aneurin's New Writeups

Middleton and Prestwich by-election of 1940 (event)

2010-02-09T13:14:09Z

A by-election was called for the constituency of Middleton and Prestwich to be held on the 22nd May 1940 following the death of the incumbent Nairne Stewart Sandeman on the 23rd April 1940. In the circumstances, given that the nation was at war, the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties had all agreed not to contest by-elections, and therefore when the local Conservative Association selected Lieutenant Ernest Everard Gates no serious opposition was expected to his election.

However, as was to prove the case throughout the war, other minor parties did not feel bound by this agreement and indeed were often keen to take advantage of the opportunity provided. The Independent Labour Party duly nominated one D Carradice, an official of the Municipal and General Workers Union as their candidate, but he later decided to withdraw "in view of the present tension". Therefore when nominations closed on the 13th May 1940 the only opposition faced by the Conservative candidate Ernest Everard…

Hoon-Hewitt Plot (event)

2010-02-01T10:33:11Z

The Hoon-Hewitt Plot of the 6th January 2009 was (or at least appeared to be) the third in a series of plots designed to remove Gordon Brown as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, being so named after its instigators Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt.

Viewers of the Daily Politics show on the 6th January 2009 might have noted the following exchange at 11.45am;

Andrew Neil: Nick Robinson, I keep hearing rumours of a leadership challenge. I know nothing about all this stuff. Should I believe any of it?
Nick Robinson: No you shouldn't. It's rubbish and isn't going to happen.

An hour later at 11.57 pm, the journalist Andrew Sparrow, who was running The Guardian's live blog of that day's Prime Minister's Question Time, posted the "Hot news" that "Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt are going to make some kind of statement" coupled with a comment on Twitter that the statement would be "about about Brown's leadership". (Although he was…

I'm Harriet Harman, you know where you can get me (event)

2010-01-20T19:15:12Z

"I'm Harriet Harman, you know where you can get me" were the words allegedly spoken by one Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Chairman of the Labour Party, Lord Privy Seal, Leader of the House of Commons, and Minister for Women and Equality, during an incident which took place in Camberwell on the afternoon of the 3rd July 2009.

It came to pass that Ms Harman was driving her red Ford Fiesta at Bushey Hill Road near to where she had her home at Camberwell in South London, and was holding a conversation on her mobile phone when she struck a parked car. Naturally this incident attracted a small crowd of onlookers, including the owner of the struck vehicle, who then approached Ms Harman, at which point she wound down her window, made her pronouncement, and then drove off.

According to a "senior police source" they were later contacted by "concerned members of the public who had witnessed the accident and the behaviour of Ms Harman". Details were then…

UK Pre-Budget Report 2009 (event)

2009-12-29T12:15:07Z

In accordance with the Code for Fiscal Stability of November 1998, it has been the recent practice of the British Government to publish a Pre-Budget Report (PBR) each autumn, updating the nation on the progress made since the last Budget as well as providing a foretaste of the delights to come in the next Budget due in the following spring. It therefore came to pass that on Wednesday, 9th December 2009 Chancellor Alistair Darling rose to his feet in the House of Commons to deliver his speech introducing this year's Pre-Budget Report. Given that his previous Budget, delivered only a few months previously, had revealed the parlous state of the nation's finances, with the country now running a record-breaking deficit of £175 billion, naturally there was some interest expressed in what, if anything, the Chancellor might have to say on the current state of affairs.

There was confirmation that the Government's anti-recession measures would be coming to an end as planned. Therefore VAT would be…

Very Bad Santa (person)

2009-12-23T19:28:35Z

It has been suggested that Santa Claus, or Father Christmas as he is known in the land of the sane, is Very Bad Indeed. At least according to one Dr Nathan Grills from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine at Monash University in Australia who has carried out a "review of literature and web-based material" in order to "assess Santa's potential negative impact on public health".

Initially it seems that Dr Grills sought to establish how well known this Santa was amongst the community. Apparently Dr Grills's investigations revealed a "very high Santa awareness among children", whilst he made reference to a recent study amongst (presumably Australian) "hospital inpatients" which had concluded that "awareness of Santa was near universal". Having thus demonstrated that the Vicar of Rome was indeed a Catholic, he then considered to the potential negative effects such a widespread fame might have on the population.

The tradition of leaving out a glass of…

Borders UK (idea)

2009-12-05T21:33:37Z

Borders (UK) Ltd was a United Kingdom bookshop chain that was in established in 1998, went into administration in 2009, and is very likely to disappear altogether in 2010.

Borders Inc is a US bookshop chain which began life in 1971 when Tom and Louis Borders opened their first bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. From that beginning Borders Inc gradually expanded across the United States as it developed a successful superstore model as it built large bookstores that averaged 40,000 sq ft which featured various additional delights such as a coffee shop.

In 1997 the company decided to expand overseas and purchased Books etc. to give itself a foothold in the British book market. Founded in 1981 when Philip Joseph acquired four leases from the receiver of Words and Music, Books etc. was a small London based bookshop chain that had begun expanding outside the capital in the 1990s. However although Borders Inc intended continuing with Books etc. as a 'small format division,' its…