Now, admittedly, this isn't actually likely to happen, but for those of you who were following the last race for the Democratic nomination in 2004, you'll recall the lingering proponent of what we in Britain might refer to as an unabashedly left-wing agenda, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, from Cleveland, Ohio. Kucinich maintained his campaign long after it was clear that he had little mainstream
Spot what is wrong with this... Adam Smith Institute Blog: Taxing times By Dr Madsen Pirie in: Tax & Economy • I had a piece in the Telegraph business section on Wednesday, comparing Gordon Brown's tax policy with the maxims set down by his illustrious fellow-countryman, Adam Smith. Smith had said that people should pay taxes in proportion to income, that they should be certain rather than arbitrary, that they should fall due when they could conveniently be paid, and that they shouldn't cost too much to administer. I suggested that few would give ...
Twenty minutes into Small Miracle I was wondering whether I had made a serious mistake. I had bought tickets on an impulse, egged on by Charles Spencer's rave in the Torygraph. This comedy about family life seemed rather light and tired, the interfering mother in-law and stroppy teenager standard comedy meme's, with a comedy irishman thrown in. But slowly I was drawn into a play about family,
Making visits around my ward or neighbouring wards in Gateshead to check out problems or issues is something I have done regularly in my 20 years as a councillor. But tomorrow we are doing one with a difference. Through our email newsletter to residents, we announced we are to do a tour of central Whickham on Saturday morning, but we asked people to email me with suggestions as to the locations
The Office of Fair Trading today announced that it was to conduct a review of the UK's house-building sector. One of the aspects of the market it will be looking at is: how land that is suitable for development is brought through the planning process...and...how land with planning approval is converted into new homes. read more
The killers of a man who was "happy slapped", leading to his death, have received a miserly 18 months sentence for his manslaughter. The victim had become the subject of months of abuse at the hands of his eventual murderers, and died after being attacked by them in an attack they had intended to film on their mobile phones. What ever sort of message does this send out to "happy slappers" ? According to the BBC, they will be out in just 10 months.
Just back from the "Save the Tower Arts Centre" demo. A good turnout with 50+ people despite the threatening weather. Mark and Belinda Oaten were both there as promised, along with several Winchester City Councillors and two Lib Dem County Councillors. Lynda & Miles Banister from Oliver's Battery, who organised tonight's demo, have also set up an online petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/
The visit to Microsoft in Seattle was the least useful of the trip. It really was the capital of Geekdom - sorry guys if you are reading this. I can't speak for other members of ...
Try as hard as I might, I can never manage to get myself worked up over the whole civil liberties agenda. So, following Sir Ming’s recommendation, I took myself off to a viewing of Taking Liberties at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. Naturally I approached the cinema with great caution, checking that no-one was on my [...]
What a dreadfully biased and ill researched load of old twaddle ITV served up tonight in their so called news feature "Tonight - Supersize my house". The reporter, Fiona Foster, seemed to lack even a basic knowledge of planning laws. She accepted without question the story from the couple in Calderdale when they said "We knew you could build 20-30% bigger than you have planning permission for" What ! My wife, who is a planning officer was absolutely amazed that this wasn't questioned at all. Just looking at their house you can see it was out of ...
Well, it isn’t strictly true. In reality, National Express who currently run Midland Mainline and Central Trains has not been awarded the new East Midlands franchise, but it feels the same. It is a sad day for a company that has through most of its life been the most reliable and punctual long-distance operator and [...]
A little while ago I spoke at the All Party Group on Overseas Development about the future for international development. It was one of a series of speeches - one each from each of the main parties - and I see the series has now been written up on the ODI blog. Interesting to see how they compare what the three of us all said!
The BBC reports today on the selling of another asset being forced out of the hands of a UK firm by the Russian Courts. In another other country, in any other line of business, this would be called racketeering, extortion, robbery, theft, or just downright gangsterism. however, we let the Russians get away with it. This ought to be a lesson to anyone wanting to do business with Russia. Don't.
I was interested listening to the radio earlier to hear a Church of England priest complaining politely but lucidly about the absurdity of the 16 year old Lydia Playfoot's assertion that she has the right to wear her purity ring in school. The priest stated clearly that there is nothing int he bible that says Christians must wear any sort of garment, clothing or apparel to flaunt or promote their Christianity. Indeed, she highlighted that Christianity is a faith that relies on actions more than gestures, citing that even Jesus spoke of having to follow Roman rules but acting ... 
Mingle2 - Online Dating Hat-tip : Pharyngula
black box election systems could be doing anything
On Sunday at 3pm at Glastonbury, Eric Faulkner will be playing live. He was one of the Bay City Rollers (left as he was then - right as he is now). At Glastonbury he will be singing and playing workers' protest songs, mostly old ones, at least one written by himself. Apparently his father used to play these types of songs. His set will be an introduction, bizarrely, to Tony Benn. Radio Four's
Even people with the most awful reputations are often as nice as pie in their private lives. Apparently, butter wouldn't melt in the mouth of Ian Paisley once he closes the door to the microphones and cameras. On his death earlier this week, Bernard Manning received some glowing tributes from Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Cyril Smith, particularly for his charity work. It should also be remembered
Someone wrote a letter to the Ham&High this week complaining about the planned introduction of emissions-based parking permits in Camden and asking if they were just “one more way to take money from motorists”. As it stands, the answer is a very emphatic no. The scheme is designed to be revenue-neutral. Owners of cars that pollute the most will pay a higher charge and those who have more environmentally friendly cars will pay less. But for me the bigger question is will the policy actually change behaviour? The owners of the cars which produce the most CO2 emissions will ...
I think this paragraph from this BBC story more or less sums up why we're so bogged down in Afghanistan. "It seems strange to plan and carry out such operations that gain ground, only to pull back straightaway, but British forces say they do not have the troops to completely secure such vast areas - and they never could have."Forgive my ignorance, but does this not strike you as the sort of situation that's going to result in constant battle without victory or indeed defeat?
Secular liberals often find it difficult to see why religion matters. But matter it does. Simply dismissing as silly or irrelevant the beliefs of a girl who wants to wear a veil in school or a man who wants to burn the Satanic Verses will get us nowhere. Building a tolerant, inclusive society around a secular state means that atheist and agnostics must appreciate how sincere religious faith influences the life of a believer, just as much as it requires a religious fundamentalist to realise that civil law cannot be based on a holy book. The error many ...
In Ponga, you can recognise the satraps because they wear plumed hats. Or so I am told. In Gooma, by contrast, the hats of the satraps are unplumed, and look like any other hats sported by a million other Goomans. The satraps can be distinguished by their tattoos. Pongan satraps eschew tattooing, which is reserved [...]
This morning was the AGM of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, followed by a regular meeting of the same body. It was good to meet my colleagues on the PTA for the first time, and we talked about many things during the meeting - not least of which was of course the congestion charge proposals. Still no word from the Labour controlling group about precisely what questions people
Home Office Watch has the story. 
Hold the presses. The Ministry of Justice has an official Morris Dancing troupe. Surely the Home Office can’t be outdone by its erstwhile colleagues? Surely a hobby is just what they need to keep them busy and stop them messing so many things up! Suggestions please: what hobby should the Home Office take up? Tiddlywinks? Cheese-rolling? Hat-tip to [...]
A worrying article from The Register here. Quoting Lord Triesman, the Prime minister’s Special Envoy for Returns: In my role as the PM’s Special Envoy for Returns, I have been giving a new focus to this work [returning illegal immigrants] by exploring the scientific and technical options to remove the barriers to removal. With others, we are [...]
I finally managed to get on to the Government's website today which allows you to calculate your carbon footprint. In total my footprint is 6.04 tonnes per year (made up of 2.68 for heating and lighting my home/ 1.42 for using my appliances and 1.94 for travelling). In reality I need to convert my light bulbs to more energy efficient ones, turn off my appliance from standby and although, I do not
The promotional vehicle for Andrew Rawnsley’s Channel 4 documentary on Tony Blair’s premiereship trundles on, today with a quote on the Guardian arts blog: “Of course Peter Mandelson had an almost homoerotic admiration for Tony - it was embarrassing,” opined Bazza in one of his gloriously unguarded off-piste moments.” Greater love hath no man than one who [...]
Labour, last night, won the Hednesford South election on Cannock Chase District Council.
Catching up on various post, I see from the newsletter for former pupils that the late cricket coach Bob Woolmer studied at my old school. Now that I’ve read it, it’s jogged a memory of my dad (knowledgeable about both cricket and my school’s alumni) telling me the same many years ago, when I wouldn’t have [...]
This is my Friday video, it is A Night Like This from the Cure’s 1985 album The Head on the Door. Do not be put off by the outlandish outfits of the band, they did not want to wear them. Thatcher was so worried by the powerful social messages in popular music at the time, that she forced performers to wear ludicrous garmets to detract credibility from their lyrics. She got this hopelessly wrong though, because of course, the Cure’s music has no social messages at all. Apprécier!
Ming Campbell explains what has happened this week: You may have read in the newspapers about how Gordon Brown spoke to me earlier this week about offering ministerial jobs to Liberal Democrat members of the House of Lords. I share his high assessment of the abilities of our parliamentarians! But I have rejected his offer, just as [...]
In January, I posted here on the subject of the proposed Gloucestershire Parkway station. Local Liberal Democrats have been united in opposition to this scheme, the business case for which was based on taking key north-south services away from Cheltenham Spa station (pictured). Not only that, but the plans envisioned the new station being built on greenbelt land between Cheltenham and Gloucester (increasing the risk of these two communities merging together into one urban sprawl). Finally, the plans contained no integrated transport proposals to speak of: lunacy when the new site is too far away from Cheltenham to be ...
From the Hickey column in today’s Daily Express: Just days after the death aged 82 of the nation’s oldest serving MP, Labour’s Piara Khabra, his party is under fire after it emerged that staff were canvassing for votes for a by-election in his constituency even before he had passed away … prior to his death, residents [...]
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has today revealed the cost of damages caused by vandalism to fencing at Coatham Enclosure and the nearby Boating Lake in Redcar. During the last four weeks, the damage and associated work to make safe the damaged fencing have cost £5,686, costs which will now have to be met by Council resources. The fencing has been erected as part of preliminary works by the Council to set out rights of way across the site and prepare the area for the recently approved £95million leisure and housing complex by Persimmon Plc. The net ...
I have been reading the Guardian for 30 years, and as with all things tribal it is a habit that is hard to break. I like the balance of the sections. I enjoy Steve Bell. I read the Monday Media section and the Wednesday Society section avidly. I have been addicted to Steve Bell since the Falklands War. But Polly Toynbee is really grating, not in a provocative way, but in a way that makes me want
The Lib Dems started the week going down a point to 14% in a Sunday Times poll. Since then they have dominated much of the political coverage. The question dominating today's coverage is - was Gordon Brown opening 'a new era in British politics' or 'merely doing the dirty'? The commentators today are split.Michael White believes that Brown's overtures were genuine. He is looking to the future and perceives a time when he might need Lib Dem parliamentary support. ('Dangling the keys to the cabinet')Simon Heffer, in a far fetched but very readable article, says that it was all ...
Our old radical friend Cato had some very wise things to say about power and its nature: We know, by infinite examples and experience, that men possessed of power, rather than part with it, will do any thing, even the worst and the blackest, to keep it; and scarce ever any man upon earth went out [...]
I have some sympathy with this post on Lib Dem Voice arguing that we should rule out coalition with Labour or Tories post the General Election. We have some, perhaps unique, experience of coalition politics here in North Somerset. From 2003 until this year’s local elections we’ve managed to be in coalition with the Tories (for [...]
Shirley Williams was undaunted by three boors plus Tony McNulty on Question Time. Boris Johnson, whom incidentally I often spot cycling in Westminster, did his usual buffoon act which is likeable enough I suppose. The two Hitchens brothers were another matter. Peter's angular features and humourless glare reminded me somehow of Cully in T H White's The Sword in the Stone (look it up boy, look it up). With perfect public-school diction and authoritative delivery, out rolled some absolutely barking mad sentiments, particularly on the sovereignty of states which for some reason he regards as an ...
The Identity and Passport Service (the guys building the ID cards database) has a slogan: Everyone’s unique. Let us keep it that way. Thanks to Ideal Government I have finally realised the absurdity of this statement. Are they trying to suggest that without Identity Cards there would be an outbreak of cloning?
After weeks of waiting, I received the news I had been waiting for last night. I shall be leaving my current job at Land Rover next Friday. I shall blog much more on this subject when I have actually left the company as I have much to say on the current media reports and the long-term [...]
What a crazy few weeks it’s been, blogging hasn’t come close to the agenda! The California trip was as good, if not better, than last time. The highlight had to be the three-day trip to Death Valley, where temperatures at one point were just short of 120F (49C). That experience was incredible, the only way I [...]
A rare and thrilling Question Time panel last night; a battle of ideas and wits. Much as I admire Shirley Williams, I resent her questioning the timing of Rushdie’s Knighthood, and it was proper that it wasn’t allowed to go unchallenged. To see the Hitchens brothers together was very entertaining. Christopher, the intellectual leviathan, shaking with passion and rage at our failure to speak to up for our own values, made great television. British audiences really aren't ready for him, especially since he was happy to berate them and tell them should be ashamed of themselves. He is boorish, but ...
The Western Mail reports on the intervention of 'senior Plaid Cymru figures' in coalition talks between Labour and the Party of Wales. These 'senior' figures include Dafydd Wigley, who believes that amongst Plaid Cymru's demands should be an additional £500m of match funding from the Treasury to assist with the implementation of convergence funding. Other anonymous figures demand STV for local government, a bigger Assembly elected by the single transferable vote, the active participation of Prime Minister, Gordon Brown in a referendum campaign in favour of more powers and the renaming of the Welsh Assembly Government. It very ...
Last night I went to Lichfield, where the Liberal Democrats had a buffet evening with Lembit Opik MP. It was well attended with about 50-60 members and supporters attending, Lembit as normal was excellent. I have worked with the Liberal Democrats in Lichfield for a couple of years now so it was good to see them and catch up - I was particularly pleased to see Marion Bland who gained a Council seat in May just days after her husband - Jeremy - sadly passed away.
The Home Builders Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru have identified the need for another 40,000 affordable homes to be built in Wales. They have told the BBC that fewer new homes are being built in Wales than at any time since World War II. The nub of their criticism is that the planning system is too time-consuming and that not enough land is being made available for development. In particular they are concerned that areas where the demand is greatest are planning a reduction in house building. In response the Welsh Local Government Association has ...
Friday: The OBVIOUS answer is "whatever you want it to be". If you have never HEARD the term you, might think that "canon" means some sort of small artillery gun on wheels, like you might find on a PIRATE SHIP. But you would be WRONG. Because that is spelled with TWO letter "n"s. In fact the "canon" is the bits of story that are considered to be OFFICIAL. As usual, it is the POPE's fault, since it started off by meaning the bits of Catholic Law that met with his approval. Since then, though, ...
A generation ago, the aeroplane pilot and sage Numan asked “Are friends electric?” It was pertinent then, and is perhaps more so now. Over the years, many thinkers have grappled with Numan’s question, but it is fair to say that none has been able to give a satisfactory answer. Much publicity was generated when Pilbrow [...]
And so it was, after seemingly an epic journey, that I made it to Washington, crashed into my lovely soft, fluffy, bed and slept... and slept... seemingly for the first time in weeks. I awoke with that nasty hotel feeling that someone has sucked all of the moisture from your throat but otherwise well, and prepared for an afternoon of politics, American style. This year, for a change, the
The Annual Mayor Making Dinner offers the opportunity for Mayors from the boroughs in which the Signals are based to meet with the Regiment and find out a little more about the Territorial Army. I would like to thank Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Streete MBE TD, for the invitation and to Bella for accompanying me. The evening brought back happy memories of my days in the Officer Training Corps whilst...
There's often talk about the "younger generation" who have only ever known Tony Blair in charge in their political memories. Well, in a way that applies to me too. Of course at forty, I have more political memories than that (including writing, at age 11, to someone called Williams who was in charge of schools at the time, or so I thought, to complain about the discipline regime at my private preparatory school!), but I only really got involved in party politics after the 1997 General Election. read more
Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, was the guest speaker at a Richmond Park LibDems fundraising Midsummer dinner last night at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. Pimms was quaffed, to the accompaniment of a wind quartet, out on the terrace before dinner by candlelight — the latter more a nod to the energy-saving Lights [...]
Just a very short post... Damon Albarn has always been a bit of a hero of mine and I'm going to see The Good The Bad And The Queen on Monday July 9th at the Tower of London. I've ended up with one of my four tickets going spare though. It's a standing ticket, so can just go with any other friends you might have going. Drop me an email (as at top of the page) if you want to buy it. Well, if I can't use my own blog to "advertise"...
As one born-and-bred in Gloucester, I have limited experience of the tolls on the Severn Bridges (the A48 being a wondrous thing, after all). But today, returning to Cardiff from a trip to Somerset, I found the whole experience unavoidable. Or did I? While recovering from my rage at the fact that the cash machines at the last services before the bridge (Gordano, for the record) were going to | < | June 2007 | > | ||||
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