As I have never had a proper piece of monitoring software recording monthly stats before, it is impossible to provide a month by month analysis and comparison, but if anyone is interested, in January I had 5,538 visitors to my blog with 8,395 page views. Taking in to account that I only started my blog in September 2006, I'm pleased with that. Thanks to everyone who looks in on my blog and particularly those who leave comments.
Thanks Simon Wilson for reminding us about Mordechai Vanunu. I had the privilege of meeting him whilst staying at St George's in East Jerusalem in October 2005, he is a truly inspirational character, someone who believes his treatment has more to do with his conversion to Christianity than to the information he revealed, most shocking for me was the involvement of our British Secret Service in his entrapment. Whenever I meet people like Mordechai I am in awe. In awe of anyone who is prepared to sacrifice their liberty and even their life, for the future of humanity. Our politics ...
I still have not changed the code on the blog other than to add the No New Trident Button and lo and behold the Lib Dem Feed has started working again all by itself. Brilliant
Over at PoliticalBetting.com and ConservativeHome.com, Mike Smithson has posed the perennial teaser the party loves to hate: what will the Lib Dems do in the event of a ‘hung Parliament’? It’s a question that Ming Campbell has persistently - and quite rightly - refused to answer. The best political decisions are those made when in as full possession of the facts as possible (a thought Mr Blair
"Who the hell is Nick Easter?" was my colleague's comment when the news filtered through to our office that Nick Easter the Quins backrower had been picked to replace the injured Joe Worsley at blindside flanker for England's game against Italy on Saturday. I must admit to being a bit surprised myself given Nick only made the bench for the A game against Italy last week and has spent most of
Yesterday Iain wrote THIS, then today THIS happened. Let that be a lesson to us all ! P.S. Before anyone takes me seriously, "yes", I am joking and "No" it's not funny if someone has been hurt but according to reports the injuries are minor and she will make a complete recovery.
This week is one of those weeks which I know will be amazing, but also one for which my organisational skills will be stretched to the limits. After a hard day at work today , full council budget this evening, tomorrow I am heading off to Brussels with members of the IRC to meet up with some of our MEPs.........actually I'm only going for the chocolate, but don't tell them that! On Wednesday I travel back in the afternoon to attend a Film Festival at IMAX for the young people's charity Fairbridge. Heaven knows what time I will get back ...
I only ask because not only did he write the screenplays for The Queen and Notes on a Scandal, the hottest British films of the last six months or so (except maybe the superb The Last King of Scotland) but he also found the time to write the excellent political drama Frost Nixon for the Donmar (well worth catching now it has transferred to the West End). And if his Don Juan in Soho (also for the
Iain Dale crows: The LibDems seem to take great delight in asserting that they are the only Party which is totally opposed to ID cards. Well they won't be able to trot out that old canard again. Why? Today David Davis, has today written to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell giving formal notice that an incoming Conservative Government would scrap the Government's ID card project and asking what provision, if any, has been made in the relevant contractual arrangements to protect the Government - and public funds - against the costs that would be incurred as a result of ...
"An impartial blog on the next US Presidential election." Found via Tom McEvoy. 
…you may wish to call by the house of Justin Hinchcliffe, chair of Tottenham Conservatives, and take a close look at his bathroom. I’m not going into great detail, but there were about 40 people here on Saturday night (not bad considering I have a small flat!). Up until about 11pm, people were chatting to each [...]
Is this perhaps the ugliest, slowest, cruddiest newspaper website around? It’s like stepping back 10 years in time. Admittedly, it’s slightly less illegible in Firefox than Internet Explorer… but only just. The guys responsible for TimesOnline's re-design talk about it here. Maybe a little less time choosing the colour, and a little more beta-testing might have been in order?
From the BBC News site: DUP assembly election candidates have received a contract asking them to sign a resignation letter, which could be triggered if they breach party policy. The contract was described as "draconian" by one member. The member told the BBC DUP assembly members could find themselves out of a job without even being consulted. A DUP spokesman said he was not aware of any contract at this stage, but said it was normal practice for candidates to sign one. A two-page contract with a letter of resignation attached has been received by a number of candidates ...
If UKIP are now in favour of “Independence” in the broadest sense is it safe to assume they want independence FROM the UK, along with everything else? After all, this is going to be a pretty big theme in the 2007 elections, at least if you are in Scotland or Wales (and Northern Ireland for that [...]
Montgomeryshire AM, Mick Bates, has called on the Labour Assembly Government to support Community Land Trusts, like those already established in Ceinws near Machynlleth and Castle Caereinion, by helping them through the legal obstacles to acquire government land on which to build affordable housing. Speaking at the National Assembly earlier today, Mick said: “Community Land Trusts developed by ‘Land for the People’ based in Welshpool can play an important role in providing affordable housing for local people. “Affordable housing in Mid Wales has hit crisis point. House prices have risen by more than 157% in the ...
Welsh Liberal Democrat deputy business spokesperson Ed Townsend, candidate for Newport East said: “Welsh business is currently hampered by unnecessary red tape, bureaucracy and regulation. The Welsh Liberal Democrats would ease this burden and help set Welsh business free. “Wherever possible we will use sunset clauses to prevent unnecessary regulations imposing a burden on business. That means that if new regulations are introduced they would be subject to review and a vote in the Assembly three years after their introduction to ensure that they are absolutely necessary. “This will give sufficient time for the impact of the ...
The funding of building repairs is a growing burden and one which is pushing many parish budgets to breaking point and some people feel that the government should be contributing to a much greater extent to supporting what is essentially a community asset. Thanks to the initiative of Mr Bill Blake, a parishioner in Bristol diocese, an on-line petition is now available on the Downing Street website, encouraging the Government to provide more financial help for repair of C of E church buildings. The problem of funding repairs to church buildings goes much wider than the C of E alone, ...
Torquay United Association Football Club announced today that they have parted company with manager Lubos Kubik and goalkeeping coach Miroslaw Nowiki. The team is bottom of the bottom division&n...
This evening I am starting the job of composing the new edition of St Mary’s Focus. There’ll be lots more information on the new Lib Dem plans to combat crime and make Britain safer, as well as local news about the Metrolink closure, traffic congestion plans, Hilton Lane, Tulle Court and other things. But not before I fill in my membership extension form to Liberal Democrat Youth and Students.
For many years, I have been campaigning for the freedom of Mordechai Vanunu, the scientist harassed and imprisoned by Israel after his public voicing of fears regarding the state's secret nuclear weapon programme. Though released from prison in recent years, Mordechai is still not free. He is barred from travelling, from even being close to any border of Israel, and from meeting foreign journalists. He is regularly arrested for breaching these restrictions - for instance he attempted to go to church in Bethlehem, and he also chats to any foreign guest who he meets at churches and bars ...
It seems that Don Foster MP isn’t the only one with a paternalistic streak where gambling is concerned. In what seemed at first to be support for a local employer, Adrian Sanders MP wrote a piece in his blog in which he demonstrated disdain both for the local business and for tourists and residents of his constituency, whom he feels are unable to make sensible decisions about how they spend their money. It is a shame, because his original point was well-made: it is disgraceful that the government should set a new regulatory regime in place for new ...
The government has announced that RAF Coltishall is to become an Immigrant Detention Centre, but has so far released few other details. No date for the opening of this centre have been given, details of the size of the centre have not been announced and, as Norman Lamb MP has already commented, the statement "begs more questions than it answers". The last thing we needed was an ambiguous vague answer from the government which tells us all nothing. Local people should be kept better informed than this and deserve better from the government.
Well done to the House of Lords for producing a report that highlights the idiocy of EU plans to put the same bureaucratic burdens place on traditional broadcasters on to internet TV stations. Some internet TV stations owe their existence to people with deep pockets (like 18 Doughty Street) and people who do it voluntarily in their spare time. These TV stations start up in the hope that a profit might be made in the future, but also in some cases simply to provide a new service to a select audience. Putting extra burdens will simply drive these ...
A few months ago I carried a story originally run by Guido Fawkes, about David Borrows MP telling one of his constituents a complete porkie regarding and early day motion. In the last couple of days, dozens of people have landed on this blog having Googled David Borrows. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? Is the man massaging his own ego, or is there more to it?
The Council’s Planning, Transport and Sustainability Overview and Scrutiny panel has this afternoon dismissed the call-in of the decision on raising parking charges in Bath after an in-depth discussion covering consultation, budgetary process and the Diamond Card scheme. Councillor David Bellotti (Lib Dem, Lyncombe), who lead the call-in, said: "I am very pleased that the panel has recommended that: in the future car parking charges will be considered in the annual budget round so that other policies of the Council can be taken into account; consultations should be formalised; risks should be properly assessed; and charges should only be raised ...
Appologies to anyone that reads both my blogs, I know this is the top post there as well but I think it’s worth posting it here as well as it covers a wide range of tastes and interests. Basically I’m trying to make my ultimate Big Gun list. The people I would have on the panel [...]
Ron Davies, the man who did so much to drive forward devolution for Wales when he was a Labour MP is going to stand as an independent in the forthcoming Welsh Assembly elections, according to the BBC. However, just 9 months ago, Forward Wales, the party he joined after leaving Labour, claimed the Ron Davies was going to play a significant part in their assembly election campaign. No he is standing as an independent. Does Ron know what he is doing ? I am personally of the opinion that Ron Davies has a lot to offer the ...
The Guardian Media section has an interview this morning with Stefano Hatfield, editor of the London Paper. Anybody who enters London on a weekday evening will be used to the battles to shove copies of the London Paper, and the rival London Lite, into your hands in the evening. Last week Ed Maxfield witnessed fisty cuffs between distributors of the two papers outside Westminster tube station. I
There’s more about the visit on Ming’s website.
The Daily Telegraph reports: The UK Independence Party is today preparing to change its name as part of a re-branding exercise designed to woo large numbers of Conservatives disaffected with David Cameron. Nigel Farage: Ukip changing name to Independence PartyNigel Farage is confident that a change of name will help his party win seats in local elections and gain a foothold in the Commons As part of an assault on the Tories, the ruling executive of the anti-Brussels party is expected to approve plans to promote itself as the Independence Party for the local elections on May 3. 
For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to see reform of the House of Lords, mainly because the concept of an unelected house left me feeling a bit cheated. However my mind is starting to change to be honest. This one quote along is enough to cause me to worship their lordships. It was [...]
I've spent a good chunk of this weekend putting out the "Thank You" leaflet from the recent Hucknall by-election (even though we didn't win). I was reminded of an article I read years ago called "The Unexpected Thank You". The article argues that doing something out of the ordinary (like thanking them again after you've had the cash) has a disproportionately positive effect on the customers opinion of you. Amazon pioneered this (it's easy to do on-line) and now most businesses have learned the trick. The logic is sound, and thats why we do "thank you" ...
Times Online has had a major re-design and I have to say it looks fantastic. It’s clean, clear, user friendly and easy to navigate - but by god is it slow this morning. I get the feeling everyone in the world has descended on the new look newspaper site at the same time. I waited nearly [...]
Following raising the issue of flooding at Riverside towards the end of January with the Planning & Transportation Department, I have had the following response today: "The high tide levels on 20 January 2007 combined with strong winds led to overtopping of the sea wall in this area. The gullies in the parking area discharge directly into the river and given the conditions that day they did not function properly and sea water may well have backed up the pipework. The gullies have subsequently been cleaned out and it is proposed to fit non-return flaps to prevent water flowing back ...
Is the Forward Wales Party a dead duck? I only ask because its 2004 European List Candidate and former Secretary of State for Wales, Ron Davies, has announced that he will be contesting Caerphilly as an Independent in May. On the BBC this morning Ron elaborated on his reasons for this decision: Speaking on BBC Wales' Good Morning Wales programme, Mr Davies said although he was standing as an independent, he was still "very much a member of Forward Wales" - the new independent party of the left. The reason he was not standing under the ...
Yesterday I decided that I'm finished with the Sunday Herald. It's been coming a long time now and as I've been a loyal reader since it's inception in February 1999, it's feels a bit like losing a close pal. But I've had enough, as we say in this neck of the woods, I'm fair scunnered. It used to be a moderately left-of-centre newspaper but generally politically balanced. But for months and months all that seems to happen is the Lib Dems and Labour take a battering, indeed it feels like reading the "Sunday Gnat". Yesterday's enormous article by Alan Taylor ...
Villagers in Dedham, Essex, are so fed up with vandalism and anti-social behaviour that they have decided to pay for their own policing. At a cost of £15 per year per household (which the County Council adds to the precept, the Parish Council’s discretionary taxation appended to the Council Tax), the Parish Council will fund a Police Community Support Officer dedicated to the village. Dedham is a picturesque Essex villageThe privatisation of policing tends to cause a visceral fear in most liberals. The state’s monopoly on coercion and violence are rightly viewed as essential safeguards against the ...
David Cornock confirms that Nick Bourne has finally got his way and had Peter Davies, father of AM and MP, David, removed from the list of approved Assembly candidates, just days before the party chooses its candidates for the regional list in south east Wales. The process took three months to bring to a head. Mr. Davies' crime was to write to the Western Mail to propose that the Welsh Assembly should be scrapped. Obviously, freedom of speech and thought is not something that the Conservatives value in their candidates. Mr. Davies has taken the ...
Warning.........I'm on my hobby horse now...........have asked fellow FPCer and former Deputy President and Chair of EMLD Fiyaz Mughal to give his view on where we are on the thorny topic of diversity. Thanks Fiyaz.....: The Liberal Democrats are at a turning point. The last 6 months have seen a distinct move by the Party to actively promote and collect a Fund for candidates from Black and Minority Ethnic communities, as well as for women candidates. The thinking is to back candidates from these groups who get selected in good and ‘winnable seats.’ The leading member of this ...
I have added a No New Trident button to my sidebar. If you click on the button it will take you to No New Trident a campaign website set up by the Lib Dem Peace and Security Group who are seeking to secure a vote at the Harrogate Conference in March that will establish Liberal Democrat policy as being opposed to the replacement of Trident. I will be blogging about my views on this later on.
On Friday, Ming Campbell and his wife Elspeth visited Colchester and met with the 16 Air Assault Brigade. During his visit, Ming called for massive improvements in conditions for the armed forces and their families. Ming called for: All army accommodation to be assessed at the highest standard according to the Army’s Standard for Conditions An Independent [...]
The magnificent mighty Meadow won their Scottish Junior Cup 4th round replay against Lochee Harp on Saturday by a comfortable 5-0 margin. We now face a last 16 home tie against Pollok. As predicted I saw none of it, being in transit between Edinburgh, Perth & Irvine, not arriving home until nearly nine pm. For clarity it's probably worth explaining why Irvine Meadow will never play Inverness Caledonian Thistle, or Rangers, or Celtic etc. Here in Scotland we have two entirely seperate Football Associations with members of each association being barred from playing the other's teams unless in a ...
Charles Stimson has gone. You may well not have heard of him - but he is the US official who, appallingly, decided that not only did he think there was nothing at all wrong with what the US is doing at Guantanamo Bay, but also thinks that no-one there deserves any legal representation - and that any lawyer who represents someone should then be boycotted and driven out of the legal business. To
Its not an obvious thought - and its one that I find hard to bring myself to say, but I will. I hope, I really hope, that Tony Blair is not charged, let alone found guilty, of any wrong doing in the ongoing cash for honours scandal. Let me explain. Firstly, the last thing British politics needs is corruption at the highest level - so I am living in hope that he will not need to be hauled in front of the courts. This would be destructive for both the country but also our whole system of ...
Wolverhampton South West Conservatives have announced their 'final five' for their prospective Parliamentary Candidate. I believe they will be having an open hustings (I am told they do not have enough members to avoid doing so).
Cobham Band put on a very enjoyable concert on Stairday evening - and all the proceeds (around £600) were donated to the charity appeal. So I want to say a very big thank you to them. The programme was just right - music from around the UK, with many familiar tunes set to interesting arrangements. Many thanks to David Ruel, their Musical Director, for putting it...
Once again we welcomed new British citizens on Saturday as their took their oath of allegiance. I'll add a photo very soon.
Thursday, 15th February 2007 The Queen will give a tea for members of the Arsenal Football Club, at Buckingham Palace. You would’ve thought she’d keep her footballing allegiances to herself.
With less than three months to go before voters go to the polls to elect the third National Assembly for Wales, speculation as to the outcome continues apace. Continuing a long-running theme of theirs, today's Western Mail considers that the best chance for a rainbow coalition is the installation of Dafydd Elis-Thomas as First Minister. Whether the Presiding Officer could even win the support of his own group for that position is questionable but the idea is a mildly amusing diversion nevertheless. Alas the paper goes and spoils it all by asking Dr. Denis Balsom to give his assessment of ...
Find out here.
The linked story is about a 4 year old disabled girl returned to her parents who then physically abused her over a period of 7 weeks notwithstanding visits from the Social Services - who were told she was away. Why does this happen? 1. The system relies upon "experts reports" and opinion as to what might happen. 2. The system does not respond efficiently and/or quickly to real reports of
I am back in Vilnius, meeting with a broad selection of the great and good in Lithuanian finance. In the rather damp thaw- about +1 degree- I consider what makes Lithuania rather different from the other two Baltic Countries. Culturally Catholic, as opposed to Protestant, it has been far successful in preserving hierarchies through the various political upheavals of the past two decades. In that sense the Lithuanians feel more similar to Poles and other Central Europeans- the generation in its fifties still has control: in Estonia, and to a lesser extent in Latvia the ruling generation is on ...
David had to defrost the car before we left the house. Due to roadworks on our normal route, we took a detour through Dunston. This was a useful change as I was able to take a few quick photos for a forthcoming Focus. Talking of which, much of Dunston lies within the Dunston and Teams ward. This is where we had the byelection last year which was held by Labour but where the BNP failed to live up
As the slaughter of a mind blowingly large number of Turkeys proceeds apace in East Suffolk, the prospect of Avian flu in the UK has finally come. Avian flu, though, is not the only dangerous threat emerging from Asia. The economic numbers from China make for some sobering reading. At the moment we are accustoming to viewing China as a great success story- a huge advance has been made across the country in terms of economic prosperity since the reforms of Deng-Xhouping ended the bloody debacle of Maoism. A gigantic shift in production has moved the industrial ...
For the next election the Liberal Democrats will produce a web-based interactive manifesto, which will use audio-visual communications as its centrepiece rather than the written word.
Saturday: “Hello, I’m a PC. Hello, I’m a Mac” {Posted by Picasa} No you’re not, you’re Mitchell and Webb in an annoying advert. Today I am trying out a NEW WORD: Ubiquitous – this is the name of that alien planet that looks like a quarry which appears in all those episodes of Blake’s Seven and Doctor Who! I think I agree with Mr Gavin about this advertising. It is pish. But did nobody at the Mackintosh corporation think to WATCH “That Mitchell and Webb Look” before deciding ...
Clinton says she'll end war immediately if elected president
This morning's Guardian has a story "Labour urged to make plan for swift Blair exit". How long can the man hang on? Is he so arrogant as to not realise the untold damage that he is doing not only to his own party, but to people's view of politics - and probably the only thing he cares about, how he is seen in history. The Blair legacy? Iraq and sleaze! | < | February 2007 | > | ||||
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