11:59 pm
What are we to make of the fact that ConservativeHome, the unofficial refuge for Cameron-baiting right-wing activists, is now more popular than the official Conservative Party website? Or that LabourHome, within three weeks of its launch, is one-third of the way towards catching up the number of visitors clicking on Labour’s approved site? Arch-blogger (in every sense) Guido Fawkes - whose reach,
11:49 pm
Why about 10 years ago did everyone in Britain stop saying "railway station" and start saying "train station"? The following answers will not be accepted: It is American. No it isn't: they say "railroad station" over there. A bus station is where you catch a bus, so a train station is where you catch a train. This may be logical (though when did idiom have anything to do with logic?), but it was equally logical 20 or 40 years ago when we certainly did not say "train station". So this does not explain the change. ...
11:19 pm
Travelling home from work with an old friend who knows about such things, I learnt that the Department for Transport is planning to halve Market Harborough's off-peak rail services. As a result is that I spent some time handing out leaflets at Harborough station when we got there. Note that the decision has not been made by Midland Mainline, who run the trains, but the DfT. It has been said that the railways our now more closely managed by government than they were during the Second World War. This is the ironic result of the Tories' privatisation of British Rail ...
11:18 pm
I was just scanning through my IP address logs, and it quite surprised me that I had nearly a 7 hour visit from someone at the Houses of Parliament. They were checking up on: 1. Anne Milton MP 'Are They Hung Up On The Attention Seeker' 2. Aggregated news articles for the Bromley & Chislehurst By-Election Analysis as follows: Their attention could have been drawn to my earlier David Cameron posts and the fact that I have been very vocal recently in using the example of the fantastic Liberal ...
10:59 pm
Labour's Assembly candidate in the Blaenau Gwent by-election has announced that he is standing down and will let somebody else have a crack at the seat next year. Mr Hopkins, the leader of the local council, said: "I enjoyed the by-election campaign, despite not being elected. "I do feel however that now I have fought the by-election campaign it is up to someone else to have a go. "But there is important work to do for Blaenau Gwent and I fully intend carrying on as council leader. Let us hope that as Council leader he is ...
10:48 pm
Having previously drawn your attention to Common Ground's pages for May and June, let me rather belatedly recommend their page for July.
8:50 pm
A recent poll by YouGov released today in the Telegraph contains the news that the general public now think of the Labour party today (69%) as even more "sleazy and disreputable" than the Tories under John Major (63%). This up from 19% when they came into power in 1997. Given the polls on this only really started when Labour started their 'whiter than white' campaign against the Tories this puts them in the unenviable position of being officially the sleaziest party in UK history. Unlucky... In such a climate we can at least admire the blitz spirit ...
8:08 pm
I just found out that at the full council meeting on Thursday the Waltham Forest Liberal Democrat group will be proposing a motion against the government's ID Card bill. Quite how the other groups will vote I don't know. Theoretically the Tories should vote with the LibDems, but they're still smarting from losing 3 seats at the local elections and seem to be an authoritarian bunch so no telling
7:51 pm
The Government has just come on the telly and told me not to eat more than 6g of salt a day. I nearly dropped my fag into my tin of fosters.
7:23 pm
It’s not on the web, so you don’t get to see the lovely picture of me, but I was in my local paper today (the Colchester Evening Gazette). Unsurprisingly, it was about the walk, and accompanied by a picture of me in the back garden with a rucksack and a couple of walking poles. Also thanks [...]
6:54 pm
Crikey. I've just got back from Italy (where I had the privaledge of watching the World Cup final and, more importantly, the celebrations that followed), and hence just caught up on the finale to series 2. So, since I've been looking at themes of the series, lets deal with that.I belive we'd got up to the two-part Cyberman story in the middle of the series. Following that came "The Idiot's
5:43 pm
Back in the days of John Smith my boss, a long-standing Conservative, gave up on his party. He thought that the Labour Party had a young fresh politician who offered the country something new. Smith was a decent man, he believed. But the next generation would take the party forward to greater things. The politician he had in mind was Gordon Brown - and there are times when you can imagine Brown shuffling around in his old age saying "I could have been a contender...". It is clear that if Brown could have beaten Blair he would have taken him ...
5:42 pm
Over at Make My Vote Count we a treated to a description of the four types of politician, along with some basic liberalism. To summerize the four types are: The bullied at school and out for revenge The evangelical nutter who thinks he can save our souls stealing our money The good intentioned type who thinks that they know the answers The power crazed lunatic who simply wants power of others I'm sure you can think of examples of each of these (although there is a lot of overlap between the cases).Where ...
4:51 pm
As reported by the BBC: David Cameron cannot afford to take traditional Conservative supporters for granted, a senior Tory MP has warned. Edward Leigh told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour: "The core vote is not something that can be banked and then forgotten about." Mr Leigh is a member of the Cornerstone Group of MPs, which backs tax cuts, immigration controls and use of the private sector in public services. But he said Tory right-wingers would not return the party to civil war. They were not criticising Mr Cameron but wanted to put forward their own policy ideas, he ...
4:16 pm
Two nuggets of news. Via Nimbos, I learn that the short film The Cat Came Back is now available online. I was surprised to see that it was made as recently as 1988. This is a very clear childhood memory and I will no doubt have the song in my head for days to come. And [...]
3:22 pm
Via Will Howells*, comes this snippet of conversation, captured by Sky's Adam Boulton: Bush: Yeah, yeah, he is sweet Blair: He is honey. And that’s what the whole thing is about. It’s the same with IraqAw, young love. You can read the full transcript here. * Always reliable for good material
2:03 pm
Adam Boulton has the St Petersburg tapes in transcript. This snippet is interesting - and ultimately scary Bush: I think Condi is going to go pretty soon Blair: But that's that's that's all that matters. But if you, you see it will take some time to get that together Bush: Yeah, yeah Blair: But at least it gives people... Bush: It's a process, I agree. I told her your offer to... Blair: Well...it's only if I mean... you know. If she's got a..., or if she needs the ground prepared as it were... Because ...
1:33 pm
Adam Boulton reveals that GWB and Mr Tony Blair need to heed this advice. Blair: What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if we get a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way… Bush: Yeah, yeah, he is sweet Blair: He is honey. And that’s what the whole thing is [...]
1:24 pm
Casinos Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if the Government will instruct the Casino Advisory Panel to reopen the shortlisting process for the allocation of casino licences.(John Hemming) A:No. The Casino Advisory Panel operates entirely independently of government, and it is due to make its final recommendations to Ministers by the end of 2006. (Richard Caborn, Minister
1:16 pm
Wow, how hot was it this weekend? And the forecasters say its going to get hotter! (One of my childhood dream jobs was to be a weather forecaster, but I can imagine its a bit boring ATM for them...)Sunday was spent at Birmingham's Eid Mela. This year it was being held at Millenium Point, rather than Cannon Hill Park. So a bit further to go, but well worth it. As usual a slow start with people drifting along throughout the afternoon. I thought it looked more multi-cultural this year, maybe because it was in the city-centre, rather than in the ...
12:59 pm
I am watching with horror the unfolding crisis in the Middle East - you all know what is going on, so I don't feel the need to repeat all the horrors what are taking place. The real problem is I cannot see how this is all going to end in any peaceful way.
12:25 pm
Ok, not really news but I have just heard that Roy Hattersley has called on Blair to go in September. Hattersley is not a Blair fan which makes it non-news but its another call at a bad time for Blair and Labour.
12:12 pm
From time to time, the Lib Dems are accused (sometimes rightly) of dirty tricks, but now we have an insight to the tricks of the Labour Party, particularly their obsession with defeating the LibDems as, via Resident Alien, comes these posters (click to enlarge): From a government presently being investigated for corruption, it's a tad hypocritical.
12:02 pm
You know who your friends and enemies are. Or least it is becoming apparent if you live in a devolved part of the UK. Also you would think in times when patronage of the Lords was under such scrutiny that David Cameron would not make any policy decision on the hoof which might be miscontrued as patronage within the Commons. If you did you would be wrong. In his hurry to come up with an answer to
11:05 am
Really nice place, had a lovely time, will go back. I doubt anyone wants to hear any more than that - I know I get bored very quickly by people's travel tales, so I shan't bore any of you any longer ... Back to it though at 60mph and I have meetings coming out of my ears this week... some real tough agendas too. I also have a meeting with Business Link on Thursday to try and decide whether to
10:59 am
When I went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean last week* the trailer for a certain film came up... a film about snakes... on a plane. It was called Snakes on a Plane (original I know) and everyone in the cinema pissed themselves laughing. God, I love that title. * Or was it Superman Returns?... I can't remember.
10:10 am
Having just had all the Sports Aid events, it's timely to talk running tracks. First the good news, it looks like Bar End will get the 8 lane, all weather track and pitch that we've wanted for years. Everyone seems to welcome this, across all parties on the Council. It's finally happening because the University of Winchester has got involved and, among other things, has offered to meet the
9:24 am
Despair in Lebanon, anger in Israel, violence everywhere. I hold no brief for the anti-Israel lobby, but it is hard to believe that the destruction of roads, power stations and airport terminals in Lebanon is anything other than wanton violence designed to inflict the maximum damage to the lives of the civilian population of that country. It is also hard to believe that it is anything other than
8:38 am
I am astonished by reports that the Conservatives have admitted that they made a bit of a cock-up of rail privatisation. They now realise that they should have gone for vertical integration of trains, track and other infrastructure, rather than breaking the system up into small pieces and making the legal profession even wealthier at my expense. Is this the new Conservative strategy, intended to
8:35 am
It is the first day proper of recess and already I have wall-to-wall meetings that will keep me busy to well past 9pm. These include visits to constituents, a briefing on transport policies in Swansea and a meeting with Post Office workers about plans to close Swansea City Centre's only Crown Post Office. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has been busy trying to protect his inheritance. In an interview with the BBC's Politics Show yesterday he insisted that his Government's ID card is still on track and will go ahead according to the original timetable. We will see. The Prime Minister ...
5:45 am
We moved into our rented home 8 days ago. It is the ground floor of a ‘bungalow’; the basement is occupied by another tenant. All bungalows in Edmonton have two floors. Most houses have basements, which are referred to as ‘finished’ if they have been converted into living accommodation. Our household possessions are still in a container and hopefully reached Edmonton today. The container sat in Montreal for over a week without being loaded onto a train. When I chased it with Allied Pickfords in Toronto I spoke to a young man who said ‘Oh Boy’ a lot and blamed ...
Sunday 16th July 2006,
Saturday 15th July 2006,
Friday 14th July 2006,
Thursday 13th July 2006,
Wednesday 12th July 2006,
Tuesday 11th July 2006
