LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Monday 20th August 2007

Vibrator robber jailed

From the BBC. An everyday story of life in Leicester (well, Braunstone): A robber who held up a bookmaker's shop in Leicester with his girlfriend's vibrator has been jailed.Nicki Jex, 27, of Braunstone, Leicester, hid the sex toy in a carrier bag pretending it was a gun, Leicester Crown Court heard. The manager at Ladbrokes in Narborough Road handed over more than £600 in cash when he pointed it at her on 27 December 2006, the court heard. On Monday, Jex, who pleaded guilty to robbery, was jailed for five years.

Ashley Mote, MEP for La La Land Should Resign

I've just taken another look at the report by the BBC of the conviction of Ashley Mote MEP on 21 counts of fraud. I then thought I would take a look at his website and found this bizarre statement: "As is now widely known, the jury in my court case returned 21 guilty verdicts and four not-guilty. "My legal team is already working on an appeal against the convictions. I am told this process may take some time. Meanwhile, I am advised to say nothing more about the case itself. "However, and immediately, my legal team has asked me to ...

Topping ourselves

It’s six months since Stephen Tall brought you the very first Golden Dozen, our weekly roundup of the hottest Lib Dem blog posts in cyberspace. Unbeknownst to us, all this time, James Graham at Quaequam Blog has been keeping score, and has produced a detailed spreadsheet listing who got listed when. It’s an interesting list. Who’d have [...]

Tales from Bearwood Road

What a strange 24 hours it’s been living on the Bearwood Road. Last night I was woken at 2am by a string of burglar alarms (first time in months thankfully) and as I went to investigate, I was offered both drugs and “business” by a charming young lady. Needless to say, both offers were declined. This morning I find out that a shop very close to me was broken into. Incidentally, not the shop whose alarm was going off. Makes me think whoever did it was trying their luck at a number of properties until they “struck lucky”. Then this ...

The Rainbow

If you came fresh to Ken Russell's adaptation of The Rainbow then you would probably think it a great disappointment. But if you have seen some of Russell's more recent films then it probably comes as something of a relief. There was none of the noisy chaos of those films, though we may have had a narrow escape. If one believes David Hemmings's memoirs (always a big if, it is true) then he was called in at the last minute when Elton John dropped out. The Rainbow is a novel covering the lives of three generations, but the film is ...

Blog of the year: have you got your nominations in yet?

You’ve got until 31st August to nominate your best Liberal Democrat blog, the best Liberal Democrat blog from a newcomer, the best blog from a Tory pretending to be a Liberal Democrat, the least imaginative password used for a blog, the most improbable hairstyle sported by a Liberal Democrat blogger and many, many, er…, other categories. [...]

Is this the most cloth-brained sockpuppet ever?

I know what you’re thinking: what could be more ludicrous than the Grant Shapps “1234” affair? Well, fans of hilariously bad attempts to use false identities online, it must be this. First off, someone created an account on Facebook in the name of Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb. They then used this account to create a Norman Lamb group purporting to be from the man himself. This group was, well, rubbish. It plugged another Facebook group critical of Norman and the blog of his Tory opponent - significant signs that it wasn’t real. Having had Norman confirm this, party HQ ...

In memory of John Rubie Dale 1925 - 2007

This post is to celebrate the life of my Dad, John Rubie Dale, who died at 00.45 hours on Saturday the 18th of August 2007. Haven't been up to posting before now for obvious reasons. Dad was born on the 23rd of March 1925 and was one of 5 brothers, one of whom died at around the age of five. Those who survived to adulthood were (in age order) Archibald, John (Dad), William & Robin - Uncles Archie (84) and Robin (66) are still living. On leaving school at the age of 14 he, after several jobs, was apprenticed as ...

Lox of Fun

My weekend featured a trip to Carmelli’s, a bakery of some repute in Golders Green. Apart from its impressively long opening hours, the Carmelli Bakery boasts some pretty incredible bagels. I scoffed back two with smoked salmon, washed down with a refreshing Israeli apple juice. There’s a great post about the place on Londonelicious Foodblog. Whilst we’re flicking around the net, of my posts seems to have found its way into the latest Britblog roundup, which includes a section on cartoons, something I certainly approve of.

The Keeper Returns to the Net

With Cameron back from his holiday there seems to have been a welcome return to focus for the Tories, who had seemed to be leaving an open goal for Brown in Dave's absence. Hopefully they've now relegated John Redwood back to the reserve benches once and for all and are once again up for a fight in the centre ground. All we need now is for Ming Campbell to pull his finger out and it might be a bit like living in some kind of 3 party democracy?

20 Years A Liberal - A Walk Down Memory Lane Part 3

Nice to get mentioned in dispatches again on Lib Dem Voice even if it is suggested that I'm becoming a bit of an old codger! Youth is wasted on the young. Part 2 focused on the General Election and local elections in Birmingham where I sadly failed to make history. It wasn't the end of the matter for me though that year. I still kept on going as an activist helping to get the leaflets out around Perry Barr and helped others in Kingstanding and around the houses to have a go. Before going on, defective memory that I have, ...

No More Pictures with Poor People

That’s just one of many recommendations that have been given to Cameron on Conservativehome about where to go. There is actually a good and varied mix of solutions given to him perhaps representative of how varied his problems are. He seems to me to of now got lost, no longer on a ideological conservative path, but not the compassionate/liberal one he started on whatever it was called or meant to be. All of his policy comities have reported which leaves him the hard place of having to choose policies, and stick to them. While we’re on the subject can anyone ...

Anyone for Tennis?

Redcar and Cleveland Council has installed a new £26,000 playing surface for the tennis courts at Locke Park, Redcar as part of the continuing environmental improvement works. The work has been financed in a partnership with the Council and the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, which complements resurfacing work recently undertaken in Borough Park, Redcar to offer the community free access to the courts in all three major parks in Redcar, including Zetland Park. Locke Park has already benefitted from the building of a new tennis pavilion and seen new fountains installed in the lake, while all the park's paths have been ...

The Tip Top Top of the Top Blogs - half time scores

Now it can be revealed. Over the past few weeks I’ve been compiling a list of all the blogs listed on Lib Dem Voices’ Top of the Blogs. I’ve gone for the simple approach: if you get a mention as one of the top blogs according to the regulator, you get a point. No points for being mentioned as one of the 5 recommendations of either Stephen or Richard (which is a shame, cos, personally speaking, it would have probably upped my score! Thanks you two), and points are blog - not author - specific (which probably slightly disadvantages Stephen ...

True Colours

Having returned to the UK, I take up my reading on the newspapers, with rather limited enthusiasm- I find less and less of interest, and am tempted to limit my dead tree exposure to the Economist weekly round up. However, in my absence, I notice the Conservatives finally seemed to be launching some policies. Well, I actually thought they were and then realised that these were just the usual flyers. So still no actual agreed manifesto is in sight. Nevertheless, it was interesting to take look at what straws are in the wind. The usual bromides about government waste are ...

Maybe I’m just too old…

So, I went to the V festival in Chelmsford on Saturday and caught a bit of Babyshambles, which prompts a question: Given that they sound like a bad pub rock band attempting to sound like the Stone Roses, but failing miserably, why do people persist in pretending that Pete Docherty possesses talent? On a positive note though, Jarvis Cocker finishing his set with a cover of Paranoid was rather brilliant.

Bill Deedes - Darfur is as bad as Nazi Germany

Not being a regular Telegraph reader, I missed Bill Deedes' last column "Darfur is as bad as Nazi Germany" I recommend it. Support Waging Peace in their campaigns to protect the people of Darfur.

BritBlog Roundup 131

This week's selection is at The Wardman Wire.

Tories (and Lib Dems) in a Pickle over Council Tax

Eric Pickles is getting his knickers in a twist about new government guidelines that suggest that “double glazing, central heating and fixed kitchen units” should all be taken into account when adjusting council tax on the basis that (gasp!) they might affect the value of the property. The reason for this doesn’t really have much to do with the general evilness of the government. It has far more to do with the fact that, um, council tax is a tax which is at least supposed to be based on a property’s value. And who introduced this state of affairs? Why ...

Flushing out the Fake Norman Lamb Facebook Scammer

You will have read last week on this blog and others about the Facebook scammer who set up a fake Norman Lamb profile with false and malicious information about Norman posted on it so as to make it seem legitimate and true. The scammer has also set up a series of false e-mail addresses which he or she is posting from in an attempt to pass themselves off as Norman. Mark Pack at Lib Dem Voice and others have been working hard on trying to track the person down, but we need your help too. If you receive an e-mail ...

All quiet on the Western Front

I returned to Britain through the back roads of Northern France. Instead of the speed of the uncluttered motorways, I took it slowly on smaller roads. Just South of Arras I found the first Commonwealth cemetery. Then another, then another, on the outskirts of this unprepossessing northern French town. The winding road from Amiens made Arras seem a long distance, but I suspect that for the Tommys moving up to the front, the sight of each sign post was knell bringing them another mile closer to the mincing machine of the Arras salient. North from Arras lies a ridge that ...

Please god, not another ITV show to be presented by Trevor McDonald ?

Am I the only person in the world who is fed up with Trevor McDonald ? I still remember his dreadful inability to get the joke when he was set up by Noel Edmond's for a "Gotcha" about 12 years ago, and find his whole stuffed shirt persona a turn off on every TV show he is involved with. The problem, for me, is that he reads everything like a newsreader. I know that is what he is, but he needs to be able to turn that on and off, which he can't. Newreaders have to be able to read ...

That AV/STV By-election

Aberdeen UA, Midstocket/Rose Mount Fought under AV. Stage 1 - first preferences: SNP 873 (29.5%;+3.2%); Conservative 821 (27.8%;+0.1%); Liberal Democrat Steve Delaney 693 (23.4%+1.3%); Labour 518 (17.5%;-3.6%; Solidarity 31 (1.00%;+1.00%); Independent 20 (0.7%;+0.7%); SSP No candidate (0.0%;-2.0) SNP gain from Conservative. Turnout 28.6% Last fought 2007. Stage 2 - elimination of Solidarity and

How many Conservative MPs does it take to change a lightbulb?

The Tories never change anything so they would just elect a new leader and stick a photo of a new lightbulb on top of the old one.

Political games

I know that I have a reputation for sailing close to the wind when it comes to working with my colleagues and allies, but even I have never demonstrated the sort of audacity shown by Plaid Cymru AM, Dai Lloyd in tonight's Evening Post. Writing about the decision to allow further dredging from Helwick Bank off Gower, Dai accuses Swansea Council Leader, Chris Holley, of smearing Plaid Cymru: Swansea Council leader Chris Holley (Post, August 16) shows a clear lack of understanding of the Assembly's ministerial process when he criticises Plaid for the decision to proceed with further dredging off ...

Inheritance Tax and the Tories

For a party that talks of 'fair' taxation I hope the Lib Dems [and Labour] will leave any commitments to slashing / abolishing Inheritance Tax to the Tories. Jackie Ashley's views in 'The Guardian' today chime with my own. She says : "While it's true that fast-rising house prices have brought many more people into the ambit of inheritance tax - Scottish Widows thinks up to 40% of households may eventually be hit - this remains a powerful engine of social fairness. Only 6% of estates pay the tax at present, and it puts a modest cap on the accumulation ...

The continuing saga of Newport Station

Despite having been one of those who has missed a train from Newport due to a lengthy change of platform announcement in Welsh, followed by the English, I think that a far more serious concern about this station is its disabled access. Dr Kevin Fitzpatrick expresses his understandable disbelief in this morning's Western Mail that a new platform at the station is inaccessible to disabled people and is likely to remain that way for some time. In fact lifts will be in place in time for the 2010 Ryder Cup, a situation that Kevin describes as putting golfers’ needs above ...

Newquay Fire

With hoax Great White Sharks and an all too tragically real fire, Newquay's been in the national news this summer. But down here we've been talking about the Fire Service for a while now. The LibDem run County Council has a budget overrun of a million pounds, which is a result of the Government's decision to pay firemen more (quite rightly) but not give the Council any extra money to pay for this rise. This cost has to be covered so how do we want to do it? Put it directly on the council tax or lose full time jobs? ...

John Redwood's 'Red Tape'

Aghhh.... in the couple of weeks or so since my last posts 'The Vulcan' has returned centre stage. The only good thing about his return is that it illustrates that the talk of the Tories fighting from the 'centre ground' is just that. talk. What Redwood calls red tape that stymies business, I see social policy that protects people at work. 'Highlights' from the Redwood produced report include : * loosening health and safety regulations * making it easier to sack those in post * opting out of the social chapter and undermining EU attempts to ensure all workers get ...

Another pointless protest

Plaid Cymru MP, Adam Price, threatens to withhold his licence fee this morning unless the BBC put him on Newsnight and the UK National News more often. Oops, that should have read 'improve their poor coverage of Welsh affairs on network news programmes'. It is a bizarre position for a nationalist MP. He wants an Independent Wales and yet he also wants to dictate the policy of the BBC and other broadcasters in England. For the record I do think that Mr. Price has a point but it is not the BBC who are the main offenders. National newspapers such ...

Who is 82.118.116.193 ?

Look in the detail of any email you have received from somebody involved in Norfolk politics (in Outlook open the email then go to View in the top menu, then Options then scroll down the internet headers window, other methods for other email software) Look for the IP address 82.118.116.193 - let's flush this person out! More here

REFEREE!

The decision to drop referee Rob Styles for his errors in the Liverpool vs. Chelsea game this weekend is clearly appropriate since he did make some mistakes. However, this misses the fundamental problem, which is that footballers are overpaid and unbelievably childish and generally make the referee’s job impossible. The sight of a team of footballers surrounding the referee, pushing and shouting at him to try to get a decision changed is just miserable and does nothing for the game. The classic retort would be that the players are just so passionate about the game that they cannot control their ...

How Representative are Lib Dem bloggers ?

A recent comment on my blog described the political balance of the Lib Dem party this way : 'orange bookers' are under-represented among the party activists, but more numerous than the 'beard and sandals brigaders' among the ordinary members and the Lib Dem voters. How would you explain otherwise, that Ming was elected as leader rather than Simon Hughes? And the parliamentary party is divided roughly between 1/4 'orange bookers', 1/4 'beard and sandals brigaders', and 1/2 'unconcerned centre'. Now it is my **perception** that the centre of gravity as expressed by online Lib Dem bloggers over-represents those who put ...

Combe Down from the air

Here are a couple of pictures taken of Combe Down and in particular the Work Site for the Combe Down Stone Mines project. The photo at the top is taken from the South West and the one on the right from the North East, with Prior Park School playing fields in the foreground. Local people have visited the work site and many were pleased to see how tidy the site is. Friends of Firs Field are still asking people to contribute to any changes needed to the Field when we get it back at the end of the project in ...

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Monday

Liberator 320 has arrived in the post. The exciting news is that it is now possible to subscribe online. Full details on the magazine's website. This time I am going to publish Lord Bonkers' diary one day at a time, just as the old boy writes it. It's Monday today, so let's start with... Monday This year’s Uppingham International Film Festival opens today, and I am busy in my role as Patron. We have a particularly fine programme this year; notably, a series of lectures on the Liberal revival of the early 1960s and showings of British Realist films of ...

Proud Neil is ready for the Regent's big day of Atonement

When the lights are dimmed at Redcar's Regent Cinema and the regional premiere of the £28million blockbuster Atonement hits the screen on Wednesday, September 5, it will be an extra special moment for one man and his family. But Neil Bates, once the fresh-faced volunteer who took charge of the reels as an enthusiast teenager and now the manager of the town's independent cinema, promises to do his best to keep control of those emotions. Determined to be the projectionist on the big night, he says: "I'll think 15 years ago I brought the cinema back from the brink of ...

United Nations to Look at UK Childrens Social Services

In an Email today from the secretary of the United Nations Human Rights Committee it has been confirmed that Committee Members will be looking at John Hemming MP's submission about UK Childrens Social Services. John Hemming MP said, "It takes some time to work through different systems of administration. I am pleased that we now seem to making some progress at getting the United Nations to look

GOOD NEWS: GOVERNMENT OFFICIALLY DECLARES NUCLEAR POWER TO BE A NON-STARTER

The Energy Minister, Malcolm Wicks MP has stated that the private sector will pay all future decommissioning and waste disposal costs for new nuclear power stations. As the costs of decommissioning existing nuclear power stations continue to spiral exponentially, it seems a leap of faith even Tony ‘God Told Me To Do It’ Blair would find difficult to make. No private sector company is going to sign up to building a new nuclear power station unless the government promises to dig deep in future. So the nuclear story ends here. Right?

HONEST GUV, WE’RE ALL RESPONSIBLE

With on average 175 knife crimes a day in this country, David Davis has said the government "owes it to the public to take a grip of drink, drugs, and the broken homes that have spawned this plague on modern Britain". In a similarly febrile attack on PCSOs, the Daily Mail has ‘revealed’ that they can each be expected to solve only one crime every six years. It may seem a bizarre leap but this echoes the debate on fly-tipping and waste disposal. In both these cases, commentators berate local authorities for the cost and problems of both fly-tipping and ...

Interesting cycling challenge

A panel on the City Council that I’m a member of has been in discussions with our transport department, and Pedals, our local cycling advocacy group. In early September, councillors have been invited to join officers and local cyclists on bikes around Nottingham city centre to look at good cycle facility design - and also some not so good. I’m definitely interested in taking part, but I don’t own a bike. Not only that, but even if I did, I wouldn’t really know what to do with it. I can’t cycle. I never quite figured out the balancing thing as ...

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

Britain is in a state of anarchy, David Cameron informed us this morning. Bear in mind this is a man who’s visited Iraq and Afghanistan, so he should know a thing or two about anarchy. His comments stem in part from reports of a characteristically astute analysis from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies on knife crime. It concludes: Since it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to limit the availability of knives, and knives are merely a tool used in violent crime, success in fighting knife usage will only come with success in dealing with underlying causes of ...

Rabies outbreak in Shropshire

A rare strain of bat rabies has been confirmed in Shropshire after two people were bitten by a wounded creature. The female Daubenton's bat was taken to a laboratory in Surrey where scientists confirmed the presence of European Bat Lyssavirus (EBLV) - a strain of bat rabies.

Cameron's "fight back"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6954357.stm Well, if his interview on the Today Programme (R4) this morning was anything to go by. This new "fight back" will again be nothing more than further empty words amid the punch and judy politics he was initially so against. Cameron's continuing lack of substance and ability to not just sit on the fence but to contradict himself in the same sentences are now making me quite look forward to hearing him interviewed. He actually makes me laugh.

‘TORY FIGHTBACK’ – NO, REALLY…

So David Cameron is promising a ‘bare knuckle fight' against Gordon Brown. AND tax cuts. AND he'll save the NHS. Oh, and he’s going to stop knife crime. Now, ambition is always to be welcomed and all these issues are important to most voters but what is so clearly lacking from the Conservatives is any kind of clear vision. They simply don’t look like they know what they are doing. This is worth reflecting on as such a question has dogged the Lib Dems for some years. It goes something like this: ‘you’re all very nice but what do you ...

Activist or Councillor

Our party has a habit of finding really good activists and recruiting them to become councillors - leaving them overworked and unable to be quite the activist that they once were. I have been thinking about this a lot recently and am starting to think that maybe if I didn't have my own election to fight I could go and be part of other people's elections - which would be quite good fun. Sometimes, I feel that activists are overlooked and the role that they play undervalued. The fact is that without willing volunteers who would do the envelope stuffing, ...

Imagine relatives trying to explain tactfully how she died !

It is always sad when someone dies, and this is no exception. But for family, a sudden death always needs an explanation of how it happened too. So imagine the problems the family of this lady will have explaining her death.

Who was the person who faked the Norman Lamb Facebook profile? (Updated)

Assemble the following pieces of evidence about the faking of a Norman Lamb group and profile on Facebook and draw your conclusions: a. The fake Facebook profile gave as Norman’s email address norman_lamb - norman_lamb.hat.hotmail.co.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) - norman_lamb.hat.hotmail.co.uk.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) This isn’t a genuine [...]

If there is "no problem" why does Cameron need a "fightback"

For weeks bloggers like myself and journalists have been taking delight in Cameron's woes. Party donors refusing to give money to the Tories, shadow ministers resigning, backbenchers calling for a leadership challenge and the debacle in Ealing over David Cameron's personal choice of Tory candidate blowing up in their faces. Throughout all this period Tory bloggers and David Cameron himself have been telling us all "there is no problem". So if there is no problem, why does he need a fightback ? Dave's fightback is, of course, a return to the old disingenuous past. Promises of things but no way ...

The Times doesn't get PR

There used to be a rather insulting saying about PR systems that "if the Irish could understand it why shouldn't we". The Times' leader article today proves they still can't: Vote of No Confidence -Times Online: This is the nub of the issue. The current electoral system has the drawback of giving the largest single minority at Westminster an extremely large share of political power. Yet proportional representation would mean that much smaller minorities would wield undue influence, as without them it would not be possible to form a stable administration. Would this constitute progress? It is not surprising, therefore, ...

Which Post Offices will be closed?

The Royal Mail is currently carrying out a government inspired demolition job on the Post Office network. Having closed 4000 branches since they came to power in 1997, they now want to close a further 2500. The bureaucratic wheels are now turning and decisions are being made now as to which branches are due to close. We should know soon which communities will suffer the loss of their branch.I

Stuff Not to Buy Online

A survey has found that there are problems with lots of medicine sold online. Not exactly surprising. There is no commercial reason for UK consumers to buy drugs online given the reasonable cost of NHS prescriptions. Sales are instead dependent on playing to people’s insecurities as the internet offers an anonymous channel for those too embarrassed to see their doctor with a weight loss or erectile disfunction problem. But what consumers will get if they buy this way is likely not to be entirely genuine and may even be dangerous. What would be great if everyone did stop buying from ...

The wrong train

I got to Newcastle Central Station in good time to pick up the 8.30am train to London. I got on the train and got out the blackberry to check emails. It was only at 8.35am I checked my watch and began to wonder why we had not moved. Well, in all the years I have been doing the London run, this is the first time I have managed to get on the wrong train. I headed back across the bridge to the main

Those Tory ‘tax cuts’

Guy Herbert has a good article here about how timid the proposed regulatory cuts are and the massive increase in government spending on bureaucracy this country has suffered under Labour. Added with the fact that regulatory compliance costs have not been measured these cuts in regulation are not that big. Given that there is no cut in [...]

Liberal Democrat Federal Conference Agenda published

The final agenda for the Liberal Democrats' Autumn Conference have now been published it can be seen at www.libdems.org.uk/media/conference/br07A&DAgenda.pdf There is plenty to be of interest - speeches by Menzies Campbell, our leading spokespeople and the EC President José Manuel Barroso, the Leader's Q&A hosted by Sandi Toksvig, the policy-making debates, not to mention an extensive and vibrant fringe programme, plus much more:

Phone box update

Further to the blog entry on Saturday about the telephone box on Magdalen Yard Road opposite Step Row being vandalised (click on headline above to read), pleased to advise that BT e-mailed me this morning to advise that they have programmed in repairs following my request.

How many times can the Tories flip flop in the same policy document?

I have been intrigued by the talk from John Redwood and the Conservative policy process about scrapping the Data Protection Act and associated legislation. This sounds like it could be a very explosive proposal, because, although “data protection” is wrongly invoked to justify all sorts of bureaucratic silliness, just think of some of the many good things [...]

Greenham Common - the peace dividend

One of the joys of having stood down as a councillor is that, this summer, I have been able to take several long walks on Greenham Common. It has allowed me to fully appreciate the beauty of this vast natural resource, which we are blessed to have virtually on our doorstep. Recently, I was walking along on the Common and the sun was shining through the clouds so that you could see lots of what

Brown should call early election

Speculation continues that Gordon Brown might be considering calling a snap general election for this autumn. He should. Yesterday the Observer reported that Brown had called for “a detailed blueprint with 'all options' to give him the opportunity of calling an election within weeks.” Whilst acknowledging that next spring still remains the most likely date, they cite factors in favour of an early poll Labour's 10-point lead in the pollsConfirmation from election planners that "All the key campaign requirements - the manifesto, candidate lists, funding and organisation, 'the people, the staffing, everything' - could be put in place"David Cameron's current ...

Social Services taking another child - Another story to shock everyone with kids

This story from Dizzy is self explanatory, but shows how one couple are using YouTube to get the story of their currently unborn child being taken from them across to the wider world. It is quite disturbing. John Hemming MP and Norman Lamb MP have both been campaigning rather publicly about the shocking way that family courts are allowing children to be taken away from parents without the parents seemingly having any power to stop it, even when the social services departments and the social workers have no evidence as to why the parents are deemed a "risk". There was ...

Hurrican Dean - Fingers crossed that the worst can be avoided

I've been watching the progress of Hurricane Dean on the internet and like many worry about the catastrophic affect it may have on that part of the world. I know Jamaica is in imminent and clear danger, but from a personal point of view this touches me because only last year, on our honeymoon, we went to Mexico. The evidence of Hurricane's Wilma and Katrina could still be seen around Cancun airport a year after the previous hurricanes. Trees lay on their side, some buildings were still damaged and hotels were still closed due to repairs. Indeed, one restaurant at ...

Is it true that men who get fat grow goatee beards to give the impression they have a chin ?

I think this picture of Rafa Benitez sporting his new beard is evidence enough to prove the rule. Yes, I know it's nothing to do with politics, but I am an Everton fan.

Monday 20th August 2007

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