Bad Sex in Fiction Award 2006
The BBC reports: Iain Hollingshead has won the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award 2006 with his first novel Twenty Something.Fisking Central has an extract. Wednesday 29th November 2006
11:45 pm
The BBC reports: Iain Hollingshead has won the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award 2006 with his first novel Twenty Something.Fisking Central has an extract. 11:33 pm
White House aide "ashamed" at treatment of Blair
Powerful stuff on the front page of tomorrow's Times: In a devastating verdict on Tony Blair’s decision to back war in Iraq and his “totally one-sided” relationship with President Bush, a senior US State Department official has said that Britain’s role as a bridge between America and Europe is now “disappearing before our eyes”. Kendall Myers, a State Department analyst, disclosed that for all Britain’s attempts to influence US policy in recent years, “we typically ignore them and take no notice — it’s a sad business”. He added that he felt “a little ashamed” at Mr Bush’s treatment of the ... 11:15 pm
Is Nigel Farage and UKIP just blog-tagging or is i...
I wondered since all us Lib Dems (maybe some Tories and others too) are getting unsolicited e-mails from Nigel Farage whether it is another meme like the one Iain Dale started last week. I wondered who I should tag next ? 11:12 pm
What the hell is wrong with blogger tonight ?
I can't be the only one having problems with blogger tonight. Every ".blogspot" blog seems to be slow to access of has a google fault come up on screen whilst it is impossible to comment on other people's blogs due to the letter verification failing to appear. 10:49 pm
Ken’s Olympic Blog
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has penned an item for the Guardian’s Comment is Free section in which he discusses the 2012 London Olympics and the “bitterly negative press campaign” he says is out to nobble them. 9:41 pm
Getting desperate
How curious! The leader of UKIP has just emailed me and asked me if I'd like to jump ship and join his party. Hasn't he read my blog? 9:39 pm
Getting desparate
How curious! The Leader of UKIP has just emailed me asking me whether I would like to jump ship and join him. Hasn't he read my blog? 9:39 pm
Arthur Marshall and Monty Python
There is nothing new under the sun, not least in comedy. I once had a letter published in the London Review of Books pointing out that Christopher Isherwood had exploited the comic potential of the name "Darling" long before the writers of Blackadder. I thought I had discovered a similar example the other day. In his Whimpering in the Rhododendrons - a lighthearted social history of the English prep school - Arthur Marshall recalled that: Another headmaster had a rich voice with a trace of a Yorkshire accent and was unable to pronounce the letter "r", the boys naturally looking ... 9:15 pm
The sort of competition you're pleased NOT to win ...
Next time you enter one of those radio phone in competitions, think again or you could suffer the same problems of these people. Read HERE. It remainds me of when my brother won a mobile phone from a can of coke (one of the text a code in competitions). When he received the phone he wanted to activate the MMS service to send picture messages. In the early days the mobile firms wanted certain information about the phone before they would activate this service. Unfortunately, when he gave them his details they informed him that Coca-cola owned his phone ... 8:30 pm
Attacking Ken is Easy, But Can Cameron Deliver?
It’s always interesting to see Tories attacking Mayor Livingstone. Today Tory Party leader David Cameron, clearly still on his mission to convince us the party has changed, attacks Livingstone’s approach to race relations. Speaking at the Ethnic Media conference Cameron accused the Mayor of wanting to confine the debate on race and equality to “a narrative [...] 
8:24 pm
“I’ll never join the dark side”
A strange day in Southwark politics. Firstly one of our councillors has left the Lib Dems to go independent. Although he says he wants to join the Labour party they clearly have not yet decided whether to take him. No reason of policy has been offerred at all. Indeed he emailed me a few hours ago to say [...] 8:23 pm
More religion - why would I want such people to have my money?
Ruth Gledhill, in her regular religious spot in the Times blogs touches again on these regulations to outlaw discrimination in the provision of goods and services against people on the basis of their sexual orientation: Yet more on s*x******: Sorry folks. It depresses me to have to come back to this subject again as much as I expect is depresses some of you. But I would be remiss in my duty if I ignored it. With the introduction of yet more bureaucratic red tape, or should that be pink tape, under the heading of the Sexual Orientation ... 8:13 pm
Britain's Sharia Suburbs
This interested me today: Telegraph - Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes By Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor Islamic sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in parts of Britain, a report claims. Sharia, derived from several sources including the Koran, is applied to varying degrees in predominantly Muslim countries but it has no binding status in Britain. However, the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action produced evidence yesterday that it was being used by some Muslims as an alternative to English criminal law. Aydarus Yusuf, 29, a youth worker from Somalia, recalled a stabbing ... 7:50 pm
Packed evenings ahead
I am out for the next couple of evenings, and my destinations could scarcely be more different. On Thursday night I am going to the third installment of the National Training Programme for School Governors, and on Friday it's the Mayor's Ball here in Prestwich. One of the two events is black tie and involves a silver-service meal followed by frivolity into the early hours. I only hope I remember 7:48 pm
A dilemma
I am in a quandary. My mind has been full of it for a few days, hence the lack of blog action. I work in Local Government as an officer, and am also politically active with the Liberal Democrats in my spare time. Unfortunately, these two things aren’t compatible, because there is an obvious conflict of interest when I work in a politically-run organisation, and also participate in politics 
5:55 pm
“Shagger” Wells lends Labour money from beyond the grave
Curious. The H.G. Wells Centre has lent Orpington Labour £2,000. I mention this because: What does Orpington Labour need two grand for? It’s hardly a target seat. I thought the H. G. Wells Centre got knocked down years ago and the site is now the Waitrose car park. As a Bromley escapee, I may be [...] 5:47 pm
Nasty smell coming from The News of the World
The news today that the News of the World reporter Clive Goodman was behind the phone "hacking" that provided secret and personal information about the Royal Princes Is all rather disturbing. Glenn Mulcaire, not of the News of the World was also found guilty of similar charges relating to intercepts of other people's phone messages. The whole story is reported HERE. I had the misfortune today to be not at all well today with some virus, so was at home under a blanket at lunchtime when I saw Max Clifford being interviewed on the BBC News. It appears too that ... 5:27 pm
20mph wheelie bin
I’ve got into the habbit of checking Google Analytics daily to see which search phrases are used to find my site. Most are related to mobiles, 24 or E4 however this one caught my eye: 20mph wheelie bin. So I got Google to tell me which search engine was used (Yahoo) went there myself and tried [...] 5:02 pm
Written Parliamentary Question: 29th November 2006
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the estimated income to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency from fees for providing replacement registration certificates (V5C) was in (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07. (John Hemming) A:The income, which is derived from fees for providing replacement registration certificates (V5C) for 2005-06 was £14.7 million 4:36 pm
Bromley Times reporting of my blog on "3 jobs Bob"...
The Bromley Times in it's diary has a report on my blog coverage of "3 jobs Bob" calling six of his Tory mates to question Mayor Ken last week. Bob only had eyes for men in pink (and blue) 29 November 2006 KEN Livingstone's public grilling in Bromley last Tuesday was a rare chance for Joe Public to quiz the London Mayor, so why did the borough's Conservatives try to hijack it? With Tory Bob 4:34 pm
Greens must apologise
Liberal Democrat-controlled Uttlesford District Council has just turned down a planning application from BAA to expand Stansted Airport, with local councillors saying that they were "concerned about the impact expansion would have on the local environment". That must come as news to Green Party principal speaker Caroline Lucas MEP, who said "Lib Dems use green rhetoric to get into office, only to 4:22 pm
The Times are changing for Grade
Although not everyone follows the delicacies of media ownership, yesterday's news of Michael Grade's defection were hardly delicate. Instead, the haste of his departure was as rushed as the cancellation of Celebrity Wrestling, and from the tone of BBC reports on the night, achieved nearly as much grace.There's lots of coverage in the papers today. The FT have no fewer than 7 stories on the issue, including a leader column in which it describes the move as a "serious setback" for the beeb.The Times takes a different line:Michael Grade’s “defection” from the BBC to ITV has been treated in some ... 4:14 pm
Uttlesford Council votes to oppose Stansted expans...
Uttlesford District Council today rejected a planning application to expand the capacity at Stansted Airport submitted by the Spanish owned firm BAA who run the airport. The company intends to appeal against the ruling. Read about it HERE. I like cheap flights, I like Stansted airport (very handy from Norwich and it is well designed), and if I moved to the Uttlesford District Council area knowing that their is a major international airport in the area that has long been earmarked for expansion, I would not expect to oppose it. However, there are more serious issues than noise ... 3:16 pm
A news item from the News Shopper webs
A news item from the News Shopper website which I thought I'd publicise further, and urge people to contact the police about:"A TEENAGER is critically ill after being stabbed in Lewisham High Street.Police were alerted yesterday afternoon when a 19-year-old man attended Lewisham Hospital suffering stab wounds.The man is now in a critical but stable condition.Police believe the victim, who is black, was involved in an altercation near a bus stop outside the police station in Lewisham High Street.Officers from Lewisham CID are investigating and so far there have been no arrests.Any witnesses or anyone with information should call 020 ... 3:09 pm
Libertarian Home
I notice that following the success of Conservative Home, the dubiously successful Labour Home and our very own LibDem Voice a bunch of our libertarian cousins have launched Libertarian Home. It bills itself as non-party political and recognises that libertarianism is a broad church so has potential to produce some good debate and articles (hopefully above the level of some of the rather 2:41 pm
Regulating blogs
There is already comment elsewhere in the blogosphere on the proposal by Press Complaints Commission director Tim Toulmin that there should be a voluntary code of conduct for blogs that will provide a form of redress for people angered at content. I certainly agree with him that there should be no government regulation of the internet, as it should a place "in which views bloom". Although how exactly government would regulate something as ephemeral as the internet has yet to be established. One thing I do know is that if regulation was possible some members of my own group and ... 2:15 pm
Licensed to kill
If you're looking for a clean, accurate, certified radiation sources, here they are... No NRC license required! All our radioactive isotopes are legal to purchase & own by the general public. To ensure the longest half-life possible, we do NOT keep isotopes in stock. All isotopes are produced fresh in a Nuclear Reactor and shipped directly to you from the NRC licensed isotope manufacturer. 2:05 pm
Debating the Queen
Other bloggers from amongst the Assembly Members have already commented on the Queen's Speech debate in yesterday's Plenary so I will not go on at length. It is worth noting though that it was a lively debate with a lot of good contributions from the backbenches. Inevitably, in such a politically charged debate some of the point scoring was unsubtle, not least that from Lynne Neagle, who is rapidly getting herself a reputation as Rhodri's hit-woman: Lynne Neagle: I welcome the Secretary of State to the National Assembly and join colleagues in wishing his wife a speedy recovery. ... 1:43 pm
Hughes hits out at News of the World phone-tapper
Glenn Mulcaire is reported to be the journalist who tapped Simon Hughes‘ phone messages, leading to his high-profile “outing” during the leadership campaign of 2006. Commenting on the opening of the ‘royal phone tapping’ trial today, Simon Hughes said: “Intercepting personal voicemail messages is a completely unacceptable breach of privacy - whether the victim is a royal prince, a politician, or [...] 1:26 pm
Dear Oh dear!
Wednesdays is Prime Minister's Questions. Great theatre - Poor Politics. But today the PM was absent. He's away. In Riga? The Deputy PM is his stand-in. Now at the best of time's Jo... 12:54 pm
Slavery and modern testimonies
Not apologies, not perhaps even celebration, but learning and dedication. The bicentenary of the abolition of the Slave Trade has already provoked comments in one or two places. The questions of apology and celebration will not go away. For me, this is a matter of learning what people did in the past faced with a horrendous situation and drawing strength to face parallel challenges now and in the future. If we fail to learn and draw strength we will need to apologise for our own evils. Take one example – the central place of the Atlantic Slave ... 12:46 pm
Farepak Response Fund - 6pm tonight deadline
Conservative Future’s Caroline Hunt, who is a good egg, has asked me to let Lib Dems know that 6pm tonight marks the deadline for donations to the Farepak Response Fund. Clearly, a lot of families are facing a rather bleak Christmas, and if anyone can spare a few quid towards the fund I’m sure the angels will smile upon you. 12:32 pm
Race Convention
I was speaking yesterday in a break out group at the CRE Race Convention. My session was about race discrimination in the criminal justice system. It was a pretty lively debate. A core problem – on which there was widespread agreement – is that of “disproportionality” running through every part of the criminal justice system. This means that people from ethnic minority communities are far more 12:15 pm
I've got a new button
But no other Lib Dem bloggers have noticed it... 11:44 am
My first invitation to defect
I guess in politics you know you have only made it when others ask you to join them! Well then I have hit the big time - Nigel Farage (a suspiciously sounding foreign name) has asked me to join UKIP. ... 11:26 am
Make the Sheldon extinct
This story in the Daily Mail about conserving Snow Leopards caught my eye. If anybody reading this lives in Helena, Montana - please make the Sheldon extinct. To everbody else - you can support the Snow Leopard Trust here. Or you could send a Snow Leopard ecard for christmas. 10:43 am
Blair's Running Scared
Blair's gone to a NATO conference so it will be Prescott answering at PMQs today. He must have decided to go when he saw I had come up in the ballot of questions! 10:42 am
Refusenik
Blogs and other internet sites should be covered by a voluntary code of practice similar to that for newspapers in the UK, a conference has been told by Alastair Campbell. Shan't sign any such Authoritarian drivel. THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY, YOU JERK!!! I can, and will, say what I damn well like. Next New Labour assault on Freedom? 10:41 am
Cable better Chancellor than Osborne say political studies academics
Members of the Political Studies Association polled by Ipsos MORI in advance of last night’s PSA Awards rated Dr Vincent Cable, the Liberal Democrats’ Shadow Chancellor, as a more capable potential Chancellor of the Exchequer than Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne. Gordon Brown, the incumbent, took 68% of the response to the question “Who do you [...] 10:15 am
Why we should leave the 'net alone...II
Excellent news - the big broadcasters will soon be wasting less money bidding up for coverage of "premium sport". Now don't give me all that guff about how the money does wonderful things. It skews sport in favour of a few superteams in each sport, making it much harder for lower order teams to bridge the gap successfully. The broadcasters are paying far more than the costs of recovering their technical outlay - they are paying an economic rent on top simply to outbid the next guy. So the fact that it is harder and harder to ... 9:57 am
The Plane Truth!
A scheduled British Airways flight from London to Turkey costs £161. The new standard class rail fare from London to Torquay costs £184. How does this fit with the Government's policy of e... 9:47 am
Regulating blogs?
Reports that the director of the Press Complaints Commission thinks there should be a voluntary code governing blogs. But what if I do not volunteer? 9:42 am
A dramatic close to Titanic exhibition
One of the most successful exhibitions in the 25-year life of Redcar's Kirkleatham Museum, Titanic: Honour and Glory, completes its six month stay with a dramatic final weekend on Saturday and Sunday, December 9 and 10. Redcar and Cleveland Council's Museums Service has been delighted at the response to the highly popular and successful national touring exhibition, which has seen over 32,000 visitors come to view the emotional story since its opening on July 1. The Council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism Councillor Dave Fitzpatrick said: "It has been a fantastic success and I'm delighted we ... 9:38 am
How not to fix homelessness
Cicero stirred late this morning- he had been making a speech out of town and did not return until just before two in the morning. Through the numbing dirge of the Today Programme that came on to awake me, I suddenly sat up bolt upright in bed and issued Latinate curses. Ken Loach, the director of the television drama "Cathy Come Home" was being interviewed concerning the latest Shelter Report that has just been released that suggests that one in seven children are homeless or living in sub-standard accommodation. Shelter was established after Ken Loach's film publicized the issue. Homelessness ... 9:26 am
Family Courts - how secret are they?
What has happened recently is that there have been two judgements in Clayton v Clayton and in NCC v Webster that have both reinterpreted and clarified the situation in terms of proceedings in the Family Courts. I would emphasise that I am not legally qualified and if people wish to check out specific details then they should check them with people who are legally qualified. Firstly, however, any 9:14 am
Taking the biscuit
One of the problems with chairing a long full Council meeting, like the one yesterday evening, is that I don't get any comfort breaks. Other councillors can slip out to use the loo or to get coffee, making sure they are back in their seats for important votes. Someone does supply me with tea and biscuits at my table, so when Councillor Ian McDonald rose to speak I grasped the chance... 8:33 am
Koh Samui killers get life
The two Thai fishermen who raped and killed Katherine Horton on Lamai Beach in Koh Samui on New Years Day have had their death sentences commuted to life in prison. I am not in favour of the death penalty at all but I know that this decision will not be popular in Koh Samui. The decision is due to be announced by the court in Surat Thani. 8:21 am
Is Rhodri fit for purpose?
The claim yesterday by the First Minister that Welsh Liberal Democrat Councils are to blame for his government’s failure to meet its target on getting all school buildings fit for purpose by 2010 was just absurd. The Labour Assembly Government made the promise in its 2003 manifesto but has recently abandoned it in favour of the less specific target of working with Councils to achieve the objective of making schools fit for purpose ‘as soon as possible’. The Government made £630m available for school buildings between 2003 and 2007 all of which appears to have been spent by ... 8:20 am
3 Points dropped but not unexpected
Leeds dropped three points away to Burnley last night but the result was not unexpected given the relative positions of the two teams going into the game. Perhaps the critical moment in the game came when Hayden Fox (who is rumoured to be being offered a longer contract) was sent off early in the second half. Goals from Gifton Noel-Williams and Andrew Gray put Burnley 2-0 up although David Healy pulled one back late on as the game finished 2-1 to Burnley Despite the defeat the consensus on the message boards seemed to be that this was the best ... 8:07 am
Worcester City Liberal Democrats AGM
Last night was, I think, my last AGM of 2006. I was the guest speaker at Worcester City Liberal Democrats AGM. After all the business was conduct I gave a short speech, followed by questions on, Developing Democracies Overseas - the topic having been suggested by the local party Chair Paul Griffiths. 1:47 am
Your share of your party debt is...
Presumably if as the Times tries to keep suggesting with respect to the Michael Brown donation to the Lib Dems party members are somehow liable for their party's debts, Labour and Tory members are also liable in the last resort for their respective shares of £60 million. So, even if the Brown donation is treated as something that needs repaying at some point the depth of pockets potentially needed by party members to pay off their debts are: Labour: £23.4m amongst 200,000 members is £117 eachConservative: £35m amongst 300,000 members is £117 eachandLiberal Democrat: £1.1m debt plus, possibly, £2.4m ... 1:29 am
Don’t Be Tossers, Spend Less.
So Labour, the Tories and LibDems owe £60 million between them principally as result of last year’s elections. To fill the gulf between income and spending levels the parties are likely to try and help themselves to public cash. I’m pretty clear that any party which wants public money should have to collect it the old [...] 1:16 am
Why we need to leave the web alone...
During the "Internet Governance Forum" last month I wrote that we need to leave the internet alone if we want to foster human rights, instead of governments trying to regulate it and using it as yet another stick with which to beat non-compliant governments with bad records on human rights. I said that the internet was a tool of democracy and human rights because clever public spirited people like the folk behind "anon@penet.fi" many years ago would invent things that allowed people to express themselves and get information without censorship. And so, only a few weeks later, it's nice ... 12:58 am
What goes around...
An article on the BBC today about housing and nationalists: BBC NEWS | Politics | Housing 'key to far right rise':By Dominic Casciani Competition for housing is the "frontline" of a battle to prevent the far right's rise, MPs have warned. Labour MP John Cruddas and Lib Dem Simon Hughes said policymakers had failed to recognise BNP gains were linked to anger over who gets homes. ...reminded me of a scene in "Cathy Come Home" the other night where the women in the hostel are arguing with a black woman that "her type" was getting all the ... 
