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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("FOIA") came into force on 1 January 2005 and (together with the Environmental Information Regulations 2004) gives members of the public the right, subject to certain exemptions, to ask for information that public authorities, including local councils, hold and even to find out whether they hold certain information. Public authorities normally have 20 working

Surely not? The Labour Party have accused David Cameron* of 'flip-flopping', a popular accusation in the USA, used to undermine opponents by making them appear indecisive on issues, but surely we are more mature over here and can see through this weak attack. From the BBC: Asked why the party had decided to make a personal attack on Mr Cameron, Local Government Minister Phil Woolas said: "Well, it

I was in London over the weekend and managed a few delivery rounds and canvassing session in both Blackheath and Lee Green wards of Lewisham. This was in support of my previously Loyal retainer Brian Robson and his deputy assistant Chris Maines. I taught Brian all he knows. ** The Labour vote is clearly very soft and on the entirly scientific basis of my two visits in the last month I predict big gains. It has different problems than Leeds but all the signs of long term labour complacancy and neglect are there. I attended the campaign launch thingy ...

The seven acre moorland fire (see below, under the big-knackers-door-knocker-link story) set me thinking. Fires on the North Yorkshire Moors are a common sight, because heather moor is kept in good condition for moorland birds by controlled burning, the trees are kept down by sheep grazing. Thus the posh may safely blow grouse and pheasant out of the sky and we may eat local leg of lamb and

I'm a man without conviction I'm a man who doesn't know How to sell a contradiction So sang Boy George and Culture Club on tonight’s Labour Party local election broadcast. I think it’s safe to say Labour are pretty pleased with their ‘Dave the Chameleon’ campaign: it has spawned not only tonight’s show, but also a website, a blog (that’s an ‘internet diary’, if you’re a Telegraph reader), a

A story from today's Shropshire Star: Shrewsbury councillors have signed a motion demanding the sinking Dara Thai restaurant is removed before the summer to avoid jeopardising the town’s chances in this year’s Shrewsbury In Bloom contest.They mean the Britain in Bloom contest, by the way, and the restaurant is a derelict boat moored on the River Severn.

Timeline: April 2017 Meet Joe. Joe suffers from a mild form of autism. As a childhood he would spend a lot of time in the garden, staring into space. When Joe was 15 he wandered into the garden and did what he had been doing for years. A week before new people had moved in next door. Their 6 year old daughter was playing in their garden. When Joe stared into space it appeared as though he

It would be churlish to pick holes in Labour’s funny party election broadcast this evening, so of course, I couldn’t resist. The first point is that its funny, but not half as funny as it could be. The problem is that voiceover: couldn’t they have dug up Pete Postlethaite or Patrick Stewart or some other [...]

I have an article on Guardian Unlimited calling for the Liberal Democrats to be more, er, liberal on education.

Give live interview to LBC on London Underground's move towards introducing the technology that will allow mobile phones on the tube. I remember arguing with Tim O'Toole (MD London Underground for Transport for London) when I was still on the London Assembly - and we then came out against them as he could not reassure me about the risks involved following the Madrid bomb - which was set off by a

On Monday I went up to Loughborough to have a look at the steam trains. A 15-minute walk from the Midland Mainline station takes you to Loughborough Central, the headquarters of the Great Central Railway. I hope they will not mind that I have borrowed this excellent photograph from their website. From Loughborough Central you can ride behind a steam locomotive for eight miles south, reaching the northern outskirts of Leicester. If you want to know what has happened to the route of the Great Central beyond that, visit the Great Central Through Leicester site.

Tim posted his latest selection on Easter Sunday. I have two (count 'em) postings included.

The Tory campaign from second place in Moray to score a much needed by-election victory has quite literally imploded. Towards the end of last week it became apparent that the Tory campaign had been sending out letters in the name of INDEPENDENT Councillors, endorsing Mary Scanlon as the natural successor to Margaret Ewing. Call it [...]

Three candidates have been shortlisted to go before the Guildford constituency membership for election. The successful candidate will contest the Guildford Parliamentary seat in the next General Election. As I was a member of the original shortlisting selection panel, I will not be showing any bias towards any particular candidate. Therefore, I am happy to offer links to websites from all candidates if requested by individual candidates.

Easter eggs are grossly overpackaged. So now we have to get rid of the card, foil and plastic packaging materials they came in - not to mention the chocolate (but that's the easy bit). Managing our waste is a hot issue at the moment. We all know that we have to reduce the quantity of material that is being buried in landfill sites. The problem is that although recycling has...

The Labour Party’s latest Party Political Broadcast is being trailed online and as a video downloadable to an iPod (but not a Podcast). It’s at: http://www.davethechameleon.com/debut.html OK, so it’s hardly a detailed policy attack, and it’s a pretty negative personal ad, but as a piece of animation, it’s great. And it’s the sort of party political broadcast [...]

So David Cameron suggests that we could "Vote Blue and get Green". I am not really sure how this squares with any actual policies that the Conservatives have put forward. Indeed the only policy in the environmental field I have heard them offer at all is a proposal to release some green belt land for development. Even if it may be a sensible policy- a dubious prospect- it is not what is conventionally thought of as a green policy. The mention of colours does rather open the Conservatives to the accusation that they are just a bunch of political chameleons. ...

At last some publicity for the Liberal Democrats even if it is just to report that Ming Campbell has put his Jaguar car up for sale. Self-sacrifice is becoming quite fashionable as a means of highlighting one's commitment to important political principles. First, we had the Liberal Democrat Shadow School Minister, Greg Mulholland, returning his baby daughter Isabel's Child Trust Fund cheque for £250 to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, with a request that he invest it in reducing class sizes instead, now we have Ming underlining his personal commitment to environmental sustainability. Ming will also be taking the tube ...

The old adage that we reap what we sow must surely have hit home with Margaret Hodge by now. Her selfless promotion of the BNP has led to a media storm in which the BBC and normally sane newspapers are predicting that the right-wing party could win up to a fifth of all votes cast in the local English Council elections in two weeks time. Nothing is more likely to produce that outcome than the credibility given to Nick Griffin's candidates by Labour Ministers such as Mrs. Hodge and Phil Woolas and the subsequent talking-up of the BNP by newspapers ...

If articles in the today's Guardian and elsewhere are any indication then senior management at the Metropolitan Police are close to meltdown over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes. It does not help the chain of command when it is constantly undermined by leaks. Just how bad that has got is evidenced here: The mood among senior officers at Scotland Yard has been poisonous at times in recent months. Last week Sir Ian Blair sent an internal message to staff condemning negative leaks about the force. It has been leaked to the Guardian. This is becoming a ...

I have an admission to make, one that may shock or astonish you, one that could rip apart the very fabric of your life... Unless you've spent more than 5 minutes in my company, in which case you'll be fine: I like musicals and I like the musical Rent. It's one of those things, the product of a tortured upbringing, etc, but Rent has now been released, albeit not everywhere, as a film and so I

(The Times)The chief executives of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, Alder Hey in Liverpool and Sheffield and Birmingham Children’s Hospitals say in a letter that the operation of the tariff — the list of fixed prices for NHS procedures — will leave them about £22 million a year worse off. I do think that Labour taking on the children's hospitals is ill advised. Children's

In some senses this was a nothing game. Reading had already secured Premiership status for next season and the Championship title for this season. On the other hand there was still much to play for as Reading went into this game on 99 points and having scored 93 goals this season. The all time record of 105 points is within their reach and they could still become the first to do a double 100 by reaching 100 points and scoring 100 goals in the process. Reading started the game unusually in a 4-3-3 formation with what was in effect a ...