I’ve been quizzing a member of the far left on OUT everywhere who said he’d been invited by his MP (Labour - Lyn Brown) to a coffee morning. At the Labour Party members house was the GLA member and a Cllr. He was very impressed with the whole thing and said it was an invite to [...] 
My highlight of the blogging year is back. As I’ve plugged in previous years, Mike at Troubled Diva has been conducting an annual assessment of the last fifty years of pop music. Which Decade Is Top For Pops reaches its sixth year this week with the first daily instalment, today featuring the single at Number Ten in the charts this week (Goldfrapp’s A&E) and its precessors from 1968, 1978, 1988 and 1998. Head on over to Mike’s to hear today’s five tracks and to cast your votes.
Looking at the BBC website earlier it was odd to see two stories that were unrelated to each other seem to overlap. Firstly, there was this story Which seemed to imply that Alistair Darling, often referred to as "the Badger" because of his grey hair and black eyebrows, was effectively a "dead man walking" Then there was this separate story And in this story Hillary Benn is suggesting that culling badgers is not the answer.Was Hillary Benn making a plea to save Alistair Darling Perhaps I need to go to bed early, but I thought the two stories seemed strangely ...
When I was just out of University I spent the lions share of my time for a couple of years in the Middle East. For half of that time I was in Egypt, a country that I now have a complex love hate relationship with. I have been there so many times for so many reasons and when Dahab was bombed in 2006 I made sure that I holidayed there once again to make my small individual contribution to supporting the tourist industry that the bombers were attempting to destroy. I love the people of Egypt; they have just the ...
Following up on the earlier post about the BNP and their dominance of the political internet traffic, another interesting excerpt from the politics and the internet report by the Centre for Policy Studies: "Worst of all, say the critics, is the style of debate that this new arena fosters. The blogs are good at trashing things [...]
Responding to the decision by the Government to nationalise Northern Rock, Ian Swales, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Redcar constituency, said: This decision is welcome but was also inevitable and should have been taken last year. Instead, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have been paralysed by their own indecision. They put off the only sensible course of action right until the very end. This is hardly a sensible way to run the Government. Had Labour followed the advice of Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable last year, the uncertainty that has been so damaging to Northern Rock and to the British ...
I received this from colleagues in Hackney, and as the GLA candidate for London North East, I have pledged my support. Over one third of Londoners are from an ethnic minority background. Its important that we do all we can to ensure they are registered to vote for the London Assembly and Mayoral elections on May 1. I am certainly doing my bit with the large Turkish speaking community in London. -------------------------------------------------- Dear All, I am writing to seek your support for a Hackney based campaign to promote voter registration in advance of the Greater London Assembly (GLA) elections next ...
This sensational news comes to us from Harry's Blog: Given that Mark Steel's comedy routine consists of reciting the editorials from last week's Socialist Worker in a "blokey" voice, I wonder what he'll do for material in the future. Believe me, this is the most earth-shattering Trot-cum-light-entertainer scandal since Matthew Kelly left the Workers' Revolutionary Party.
Okay I know E + R = O may seem to some of you as management consultants speak, it is after all my day job however in recent weeks you will see by the Smannell Blog we have been busy. Last week we reported the holes in the road to Hampshire County Council, Councillor Robin Hughes escalated it, I threatened to report them to the Health & Safety Executive and rather cheekily asked a freedom of information question "exactly how much money do you Hampshire County Council spend on roads on Smannell" Okay I know cheeky to ask but hey! ...
I suppose we are quite lucky here in the southern end of the Royal Borough, because we are rarely disturbed by planes overhead. We used to be able to set our clocks by Concorde every Tuesday morning, but now that has gone over the rainbow it is remarkably peaceful around here. My worry is that the peace may not last for much longer. Many of us objected to Terminal 5 at Heathrow,...
Hidden behind all the media coverage on the declaration of independance by Kosova, was the knife edge result of the elections in in Cyprus. Greek Cypiots in the south of the island, voted out their hard line president of five years, Tassos Papadopoulos. This is seen as a signal that the people have rejected his uncompromising approach to supporting a peace plan to reunite the island after nearly 34 years of partition. Papodopoulos, gained notoriety in 2004 when he campaigned against the UN Peace Plan, led by Kofi Annan, despite assuring the EU he would support it. Greek Cypriots will ...
The millionaire businessman and adventurer Steve Fossett was declared legally dead by a Chicago court a few days ago. He had been missing for five months since his single-engine plane disappeared over the Nevada desert. (More from the BBC.) But there was one striking outcome of the extensive search for Fossett. Back in September last year the San Francisco Chronicle reported: The search for Fossett across a 17,000-square-mile swath of the Sierra Nevada has revealed the wreckage of eight other small planes that had never, until now, been discovered.And each of those crash sites holds clues to the fates of ...
With hat firmly tipped to Matt Drudge, by far the best video of the year so far; How can you not be excited by a Hall Of Famer with two Olympic gold medals who, it turns out, is an honest-to-goddness Democrat with passion and courage Roll on 2014!
Typing this while stuck on a tube on the Piccadilly Line. On way to Wood Green Civic Centre, left work in the Old Street area at 6.10 and by 7pm I am still not even as far as Finsbury Park... Bang goes the 7pm meeting with my group - remains to be seen if will make the start of Full Council at 7.30. We have a really packed agenda tonight - aside from the council tax setting decision, we are doing our opposition business on crime in Haringey, a motion on the Mayor's misuse of taxpayers' money and hopefully up ...
The Tories like to argue that they are strongly against nationalisation as a principle, and I would agree with them on this, but there are times when nationalisations are necessary and can work for the company, the customers and taxpayers. Ignoring the Tories own nationalisation of Rolls Royce Aero Engines (now privatised, profitable and still British), one of the Tories heroes was responsible for one of the biggest nationalisatiions ever when in 1984 Ronald Reagan authorised the nationalisation of the Continental and Illinois Bank. The Continental and Illinois had taken on too many bad debts, suddenly had a liquidity problem ...
Hampshire Highways have recently installed safety railings in the underpass under the railway line between Cricketers Way and River Way. The north (Cricketers Way) side of the underpass has a steep slope and right angle bend meaning pedestrians cannot see bicycles approaching them. The new railings were installed on the Cricketers Way side at my request after local residents raised concerns about safety in the tunnel. I am pleased to report that Hampshire Highways dealt with this problem quickly and efficiently making the underpass safer particularly for the elderly and those with young children. The drains in the underpass have ...
A message from James Graham in the Facebook Liberal Drinks group points out there are a whole host of Liberal Drinks events scheduled in the coming month. Popping over to the Liberal Drinks page on Flock Together gives the following list: Huddersfield, tomorrow Westminster, on Wednesday Nottingham on Thursday Reading on Sunday Andover on the 29th Winchester on 6th March Organising a [...]
To look at today's news coverage, you'd never guess that it was Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable who first proposed a temporary nationalisation of Northern Rock. The BBC report makes no mention of the Lib Dem position until the penultimate paragraph. The Lib Dems called it correctly, whereas the government spent months dithering before finally coming round to our opinion. But you'd never guess it. It looks like we've been royally screwed out of coverage on this issue. Indeed, the main political story this evening appears to be the Tories calling for Darling's head. The right tactic for the ...
Lynne Featherstone writes about a scheme to bring children from different backgrounds together: Children from ethnic minorities are to be sent on adventure holidays with white youngsters in a scheme to break down racial and religious barriers. Ministers want children from different backgrounds to mix at summer camps where they can enjoy extreme sports together. The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) centres also offer workshops in skills such as circus tricks and producing pop videos... Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat youth and equality spokeswoman, said: Breaking down barriers is a good idea. [But] we need to look at the long-term effects ...
I had this published in the Wendover News. As I got surprisingly very good feedback I repeat it hear. Yes, I expect that some of the peopel I met yeasterday might check my blog to see some Humanist related discussion: There are two great mens birthdays I religiously mark. The 25th of December and the 12th of February. On 12 February 1809 two great men were born: Abraham Lincoln, emancipator of American slaves, and Charles Darwin, emancipator of the human mind. Their positive legacies still endure. This date is celebrated around the world under different names of which one is ... 
So the Government is pressing ahead with new nuclear power stations on the basis of a need for energy independence - ie for the UK to be able to meet all of its energy needs and not have to rely on foreign states (oh, ok - on Russian gas). At the same time, the UK Government is cosying up to China and various other countries of dubious morality who just happen to have very large sovereign wealth funds - state run investment arms which are busy buying up large parts of the UK's Blue Chip companies. So on the one ...
Oh dear. Deborah Summers writes on the Guardian politics blog: "There is no question of a free vote on this matter; there will definitely be a party whip and as a member of the frontbench David will be bound by the same collective responsibility as everyone else," a source close to Clegg says."If he feels he can't toe the party line then he will have no choice but to stand down."Is Nick really prepared, within his first 100 days as leader, to lose one of his most respected front-bench spokemen Surely he cannot be that silly I think Nick would ...
Wendy Alexander: although the Electoral Commission has decided not to report her to the Procurator Fiscal for accepting an illegal overseas donation to her Scottish Labour leadership campaign, the Scottish Parliament’s Standards Commissioner has reported her. We await news of what the Procurator Fiscal decides. Meanwhile, she’s in more hot water for putting down a motion [...]
Listening to David Milliband trying to explain why Kosovo is a unique situation, not a precedent, was fairly excruciating. The fact is that the decision by the UK, USA, France, Germany and Italy (oh, and Afghanistan) to recognise the UDI will be taken as the go ahead by a number of secessionist movements around the world. I've been thinking about two of them in particular: Republica Serpska. For those who don't know, when Bosnia Herzegovina emerged from the first stage of the break up of the former Yugoslavia and the subsequent war, it retained its former provincial borders. And so ...
Due to the Conservative's plans to increase residents parking by 58% to cover their poor administration of the highways maintenance contract over the past 4 eyars - this has unexpectedly cost the tax payer £700k with the possibility of more to pay out. Until than, any consultation on residents' parking schemes will be on hold.
Cllr Dixon is working with residents of Perfect View to see what can be done to ensure that the view stays perfect. The road offers of the best views acroos Bath, however with oversized Poplar trees getting ever taller, the view is at risk. We are working with Council officers and local residents to look at possible solutions.
The big news in Winchester as I write this is the Local Development Framework. This is the new version of the Council's Local Plan which will, over a period of time, replace the existing plan and show where new housing and commercial development will be allowed. Hopefully most people will by now have seen the City Council's Issues and Options paper, or at least the short version of it in the "
I am working from home today and thus am Queen of All the Jam. Particularly because said work consists of tinkering with a pleasantly mindless spreadsheet which is occupying me without in the least troubling my higher faculties. These, I have been using to listen to Darling, darling!’s statement to the House about the temporary nationalisation of Northern [...]
Nicholas Blincoe turns up again with a fairly bizarre article on the Greens. The Tories, it seems are quite green because they are mates with some of the right people and some of the Green Party's founders were of a barking right wing bent. I agree of course that the Lib Dems are greener than the Greens, when we consider what might actually work. Blincoe is even lighter on the detail here, and
Spare a thought for Charles Kennedy MP who is standing for election later this month. The former Lib Dem leader is one of four candidates standing for the rectorship of Glasgow university. Voting, for those eligible, will be online on the 26th/27th February. He’s not actually standing as a Lib Dem, but as an independent aiming to [...] 
Shane Greer has highlighted a Centre for Policy Studies report on politics and the internet which shows that the British National Party (BNP) website has a greater share of internet traffic than the Lib Dem, Labour and Conservative websites combined: Whilst it’s good to see the Lib Dems matching (and possibly ever so slightly besting) [...]
So says the Guardian any way: "There is no question of a free vote on this matter; there will definitely be a party whip and as a member of the frontbench David will be bound by the same collective responsibility as everyone else," a source close to Clegg says. "If he feels he can't toe the party line then he will have no choice but to stand down." Personally I am torn: I am not a great fan of the Lisbon Treaty, and I am a big fan of David Heath. But I think the Shadow Cabinet needs to adhere ...
E-Government is a key area which the UK is investing, and should be investing, a lot of money (about 1.2% of GDP). There is huge scope for efficiency savings, i.e. cheaper, and productivity increases, i.e. better. However, for some reason we are doing this very badly indeed (see economist article). Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands have had the best E-Government results in the EU and we should be learning from their success to deliver better, faster, and cheaper public services. Businesses do this, why shouldn't the state.
The second of my fortnightly columns can be found on the New Statesman site: Westminster insiders told me last week that Darling was determined on two points.The first was that he was not going to take Northern Rock into public ownership and give Vince Cable the chance to say I told you so. Well, that one has gone by the board.The second was that he is determined to scotch Tory attempts to portray him as a ditherer. Those insiders also told me he has not made up his mind how he is going to do it yet.The people at the ...
On the news release about the Temporary Workers bill the following is written: The Liberal Democrats believe that following these principles is a more pragmatic approach to the issue that does not impact on those who actively chose temporary/ agency working as a career. We will not therefore be supporting the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill [...]
Took an hour to pop over to Belle Vale to deliver some leaflets for Lib Dem Tommy Marshall. Loads of dogs today but what great afternoon for walking.
This one passed me by: Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary (black visored helmet, leathers, huge motorbike, mean expression) has hinted that we should have a written constitution, which will tell us all about our rights, our responsibilities, that way the various arms of government work and the opening times for libraries across the country. The document may take 20 years to fudge, er, write and then there would be a referendum. Now, I dont know much about constitutional law but I cannot conceive of how a single document could encapsulate all this in any meaningful way. Surely a constitution should ...
was started in 2003 with the aim quoted by the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency "to provide a competitive and sustainable service provider network that delivers a step change in the quality and economics of service and brings innovative solutions to the provision of sterile services within the NHS". It is my opinion that the project to date has failed to deliver its goals to the extent that not only have there been few direct financial benifits but also patient care has been compromised. Therefore I strongly believe the only solution is for the immediate cessation of proposed new projects ...
Please spare her 2 minutes 55 seconds of your time... http://www.youtube.com/watchv=oRZqsTV5I24
There is a wonderful line in the Independent today from Steve Richards discussing the Northern Rock fiasco. He naturally criticises the government and makes the obvious point that Vince is the only politician to have come out of this looking good. He then discusses the Tory response and their terror of supporting nationalisation or making any decisions at all. He notes that they began by supporting the government when it intervened in Northern Rock. Then they criticised discussion of nationalisation without coming up with any propoals of their own. Finally the 13th baronet Osborne (George to his friends) criticised the ...
Can't see my speech to the Planning Committee being set to music! But this is how to do it, this is public speaking.
In honour of the weekly Gossip on the Underground: “I’m rubbish at geography. I thought Asia was a small country, but it’s the massivest, massivest continent in the world.”
The Chancellor has performed yet another climb-down from his Pre-Budget tax proposals made in October last year, as a ‘clarification’ of proposals to tax non-domiciles was announced in order to correct previous ‘misunderstandings’. Following fast on the heels of the Capital Gains Tax debacle, this most recent retreat makes the Government look thoroughly foolish. Once again [...]
I have written a piece on musicians in the political world, which is this blog's pet subject. I rather admire Dave Rowntree, who is now studying for a career at the bar and playing with the Ailerons. He has, at least, resisted the temptation to ask any Latin American politicians to smell his cheese.
The latest results from the beer vs. pizza stakes are in… Lib Dem Drinks has the lead. You can check the runners and riders here: Lib Dem Drinks Pizza, pasta, poppadoms and politics But this is in your hands… set up more events for the team you favour and you could tip the balance.
I was all set to do a posting about Republican frontrunner John McCains political narrative. But in todays Guardian, feminist author Susan Faludi has explained most of it. She says: "Well, let's assume McCain is the Republican candidate. His story is going to be the story of Daniel Boone - the guy who was taken captive by Indians or, in his case, the North Vietnamese, and withstood torture and came back. That's the drama that's going to be trotted out. Already they're talking about 'McCain the Warrior'. And then on the Democratic side, whoever the candidate is they'll be attacked ...
In the worst kept secret Kosovo has declared independence from Serbia. Kosovo leaders sent 192 letters to governments around the world seeking formal recognition of independence. As many will know I have been to Kosovo as an election monitor a number of years ago, I welcome this move and hope many countries recognise them immediately.
The City Council has just advised me that the road closure on Riverside Avenue has had to be continued until next Saturday. Here's the Council's Press Release, which explains all :Roadworks on Dundee's Riverside Avenue are to continue for a few days after the scheduled completion date of tomorrow (Tuesday February 19). The road was closed from the roundabout at the Marmalade Pot to Wright Avenue on February 9 to allow improvements to the road surface, widening of the cycleway and new street lighting. A Dundee City Council spokesman said: "Unfortunately, once the road was closed off and excavation of ...
I have been liaising with Cllr Dorothy Gunther, the Tory Executive Member for Environment, over Prestwichs promised Deep Clean. The promise, made by a Council officer in October, seems to have gone unnoticed by Cllr Gunther, who was baffled by it when I mentioned it as Council the other day. There was some definite back-tracking in the wake of that meeting, but since then (possibly because the broken promise made the front page of the paper) there have been positive noises. Ill believe it when I see it, but hopefully we might have a deep clean for the first time ...
This week I am fairly busy as ever. Tonight I am visiting a local resident to talk about street-cleaning and over-hanging trees near his house, after weve been working together to get his issues sorted for quite some time (no success yet, but I have been promised that well get some this week). Also this week its the Sherbourne Court TRA (tonight at the Red Lion at 6.30), and then Budget Council on Wednesday. I will keep you updated as things go on. Rick
I have been involved in discussions over the past few days about Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks for Councillors. At the same time there is the story in the news at the moment about parents having the right to vet people and make sure that they arent potential paedophiles. I have to say the CRB checking of Councillors is something that makes me feel very uneasy. In fact, the CRB in general is something I have issues with. As I understand it, the way our justice system works is that a crime is committed, and a punishment imposed. ...
I am back in work today, having once again endured the horror of coming in after a break. The feeling I got on the last night of school holidays has still never gone away, even now that I am supposedly an adult. Much of the time I have spent here today has been wasted trying to get my head around the arrangements necessary to transfer my pension pot from local government (where it currently sits) in to the NHS (where I would like it to sit). The people responsible for devising the transfer scheme have clearly achieved their goal of ...
A satirical view of the latest Northern Rock development from one of my favourite websites. Be warned that if you read the rest of the website you will come across plenty of rude words, so don't blame me if you click the link.
If you're Haringey Council - the answer is, "leave the dumped in a squatted building". Yes - really! That's what The Sun has discovered. The building in question is in Crouch End, and used to be used by a council Housing Benefit office. But when they stopped using the building, they failed to secure or clear out the files. Instead, we have a building open to anyone to walk in - and stuffed full of personal files, containing details of 20,000 people, including in many cases all the details needed for identity theft. I am shocked and extremely concerned for ...
Pictured with Ian Swales are Coatham Ward Councillors Josie Crawford (left) & Irene Curr. With work delayed on the derelict boating lake for twelve months now and another summer season on the way Redcar is looking in a sorry state to welcome visitors. Ian Swales, the Liberal Democrats Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Redcar, has called for action to be taken as soon as possible to begin work of the restoration of the Boating Lake, that was due to start in the Spring of 2007. Ian Swales said: "Surely the delay cannot be allowed to go on much longer. The funding ...
Sunday 17th February 2008: For the first time in fifteen months I shaved hair clean off my face. I made pizza toast*. I got involved locally. The latter, of course, concerns Fortune Green a neighbouring ward to the one in which Julian H Towers. In which Julian H towers. In 2001 there were nineteen people in Fortune Green with four or more cars or vans. What would you do with four cars or vans What would you do with more than four cars or vans What would you do with more than four cars or vans in Fortune Green [answer ...
So Kosovo has declared independence, supported warily by the EU and the USA, with Russia and Serbia growling on the sidelines. I was very interested in the Milosevic wars in the 1990s as I simply could not believe that it was being allowed to go on in Europe without far more being done to stop the appalling atrocities which were dished out relentlessly by all sides. However, further study of the region leads to the inevitable, depressing conclusion that the Balkans are somehow different from other areas. This cannot but lead to a sense of deep anxiety about the future ...
Politalks 4, you weekly satirical roundup of news, is now up on Youtube. This week Lee and I look at terrorism and torture, soldiers becoming teachers, and the hottest MPs in the whole of Westminster. The video is below, transcript even further down, right at the bottom we even have a roundup of the links [...]
Responding to the Chancellors announcement that Northern Rock bank is to be temporarily nationalised, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: Belatedly the Government has made the right decision. This is the option the Liberal Democrats have argued for from the outset, unlike the Tories who have no alternative to offer. In an issue of such major national interest the focus must now be on the next steps. The first priority must be to work out the seriousness of the problems at the bank with an independent audit of its loan book. This must be conducted under the auspices of ...
North East Fife MP, Sir Menzies Campbell opened a new NHS dental surgery in the constituency recently. The practice run by Partners in Progress in Auchtermuchty hopes to be fully operational by the middle of March and has already registered over 600 hundred patients with room for over 4000. Speaking from the opening, Sir Menzies said, The provision and access to NHS dentists throughout the country is of the utmost importance to the nations health. This new dental practice is great news for North East Fife. More must be done so that all citizens have the option of dentistry provided ...
It's more fun in the playground at Locke Park, Redcar! A new multi-activity unit consisting of a slide, bridge and climbing ropes, designed for three to five year olds, has been installed in a project, organised by the Friends of Locke Park and Redcar and Cleveland Council. The equipment, costing £12,300, has arrived thanks to a successful bid to Awards for All, a grant-making body providing small community-based grants, funded by the National Lottery, with the Council installing the new attraction. Friends secretary Carolyn Farrance said: "We're a bit too old to use the equipment ourselves, but we know it's ...
Oh my. Regular readers will know I often find interviews on the Today Programme frustrating, rubbish or just plain barking. This mornings ten past eight special, however, may have found a new winner. Alistair Darlings outright stream of lies just now was the least convincing performance I can remember, making Andy Burnham seem almost informed and David Cameron seem borderline competent. It hinged, or perhaps unhinged, on his trying to persuade John Humphrys and the listener that the words I agree with my Honourable Friend in fact meant I reserve my position entirely and in no way endorse your view. ...
A regular criticism of Lib Dem Voice - and the blog format in general - is that on fast moving days, readers can miss the good stuff. For that reason, we’re introducing a short, snappy Monday-morning round-up of last week’s top posts. We kicked last week off with an extract from the Dictionary of Liberal [...]
I have been told that the planning application that we have all been expecting for housing on the Hollow has now been submitted and is about to be registered. At the moment I do not have details of the application but once these are published I will post them on this site.
I've got a joke for you. Northern Rock. Here's another one. Alistair Darling. They have me rolling in the aisles. Dithering, dallying, delaying and just plain failing. It can't fail to destroy confidence in the chancellor's competency. Let's examine each failure by itself. Failure 1 - Managing the Rock High-risk business plans either pay off massively, or fail massively. Northern Rock was a victim of it's own success. It prided itself on it's interest rates for Loans and Mortgages being the best on the market, often by a distance. Add into this the immense brand loyalty in the North-East (one ...
Although at the last Council I was questioning if Haringey Labour even spoke to their own Labour Government, judging by the very poor budget settlements we always get in Haringey, it's clear from this latest news that they do at least manage to pick up some tips from their colleagues in Government... CONFIDENTIAL FILES LEFT IN SQUAT SHOWS GROTESQUE COUNCIL INCOMPETENCE, SAYS LIB DEM LEADER Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams is calling for an urgent independent investigation into a shocking and disastrous breach of security involving the personal details of thousands of Haringey residents. Reports in the Sun newspaper and ...
The Icy chill is with us and looks likely to stay for a while and it's not just the weather that makes me say that. Another Icy Chill is about to hit Bath & North East Somerset Council residents in the form of a Tory Budget that is so mean on the needy that Scrooge would be proud of it. I am sure that you will all remember watching the films of Scrooge and the cold room that...
I’m sick of hearing about the `stability of the City of London`. Let’s start defining our own policy on devolution - opening up the regions to devolution (including having local stock exchanges for smaller companies) People in the North are sick to the back teeth of talking about what we can do to keep feeding London [...]
A good Valentines day, in that I hit the 'lost two stone' goal, although nothing romantic occured, perhaps because I went of to Taunton for my Young and Talented (and slightly lighter) Councillor course. As usual we saw some very interesting things, that will slowly leak out here as my own initiatives for Truro, and met some interesting people . We visited Wincanton, which was described as 'a market town without a market, twinned with somewhere that doesn't exist'. It being twinned with Ankh-Morpork, a city in the Disc World series and boasts the Ankh-Morpork Post Office and Consulate, something ...
There's another rail bridge west of the one mentioned in yesterday's blog entry - near to Riverside Place/River Crescent (and not for vehicles). Following complaints about the extent of graffiti there, I contacted Network Rail and here is their response : "The graffiti concerned has now been removed. We also have cleared various railway assets between Dundee and Invergowrie that had been vandalised. The graffiti has been photographed and passed on to the British Transport Police for their records. I hope you are satisfied with the response to this incident."
Having just got onto my (late) train to London, I can now contemplate the day ahead. The same journey to Westminster will be made by Labour MPs who, up til yesterday were vociferously arguing that public ownership of Northern Rock would spell the end of western civilisation as we know it. But today is a different day. So today they will argue something else, probably something along the lines of
Out and about yesterday and, having spotted several phone masts 'disguised' as the most hideous trees possible, I mean really, not realistic at all, I got to thinking why Why bother, because mobile phone masts are part of modern outdoor furniture aren't they I know, I know, no one wants to live near one and fair enough, nor should people have to but as a design object they have a certain invisible modernity. You look at it and think 'phone mast' and move on. But a fake tree You look at it and think 'what the...is it a piece of ...
Although this morning's Western Mail reveals that the repair backlog in Welsh schools has risen by more than £200m in 18 months, the question has to be asked as to whether the Welsh Government is still in denial on this crisis. Government figures tell us that they face an £818m backlog in school repairs and maintenance. Conveniently, it has pledged to spend £708m over the next four years. Yet a Pricewaterhouse Coopers report for the Welsh Local Government Association in June/July 2006 put the backlog at £1.6 billion, at that time a difference in resources required and funding available of ...
Many regular readers have taken part in the poll I have been running over the weekend about whether David Heath, the Lib Dem MP for Somerton and Frome, should keep his job in the Lib Dem shadow cabinet after voting against the party line on the EU referendum issue. David Heath has, like many other Lib Dems, made it clear that he feels the EU reform treaty is so similar to the EU constitution that the Lib Dems promised a referendum on that he must support calls for a referendum. I agree personally with David 100% on this issue. So ...
Its said that Avon and Somerset Police Authority has increased its council tax demand by 4.86%. This, on top of the already announced 3% rise by Taunton Deane Council and the 3.79% rise by Somerset County Council would mean that the overall Band D bill for residents living in the Taunton and Wellington area would be £1,286.13, without the parish precept. How does this compare nationally I am sure our local conservatives will try and score some cheap political points over this. So, I thought I'd see how ours compared to other rises. So, any chance you can all do ...
In an attempt to tackle urban congestion and pollution, improve road safety and rural accessibility, Somerset County Council looks set to announce a series of measures designed to improve the countys roads and transport system. Initiatives being considered include; a bus priority scheme, new measures to encourage cycling and a second park-and-ride scheme in Taunton. If approved, it will mean a total of £64m would be spent on the new programme. This has to be good news for residents like myself who rely on public transport. Why am I so surprised Somerset County Council does have a Lib Dem administration. ...
It might be that there is a history that we have missed, but I'm not aware of a Kilburn School of Music, and I've read most of the history texts on the local area. But this building on the corner of West End Lane and Kilburn High Road has had some busts that I thought interesting. A few snaps (albeit poor quality ones) and the mystery has come to an end. In fact this building boasts four busts of music greats: Mozart, Handel, Beethoven and Vivaldi. Once one was identified it seemed pretty straightforward, but it leaves the question ...
This week it's at the house of Mr Eugenides.
The SNP budget which passed through the Scottish Parliament the other week (thanks to support from the Scottish Tories) is already having a significant effect on Scotland - but not for the better. Their most eye-catching and populist measure was an agreement with local authorities in Scotland to freeze levels of council tax this year. But there is a price to be paid, as shown by some of the measures which have had to be taken on the ground to achieve it. Partly this is a matter of local authorities increasing some other charges to make up the shortfall. On ... | < | February 2008 | > | ||||
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