as a policy? WWC blokes want criminals strung up as much as shire Tories. They voted Labour because it was in their interests to vote Labour. The party and the movement protected their jobs, their livelihoods, their communities - it was a part of them. It represented them and their views.
Times have changed and those jobs and the lifestyle that comes with them have gone. We have a demographic no longer reliant on unionised heavy labour, that is right wing and insular in so many areas having to now fend for themselves.
On one hand we have a Labour Party whose activists have disappeared up their own arse trying to differentiate their right-on credentials from the Gulags for Slags and Tougher Immigration Controls - The Mug! policy disasters. On the other hand we have people who are bigoted towards outsiders, reactive on crime and punishment and far less tolerant of the permissive society than metropolitan types. Its no wonder the Tories have been able to prey on them.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
Most of the Welsh former coalmining seats are still in Labour hands at the moment. Maybe that could change.
One suspects that this is basically down to devolution, with (a) Welsh Labour being more popular and/or the Welsh Tories less popular than the product available over the border, but also (b) Welsh Labour being perceived as excessively focussed on the South, which benefits them there but also makes life somewhat harder for them elsewhere. There doesn't seem to be any sizeable discrepancy, in terms of age, wealth and ethnicity profiles, between NE English seats that have changed hands and South Welsh seats that have held for Labour to account for the disparity in electoral outcomes.
My Neighbour turned up at my door in an anxious state one afternoon a few years ago. He said he owns our garden, based on some document from a hundred years ago - even though the title plan for both properties indicates otherwise, as well as the reality on the ground.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
Important point, that.
When one thing arises, everybody checks everything and all the issues get flushed out at once.
I think "found in my favour" is the wrong terminology. AIUI the Council have no power to make such a finding - only to decide their opinions and how their process should operate.
He should have taken his advice from a solicitor or MRICS.
Well they agreed that I had filled out the correct ownership certificate, meaning that on the evidence before them he doesn't have any interest in the land. But you are right that this is not a binding finding over the issue. That would need to be determined in a court.
What was interesting is the fact that the land registry plan is not really absolute in relation to boundaries, there is also a procedure of changing title plans if they are incorrectly drawn based on earlier information. So this type of problem can really happen to anyone - I've come to the view that freehold land isn't really what it seems.
A friend of mine had an amusing fight over land a few years ago. Usually the Crown owns the foreshore (I think) as a matter of right, except for a chunk of North Somerset which was granted to my friend’s ancestors a while back.
The government tried to claim it but it was proved in court they didn’t. But they then stated in the recitals of some act of parliament that they owned this specific piece of foreshore… that had to go pretty far up the chain to sort out
On Monday, Galloway, the divisive candidate and pro-Palestine campaigner who won more than 8,000 votes in the West Yorkshire constituency, suggested he would stand in Leicester East should there be a byelection there after the trial of Claudia Webbe, the Labour MP turned independent who is facing a harassment charge.
Meanwhile Apsana Begum, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, faces trial in July on housing fraud charges, which could trigger a byelection if she is found guilty. Census data indicates it had a Muslim population of 33.6% in 2011.
I suspect we haven’t seen the last of George Galloway.
Certainly Webbe is a dead loss locally, and will be deselected if not booted out by the courts. She has made no effort at all to reverse her unpopularity locally. For all his faults Keith Vaz knew how to cultivate local popularity.
There are numbers of Palestinian flags on cars and houses in the constituency, but East Leicester is not Bradford or Bow. The Asian community is more mixed, being Muslim, Sikh and Hindu, and the Muslim part being mostly Gujerati and Somali, so different issues apply.
In B&S, I thought the local Asian community was half and half Pakistani and Indian. Roughly 10% of each.
One question is are those Indians Indian Muslim or other religions.
My Neighbour turned up at my door in an anxious state one afternoon a few years ago. He said he owns our garden, based on some document from a hundred years ago - even though the title plan for both properties indicates otherwise, as well as the reality on the ground.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
Car parking spaces are a big thing in our village. One of my elderly near neighbours came to my door twice a while back, asking for help/support. Once he even brought legal documents/maps with him. His house has one driveway space, and another space allocated in a shared car park. His next-door neighbour's house is large, and contains five adults (two adults, three young adults). And (I think!) six cars, as one of the lads is into his fast cars. (All from memory; I'm keeping out of it, aside from suggesting he talk to the council.)
The neighbours use his parking space in the shared car park, including storing a dishevelled non-runner in it. His documents show clearly they 'belong' to him (the actual land ownership is a very different matter). It's all got very messy, and sometimes nasty. They sometimes park on the pavement directly in front of his house, blocking it (which annoyed me when I had to use a pram.)
It will get much more common with time as the horde of kids in our young village grow up and get cars.
IMV six cars for a four/five bedroom house with two parking spaces, in a built-up area, is a tad unreasonable. If you want that many cars, buy a house with more land ...
Big thing in our small town, too. We've got a big, and free, car park, but it's nearly full with residents cars, so every so often there are arguments about visitors being able to park. Trouble is, of course, that when the town was built one either didn't need to leave it, walked, or took the next horse out of the coaching inn in the Town Centre. Now everyone has their own transport.
My Neighbour turned up at my door in an anxious state one afternoon a few years ago. He said he owns our garden, based on some document from a hundred years ago - even though the title plan for both properties indicates otherwise, as well as the reality on the ground.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
Important point, that.
When one thing arises, everybody checks everything and all the issues get flushed out at once.
I think "found in my favour" is the wrong terminology. AIUI the Council have no power to make such a finding - only to decide their opinions and how their process should operate.
He should have taken his advice from a solicitor or MRICS.
Well they agreed that I had filled out the correct ownership certificate, meaning that on the evidence before them he doesn't have any interest in the land. But you are right that this is not a binding finding over the issue. That would need to be determined in a court.
What was interesting is the fact that the land registry plan is not really absolute in relation to boundaries, there is also a procedure of changing title plans if they are incorrectly drawn based on earlier information. So this type of problem can really happen to anyone - I've come to the view that freehold land isn't really what it seems.
A friend of mine had an amusing fight over land a few years ago. Usually the Crown owns the foreshore (I think) as a matter of right, except for a chunk of North Somerset which was granted to my friend’s ancestors a while back.
The government tried to claim it but it was proved in court they didn’t. But they then stated in the recitals of some act of parliament that they owned this specific piece of foreshore… that had to go pretty far up the chain to sort out
We had one selling our last house, where the road had been realigned, including a wider verge, lower when the M1 was build in 196x. For the purposes of making a bridge easier to build.
The purchaser's boiler plate el-cheapo conveyancing refused to believe that we had a right to exit onto the road, due to the extra slice of land having some sort of Ministry of Transport right over it.
The old Spanish saying 'If you sit by the river long enough the body of your enemy will come floating by' must be ringing in the ears of Mrs Ed Miliband this morning.
After Ms Sarah Vine's brutal personal attacks on her during the 2015 General Election even Michael Portillo was moved to say;
"Newspapers want you to write that vile stuff? That lady has done nothing wrong in life apart from she happens to be married to the leader of the opposition. To compare her to an alien is in my view not justified."
Michael Gove and Sarah Vine split raises Covid distancing questions
Cabinet minister refuses to say whether he broke rules as he announces 20-year marriage will end in divorce
Michael Gove on Friday night became the second senior Cabinet minister in a week to split with his wife as Downing Street refused to say whether any social distancing rules had been broken.
The Cabinet Office minister is one of four people who have been making unprecedented decisions about people's private lives during the pandemic, sparking questions about their own domestic arrangements.
On Friday afternoon, after months of intense speculation and rumour, Mr Gove and his wife Sarah Vine, a prominent journalist, said in a statement that they had "agreed to separate" and were finalising their divorce after almost 20 years of marriage.
The announcement came within hours of the polls closing in the Batley and Spen by-election – a seat the Conservatives had been expected to win but lost, with blame falling on the Government's handling of revelations about Matt Hancock's affair with aide Gina Coladangelo.
Ms Vine wrote a column in a newspaper on Sunday about the scandal, in which she spoke of the difficulties of sustaining a political marriage.
WRT White Working Class constituencies, if one wants to know why the Conservatives have gained strongly in some and not others, I think much of the answer lies in coal-mining, and its subsequent demise.
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
You could write a dissertation about this subject. Having been born and raised in Yvette Cooper’s constituency, surrounded by (ex-)mining communities and (ex-)miners, here’s my brief take…
You make a good point that these places have always been small-c conservative. Very socially conservative. But the strong trade union movement led people to vote Labour - as you say it suited their economic interests.
There are many factors why that knee jerk Labour support is eroding but if I were to try and sum it up quickly I would say it boils down to demographics. These communities are chock full of old people. If you go into Pontefract it is full of pensioners. It feels like a sleepy town. These pensioners were raised on a diet of war films and the Empire. I have heard more than one person say ‘We should never have got rid of the Empire’.
You go into Leeds and it is full of young people. I’m only in my 40s and walking around Leeds I think to myself ‘Christ, everyone’s young!’ Leeds feels like the future.
Young people from round here, if they have the means or opportunity to, generally move away as soon as they can. I certainly did. I came back in my late 20s for what I intended to be for a few months, but then life happened and I ended up staying. I don’t mind, I went to uni, broadened my outlook, got educated, had my 20s in more exciting places. Once you want a quieter life, this is a nice place to live.
But most of those who leave don’t come back.
So we have aging, socially conservative populations in these places who don’t like change, don’t like foreigners, want everything to stay the same. The more liberal, progressive types generally move elsewhere.
Now they’re chucking up houses round here. We will be a dormitory town for Leeds. How that plays out in terms of voting will be interesting to watch. Will it bring more young, liberal types who simply can’t afford to live in Leeds who will be centrist or left-leaning? Or will, by the very act of buying a house, they become more inclined to vote Tory as they get older and move out of the city?
Comments
A mere bagatelle compared to being top scorer in the Championship every alternate year I think we can agree.
Injured Italian player suddenly recovers when Italy scores
https://twitter.com/donmoyn/status/1411045894716276743?s=20
He needs to grow some balls and get on with it.
Came home, i'm. drunk , I know I am
Make myself a cup of tea - bloody fly dives into it and dies ..... I fish it out and will drink it anyway
Tory Councillor Colin Matthews claims neighbour Mark Ashwin, 58, has 'stolen' an eight square metre strip of land from his back garden and wants it back.
In the tense video taken on June 23, the Lincolnshire County Councillor can be seen confronting Mark after climbing over the fence by setting up a ladder on the other side.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9750459/Moment-councillor-scaled-neighbours-fence-screamed-not-touch-property-land-row.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyUqF9ceEHI&ab_channel=socastar12
The new-found enthusiasts for cracking the whip with the PRC will be out in force in 3...2...1...
I am pretty sure it would have been less than 8 square metres in total.
None seriously ill fingers crossed.
The bloke the other side had a thorn bush which meant you had to duck to get past.
But that was OK.
No
It still shouldn't take so long, but I cannot imagine anyone on the legal side or the courts is that fussed if it is not undertaken speedily, given the smallness of most of it (though arguments over ransom strips can have a big pay off for the winner).
Alyn and Deeside
Bedford
Canterbury
Chesterfield
Coventry North West
Coventry South
Dagenham and Rainham
Hemsworth
Newport West
Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford
Oldham East and Saddleworth
Stockton North
Wansbeck
Warrington North
Warwick and Leamington
Weaver Vale
Doncaster Central
Doncaster North
Gower
Halifax
Hull East
Lancaster and Fleetwood
Newport East
Wentworth and Dearne
Wolverhampton South East
Meanwhile Apsana Begum, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse in east London, faces trial in July on housing fraud charges, which could trigger a byelection if she is found guilty. Census data indicates it had a Muslim population of 33.6% in 2011.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/02/muslim-voters-feeling-unprecedented-discontent-labour-batley-spen
I suspect we haven’t seen the last of George Galloway.
It doesn’t matter. One side will take to field believing they can win it, the other feeling they have already achieved something.
The Tories overplayed their hand in Batley and Spen" (£)
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-tories-overplayed-their-hand-in-batley-and-spen
"The holding of Batley and Spen now appears to be a massive victory for Keir Starmer’s leadership. The chances of Labour winning yesterday had been built up as mission impossible, making it seem miraculous that they managed to triumph in the end. And while there were elements here out of the government’s control – for instance, just how much the left of Labour seemed to be banking on their own party losing the by-election – Downing Street allowed the narrative to set that the Conservatives were on course for an historic victory."
Achieved les±s and less votes in same constituency at last two elections suggests there, and all the ones you kindly listed, you have pretty much reached your peak, and from this moment forth only deteriorate.
Some surrounding line was eventually built on, with gardens of expensive properties right up to the edge of our track. One man - a retired Major or somesuch - claimed that the piece of driveway by his garden belonged to him.
The problem was that the plan he had been sold included the track - the builder had based it on the same plans. We had bought the land in the 1960s from an estate sale, and on that part of the map, the lines denoting our track narrowed. It had been poorly drawn at a relatively low scale, where the driveway was barely wider than the line drawn with a thick pen.
He blocked off our access, and built part of a tennis court over the track. Stuff was stolen off our land. It all eventually went to court; he lost and got costs. From memory, the only reason we won was that the court found it very unlikely that whoever had drawn the plan had intended the track to narrow, to the advantage of the field next door. It was also clear the track had been drawn up to be used for access to our parcel of land. ISTR he later tried to sue the builders.
So one answer is: poorly drawn historic maps and people acting unreasonably.
How to lose the battle even if you are in the right...
No idea what the Tory farmer wants, but there was a Planning Objection previously.
It looks like a classic "just add that wasted corner to my garden" done 10 years ago and sold on. But impossible to tell. IF it's been enclosed that's the De Facto boundary anyway - how it works in a densely occupied land.
Green space within modern housing estates always just "gets added" to the end of gardens (and bugger the wildlife).
Farmer should have offered arbitration, and had his ducks in a row.
Re. the mention of Sunak below, it's brilliant if we forge greater economic ties with China. The Telegraph have been commenting on this for some months with some very astute observations. The future does not lie with more sinophobia but greater economic trading.
As for the thread topic, Starmer should be safe for now. If England don't win the Euros and their poll slide therefore continues then he'll be secure until the next General Election.
You can mutually create a "determined boundary" with GPS etc, but that will cost £500-600 just for a small one as you need a RICS surveyor or similar with their equipment.
So a surveyor uses things called "boundary features" (eg old tree, or corner of a building) to determine the actual boundary.
It is why a foundational principle of Planning Law is that land ownership is "not a relevant planning matter". I can get PP to build a house on your garden, but 'implementing' that is a different matter which is not to do with the Planners.
Have been chatting to someone else on PB about doing a couple of pieces to explain some basics to inform planning debates, but it is quite a daunting prospect to boil down - HUGE subject.
A field is great for fun and future development if it is close to existing. But your field will have a margin of beer cans, bottles and rubble chucked over the bottom fences of all the adjoining gardens.
And if, for example, you have cattle or horses in it, you try and prove who chucked the bottle your horse stood on.
Or if dogwalkers have been using it, then you can end up with a Right of Way or a Village Green just by not keeping an eye on it.
But - for example - perhaps not for a pensioner using the snicket for access in their mobility scooter, who's life could be badly upset by the selfish neighbour.
I should have added: the track was denoted not just by a line on the map, but by long-established hedges (as part of our evidence, we showed second-world war aerial photos showing them). It was clear the lines on the map honoured the hedgeline.
Being uncharitable, we think the major (aka 'git') knew that if he had that part of the track, he cut off access to our land. This would make the walled garden and surrounding land less valuable as it had no access. If he owned that part of the track then he controlled the access, so if he bought our land, it could regain that value.
Incidentally, my family has been in building for over 150 years - we're the first generation not to have anybody directly in the construction industry. Land was always seen as something we had - apparently we still have a few parcels scattered around the country. My brother and sister have both bought land near their homes. I, as the black sheep of the family, have not.
You are right about costs of landowning - my dad paid the farmer who owned most of the adjoining land a small amount each year to come along and cut the hedges on our (track) side. It wasn't much, and kept him sweet. He also kept an eye on the land, and was the one who told us about the Major ripping out the hedges alongside his garden. He also used our track to access some of his fields at times, which we let him do for free - under a strict legal agreement saying he had no right of way. So the Major took on not just us, but the guy who owned the farmland surrounding his house as well.
Not a good idea...
I know of a house whose only access is across a ford. A few times a year, the ford floods preventing access, even to large vehicles. The previous owner agreed with the farmer next door that they could drive along a track across the farmer's land, avoiding the ford.
The house was sold, and the new Yuppy owners - complete with sports cars - argued with their neighbour. When the ford flooded, they found the gate onto the farmer's land firmly blocked. They tried to argue that it was a right-of-way, but the farmer and previous owner had drawn up a legal agreement that did not extend to the new owners.
The legality of that must be very complex. But it was funny, as the new owners were (ahem) not quite acquainted with country life ...
Classically a verbal agreement to park on somebody else's land, turns into a Right by Prescription.
Yuppies need to build a pridge, perhaps
Shhhhhh.
Although to be fair, we don't buy the land to build on. Some of it has been in 'the family' for over 100 years, and the vast majority is farmed. Some could never be built on, We've slowly sold most of it off over the years, often to the tenant farmers.
Land was just in our blood. It was something we did. I can't really be bothered.
1= England 3.25 30.8%
1= Italy 3.25 30.8%
3 Spain 3.65 27.4%
4 Denmark 14 7.1%
5 Czechia 34 2.9%
6 Ukraine 55 1.8%
Excellent.
"Starmer more popular than Galloway in B&S" is about the only popularity contest he is winning.
The easy (!) way for Starmer to quieten his 'enemies', his opposition within, is to dish the PM a few more times in the Commons, bearing in mind of course, that we're close to the summer recess, but during that to get out and about, being seen doing ordinary things and meeting ordinary people.
Allies say that the prime minister did not expect to win the seat and, while disappointed, believes it brings politics more into line with where they should be midway through the parliament." (£)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-is-calm-but-tories-wonder-where-next-win-is-coming-from-after-losing-batley-amp-spen-qwwlkhm8l
A seat like Forest of Dean was once safely Labour, based on mining, but now safely Conservative, now that mining is only a memory. You can see the same pattern in places like North Warwickshire, NW Leics, Amber Valley, Sherwoood, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, and then the ex-mining seats in South Yorkshire and Durham.
My view is that these places were actually pretty right wing in outlook for decades, but the voters' economic interests, based on mining, inclined them strongly to Labour. Once mining went, and as over time, people either bought their own homes, and plenty of new houses were built, that historic loyalty to Labour went with it.
In demographically similar constituencies where coal-mining was not of much importance, or where there were always other signficant sources of employment, one does not see the same shift in allegiances.
He is playing far too much into narratives against him.
https://twitter.com/blkahn/status/1411074599803142146?s=19
Three options, of course Labour; quite likely, Tories; a few perhaps, Will not Vote; somewhat more likely than Tory.
Which will return B&S to 'almost certainly Labour' as it has been for some time.
The Tories were big favourites to take the seat, let's be reasonable and let Starmer celebrate a bit.
F1: tyres seem to be softer at Austria this weekend.
Then there are another 400 which will come in next to one currently being built just 10 minutes walk from me.
Then the nearly 2000 (1800 I think) over 15 years on the old Rolls Royce development site in Hucknall.
Plus another 1500 the other side of the bypass over perhaps 15 years once PP obtained, which may be another few years.
And so on. All in Ashfield.
The cause of this outburst was that we had a planning application in to do some minor works. I told him he would have to put his case to the Council (if he was correct, I would have needed to have filled in a different ownership certificate). The Council took one look at the land registry plan and found in my favour, helpfully the planning officer then wrote as much in the officer report.
He hasn't raised it again for a few years, but I am not convinced it has completely gone away.
The problem with these situations is that they quickly descend in to a fog where it is not clear who is right or wrong (as is the case with the conservative councillor).
When one thing arises, everybody checks everything and all the issues get flushed out at once.
I think "found in my favour" is the wrong terminology. AIUI the Council have no power to make such a finding - only to decide their opinions and how their process should operate.
He should have taken his advice from a solicitor or MRICS.
There are numbers of Palestinian flags on cars and houses in the constituency, but East Leicester is not Bradford or Bow. The Asian community is more mixed, being Muslim, Sikh and Hindu, and the Muslim part being mostly Gujerati and Somali, so different issues apply.
What was interesting is the fact that the land registry plan is not really absolute in relation to boundaries, there is also a procedure of changing title plans if they are incorrectly drawn based on earlier information. So this type of problem can really happen to anyone - I've come to the view that freehold land isn't really what it seems.
It will be interesting to see if an era of Labour shortage reinvigorates worker demands, whether via formal or informal unions. I think there is potential for Labour in a new workers charter to regulate ZHC and Gig employment. Not to outlaw it as there are some benefits to freelancing in terms of flexibility, but to prevent the more egregious exploitation, and the tax dodging of fictitious self employment.
Despite the fact that quite a few of the smarter betters on here made decent money betting on Labour
The neighbours use his parking space in the shared car park, including storing a dishevelled non-runner in it. His documents show clearly they 'belong' to him (the actual land ownership is a very different matter). It's all got very messy, and sometimes nasty. They sometimes park on the pavement directly in front of his house, blocking it (which annoyed me when I had to use a pram.)
It will get much more common with time as the horde of kids in our young village grow up and get cars.
IMV six cars for a four/five bedroom house with two parking spaces, in a built-up area, is a tad unreasonable. If you want that many cars, buy a house with more land ...
Times have changed and those jobs and the lifestyle that comes with them have gone. We have a demographic no longer reliant on unionised heavy labour, that is right wing and insular in so many areas having to now fend for themselves.
On one hand we have a Labour Party whose activists have disappeared up their own arse trying to differentiate their right-on credentials from the Gulags for Slags and Tougher Immigration Controls - The Mug! policy disasters. On the other hand we have people who are bigoted towards outsiders, reactive on crime and punishment and far less tolerant of the permissive society than metropolitan types. Its no wonder the Tories have been able to prey on them.
The government tried to claim it but it was proved in court they didn’t. But they then stated in the recitals of some act of parliament that they owned this specific piece of foreshore… that had to go pretty far up the chain to sort out
One question is are those Indians Indian Muslim or other religions.
Trouble is, of course, that when the town was built one either didn't need to leave it, walked, or took the next horse out of the coaching inn in the Town Centre. Now everyone has their own transport.
The purchaser's boiler plate el-cheapo conveyancing refused to believe that we had a right to exit onto the road, due to the extra slice of land having some sort of Ministry of Transport right over it.
Family had lived there for 37 years.
It caused a delay of 2 months.
After Ms Sarah Vine's brutal personal attacks on her during the 2015 General Election even Michael Portillo was moved to say;
"Newspapers want you to write that vile stuff? That lady has done nothing wrong in life apart from she happens to be married to the leader of the opposition. To compare her to an alien is in my view not justified."
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/04/15/daily-mails-sarah-vine_n_7069346.html
(An Alien when she's married to Gove!!!)
You make a good point that these places have always been small-c conservative. Very socially conservative. But the strong trade union movement led people to vote Labour - as you say it suited their economic interests.
There are many factors why that knee jerk Labour support is eroding but if I were to try and sum it up quickly I would say it boils down to demographics. These communities are chock full of old people. If you go into Pontefract it is full of pensioners. It feels like a sleepy town. These pensioners were raised on a diet of war films and the Empire. I have heard more than one person say ‘We should never have got rid of the Empire’.
You go into Leeds and it is full of young people. I’m only in my 40s and walking around Leeds I think to myself ‘Christ, everyone’s young!’ Leeds feels like the future.
Young people from round here, if they have the means or opportunity to, generally move away as soon as they can. I certainly did. I came back in my late 20s for what I intended to be for a few months, but then life happened and I ended up staying. I don’t mind, I went to uni, broadened my outlook, got educated, had my 20s in more exciting places. Once you want a quieter life, this is a nice place to live.
But most of those who leave don’t come back.
So we have aging, socially conservative populations in these places who don’t like change, don’t like foreigners, want everything to stay the same. The more liberal, progressive types generally move elsewhere.
Now they’re chucking up houses round here. We will be a dormitory town for Leeds. How that plays out in terms of voting will be interesting to watch. Will it bring more young, liberal types who simply can’t afford to live in Leeds who will be centrist or left-leaning? Or will, by the very act of buying a house, they become more inclined to vote Tory as they get older and move out of the city?