I've produced some save Queen Mary's Hospital t-shirts and baby clothes tonight. They can be bought on line. Other variants include ones for people born there, and people who have had their lives saved there. 
No surprise really - my latest column for one of the local magazines is about the campaign to save our local Post Offices: Our local Post Offices are a much loved and vital part of our community. But Labours obsession with trying to squeeze out yet more financial savings (whilst wasting millions in other parts of government) would see another 2,500 Post Offices close across the country as they force the Royal Mail to follow their central targets. For us locally its not just Alexandra Park that faces losing its Post Office Highgate Village, Weston Park, Ferme Park Road and ...
I was fascinated by this post from Norfolk Blogger about people 'famous' inside the Lib Dems for being, er, Lib Dems. Its a story I can relate too, people who have done every job on every committee inside the Party, and expect deference for it. Its the natural extension of our obsession with debating policy (often at the direct cost of winning elections!) that some people become very prominent without ever having actually achieved anything at all, whereas we have thousands of activists, councillors and council leaders who can't get on the podium at conference or a mention in the ...
Nick Clegg got a clasic Paxman grilling on ‘Newsnight’ tonight, over the party’s line on a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. There will be a three-line whip for LibDem MPs tomorrow, to abstain on the motion to hold such a referendum. The logic behind this is: referendum, yes; this question no. What the British people deserve [...]
Congratulations to Paul Zukowskyj, who was selected as the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Welwyn Hatfield, yesterday. Tunout in the election was 53%, with Paul securing 60% of the vote on the first round. Hugh Annand was the runner-up. (Thanks to returning officer Richard Struck for the details.) 
Nick Clegg has just been on Newsnight trying to defend the indefensible, and mightily stupid he has made himself look, and the Liberal Democrats. The point was made to him that a week ago the Lib Dems walked out of parliament because they were not allowed to vote on an issue, but now they are intending to enforce a three line whip to tell our MP's not to vote It seems daft in the extreme. But worse than that, Nick Clegg kept making the point that our MP's would not support calls for a referendum because it was not the ...
A famous visitor to Queen's Campus of Durham University. I was accompanying John who was there as Deputy Mayor, and once again met the Chancellor, the author Dr Bill Bryson. It was good to meet Bill again (I invited him to Stockton town centre when I was Mayor) and to talk to him and senior and junior members of the two colleges about what Town and Gown could do together. After an...
Im fed up, so very fed up. Lee Jasper is divisive to the cause of race relations in the capital and the wider country, and works for a man who has indulged an especially insidious form of racism and homophobia. His resignation statement is truly pathetic, and he and his employer should be ashamed of themselves. Id always wondered how people felt as the truly rotten Tories tumbled I think Im getting a sense.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for State at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, is way out of her depth. From her remarks, it seems to me highly probable that she has never been to the Proms in her life. Hopefully she'll get the Archbishop of Canterbury/Sharia Law treatment from the media. Indeed, its hard to tell which is more disgusting her comments themselves or the fact that news editors think they merit discussion. Though the Last Night of the Proms enthusiastic flag-waving and renditions of Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem and the National Anthem may not be to my taste, ...
And lo, a bureaucrat rose near the centre, and called upon the bloggers of the Liberal Democrat world to lay down their pens of venom and lie together in peace and harmony. Yea, and the bloggers spoke as a multitude and sayeth, "yes, but he started it, and besides, she smells"... That said, there has been a general sense of agreement that there is no conspiracy, merely the nature of the way
"A new politics for Britain", the official slogan for the Liberal Democrats spring conference, has been bugging me for weeks. A slogan is supposed to leave the brands key message in the mind of the target audience. But this one breaks nearly all the rules. It isnt memorable. Nor is it campaignable. How many FOCUS leaflets will this appear on! It doesnt impart positive feelings for the party. One reason is that it uses the dreaded word politics. This slogan isnt particularly original: Im sure Ive heard it somewhere before and David Cameron is saying it too, though not as ...
A couple of years ago someone told me politics was challenging in a very certain way. It wasn't that the issues were too complex, or the debates that were too controversial. It wasn't the fact that we were a small party and there was a potential for paths to cross in many intricate and perhaps upsetting ways. It wasn't even the moments when the opposition parties attacked during wartime. It was the fact that in politics you have to get on with everyone in your own party. Regardless of whether you thought they were stupid, ignorant, more at home in ...
According, at any rate, to the Daily Mail’s Ben Brogan: My colleague Jane Merrick has learned that Susan Kramer walked out of a “shadow cabinet” meeting this morning in a symbolic show of frustration over the leader’s confused position on an EU referendum. She was followed by David Heath. Bizarrely, Ms Kramer will abstain with Mr [...]
Last week whilst scrabbling around in the dark for some logs I trod on something I can only describe as furry and wobbly - at that instant the "mother of all rats" fled across the lawn scuttling off towards the fields. Now living in the Country rats are part of the furniture, like pot holes and dirty signs. But they are quickly becoming more than a Disney cartoon master chef and a real menace throughout the borough. In fact helped by Test Valley Council who introduced bi weekly food waste collections and reducing the free "rat catcher" service. I picked ...
She was born in the wagon of a travelling show, her mama used to dance for the money they'd throw, her papa would do whatever he could, preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of doctor good. Gypsies, tramps and thieves, theyd hear it from the people of the town. They'd call them gypsies, tramps and thieves, but every night all the men would go around, and lay their money down. That may be the case for the gypsies living in Cher's America, but this is Somerset, and we treat our gypsies and travellers differently here yeah right! If ...
I have been, as many readers of other blogs and this will know, the subject of some abuse in the last few days from one of the glitterati of the Lib Dems. I have had e-mails asking me to respond to the accusations made against me, indeed someone asked why I allowed some abusive, possibly even libellous comments to be sent my own blog. Perhaps I should explain. Some people have something of a name in the Lib Dems. They will be a regular speaker at conference, a former name in LDYS or whatever it was called back then, indeed, ...
My last few blogs have been a bit anti-US, but when I read this article on the BBC I just had to write about it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7276277.stm The US is criticising China on military spending when they spend over $500billion on military in a year (over $600b expected this year), compare that with the whole of the EU at $300b. Shouldn't the US be taking the lead on things like bringing down nuclear weapons and putting money elsewhere. Yes terrorism is a threat but there are other threats in our World. Climate Change, that's the big one. The US needs to ...
Last week, I was privileged to be able to interview Ed Davey, Lib Dem Shadow Foreign Secretary, alongside James Graham, Gavin Whenman, Meral Ece, James Schneider, Linda Jack and Millennium Elephant. In typical final-year student style, Ive left it quite late to write up my report, not unreasonably judging that my essay on Erich Kästner was a slightly more urgent priority. In the meantime, a diplomatic row complicated enough to give the Foreign Office a headache has broken out amongst Lib Dem bloggers. Nich Starling has problems with the way the bloggers interviews are arranged; Alex Wilcock has problems with ...
Hello fluffy friends, I must start with a big fluffy THANK YOU to the MPs of the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet who have responded with great generosity and openness to being asked for an interview by a soft toy and ordinary party member. We had a jolly good interview with Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary Mr Ed [...]
When the issue of transparency and accountability is the fashion, it is appropriate that the spotlight shifts from the worlds of Westminster and Brussels and towards the Regional Development Agencies. BBC Radio 4’s File of Four programme tonight (8pm) takes a look at these largely accountable bodies which spend billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. [...]
I wrote about the American bombing in a town in Somalia yesterday. America has been critized for it's bombing tactics in the past. It's taken them 5 years in Iraq to realise they need to listen to the Iraqi people as they know how to solve there problems and in Afganistan they've been in trouble for killing civilians. There is a nasty history of these tactics, in the Vietnam War, the huge devastation they did only paved the way for communism to take over. Now Somalia may be a country that can't have much effect. But if America is worried ...
Politics is a baffling thing. This is particularly true in foreign countries where you don't know what is meant to be going on. Take for example the last election literature I saw. This happened to be some posters for the election in the Canton de Neuborg for the Conseil General. One candidate appears to have a house, or at least a garden; another seems to live in a field. Exactly what the candidates stand for, I have no idea - and that's not just because my French is scrappy. Fabien Raflik believes together we can be confident about the future. ...
Last Monday I met with the "In it to win it" group of Euro candidates, initiated by Catherine Bearder and Kay Barnard. Left to right are Dinti Batstone(London) Ed Maxfield(East Midlands) Kay Barnard(South West) me, Phil Benyon (West Midlands) and Catherine Bearder (South East) - Chris Foote-Wood from North East also attended. I have to say it was one of the most inspirational meetings I have been in in a long time. We are all not only "In it to win it" we are also all 100% up for making the next Euro Elections our best results ever! We all ...
Or 20 years and a day, to be precise. But my article looking back on the process is now on the New Statesman website after a few production delays: Blackpools Norbreck Castle Hotel does not lift the spirit at the best of times, and in January 1988 its Soviet ambience was enhanced by the trams and melting snow in the streets outside.
The third of my fortnightly columns can be found on the New Statesman website: I was excited when I saw pictures of Plane Stupid protestors on the roof. Not because there is anything remarkable about getting up amongst the gargoyles. Before all this nonsense about security came in - and I for one will not venture down Whitehall unless I am properly tooled up, given the people you are in danger of meeting - there was a whole tribe existing up there. They lived off pigeons and the occasional tourist who wandered too far from his guide.
The day before he was due to face questioning from London Assembly members, Ken Livingstone’s top aide Lee Jasper has quit: Ken Livingstone’s key aide Lee Jasper dramatically quit his job this evening after damaging sexually charged e-mails he sent were revealed by the Evening Standard. (Evening Standard) This morning’s story explains: The Mayor’s senior aide sent a [...]
Sunday: President Count Vlad of Transylvania Russia has agreed to step aside constitutionally, and pass on his throne to his anointed successor, Mr Dmitry Mediocre. Mr Mediocre has sworn to continue the Count's Mr Vlad's work even though election monitors have suggested that the former President's heavy hints that anyone who did not vote as they were told could expect to be on the next train to SIBERIA might have influenced the outcome just SLIGHTLY. Meanwhile, the Count will retire to the office of Prime Monster for a quiet life of contemplation and controlling Mr Mediocre like a puppet er ...
The public strongly prefer the Liberal Democrats' call for a referendum on membership of the European Union, rather than the Conservative proposal for a referendum only on the Lisbon Treaty, accordin...
South Glos residents will be receiving a new bin collection calendar shortly, in the form of a tag hung on their black bins. Some people will have a different collection day - but even if your collection day stays the same, there may still be changes. For example, our street has collections on Tuesdays at the moment, and the new calendar says it's still Tuesdays. But we had a black bin collection this week, and we're going to have another black bin collection next week. The green bin will be collected the week after. Then we'll be back to the ...
Today in the Commons, the Tory Party voted with Labour to reject a debate on whether there should be a referendum on the EU. So much for the Conservatives expressing the public will. My favourite quote comes from Labour MP Andrew MacKinley (who voted with the Lib Dems) on why there should be a full [...] 
Bob Shaw has helpfully posted the Emergency Motion being submitted to conference on Gaza. It is an excellent motion and I trust it will engender an important debate. I am particularly pleased to see the reference to the European Association Agreement, an issue I raised with Ed Davey last week. Given his commitment to be guided by party policy I trust this motion will be resoundingly supported. I am only sorry that given it is an emergency motion it will have very little time for debate. If you are going to conference I hope you will take the time to ...
Many parents will be receiving letters this week telling them what schools their children have got places at. But even if your child has got a place at a school near their home, this may not be the case for subsequent children in a few years' time. The proposed rate of housebuilding will distort traditional catchment areas. For example, in Yate and area the proposal is for 5000 new houses. The developers will have to fund primary and secondary school places, but NOT for all the houses. If there are spare places in existing schools, these will have to be ...
Yesterday was spent in a flurry of preparation for the evening while trying to catch up on countless other things that needed doing. I set off in plenty of time to pick up Juan and Jana from the station, but parking problems (not being willing to shell out £9 for the privilege of parking for 15 minutes in an all day spot) meant that I had to run to the platform when the train arrived so they
News has reached me that another Conservative councillor has resigned from the Conservative group on Epping Forest District Council. The first resigned from Waltham Abbey Town Council last summer (although he still sits as a Conservative councillor on the district council) because he had disagreement with how the council was being run. Then a newly elected Tory council resigned the whip shorty
I was stopped, very early this morning on the way to the bus stop, by a neighbour wanting to raise a problem. He knew I wasn't his councillor any more but had pretty much given up hope of the existing ones replying to him. I said I'd be more than happy to help. Had quite a chat about things. He's the second one this week - earlier I took a phone call from someone in a similar situation. Well not being elected didn't stop me wanting to help. But you do wonder what those who were elected actually do with ...
Nice graphic courtesy of Greg Mankiw
Regular readers of my blog, assuming I actually have any. Which I am now seriously starting to doubt, given Mark Valladares (Let peace reign in land of Lib Dem bloggers) recently described my blog as eye-catching but not necessarily designed to make friends, may have seen this post last Saturday; 'Save our post offices; Shuttern' . Well, that was my take on the days events. Heres what Jeremy Browne MP, the professional politician had to make of it all. Taunton constituency MP Jeremy Browne has joined Liberal Democrat councillors and local residents in a demonstration against post office closures in ...
Despite what some may think, the government report in to 24 hour drinking did contain some surprises. Of course, it should be of no surprise that the government's line has been supported by the report and that 24 hour drinking is regarded as an amazing success. But the surprise is in the notes at the back which also states that
I think I can now claim to have been the first Baroness ever to visit Sydney Russell School Dagenham, unless of course, you know better.... Our new Lord Speaker has set up an "outreach programme" in which we are encouraged to go forth and spread the word about our work in the House of Lords. The Director of Student Development at Sydney Russell, Chris Sullivan, spotted the item on the Lords website, applied for a visit, and was assigned to me. I spoke to a group of around 20 A and A/S level politics students, giving a 15 minute overview ...
Tomorrow evening we have a report recommending giving a special responsibilty allowance to the deputy leader of the Council. This is obviously an important job because I have asked my Lib Dem colleagues who this is, they have as much idea as me - that is no idea. I’ll let you know how the vote goes and who it is by tomorrow night when they might identify themselves by collecting their special responsibilty allowance of £2,954 per annum!!
Bath MP Don Foster has responded angrily to the government failures to control the sale of alcohol to children and to be quite frank I agree with him. I have posted Don's comments to the governments proposals below. As the Government revealed that off-licenses which sell alcohol to children will be shut down as part of its review of the new 24-hour drinking rules, the...
I'm all for giving our health service a fighting chance to do its job effectively. But last week one of the tools to achieve that turned up outside work. It resulted in my bi-annual ritual embarrassment of somebody at work. The tool that turned up was the Blood Transfusion van. The embarrassment resulted in why somebody as fit and healthy looking as me was not signed up for a session on said van
Are you going to the first meeting of the better Bath Forum from what I hear it could be a very interesting meeting in St Michael's Church, Broad St, Bath at 18.00 for 18.30 on Monday, 10 March. I have received an update reminder of the meeting and would encourage residents to attend if possible. I would particularly ask Twerton residents to attend and to make sure that our voice from...
In November last year I visited the hospital regularly to visit my sick mother. Every time it cost £1.70 for 2 hours duration. Sometimes I just wanted to nip in quickly to see Mum and drop something off. No-one at any time told me that there were any special rates available. I understand that there is a slight discount if you pay for a month's parking. One lady I spoke to while out collecting my petition told me that she had paid for the month's parking. Her husband had died after 10 days but no refund was given. I think ...
But don't you think the leader of Conwy Council should have better things to do with his time than reading my internet musings For the three men and a dog who were reading before it happened, I probably ought to explain that my nascent blog has already been the victim of a cheap shot by the Labour Party's own Ronnie Hughes, leader of his group in Conwy council. You can read it here, along with my response. This post and that official response mark the limit to my involvement in the affair. I have turned down a bid from the ...
The farcial Russian elections have now been completed and the anti-democratic Putin retains his place at the heart of the Kremlin. On the same day, Gazprom stepped up the row with Ukraine over gas supplies- giving the lie to the empty words that the incoming President Medvedev had breathed claiming that Russia could be trusted as a reliable energy partner. As Medvedev is the outgoing chairman of Gazprom, it is clear that once again energy is being used as a political lever against those who oppose the Putinistas. The sinister and authoritarian regime seems to grow ever more menacing. Yet, ...
According to the National Childbirth Trust, Mr & Mrs Cobden are exposing our baby daughter to life-threatening illnesses such as meningitis because we feed her formula milk from the bottle. What evidence do the NCT have for this Absolutely none. How many babies in the UK have developed meningitis or any other form of life threatening disease from being bottle fed The NCT decline to put a figure on it. This outrageous scaremongering is based purely on the fact that powdered milk is not sterile and can be contaminated with bacteria, as presumably a womans breast is. Anyone who has ...
Alan Duncan is to wed. He'll be the first Tory MP to enter a civil partnership. Good for him and best wishes. I look forward to the day when a story like this is total non-news.
Batty Great Aunt Margaret Hodgepodge suggests we use the occasion of the anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession in 2009 to have a bit of a collective bellyache about being English (hat-tip W&W). Does she ever turn up to cabinet meetings in her nightie I think we should be told. I must admit I haven’t actually finalised [...]
Interesting piece in slate, which may very well impact on today's results. Check it out.
Brian Paddick's campaign to become next Mayor of London has received another boost, this time from former Conservative Dirk Hazell, former London Chair of the Conservatives. Dirk signed up this morning in front of the watching media. Inevitably, I was on hand with a camera....... Photos from the top: Brian Paddick and Dirk Hazell Ditto Merlene Emerson, London West Central candidate, Brian
Pretty busy at the moment with work - even the Highgate by-election campaigning has had to take a backseat in the last couple of days (don't worry, plenty of my other colleagues have still been out there campaigning to get Rachel Allison elected on Thursday!). But just a quick one, saw yesterday that Andy Murray beat Roger Federer in the Qatar Open - an excellent result considering Murray's recent erratic form, despite Federer's lack of match practice since the Australian Open. In a top class field, hopefully Murray will take advantage to go on and win the title. I was ...
The Daily Telegraph has the editorial: "When the post of London Mayor was established there was careful legislation to decide what powers the post would have, and clear demarkation of where the Mayor's powers stop. But now in proposals designed to appeal to the Mayor's supporters he is planning to act beyond his powers in a clear move to win votes among groups likely to vote for him in May. It
I have watched the spat between Nich Starling and Alex Wilcock with some sadness. Whilst I don't know Nich terribly well, probably because I live in London and he lives in Norfolk, his blog has certainly attracted an audience. I've known Alex for some time, and respect his ability to construct cogent arguments on the issues that he cares deeply about. I've also been Returning Officer in a
Further reading of the Ipsos-Mori poll shows that West Midlanders more in turn with the Liberal Democrats on Europe. 67% of West Midlanders think there should be an 'in or out' referendum with just 17% against - this is the highest for vote and the lowest against vote of any of the regions.
We're in the depths of the Six Nations Rugby tournament and the Scots would normally be gearing up for this weekend's Calcutta Cup match against the Auld Enemy England in high spirits. But if the reaction to my getting on the coach to return from the football at Hamilton the last international weekend is anything to go by eyes are meandering elsewhere. For I boldly took off my Livingston top to
From the BBC News website: 'Frog skin diabetes treatment hope' Full details at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7270714.stm
The government it seems is not even close to meeting its pledge to halve child poverty by 2010. The pledge was made back in 1999 and according to a study by MPs its likely to be missed by close to one million. Mind you if the figures included housing costs when looking at family incomes the miss would be greater - around 1.6 million (and surely when we are talking about poverty, housing costs are significant). The MPs report is published by the Work and Pensions Select Committee. When I worked at Save the Children and NCH I was very ...
is out later this week. Hooray. The young people, and some of the slightly older ones, are having a bit of a celebration on Thursday. Mind you work is already underway on articles etc for issue 4. We are always looking for young people interested in getting involved. If you are, or you know someone who is, do get in touch info@youthlive.co.uk. We are looking to cover Merseyside in general - not just Liverpool. The website is at www.youthlive.co.uk
One of the questions that MPs are frequently asked is what they do all day (!), given that we are patently not all sitting in the House of Commons all day long. My activities today give some clue to that. The day started with a breakfast meeting to discuss 'smart meters'. These are the devices that will eventually be fitted to all our homes that will give us as consumers much more information about the electricity and gas that we consume, and which also have the potential to facilitate the selling of power that we generate in the home back ...
I came across a comment in today's Times by Britain's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks which struck me as true. I respect the Rabbi greatly because he is one of the few religious leaders whose writings provide a cogent critique of modern Western ethics and can appeal to readers beyond narrow sectarian confines. This is what he has to say on the relationship between belief in God and what it means to be a human being which, in turn, has major implications for each individual's sense of purpose and of moral responsibility. Religion claims human beings were granted dominion over all ...
Warning: great, big, long and European. I have been experiencing several days of bloggus interruptus. No sooner have I finally decided that I understand What Is Going On at Westminster (based purely on my own hyper-inductive powers of imagination, you collect, which may explain why at one stage everyone in a half-finished post was wearing superhero [...]
Weird humour warning. Polls close at midnight tonight and the Danish candidate is making a phenomenal late running, coming from a distant third to joint first. He's got the big mo. Can Kant, the early front runner, catch up or will his campaign fizzle like Rudi's Vote on the right hand side. Watch the candidate's attack ads here.
The story is over on Brian Paddick’s website: Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick today received a major boost to his campaign as the previous Chairman of the London Conservative Party resigned to join the Liberal Democrats. Dirk Hazell, whose tenure as Chairman saw the greatest electoral success for the party in London, said the Tories could [...]
So here we go again. Former socialist and now 'Barking' MP, Margaret Hodge, has said that the Proms should 'engender new common values' , according to the Grauniad. Apparently the Proms attract a narrow, unrepresentative audience and this should be addressed. Now there is a lot of truth in this. The gene pool which is represented in the average Proms concert is often smaller than Tony Blair's conscience but the BBC, the sponsor of the Proms, has done its utmost to spread the net more widely with its outside broadcasts on the last night and the sheer range of music ...
Saturday: That is an easy one there are NINE. Er, EIGHT Er, hang on I am going to have to count them. #1: Vulcan sorry, what Vulcan is a tricky one. It appears in the 1966 debut story for Mr Dr Pat, "The Power of the Daleks (it is static electricity, yum yum)". It is the site of a struggling human colony who have made a discovery in the mercury swamps (guess what they've found). Travel to Vulcan is by rocket ship and it's all very "Dan Dare" which suggests that it might be part of colonising the Solar System, ...
Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine have submitted an emergency motion. Although it will be heard at Conference this weekend I have been asked to get some sound bites on how people feel about it. So, regardless of whether you are, or arent going, to Liverpool this weekend, can you please read the EM below and then vote in the poll. Given that the conference is less than 3 days away, the poll will only be open until 9pm Wednesday night. Thanks. Emergency Motion: 1. Conference notes that: (i) commencing in the last days of February 2008, in response to the ...
I was called this morning by the Health and Safety Executive and the organisation confirmed it is independently investigating the circumstances that led to the electrocution of a family pet dog in Taits Lane. I was advised that the HSEs Principal Specialist Electrical Inspector has been tasked with looking into all the circumstances of this dreadful incident. I understand he has already requested a preliminary report from Scottish and Southern Energy and this has been submitted to HSE. Arising out of this, Scottish and Southern Energy has been asked to undertake a further site visit to provide more information, and ...
What do the Russian Presidential elections and the 'I want a Referendum' polls have in common They both lose huge amounts of credibility by pointlessly embellishing already strong results. As the PACE observers said with regards to Medvedev's victory, the result clearly showed the will of the Russian people, but there were a number of irregularities in the voting process and significant problems with equal access to the media for all candidates. Similar problems exist with the IWAR polls. A very strong result is losing news time because some fool apparently decided to issue a press release with a statement ...
A lot of excitement in the north this morning as the Labour Council Group leader on Conwy Council takes a swipe at my colleague and fellow blogger, Stephanie Ashley, for her account of the Conference weekend in Llandudno. Steph has apparently committed the sin of talking about Llandudno as a place where English people retire to, which is a fact. Except that she used rather less prosaic language. I thought that her response to the controversy was spot-on: But she insisted: No offence was intended to the people of Llandudno and Im sure few will over-react like the council leader. ...
So, now we have it nice and clear. The “I Want A Referendum” campaign was challenged yesterday to produce the poll question and answer to justify their statement about their ICM poll: The poll also finds that if only one question is to be asked then Liberal Democrat voters would prefer a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty [...]
News Have the BBC really sunk so low that they now feel they have to report on every aspect of a politicans life Whatever next A ''Hello'' style magazine shoot at the couples home Sorry, but I'm really struggling to see why it is that the BBC actual thinks anyone would be remotely interested in this story What is this story about Is it because Mr Duncan is entering into a civil partnership Is it because Mr Duncan is an MP entering into a civil partnership Or is it because Mr Duncan is a Conservative MP entering into a civil ...
A couple of years ago Roger Williams MP sparked a debate on the use of the additive aspartame. His argument focussed on the way the additive reacted once inside the human body rather than the external factors: "Aspartame breaks down into three components - a methyl ester and two amino acids: phenylalanine and aspartic acid, according to Roger Williams during the parliamentary debate. The sweetener industry repeatedly pointed out that these compounds occur naturally in food and drink, yet that statement hid the complex science that makes each one harmful to humans when found in aspartame, he added. In food, ...
An exclusive poll conducted by MORI shows that the public back the Liberal Democrat stance on a European referendum by 2:1.
Following the recent item on the blog about the Black Street play area, I have discussed residents concerns with the Economic Development Department of the City Council, who own the site. I am pleased to say it has agreed to repatching the damaged tarmac surface. It has also been agreed to tidy the site and it has promised to consider the suggestion the Community Policeman and I raised about having some line markings for youth football. I will now be speaking with the Leisure and Communities Department about portable goalposts that could be stored in the nearby Mitchell Street Centre. ...
The new edition of Politalks, your weekly satirical news roundup, is here. This week we observe childish politics reaching new highs, Tory tactic taking and a scathing analysis of the ever ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict: Feel free to share and share alike, and for those who are interested, here’s the transcript: Tie me down and force me to [...]
My inbox brings the news that Dirk Hazell, former Chair of London's Conservative Party has joined the Liberal Democrats and is backing Brian Paddick: "London needs real change. I left the Tories because they are as dodgy as Labour, because their environmental pretensions are phoney and because their Europhobia harms Britain. "I joined the Liberal Democrats because only Liberal Democrat principles and only principled Liberal Democrats like Brian Paddick will make Britain fair, free and green."
The announcement by the Welsh Assembly Government that they are scrapping parking charges in Welsh hospitals has caused quite stir, and that is just within the Labour Party. The English Health Minister, Ben Bradshaw has hit out at the decision, saying that it does not make sense to spend NHS money on "subsidising" car parks. In return the Welsh Health Minister has accused him of "sour grapes". Mr. Bradshaw did not stop there however. He went on to say: "In Wales, you have to wait much longer for your operation, you have to wait much longer in A&E [accident and ...
Great vox pop with a Tehrani housewife on the Today programme this morning, in anticipation of the upcoming elections in Iran. No, I dont like hejab, nobody likes hejab... But I enjoy climbing - my house is near a mountain. I think this mountain is probably Damavand. I got about a third of the way up before collapsing and stuffing my face with kebab.
One of the areas where the party is currently consulting members and looking for input and one which affects nothing less than the future of our world is on Security. The working group, chaired by Cambridge University international affairs expert (and Lib Dem councillor) Dr Julie Smith has produced a very easy to [...]
Tonight is the final meeting of Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP) of the municipal year. It’s an open meeting, so come along and ask your Councillors some questions! The meeting takes place at Sedgley Park Primary School, which is on Kings Road / Bishops Road. Incidentally, this was the school my Mum went to, and my grandparents lived right opposite it for 50 years. None of which is at all relevant to the meeting itself, which starts at 18.30 with the “business” part of the meeting. We’ll hear reports from the LAP Manager on outcomes since last time, including an ...
The Local Party Executive of the Newcastle-Under-Lyme Liberal Democrats invites applications for selection as Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency of Newcastle-Under-Lyme.
It’s interesting to see that the UK Press Complaints Commission is looking to define rules for the use of social networking content by newspapers. The PCC is the self-regulatory body for the UK press. The reality of any future application of rules is revealed in the article when it says that the press would have a right to publish anything when there is a clear public interest in doing so. While we have no constitutional free speech provisions in the UK, this public interest override is a powerful tool for the media in resisting any limitations on the grounds of ...
Have you ever embellished a CV to land that dream job If you have, you'd better pay attention. It could land you in alot of hot water. As Celebrity Chef, Robert Irvine found out when it was discovered that he didn't have a knighthood, had never cooked for royalty and was definately never a friend of the Prince of Wales (he even claimed to have worked on their wedding cake). When asked about the 'embellishments' Mr Irvine is reported to have said that it was all down to an 'error of judgement'. Quote of the week for me! So, whats ...
One of the features which marks out the way in which we Liberal Democrats as a party make our policies is that they are decided by the members, not just by the Leader and Shadow Cabinet. We often tend to focus on the fact that all policies have to be voted on by Conference. But [...]
From the BBC: NHS data reveals that in 1997-98 average waits stood at 41 days, but by last year had risen to 49 days. The government said it was the price paid for the end of really long waits, but doctors said longer waits included some patients with serious conditions… Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb added: “These [...]
A: Before the government bans their legal substance of choice... It was probably too good to be true, a "legal high" giving similar effects to ecstasy. And so it proves to be. The government, following orders from the bansturbators at Euro High Command (who says we still have control of our own domestic laws any longer) is to move to ban BZP, Benzylpiperazine. According to the Guardian it is likely to become a class C substance by the end of the year: Move to ban stimulant BZP | Science | The Guardian: Owen Bowcott The Guardian, Tuesday March 4 2008 ...
One of the most boring staples of the blogosphere is bloggers banging on about the bizarre Google searches people find their websites via. Normally I eschew such cliche you understand, but I will make an exception in this case: woman beating up a Giant Orange Whale One is to infer this is a reference to chewing gum. The mind boggles. Share This
Another month, another name change. The British Free Press, formerly the UK Column, formerly the Plymouth and Devonport Column, has now become The Westminster News (pdf). Yes, it’s back, and this time it’s fatter than a Sandra in a sponsored fat suit. The reason for all this padding is that it has lots of adverts from a range of sources, some less mental than others. Indeed, there is so much padding, that it appears David Noakes has forgotten to give us his usual quota of nutty-bonkersness. It still contains some highlights however, and some of the adverts themselves are rather ...
Friday: For you, Harry, the war is over. So it turns out that the former Ginger-pop Prince has been out on the front line, doing his job as a soldier. I have MIXED FEELINGS. On the one fluffy foot, it's good that he has found a job to do that he is both good at and enjoying. On the other fluffy foot, that job is killing people (which, I admit, is a bit typical of his ancestors) and it's a shame that ANYONE has to have THAT as their job. What I DON'T understand is why all the news coverage ... | < | March 2008 | > | ||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
