11:19 pm
Here’s a nice discovery. A rather awesome Java app that displays Google Maps on your phone. I was able to zoom in and look at a satellite picture of my house without too much difficulty. It was also possible to navigate around the maps considerably more easily than I normally can with my network’s [...]
11:01 pm
Jonathan Calder has been dispensing advice to Ming Campbell via the Guardian today under the West Wing inspired headline Let Ming Be Ming. Personally, I have a more crude bit of advice: acquire a brass neck. My analysis of the last three months is that there are lots of signs of progress. The party [...]
9:21 pm
Summer brings people out and about. Around here that mean teenagers on mopeds and motor bikes. Living close to a road means I often hear them ride past, which means i often hear the drones of the engines, most sound like over powered hair dryers. This can cause quite a bit of disruption and many residents complain. But what is there to do? Ban the teenagers from the roads. But that would
8:10 pm
A victory for the Campaign for Real Wicketkeepers - the mythical body that used to campaign for Jack Russell to keep for England rather than Alec Stewart. The Guardian reports: "Geraint has kept very well this summer, but he has been short of runs and the selectors feel this is the right time to make a change," explained chairman of selectors David Graveney. "We have taken this decision regardless of the injury to Geraint's finger. The key factor for the selectors was his form with the bat and we believe he will benefit from having a break from international cricket ...
7:53 pm
Take your pick (a link to the article can be found here): "an incisive analysis of Ming Campbell's media problems" - Iain Dale; "so manifestly ludicrous that it needs to be countered" - Paul Linford.
7:48 pm
The Bath Spa has been having a few days of press previews ahead of its opening next week. When I was a local Lib Dem activist in Bath, the Spa was often the one thing that set the political temperature for the city and surrounding area. It was probably because of the Spa (already [...]
5:43 pm
It has been widely reported in the Times and elsewhere that the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone is considering introducing a scheme of cycle registration and numberplates in a bid to crack down on law-breaking cyclists. Both as a politician and a former cycle campaigner I have never had any patience with law breaking cyclists. They give everyone a [...]
4:42 pm
A little back of the envelope calculation reveals the value of a vote for each party. Labour 356 MPs 9,562,122 total votes cast. 6,637,024 for winning candidates- 69% success rate for a Labour vote. Conservative 198 MPs 8,772,598 total votes cast 4,471,171 for winning candidates- 50.96% success rate for a Conservative vote Liberal Democrats 62 MPs 5,981,874 total votes cast, 1,284,238 for winning candidates- 21.4% success rate for a Lib Dem vote Scottish National Party 6 MPs 412,267 total votes cast, 82,470 for winning candidates- 20% success rate for an SNP vote Plaid Cymru 3 MPs 174,838 total votes cast, ...
4:12 pm
There was an article over the weekend in the Guardian criticising Ming Campbell because the Lib Dems had a rating of 14%. That was in fact an error because the ICM poll referred to had a rating of 17%. Then today MORI produce a poll with a rating of 24%. What is hidden behind all of these polls is the fact that people's loyalty to parties is changing. There is a developing greater
3:46 pm
As regular readers* probably know, I'm a big fan of participation in politics by all, which is why I'm supporting The 2009 Project. Its aim is to sign up 13 million people under the age of 35 to a pledge to take part in the next general election. This will then make politicians listen to the needs and concerns of young people - which at the moment, they rarely do (especially the 18-25 year olds,
3:43 pm
Phil Willis' Science Select Committee has come up with some fresh thinking on drug classifications.This can only be a good thing by considering levels of harm, rather than the outdated and anomalous list classification we currently have.In putting this list together it is good to also measure the harm of other, legal, drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. It is important to differentiate between the levels of penalties for offences for controlled drugs, and the harm that legal and illegal drugs do.
3:40 pm
Having spent much of the last week catching up on local issues and doing a huge load of e-mails and letters dictation over the past couple of days, I can genuinely say I am back on an even keel with constituents' issues and local matters, but what a job! That teaches you for having a holiday! West End issues highlighted recently have included reports of more graffiti on utility boxes in particular but also on buildings - particularly hightlighted in Bankmill Road and Fleuchar Street; speeding concerns again in Magdalen Yard Road (following a minor accident at junction with ...
3:33 pm
Today's Western Mail contains an intriquing survey. They have listed the top ten things most likely to make our blood boil; Unwanted phone calls or knocks on the front door by pushy salesmen topped the list, closely followed by getting stuck behind a caravan on a busy motorway. Celebrities named in the top 10 include singer James Blunt at No 4 and Big Brother couple Chantelle and Preston, who were ranked as the eighth most annoying thing about contemporary life. Even my former History tutor gets in on the act: Cultural historian Professor Peter Stead said ...
3:30 pm
Its not been a good few days with Gatlin openly acknowledging that his B sample has also failed and waiting upon Floyd Landis' B sample results.I've not liked the approach taken by US Athletics in the past in not being more open about athletes who have failed tests. In Gatlin's case he has been the one talking to the media, and all relates to a test taken in April. Of course since then he's gone on to equal the world record for 100m.Meanwhile Professional Cycling continues to be dragged down by doping scandals. In cycling, failed tests are published earlier, ...
2:07 pm
There's a lively interview with Armando Iannucci in today's Indy - and, unusually, it's not yet disappeared behind the newspaper's firewall. A couple of snippets, below. (The hook is his new TV show, Time Trumpet, which looks brilliantly funny - it premieres this Thursday, 3rd August, at 10.00 pm on BBC2, and, if you've not yet seen the trailers, click here now.) Is Iannucci concerned that
1:54 pm
From the BBC: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced that he will contest elections for a fifth term in office. […] Mr Howard’s announcement comes despite pressure from his deputy for over a decade, Treasurer Peter Costello, to step aside. […] Mr Costello told reporters Mr Howard had 12 years previously said he would hand over the reins of [...]
1:42 pm
"The everyday story of a country folk" was how the brilliant BBC Radio 4 satire Little Blighty on the Down described itself when it broke into Week-Ending's cosy Friday night monopoly of topical humour. The first series (broadcast way back in 1988) is currently being repeated on BBC7, and it's well worth a Listen Again, not least for I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again veteran Jo Kendall's hectoring
1:09 pm
Good to see the Lib Dems up to 24% in the latest IPSOS-MORI poll. Looking at MORI’s long term trends (and using their unweighted figure of 23% for comparability), we seem to be up +1%pt vs. the General Election and up up +3%pts vs. the last poll before Ming became leader. Five months after Paddy started, we [...]
12:59 pm
Via Colin comes the welcome news that this month’s MORI Political Monitor opinion poll puts the Liberal Democrats on 24%, up three points on June. Here’s a low rent Excel graph showing MORI’s scores on the doors since January: The same poll found Tony Blair with his lowest approval rating since becoming PM, but despite that [...]
12:30 pm
Mike Smithson rightly dismisses today’s Mori poll as an accurate reflection of voter intention. Indeed, I have always dismissed Mori polls for the same reasons. But there is one small note of optimisim. Because Mori only looks at those “certain to vote” it does suggest a slight hardening of the Lib Dem vote, which is notoriously [...]
11:53 am
One of the difficulties of conflicts driven by major hatreds is that the participants do not themselves back from committing atrocities such as that in Qana. It is often said that the pen is mightier than the sword. The long term impact of the war crimes in Lebanon will be to increase the amount of conflict in the world as a whole rather than reduce it. Our own government has to accept some
11:04 am
Tony Blair is in auspicious if bloody-handed company: "Consequently, in the name of God Almighty, by the authority of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and by our Own, We reprove and condemn this Charter [the Magna Carta]; under pain of anathema We forbid the King to observe it or the barons to demand its execution. We declare the Charter null and of no effect, as well as all the obligations
10:36 am
I was expecting the (admittedly not too taxing) effort involving climbing a hill to have left my typically sedentary legs aching today so I’m pleased to report that my joints are ship shape and painless. Peter and Alan have put up some much better photos, countering my omission by including actual people in them. (There are [...]
10:19 am
The latest Ipsos-MORI poll has put the Liberal Democrats up three points from 21% to 24%, Labour have gone down and the Conservative Party held steady. Interestingly as during the Iraq War foreign affairs and the Middle East are obviously having and impact with 36% of people identifying this issue as among the most important facing Britain (in third place behind immigration and crime)
9:55 am
Watching "Yo Blair" speaking from Murdoch's jam feast did make me slightly nauseous. Why should an Australian naturalized American presume to dictate to British politicians? Murdoch only has power is as much as British politicians let him have such power. However, for their own reasons, British politicians have been prepared to make deals with the devil. Personally, it underlines one of the major problems of the party political system in this country. All parties, but especially Labour and the Conservatives, are coalitions of different groups. Labour, as a broad church, has encompassed Christian Democrats (e.g. Frank Field), Social Democrats (e.g. ...
9:52 am
I have an article on Guardian Unlimited looking at the selling of Sir Menzies Campbell. I take the line that we should beware of trying to sell him as something he is not. A couple of acknowledgements... I was going to say an ironic "thanks a bunch" to Peter Black for having his comments on Ming's leadership reproduced on the Guardian's Comment is Free blog over the weekend. I had planned to write about those internal changes too. On reflection my article is better for being more tightly focused on the PR angle, so the thanks are genuine now. I ...
8:25 am
On Friday (actually more like early hours of Saturday) me and Heather decided to go to Birmingham for the weekend. We booked a room at the Premier Travel Inn and then after a short sleep made our way towards Bournville. {Cadbury} We had attempted to book tickets in advance for Cadbury World however you can't book tickets on the day via the website. At £12.50 each it was a little dear, and the free chocolate was melting quickly. However the historic facts about Cadbury were interesting and it was a nice day out. We then headed ...
12:17 am
My mother's mother's family all came from village of Tollesbury in Essex. I had a couple of dimly remembered holidays there as a young child and my mother stayed with relations during the War. The first programme of the third series of the BBC's Restoration series (retitled Restoration Village, presumably to disbar publicly owned swimming baths in Manchester that take lots of viewers' money and then do nothing with it) was shown on Friday night. One of the buildings featured was the Granary at Tollesbury. Talking to my mother yesterday I found out that she went to Sunday school with ...
Sunday 30th July 2006,
Saturday 29th July 2006,
Friday 28th July 2006,
Thursday 27th July 2006,
Wednesday 26th July 2006,
Tuesday 25th July 2006
