Interesting story on Conservative Home reporting on the latest You Gov opinion poll. It not only reports that Lib Dem support is on the up, but it shows people's second preferences. What it clearly shows is that 12% of Tories second choice votes would be for the BNP. No further comment needed.
No, Tebbit hasn't taken it upon himself to openly support those idiots who booed the England football time last week. However, he has come out in support of the BOO group, perhaps better known as the anti EU Better Off Out campaign launched last year by six Conservative MP's. The BBC Reports on it HERE. I wonder how well Cameron will take to this. He may want to see the whole EU debate sidelined, however, he may choose to take on the BOO boys at some point to make a point about the way he is leading ...
New Doctor Who. Brilliant new companion. Rhino-like monsters. The first hint of a new theme - VOTE SAXON. 'It's bigger on the inside'. Perfect telly.
I’ve got to say that I’m very pleased with Freema Agyeman. Possibly because she’s the sort of companion I would hope to be like (except for the being a girl and flirting with the Doctor). And whilst Billie was alright, I never thought of her as great. Now with the online trailers, and the rather long [...]
Labour Councillor and shadow spokesperson for regeneration Barrie Hargrove is under scrutiny this week after an article in Southwark News where he proposes special treatment or acting on 'local circumstances' for allocating social housing. The focus of the article is the case of one family, like many in South London suffering overcrowding. A suitable property became vacant near them and they suggested the Council could solve their problem by moving them in. The Council responded that the property would become available through the Homesearch system that gives all families an equal chance to bid for properties and allocates according ...
For me it's been an exhausting, stressful month, with no time for blogging. But what a wonderful way to end it - with the new Dr Who series. And an excellent start too - the doctor himself in fine form, a great plot, great villain, some nasty neutrals, a sparkling new companion and a hint of long-term theme (Mr Saxon). Things are looking up....
Fair green future Dyfodol teg, dyfodol gwyrdd Welsh Liberal Democrats Assembly Constituency Candidates Mel ab Owain Arfon Mandi Abrahams Ynys Môn Mick Bates Montgomeryshire Frank Biggs Clwyd South Ed Bridges Cardiff North Paul Brighton Alyn and Deeside Steve Churchman Dwyfor Meirionnydd Helen Ceri Clarke Swansea East Simon Croft Clwyd West Hywel Davies Preseli Pembrokeshire ...
Out doing knock-and-drop Crime Survey In Streatham Hill (the first Hill) this afternoon. Despatched from the pub by Lib Dem Opposition Leader Ashley Lumsden to go out with PPC Chris Nicholson and Ashley's ward colleague Jeremy Clyne to the area known as Streatham Village (a very pleasant area, nice mainly terraced housing, very cosmopolitan) Five minutes later Jeremy and I were on a street
Went to the Council's exec board yesterday for the discussion on St Francis of Assisi school. The archdiocese wants to close the school saying there aren't enough pupils there. We (Peter Millea, Richard Oglethorpe and I ) have argued that actually Garston is growing and that we ought to give schools like this some breathing space as we are sure the numbers will return once all the new developments are finished and occupied . (Lets face it everywhere you look in Garston and district there is new build). I am not on the executive board, but managed ...
A great open day at work today. It was my turn to be one of the staff answering questions in the media department - about the various degrees we run, including the two I teach on - Public Relations and Journalism. Lots of enquiries. Lots of visitors. It's really great to meet so many young people at the start of their studies. I hope to see many of the ones I spoke to today either this September or the following year. 
To limber up for the new series of Doctor Who, Richard’s reviewed three recent books on Millennium’s Diary. I’ve been meaning to review the first three Torchwood novels, but – with all those heavy hints that Captain Jack will be back in Doctor Who soon – I decide to think about his series first. Earlier today, I resuscitated my (even more) Who-themed blog to take a look at what makes Doctor Who special. It’s given me a few ideas about the reasons Torchwood didn’t seem as special as it should, and, to my surprise, one of them was Captain Jack… ...
..............they are gay! Earlier this week I was out for a celebratory lunch with my work pal Martin. Because we both travel a fair bit with our work we haven't had a good catch up for weeks. We swapped notes about what we had been up to. Martin told me how, last Friday, knowing his partner had had a hard week, he had........run him a bath...... poured him a glass of champagne and placed it by the said bath...............filled it (the bath not the champagne!) with flowers and had strewn flower heads from the front door to the ...
On cue, following my discussion of science and politics, which noted the similarity between global warming deniers, creationists, anti-vaccine and anti-animal testing movements and so on, I find the blog denialism.com, dealing, in some detail with much the same issues, with a couple of differences. In particular denialism.com deals with the methods of denialists: conspiracy theories, selective
I was at another School Council on Friday, this time at Fern Hill in North Kingston. First I sat in on a very well structured School Council meeting. After that, some more Year 5 and 6 pupils joined us to ask me about my role. Then they got down to business and talked about how the area where they live could be improved. I jotted down a lot of very good ideas and will now relay them...
James Lloyd (some readers may know as former NUS National Secretary) has taken up the People & Planet Low Carbon Challenge of travelling to Tromso in Norway (via Germany and the G8) to compete in the Midnight Sun Marathon 2007. 
The activity centre for older people at Devon Way has attracted 100 members since it was opened just before Christmas. One of the huge advantages of having it in the same building as the youth centre is that it is possible to bring young and old together. On Friday, children from Lovelace School next door and St Philips joined the regulars for an Easter Parade. And they all brought...
I got home from Maidstone to find the latest assortment of lies, misrepresentations and evasions on my doormat, otherwise known as 'East Dulwich Rose'. The claim that Liberal Democrats voted against local ward-based police teams gets another airing, despite the fact that not only the Liberal Democrats but the Conservatives included sufficient funding for such teams in their alternative GLA
... Maidstone and The Weald Liberal Democrats, announce that the votes cast for the selection of a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate are as follows... It has been some time since I got to say that, and I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get the chance to do so. However, the morning went very well, and we now have a PPC in place for this potentially quite promising West Kent seat, where
... I was on a train heading towards Maidstone. I'm not really an early morning person but I made an exception for the husting meetings to select a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Maidstone and The Weald. I have to say that the West Kent countryside is quite pretty, and the field of deer near Kemsing was a pleasant surprise, although it isn't God's own county (Sussex). I even managed to
Wednesday evening saw this faceless bureaucrat in Bexleyheath, attending a Bexley Borough Liberal Democrats quiz night. I'm the Regional contact for Bexley and neighbouring Bromley, so it was an added delight to be able to catch up with Grace Goodlad (pictured left), the new Chair of Orpington Liberal Democrats. Naturally (!) with all of this talent on our team, we overcame a slow start to sweep
My older readers may recall that when Bernie Winters's double act with his brother Mike split up in the late 1970s, he took to appearing with his dog Schnorbitz. Wikipedia records: Schnorbitz once fell into a swimming pool at Terry Scott's house, only to be rescued by Barbara Windsor.Aren't show business people lovely?
There is a lot of talk of a 'serious' challenge to Gordon Brown. I personally think this is wise. When the Lib Dems were choosing a leader to replace Charles Kennedy I said that an election is a good thing. It, the election, gives a chance for members to influence the future direction of the party and also to test the candidates to identify their strengths and to find out how they are hoping
News from across the pond that a gallery has decided to pull a chocolate sculpture of Jesus from an exhibition, after complaints from the right wing "Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights" that this was "hate speech". The League appear to have got their knickers in a twist because the Sculpture was naked and 'anatomically correct'. Please take the standard rant against religious
It seems that David Cameron is not the only Tory leader to be having problems with his grass roots if this letter in the Western Mail is anything to go by: SIR - Although I am a Conservative I cannot share Nick Bourne's enthusiasm for devolution. Mr Bourne and his gang in the Assembly may have embraced devolution but most party members here in South East Wales have not. It is pleasing that the party has put forward policies on the health service and education, although these can easily be delivered by a Conservative government at Westminster. I do ...
Maybe an over analytical review, but it got me thinking, so here goes: Who’s who in this? You’ve got the newcomer, sweeping into town and seemingly able to read the whole game board and develop a strategy to deal with half a dozen intertwining situations and still maintain his cool and calm exterior. Quickly establishing a rapport with a range of very different characters, and establishing a team of loyal lieutenants to help deliver the strategy, up against the angst and personal issues that are brought into play by half a dozen other ‘players’ who are all ...
A little light relief for the weekend. I’ve been reading David Steel’s party conference speech from 1976, as you do: I have been leader of the Party for less than three months. During this short period I have not lacked advice on what I should do … These submissions have ranged from the useful through the exotic [...]
Margaret Becket is the latest senior Labour Minister to urge David Miliband not to stand in as many days. Since standing is only part of the democratic process, what harm can it do to Miliband or Brown if he does stand ? The truth seems to be that some Labour MP's are starting to wise up to the fact that a brown government may not see them win the election and whilst senior ministers who have nailed their colours to the Brown mast probably have safer seats and are less concerned about their jobs labour backbenchers want an alternative ...
The Express & Star website lists details of job opportunities available at Aston Villa now that Randy Lerner has settled in. There’s nothing unusual here for a commercial business, which is what most Premiership clubs operate at these days. So you would think that a club the size of Aston Villa already had a “business [...]
Kudos to Nick Clegg’s Home Office Watch for spotting an article in The Register, which reveals the UK was planning to implement a border control system that could make entry on a copied biometric passport easier. Now what I’m not saying is this will result in millions of forged biometric passports causing havoc on these shores. [...]
From this week's Times Higher Education Supplement: Social taboos and a lack of funding have turned parts of the multi-billion pound global pornography industry into no-go areas for research, scholars said this week. Academics spoke to The Times Higher about the difficulties of teaching and research in the field. They argued that there was an urgent need for more critical engagement with pornography. It is a tough old world.
Last week I went to see a gentleman about a housing problem. Its to do with a housing association rather than the City Council. Without going into details, because that would involve personal information about the people concerned, its a clear example of an issue that can only become more relevant. I know from my own time as a wheelchair user, just how impossible seemingly simple things can become. Little barriers are all of a sudden insurmountable. In this case I saw someone living with a disability in premises that just weren't right for that. ...
Doctor Who’s back at 7 o’clock tonight, and Richard and I are very excited. Spring cleaning is rather less exciting, but this seems an opportune moment to collect together all the many pieces I’ve written about Doctor Who here. This may not be the most urgent bit of tidying up my blog needs, but at least it’s a start… It’ll be updated regularly (like the Politics Index, er, hasn’t been yet), and when I eventually get round to updating the Previously… Fun set of my favourite old articles in the sidebar (whoops, still September), I’ll peg it at the top. ...
Hooting Yard’s roving reporter Alasdair Dickson alerts us to this important announcement from the L.I.C.
Barenaked Ladies ROCK. Shame the audience were as wooden as a forest - tapping your fingers on your bottle of stella doesn’t really consitute getting in the mood of things as far as I’m concerned. That is all. | < | March 2007 | > | ||||
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