bamber

Which is what the government always intended. Central Government wants to get its hands on the proceeds of selling off city assets that have been built up over the past couple of hundred years. The city's financial difficulties provides the perfect cover.

You seem to be confused. The tram is a concession and is not operated or financed by the city. The original go-ahead for the tram came from central government and any expansion of the network will only happen if the government approves.

It's chicken and egg. In the days of the old city corporation if you were a councillor or alderman you could sit on committees that dealt with education (including higher), water supply and sewerage, police, fire, ambulance, public transport, social services, public health, council housing, highways, and. before nationalisation gas and electricity supplies. Over the years central government has removed more and more powers and either centralised them or given them to appointed quangos - councillors nowadays are just a bit of democratic window dressing and that must affect the calibre of those

The lady in charge worked for the Natural Trust and while she may be very nice I doubt she has an "enterpreneurial" bone in her body. And when you combine that with Ted Cantle (one of the high priests of wokedom in the UK) you have the recipe for the current omnishambles. And anyway, whatever happened to Bob White and the Sheriff's Commission all those years ago? Was it crushed by the wobbly N?

Published by the Cambridge University Press a few weeks ago it's about ENT provision in Nottingham prior to the nationalisation of health services in 1947. Perhaps a little dry for some, but whatever floats your boat. Journal of Laryngology & Otology

The Nottinghamshire flag is awful and yes it does look as if the "designer" cut corners by repurposing the Home Ales logo.

In a way cricket is getting back to its roots. It was originally a one-day game; the multi-day format was a result of rich amateur (batsmen) with lots of time to kill and the money to pay for professionals to bowl. The real problem with the T20 and and 100 is that you have baseball-style 3 hour games but without the pressure points Two down; bases loaded; batter on a full count; bottom of the ninth; one run to win. Now that is pressure. Instead you have a slog-fest with baskeball-rates of scoring.

The Bath Inn is reopening after a refurbishment by the new owner a Mr Wheatcroft-Baker. As the son of a Time Lord he's hoping to attract a new clientele amongst the Sneinton Daleks.

No mention, as far as I can see, of the post-war "prefab" style station station that was at Dunkirk Island. It closed in the late 1970s.

Nissen huts ... pah ... that's modern stuff. Parkdale School was using huts from the Boer War as classrooms until the 1990s.

According to Wright's Directory for Nottingham (1900) there is no branch of Boot's at the location, but in the 1910 edition the "Branch Post, Telegraph and Money Order Office" is no more and there is a Boot's at 128 Derby Road. Are we sure that the "Ben Bower's" building was built in 1877? Or is that received knowledge?

According to Wright's Directory there was a "Branch Post, Telegraph and Money Order Office" at the junction of Wollaton Street and Derby Road: which would fit. As for the building with the gabled roofline I believe it post-dates the photograph.

On the other hand Derby Road shops

The picture of the copper is much further towards the "Ben Bowers building" than the cab shelter. I am going to check Kelly's Directory for Warehouse Agents circa 1900 and a bit earlier.

I came across someone wanting to know where this picture was taken. I could not help but think that it looks like the top of Derby Road, just before you get to Canning Circus. Does anyone agree? Mystery picture

NCT's colour coded route identification always seemed to me be a solution in search of a problem. That said, the green n' cream might look a little odd to modern eyes rendered as a vinyl wrap rather than the efforts of a chap with a spray gun and masking tape.

It's amazing what you can find on the internet, and here is a website dedicated to the esoteric study of old bus timetables. They have Trent, Midland General and Barton from the late 1960s: when Leylands, AECs and Bristols dominated the roads. Timetable World

Well that's what we used to sing as kids in the 1960s, but here is a link to a film about Mapperley Hospital in the 1930s. The City was proud of its mental health provision under Dr McMillan, years before the NHS, and I have to say that it looks far more desirable than the care (or lack of it) in the community. Mapperley Hospital in the 1930s

Gladys (where he was loved and won TWO 1st Division champions medals) has been living in Seattle for the past 40-odd years. He become a local media celebrity in the Pacific NW as the face and voice of the Seattle Sounders.

Bally had a shop on the corner of High Street and Victoria Street. They were nice shoes but a bit "continental" for my taste. I'm a Tricker's - built like Northampton battleships - wearer.

At the end of the day the council will decide and there's almost nothing anyone can do about it It's the developers who will decide. The City is too broke to contemplate fighting a vastly expensive appeal in the High Court; especially if you have an SoS like Robert Jenrick who invariably favours the developers.

The Lord Mayor's Roller has been restored and was up for sale: Phantom V According to the insurance database NTV1 is now allocated to a Ford Focus. Either the city sold the plate or the Lord Mayor(ess) now has to slum it in a hatchback. The decline in the civic wheels matches the decline in the city :-(

Going back to crewed buses. Did anyone ever put money in the honesty box?

Parking in front of the Council House. It reminds me of the occasions when the local council bigwigs would meet there. There was the Lord Mayor and Sheriff's matching pair of African-dictator style Phantom Vs (NTV1 and NTV2) and then the motley collection of modest saloons that were the lot of the Chairman of the County Council and various UDCs and RDCs. It was all down hill from there on - the Lord Mayor and Sheriff now have to make do with a couple of Mondeos dressed up as Jags and a bus pass.

We have elections for the City Council in just over a month and there is no media forum for public debate and coverage. The Robin Hood Energy debacle should have dominated front pages, editorials and letter columns for weeks but it has all passed by largely unnoticed in Nottingham because there is no local media. The government, no doubt, will take advantage of the "lack of interest" in the local elections as a reason to remove the last vestiges of local decision making in favour of more Whitehall control.