Dizzy reports on the problem facing Conservative Future. It appears that if you are not part of a Conservative Future clique or part of the trendy in crowd in London then you are nothing at all, and in many cases, even those who fall in to those categories are not up to much either.
To help celebrate Bike Week 2007, Birmingham City Council is helping to organise a Bike2Work Challenge (during the whole week) and a Family Cycle Day in Sutton Park on Fathers Day (Sunday 17th June). The Bike2Work Challenge: Last year, over a 100 residents and workers in Birmingham cycled a stunning 5,500 miles commuting during Bike Week 2006 - the distance from Birmingham to Shanghai! To take
Dear Mr Key, writes Tim Thurn, I couldn’t help noticing that in the piece about fictional athlete Bobnit Tivol’s training regime, Dobson repeatedly refers to “soap flakes in a box”, without telling us which brand of soap flakes the champion sprinter used. This is a pity. I cannot be alone among your readers in having [...]
The future of diplomacy? BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow and West | Primary school wins 'blog' award: read more
Today's House Points column from the pages of Liberal Democrat News. Goats or virgins The practice of offering a sacrifice to placate angry gods or avert natural disaster is deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Back in the Middle Ages, if a town was threatened by a dragon the authorities would leave a goat or a virgin outside the walls to keep it sweet. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this sort of magical thinking accounts for the willingness of so many Labour back-benchers to give up our historic liberties in the face of terrorism. ...
Thought this might make a few people chuckle. Quite a cleverly edited video I thought.
Fellow Facebookers can now interact even easier with the Bury Lib Dems, thanks to our new group on the Facebook site. Just join up and search for Bury Lib Dems, and you can join Councillors and supporters to discuss the issues, say hello and give us your thoughts! This weekend is the Prestwich carnival, one of the highlights of the year locally. There's lots to do in St Mary's Park all weekend,
I've spent a large chunk of today at the hospital with my wife. After tests showed she has high blood pressure, and with her being pregnant, the midwife suspected possible pre-eclampsia, so she was sent to hospital for urgent tests, my school let me go to be with her, and so we've done a lot of waiting this afternoon. At every point of the treatment, the moving of rooms, the testing and re-testing and the several hours of waiting for a room, for equipment and for a consultant, we have been treated really well by dedicated staff who, to ...
Steve, our new councillor and I attended the Children and Young persons Scrutiny Commission on Wednesday evening - where we discussed a range of topics that really need exploring by this group. The problem was as usual, there is a limited amount of time - 5 working sessions - to explore issues although we can use sub-groups to create more space. Outcomes of good committee work can really change
I have had a pretty manic week, augmented by a very interesting FPC meeting on Tuesday evening (I know, easily pleased me - don't get out much!). There was much debate about what our narrative should be, following the production of an excellent paper from one of our FPCers (not sure if I'm allowed to say who and you know I never say anything I shouldn't). One of the points s/he drew attention to was the importance of the leader in any narrative. Thatcher, Blair, now Cameron all have stories which coalesce around them as individuals. And so it has ... 
The housing pressure group Shelter has welcomed the housing plans launched by Ming Campbell earlier this week. The plans would provide a million new affordable homes by 2010. Shelter says: “We are delighted that the Liberal Democrats have now committed to build the extra social rented homes these families desperately need. “Ming Campbell has thrown down the [...]
We in Camden were lucky today - the heavy rain hit further north. But we won't always be so lucky. I'm a big advocate of cycling and cycle lanes as a way to reduce carbon emissions but what happens when climate change floods the cycle lanes as in Cambridge (left)? Will we have to resort to canoes to get around as the people of Hull did (right)? Who will help us if even the AA gets stuck as in Kettering (left)? We probably have ten years to change our ...
This is the first time I have been "tagged" and actually been aware of it and understood what it meant. Quite exciting, then. Thank you, Duncan Hames. Two things of which Gordon Brown should be proud:1. Making the Bank of England independent. It was puzzling where he thought he got the mandate for this from, but it was done at just the right moment.2. Keeping a reasonably steady economic ship -
Whilst I was away there was an excellent article in the Surrey Comet about the fitting out of the theatre. I was privileged to be given a tour round the site last month, and like the Comet reporter had to don hard hat, boots and jacket. Rosie Hoare, the Building Project Consultant, was cautiously optimistic that the programme was running to time. But she couldn't hide her excitement at...
2nd hat tip in ten minutes to Tom Watson (if I do another one it will be a hat-tip-trick). I have occasionally tried to find comparisons of the popularity ratings of current and past US presidents. Unfortunately, the information is often in several different places, making comparison difficult. Hats off, therefore, to the Wall Street Journal, who display an excellent graphic on the subject. It
Hat-tip: Tom Watson. As I mentioned yesterday, David Cameron was singing the praises of flexible working. Meanwhile, the former leader of the Conservatives in Sandwell, Councillor Bill Archer, says it is "unacceptable" for a councillor to have time off due to paternity, launching an astonishing blast of invective: Personally I can’t accept that a councillor isn’t available for duty.
Tom Papworth has tagged me on Matt Wardman's Gordon Brown meme * 2 things Gordon Brown should be proud of. Independence for the Bank of EnglandSticking up to Blair some of the time * 2 things he should apologise for. Funding the war in IraqReaping untold damage on the NHS * 2 things that he should do immediately when he becomes PM. Scrap student tuition feesScrap ID cards * 2 things he
One thing about the BAe rumpus is that we are making some very, very powerful and well-financed enemies with every incentive to encourage unfriendly activities directed at us. For one thing, the company (it seems) is planning to buy US arms manufacturers and move the seat of their operations to the USA. The present publicity is certainly not helpful for any such project. Their gratitude towards us may be limited. Maybe we should be preparing our ground for this. For example by looking at some of the other issues that could be paraded, and making sure we ...
The football fixtures are now out. Wolves kick out the campaign against Watford at home followed by Sheffield Wednesday away, then Blackpool at home. The season ends at home with Plymouth being the visitors.
The previous posting put me in mind of a story that a former colleague of mine used to relate about the ways in which subtleties and shades of opinion get lost amid journalists’ wish to simplify news coverage. In 1990, the Tory Cabinet Minister Nicholas Ridley created a sensation and was forced to resign as a result of accusing the Germans of wanting to ‘take over the whole of Europe’ in an interview in the Spectator. During the media furore over this, one of the broadcasting channels visited Cirencester, in Ridley’s constituency to get his constituents’ views on ...
I was reminded this week, thanks to Labour’s deputy leadership contest, quite what a sham “one member, one vote” in the Labour Party is. Back in 1993, John Smith convinced the party to end trade union block voting in leadership elections and instead allow each union member their own vote in the election, cutting at a [...]
Perhaps the moment has passed, but I have been reflecting on Tony Blair’s ‘feral beasts’ speech. He tries to play the dignified statesman, the ‘pretty straight’ guy, having to do battle with the feral beasts. It seems to be though that it is difficult to think simply in terms of a relationship between politicians and the media, because there is so much overlap between the two. It isn’t just that many journalists seek an alternative career in politics, as MPs or spin-doctors, and politicians moonlight on the op. ed. pages of newspapers and magazines. It’s also that both ...
Step On by the Happy Mondays reminds me of the decade I spent knocking back refreshing pints of heroin in the Haçienda with Shaun Ryder. That’s an exaggeration. It actually reminds me of this song playing all the sodding time in Exeter’s student bar, the Ram. Which is where I would be on a Friday lunchtime if it was still 2003. Which it isn’t. Also, Alex Aldridge’s latest piece for Times Student Law, on the hell of legal exams, is very funny and well worth a read.
The coalition bandwagon rolls on with cracks now starting to show in the Labour Party's facade. On Dragon's Eye last night a number of Caerphilly Labour Councillors expressed their deep disquiet at the prospect of getting into bed with Plaid Cymru. Rather bizarrely, an interview with Rhodri Morgan immediately afterwards had him effectively saying that if he must bring Plaid into government then he will, but he would rather cuddle up to the Welsh Liberal Democrats instead. In this morning's Western Mail Martin Shipton has got hold of some renegade e-mails in which Labour's Lynne Neagle expresses her ...
The papers' World News sections make depressing reading today. The Hamas 'victory' in Gaza is regarded as a terrifying omen for all. The move is a blow to Fatah, Israel, the west's foreign policy and, not least, the men and (especially) women of Gaza. However, as The Guardian points out, the gloom spreads further still: 'The pro-western Arab states, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are devastated by the Hamas victory, which fuels their own fears of domestic Islamist opposition and strong dislike of Iran's role in Iraq and Lebanon.' Little to celebrate at the birth of 'Hamastan''The FT ('Gaza falls ...
You and Yours has mentioned the above APPG, so I googled to see if I could find anything about it. First hit is Stockton’s MP Dari Taylor (who seems to have a huge amount of APPGs in her biography - how does she have time?) She says she dances with the Division Belles. Ho, ho, ho.
I was invited to breakfast at the Tate Gallery yesterday. It wasn't much of a breakfast, just a cup of coffee and a plain croissant courtesy of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Tate Britain. ...
Well we had tickets for the tennis at Calderstones Park yesterday. Guess what - rained off! The organisers have given us tickets for the final on Sunday instead so fingers crossed. 
Good news from Weston Football Club. Not only has relegation been avoided thanks to mergers and financial collapse elsewhere, but the signs are encouraging for the new season. I attended several games at the end of last season and we were pretty poor - not always helped by some bizarre tactical decision by the management. However, [...]
The soap opera that is Leeds United continues. I don't normally believe in politicians intervening in sporting matters and I would not normally be supportive of a Lib Dem MP who was critical of my own team. However, you can see here what I think of our insolvency laws and the current goings on at Elland Road. Now Lib Dem MP Phil Willis has laid down an early day motion in the House of Commons which according to yesterdays Guardian "urges law-enforcement agencies to mount inquiries, calls for greater transparency in the ownership of football clubs and urges HM ...
I am surprised that the Sheffield Hallam University research on unemployment figures hasn't had more coverage. There was a piece in the Guardian earlier in the week, and I have seen bits a pieces elsewhere, but I remember a time when this would have been much bigger news. The research has shown that the real level of unemployment in Britain is almost three times as high as the official one (the count of claimants) and that there has been no significant fall - despite government claims - during the second half of Labour's time in power. ...
I pride myself with occasionally reading The Sun. On Page Three today (honest) they report that Mickey Rooney is doing pantomime in Sunderland at the end of this year. Crikey. Hold on a minute. The man is 86. He is an Oscar winner. He has appeared with Lana Turner and Judy Garland. I would have thought he would like to spend Christmas in a large armchair in LA. Instead, he will be travelling to
Just been down to the newsagents. The Guardian and Indy seem to to be pretty much appropriate, but to my eyes the Telegraph's "Gaza in flames" seems just a tad too gleeful (and no I haven't read what they've written, I am merely passing a comment on the presentation of their front page, which looks to me like the newspaper equivalent of a Fox News channel strapline). As for a reaction to the
I have tabled this edm (see link) That this House notes that in an email dated 24th October 2000, John Radford, Doncaster's then Director of Public Health, described the issue of research on babies by Dr David Southall at Doncaster Hospital in the late 1980s as `potentially a hot potato as to my recall the intervention resulted in increased deaths and didn't have proper consent'; expresses
Yesterday, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Menzies Campbell said Britain needed a revolution in housing. He unveiled proposals for building one million new socially rented, affordable and low cost homes by 2020.
The news that Weston Hospital’s continuing budget deficit will lead to 150 job losses over the next two years is a real worry. Weston Area Health Trust has been in a multi million deficit for each of the last five years and continues to struggle. And its Gordon Brown’s fault, the Labour Government simply doesn’t give [...]
The Sun notes Menzies Campbell's Facebook entry today (can't find it online but read it at the barbers - yes I know - I had to pay a search fee). They point out that "golf" has disappeared from his interests and been replaced by "walking" which it says (perhaps ironically) is more hip and happening. The same political column notes that Andy Coulson and David Cameron are being, inevitably I
Firstly, pleased to note band concerts on Magdalen Green starting again on Sunday - please click on headline above for more details. The Licensing Committee of the City Council yesterday adopted a new policy of restricting HMO licence numbers in any area to 12.5% of housing; a sensible move and similar to the policy adopted for planning purposes last year. I am not a Licensing Committee member but had responded to their recent consultation on the matter, suggesting adoption of a parallel policy to that of Planning's. The only exception to the new 12.5% licensing rule will ...
Tagged by Millennium Dome. 2 things of which Gordon Brown should be proud 1. Being a bit of a wonk. Why does a little understanding attract so much ridicule from people who understand less? A little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but in a PM, less is even more dangerous. 2. Keeping the Tories out since 1997. 2 things for which he should apologise 1. Funding the war on Iraq 2. Failing to
I got tagged by James Graham. But being a terrible recluse with no friends, and having seen almost everyone I know in the blogosphere tagged by someone else, I decided that I would give my response over at Lib Dem Voice. read more
Lib Dems, SNP and the Greens united at Holyrood last night united in rejecting Labour and Tory plans to replace Trident at a cost of £20 billion. The Lib Dems successfully amended the original Green motion to state that Trident should not be replaced “at this time” to allow for the system’s use in future [...]
Lib Dem peer Lord Avebury has been doing some digging, as reported in today’s Indy…
The other day I had some harsh words to say about the out of print pamphleteer Dobson’s song-writing skills. “No one with any sense has ever listened to a Dobson song more than once”, I wrote. Well, it seems I was mistaken. I was rummaging in a satchel that I found abandoned on a canal [...]
Wednesday: “If there have been mistakes, it is usually where we have…” NOT “…listened to the Liberal Party.” Fixed that for you there, Mr Frown. He was in the House of Commons, trying to do a PUT DOWN to Mr Power Cable, but CLEARLY the Gord-zilla had FORGOTTEN that the entirety of his success, the economic stability of the last ten years, is based on his decision in 1997 to do LIBERAL DEMOCRAT policy and make the Bank of England independent. Anyway, there is one of those MEME things doing the rounds like the SUMMER ...
There's a story doing the rounds on the BBC today about teenage sexual health. One thing that keeps being mentioned is that you can't advertise condoms on TV. I'm sure I've seen such adverts in other countries on UK TV programs about funny overseas adverts. read more
Congratulations to Cllr. Jennifer Pearson and Brendan Stubbs (Agent) for their trouncing of the Tories in Warley Ward of Calderdale MBC. A storming 901 majority. The election was postponed from May because of the sudden death of the Conservative candidate Richard Maycock. Results Jennifer Pearson (Lib Dem) 1,319 John Foran (Con) 418 Jenny Carr (Ind) 360 Julie Ann Baxter (BNP) 335 Ilyas Najib [...]
Can anyone seriously doubt that this is a huge and unprecedented juggernaut for change in the way we do all sorts of things, from government and trade to personal friendships and relationships? read more
He washed his boots in the bath with a scrubbing brush. That is what he did when he got mud on his boots. He took off his boots and placed them on a mat and he filled the bath with boiling water. Then he plunged his boots into the bath. He put on a pair [...]
There's a young lady who lives across the street from me and she has designs on me! Nothing untoward in that and Catherine should have limited worries as Felicity, as I've named her, is a smashing wee ginger and white moggy. Two problems: 1. Catherine ain't keen on cats. 2. I'll be moving to Kinross-Shire within the next 12-18 months to set up shop with Catherine. My dilemma: I really love cats and this wee lady is a beezer - she doesn't bother too much with the tidbits which I give her and goes into ...
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I have a particular interest in land value taxation, and housing and land reform more generally. I’m little more than an enthusiastic amateur however at the end of the day, and will happily admit to gaps in my knowledge. I have to admit for [...]
A lot of the debate about black or BME under-representation in Parliament has centred on the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats failure to select more candidates from diverse backgrounds in winnable seats, although Labour are also seen as less successful than they should be given the areas they represent. All parties agree that Parliament, and Councils for that matter, should be more reflective of Britain's diversity and that this would be a good thing. There is some sense of urgency for both us and the Conservatives given we have or have had less BME MPs than Labour, both absolutely and ...
The 25th "anniversary" of the Falklands war brought back home to me why I loathe, hate and despise the Tories and that auld witch Thatcher in particular. You see, it reminded me of what life was like under them in the early 1980's. Hearing her voice, almost from beyond the grave, as she gloried in her decision to send hundreds of British service personnel to their needless deaths or wounds in the Falklands sent shudders up my spine and made me recall what life was like under her Premiership. In 1980 I moved from Irvine to study at ...
Friends of Hooting Yard will be delighted to learn that Frank Key’s latest book has finally been published: “Unspeakable Desolation Pouring Down From The Stars” It’s been a long grind since we began putting the text together, way back in the shivering months of 2006, but our work is complete and we can all be [...]
As intimated in my last post, I attended the Channel 4 organised "Taste of Edinburgh" event at the weekend. Catherine decided it wasn't her idea of a good day out so the party consisted of her Dad, younger Sister and myself. The entry fee of £25 seemed quite steep but it did include £15 worth of tokens to spend in the restuarants, bars & retail stalls and actually proved to be reasonably good value for money. Some 15 Edinburgh restaurants participated, each of which offered 3 taster dishes from their menus. I won't rant on about the whole panopoly ... | < | June 2007 | > | ||||
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