LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 17th January 2007

Norfolk ace flying the flag

Spent quite a bit of time looking at budget issues today - but did also find time to go and buy a suit, at last. Managed to pick the only suit in London that wasn't on sale, but heigh-ho. A very comfortable win for Spurs in the replay against Cardiff tonight - and no crowd trouble at all that I'm aware of. My old uni housemate Laura came with me, and also met up with my mate Paul who'd come in from Essex. We all had a good night, *some* consolation for Sunday. Southend again then in 10 ...

We will give councils the power to stop second homes sales

Welsh Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson and AM for Montgomeryshire Mick Bates said: “We want communities to have as much power as possible to ensure a sufficient supply of affordable housing in their area. As part of this approach we will give councils the opportunity to prevent the sales of properties as second “By requiring buyers of second homes to apply for planning permission for change of use - where councils wish to use this power – we can help stop houses being priced out of the reach of local people and prevent the spread of unoccupied homes. ...

Fair Play

The Legal Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State, John Bellinger, has been posting on international law blog, Opinio Juris, giving the U.S. government's view on various matters, mostly revolving around the "war of terror". John Bellinger In his latest post he argues that, contrary to popular opinion, the US did not invent the term "unlawful enemy combatant" and it is in fact sanctioned (

Welsh Lib Dems launch ‘Trust in Wales’ pre-manifesto

Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Leader Mike German today launched the party’s pre-manifesto – containing more than 70 key policy ideas for the Welsh General Election in ten major areas. The document, entitled “Trust in Wales”, details the main policies. A full manifesto will be published nearer that date for a Welsh Liberal Democrat Government over the next four years. Mike German AM said: “The pre-manifesto focuses on making sure healthcare is available when it’s needed, on creating a better learning environment and making Wales greener. It’s the first draft of our programme for government. “These are the ...

Rotarians are such good company. They have two main aims - to bring a smile to ...

Rotarians are such good company. They have two main aims - to bring a smile to people's faces through their charitable activities, and to extend friendship through the Rotary movement. So I was really pleased to be invited by the Surbiton branch to a social evening last night. And even more pleased when I won a box of jelly babies in the quiz. This is actually...

Newsnight reveals Iran offered to cease support for terrorism

Newsnight revealed tonight Iran offered to withdraw all support for Hamas and Hizbollah in Spring 2003. It is also clear the Iran was willing to hand over Al Quaeeda people they believed to be operating in Iran. All the Iranians wanted was for the USA to stop the activities of a terrorist group called the "People's Mojahideen" (also called the MEK or MKO). This group, based in Northern Iraq, wants to overthrow the Iranian regine. What Newsnight asked was why this offer from the Iranians was rejected by US vice president Dick Cheney. Imagine what the effect on ...

Cheap flights in the Echo?

During this and last week the Lincolnshire Echo have been running a promotion with RyanAir to get 1p flights. To get your cheap flight you need to buy 12 newspapers collecting the letters which appear each day. Next you need to rearrange these letters in to a 3 word passphrase to get the cheap flights via [...]

Jade Goody : A celebrity career created and killed by Big Brother

Sorry to all those who couldn't give a damn about Big Brother. However, there is an important point to the whole Big Brother furore, especially for those who hate the show and the false stars it creates. Jade Goody is probably the most successful and most recognised former Big Brother contestant, amassing a fortunes stretching in to several millions and having books, DVD's and TV shows out covering her life, fitness and all manner of other things "Jade". I never liked her. Whilst some people find ignorance endearing, I believe, maybe snobbishly, that people should have to earn success through ...

Full Council

Todays was relatively short at 6 hours 20 minutes. It does stand out in my mind as one of the most bad tempered I have attended and one of the worst for quality of debate. However not having spoken myself I'm open to the charge of hypocracy. I'm going to score it a "Coalition" win by 53 to 47 if only because the Labour group failed to deliver a knock out blow and really full Council meetings should be an oppositions play ground. That said I thought I noticed the first signs of fatigue in the body language of ...

Big Headline News

So the newspapers are covered with headlines because the denizens of Celebrity Big Brother have displayed grotesque forms of behaviour… And in other breaking news, we can exclusively reveal that the Pope is in fact a Catholic … and you’ll never guess what bears have been doing in the woods …

A tale from middle England

Let me tell you a true story. A multi agency meeting is held between a Parish Council, the District Council, the County Council, local schools, the police and the youth service. The meeting is held to discuss what the parish can do to provide proper facilities and activities for the youths of the village. The youths of the village are also invited to the meeting to make their point. Whilst the meeting is being held at the school in the village, four of the youths go in to another part of the school and trash one of the ...

Last couple of days and Anne Lorne Gillies!

Yesterday included dealing with a lot of constituent enquiries and 'day job' activities, followed by an evening meeting in Kirkintilloch (East Dunbartonshire Council) with LibDem colleagues. This afternoon we had the official opening of the new recycling centre in the Roseangle car park, followed by a very helpful meeting at Magdalen Green on steps to be taken to address the flooding issues. That said, very, very cold afternoon - still thawing out! Photo from photocall will appear on blog in due course! And lastly tonight, a Friends of Wighton update : The famous singer Anne ...

What Tim Ireland got wrong about 'Guido'....

.... his worst crime is that he doesn't know what he is talking about. Tim Ireland's attack on Paul Staines appears to have has set a few hearts a fluttering amongst the incestuous village of the UK blogosphere. Personally I stopped reading Guido regularly a while back, it felt like the record had got stuck and the self promotion was become ever more grating. Anyway interest pricked by Tim's

Death by Chocolate

The big issue in the blogosphere at the moment obviously is not Guido Fawkes vs Tim Ireland, but the matter of how best to melt chocolate. (I think it is safe to say that only in the Liberal Democrats would a pink fluffy toy melt chocolate and make a YouTube video, though the least s/he could do [...]

Lembit and Cheeky Girl to feature in Hello!

Oh No! A good reason to avoid all dental and doctor's surgeries over the next few months. Pass the sickbag, Alice (with acknowledgements to the late John Junor).

Well done, Matthew Taylor

Full marks to Matthew Taylor for putting his family first. Politics is an ultimately futile business with which to be involved. It always ends in tears, as someone once said. Matthew has had an excellent run of 20 years as an MP. He is lucky to now be having a chance as a father, and to be able to devote all his energies to that. Good on him!

Toggles at dawn...

Much turmoil in the office as to which traffic tart won the race to blog Matthew Taylor first... Inspection of LibDemBlogs shows this pattern of events: However Will insists that Lib Dem Voice must have cheated the timing of the posting to get in a minute earlier - or that the feed comes in alphabetically at each half hourly trawl, so W came after L. But then comes the claim that Colin Ross must

A busy day

I went to the Save Community Hospitals' lobby in Westminster Hall yesterday. In Haringey we are not so much trying to save a hospital and get a new one on the site of the old one - which wasn't saved! I also had Question 4 on the order paper in Foreign Affairs Questions. Lynne Featherstone (Hornsey and, finally, the establishment of a full hybrid African Union and United Nations force. There is

Is Big Brother being edited to highlight racism in order to gain press coverage ?

In the past, Big Brother contestants have complained that the editing has put a spin on events that simply did not seem to be an issue, if seen in context, when they were in the house itself. With Celebrity Big Brother dying on its arse just a few days ago, the latest "racism" incidents, seem all to convenient to have suddenly arisen and become such a feature of the show's editing. Fortunately for Endemol, produers of Big Brother, the furore about this whole issue has seen a massive jump in the viewing figures, ensuring more phone votes and more ...

The unbearable lightness of being 'The Independent'

Let's face it. The Independent is abysmal. Today's front page and leading story are frankly tabloid. In summary, a 'Doomsday Clock' which has stood at seven minutes to nuclear midnight more or less since 1947 will be moved by a committee of scientists slightly closer to H-hour today. This is just pretentious posturing of the worst sort, deliberately misinformative and contributing to a general hysteria which has lost it's real meaning two decades ago. The 'Nuclear Clock' may have stood at 2359 during the Cuban Missile crisis, and it may have moved past 2100 on several occasions during the ...

The right to Roam is free at last

Hutchison Three G, the mobile telephone company, have announced that international roaming charges are to end and that their inclusive minutes will be "cross border", in that they can be used in any country where Three run a mobile telephone network. For many years I have wondered how Vodafone, Orance and T-Mobile can justify their roaming charges given that when you are aborad you are still using their own phone networks (they are international compaines running mobile networks in scores of countries). Now Three have led the way, I hope other companies will follow. I guess the other ...

The value of Oxbridge degrees

I have several friends at Cambridge who are currently having trouble finding graduate jobs. This is a problem common to graduates of many universities, but I'm starting to wonder if the Oxbridge degree has become devalued to an unacceptable extent. For the moment, I'll leave aside the question of whether employers are actively attempting to discriminate against Oxbridge graduates, though this may well be a reality. My concern is this: job applications are increasingly governed by psychometric tests and frankly stupid and meaningless questions. In fact, many of the tests have to be completed before any ...

Football, Property Hunting and, of course, Leafleting

Last night’s game was fairly entertaining. I am not a City fan, as mentioned, but it’s not very often I get to see a Premiership team, and so this was a rare treat. City won 2-1, but Sheffield Wednesday gave them a hell of a game, and their fans were in excellent voice, even though the ringleader, an exceptionally fat and topless man, was arrested and led away before my eyes just minutes into the

Lipstick. Check. Purse. Check. Balaclava?

Saw this yesterday. Amusing. I don't even know what Rawl plugs are. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6266649.stm Well, amusing at face value, but not very amusing for people who wasted their money.

Jowell has power without influence -the worst of both worlds

Saturday’s Guardian had a front page story highlighting the stance taken by our MP, Tessa Jowell and others against the Labour Government health cuts. The piece pointed out that 13 Government ministers are campainging against their own Government’s cuts. The local cut in question is the closure of the Maudsley Emergency Clinic which has now been [...]

English Devolution

Real local power to change things comes from strong devolved polities with fiscal powers, not from Cameron's vague paternalistic notions of "social responsibility".

Simon Jenkins, saviour of the UK?

An excellent article on devolution and the union.

Taylor two Democrats

Farewell to Matthew Taylor. Your eyes the size of saucers, your promise never met, your colleagues never sympathetic. In other news, some Norwegian schoolboys are no longer allowed to piss standing up, a move which right-wing nutter Vidar Kleppe has angrily denounced.

Labour close Maudsley Emergency Clinic

Labour’s Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has ordered the closure of the Maudsley Emergency Clinic. This is a hugely disappointing decision by the Government. The Campaign for the Maudsley Clinic had the support of all parties and wide sections of the community. No one really believes that the best way to provide emergency mental health services in our area [...]

Matthew Taylor (the Lib Dem one) is off

This is a bit of a shock, although perhaps a bit understandable given his recent fatherhood. Matthew’s career showed a lot of early promise but he somehow never fulfilled it. Being stripped of his position as Chair of the Parliamentary Party in 2005 must have been a bit of a blow and Mark [...]

Matthew Taylor to step down

Truro Lib Dem MP Matthew Taylor, once the youngest MP, is standing down to spend more time with his family. Full story on the BBC site and on Guardian Unlimited.

Matthew Taylor to step down at next election

More on the BBC. Nice winnable seat there, but there’ll be lots of competition - selection contest in the neigbouring new constituency has been very active. I’d say something nice about his years of service, but the only time I encountered him in person he was a complete arse. Oh, and he sneered at me on the World at One [...]

Matthew Taylor MP to stand down

A bit of breaking news - Truro and St. Austell's Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Taylor will be standing down at the next General Election. Matthew was first elected in a by-election in 1987 after the sad death of David Penhaligon MP, and was then the youngest MP, in 2005 he had a majority of 7,403.

Written Parliamentary Questions: 17th January 2007

Court Information Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his Department's policy is on the provision to courts of information regarding the inclusion on list (a) 98 and (b) 99 of people giving evidence. A:'List 98' is not a list maintained by the Department for Education and Skills. Some educational establishments and authorities have introduced and maintained such lists

Labour's good fairy

It is obviously still the season of good will in the chamber if yesterday's debate on the Business Statement is any guide. Tory Business Manager, Lisa Francis was in a particularly good mood, even going so far as to flatter Flintshire Labour AM, Carl Sargeant: Lisa Francis: This is an auspicious first Plenary meeting, and I am grateful to you for giving the Welsh Conservative Group everything that it asked for today. It would appear that the pantomime season is almost over and that, perhaps, we may not expect Carl Sargeant to come on later to do his good ...

Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!

I was delighted to get my copy of the Complete Nemesis the Warlock Volume 1 in the post today. It’s a truly gorgeous book, with somewhat higher standards of reproduction throughout compared to some of the recent 2000AD reprints. The Complete Judge Dredd Volumes contain some horrible bits, with the last part of Block Mania [...]

The Sun and devolution

Whoopee! I have made the columns of The Sun and not a Cheeky Girl in sight. Thanks to Iain Dale who obviously reads the paper, as without his post on the subject I would not have known. Those unreconstructed centralists at The Sun's 'The Whip' column have picked up my press release on Alan Johnson's idea of putting the school leaving age up to 18 and claimed that I am at odds with our English Education Spokesperson, Sarah Teather. What they do not seem to understand is that Mr. Johnson's proposal only relates to England. There is already evidence ...

Plugins

I was trawling for Wordpress Plugins at work last week, and came up with some goodies: Ultimate Tag Warrior is something I’ve had on this blog for a while now, but it’s taken me until this week to discover its potential. It isn’t just good for generating things like tagclouds, which is nice but not [...]

Selly Oak Ward Committee - Wednesday 24 January 2007

The next meeting of the Selly Oak Ward Committee (the three ward councillors) will be held at 7pm on Wednesday 24 January 2007 in the Selly Oak Adult Education Centre, 648 Bristol Road. The agenda has now been published and items include: an update from the Planning Department on the new planning application by Sainsburys for a mixed use development at the Birmingham Battery and Selly Oak

Give us back our NHS

I went to Westminster Hall yesterday to do the photos for the NHS demonstration with MPs and candidates. I took a number of photos which we hope to put up on the extranet soon. The one below is my favourite, but I would say that as I'm in it! (left, back row - thanks to James our intern for taking this one!) Having the banner was my idea but Marianne Sladowsky, our health adviser in Parliament,

Al Yamamah: Conservatives silent, yet again

PMQs today - Ming Campbell questioned Blair about the blocking of prosecutions for corruption over arms deals with Saudi Arabia, and as for the Tories - silent yet again on the issue. It’s clearly a very sore point for Blair (you can tell how rattled he is by how rude he is in response) yet once [...]

Thailand - problems continue to mount

Not surprisingly after the furore in the last couple of days with regard to Thaksin Shinawatras visit to Singapore but according to the Bangkok Post the Singapore government has stated that the diplomatic row between the two cuntries has added to the business uncertainty already created when Thailand proposed changes to the foreign ownership laws. The government went on to state that Singapore investors were looking to their options and were delaying plans for investment because they believed that there is uncertainty in Thailand that would hurt the Thai economy. Even worse news for the government (although hardly surprising) was ...

The Lives of the Saints

The Institute of Contemporary Arts is screening a new film set in Haringey - specifically around Harringay ward, as it's based around Green Lanes. According to the blurb, The Lives of the Saints is "set amidst a streetwise world of criminals, schemers and dreamers". You can read more about the film and screening times here: http://www.ica.org.uk/?lid=12758 I'm going to try and get down to the ICA and watch it. Will see if my Lib Dem colleagues for Harringay ward, Cllr Karen Alexander, Cllr Carolyn Baker and David Schmitz - want to come along too!

Nathon Harbour - Pictures only

Tunecast.. !!!

My Tunecast has arrived. This is a little box made by Belkin that you plug into your MP3 player and it transmits your tunes to your car stereo... FANTASTIC!!! does exactly what it says on the tin. I can now play my eclectic collection of music, including tunes I have harvested from MySpace, Demo's I am working on and sadly you may think 'Political Podcasts' on my travels without all that tedious burning them down onto CD. Up until recently these devices that only transmit a few feet were illegal we have my friend Don Foster, Liberal Democrat ...

Was it racism on Celebrity Big Brother?

I pondered when writing my previous blog posting about describing the behaviour on Celebrity Big Brother as racist, rather than simply deeply unpleasant. Not violent racism, not overt name-calling racism - but constant dribbling racism. So - what do you think? Was it racist behaviour?

What a strange beast is this internet

These are some of the recent searches which have brought people to this site: * What country did the british invade near Bridgetown * The best burger in London * "you wait till i'm mayor you'll find out" * skibbereen rugby * sartorial elegance meaning * dynamite porn * hot pisses Of course the vast majority of searches are still for “Fi Glover”, my having mentioned her once, well over a year ago.

Say no to Parkway!

Along with my fellow Lib Dems on Cheltenham Borough Council, and Cheltenham's Member of Parliament Martin Horwood, I oppose Gloucestershire County Council's proposal to build a new railway station at Elmbridge Court near Gloucester. Cheltenham's Chamber of Commerce is also opposing the scheme. People must not be obliged to travel to Elmbridge Court to catch their train. It will add unnecessarily to CO2 emissions, cost and inconvenience. We should not be swayed by the mirage of regional funding for Cheltenham: the business case for the railway has little credibility amongst informed observers because it is seriously flawed. If we do ...

Is Iran Next?

An Iranian Member of Parliament, Seyed Nezam Mola Hoveizeh, is claiming that Iranian troops recently shot down a U.S. pilotless spy plane. The MP claims it was brought down during the last few d...

More on the blogwars - freedom of speech

For me the most outrageous point made by Tim Ireland in his attack on Guido was that Guido may cause the rest of the political blogging scene (such as it is - its not a unified group anyway) to have restrictions put upon it. This may be a legitimate worry - the way our government behaves [...]

Racism and Big Brother

Not having actually watched the programme, perhaps I'm not qualified to comment. But I very much doubt that the racist remarks made on Big Brother are anywhere near the level of abuse experienced by some minorities in their everyday lives. So, on the one hand, it seems unfortunate that such a big deal is being made about relatively mild racism while others suffer in silence. On the other, at least it highlights an important issue, and broadcasters do have a responsibility towards the public for what goes out over the airwaves. More generally, if ...

Flooding in York, January 2007

This is the video I shot on Saturday when I was in York. The River Ouse had burst its banks though by Sunday flood water levels had gone down considerably.

The blogwars:

It is of course inevitable that there will be discord in the blogging world - people will disagree, there will be trolling, astroturfing and incredible pettiness. We’ve had Bob Piper v. Prague Tory and now, as I’m sure everyone is aware Tim Ireland has taken aim at Guido Fawkes. This is being debated all over the [...]

Run Obama Run

Senator Barack Obama has set up an exploratory committee to raise funds and build a campaign team for a Presidential run. The setting up of an exploratory committee is technically needed before anyone can run for President, rather than just sounding like a fund-raising committee.

A wee bit of pedantry

It’s always very annoying when you read an article which you agree with the overall thrust of, but the author includes in it some complete howlers that undermine their case. Iain MacWhirter’s piece about an English Parliament in the Herald today is a case in point. Less importantly, but still annoying because it is in [...]

Riverford Food

We had two leaflets through the door last week from organic food co’s. Ever curious we decided to place an order. Duncan has waxed lyrical about Abel and Cole here but we thought we would try the other one - Riverford Farm. Customer service has been great so far and the food looks delicious. Anyone know [...]

Googling your way around the world

I Googled “ed maxfield blog” this morning- I know it’s sad but I just wanted to check, OK..? I was intrigued that the third recommendation was headed ‘the Maxfield controversy’, so I had to find out what that was all about. It led me to a political blog in the US run by a guy called Craig Westover. [...]

Cheaper than Grittish Bass?

…or not say the Advertising Standards Authority

English Parliament

I like to give a story a couple of days to settle in, give me a chance to read opinions, thoughts and facts on it before blogging about it. This isn’t always the case as sometimes I’m desperate to share my thoughts but this time I wanted to wait. The reason for waiting is partly because [...]

Good start to CII Summit

Wednesday 17th January 2007 - After a long flight from Strasbourg to Bangalore via Paris, I arrived in India just after midnight and was able to get a good night's sleep before the 2007 Confederation of Indian Industry Partnership Summit started today. The organisers have arranged a very busy programme and a line up of speakers that reflects the international standing the Summit has gained and I

Control orders

Home Office plans to expand control orders to those suspected of money laundering, fraud, drugs and human trafficking must be worrying for anybody concerned about the integrity of the British justice system. It is not that we should not be seeking to curb such activities, just that we must have proper evidence and ensure due process if we are to properly suppress it. There is another issue of course, whether these control orders actually work. The present terrorist control orders have been dogged by problems since their introduction two years ago. There are three terrorist suspects already on the ...

Our hard-working staff

I thought that CBI Director, David Rosser, was being very unfair in seeking to rubbish the claim that Assembly staff have a long-hours culture in today's Western Mail. It may well be the case that 16% of the workforce reportedly working more than five hours a week above their contracted hours is not comparable to private business, but this is the public sector. In my experience the staff who work here are committed, hard-working and often carry out duties and suffer calls on their time well above the call of duty. I believe that we can be ...

That magazine and the media reaction

YAWN!

My 3 minutes of fame

Political anoraks will know that Channel 4 don't broadcast party political broadcasts in the same way as the other channels. But they do from time to time broadcast a 'political slot' just after Channel 4 News. I did one of these very short programmes (about 3 minutes of air time) a few years back on the issue of justice in women's pensions, and my office was swamped with feedback. We probably had over 1000 letters. Tomorrow I'm recording another programme, this time based in my constituency. It's going to be about ...

Day 2205: DOCTOR WHO: Horror of Glam Rock

Sunday: I have been watching my new DVD of JAMES BOND in "DOCTOR NO". I have been listening to the COMMENTARY. This means that I can watch "Doctor No" and hear Miss Ursula Andress VOICE. Ironically something you CANNOT do if you just watch the movie! Daddy has been listening to a DIFFERENT Doctor, so I’d better let HIM tell you about that! Well, this was strangely insubstantial. As indeed were the alien "Only Ones" with their twee Seventies voices. In fairness, they – as your typical ethereal alien spirits – were supposed to be, though their all consuming corporeal ...

Close the Big Brother House or send in Trevor Phillips

Having just read some of the things which Shilpa Shetty has been called in the Big Brother House, I feel that the programme should either be stopped or Trevor Phillips should be sent in as a surprise guest to sort out Shilpa's tormentors. 3500+ people have complained to Ofcom. It's been raised in the House of Commons and now one of the programme's sponsors is, quite rightly, threatening to pull

Is it wrong to use your neighbour's wireless connection?

Last night we got a young man, who knows what he's doing (rather than just thinking he knows what he is doing and blundering around until he fixes the problem or throws the PC out the window, like me), encrypted our wireless connection. There was a discussion on BBC Radio Berkshire with Andrew Peach this morning entitled: 'Is it wrong to use your neighbour's wireless connection?' Of course it

Roots

Firmly in the category of more interesting for me than for anyone else but here is a photo of the house where my dad must have spent at least part of his childhood in Sheffield 90-odd years ago. Full story over at my web site and thanks to Anders Hanson for sending me the pic.

A good cause

I thought about offering the shirt off my back as sponsorship for this but then remembered I lost it in the divorce… Seriously, its a good cause in memory of a much missed lady, so if you feel like sponsoring my ex too, as she runs the 2007 London Marathon for the Multiple Sclerosis Resource [...]

16 Months Till 2008 Mayoral Elections and Still No Rivals

In 16 months Londoners will be asked to vote in the third GLA elections and choose a Mayor and 25 Assembly Members yet neither of the major opposition parties have yet selected the Mayoral candidates they hope to convince Londoners to back in favour of Labour's internal shoe-in and incumbent Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Wednesday 17th January 2007

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