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The Labour Party have apparently claimed the wind as the reason they have yet to comply with the order to take down their oversized posters in Livingston. While speaking to the Lighting Officer on the council Rory Cameron he said that this is the reason they are having difficulties complying with the deadline set. I informed Mr. Cameron that I ahve yet to see any party use ladders for the taking

This is just pathetic and and a disgrace to the nation. I wonder what point the judges are trying to make by sending elderly people to prison because of non payment of council tax. Alfred Ridley, 71, from Towcester, Northants is still serving his sentance, after he became the first council tax "rebel" to be jailed. Sylvia Hardy, 73, from Exeter, was jailed for seven days after missing a deadline to settle arrears of £53.71. I wonder how many more will ...

Don't miss Simon Titley's masterly blend of invective and analysis. Let's hope the Liberal Democrat Conference never visits Blackpool again. More cramped quarters in Harrogate, Southport or Scarborough would be infinitely preferable when we are looking for a Northern venue.

Here in the South West when I get on a bus, I pay the driver then sit (or stand) where I like even if that's sprawled halfway up the stairs, Metro gripped between the teeth, wondering when the high speed corners are going to end. The bus takes the quickest route that includes all the requisite stops (the precise path depending on the traffic). We rattle through mostly LibDem constituencies. In

It's hard to resist the outcry about Calderdale Royal Hospital attempting to ban visitors from cooing at babies. The Daily Mail - the only place to go for stories like this - reports:Staff in one of the wards have put up a display of a doll in a cot with a message saying: "What makes you think I want to be looked at?"Channel 4 news adds:Cards were handed out to visitors stating: "Respect my baby" and underneath, as if written by a baby, are the words: "My parents ask you to treat my personal space with consideration." Why have they ...

Nothing in television documentaries is quite what it seems. Not even in the best of them, such as 49 Up which I wrote about the other day. Remember the little boy in the Yorkshire Dales in 7 Up, trudging off to school in his wellingtons like an extra from Whistle Down the Wind? His brother was recently interviewed in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus: "I was only a year old when the first programme was made," said Andrew. "But I was told later about some of the TV people's antics such as getting Nick to 'walk to ...

Seems Michael Howard's masterplan has gone out the window Change to Tory leadership rules voted down Michael Howard's plan to change the way the Conservative leader is selected has been voted down by MPs and senior party activists.

Gordon Brown presented himself to the Labour party conference as a leader in waiting. His speech set down a marker: to create the Great British Society. Forgetting that he has been an instrumental part of the Government for eight years, this was a bold inspiring vision. You don’t have to agree with it to think that. And there is a lot to disagree with. We know Gordon likes to micro-manage

by Jabez Clegg ...but that sounds so 1960s, doesn´t it? No, the Apollo Group is more of a virtual community - a group of Lib Dems who (for the most part) met on the net and see it as an appropriate means of sharing ideas and campaigning. We are a pretty varied bunch - aged from 17 to 60, with one MP, several candidates, and ex-patriates in four countries and two continents. We don´t align ourselves with any particular wing of the party, but I think the general sense of the group is that the party needs to ...

Yes people, I'm standing for the Union part time executive. Because I've already written my manifesto, I'm not going to repeat it here, I'll just link to it. Also available: leaflets and an elections site, where I will soon have my filmed statement... fun! Questions here please, or email me at christopher.j.ward@gmail.com.

I just love this picture of a school bus from the website for Buckland Infants and Nursery School. This is one of the schools that is helping to define and develop extended schools in Kingston. I've written about extended schools before. I love the idea but really don't like the term, so I've been discussing how we could brand the activities that we are planning. The 'extended schools' programme gives us a chance to make schools and school buildings important hubs in their local communities, open throughout the day and throughout the year. ...

6,000 children a day die in the developing world from diarrhoeal diseases according to the charity WaterAid. These could be essentially prevented through better sanitation. Governmental priorities, however, tend to ignore these basic solutions to basic problems. These two somewhat unusually attired ladies have come to the World Toilet Summit in Belfast to highlight this issue which is not

The row rumbles on over the placing of the Mandela statue in Trafalgar Square. Now, Westminster City Council are sticking to their aesthetic and practical objections to it's proposed location on the North side of the square, which on the face of it seem fairly reasonable. However, the Tory Council do have rather a reputation for being a bunch of bigots who like to pretend they're just the cuddly liberal administrators of the city (cheers for keeping my council tax so low though!). My Labour friend Daniel still quite rightly has a bee in his bonnet over the Council's curious ...

Terrific He-Man/4 Non Blondes mix. What’s going on? (Via.) © Will on No geek is an island, 2005. ¦ Permalink ¦ No comment Add to del.icio.us Search for [...]

I was interviewed last week by the eGov Monitor about the Local eDemocracy National Project, and as I was reading the article today I got a phone call from Radio Jackie. They wanted to interview me about it, and the impact on Kingston. So I talked about e-petitions, online surgeries for young people and - of course - my blog.

I am not going to comment on the £2.5 million donation to the Liberal Democrats campaign fund as I do not yet know all the circumstances and so I am unable to form a judgement about it. However, Plaid Cymru's have now complained that we may well have used the money to win Ceredigion. Again I do not know if this is true or not, though I am happy to take my party's spokesperson's word that none of the Michael Brown money was used for this purpose.Whether this is "foreign" money as Elin Jones asserts is a matter for the ...

If you want to get some handle on the sensational banking corruption racking Italy (courtesy not least of close colleagues of New Labours good friend Berlusconi) take a look at this piece by 'Gilgamesh' in the European Tribune. You wont understand what is happening from the BBC reports unless you read this. Also enlightening in the context of the Dutch bank ABN taking over Banca Antonveneta. News report will also be trumpeting that Berlusconi has been 'acquitted' of certain charges. Well up to a point Lord Copper. It was very helpful that Italy has in effect made white-collar crime ...

Tories are a rum breed. Currently haggling over a 'new' system of electing the leader (purely because the wider membership keep getting it wrong) - maybe they should really simplify it more. Rule 1 - elect a leader the public might vote for. One way or another, they'll finally find some method to elect the only leader the other two parties have any fear of (and regular readers will know who that is - here's a clue - Hush Puppies, cigars). Meanwhile, I was intrigued by the news that hopeful Liam Fox has a blog. Maybe someone should tell him ...

Not only is size an issue with Labour posters but also positioning. These should not be placed on central reservations, traffic islands or lamposts carrying street furniture giving warning or information to car drivers. All across the constituency these rules have been widely broken by Labour postering teams. Some posters are on speed limit signs, some on give way signs. But the image of Devine on his election communication surrounded by children is greatly embarressed by his posters being the only ones present on not just one, but almost every warning of a school in the constituency. The following picture ...

Following a formal complaint the Labour Party has been ordered to remove thousands of posters they have put up during the Livingston By-election. It was spotted that the Labour Party posters were twice the size of the permitted maximum. Today, following a written complaint the West Lothian Council reacted swiftly and have ordered the Labour Party Campaign manager to comply with the regulation or face action. West Lothian Councils said: "We have received a complaint and as a result we have ordered the Labour Party to comply with our regulations which were clearly stated before the election began. ...

In this spineless article by Simon Jenkins in the Guardian - which, incidentally, aligns Jenkins precisely with Tariq Ali - Jenkins argues that withdrawl from Iraq as soon as possible is morally acceptable because: America left Vietnam and Lebanon to their fate. They survived. We left Aden and other colonies. Some, such as Malaya and Cyprus, saw bloodshed and partition. We said rightly that this was their business. So that's alright then. Quite where Jenkins would stand on the genocidal civil conflicts of Rwanda, Bosnia or Kosovo is anyone's guess. A few days ago I criticised Menzies Campbell ...