11:23 pm
A little local history from my files: Leicestershire MP and cricketer's £10 million stamp collection celebrates one hundred years on display.One of the world's greatest stamp collections - The Tapling Collection, donated by nineteenth-century cricketer and MP Thomas Keay Tapling - celebrates one hundred years on exhibition on October 5th.Thomas Tapling was a wealthy Victorian businessman, running the family carpet making business along with his duties as MP for the Harborough Division in Leicestershire from 1886-1891. He was also a first-class cricketer, turning out for Trinity College, Cambridge, Trinity College Long Vacation Club and Cambridge University Long Vacation Club. In ...
10:32 pm
In March I wrote about Walsall's New Art Gallery. Now I have come across a book which tells the family story behind the Garman Ryan collection it houses. The Rare and the Beautiful: The Lives of the Garmans tells the story of the Garman family, including an amazing cast of partners and lovers: Roy Campbell, Jacob Epstein, Laurie Lee, Peggy Guggenheim, Lucian Freud. In many ways they were an unattractive crew, living exquisite lives while their children were neglected, but the book lays bare a fascinating slice of twentieth century cultural and political life.
9:45 pm
The Citizenship Foundation has produced a young person's guide to the UK Constitution and it runs to 144 glorious pages at A5 size. I don't wish to undermine the Foundation*, but if students wish to pick up a proper, documentary constitution they can try the following:The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America (with Amendments), and Other Important American
9:35 pm
A Populus poll tomorrow will show the same trend as other recent polls (Tories down a bit, Lib Dems up a bit, Labour unchanged). Tories 36 (-1) Lab 34 (nc) Lib Dems 19 (+1)
9:31 pm
My Lib Dem colleagues on Haringey Council have demanded a set of emergency Area Assembly meetings to give residents the chance to discuss the new plans for CPZs and parking restrictions. There's little point having Area Assemblies if they aren't allowed to discuss big local issues like this. You can also let me have your views here.
7:50 pm
In an article about political bloggers (via Lynne Featherstone), The Observer this Sunday slipped in this short paragraph: In the US, the Connecticut Senator and former vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman has seen his yawning lead in opinion polls suddenly slashed in the run-up to November's elections by support from anti-war political bloggers for his little-known Republican challenger. As I was planning to blog this anyway, I noticed the obvious clanger: I have no idea whether the Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, is anti-war (there would be nothing new in a local candidate distancing himself from his party leader's stance to gain ...
7:40 pm
For once, David Cameron has been out-spun. His speech to Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Justice was a pretty blatant attempt to triangulate an approach to law and order, supposed to show the new touchy-feely side of today’s modern Tories. Just as Tony Blair’s sound-bite, “tough on crime, touch on the causes of crime”, was designed to prove Labour would be no pushover in power, so Mr Cameron is
6:30 pm
Defence Secretary Des Brown today committed a further 900 British troops to Afghanistan “to help security and reconstruction efforts”. Last week, Ming Campbell voiced his support for the decision, arguing this expansion of effort was needed “to complete the job”. As Jonathan Calder acerbically noted, “Fine, but wouldn't it be a good idea to decide what ‘the job’ is first?” A fair point, so I
5:46 pm
This video is just hilarious. I mean it’s wonderful. It’s too funny for words. This Conservative party election broadcast was brought to you by the 1970s Open University.
5:14 pm
BBC SPORT | Football | World Cup 2006 | Teams | France | Zidane blames Materazzi insults It seems everyone is queueing up to make excuses for Zinedine Zidane. Even President Chirac: Dear Zinedine, in such a hard and intense moment for you, I would like to express the whole nation’s affection and admiration for you. You [...]
4:31 pm
Just came back to my (very comfortable) hotel and switched on the news. SKY News. Oh my GOD it is "The Day Today"! For those that don't remember, "The Day Today" was a parody news programme hosted by Chris Morris. It launched the demented sports reporter Alan Partridge onto an unwilling world. However, although extremely funny, it had a dark side- the smarmy reporters, the hectoring interviews with a clearly amoral agenda. That is what I have just seen on Sky. A reporter with an agenda. The issue was the sentencing of the peadophile. Whether it is "too lenient" is ...
4:05 pm
My usual base of operations, http://www.willhowells.org.uk/blog, has gone on hiatus. I have no idea how long it's going to take to resolve - not too long, I hope (touch faux-wood desk surface). In the mean time, I'll be roughing it in this blogosphere backwater. Once (not if!) my site comes back, I'll use the magic of Wordpress to import blog posts hence thither. It will be as if I were never away.
3:45 pm
I wrote a brief article on this here blog a few weeks ago regarding Labour's inability to listen to the public. My argument at the time was that they simply lacked any mechanism to do so, having come into office...
3:12 pm
Ming Campbell has questioned the apparent Tory flip flop on the 2003 Extradition Act - now much in the news because of the predicament of the Nat West Three. He has written to the Conservative Leader, noting "At the time [2003], the Conservative members of the [standing] committee abstained from voting against the regulations, while the two Liberal Democrats, David Heath and John Pugh, stood alone in opposing them. "In light of this I would be grateful if you would confirm that the Conservative Party’s policy on this issue has changed since December 2003. Is it your view that ...
2:50 pm
Beyond the skills and the tension of the game is the dramatic narrative of sport; the veiled reflection of real human struggles. Sport is not just compelling because of the flick passes, the sidesteps, the soft-shoe shuffles, an elegant cover-drive, or a deceptive Portuguese dive; it compels because of the context. Muhammad Ali’s comeback victories in the 1970s are significant not just because they assured Ali’s claim to greatness, but because he was no longer Cassius, and his history was more than just that of a boxer. Lance Armstong’s Tour victories are made all the more impressive – unbelievable – ...
2:44 pm
The House Committee will be discussing the provision of a seperate website for the Assembly Parliamentary Service on Thursday. An important part of that discussion is what name to adopt for the site that will fully reflect the status of the National Assembly for Wales. The paper records that alas www.nafw.org is not available. It is currently being used by the North Ayreshire Fiddle Workshop.
1:59 pm
Check out my other blog if you want to find out how my second day in court went, and if you want a laugh about how incompetent I am.
1:37 pm
A rather odd thought occurred to me whilst watching the final Dr Who of this series. Looking at the Cybermen, they are all equal, apart from the Cyber Controller who can simply be replaced by upgrading another. Surely this is a socialist utopia, all are equal. Combine that with the zeal and certainty with which socialists often pursue their agenda and cybermen look more and more like a socialist
12:35 pm
Well the World Cup and Wimbledon are both over, I was cheering Italy on and glad they won. Anyone who wasn't supporting them before Zidane's headbutt should have been afterwards, I have just read that he won the Player of the Tournament Award which makes a mockery of FIFA's fair play talk, although it was voted on at half-time (before the headbutt) FIFA should strip him of the award.
12:33 pm
A sound-bite-a-day keeps policy hunters at bay ... link The Tories must be so proud ... where exactly is this man's substance? Another speech of "we should do this and we should do that" .. but still very little sign of any policy to back it up? I had a friend round for supper last night who was telling me how much of a threat he thinks David Cameron is, I had to explain that this is the man who wrote the right-wing manifesto for the Tory party at the last election ... how can he possibly change ...
12:32 pm
I had the chance to lunch with Kim Cameron, Identity Architect for Microsoft, last Friday. Kim was both fascinating in his ideas and entertaining in his anecdotes. His Identity Blog is well worth a read and is especially frank about Microsoft’s experience with trying to centralise identity services with its MSN Passport. Meanwhile, William [...]
11:48 am
Some cautious support for Lib Dem tax policy from Peter Riddell in the Times: There is a lot to be said for many of these ideas on their own. But Mr Cable’s full package will have to be specific on who gains and who loses. Sir Menzies and Mr Cable are right to take a fresh look at the tax system, but they also need to get the politics right. He also mentions Ming's "substance over form" approach to politics: SIR MENZIES CAMPBELL could surprise us all yet. Once a public and, above all, media image is formed, it ...
11:33 am
I am traveling again, hence sparse blogging. In fact I am in a blazing hot Tallinn, with the jollity of high summer and the white nights adding a certain positive spin on an otherwise fairly heavy round of meetings. I keep in touch with the British news and see that the increasingly erratic David Cameron has now embarked on a "hug a hoodie" campaign. As he gets hip with the kids: "they're just misunderstood" I reflect on the contrast with the leaders of Estonia that I have been meeting with this trip. Here I have been debating first principles of ...
11:23 am
A good, measured and proportionate response to the English/West Lothian/”YOR’E ALL C**TS!!!!” Question from Channel 4’s Factcheck, making a welcome post-election return. While we’re at it, this piece about Scottish funding is worth considering as well.
10:56 am
Well as Charles Clarke has already told us his department is not fit for purpose it appears from leaks that they are messing up Ton'y Blair's ID card agenda very well. As many people pointed out before implimentation not a single large scale government computer system has been fully operation by the time scheduled. IN the leaked e-mails David Foord, the ID card project director at the Office of
10:29 am
Family Court (Imprisonments) Q:To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many people were imprisoned following in camera hearings of the family court in each of the past three years; how many of these were imprisoned for offences relating to contempt of court; how many were imprisoned for more than a month; and for what offences, other than contempt, they were
9:47 am
The e2e4e cyclists reached John O'Groats yesterday - on schedule and all in good health. Many, many congratulations!
9:06 am
I found this statistic from Norwich Union somewhat at odds with my own personal experiences in Thailand. Maybe I have just been luck and admittedly I am only one person whereas their report was based on some 60,000 claims. I have always found Thailand to be a safe and happy place. Apparently British holiday makers are most likely to suffer "food poisoning, theft, traffic accidents or the loss of belongings" when visiting Thailand. The traffic accidents I can believe although I have seen countries where the problem is worse. As for the rest - well I have seen no great ...
8:49 am
Lots of exciting things have been happening with LDYS in London lately, with borough and University branch reps mobilising members and plans for various London wide events in the coming months. Yesterday the new LDYS London website was launched, designed by Stewart Morris, it’s actually quite brilliant.
8:48 am
Residents in Redcar and Cleveland are being given two chances to hear about and discuss the future of the 45 miles of coastline from the River Tyne to Flamborough Head at a public meeting in Redcar's Coatham Memorial Hall on Tuesday, July 18. The meeting starts at 4pm with a half-hour public presentation on the review of the existing Shoreline Management Plan followed by 90 minutes to look at an exhibition and discussion. Then at 6pm, the two-hour process will be repeated.
8:20 am
Henceforth, Zinedine Zidane's peculiar way of interacting with an Italian opponent shall be known as the 'Marseille Kiss'. After that France deserved to lose. What the French Coach thinks he is doing seeking to excuse this behaviour I do not know. There is no justification for that sort of behaviour.
8:10 am
Yawn ... I was up far too late setting up this blog last night and a 6am start with my little boys didn't help much either! Looking forward to the end of this week, William (my husband) is taking me away for the weekend ... the first since the boys were born. We are going to Palma which will be lovely. It is also the first flight I have been on for four years, so I am hoping that my environmental impact might be offset by that! William and I are particularly looking forward to it because we have had ...
7:39 am
I will be travelling to and from London all day so there will be little or no opportunity to comment on the Beecham Review when it is unveiled later on. However, a number of points arise from this preview on the BBC's website. The Welsh Assembly Government is quite right when it says that services need to be more responsive to public demand and more efficient. However, setting an arbitrary efficiency target of £2 billion by the end of the decade and then withholding the money at source will not produce that outcome. It deprives Councils of the opportunity to ...
4:03 am
The BBC reports that scientists have created sperm cells from stem cells. Now I am no biologist for sure, but doesn't everyone produce stem cells? And anyone's stem cells can be switched on to produce any type of human cell? Does this not imply that it would be possible to turn a woman's stem cells into sperm cells? Is this the beginning of the end for men's part in the reproductive cycle? Can't live with them, can live without them?
3:54 am
In Yellow Peril | Why won't Lynne Featherstone admit the truth? they want to know, amongst other things... On her "blog" (actually just a website - what sort of blog is it that doesn't allow comments?) Er, actually, yours, most of the time. I would say that three quarters of my attempts to post a comment on Yellow Peril I get some kind of error along the lines of: ErrorYou are not allowed to proceed with this request.Spam But you know, over there at Yellow Peril they seem to have an unhealthy ...
12:16 am
I know this is a little after the event, but I wasn't blogging at the time so couldn't comment. Well done Ben Abbotts and the team in Bromley/Chiselhurst. I think it was really an amazing result ... I had done some telephone canvassing earlier in the week and was astounded then by the response I was hearing. Having expected a fairly Tory canvass, I instead found lots of "usually conservatives" were wavering and definitely undecided... I almost put some money on us winning, but I'm not really a lady who gambles money. The buzz that is experienced around a by-election ...
12:06 am
Well, as usual it has been a fairly busy weekend.Spent a couple of hours delivering surveys and Lib Dem newspapers in Newquay yesterday. The evening was spent at a Lib Dem fundraiser event, with William my husband, here in Bodmin which was lovely. Also managed to sign up for the conference and after a mild panic managed to find a room for all the days at a fairly reasonable rate and not far away. This will be my first proper conference and now that everything is sorted I am looking foward to it. This week, aside of council work) ...
Sunday 9th July 2006,
Saturday 8th July 2006,
Friday 7th July 2006,
Thursday 6th July 2006,
Wednesday 5th July 2006,
Tuesday 4th July 2006
