If you hear news from Haemoglobin Towers that birds are dropping dead from the sky and cows stand stunned in the fields, it can mean only one thing. Alas, Mrs Gubbins has a new musical fad. The octogenarian crone has taken her dusty hi fi system down from the shelf, opened the windows, [...]
Recently the people of Peckham chose their Conservative candidate to fight the next general election in an open primary and hustings. The man the Conservative party chose to preside over the evening was the flamboyant Stephan Shakespeare - former educationalist, campaign manager for Lord Archer’s [...]
You may have seen in the local papers how Haringey Labour councillor Liz Santry (Haringey Council Executive Member for Young People) has had a go about a supposed mistake on this blog. In brief - I said Haringey had failed to update to properly publicise an important public meeting through its website, and even now - as I write this and after she wrote to all and sundry saying I was wrong - the
Why was the presenter on Newnight wearing what could only be described as army surplus from the 19th century ? It was exactly the sort of stuff that Sharpe, as played by Sean Bean, would wear in the ITV drama series set in the peninsular war and the crimean war.
While I’m waiting for Orange to work out what’s wrong with my phone, I decided to nip in to a great shop in Morden which sells all sorts of old phone kit, and pick up an old Blackberry for £30. I’ve switched on all the Blackberry stuff on my service plan, and am e-mailing [...] 
Do my eyes deceive me? BBC have just reported that Blair will make an announcement on troop withdrawal tomorrow. Up to 1,500 troops out within weeks, apparently. This is a very far cry from what he said a few weeks back, when Ming proposed a withdrawal timetable. In late January, the official line was that a withdrawal would send a "disastrous signal". Not much to say now - I'll write more during the week, once the announcement's been made and we know what he's actually proposing. But this is a bit of a surprise, to put it mildly. ...
Ah yes, the joys of an evening with Dulwich & West Norwood Liberal Democrats... We're not terribly ambitious, we're not the most stunningly efficient group, but we all mean well and get on together. Now that I'm not Chair, I can actually enjoy things and contribute the skills I actually have (no sniggering at the back...), rather than ones I ought to have but don't (leadership, discipline,
I’m a self-confessed opinion poll-geek, as regular readers may have garnered. But I have had my fill of ‘what if’ polls making psephologically spurious claims to predict what might happen if/when Gordon Brown faces up to David Cameron and Ming Campbell. The latest (I’m sure you’ve seen) dominates today’s Grauniad front page - the headline screams, Brown v Cameron - exclusive poll puts Labour 13
Dr Sean's Diary does, even if Lembit does not always do so himself.
In the wake of the avian flu outbreak at a Bernard Matthews unit in Suffolk it is easy to forget that boycotting goods costs jobs. Up to 500 people might lose their jobs if the boycott of Bernard Matthews products goes on for too long. It is odd also that people are boycotting Bernard Matthews meat products when no one has caught bird flu from eating infected meat. Considering the very real threat from a human version of H5N1 and the government's planning operation today to deal with a potential outbreak of pandemic flu, it appears we have ...
KickAAS (that's Kick All Agricultural Subsidies) points to a good article by George Wuerthner: Whenever someone criticizes agricultural practices of America’s farmers and ranchers as I often do, supporters of the industry respond with the same old familiar excuses about how farmers and ranchers earn little money (never considering how overproduction fueled by subsidies or loss in productivity due to poor practices are reasons for the low return on investment), are stewards of the land (more like abusers of the land), and whatever other myths and rationales they can marshal to deflect critical examination of the industry’s impacts on ...
I went this evening to a meeting entitled 'Politics in the Internet Age' which was addressed by Iain Dale, one of the pioneers of blogging in the UK, and author of one of the most widely read political blogs (www.iaindale.blogspot.com). Iain was at pains to stress that we are very much in the early days of blogging - well behind the US - and didn't want to over-state the importance of this medium. But he did make a point which I think is often missed - people sometimes object to using modern technology to ...
Long day today with my Institute's AGM in Grangemouth followed by our setting the Council Tax for Dundee in 2007/8 tonight (my speech as Finance Convener can be seen by clicking on the headline above). A huge load of West End issues raised by residents following issue of my latest FOCUS newsletter; will advise of progress on these in later blog entries.
Once again my allergic reaction to nationalism has resulted in my blog coming out in a nasty rash. The nats are swarming, clogging up my comments and while, to tell the truth, they aren’t causing me too much discomfort, they are certainly causing me some embarrassment. So I thought it was time I [...]
I'm not really a George Monbiot fan. While I agree with the broad thrust of some of his environmental ideas, his arguments about why we should have a world government or just suddenly stop using cars seem to me to belong to someone mostly disconnected from reality in the pursuit of green evangelism. It was interesting then to read this broadside directed at another set of fantasists who, like ever more pervasive pornography, have sprouted up largely out of the grubby floor of the Internet. A few months back on letsbesensible there was a very amusing refutation of the 9/11 ...
Got Vodafone, o2 or Orange branding on your Sony Ericsson smartphone. Slightly annoyed that those who have the Generic version have had several firmware updates, whilst your service provider has limited the functions of the phone? Well now you can change the phones version to the generic one via USB on your own PC for [...]
Happy Shrove Tuesday one and all! Now that my Grandma is no longer with us, I feel it is incumbent upon me to continue the tradition of tossing pancakes every year, to the amusement of friends. Unfortunately, whereas she did it with grace and style, ensuring a perfect 180 degree loop back into the pan, mine become folded anddangle over the side. Or else my aim is woeful and they end up splattered
Briefing for the London MPs by Transport for London (TfL). Felt like my old stomping ground as five years on the GLA’s Transport Committee stands you in good stead for knowing just what they are talking about. What glared at me was the lack of planning for capacity increases to cope with the increased transport demands coming from Mayor Ken's housing program for London. We get the houses (much
Some photos from my week in the Lakes... Top is Grizedale Tarn looking quite mystical. There was a fair bit of mist high up most days, but the other photos give a more accurate reflection of the walking - clear skies and sunshine, not the constant rain that was predicted! Back in London now though and the reality of normal life has already hit home. After Full Council last night, a busy day at work today and tonight I am presenting my scrutiny review report on CCTV to the ...
Does anyone have a ballpark figure for how much it costs to: a) Book the smallest exhibition stand b) Book a fringe meeting for 50 - 100 people at Labour and Conservative autumn party conference? It would be for a small not-for-profit organisation, loosely university-linked and probably without Charity Commission status (I'm currently looking into this since it appears to be eligible for
The link is to a story about amended. The Court Proceedings relating to X ended on 23rd October 2006 hence it is not a contempt of court to identify X or her parents. However, the local authority concerned has raised a question as to whether or not this is a valid interpretation of the law. Hence whilst this aspect of law is further considered any identifying aspects have been removed. This
I read that the Australian Government, with opposition support is planning to phase out and ultimately ban the sale of incandescent lightbulbs. A very interesting idea given that incandescent lightbulbs are incredibly inefficient using only around 5% of their energy consumption to actually produce light. They also make a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emmissions. I've long been a fan of energy saving lightbulbs and find it disappointing how few are available in local shops here in Folkestone. Perhaps we should adopt a similar policy as Lib Dem policy?
... James Lovelock on nuclear energy in The Times.
Hat tip to Dizzy Thinks:
Persimmon Homes have issued the following press release: Persimmon Homes has announced a number of positive changes to the planning application for the proposed Coatham Links development in Redcar, with renewed plans submitted to incorporate a large new dance floor performance space within the leisure centre of the landmark £88m scheme. The updated application details plans to create a state of the art dance floor and performance space to be housed alongside the further proposed facilities at Coatham Links leisure centre. The changes will now create a 30m by 20m dance floor, with adjacent viewing and ... 
Redcar and Cleveland Council together with Redcar and Cleveland Partnership this week published its latest ‘State of the Environment’ report providing the most comprehensive review of the environment ever undertaken in the Borough. The report sets out evidence illustrating the significant environmental improvements made to the area since the State of the Environment Reports began in 2002. The Council’s Cabinet Member for Environmental Improvement, Councillor Bob Stanway said: “This is the third report produced in partnership and we’re delighted that the work of the Council and the Redcar and Cleveland Partnership to improve our environment is paying dividends. ...
On Friday afternoon, Federal Party Leader Ming Campbell opened the Scottish Liberal Democrats conference in Aviemore. For me politics is about determining what is in the national interest and acting upon it. And we should do it with determination, seriousness and vigour. Liberal Democrats should always see politics in this positive way. We should always see politics as an [...]
Ming Campbell gave the following address at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., as Chancellor of St Andrew’s University. It is a great honour to be here with you today to acknowledge the relationship between two world famous academic institutions. Two universities with a global reputation for academic excellence. One founded in 1413. The other founded in 1789. One situated in [...]
Ming Campbell gave this speech at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy. You can listen to the speech here. It is a great pleasure and privilege to follow the Secretary General and High Representative. It has always been my belief that peace in the Middle East cannot be fully realised unless there is agreement, not [...]
The Guardian reports that Israel’s oldest kibbutz, Degania, has voted, 85% in favour, to abolish the traditional method of contributing all your earnings into a community fund and to replace it with a capitalist model whereby you keep your earnings but pay for services and pay taxes to contribute to those who are in need. I [...]
Trust in Wales Ymddiried yng Nghymru "Let police do their job" - Michael German Release/Rhyddhau: 20/02/2007 Contact/Cyswllt: Marie Concannon on 02920 898426 Fears over the future funding of Wales' police are undermining confidence in community safety, Mike German warned today. Mr German said: "North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom has warned that the government have not committed to fund Police Community Support Officers beyond March 2008. "Already, Labour broken their manifesto commitments and reduced the number ...
I have this great little Google widget that tells me various things that happened "today in history". Some I couldn't care less about: "High-school valedictorian, actress and model Cindy Crawford born" But others prompt a wry smile... Apparently, today in 1648, the House of Commons voted in favour of a motion condemning the House of Lords as "useless and dangerous". Oh the irony! After yesterday in their lordships house, much as I loathe the whole disgusting setup of cronyism, patronage and heredity, it seems that they would be the ones today able to vote with some confidence that the ...
The Attorney General has decided to act on John Hemming's concerns about criminal proceedings in which Dr. David Southall did not reveal to a court that secret medical files existed on suspects. The link above is to his letter to John Hemming sent by fax this morning. In a written ministerial statement to the House of Lords today, the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, said: "It is said that
The Bonham Carter family can boast having had three life peers appointed in the past half century; Asquith’s daughter Violet Bonham Carter in 1964, her son Mark Bonham Carter in 1986 and her granddaughter Jane Bonham Carter two years ago. Naturally, all of them were Liberals (or Liberal Democrats). Can any other family have been so proliferant in producing peers? If you're a real politics geek and actually know, do pass it on...
A new Subway opened on Wokingham Road, about five minutes from my house, today. They were doing free lunches, 12pm - 2pm. Here was the scene when I arrived at 12.30pm: Click to enlarge Needless to say, I didn't get a free lunch.
It appears that the Conservative revival in Wales has started to stutter to a premature halt. First, there was the debacle that is Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire and now a prominent Young Conservative, Monmouthshire activist and blogger has packed it all in, citing control freakery and being taken for granted. James Skinner, who has been on my blogroll for some time, has announced on his blog that he is quitting the Welsh Conservatives to go independent. He tells us that promises made to him by prominent Conservatives were not fulfilled and that attempts were made to censor what ...
Paul off of Hot Ginger and Dynamite has tagged me with ye olde book meme. 1) Grab the closest book to you. The nearest two books are software manuals, but neither of them has normal page numbers. Looking further afield, I have found a book in the nearest cupboard. (The other option was the big dictionary I [...]
To a certain extent, from a certain point of view, adverts on BBC.com are a good idea - as long as they can only be viewed by international users - after all there are already adverts on BBC World, BBC Entertainment, BBC America et al. It would also help towards paying for the BBCs bandwidth bills [...]
Was the Downing Street road-pricing petition an own goal? Personally, if I was organising a mass campaign against road pricing, I'd be kicking myself. A political campaign gathers momentum when people talk about it to one another. Occasionally, something happens spontaneously when enough people have the mood that something's wrong. It happened over the Iraq war in 2003 and it happened with the fuel protests in 2000. It happened in the 1997 General Election. Any campaigner - party-political or not - tries to make the circumstances right for momentum to happen, and tries to harness it when it ...
I have been meme tagged by Hug a Hoodie. The instructions are as follows: 1) Grab the closest book to you. The Peloponnesian War by Nigel Bagnall, which I am borrowing from my flatmate. 2) Open to page 123, go down to the 4th sentence. Okay… I haven’t got this far yet, so I’m spoiling it rather. 3) Post the text of the following 3 sentences on your blog. This happy domestic situation, however, did not extend to the Empire, where there was unconcealed anger amongst the allies that their tribute for common defence should be so flagrantly misappropriated ...
There was a website around a while ago that claimed to tell you how many of ‘you’ there were in the UK - I was the only Robin Fenwick. But it isn’t true. Facebook reveals there is another Robin Fenwick. Also in London. Roughly the same age… but fitter than me, damn him. I do hope he [...]
Okay, okay, I have to admit that it is too sad for words that the first thing I thought when reading this piece by Nick Assinder, remarking on how David Cameron looks like Data from Star Trek, was: “Amateurs. Anyone can see that is clearly a photo of Lore.” I know. I’m ashamed. Share This
Ming Campbell re-launched the Scottish Athletics ‘grass roots’ sports programme for youngsters at Bell Baxter High School in Cupar in February which was attended by dozens of local primary and secondary pupils at the special event. He is pictured with the Great Britain hurdler Allan Scott who competed at the World Championships in Helsinki [...]
Home Office reveals that there were 439,000 checks on phones and e-mails last year. The Times writes: "In the first report of its kind from the Interceptions of Communications Commissioner, it was also revealed that nearly 4,000 errors were reported in a 15-month period from 2005 to 2006." "The disclosures came as Tony Blair admitted that the fingerprints of everyone obtaining identity cards could be checked against nearly a million unsolved crimes." There are no guarantees for citizens, perhaps John Reid might like to watch Yes, Minister's Big Brother episode for some ideas. In the meantime, we, spied on ...
Aaaargh! So now we know, what's in store for us if we sign up to a 10 Downing street petition. Yesterday, horror of horrors, I got an email from Tony Blair, making the case for ID cards. I have so far resisted the temptation to clamp my hands over my ears and sing 'I'm not listening, I can't hear you, la, la, la...' and despite the rather scary proposition of the police 'fishing' for
Yes and no. The last six months have admirably demonstrated why I don’t “do” polls. We’ve been down four here, down three there, up seven here, down two there - a veritable roller coaster ride, all on the back of… very little. It’s been a remarkably stable six months in the life of the party. [...]
Lech Walesa may be in many ways a flawed man- certainly his strangled syntax in Polish contributed to his demise as President- however he has never lacked courage. He climbed the fence of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk in 1980 and led the strike that brought free trade unions to Communist Poland and ultimately created the conditions for freedom across Central Europe. Walesa was arrested during the crackdown that led to martial law in 1981 and spent a year in gaol. He was and is a genuine hero for a lot of people across the world. Yet ...
Another reason to love the Wii comes via BBC News: "A study by Liverpool John Moores University found regular use could help shift 27lb (12.25kg) a year. The study was carried out to establish whether computer games can contribute to the daily activity recommendations for children. The researchers compared activity levels during gaming using the Wii with those achieved using traditional seated
I am grateful to James Graham for drawing my attention to this quote from Danny Alexander: “Nationalism is about building up barriers between people, liberalism is about breaking those barriers down.”
Later than it should have been but earlier than expected I saw The Queen last night with Kate. I must admit to being a little disappointed, Helen Mirren was great but I the film was hyped so much that my expectations had been raised.
I’ve been reading up on the current net development buzz - Microformats. If you use the blogroll / links feature of Wordpress, you’ll already be familiar with an elemental microformat standard - XFN, the Extended Friends Network. When you create a link in your blogroll you can add all sorts of XFN parameters to indicate how [...]
I’ve been alerted by Devil’s Kitchen of this article on the BBC news website. It concerns M. Maurice Papon, who in 1998 was convicted of crimes against humanity for his role in the arrest and deportation of Jews during World War II. He also served in the French civil service in Algeria during the Algerian War [...]
This quote from Nottingham South Labour MP Alan Simpson says everything you need to know about the majority of Labour parliamentarians: "There are good people in the Parliamentary Labour Party b...
How many times can one party introduce the same policy? This morning's promise by Plaid Cymru that they give every 11-year-old a laptop computer is by my reckoning the third time it has been announced. I have to say that this is not how I would have approached the issue of rolling out new technology to youngsters. Apart from the child protection problems of young people accessing the internet without supervision, there are also issues of value for money and questions about effective educational outcomes. Essentially, it is a gimmick. If we are going to invest a large ...
Can someone with more background in the voodoo of oil economics explain how the London-Venezuela oil deal actually adds up? Just a few queries in my mind, let us say. In the real world of refining, you don’t get your oil just from one hole. The quality of oil from different fields varies tremendously. Libyan crude for example has a low level of impurities while Venezuelan crude is loaded with impurities. I have heard that this makes it possible to use Libyan crude in rugged diesel engines without further refining – so for example Ghadaffi in the ...
John Redwood is known chiefly for three things in Wales: his patronising and incompetent attempt at singing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau at a Welsh Conservative Party Conference; sending a substantial chunk of the Welsh Office's budget back to the Treasury, unspent; and his attack on single mothers on a visit to a Cardiff estate 14 years ago. He is also known of course by his nickname, the vulcan; for announcing his challenge to John Major as Leader of the Conservative Party whilst surrounded by various exotic members of the Tory Parliamentary Party; and for never spending a night in ...
According to the BBC researchers are to carry out the first detailed survey of the Great Wall of China to establish just how long it is. I walked an extremely small section many years ago and it is a very impressive structure. It amazes me that we do not know how long the wall is - we only have an estimate of approximately 3,100 miles. The study will go on for four years and will check the exact route of the wall as well as its length.
Call me a nostalgic old fool, if you like, but I just feel like wishing actor Mr Sidney Poitier a very happy 80th birthday. As the NewJersey Star Ledger says of him: He was the right man in the right place at the right time. And he had a perfect right to be there. African-Americans in Hollywood had been rarely feted, but Poitier's talent and integrity could not be denied or deferred.
When I worked with Cornwall Enterprise (in Marketing) one of the things we were developing was the brand for Cornwall. Carrying out research into what Cornwall actually means to residents, businesses and visitors was a really interesting research project and one that I was proud to have played a part in. The image you see on this post is the finished product. It was imperative that it incorporated the flag of St Piran as it is such a recognised symbol of the county. I am even more delighted to announce that my business has been awarded the brand, and ...
Sunday: Lord Blairimort was on Mr Andy’s breakfast show, and was asked whether he was ever SORRY for all the people who were dying in Iraq. Lord Blairimort said how very DEVASTATED he was, but that it wasn’t British or American soldiers who were killing them. “Look Andy… clean conscience, carefree laughter, sociopathic twitch… not my fault, guv,” And then he got to sit on the comfy sofa with one-time credible anti-war songmeister Art Garfunkel and joke about doing a duet together. I think I can suggest a song for them… [tune: “Mrs Robinson” ...
I am very grateful to the Norfolk Blogger for highlighting the US plan to bomb Iran. I really do hope and pray that: (a) George Bush runs out of time in office before he gets anywhere near to bombing Iran. (b) The new Democrat majority in Congress stops this nonsense. (c) President Ahmadinejad continues to be pressured by moderates to draw back from confrontation. The chilling line in the BBC
I know that lots of Hooting Yard readers are keen entomologists, and I do not want to find my postbox clogged with letters asking me about the venomous beetles mentioned in the item below entitled One In A Series Of Hiking Pickles. Let me make it crystal clear, then, that I was referring to blister [...]
The Guardian says: Biologists are concerned about orange roughy, grenadier, deep-sea rockfish, oreo and Patagonian toothfish among others.But there is a clear winner: The orange roughy is so slow growing that it is not sexually mature until 34 years old. It can live to 150. | < | February 2007 | > | ||||
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