Today's thegrauniad has produced its first viral video chart, which I heartily commend to you. (Though with it comes the graphic realisation that liberals need worry no longer about the invasiveness of CCTV into our everyday lives - YouTube and MySpace are way ahead of the state.) I could hardly bring myself to watch Seinfeld's Michael 'Kramer' Richards' truly bizarre racist rant. He has,
So, here’s the story: the Tories launch a rather lurid website about the problem of personal debt in which they label the financially incontinent “tossers.” A few Lib Dems (Nich, and Jonathan Wallace) wonder whether really that’s the sort of language a political party ought to be using to refer to voters. Even Vince Cable condemns [...]
Residents of Victoria go to the polls today (Saturday). My mum, sister, brother in law and their daughters live in Bright in Victoria. Last time I was in Australia, when mum lived in Perth, the Democrats were self destructing on the TV in front of me. I must admit I thought we were about to watch the total end of the Democrats. But it is looking much more promising than expected. My mum is
It's been unearthed that the Strategic Health Authority which covers Folkestone & Hythe Constituency has instructed local Primary Care Trusts that if they see routine outpatients in less than 8 weeks then there will be financial penalties. So, no longer is it a lack of time on the part of doctors and nurses to see patients as it used to be under the Tories it's now a lack of money. Fantastic! So local patients are now having to suffer for the financial mismanagement of this Labour Government of the NHS. This is madness and I really ...
Nich Starling and Guthrum have tagged me from Iain Dale's "Top Ten Things I wouldn't do. 1. Buy any form of Cola (except with good Rum) or any form of Tomato Ketchup through choice. They are both the foodstuffs of the devil. 2. Cause physical harm to an animal. 3. Pay to go to a soccer match. I spent several seasons working on Premier League matches – 2 a week. I found it hard keeping awake
Ching Cheong is a reporter for the Straights Times, the Singaporian newspaper. Unfortunately he was imprisoned on baseless allegations of spying for Taiwan. His real "crime" was to gather documentation related to the ousting of former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Zhao Ziyang. The original trial was a sham and unfortunately so has proven the recent appeal against his sentence. It is very difficult to achieve genuine justice in China, particularly where the so-called crimes are "political" in nature. I'm joining the chorus of those who are demanding the release of Ching Cheong and I ask ...
Further to my post from last year pointing out how to get Blackberry on a P910i (which is one of the most read posts), after a month of running Blackberry on my P990i I thought I would share the tips in getting it to work. As before a few disclaimers THIS IS NOT OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED! I [...]
President of Taiwan Chen Shuibian survived yet another attempt to launch a recall referendum on the island yesterday but it's patently obvious to all China and Taiwan watchers that the end is getting pretty close now. I think it would take a total miracle for Chen to survive to the next elections in 2008 and I think that for the sake of Taiwan it is in everyone's interest - the people of Taiwan and the Democratic Progressive Party's interests if he were to stand down in favour of his Vice President sooner rather than later. The only real winners ...
The Tories new site, Sort-It.co.uk, is urging people to ignore the "inner tosser". Advice David Cameron should take to heart next time he wants to husky about the Arctic or post a new video on webcameron. Other people making the obvious joke: Jonathan WallaceHot, Ginger DynamiteMH on Conservative Home.
My theory is that the historic underachievement of the England football team is inextricably linked to the poor quality of our footballers’ nicknames. So writes Duleep Allirajah on Spiked. Hear him out: It’s just as well Ferenc Puskás defected to Spain rather than England, otherwise he’d have ended up being called Fezza.
As Britannia.com tells it: William succeeded his brother, George IV, and was welcomed with open arms by the British public, who had grown weary of the excesses of the fourth George. William possessed an unassuming character, exemplary private life and disdain for pomp and ceremony. Court life became somewhat lackluster, adding to the generally low opinion that had formed concerning the monarchy. William did little to counteract such feelings, but never generated the embarrassment and scandal of his Hanoverian predecessors. Information on Cameron's descent from the Sailor King here.
I discovered today that the poor, poor Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko who died last night from poisoning is one of my constituents. It is the most dreadful story - and I hope that those responsible are caught and brought to justice. This is the side of the James Bond spy movies that doesn't really get covered. There are spooks and spies and state murderers out there - we just don't usually get
Go, Vince, go: "This new Conservatives web site is an insult to hard working people who through rising house prices, and pressure on family budgets have no alternative but to borrow. "It is also an attack on almost all British students who are being forced into debt by top-up and tuition fees, as well as living costs. "This is the kind of insensitive crass nonsense one might expect from a party led by rich young men, who have never had to balance a budget in their lives. "To describe people in debt as tossers shows just how out of touch ...
A match made in purga-tory: poverty, hypocrisy, and New & Blue Labour 
Norfolk Blogger reports several adverse Tory reactions to the "Tosser Test". It also appears that Mr Dale is getting somewhat catty about the matter (I don't know, I gave up looking at Iain's site several months ago as it had become too easy to predict). UK Daily Pundit reports a beaut of a comment from Mark Hudson on Conservative Home : "The only tosser of which I am aware is the one currently
Lorna Fitzsimons offers some good reasons to support Israel.
Sadly, due to a large number of silly comments, both personal in their attacks on me and in praise of one "Gary Elsby - Stoke on Trent", I have now had to introduce comment moderation. Sorry to those legitimate people who post comments. I can assure you that I will not be using moderation to keep down criticism. I will be using it, however, to keep out the childish and quite pathetic comments of some clearly Labour commentators who have let themselves and their party down. So please keep posting your comments, we need a proper debate ...
Yesterday Alliance Party of Northern Ireland leader David Ford came to see me for a brief chat. I now read in the Belfast Telegraph that Stormont was stormed this morning by Michael Stone while David was speaking in the Stormont chamber. Unionist assassin Stone was waving a firearm and threw a bag seeming to contain explosives. BBC NI has a good report showing the events (including David in
A meeting held today between the government and two local MP's (Keith Simpson - Mid Norfolk and Norman Lamb - North Norfolk) regarding the future of the RAF Coltishall site has revealed that the Home Office do want an asylum detention centre on the site as soon as possible. Everyone knows the government has made a bit of a mess of asylum and steps to sort it out are welcome. The proposed 500 jobs would be an enormous boost to the local economy and would prove to be a real shot in the arm for the area. However, there ...
Am I the only person who finds Iain Dale's mock outrage at Lib Dems being "holier than thou" over the Tory "tosser" website hard to take seriously ? On my blog one Tory councillor explained that he felt "that the phrase used is offensive and ill thought out. Just vulgar." Presumably Iain, he too is being holier than thou ? Or what about Aberystwyth Conservative Futre who say " I am at a complete loss for words in trying to explain why anyone would think launching such a campaign and website mocking people for spending money would be ...
Ken Livingstone's question time, when he faced 6 Tory councillors questions among the audience can now be watched on line.
Although I am an avid user of and enthusiast for new technology I am by no means blind to its drawbacks. This article in the Guardian about identity theft therefore is very disturbing, so much so that it is worth quoting extensively: Six months ago, with the help of a rather scary computer expert, I deconstructed the life of an airline passenger simply by using information garnered from a boarding-pass stub he had thrown into a dustbin on the Heathrow Express. By using his British Airways frequent-flyer number and buying a ticket in his name on the airline's website, ...
Deep Purple are my featured artists tonight on the Palm105.5fm rock show. WWW.palm.fm and click listen live if you are outside South Devon. you can contact me during the show on Torq...
For the past year, I’ve been observing a self-denying ordnance. Back at the end of September 2005, I submitted a complaint to the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Appeals Panel suggesting the Federal President’s decision to appoint a series of “deputy presidents” was ultra vires. Since then, I’ve been resisting the urge to mention the [...]
Excerpt: I have just added a piece that can't be seen from the title page.
…for Love Island is being sent to the great scrapheap for duff TV shows. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Ha ha ha.”
I have now seen the results according to the Council, I had posted what I read on the Internet this morning, as you can see there are quite different!
I too have been kept entertained these past few days with the latest Tory contortions on social policy. So much so that with the rising popularity of a 'key note' Party single at each election, I'm going to suggest the following to the Tories for 2009 (with apologies to REM). 'Oh, life is biggerIt's bigger than youAnd you are not meThe lengths that I will go toThe distance in your eyesOh no, I've said too muchI set it up. That's me in the cornerThat's me in the spotlight,I'm losing my religionTrying to keep up with youAnd I don't know if ...
I signed up some time ago to HearFromMyMP.com, a site (another one from MySociety) to encourage communication between MPs and their constituents. The good news is that my local Member of Parliament has taken the leap to asking a question. The question is on city regions - now, isn’t that a devolved issue? 
It's Friday, so it must be time for my House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. Centrist compulsion Somehow the different parts of Ruth Kelly do not fit together. The deep voice and the urchin haircut. Her humble background and the expensive private schools she attended - Millfield’s prep school and Westminster. Her rapid rise to cabinet rank while having four children. She is a minister assembled with spare parts from other politicians. An Australian heckler once called out to the England spinner: “Lend us your brain, Tufnell, I’m building an idiot.” On Monday, opening that day’s debate ...
A developer has come forward wanting to turn the derelict flats on Alderwood Avenue into a proper residential development with security and caretaking. We don't have plans yet, but talks have been going on and something good may come of this. Meanwhile however the council is continuing with its legal action, as if this doesn't develop we are not prepared to allow the current situation to carry on. We discussed this briefly at the end of the neighbourhood committee - but I am following up for more details. This could actually be very good news if ...
I was listening to BBC Radio Jersey today and apparently there will be stories on the fact that today is National Clean Your Gutter Day, National Eat Squirrel Day and National Something or Other day. Basically we seem to have got ourselves in a situation where there are about seven special days for every actual day. [...]
Sometimes, just sometimes, you get to see a band when they really are on top of their game. Queen on the Magic tour in '86, Guns 'n' Roses on the Use Your Illusion Tour, Metallica on the Black Album tour. If you are a fan of live music you will know what I mean. Last night I saw Muse at Wembley, and boy do they rock. They do bombast, they do stadium anthems, they do it loudly and proudly. They are hitting heights they they can only have dreamt of when they got going in Teignbridge only a few ...
Yes, just one day after the first broadcast of Dr Who, 2 days after the JFK assassination and 8 hours before Lee Harvey Oswald bit the dust, I popped into the world! Everyone who was old enough, remembers what they were doing when they say the first broadcast of Dr Who! Now Duncan Borrowman knows why I know the events of that period so well, and that I don't sit around reading Wikipedia!
Nosemonkey has an interesting post today about Blair’s latest scheme to blame anyone but himself for anything - and his new scapegoat is the British people. (Via.)
Today was not a good day. Today I attended the funeral of Eric Ziemann. Eric was, is, my Great Uncle. My Uncle Eric was argumentative, always believed he was right and a pain - and this is why h...
Apparently three million Britons have already been issued with the new hi-tech passport, designed to frustrate terrorists and fraudsters although frankly I find this total somewhat amazing given that I renewed mine earlier this year specifically to avoid the new type for as long as possible. According to this article in the Technology Guardian the new passport is about as secure as the proverbial chocolate fireguard. The new passports incorporate tiny microchips to store the holder's details and a digital description of their physical features. These techno wizards were able to extract all the data from the chip using just ...
Changes to FM licensing rules will come in to force on December 8th that mean the iTrip and similar products which allow music on MP3 players to be transmitted to stereos via radio waves will become legal. This is good news for those wanting to get the best use of their digital music. The BBC report [...]
You are chairing a public meeting with Ken Livingstone, put on to allow Londoners to question him about his job as Mayor. Do you: (a) Call half a dozen Tory councillors to ask questions rather than half a dozen more members of the public (b) Not give away any indication that you know that any of Tory councillors [...]
It has been suggested that the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust’s donation of £2m to the Liberal Democrats is there to cover our backs in case we have to default £2.4m in the wake of the Michael Brown affair. The Trust have published information which finally puts this notion to bed, and revealed that the donation is [...]
Yesterday saw the Conservatives safely hold the Aldridge North and Walsall Wood by-election. On paper it was a safe seat for them but I know they worked it hard, partly I suspect because the BNP were second. I say were because happily they pushed into third by Labour, UKIP also slipped coming behind the Liberal Democrats this time. Whilst the winner may not be a surprise the move to the mainstream political parties was and for perhaps the first time ever I want to congratulate the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Earlier this month I mentioned the threat to local library services. Yesterday's Hampshire Chronicle confirmed these fears. According to the Chronicle's front page story, the Conservative-run county council is looking at cutting around one-third of 80 professional librarian posts in branches and the Library Service HQ in North Walls, Winchester. As if that was not enough, the book fund could also lose £250,000 from its £2m budget. LibDem County Cllr Peter Chegwyn, spokesman for Recreation & Heritage, said "This means fewer books and fewer qualified people to advise the public. Many librarians have given years of service to Hampshire ...
How remarkable that Reading has provided more than its fair share of fodder for chortling and Diary columns, via Martin Salter MP for Reading West and Jane Griffiths, former MP for Reading East! Both have been regulars of the Guardian Diary. Yesterday we were treated to another Salter Classic (my asterisks): Overheard, waiting to board the 8.34 from Reading to Paddington on Tuesday morning,
Strangely enough, as a Christian I don't feel discriminated in this country, as the Daily Express tendency seems to have suggested. In fact, with Christianity as the established faith, the very idea that Christianity is discriminated against is laughable. It has already been mentioned that wearing a cross is not a religious requirement of Christianity. What hasn't been mentioned is that,
It's a big day in Northern Ireland today. Either the "Big Man", Ian Paisley, says "yes" to reigniting the Assembly, or it's Plan B - direct rule continues indefinitely. Paisley's party has to nominate him as First Minister today, in order to keep the devolution plan on track. I have visited Belfast three times in the last year. After years of hatred, it really is remarkable that the people there
I had intended not to write about Russia for a little while. This is especially since I am in the Baltic states this week, and it is difficult to be objective about a Russia when here it seems very big, very bellicose and very close. However the death of Alexander Litvinenko may end up being the catalyst for a turning point in the perception of the West about what is happening in Russia. The British authorities are, rightly, trying to ensure that the investigation into Mr. Litvinenko's "unexplained death" will be as fair as possible. Quite likely, the British government ... | < | November 2006 | > | ||||
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