But this man has decided to go home in the greenest way possible: he's sailing from Southampton to Melbourne. He's doing it in a Contessa 26, a small (26 foot long, no standing headroom) British designed and built yacht with a great ocean-going pedigree. He has some romantic notions (which I hope a few rough, wet nights at sea don't knock out of him), a wishlist and a lot of nerve to take on such
Last night, to Maidstone for a meeting with the Selection Committee tasked with finding an opponent for Ann Widdecombe (or her replacement, if rumours are to be believed). When someone allocated train services to the area, they clearly assumed that the locals were all attached by embilical cords to their cars, so I wisely left plenty of time to get down there. I needed it too... The meeting
Meanwhile, candidate Valladares strikes again... I go to all the trouble of producing a manifesto with a picture of me in it, only to get elected to the Party's English Candidates Committee unopposed! I'm also now one of the two English representatives on the Joint States Membership Committee, which is responsible for promoting membership throughout the United Kingdom. I'm intrigued enough to
Gentle reader, do not be concerned at the silence from this particular corner of paradise. In truth, I've been a bit busy with affairs of the heart, or at least, the fallout when they go sour. Those of you who know me well, will be aware that I've been in mid-divorce for about three years now. The decree absolute came through two days before the General Election, which would have been immaculate
Wednesday: A scientist called Mr Dr Oliver Curry has announced the results of his study of the FUTURE. According to Dr Curry, human beings are going to evolve into GIANTS and DWARFS. It is possible that he has been smoking too much of the pipeweed from the University Tolkien Society! Or maybe he is just working for a TELEVISION STATION with a series to flog! On the other fluffy foot, Dr Curry does sort of have a point. A lot of people think that EVOLUTION does not apply to human beings, because of the way that you can now ...
Tuesday: Today absolutely EVERYBODY has been writing diaries! Mr Black Peter, Prince of Wales. Mr Tony, who writes BALLOTS. Mr Paul, who writes BURBLINGS. And of course My Daddy Alex! I have been looking at the HISTORY TODAY website and some of the stories that have been submitted so far. Most of them seem to start: "I woke up at [6am / 6.30am / 6.55am / 7am / 7.15am etc] had [rice crispies / coco pops / shredded wheat / etc] for breakfast and went to school." Here is MY diary for today: "Arriving by Jet ...
Friday 20th October 2006 - What a great result in Gorton South yesterday, well done to Cllr Chas Glover and the team for seeing off the challenge from Labour and sending Mr Cameron's Tories home on the run yet again!! I was at work in the constituency today catching up with mail and invites with the office team at our office in Nelson and planning campaigning activities. Also had time to do a
"Relaxing is easy in Bangkok — on every street corner there is the offer of a Thai massage. We nervously entered one establishment and an hour later had been pampered, pulled and pulverised — all for about £12. Ask for a couples room, expect some pain and avoid the seedier, smaller shops off the side streets near Patpong. It is worth walking through this red light district, but be prepared to be
It’s the people who are most alike who are most likely to fall out big-time. That, at any rate, is my explanation for the visceral (and, I suspect, mutual) hostility between Clare Short and Tony Blair, which resulted today in Ms Short’s resignation as a Labour MP. Both share a burning conviction of their own moral rectitude, a zealous self-importance, rampant egotism, and a disturbingly
That's George HW, the 41st President, rather than George W, the 43rd... speaking on 28th February, 1999, to 200 Gulf War I veterans: "Had we gone into Baghdad - We could have done it. You guys could have done it. You could have been there in 48 hours. And then what? Which sergeant, which private, whose life would be at stake in perhaps a fruitless hunt in an urban guerilla war to find the
My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. PO talk These queues just get worse and worse, don’t they? Still, at least they give you time to chat. On Monday the Liberal Democrats‘ (“Cashier number three“) called two Commons debates. One was on the need for green taxes and the other on the future of the Post Office. Ed Davey opened the post office debate, his contribution made more urgent (“Cashier number one”) by the publication of an interview with Alistair Darling in that morning’s Financial Times. There Darling -- the Trade and Industry Secretary -- talked ...
Following the recent complaint about the new High Street clock running slow, its now, err ..., missing one if its hands. The City Centre Manager advised me this afternoon that the repair required had been reported but that also the manufacturers have been written to, requesting that they come up to Dundee to sort out the various issues that have affected the clock since its installation.
The story is simple. Joe Lieberman is a Democrat American Senator who supported the war in Iraq and possesses centrist political instincts. The Democratic Party took its revenge by electing the super-rich Ned Lamont in the Primary election (the British equivalent of de-selection). Lieberman, at one time touted as a potential Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate ignored the advice of the
The story is simple. Joe Lieberman is a Democrat American Senator who supported the war in Iraq and possesses centrist political instincts. The Democratic Party took its revenge by electing the super-rich Ned Lamont in the Primary election (the British equivalent of de-selection). Lieberman, at one time touted as a potential Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate ignored the advice of the
So now British Steel has gone the way of so many other privatised industries. Renamed Corus and merged with a European (Dutch) firm, it could be argued that we at least had a mjor steel manufacturer who was British. Now, Corus is Indian. Following on from BAA, Abbey National and a host of other British companies taken over by foreign rivals, this is another sign of how we have become the number one takeover destination for foreign firms. Is that all bad, well, yes it is. Firstly, job tend to get repatriated abroad when cuts are made. Does ...
For all of ten seconds I had seriously considered spending my Saturday evening watching Sophia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette' but the reviews soon convinced me otherwise. This reviewer might have got have his point over better if he had been less circumspect in his view of the film and its director. Hat tip to Tim Worstall for bringing it to my attention. One comment on the Drink-soaked Trotskite Popinjays for War blogspot hinted that there may be inherent dangers in asking for your money back. Watch the video and beware.
We have just had lifeboat drill in case the ship hits an iceberg or something and sinks. Somehow the relaxed way people sat around in the muster point listening calmly to instructions on how to step over the edge into the water or which lifeboat we need to get into will not be repeated if we were to be holed below the waterline. Somehow panic will inevitably replace polished practice. The life
I had a letter published in Lib Dem News this week encouraging people to come to the Climate Chaos day of action on 4 November. The thing is though, grateful as I am to them for publishing it, they missed off one rather important line: Ming? You ought to be there.
Via Stephen Tall's blog (about his visit to 18 Doughty Street) I watched the video of "Vox Politix" from Monday. I got to 4 minutes and 38 seconds, lost the will to live, then turned to listening to "Peters and Lee's greatest hits" to cheer me up. I'll watch 18 Doughty Street in six months when they have hopefully made the thing look more like a professional television station and less like one
What will the veritas party be like in 2040, if it still exists? Or UKIP for that matter. For a history lesson, we need only look at an embryonic political party, in the early 1970s, initially called PEOPLE, whose colours were red, white and blue. Inspired by an article in Playboy, featuring Teddy Goldsmith, can you guess what it is yet? I will post the link to the full article at the end of
I was pleased to see that the villagers of Hanworth have won their court case to retain use of the common land at the centre of this little community. The story is outlined well in the EDP today, and I think many people will sympathise with the villagers cause. Having visited Hanworth a number of times (delivering leaflets of course), canvassed the village once and also designed a special Focus specifically for the village on two occasions, I know the place well. There are literally only a handful of houses in the village, but it is a lovely place. ...
Another chance to see behind the scenes into the biggest Museum store imaginable. Stuffed from floor to ceiling with a mind boggling array of objects from sculptures and gargoyles to a collection of historic motorcars there really is something for everyone. Due to the success and popularity of the first Open Day at the Museum Collections Centre in May a second one is being held on Saturday 28th
Well, Clare Short has finally got around to handing in her resignation (again...)This time, she has again fallen short of going the whole hog, and only resigned the whip. Although given her voting record, I suspect the whips office barely expected her to follow the Labour troops through the same lobby.But given her outspoken comments, I'm surprised that the PLP hadn't expelled her sooner. Most of the attacks on her have been because she has said she wants to see a hung parliament, which implies that some of her Labour colleagues will have to lose their seats. As Labour has ...
This is brilliant: And this is quite funny too: YouTube is a wonderful thing.
Lawrie Sanchez said when he took over as Northern Ireland football manager that he's love to overtake the Republics team in FIFA's world rankings. Well this week it was announced that hThis was mission accomplished. Northern Ireland have risen 13 places to 45 while the Republic have slipped 6 places to 49. Now our next mission must surely be to built on the start to the European Championship
In 2004 a Tory MP presented a Ten Minute Rule Bill to the House to make St Georges Day a public holiday. Someone decided to speak against and so there was a vote. I voted in favour of the ...
Whilst at the ELDR Congress last weekend there were two events related to Human Trafficking. Firstly the European Liberal Women Network held a very informative fringe event and then at end of the Congress they organised a trip to a couple of shelters.
REDCAR and Cleveland Council is predicting a very bright future for the Borough's residents after agreeing a £46million project to replace, upgrade and add to its street lighting stock. Over 15,000 columns will be replaced - 85 per cent of the existing stock - and another 3,457 added in a phased programme across the Borough over the next five years, with a £1million a year maintenance budget in place for a further 25 years. The Council has appointed David Webster Lighting, based in Hertfordshire, as its preferred bidder, through the Government-backed Private Finance Initiative scheme, with £21 million from the ...
...said a non-scientist at the LSE, and got a lot of coverage for it from people who really should have known better. Anyone even with a superficial and sorely outdated knowledge of evolution biology would have known it was utter, utter bollocks. It was so ill-informed and unscientific that even thinking about it made me prostrate with dismal, and I thought someone would do a far better hatchet
The green tax switch is shaping up to be the biggest campaign we have ever run as a party, and it is in an excellent cause. The time for talk on climate change is over, and the time for action has arrived. We have one key message which could not be simpler on the doorstep. We [...] 
Adobe Labs have released a beta Flashplayer 9 for Linux. This is great news for Linux fans like myself - the downside is that I now know just how toe curling webcameron is!
Believe it or not, I was asked at the recent Scottish blogmeet by a fan of the irregular Dewey Decimal updates on this blog if we weren’t overdue for a new post. Well, fans of three digit numbers optionally followed by a decimal point and more digits, you’re in luck today! There’s plenty of source material [...]
Clare Short has resigned the Labour Whip and, I am told, from the Labour Party. Of course this is the right thing to do, but in normal Clare style is just a bit late again - maybe if she had principles she would have done it when Blair order, or agreed to, the invasion of Iraq. Clare has said previously "I have reached a stage where I am profoundly ashamed of the government,"
Regular readers will know that we're very excited about the Britain and the Broader Middle East conference for which six speakers are jetting in from the region to address key issues about how Middle East issues affect UK policy. The Spectator today poses some interesting questions about how divisions in Cameron's Conservatives might be re-born by Middle East issues in general and Iran in particular.Cameron is surrounded by hawkish neo-cons (Osbourne, Gove, Hague and Fox). But the Spectator suggests, with some justification, that Cameron is more open minded. Therefore having to pick sides as new Foreign Policy situations arise could ...
Look, we’ve told you before love, you’re not coming in here. Source: Sky News Now for some wild speculation. Short is resigning early on in a Parliament. It was only last year she won her seat standing on a Labour ticket. There will be intense pressure on her to resign and cause a by-election. We were [...]
It’s a peculiar type of insanity that sets in to a person who decides to seek office as a Liberal Democrat. By comparison, seeking office for Labour is easy - just get yourself selected in a safe seat. Getting elected as a Tory is next easiest. Rule 1 still applies, but all recent evidence suggests [...]
The original 7 wonders of the world are no more and are down to just one - the pyramids at Giza. Someone has come up with the idea of an online vote for the new 7 wonders of the world. In all honesty I have to say it is hard to tell whether or not this site is genuine or whether it is just a scam aimed at raising some money and selling some products. Their shortlist of 21 which can be seen here seems a little odd to me. The Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower to mention ...
Just a short update : there was a hole in roadway on south side near Seabraes Court; the concern was someone could stick their foot down it & trip. There were also two missing drain covers towards the top end of Step Row, again a trip hazard. Responses received from the City Council : Step Row - The developers are responsible for this and have been contacted and requested to make safe. Roseangle - Missing gully lid made safe and order raised for new gully lid. Track has been referred to statutory undertakers and made safe. ...
A war of words has broken out in Wakefield over a topless photo. Former Tory council candidate Nathan Garbutt has resigned from the party after local activists tried to stop him posing for gay magazine Attitude . Members of the Conservative Group on Wakefield council have dismissed his allegations, and told Wakefield Today that Mr [...]
“Should the rumour mill be moved to the members area?” is the question being posed in the private area of Lib Dem voice - members can vote in the poll there. http://www.libdemvoice.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=146
SSSSShhhhhhhhh, promise you wont tell anyone? But I am supose to be teaching at the moment. I am covering a year 6 class (10-11 year olds). We are learning how to write an interesting event for the autobiography the children are writing. Previously the children have looked at a variety of well known autobiographies, planned what they are going to write and have written an introduction. There
Yesterday saw the Conservatives lose a by-election in Lawley Ward, despite the local MP being out on the campaign trail. This reduces the number of Conservatives on Shrewsbury Council to 21 compared to 19 others leaving them with just a two vote majority, it is likely the Conservatives will lose at least one seat in May's local elections which will return Shrewsbury to No Overall Control.
Tomos Livingstone in the Western Mail this morning says that the Tories have been treating their own tax commission report as if it had been drawn up by the mad aunt in the attic. He argues that tax is starting to become an election issue once more and that, despite the fact that David Cameron and George Osborne wish to rule out the idea so as to appear less right wing, they may well be missing the mood of the Country. We will see. The problem is that the Tories' proposals lack credibility because they are uncosted and will rightly ...
The Tory Tax Commission has released its report and surprise, surprise it has recommended sweeping tax cuts. Well, the real surprise of course is how similar many of the proposals are to those laid out by the LibDem Tax working party this Summer. Although there are differences over Inheritance Tax & Stamp Duty (the Tories want extra breaks for the rich, while the :ibDem package is redistributive) the big items - cutting the basic rate by 2% to 20 & scrapping the 10% rate raising the threshold to £7,835 are both the same. This package would cost £21billion, ...
Well if you click over to the NASA Sun Earth viewer it does. Daily pics of the sun taken using different techniques. Go see. The Trace pics are particularly good, like the one above. It's like something William Blake might have binned for being too wierd. Good find by Inkycircus.
I wonder how many times when one of us gets a story on the radio or television about a subject we know about, we go "that is not very accurate". I paraphrase here. For me, I find it happens more and more often and in stranger ways. The noise of the media was drowning out information anyway, but here is an example for you. The BBC thinks that a story about a film about a Norwegian film about gay penguins is more important than 1) Russia, under new tyranny, is killing far more than just prominent journalists2) North Korea will ... | < | October 2006 | > | ||||
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