Wednesday 27th December 2006

9:17 pm

Tottenham Matchday CPZ

Gravatar A matchday Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) is on its way to Tottenham. It's not a very popular idea with a lot of fans, but it is with a lot of local residents. As a local councillor, I'm more inclined to look at it from the residents' point of view than most fans probably are. Anyway, the top photo shows what a daft idea it is to drive to a football ground anyway, even before a CPZ comes in. I took this about an hour after the final whistle on Boxing Day - it's the top of White Hart Lane, near ...
Posted by Matt on Matt Davies
8:19 pm

Christmas Joy and all that ...

Gravatar OK, we'll start with the Christmas photos!Firstly, here's Janet and me with Betty, my mother in law, during Christmas Dinner. I can assure you that no party is quite complete without Betty! And, talking of the life and soul of the party, we got this rather good game which relies on a bit of skill and here's Betty proving she has absolutely none (err, sorry, lots!) Anyway, Christmas was great - I have had loads of fun downloading lots of my CDs onto an MP3 player and my younger son and I have just spent a fruitless ...
Posted by Fraser Macpherson on Cllr Fraser Macpherson - Dundee City LibDem Councillor for the West End & City Centre
4:48 pm

Respect Zones - A quiet news day

Gravatar This period before the New Year is always quiet for news. The government appear to have gone for a bit more on the "Respect" Agenda. So now we have "Respect Zones" this is on top of last year's "Respect Action Plan". There is a complex issue relating to how the public sector operates. That is that the politicians are not really executive officers. The work is done by other people.
Posted by john on John Hemming's Web Log
2:50 pm

Hello from my country retreat...

Gravatar Well Oundle is actually a smallish town (pop 5k). But if v.quiet at night you can here cows in the distance! My parents are currently feeding and watering me, as well as a couple of chinese students from Durham Uni, who are here as part of the Hosts scheme. I've had to do with patchy t'internet access (dial-up modem!), but I think I've persuaded them that broadband is the way to go (as last quarter they spent over £30 dialing up, so for a few more £s they can have a couple of Megs). Or they could "borrow" their neighbours ...
Posted by Radders on The 3P's: Politics, Photos & Football
1:35 pm

Family Christmas

Gravatar I have managed to see all of my family this Christmas. My Sister had a baby girl a couple of weeks ago and so I took one of my teenage sons over to see the baby and to take my sisters two boys over to visit my mother. My youngest nephew had always been quite shy around me and my boys, since he has become a 'big brother' he has really grown up and sees his role as a great responsibility so it was really nice to get to know him. Boxing day I went back round to my ...
Posted by Alan Beddow [Political Blog] on Alan Beddow
12:53 pm

Tis the season for the Daily Mail to rant

Gravatar Spending last night at my in-laws meant that the only paper I could read this morning was the Daily Scum, sorry, Daily Mail. Reading through it confirmed to me again everything I dislike about the paper, the biggest of which is the fact that it reports very little news, but is heavy on its "witchhunts" against individuals and organisations on the Daily Mail's "hit list". Here is a brief summary : 1) Attacking John Prescott - Why this time ? No new news at all, just a resume of things that have happened in the past dresssed up ...
Posted by Norfolk Blogger on Norfolk Blogger
11:37 am

Death of the Grassroots

Gravatar According to the national press, both Labour and Tory memberships are in decline.
Posted by Peter on Liberal Review - The Best of Liberal Opinion, Commentary and Ideas
11:27 am

Secret special operations force deployed

Gravatar According to The Nation here the Thai Cabinet has approved a fund of 556 million baht to pay for a 14,000 strong force to control protests. This force has apparently already been deployed from the 1st December across the country with a mission to quell unrest. This has raised a further controversy in that the approval for the funds to pay for the force was not sought until the 19th December well after the force started operating!
Posted by Tony Ferguson on Ballots, Balls and Bikes
11:06 am

"Events...." in Europe

Gravatar Christmas, the season of Saturnalia, has come and gone. The days are drawing out- albeit that it will be weeks before we notice the longer daylight. It is impossible to know what 2007 holds. We can talk about trends, but this forgets the "black swan" events that are by their nature unpredictable. The Grim Reaper can confuse many calculations- as he seems to have done in Turkmenistan with the death of the brutal dictator Niyazov, leaving no obvious successor. New ideas can gain purchase rapidly and then turn into the Conventional Wisdom. So I make no serious predictions about the ...
Posted by Cicero on Cicero's Songs
10:52 am

Of course, The Waitresses!

Gravatar I kind of knew as I was writing my top Christmas songs list that I would inadvertently miss out some classics. I mean, Fairytale of New York is indisputably the best, but beyond that it's trickier. So thanks to http://gingeranddynamite.blogspot.com/ who was the first to point out an obvious mistake - I didn't include Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses. Now that is a top notch Christmas tune. And I've not heard it this year! I need to get VH1 on as soon as I get to my parents.
Posted by Matt on Matt Davies
10:16 am

To sub or not to sub

Gravatar Three points in the bag. Should have been an altogether more comfortable scoreline - Villa's goal around 81 minutes was pretty much their first shot at goal. But then, of course, there was the inevitable nervous finish to the game and they had a few more chances which could have spoiled Boxing Day for us. Berbatov was excellent again, as were Michael Dawson and Ledley (tho in truth there wasn't much for them to do). Tom Huddlestone is looking like a pro with years of experience - easy to forget he's only 19... Birthday tomorrow apparently, Happy Birthday Tom. ...
Posted by Matt on Matt Davies
9:13 am

Dinner in the Commons

Gravatar I note that the Conservative Party and its MPs have now been referred to the parliamentary standards commissioner for allegedly abusing abuse House of Commons and Lords dining rooms to raise cash to fight marginal seats at the next election. No doubt Sir Philip Mawer will report in due course on this complaint. The Guardian reports: The inquiry is likely to concentrate on whether MPs and peers have made profits from the dinners or whether people who join patrons' clubs have to pay a large membership fee to get access to the House of Commons dinners. A ...
Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black AM
6:10 am

What's in a name...

Gravatar Article in the Grauniad about 'women keeping their name after marriage'. I remarked upon this yesterday when addressing a thank you letter to my aunt as Mrs [husband's initial] [husband's surname]. Since when did she become 'Ramon' anyway, poor soul? This is as much generational as being ' statement about who you are and how you regard yourself within a marriage'. I have a seriously dubious
Posted by Femme de Resistance on Forceful and Moderate

Previous days:

Tuesday 26th December 2006, Monday 25th December 2006, Sunday 24th December 2006, Saturday 23rd December 2006, Friday 22nd December 2006, Thursday 21st December 2006