11:31 pm
In my experience, politicians aren't always very skilled at thanking others. It's a skill that is still greatly valued, and perhaps even more so given the rise of the professional political classes who tend to rise through political parties and into government without trace or interaction with the outside world these days. As a faceless bureaucrat, I don't expect a great deal of gratitude,
10:21 pm
Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, has written to the Cabinet Office asking why the former secretary of Lord Levy was given the MBE, the BBC tells us. If this account of Levy's days in the music business is true, an MBE seems scant recompense: To disaffected former members of staff at Magnet Records, home of hits for Alvin Stardust and Chris Rea, their boss Michael Levy was a tyrant who revelled in his power. His tricks included chasing people around the office and throwing ashtrays.
10:06 pm
9:43 pm
Simon Jenkins has an article in today's Guardian on he privatisation of British Rail. He takes much the same line as I did the other day. Within seven years the railway was costing the taxpayer three times what it had cost before de-nationalisation (up from £1.3bn to £3.7bn). The historians Terry Gourvish and Christian Wolmar have charted the subsequent shambles as probably the worst case of Whitehall mismanagement of a British industry since 1945 (a competitive contest). In the 1980s fares covered 76% of rail costs, last year 42%. The government has restructured the industry three times, so it is ...
9:03 pm
For the first time I've really noticed, I disagree with a Chris Huhne message. The BBC and others report in "Labour under fire on 'green' bid" that Chris criticises David Milliband for blue sky thinking on personal carbon allowances. Now Chris is President of the ultimate Lib Dem blue-sky thinking lobby group of which I am secretary, ALTER (Action for Land-value Taxation and Economic reform), so he is only too well aware of the sort of long-term thinking that has to go on to achieve big systemic change. Whilst I noticed also a Greenpeace (I think) activist on one ...
7:20 pm
I was surprised to read today that the Welsh Assembly has agreed to prevent constituency canditates standing in the regional list for assembly elections. (I'm assuming that in Wales the same Additional Member system is used that we have for Holyrood). I think it would be better to put things the other way around, and insist that only candidates who are standing in constituency seats can appear on
7:10 pm
I've just been watching Prime Minister's Questions, something I rarely get the chance to do, but I'm off work not very well in this heat so I happened across it today. Is Blair always so patronizing towards Campbell? It's a good job Ming's one of those polite well-bred advocates - though I dislike PMQs as a rule, even I would say Ming could be a bit more pugilistic against the arrogance of Tone. Anyway, Ming was of course right to ask about mid-east ceasefires and about why, in particular, the rest of the world is not being terribly ...
7:07 pm
I do worry that certain bloggers are getting too big for their boots. I’d draw an analogy here with one of my past obsessions: Robot Wars. I used to love the show for the simple reason that it involved lumps of metal sawing the crap out of each other. Another entertaining feature was seeing [...]
5:56 pm
A manager moved into a new job but didn't have time to do a handover briefing with their predecessor. So they had no idea what to do in the new job. Fortunately, while searching their new desk they found three envelopes marked "1 - open now if things are dire", "2 open later if there are still problems", "3 open later than that if things really get bad". So, with things indeed looking dire, the
4:44 pm
Some good poacher-turned-gamekeeper advice from Mike Smithson on how to stop a Lib Dem by-election onslaught can be found on politicalbetting.com today. The only thing I would take issue with here is that Mike buys into the myth that Hodge Hill was a successful defence on the part of Labour. Actually, Leicester South, called on [...]
4:19 pm
When will global oil supply peak? “The Government consider that the world's oil resources are sufficient to prevent global total oil production peaking before 2030, by which time the International Energy Agency's reference case scenario in its 2005 World Energy Outlook shows global oil demand reaching 115.4 million barrel per day, nearly 40 per cent. higher than current levels. Market
3:42 pm
Angela Merkel strikes a “W” pose in honor of the President: See Taylor Marsh for an explanation (of sorts). Tags: angela+merkel, george+bush
3:32 pm
A colleague emails with this link. Apparently it’s to do with some sort of headbutting incident during a recent small sporting event in Germany.
2:33 pm
I’m in two minds what to think of David Miliband’s recent interest in Personal Carbon Allowances. As I’ve explained previously on this blog, I like the economics behind carbon allowances, but feel it could be better administered simply by selling carbon allowances to the businesses, having them pass on the cost to the consumer, and having [...]
2:27 pm
Each car parking space at the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital brought in an average of £1,294 in parking charges over the last year. On top of this, patients pay excessively high charges for the use of telephones, the internet and televisions. Those phoning in to speak to patients are also charged extra. These extra services are provided by a company called Patientline, who describe themselves on their website as "the market leader in bedside communication and entertainment services."
2:15 pm
I have tabled two EDMs today. One relates to the Auditing of Death Certificates. Simply counting the number of death certificates signed would have stopped Harold Shipman from killing hundreds of people. The link refers to this. Audit of Death Certificates This house notes that one recommendation of the Shipman Inquiry in 2003 was an audit of death certificates, this house regrets that the government have been ‘not fit for the purpose’ of implementing this very simple change to procedure and calls for the government to implement this at an early stage including a numerical ...
1:22 pm
Interesting news on the indebtedness of Tories and Labour after last year’s General Election spending spree. We did know the Tories were lashing out as they spent something like £160,000 in one year outside of the election period in their target seat of Milton Keynes North-East, plus up to the limit in the actual election. We notice that we no longer get the monthly full-colour Tory leaflets delivered by commercial deliverers we all enjoyed before May 2005, though the Tories are still benefiting from the massive paid-for canvass done for the GE as can be seen from their (transient ...
12:09 pm
Today's Western Mail has one of the most inaccurate and misleading headlines on its front page for some time. It bears no relation to the story, which is about the future of the bi-lingual Plenary record of proceedings after May 2007. There is no intention to 'dump Welsh'. It is worth recording that at the moment we do not provide a bi-lingual record of Committee proceedings. It is also worth noting that the number of meetings of Plenary and Committees will increase after 2007. There are issues about capacity as well as cost. There are after all only ...
11:43 am
Much discussion in the blogosphere about political identities. In particular much discussion about party political identities. In a world where politicians become followers of opinion, rather than opinion formers, it becomes inevitable that there is much pressure to conform and thus create identikit policies. The problem with this Uberpragmatism is that it effectively undermines ideological coherence. As for the origins of this huge social change- we can point to the increasingly individual way that people are choosing to live their lives. The group ethos of the industrial society has been undermined by our increasing ability to use technology to create ...
11:27 am
When the Assembly was established in 1999 we were at the centre of the Welsh universe. Admittedly, it was a fairly small universe but it was one that we dominated nevertheless. This had its disadvantages as well as benefits. For a start it meant that all our growing pains and every inch of our learning curve were out there for the public to scrutinise in minute detail. That made it much harder to gain acceptance for the institution. It also meant that there was an intense interest in every penny spent, whether it was on expenses or services. ...
11:23 am
Monday was Full Council, which turned into quite a hostile debate on a number of issues. The mood in the Chamber was bad, so I didn’t get to do my pun about the Appointment and Conditions of Service Ctte report about from tiny ACOS, mighty oak trees grow. There was also a report about the [...]
11:09 am
A comment by SBS on Politicalbetting made me look again at Ming Campbell´s PMQ record. Time and time again we are hearing the BBC use John Reid’s phrase “not fit for purpose” to describe the Home Office. Except it is not Reid’s phrase. It was a couple of months ago that Ming asked in PMQs “Is the Home Office fit for purpose?” SBS is correct. Ming asked the question (awkwardly, in a noisy House) on 3 May. Blair replied that he wasn´t listening to the Lib Dems on Law and Order - before appointing a new home Secretary who ...
11:04 am
I was shocked to read that Bush is effectively allowing Israel one more week to carry on its attacks on Hizbullah before they intervene. If the international community are going to intervene, and they should, it should be now not after another weeks worth of violence (from both sides)!
10:55 am
Sir Menzies Campbell in today's Guardian offers a voice of reason to George W. Bush's posturing. How can the leader of the free world say that OK you can carry on for a week but after that we'll need to look at it again, when he himself is weilding his might in Iraq, Afghanistan and threathening others with force? Looks like Syria is now on Bush's radar along with Iran and North Korea. In added
10:23 am
At the Council meeting on 29th June, Cheltenham Borough Council approved a document called the Local Plan. This sets out where houses and business premises can be built in the town until 2011. It is a good result for Swindon Village ward: due to sustained pressure from Lib Dem councillors, there are no proposals for development on Swindon Farm. On 5th July, the Gloucestershire Echo reported "The Swindon Village and Up Hatherley sites were shielded in the Local Plan because councillors reckoned that greenbelt land would be ruined". It's always nice to get some positive press! We're not out of ...
10:01 am
It seems Gordon's favourite lady has found a new suitor. The Independent has an analysis of the financial position of each of the major parties garnered from their 2005 accounts: Conservatives 2005 Operating Loss: £15m 31/12/05 Net Liabilities: £26m Labour 2005 Operating Loss: £14.5m 31/12/05 Net Liabilities: £27.3m Liberal Democrats 2005 Operating Loss: £0.2m 31/12/05 Net Assets: £0.3m So, would you trust any organisation to run the country that spends far more than it can afford, and whose loans are unsecured?
10:00 am
Posted by Chris Over the past two or three years the local Evening Gazette and Northern Echo has printed a series of similar letters repeating over and over again the same misleading one sentence "soundbites" that Labour Councillors spout on Redcar & Cleveland Council. The strange thing is that these letters are alleged to be written by residents of Redcar, Brotton and Skelton that nobody seems to know. They also do not appear on the electoral register.
10:00 am
The Times yesterday carried the following report : ONCE, things were simple. Some members of Leicester City Council were Conservatives, some were Liberal Democrats, and when they got together they formed a ruling coalition. Unfortunately it all got rather complicated when the Tory group leader decided that he would like to join the Lib Dems. Rather than retiring his blue rosette and crossing the floor, Roman Scuplak merely added a (figurative) yellow ribbon to his lapel. He told Local Government Chronicle (July 13): “I am still leader of the ...
9:47 am
Last night, Southwark Council’s Executive launched our pioneering plans to create one of the UK’s greenest multi-use energy schemes as part of the £1.5bn regeneration of the Elephant & Castle. We agreed to look for a partner a scheme, which will create an unprecedented sustainable infrastructure by establishing a Multi Utilities Services Company (MUSCo). We have always [...]
9:23 am
I blame Transport Direct. I’ve not really been paying too much attention to the news beyond the Israel/Lebanon stuff in the past week, but I have been using Transport Direct to check train times for getting up to Scotland, so assumed that as I’d been specifically checking for the 21st and 22nd July, there were [...]
9:22 am
The agenda for the Selly Oak District Committee meeting on Tuesday 25 July has now been published and details can be found on the City Council's website here. The meeting will take start at 7pm at: Dame Elizabeth HallFirbank Close(off Oak Tree Lane)BournvilleBirmingham The Selly Oak District covers the wards of Selly Oak, Bournville, Brandwood and Billesley and more details about its role can be
9:06 am
One of the top stories of the day is that the government intend fixing problems at the Home Office. On the TV screens is a display of one of the presentations which goes approximately.1. Find problem2. Fix it3. Check that it is solved. This is really sad. If this is news to the Home Office then something is much more wrong than I ever believed. I still don't believe that they don't know this. I think it is purely window dressing. The underlying problem as with any large organisation is one of how problems are solved. ...
8:55 am
"Monday and Tuesday have already seen the two hottest days so far, with temperatures of up to 33.2C (91.8F).Forecasters say the top temperatures will be in the west of London, north of Bristol and south of Birmingham but showers are coming from the South West." (BBC.) I shall be in Gloucestershire for the next few days. If I don´t blog, you should assume that my keyboard has melted.
8:44 am
There is an interesting table accompanying the Scotsman's report on the state of the various party finances. Basically it is a cost benefit analysis of the spending on the General Election last year for the return of votes and MPs. Being Sottish it obviously also includes the SNP but the results are still interesting. Labour Number of Votes 9,566,618 Amount Spent £15.1 million Seats 356 Amount
1:44 am
I admit that I have become addicted to reading to the absurd right-wing blog “Shelley the Republican“. Her almost daily rants have an almost crack-like addictive quality which on occasion cause me to drool and gibber in a combination of horror and delight. Never have fascination and revulsion been so closely linked in my mind. It’s [...]
12:00 am
I have been busy for the last three days, but not out and about in the usual way. Internal meetings and a ward event have taken up some of my time. I had an e-democracy board meeting yesterday in Lichfield and rather rashly decided to drive there and back. In fact, it did mean that I arrived cool - the car's aircon beating a cross-London Tube journey any day. But my back has been...
Tuesday 18th July 2006,
Monday 17th July 2006,
Sunday 16th July 2006,
Saturday 15th July 2006,
Friday 14th July 2006,
Thursday 13th July 2006
