LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Thanks to a nifty package called phpGedView, I've been able to put my up-to-date family history research online. The new system should be easier to update than the many HTML files produced by Brother's Keeper as I only have to upload an exported GEDCOM file. My genealogy site is at http://www.willhowells.org.uk/gen. At present I'm using one of the provided themes. When I have some spare time (so not for a while) I'll play with the design a bit. The phpGedView system allows me to set up users who can log in and see more detailed data - one of many ...

The recent attempt by Muslim bigots to blackmail the Liberal Democrats (see my previous posting) should not blind us to the continuing efforts by militant far-right Christian bigots to poison our politics. Emboldened by its attack on the BBC last month for screening Jerry Springer - The Opera (see my posting on January 11th), the odious Christian Voice is now blackmailing cancer charities and

Outstanding!!!

Just to take a quick moment to update on what I've been doing this week. Still unpacking and still waiting for BT to connect us at home. I've been kept busy with a range of meetings. A very short meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Panel on Tuesday gave us a chance to wrap up our examination of problems caused by skips either in the road, or being left on public land and damaging the environment. One problem was that legally the County Council are responsible for enforcing the rules about skips in the road and preventing ...

Last night went to a fantastic brass band concert in Bowburn Community Centre played by the Reg Vardy Band, based in Stanley. They were brilliant, both in terms of technical merit, and more importantly, how it sounded. They were in Bowburn helping raise funds to restore two Miners Lodge banners originally associated with Bowburn ahead of the colliery village's centenary next year. The last colliery closed in the 1960s (as with much of Durham), but Bowburn's present is still shaped by its past, and the Miners' Gala is still one of the biggest days in the City's ...

Sad news in the Guardian: the Rank Organisation has severed the last of its links with film industry by selling "its Deluxe unit, dedicated to DVD distribution and technical support". As the report emphasises, Rank's involvement in the movie business was once huge: By 1946, the Rank Organisation was as big as any Hollywood studio. It had a staff of 31,000. (By comparison, the National Health Service employed 34,000 people on its inception.) Rank invested in every aspect of the film business, from labs to distribution, from meteorologists (to predict when it would be sunny enough to shoot) to its ...

The National Health Service is an important issue for many people. One aspect of that has been the question as to how prevalent MRSA is (the "Super Bug").The linked report from The Telegraph indicates that it appears on the death certificate of about 1,000 patients a year. The real question, however, is how prevalent it really is.Doctors from time to time report "old age" as the cause of death. This could include MRSA. Also Pneumonia is reported which also could involve MRSA. The difficulty is that we really need an audit of the records to ...

As most of Wales looks to the rugby field this afternoon for its poetry, the Western Mail reports that the Arts Council of Wales have found some money to appoint a Welsh National Poet. The appointment will be a yearly one and it is envisaged that it will alternate between writers who work in English and Welsh.Academi intend to give the role to a poet who will write about the political and cultural life of Wales. The National Poet's work will form the focus of verse writing in Wales. He or she will also take part in readings and in ...

I really do not want to get drawn into the controversy over school closure and merger plans in either Denbighshire or Carmarthenshire, but one does have to ask whether words are being used in the strict context of their meaning when Cwmdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg call for better standards of consultation on these issues.It seems that Carmarthenshire Council, who are consulting quite widely on the strategic and detailed aspects of their plans are in the wrong, whereas Denbighshire, who failed to consult properly and were forced to withdraw their proposals are a model of good practice. Cwmdeithas education spokesperson, ...

Is it only me who finds this small piece in today's Guardian rather bizarre? The paper reports that magistrates have attempted to ban a woman from committing suicide after police complained about her repeated bungled efforts to take her own life. They have issued an anti-social behaviour order banning her from going near railway lines, rivers, bridges and multi-storey car parks. She can only go to car parks if accompanied and to park a car. The order is for two years and Ms. Sutton faces jail if she breaches it. The Guardian reports that: The bench ...

The religious bigots are at it again, and this time it's closer to home. Iqbal Sacranie, leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, recently wrote to Charles Kennedy threatening to withdraw Muslim votes from the Liberal Democrats unless the party drops its opposition to the incitement to religious hatred law. I posted last week about Kennedy's alarming concessions to the religious lobby. It is now