LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 15th January 2008

Tooth Review: 1057 & 1058

{Prog 1057} One of the many things I’ve struggled to get around too after the New Year break is my weekly Tooth Review. A double helping here, and I think I may continue doing them in clumps as I’ve found I tend to repeat myself a lot. Quote of the fortnight: “Great steamin’ arse’oles!” Stickleback in Stickleback. Contents: Both issues feature a Judge Dredd one-off and the continuation of Shakara, Kingdom, Stickleback and Strontium Dog from Prog 2008. {Prog 1058} Covers: 1567 - Cliff Robinson draws a dramatic Johnny Alpha fron Strontium Dog, being lowered into prison to set Billy ...

They Do Things Differently in Hampstead

The Heath Library, a remarkable community institution next door to Keats’ House in Hampstead, was the location for Hampstead and Frognal LibDems’s annual New Year Party tonight, offering a haven from the blustry weather outside. Phil Willis, the retiring MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, was the guest speaker, though ‘retiring’ is the last adjective one would normally apply [...]

The Messiah at Church Langton

Unmitigated England celebrates the Reverend William Hanbury, Church Langton rectory and the performance of Handel's Messiah he staged in the village in 1759: The country lanes were jammed for miles with the carriages of the nobility, and once the hotels in Market Harborough were full, accommodation was offered in much humbler abodes. When the trumpets and kettle drums started up the common people became sore afraid, thinking it was the Day of Judgement.

Small earthquake in Shropshire

Exciting news from the Shropshire Star: there was an earthquake in the county on Saturday. It measured a mighty 1.6 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was somewhere near Pennerley and Picklescott, south west of Shrewsbury. In other words, right underneath the Stiperstones. The paper quotes Julian Bukits, assistant seismologist at the British Geological Survey, as saying it was unlikely that anybody would have felt anything: If somebody did feel it they would have had to be at the right place, at the right time, standing still with no background noise."

Conservatives admit breaking the law over David Camerons free flight

As Newsnight has reported, the Conservatives have admitted failing to declare to the Electoral Commission a free flight David Cameron received in 2005. Edward Llewellyn, his Chief of Staff, wrote to the Commission stating that: Mr Cameron would therefore be grateful if you could please add this to his declaration with the Electoral Commission. Which is one [...]

Fire fighter concern

Ward surgery tonight had no local residents but a serious problem arrived in the form of 2 serving Firemen. There are great problems as the Government has reorganised how the funding is allocated and the Cleveland Fire Authority has been penalised. This is because under the new formula areas that are COMAH (that means lots of high risk chemical industries) and with high deprivation,...

Nick Clegg's speech: 'free schools' may be fine but miss the point about what's wrong with our schools

My decision to spend Saturday at the Liberal Democrat conference at the LSE left me so far behind with other pressing matters that I had no time to blog. I get the feeling that Nick Clegg's proposal for 'free schools' has gone down better with the press and bloggers than it has with the party's local government family. As at least one person pointed out on Saturday, times have moved on since the days when schools were run by overbearing and often inefficient local authorities. These days LEAs are hands-off and light-touch, often merely passporting funds from central government to ...

How hard is it to get the streets clean! Come on!

Tonight was Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP) night, and once again I came away from the meeting feeling more disenchanted and disappointed than anything else. Most of all I was disappointed in myself and the internal screaming I find myself doing when I just can’t help people who come to the meeting so evidently frustrated. Once again there were probably as many people on the top table as in the audience. With so many problems evident across Prestwich, and so many people frustrated at the lack of action on so many things, it’s a bit shame that more people don’t come ...

Michael Portillo and a near-death experience

I've just watched one of the creepiest TV programmes I'm likely to see in a long time, namely Michael Portillo presenting an edition of the BBC science series Horizon. Entitled How To Kill A Human Being, the programme was an examination of whether it is possible to have a humane means of executing people. Portillo examined the methods currently used in the USA - lethal injection, hanging, electrocution and the gas chamber - and found them all wanting for one reason or another. In his search for the perfect method of execution, Portillo himself underwent a series of experiments in ...

And now for some duplicity from McCain

Just to balance out my earlier post about Clinton, here’s an article pointing out the flaws of McCain and his flip flopping…

Organlegging

Blogging in support of Justin, here. Ideology aside, if most people want to have their organs donated after they die, then we should have an opt-out system out of simplicity. Even with some very strong protections (ie. all it takes is a word from next-of-kin to prevent donation) the number of donations would increase substantially. And if you opt out of allowing your organs to be donated, I think that it's only fair that you opt out of receiving organ donations from others.

In Search Of Policy

I’m quite keen on badgering my local Lib Dem party to come up with detailed policies, but these seem to be extremely elusive and difficult to come by no matter which party you belong to (unless you count the BNP’s ‘give televisions to pensioners’ policy or ‘national service with a free gun at the end’ policy) The fact that my local Lib Dems are working on getting policies at all is serious progress (and they are). Calderdale is a strange place for politics, and really no party there has any real plan, any real policies or any sense of a ...

Facebook: a network that isolates

According to Tom Hodgkinson, in the Guardian, Facebook is an isolating bit of software that exists to make money. Well, of course it exists to make money. Why shouldn't it and is this so very shocking or surprising He claims that Facebook is a neocon libertarian product. I studied politics for three years at university. I have no idea what that means. Perhaps I was a terrible student. I understand the words: neo; con; and libertarian. Put them together and I tend to think you end up with confusing and meaningless. I like Facebook. And to counter one of Hodgkinson's ...

Local Government Lecture and Incinerators

Firstly my ClimateCare certificate came through for my latest offset payment. Climate_Care_certificate_Jan08.pdf On Monday I was asked to give a lecture to a group of Austrian business men staying in Bath to improve their English Language skills. The course was being held at the Dukes Hotel in Pulteney Street and had 15 participants from a range of business and mangement...

May The Force Be With You

Sometimes I just dont know who to think is most stupid.Rhodri Morgan himself provided me with a prime example of that just last week. On Thursday and Friday he embarked on what some wags are describing as his Taith Iaith (Tour Of The Language, for those less Brythonically-inclined), a supposed fact-finding tour of North and West Wales intended to discover why those areas have so thoroughly

Homes of the great Liberal leaders

In a feature on famous ancestors of twenty-first century personalities, The Word mentions that actress Helena Bonham-Carter has recently bought the Oxfordshire home of her great grandfather, the Liberal prime minister H.H. Asquith. I imagine this must be The Wharf at Sutton Courtney (pictured right). Despite his image as very much an establishment figure, Asquith came from a relatively modest middle-class background and was never particularly wealthy. Indeed, he declined the leadership of the Liberal party in 1899 in favour of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman because the need to earn his living as a barrister to support his family meant that ...

Management theory and the Government

I don't have a MBA and I don't know much about management theory. But for a good while I have had the feeling that the Government adopted management theory as its method for implementing policy. I couldn't prove it because I didn't have sufficient knowledge. But the information I did have made me think that was the case. Alix Mortimer makes the case today and it is well worth a read. Alix doesn't much like the New Labour administration but even those die-hard 'my party right or wrong' people should find this an interesting read.

Victory and defeat rolled into one

A newspaper hoarding I have just passed on Victoria Street screamed at me "Victory for rebel shareholders" - a reference presumably to the Northern Rock meeting today. Yet as I walk into Victoria Station, I see on the Sky headlines on the huge screen "Defeat for rebel shareholders". Again, I presume it is a reference to the NR meeting. Interesting how the same story can be so differently

The future's bright, the future's Orange

The reaction to Nick Clegg's speech on public services has been fascinating. His speech has been widely welcomed in the media and much more importantly the party as an authentically liberal answer to the question of choice in public services. Only a few years ago a speech by a LibDem leader advocating a massive increase in the role of the private & voluntary sectors in the provision of public services it would have caused outrage across much of the party. Over the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats and their predecessors have allowed themselves to be characterised as the last ...

Balls to bansturbation

Via the Environmental Economics blog comes a story about, well, bansturbators banning, yup, balls, bollocks, genitalia from the back of vehicles: Today, a Chesapeake lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that will ban "truck nuts" from your truck or SUV. The nutty idea is the brainchild of Delegate Lionell Spruill. We're talking about the fake testicles people hang on the backs of their vehicles. Spruill's bill would ban anything on a car or truck that looked like human genitalia. Those nutty Americans, eh!

Keeping everyone in the dark

We've had a few reports in these dark mornings and evenings of near misses with cyclists who don't use lights (and it's often adults). And there was the confused cyclist we saw on Badminton Road with a white light on the back and a red light on the front. Cyclists, please check your lights - and motorists, please watch out for cyclists.

Chipping Sodbury Waitrose update

A number of people have been searching on the blog for the latest about the Chipping Sodbury Waitrose supermarket and houses project. The answer is that there's not a lot to report at the moment - the developers are still working up more detailed plans. There will be another public exhibition at Chipping Sodbury Town Hall on 27 and 28 February, and after they've taken the next lot of public comments into account a planning application will be submitted to South Gloucestershire Council.

Yes to more recycling and No to Incineration

We are pleased that edge of property recycling will again resume at Woodhouse Road, Carr Close and Walwyn Close houses. For a long period residents have had to use the communal recycling units by Cadby House and & Walwyn Close flats. We have persuaded the council that these facilities are inadequate for the amount of properties that have been using them and have persuaded them to...

My lap is tingling...

I admit it...I'm addicted to computer porn!

The Police Federation should wise up before making stupid comments

The Police Federation are apparently furious that teachers are to be offered a pay rise of 2.45%, with 2.3% in the two years after. But hang on, didn't the police get 1.9% this year when teachers got just 1.8% (2.5% over 18 months). So let's get this right. The police got a bigger pay rise than teachers and they are complaining. The Police Federation do their cause no good by spouting off like this. An interesting aside to this is how the government are "spinning" the teachers pay deal as 2.45%, when in fact, if you take all three years ...

Do you know where your wife is

Has your wife or partner told you they are going round a friends or has got an evening job That's what a man thought in THIS story. Oh dear !

Write a WordPress plugin and win £200

WordPress is increasingly widely used by Liberal Democrats, whether it is to run websites or blogs. One of WordPress’s strengths is the huge range of plugins available. The party has made a small number of Liberal Democrat specific plugins available too (see www.libdems.org.uk/tools), however there is scope for many more. Hence this official party competition: The competition [...]

Can the Tories be trusted on the economy if they offer no solutions

The Northern Rock's problems, and those of the Treasury, and by proxy taxpayers, continue to rumble, and with each new day the looming fear of nationalisation being the only way taxpayers will get their money, in the long term, looks more inevitable. The first person to openly propose it as an option, although he stated it to be the "least desirable" one was Vince Cable, the erstwhile Lib Dem Treasury Spokesman, who was then acting Lib Dem leader. Whilst dismissed at the time, by the government, they are now giving the proposal serious consideration because of fears of a financial ...

Flood waters

The water has gone down a couple of feet now, but even in the middle of Chipping Sodbury the river is still rushing quickly. At one point the water reached the top of the arch under the Wickwar Road bridge. Meanwhile in Yate, residents in Cranleigh Court received calls from the Environment Agency the other day warning them that they were within two feet of being flooded. Nothing like places like Tewkesbury, of course, but let's hope we don't get too much more rain until the current lot has drained away.

Not a way to Run a city

A week is a long time in Politics. 7 days ago news began to leak about Leeds City Council's decision to cancel the 2008 Leeds Half Marathon. Predictably there was a back lash from marathon runners many of whom were already in training. They hadn't been consulted over the decision and many only found out when they rang up to try and register. Cue media and letters page outrage over the decision and phone calls to Councillors. Then the official justification began to unravel (a) the marathon was expensive ( but only it seems £1ok) (b) it was to concentrate ...

It's time to laugh at the "Calamity Clegg" tag

Doris Day as Calamity Jane As usual, Jonathan Calder effortlessly and humbly observes the truth while reflecting on the leadership election: I do know that Chris Huhne's attempt to draw Nick Clegg out on his beliefs on public services was entirely legitimate. The fuss over the headline "Calamity Clegg" should not blind us to this. Given how well Nick's speech at the weekend has gone down with

Terribly Boring II: and management

Under the least sexy blog title I hope ever to write comes part (b) in number II of the now alarmingly fractal Terribly Boring series… Nearly everyone I know who has a manager thinks they do a crap job, and nearly everyone I know who is a manager hates doing it and thinks they’re crap at it. These people, [...]

When does the "civil war" start

I've been reading through the blog reaction to Nick Clegg's public service speech. The reaction from the Tories has been hilarious. What they were hoping for was havoc in the LibDem ranks, following the speech. In fact, LibDem blog reaction was extremely laudatory. The odd niggle, but generally the speech was enormously welcomed by LibDem bloggers. But that didn't stop "Conservative since

Did a pair of twins really marry

It is a story that made headlines all over the world, often told in a very colourful way. Here, for instance, is a recent example from Canada: A member of the British House of Lords recalls being told by a judge about an astounding incident in which a man and a woman who were both adopted met each other, felt an instant attraction and decided to get married. It wasn't until they sought information about their birth parents that they discovered the sickening truth - they were actually brother and sister, twins who had been separated at birth, adopted by ...

More blog reaction to Nick Clegg's first big speech

UPDATE 15th January: There's 14 more blog postings added to the bottom of the list in bold. Many are fascinating. UPDATE 14th January: That Times piece on their Comment Central strand is just one of the updates below in bold in my list of blog (16 new posts) and media (2 new items) reaction to Nick's public services speech last Saturday. UPDATE 13th January: The Sunday Telegraph covers Nick's

Nick Clegg's first four weeks - a brilliant start!

First appearance at Prime Ministers Questions (Wednesday 9th January 2008) Clegg... made a confident first appearance at the weekly question time as leader. (ePolitix 9/1/08) He was solid and serious and chose a topic - fuel poverty - that will reinforce his credentials as a progressive politician. (Andrew Sparrow, Guardian 9/1/08) Commentators later described his manner as brisk and businesslike, as he made his mark at the weekly ritual (Times, 9/1/08) confident performance (ITN 9/1/08) Nick Clegg did pretty well at prime ministers questions yesterday, making a solid start as Lib Dem leader. (Guardian 10/1/08) MPs of all shades seemed ...

Centre Forum nearly right about new Lib Dem education policy

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Having written yesterday about how choice drives up standards in education, a new report landed on my desk today providing further support, and calling upon the Liberal Democrats to adopt education policies that see the money following the pupil. A liberal education policy, from the think-tank Centre Forum, notes that Choice is one of the key freedoms in a liberal society. It is also one of the best ways of driving up standards. Opponents of choice based systems claim that people just want a good local school. True. But that leaves unaddressed the issue of ...

Vince Cables reaction to the Northern Rock EGM

Following today’s Northern Rock EGM, Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable sent out the following update: With the decision by small shareholders at todays Emergency General Meeting to reject all but one of the Hedge Fund proposals to restrict the action of Northern Rock’s board, it is clear the duplicitous attempts of these vulture funds to [...]

The Chorlton Park Posse in Northenden

Lib-Dems from across the Mersey. Pictured from left to right: Cllr Norman Lewis and Burnie, both from Chorlton Park. Mary Di Mauro from Northenden, John Leech MP of Manchester Withington (also Councillor from Chorlton Park) and Martin Eakins from Northenden. Lib-Dems were out in force at the weekend delivering our latest Focus leaflet and the 2008 calendar in Northenden Village. Our good friends from Chorlton Park came along and gave us a hand on Sunday, meaning we got most of the Village delivered in one weekend. Good to see Norman, Bernie and John again. They frequently give us good advice ...

Keep going, British Council

In my experience, generally in litigation when your side is being reasonable and the other unreasonable, the wise strategy is just to go on being reasonable. After all, sooner or later each side's behaviour will be considered by a judge who is professionally reasonable and fair, and will take a dim view of the unreasonable side. So it was good to hear about our ambassador in Moscow's polite but firm stance yesterday when the Kremlin gave him a reprimand for the fact that the British Council offices in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg (somewhere in the Urals, I gather) have reopened, ...

Liberal Democrats can be boring too!

This is the time of year when I get round to my shortlist of seats to take off the Tories this year. It's usually an easy enough task, but that doesn't always mean we get it right. I enjoy campaigning and I enjoy talking to people even more. My Liberalism is instinctive rather than philosophical or contrived, so it's come as a shock to have had much more contact with fellow Liberal Democrats recently through my participation in a Lib Dem Internet Forum, Lib Dem Voice. Yes, Tories, be reassured, Lib Dems can be bores too! And there you were ...

The Playground Bully

Subsidiarity is a concept beloved of Liberal Democrats. Though too many of our elected members, are a little vague on what that should entail. You see subsidiarity is the principle that government power ought to reside at the lowest feasible level. That means it's the council which organises your bin collection, regional and national government which handle things like education policy and road building, and the EU which does things countries can't handle alone like combat climate change. So far, so good. I've no problem with that. But I am a trifle bemused by the EU's endless temptation to overstep ...

Has the Government Committed Murder

In today’s Times: The Crown gave warning yesterday that it may not go ahead with the trial of a man accused of the murder of a prize-winning author unless it can hold some of the case in secret. Mark Ellison, First Senior Treasury Counsel, said that it was a “serious possibility” that the trial of Wang [...]

Are Liverpool the new Newcastle United

It must be more fun supporting some football teams than others. Not so much because of the success they enjoy or the entertainment they provide as because of your expectations. So if your team is Crewe Alexandra you are probably happy - not just because of your club's charming name or its tradition of good football, but also because you have no pretentions to be being better than you are. If you get promoted it is pleasing: if you get relegated the following year it is not the end of the world. By contrast, there are a lot of clubs ...

Clinton plays the race card

Is Hilary Clinton going on the offensive by trying to make Barack Obama the black candidate and ‘one of them’ Dave Weigel thinks so. I’m minded to agree and think she and Bill know what they’re doing and are doing this deliberately. They are making Obama the ‘black candidate’, putting him on the back foot and [...]

Citizenship Award

Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Acadamy Awards who needs em! A Taunton Deane Citizen of the Year award is the one to win. Competition rules are simple. Nominees must have made an outstanding voluntary contribution to the community. They must live in Taunton Deane, cannot have been recognised previously for their services and must not have earned their nomination from service given through their trade or profession. Closing date: Fri 8 February 2008. So, who would your citizen of the year be and why

Brown insults public sector workers....getting the message yet

Despite inflation currently at 4% (using the retail price index) the Government has once again insulted public sector workers with a pay cut. Teachers have today been awarded a 2.45% rise for the first year with 2.3% for the following two years. The NUT, quite rightly, are balloting their members for a strike. However, most head teachers are, reportedly, happy to accept. Meanwhile Wit and wisdom recently pointed out that unison only speaks for 50% of council workers. This is correct. We don't represent 100% of council workers. If we did we would have twice our wealth, twice our power ...

The ongoing saga of the wall advert murals in North West London

I was quite happily out and about when I was caught by a reader of this website/blog who wanted to show me another wall mural they were aware of. They were quite pleased cos when the tree is in full leaf then the mural is barely visible - as you can see from this picture it's pretty faded. After much squinting I think the first line is A S ***TINY. I suspect that it's something that will be more legible in different weathers - this was a pretty grey and overcast day last week. There is one other factor that ...

A Liberal Attack Ad. Genius!

I was thinking that satirical political videos this cycle have been a little weak. This helps make up for it.

Have you thought of being a firefighter

Women at the school gates are a goldmine of talent, enterprise and skill - but they sometimes need an extra helping hand on the road from where they are back into the working world. I faced the same. I was at home (albeit working from home) for years whilst my children were young - and it's a real challenge. Well - Women Like Us is an organisation that set out to help address this pool of unused talent - and has been sooooo successful that they are now working with around 3,000 women on their books, are used by big ...

Upper Norwood and Crystal Palace is up and coming if you like a heady mix of ciabattas and crime

{Kidnap and rape} I noticed a yellow board twenty yards from my house as I left for work this morning - on new years day some poor woman/girl was kidnapped from the end of my street, and subsequently sexually assaulted. Though I can’t find any reference in the news, and only a brief discussion on a local website, obviously my first thought is for the woman/girl, and I hope she is beginning to get over her attack. I’m surprised by the lack of detail on the board (time of day, for example), but perhaps she isn’t yet able to speak ...

An email to BCC Highways On Call about Manor Road

From: Eli Y. Kling [mailto:eli_kling@hotmail.com] Sent: 15 January 2008 14:32 To: HOC@BucksCC.Gov.ukCc: eli_kling@hotmail.com; Fiona Lippmann Subject: Manor Road & Wharf Road in Wendover 185216 Dear Madam or Sir, I am the Neighbourhood-Watch area coordinator for Wendover and a resident of Manor Road. When I introduced myself to the residence of Manor road, all raised the traffic as a major concern. They all told me about a consultations that took place in 2006 (I moved here June that year). But no one can tell me what came out of that consultation. Some raised the concern that the residence of the new ...

ID cards campaign: the secret watermark

Back in early 2004, getting infuriated at the Government’s ID cards project and because no campaign materials had then been produced by the federal party and NO2ID had yet to be formed (so they couldn’t help either), I decided to bang out a mock ID card to use for campaigning in North West Hampshire. {ID Cards - Expensive, Bureaucratic and Ineffective - with picture of Tony Blair} The ID cards project has now dragged on so long that, in total, I’ve produced versions with Charles Clarke, David Blunkett, Tony Blair and, most recently, Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith. (I don’t ...

Opinion: Essence of Cleggism

Most good political speeches on policy are made up of mood music, initiatives and core ideas. By far the best section of Nicks manifesto speech was the serious attempt to refine and define core beliefs on public services. I am therefore emboldened to distil out of it the essence of Cleggism with the hope that if [...]

Vince on Northern Rock (and public sector pay)

Its been a busy day for our former acting leader, and current deputy leader and shadow chancellor of the exchequer, Vince Cable. Vince has racked up considerable credit for his prescience over Northern Rock, and his calls for the Government to temporarily nationalise the bank as the least worst option for safeguarding the interests of [...]

Education brings out the worst

The worst thing about debates over education is they invariably bring out the worst on people. This usually takes the form of class hatred, invariably taking the form of attacks on the private education sector for daring to provide a service which people desire. I have a confession, I am one of those evil socially divisive people [...]

Green grade scheme good for business

The festive season has come to an end, the New Year sales have run out of stock and there are Easter eggs in the shops. About time we all thought about our holiday plans for this year. So the big question, will you be adding to your ever increasing carbon footprint and jetting off abroad to some exotic holiday destination or will you decide to stay closer to home this year Of course the choice to stay closer to home could be for many other reasons than reducing your carbon footprint. The horrific queues at our major airports, the ever ...

Campaigns Meeting

Last night, I and others met with the Liberal Democrat Director of Campaigns Hilary Stephenson, Deputy Director Stuart Bray and West Midlands Campaigns Officer Austin Rathe to discuss our campaigning in the West Midlands leading up to May's local elections, to next year's County Council elections and beyond to the General and European Elections.

Campbell calls for end to id cards

{ID Cards} North East Fife Parliamentarians Sir Menzies Campbell MP and Iain Smith MSP have repeated their calls for the Government to scrap its plans for a controversial ID card scheme after the revelations that in 2007, 37 million pieces of personal information was lost. The law bringing in ID cards has already been passed by the Labour Government and soon most citizens will have to pay for an identity card. The expensive identity cards scheme is based on the government storing large amounts of information about each one of us on a central database, said Sir Menzies and Mr ...

Thailand Photos (6)

Leila at Layla’s on Koh Samui

Another Mystery

A single Milky Way costs 20p in the local corner store. A twin pack costs 47p. This seems to have been the case since records began. Why

The Bangkok Post published my letter

I was surprised to see that my letter to the Bangkok Post was published today especially as there was a letter in yesterdays edition hinting that the author thought that letters in a simialr vein were a put up job! My letter was as follows: As a regular visitor to the Kingdom and a keen observer of [...]

MPs' PENSIONS MIGHT BEAR REFORMING

It's always disconcerting to find oneself agreeing with the Tory leader but his call for MPs' pensions to be reformed is sensible and reasonable. I imagine we will be in agreement with this, though I'm not sure what our specific policy is. I'm a council worker - honest - and I contribute to my pension scheme. Why shouldn't MPs do similar. There, I've said it.

A busy new year

Well 2008 has certainly started at a brisk pace. straight into the Mayoral campaign. We start with tube and rail surveys at stations in Chipping Barnet. It's very interesting to note the behaviour of people leaving a station when you are handing out a survey. If the first person out takes a survey then the following people are far more inclined to do so as well. The opposite being equally true. Brian Paddick the Liberal Democrat candidate launched his campaign yesterday. His website is here and I think it's a really good site. I also went to the first meeting ...

Self-consciously potentially-controversial-but-hopefully-not leap into the politics of race

Last night I was interviewed by a local lady who is writing a dissertation on anti-Semitism as part of a degree in Theology which she is studying for. It was an interesting discussion, which surprised me because I was worried I might have little to say. For a Jewish guy in a slightly-more-public role than a lot of people, maybe I might be exposed to more abuse than someone else, but I can honestly say that I have never knowingly been the victim of anti-Semitism. Im obviously lucky, because the papers report a lot of it, and its on the ...

Guardian Article about Care System

Kate Hilpern has been working on the linked article for some time. I think she has done a good job with it. The difficulty is that there are situation in which the state should intervene as well as situations where it shouldn't. The difficulty is that without access to the whole set of cases we cannot be certain where the balance lies.

New Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg set out his Vision for Public Services

Clegg calls for radical grassroots innovation in public services 12 January 2008 Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has set out his plans for new entitlements for parents, pupils, and patients, creating new freedoms for grassroots organisations to provide innovation in public services. In his first major speech to the party since being elected Leader, Nick Clegg...

Free schools: the sequel

As predicted yesterday, the more interesting coverage of Clegg's public services speech would come when the commentariat started to get their teeth into it. And today, Steve Richards does so.Richards' argument is that all politicians seek local decision making, but that none of them have much of an answer to the question of how to do it. Although he credits Clegg with leaping 'ahead in the race', he raises various questions for him. Particularly, he asks:how do we achieve local accountability when central government raises the money and has responsibility for overall standards Though Richards implies that Clegg doesn't have ...

Eco-Park plans receive £2.5million funding

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is celebrating confirmation of £2.5million Single Programme funding from One NorthEast, the Regional Development Agency, for the construction of access and highway improvements to serve the first-ever Tees Valley 'Eco-Park'. Working in partnership with Renew Tees Valley Ltd and Tees Valley Regeneration, the Council is planning an Eco-Park on a 53 hectare site off the A66 at South Bank to breathe new life into a derelict former steelworks site and potentially provide a new base for up to 20 renewables and recycling industry companies, creating up to 500 new jobs for the area. Work is ...

E-democracy

The Assembly Commission hosted an excellent event with NIACE Dysgu Cymru and OFCOM Cymru as part of the Wales Media Literacy Network yesterday afternoon. A good write-up of the event is here.

Well, I won't need them after I'm dead...

I've just signed up to be an organ donor here. After all, if I die I won't need my organs any more. Hopefully they will be useful for someone else. I'm much happier volunteering to give them away rather than Gordon Brown telling me that, unless I opt out, the Government will take them anyway. There's an important point about the psychology of the organ-donation system as well. People at the moment are happy to donate organs because it lets them feel better about themselves - like a donation to any charity. At present people talking about organ donation are ...

Where does David Cameron stand on Europe

Liberal Democrats are not anti-European. We believe that the European Union needs significant reform, but we also believe that it is a positive force for the political and economic well being of British Citizens. What, however, are the Conservatives Are they Anti-European, as so many of their members seem to be Are they Pro-European, as Christopher Beazley, a veteran Conservative MEP, certainly is For many Conservatives, membership of the European Union is, as it is for UKIP, a complete anathema. However, David Cameron says that he does not want to withdraw from the European Union . Personally, therefore I get ...

Big Brother

Those who might still think that a National identity database is a good idea, despite the Government's inability to keep secure the data it already holds, may be given cause to think again by this article. The Times reports that the FBI is enlisting British law enforcement agencies to set up an international database containing the biometric details of thousands of people. The paper says that the programme, known as Server in the Sky, could result in an unprecedented transatlantic exchange of personal information. Biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints could be exchanged. It is one ...

Education, edyoocashun, edyucasian

There's a very interesting piece in the Independent today (http://tinyurl.com/2pvesv) from Dr Anthony Seldon calling for independent schools to engage fully with the state sector - and for government to return the compliment - by setting up academies to end the 'educational apartheid' which exists in this country. This is a fascinating clarion call from the headmaster of an independent school and one of Tony Blair's hagiographers. While I don't disagree with his comments I can never quite accept the tone of such comments, coming as they do from what might be termed - to continue his 'apartheid' analogy - ...

Railway Club

Well I'm afraid we lost the fight to save the Railway Club. It will be swept away and replaced by modern flats. Truro is changing rapidly at the moment, the Co-Op, which is popular with older folk who live in the centre of town, is to be demolished and replaced with smart new shops. And Luke's, an old fashioned hardware come all sorts of stuff shop, is closing, because they can't afford the rent and rates. I know we can't get get stuck in the past, that shops change, but here we are with a number of places that are ...

Missing the point on education:

Tim Worsall wonders if he’s gone insane. Unfortunately not, its just that we’re ruled over by idiots. The point of vocational education is that not everyone is suited to an intellectual education, so you tailor education towards the individual. You let the nerds (like me) do our thing, study maths (or english, or history). Its what we’re good [...]

So I joined a dating site ...

Ive been nagged left, right and centre about registering with a dating website, so in the end I did. I lied a bit about location & name given that Im likely to be the only Italian Jewish woman living in Cardiff. I still manage to come across people I know and, worse still, who know me. Lucky I didnt talk myself up at all, in fact I told the awful truth pointing out that Im awkward and

Council under cosh in Echo

The Darlington pages of today's Northern Echo are full of stories criticising the Council. The parishes are "outraged" at the Council's plan to end their grants to our rural communities: a decision I criticised last week in an article in the Echo. Cllr Williams, the Leader of the Council, responding to a completely justified attack by Ian Holmes and Brian Jones, among others, that this decision

Voluntary or compulsory organ donation...

The government is announcing plans to turn organ donation from voluntary into a 'presumed consent' scheme. This could save 1000 lives a year. But I am uneasy at the prospect of the state 'owning' my o...

Music for today - Cordelias Dad

One of the band’s a discovered by ferreting through my father’s CD collection was Cordelia’s Dad. A US folk/rock/punk group largely inspired by the Shape Note and Sacred Harp traditions of the US (they share members with the excellent Northampton Harmony Shape Note quartet). They’ve dug up some vintage footage from 1996 with them in full [...]

Campaign for Gender Balance Awards: best non-Lib Dem blog

Ros Taylor launched the Campaign for Gender Balance blog awards last month on Lib Dem Voice. Since then we have dozens of nominations thanks to everyone who has made nominations so far! Nominations dont close until 1 February so if you havent submitted yours yet, you still have time. As these awards are [...]

Blog of the week

A quick thank you to Garbo on Poliblogs for making me the first winner of his Blog of the Week award, and for the very flattering comment that I am “Fast becoming, to me, the number one Lib Dem blogger”. All I need to do now is live up to the billing. [...]

Farewell to the village post office

In the next few weeks we are expecting to be given a list of the post offices in 'Bristol & Somerset' (which in Post Office terms is apparently where I live) which are to face closure. Apparently the sub postmasters and postmistresses who are on the list have already been told, but - in the typically Stalinist way that the post office is run from on high - have been sworn to secrecy on pain of losing redundancy payoffs! The battle to save our post offices is going to be an uphill one - Central Government has decided it doesn't ...

Equal Pay Act: time for a major overhaul

{Pay packet picture} There's still a huge need for equal pay legislation - and legislation with real teeth - in order to deal with discrimination in pay rates for men and women doing equivalent or the same jobs. However, the Equal Pay Act doesn't seem to be up to the job. The question of the Act is very much back in the news after the Equality and Human Rights Commission called on Monday for it to be scrapped and replaced with more appropriate legislation. My own views are along similar lines - the current law simply isnt working as it ...

World heritage site under threat

It started out as a Roman thermal spa. By the start of the middle ages it had become an important centre for the wool industry. By the 18th century, under George III, it was renowned for the cleansing properties of its spa waters and its neoclassical Palladian buildings. By the end of 2007 it was the second most polluted city in England. Where am I talking about The City of Bath of course! As one of the UK's top tourist attractions Bath now has over one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors each and every year. But if ...

Review: Nokia BH-501 bluetooth stereo headphones

Nokia’s BH-501 looks great, sounds wonderful and is very easy to use but is also the most absurdly flimsy product Nokia have ever made. At approximately £40, the BH-501 seems like excellent value for money. It’s got all the latest bluetooth audio profiles and is a perfect companion for a modern media-phone like my N95 or as audio output from a shiny-new mac-book. It can connect to many devices including almost any mobile phone and with an integrated mic you can make calls (as long as you speak loudly). I used to use mine for listening to podcasts. I’m sure ...

Paddick update

As we heard earlier, today Brian Paddick launched his bid to be London mayor. Anders has a review, praise for the Paddick website, and a round-up of the best responses from bloggers today.

Day 2566: The Mayoral Debate: Soap and Flannel

Friday: Oh dear, a DREADFUL confession: we have been watching ITVnone, Britain's Tackiest TV channel. It would be nice to say that it was ONLY to watch the debate between Mr Brian, our top quality candidate for Mayor of London, and that pair of ASBO-monkeys from the other parties. But NO, we have been having a bit of a Ben Millar-fest too, with the return of schlocky Doctor Who wannabe "Primeval" and of course ITV's new Fourth Wall Bulldozer: "Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach", hilarious in the way that Mr Sorkin's "Studio 60 on Sunset Strip" was meant to be (but wasn't). ...

Tuesday 15th January 2008

Previous days:

Archives

Search for...

Adverts

Buttons

LibDem Blog Box

Contributors

Campaigns

From the BBC...

Backlinks...

From the LibDems...

From the Independent...

From Politics.co.uk...

From the Guardian...

Adverts