The Clothworkers’ Hall off Mincing Lane is one of the newest livery halls in the City of London, only opening for business in 1958, but it’s the sixth estabishment on that site run by the Clothworkers’ Company since the 15th Century. Such a venerable tradition made appropriate surroundings for the annual meeting of Friends of the Elderly (FOTE) at [...]
See the filming of Atonement and the locals who took part in it through the eyes of an award winning professional Teesside photographer who visited the set. The Bellamy Pavilion at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's Kirkleatham Museum is hosting the exhibition from April 7 until June 10 featuring photographs of the making of the movie by the 2006 UK Events Photographer of the Year, Pam Ainsley. Pam visited the Redcar on three different occasions during filming, taking snapshots of activity on the set as it happened from people's living room windows overlooking the set and the beach ...
We all know that Hollywood films of the 1940s were sexy while their British counterparts were more concerned with cups of tea, don't we? Not a bit of it. I once wrote about A Matter of Life and Death and mentioned that it was cut for moral reasons when it was released in the USA as Stairway to Heaven. Now I have discovered that another of my favourite films of the period, Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol was also trimmed for the American market. Betsy Sherman wrote at the time of the film's revival there last year: ...
Friday 30th March 2007 - Another evening of Pizza & Politics for Team Karim, this time on Merseyside with Wirral West Lib Dems on the subject of climate change. Local members had recently watched the Al Gore movie An Inconvenient Truth so it was good to follow that up with a discussion about climte change and what we can do to address it. Indeed we even had a good debate about the topic
The Conservatives have been making, or attempting to make, a story out of 10 Lib Dem councillors defecting to them since Cameron took the helm of the Tory ship.So I had a phone call from from Lib Dem Communications Director John Oates asking me for the figures of councillor defections going the other way. The answer I came up with was 11 going over to the Lib Dems since September 2005 when the 
Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. If there had been room I would also have had a go at the Labour backbenchers (Simon Carr calls them "bench-monkeys") who cheered Brown's tax cut and asked why no one would tell jokes about Hitler as lightly as we now tell jokes about Stalin. Presumably it is more acceptable to be a mass murderer if you are a socialist. How to Budget The old hands say the initial reaction to budgets is always wrong. A chancellor who is unpopular on the day will turn out to be right ...
News that the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, has had 17 patients die from the superbug C-Dif once again brings home to us that the NHS does not seem to have got control of hospital acquired infections. Read about the latest outbreak HERE. The questions the NHS does not seem to have answered is why is it so common in the UK, but not in the rest of Europe ? I head on the radio recently how in The Netherlands it is routine for a nasal swab to be taken to check for some superbugs upon entry ...
It’s Friday night, which means it’s time for a YouTube clip. Everyone has, I’m sure, by now seen the excruciating clip of Karl Rove rapping at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner. Please look away now if easily distressed by the sight of white, middle-aged guys in black tie getting down (as I believe the young people’s argot has it): it’s HERE. And they said satire died when Henry
Had a very helpful meeting with Perth Road area tenants - who are threatened with eviction - last night - reported in today's Courier - hope to meet with landlord's solicitor (and tenant reps) w/c 10th April.Tonight's Tele had an article about my concerns about the problems facing residents in the Pentland area getting parked and also my letter about tackling litter problems in Nethergate.Spent the day helping Dundee East colleagues campaigning although pleased also to hear from 2 Logie Estate residents about graffiti removal and bins issues.Lastly, the new Greenmarket Car Park is opens on Sunday; click on the ...
Will posted that Alex has posted that stuff was available either via red or 301/302/303 but I can’t find anything, however I’m guessing they were on about this oohoohoooohooooooooooh
Sorry to keep returning to the subject of poo this week, but I thought this one needed a slight follow up. Postapoo issued a press statement on their website yesterday for a couple of hours, but it quite quickly disappered. But their defence, which you can glean from news stories, is that a) they’ve never [...]
You wait ages for a member of another political party to cross the floor and join you, then two come along. Following last week's move by Councillor John Hanley to the Liberal Democrats, Council...
Lewisham Lib Dem Council Group Leader Mark Morris is running the London Marathon for the Lavender Trust for Breast Cancer Care. You can join me in sponsoring him here.
Last night saw the final few St Mary's Focuses distributed. We bumped into Labour leafleters at one point. Labour's Cllr Gibb and her campaign team were out on the same streets. We don't see them very often during the year when we leaflet, so it's nice to see them out and about - it's re-assuring to know that we haven't got the dates wrong and there really is an election coming up! So tonight
With the capture of 15 British sailors close to the Shatt al Arab waterway a week ago Britain is likely to see its so called special relationship with the US under sever strain. It is more than possible that Iran, far from trying to challenge British cartography is instead trying to demonstrate to the UK the dangers trying to sell something that you don't have, in this case influence in Washington. It seems to be beyond doubt that that the British sailors were in fact in Iraqi waters at the time of the incident, which leaves one asking why ...
While we wait to find out if the Labour Party will return money to putative peers, and David Cameron will return the money obtained from misuse of his office, the Lib Dems have decided to return a donation that broke the rules. According to the Guardian: The Liberal Democrats have agreed to repay a £40,000 donation, the [...]
I just came across a petition to regulate the practice of Islamic Halal slaughter to prevent animal cruelty, which was rejected by the government. Normally, animals must be stunned before they are killed, but there is a religious exemption for Jewish and Muslim slaughterhouses on the grounds of their beliefs - even though the same advice says "the Government would prefer that all animals were stunned before slaughter"! The intellectual case has obviously been won, but the political one clearly has not. So, you are required by law to treat ...
While we wait to find out if the Labour Party will return money to putative peers, and David Cameron will return the money obtained from misuse of his office, the Lib Dems have decided to return a donation that broke the rules.
Friday: And the PRIZE for the WEIRDEST place from which someone has followed a link to my Very Fluffy Diary, so far, goes to… Google search for "how to build a dirigible in your own hat without a paddle" where The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant came out third! This has been my 400th diary and is brought to you by the miracle of MyBlogLog! PSNever mind that; read THIS! Millennium points a fluffy foot – Daddy hops to it! PPSOne day to go!
The BBC brings news that all team sports in Greece have been suspended for 2 weeks! This follows outbreaks of violence following an athens derby volleyball game.
Iain Dale is right that the Tories were stupid to start saying that they were trying to attract defectors. But I find his writing rather like a self-justifying fantasist where he writes: Oaten came very close to defecting to the Conservatives in the autumn of 2005. As Lib Dem home affairs spokesman he was frustrated by the party's opposition to his tougher approach on crime, and, in particular,
Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell this week met with a delegation of Gurkha veterans in Westminster, and backed their ongoing campaign for fairer pensions. Menzies Campbell called for an immediate review to deliver fairer pensions to the many Gurkha veterans on low pensions or no pension at all.
Great news yesterday, as my appointment as Co-Chair of the Foreign and Military Policy Commission of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) was confirmed. As a result, I shall be in Washington, D.C. from June 21 to 24, attending the 60th Annual Convention of this august American liberal group. Those of you who know me will be slightly puzzled on a couple of points, i.e. I’m not American, and I don
Daily Post Letter 30.3.07 Dear Ed, Dylan Jones-Evans the professor who wears many hats! States that Pensioners in North Wales deserve the truth in your letters page March 27 th. Well Mr. Jones let me give you and the North Wales Tory's and the Voters the truth and nothing but the truth with regard to your party not practicing what it preaches in our beloved north Wales. Mr Jones says that the Welsh Tory's will give every pensioner household a £100 rebate in Wales, wrong in Prestatyn the local Tory Councilors have inflicted a Budget busting ...
All nominations by Sunday lunchtime please. 
The 3rd Annual International Day Against Homophobia is on 17th May 2007. To help support this and assist them in their aim of Getting a UN Resolution for Decriminalisation of Homosexuality, we have submitted the following petition to the PM Tony Blair, on the Number 10 website; http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/IDAHO-Petition/ "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Campaign to the UN for a UN Resolution for Decriminalisation of Homosexuality. On the 17th May 2007, an International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), will again be campaigning for Governments across the World to petition the UN to bring forward ...
I am delighted to endorse Lorraine Horgan, a local community activist and Hartcliffe resident who is standing in our area for the Liberal Democrats this May. Lorriane is the Local Choice....
Best wishes to him on his 90th. A master of the one-liner and an icon of 70s politics- just a shame that the 1970s was a dismal decade for politics in Britain which produced a string of very clever people who proved very bad at running the country. Can’t disagree with his view of Tony Benn, [...]
Spent part of yesterday morning at a site visit in Speke. I had called for this a while ago - it takes a while to get the right people - but yesterday everyone was able to come. We were looking at a particular anti social behaviour problem near St Ambrose Church. Its not just the church that's affected, its the residents too. I was joined by (among others) two police community support officers, the local parish priest, an expert on community safety and a group of residents. We looked at what the options ...
As I’ve already mentioned I have a crackpot consipiracy theory that this whole ’sailors in Iran’ thing is a ploy by the British and American Governments to find a legitimate way of launching an attack on Iran - but thats probably just my own screwed up mind. However, whether sent there on purpose, in Iranian [...]
What a bizarre article by Iain Dale! First, he makes a big deal out of the fact that Mark Oaten, apparently, came “very close” to defecting to the Tories in Autumn 2005. Work that date out in your head for a minute. Posterity records that Mark Oaten wasn’t exactly of sound mind at the [...]
One of the arguments I’ve come across against choice and a market in education is that some parents won’t make use of that choice. This may be true, but there are several problems with this line of argument. Firstly, if some don’t make use of their ability to choose the best school for their child then why [...]
This Sunday I'll be on The Westminster Hour again: Radio 4, 10pm.
Be careful what your friends post. Incidentally, if you use MySpace / Facebook et al there is a school of thought which suggests that under the principle of better safe than sorry, you should consider putting an imprint on your profile page.
Ian Dale helpfully points us this morning to his piece on defections in the Daily Telegraph. He’s probably right insofar as the Tories have largely blown any distant hope they had of attracting a major defector. Most Conservatives will agree that George Osborne’s idiocy is largely blame (whereas most Lib Dems will argue that the whole thing has been a least partly concocted by wishful thinkers). Anyone who has read The Ashdown Diaries will be aware that securing a Parliamentary defector requires a somewhat defter touch than George the transvestite marionette has displayed. Anyway, I raise the article to ...
First Guido makes a fool of himself on Newsnight.
Which Lib Dem MPs receive the most media mentions? If you’ve ever wondered (or even if you haven’t ‘til now) then this is the list for you. The methodology is simple. I’ve trawled Lexis-Nexis’s online database of all UK national newspapers (and a huge number of regional ones), feeding in the names of each of our MPs in turn, and seeing how many returns are generated. I have even - get this for
A number of us predicted at the beginning of the year that the last Assembly Term could degenerate into a verbal bloodbath as parties vied for political advantage in the run-up to the elections. I am pleased to report that for the most part we were wrong and that things did not get too out of hand. Inevitably however, that did not apply to the last week and there were one or two bizarre questions to the First Minister that sounded a bit like husting speeches. A good example was the question asked by Nick Bourne on Tuesday: ...
This morning's Western Mail reports on a scurrilious leaflet, which was widely cirulated around the South Wales West region earlier this week. The paper reports that Welsh Conservatives have referred the malicious pamphlet about one of its National Assembly candidates to the Electoral Commission and to the police. The paper tells us that an anonymously-produced leaflet, sent to AMs, councillors and journalists, makes unfounded personal allegations about Chris Smart, who is second on the party's regional list in South Wales West: The leaflet claims it will be distributed to nearly 400,000 voters in the region.A spokesman for ...
As somebody who grew up in the North I can well remember the feeling that the BBC, our national broadcaster, was really not interested in anything north of Watford. If it snowed in London and the tubes were a minute late it led the bulletins. If we were snowed in up in Lancashire it might get a mention on North West tonight. Hence it was great to see Kevin Marsh (the oddly titled editor of the
Yesterday Iain Dale posted THIS story about Stephen Timms and his fundraising dinners. Today, a much bigger story HERE was in the press about David Cameron and treating fundraisers to perks in his office and from Iain, a deathly silence. Come on Iain, you describe yourself as a "commentator". Even commentaters comment on things they don't like. Don't ever take up sports commentary or we'd never hear when your team loses. P.S. Lib Dem Voice have also taken the issue up HERE.
Despite the furore, and in spite of the distasteful way the Iranians have treated the UK service personnel after their capture, there is, in my mind, the small but growing thought that perhaps the Iranians could be telling the truth. The video today showing the capture of the Marines and Royal Navy personnel shows that far from being planned by Iran as some sort of "honey trap" as the MOD claimed a few days ago, the Iranians were just as surprised as anyone. Although the MOD have provided GPS data, so have the Iranians and whilst I wouldn't ...
Thursday: This week's list of people who have been RAPPED OVER THE KNUCKLES: Mr Balloon, for getting Cash for Access to his Commons Office[*], Mrs Bucket, for getting No Cash for Farmers from their subsidies, and Mr Balloon again, for not getting Planning Permission for his windmill. Perhaps we need a new Ministry of Justice to set up a NAUGHTY CORNER for them to stand in! Oh look, here comes Mr Dr John Reid who is the Home Secretary and Britain's OFFICIALLY nicest man! He has come up with just the thing: ...
...doesn't look very sunny in this picture I took this afternoon, but it really was, honest. Had an alright little trip to Bournemouth - well, aside from watching the Andorra v England game last night. And being surrounded by a team of charity muggers for the whole train journey back. And being disturbed by posters advertising Shane Richie starring in a production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yes, Shane Richie. Although it did come up on my spellcheck originally as Shame Richie. On the plus side, it's only when I'm away for work like that and staying ... | < | March 2007 | > | ||||
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