11:16 pm
Cllr Jeff Hook, Executive Member for Community Safety, is also campaigning hard against knife crime. He publishes some useful guidance for parents in today's Southwark News. Talk with your children openly and honestly and use everyday events to start discussions. For example if there are violent scenes on a television programme talk the opportunity to talk to your child about what they thought and see where the conversation leads.Teach them that a knife is not a defensive weapon and explain that by carrying one they are one step closer to being killed or killing someone with it.Acknowledge your children's ...
11:07 pm
Catherdrals Councillor David Noakes gets a lot of kudos this week for his health consultation campaign. David is the new Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee and is running series of meetings and inquiries to help establish what the public's priorities are when it comes to health issues to scrutinise over the next four years. This contrasts with Labour who tend to base their priorities on which health interest group is payin... sorry lobbying them most effectively. David's guidelines for suggesting a priority to review are to consider three questions: The priority description e.g. diagnostic services or post-natal ...
11:01 pm
Flyposting is a recurring problem in Selly Oak, as in other urban areas, but there are successes. Locally, the Environmental Warden team in the Selly Oak District have identified new ways to reduce flyposting. On Pershore Road, opposite Dogpool Lane, there has been an empty property which has been subject to excessive flyposting and is considered an eyesore by local residents. The wardens
10:40 pm
The headline results in today’s ICM poll for thegrauniad don’t make the happiest reading for the Lib Dems - we’re at 17%, less than half Labour’s rating, and trailing the Tories by over 20%. But to live your life by the polls is to condemn yourself to politico-manic depression. It’s one of the features of the hyper-kinetic, hyper-connected digital age we live in that each and every poll is poured
10:10 pm
Fifty years ago yesterday, Colonel Nasser announced the nationalisation of the Suez Canal. This set in train a set of events which led to the resignation of Sir Anthony Eden as prime minister and the general realisation that Britain was no longer an imperial power. Fifty years ago today, Jim Laker took all ten wickets in the Australian second innings at Old Trafford, making it 19 in the match. It's strange to think of these two events happening on successive days. The odd scraps of history we all remember must exist in different compartments in our minds, rarely being brought ...
9:54 pm
Back in January Allan Massie reviewed Simon Gray's The Year of the Jouncer for The Scotsman. In the course of his review he quoted a pleasing observation from Gray: Here comes Flintoff, who always reminds me of the cheerful part of a Housman poem, hale and hearty, a peerless youth, before Housman snuffs him out at the end of a rope.
9:44 pm
When Charles Kennedy was forced out by MPs against the wishes of the membership, they gave as their reason that the party was going nowhere. They were dissatisfied with Charles' leadership style and with the impact of his 'health' issues. Now we have the MPs' choice as leader and yet, despite successes in Dunfermline and Bromley, our opinion poll ratings are stagnating and slipping back. Ming has made little impact with the public at large. The Parliamentary Party has effectively taken charge of our policy direction and strategy, whilst the leadership has established a lock on the party organisation ...
9:14 pm
The use of Prestwick airport as a staging post for US bombs being delivered to Israel has attracted universal criticism from local politicians and community activists (pace Phil Gallie). This latests news adds fuel to the fire of the existing Prestwick scandal. Blair's submissive attitude to the USA is evidently proving increasingly unpopular on the Ayrshire riviera. Wearyingly, the SNP couldn't
9:08 pm
The answer to the question about Serious Case Reviews is a critical issue. The whole objective of Child Protection is protecting children. Part 8 reviews are those where the system has clearly failed. The question I am interested in is whether the obsession with social workers (and to some extent some paediatricians) with MSbP or FII and previously Satanic Abuse actually means that the system
8:02 pm
I started today’s rehearsal at the Royal Albert Hall as Mr. Grumpy Chops. The reason being that within minutes of being admitted in to the auditorium it was like “Welcome, welcome! DO NOT GO BACK STAGE AND DO NOT TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS”. Two things I’d really wanted to do. Bah. So I went in to [...]
7:50 pm
Monday As ever, Mr Balloon's finger is on the pulse of world affairs as he misses the Middle East crisis by only a few thousand miles to fly in to Afghanistan, where of the world's largest poppy fields are to be found. Landing at the airport, he did two choruses of "Is this the Road to Amarillo" and "There'll be Blue Birds Over the White Cliffs of Dover" before the soldiers could direct him to Kandahar and the Centre of Taliban power. After he left, the troops said that they had cheered up enormously. It is good to see ...
7:19 pm
Posted by Chris. Whoever it is that is behind the spoof letters in the local Evening Gazette and Northern Echo that I referred to in my posting "beware of wolves in sheeps clothing," on 17th July, has sent in a comment to this blog pretending to be from one the names used. The comment was as follows: "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen Chris." That seems like an admission to me that something is wrong. I strongly suspect that someone is indulging in a campaign to mislead the public for political gain. They may think ...
6:43 pm
OK, that's enough of the holiday photos! We had a really great holiday, despite my inability to pass an internet cafe without going in to check my e-mails. I know everyone moans about the way e-mail has invaded our lives but I must say its awfully handy to be able to deal with constituents' issues when you are at the other end of Europe. That said, a lot to deal with on return. Had a very busy week catching up but pleased to learn that an issue that arose in the Roseangle area a couple of weeks ago (noisy rail ...
6:20 pm
Child Deaths Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Part 8 reviews into child deaths have occurred in each local authority area in each of the last 10 years. (John Hemming) Q: The Child Protection Database, maintained by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, provides the data in the table on the numbers of confirmed Serious Case Reviews (SCRs), following the death
4:04 pm
Now is the time for you to put a bid in to Dulwich Community Council’s Cleaner, Greener, Safer fund - our annual round of funding for environmental and community safety improvements. When the Lib Dems set up Dulwich Community Council to devolve power to our local community, we were clear that it needed the money to be able to [...]
3:46 pm
The High Court has announced the result of the recount in the Kingstanding ward from May's local elections. The BNP candidate had been wrongly announced as elected, as a result of this court action she has lost her seat and Labour have been awarded it in her place.
1:16 pm
Lib Dem donor faces jail sentence Today is shaping up to be a great media day for the Lib Dems. You’ve got to laugh.
11:57 am
Haven't been able to post for a little while due to sheer busy-ness! Aside of normal council work, being a Mum and running my two businesses I have also been delivering the focus' for my ward. It took me a little while to get going on this but now that I have started I am so glad. It feels really good to be reporting back to all those doors I canvassed ... and remembering the comments I had at the time also makes it more worthwhile. "we only see you around election time" being the main one ... it's nice ...
11:23 am
I don't tend to pay much attention to George Monbiot, but this article on 'Willy Loman syndrome' is quite insightful. I find with people like Monbiot, its best to just accept that they generally don’t have the answers, and try to get the most from their analysis. The article deals with the lacuna between ambition and ability to achieve which can lead to mental health problems. It would perhaps be unkind to suggest that there are some politicians who have been sadly afflicted with this ‘syndrome’. Monbiot shared rooms with Niall "call me Neil" Fergurson at Oxford. That must ...
11:01 am
Blogger and BlogSpot are being rubbish. I'm finding that requests aren't being returned for a large number of users (which changes everytime) XML files. For the time being all Blogspot hosted blogs have been disabled from the site. Hopefully they'll fix their end soon and we'll get you all back on. 19:00 update I've changed the cache period from 25 minutes to 2 hours, so new posts may take time to appear. However this does seem to allow BlogSpot blogs to appear.
10:58 am
Redcar and Cleveland Council is organising a busy day of events to celebrate Yorkshire Day in Redcar High Street and the seafront on Saturday, July 29. The High Street events, from 10am-4pm, include free children's face painting, an inflatable assault course, stilt walkers, magicians, Punch and Judy, jugglers, street theatre, a circus skills workshop and a flat cap throwing competition, from 11am-noon. There's also a fairground near the boating lake, a model boat display on the boating lake from 2pm and a five-a-side football tournament at the Redcar Leisure Centre from 10am-4pm. Yorkshire Rose posters are hidden in town centre ...
9:58 am
2 days in and I have walked the entire length of the A99. I am currently in Dunbeath and have decided to abandon my tent and rely on the kindness of strangers (and youth hostels)
9:51 am
Last Saturday, together with 7000 or so other people, I took part in the march through Cheltenham in protest at cuts to NHS services in the town. The cuts proposed are staggering in scope: Cheltenham is to lose its maternity ward to Gloucester The nurse led Battledown children's ward is to be closed Mental health services are to be drastically cut back, with the Delancey assessment and rehabilitation hospital closing down. What can we do about this? Well, the cuts are still technically proposals and subject to "consultation". Therefore, I ...
9:26 am
When politicians start to talk about immigration, they never seem to get further than the op-ed page of the Daily Mail - this is a mildly xenophobic world where millions of criminals are, apparently, poised to enter the UK and destroy its way of life. This is obviously wrong, and the kind of simplistic thinking that it represents confuses the real issues. There are two aspects to immigration to the UK. Although the dim-witted tabloid press tends to group the two groups: refugees and market migrants under one pejorative label, "asylum seekers". Actually genuine asylum seekers may not be refused ...
9:06 am
So Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is protesting about the use of Prestwick Airport as a layover for arms on route from the USA to Isreal. However, she is prpepared to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region to allow agencies to get supplies through to the civilians who have been struggling since the Isreali attacks on Lebanon started over 2 weeks ago. This government appears to be
8:53 am
I have become the chair of a very new organisation - Youth Communictions. We are setting up to get young people involved in writing for a magazine and in taking part in some journalism training. It's all about involvement. We are at the very early days yet -raising funds to develop what we want to do. The other board members are a great bunch.. most are a lot younger than me! The fundraising stage is quite frustrating - so its a question of watch this space!
8:45 am
Can't believe I haven't blogged for ten days! Lots has happened recently. Locally one of the most important is the publication of the airport expansion/masterplan. The airport is having some consultation sessions across the area and sending out documents to people about wha they want to do. Cllr Danny Hughes and I had a separate meeting with the airport about this. Obviously we'll be taking part in the consultation too. Everybody welcomes new jobs but I have some real concerns about noise and extra traffic. Also I am worried about buildings that might block ...
8:04 am
This week the Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo met in Vienna to discuss Kosovo's future status. The UN envoy and former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari mediated the meeting. Form all accounts it was quite a failure with neither side being able to agree a way forward.
7:10 am
I am halfway through two successive days at the Royal Welsh Show. It is well worth the experience, especially in this weather. The only problem is that I needed to be reasonable smart, although informal, and as a result I was sweltering all yesterday. The whole of Welsh civic society is at this event not to mention hundreds of traders and tens of thousands of people. Amongst others I paid a visit to Chwarae Teg and Keep Wales Tidy and had a go at generating electricity by peddling on a fixed bicycle for a minute. Apparently, I produced the equivalent ...
5:42 am
I took advantage of the free day before the conference began to take one of those tourist hop-on hop-off bus trips. We hopped off for three hours at the Castle district, up on the hill on the Buda side of the famous Chain Bridge. Fantastic views from the Fisherman's Bastion, then into St Matyas Church to see the walls which are exuberantly decorated with late nineteenth century...
12:48 am
Fifty years ago, an unpopular Prime Minister, shorn of authority and credibility by a disastrous military adventure in the Middle East, resigned in disgrace. He was replaced by his scheming Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had supported the policy to the hilt behind the scenes. Write your own punchline… PS: Alex Wilcock got there before me (and more thoughtfully) here.
12:39 am
Dashing out of the house this morning, late, I could have sworn I heard Douglas Hurd - that über-urbane diplomat - call Tony Blair “creepy” on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. I’ve just listened to the interview again, online, and here is milord Hurd discussing the chances of Anglo-American leadership resolving the Middle East crisis: The United States has been weakened, it’s not able to do it by
Wednesday 26th July 2006,
Tuesday 25th July 2006,
Monday 24th July 2006,
Sunday 23rd July 2006,
Saturday 22nd July 2006,
Friday 21st July 2006
