The view from the hospitality suite on the 24th floor of the Shell Centre on London’s South Bank is stunning on a sunny, late afternoon. Alas, when Business for New Europe (BNE) hosted a briefing on Europe and Africa today, the curtains were drawn, as Lindt were about to project a giant chocolate rabbit onto the [...] 
Still catching up from Conference at the weekend in my entries below, but I am struck at how much resonates with the Budget. Some headline good news, with real problems below the surface and the poorest in our society losing out the most. Julia Goldsworthy is our new Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesman for local government, so I was all set to hear what she had to say. I know things are...
People may have laughed at Lembit for taking up the meteor issue but after istening to this you kinda see the seriousness of his point.
In the string of posts about plaques and carvings here's the one I have spotted a lot recently but only just get a snap. The pic is taken from a stark angle because of the large potted tree which you can see pic left. WILLESDEN DISTRICT COUNCIL THIS STONE WAS LAID BYC.COWLEY ESQ.CHAIRMAN OF THEELECTRICITY COMMITTEE JULY 10TH 1902 It's on Salusbury Road and is part of the key arterary nature of Salusbury Road at the turn of the century for Willesden District Council: a library, police station, major council offices, schools - a real centre of activity in the ...
When you’re involved in politics in Sheffield you quickly get used to Greens behaving oddly. But you have to wonder why they bother being politics at all when they vote against the very measures they keep talking about, as they did in last week’s budget meeting in Sheffield City Council. The Liberal Democrats in Sheffield [...]
Zoe Williams has got a particularly irritating column in the Guardian today where she argues that the routine use of the word gay as an insult in schools today should just be accepted as a done deal. Apparently because school children do not mean homosexual when they call their peers gay but rather crap or stupid, then use of the word is fine! If we try and challenge it well just make it worse, so best just walk away and let them get on with it. Im not gay but I am female and I know that when people use ...
Or behind his resignation, depending whom you believe. Greg Hurst thinks he knows: Westminster sources said the origin of Dr Spinks feud with local Tories lay in his affair with a former Conservative councillor, Gail Boland the long-term partner of the local associations deputy chairman, Bill Sharp.Dr Spink uses his Commons staffing allowance to employ both his ex-wife Janet who works from Dorset 150 miles from his constituency and Mr Sharp and Ms Bolands student daughter Ashleigh Sharp.Since Dr Spink started his relationship with Ms Boland, he and Mr Sharp are said to have been involved in a bitter feud. ...
12th March is this blog's 2nd birthday. The response to the blog from West End residents has been fantastic, with thousands of hits! Many thanks to all.
Dear Councillor Macpherson This is not a green budget. This is not a people's budget. This is a con trick budget that protects the rich and abandons the poor. The Government has bottled it on green taxes and failed to implement the necessary measures to cut child poverty. This was an opportunity to give whatever help possible to millions of stretched British families who are feeling the pinch and whose money just doesn't go as far as it used to. Instead, we have a budget which gives only limited help to the poor, but maintains special treatment for the rich. ...
The Labour controlled Met police are still proceeding with their plans to close and sell off East Dulwich Police station. Thousands have signed our petition against this. The Met are now at least consulting about their plans and the East Dulwich councilors have responded. I notice that in the press Labour’s GLA incumbent still supports closing police stations. (You know [...] 
On hearing the budget, my first thought was "Is that all there is " (Incidentally an excellent song once recorded by Peggy Lee and available below for re-enjoying). So much of the budget has been spun, re-spun, unspun, de-spun, leaked and positioned before today that there was little left for Alastair Darling to do other than sip his "tap water" (we are told) and attempt, as usual, to induce
I shall not be commenting on the budget other than to say it was all I expected, and a lot less. Let's face it, Gordon Brown crapped in his own garden last year by announcing several measures one year in advance thus ensuring that Alistair Darling wouldn't have the honour of announcing the tax cuts, but would take the blame for the tax rises. Yes, that's the sort of man Gordon Brown is. Wise up to him quickly folks.
Read the first part of his lordship's latest diary here. Thursday In all honesty, it is chiefly for the sake of Thursos grandfather, my old friend Sir Archibald Sinclair, that I am undertaking this journey. He led the Liberal Party between 1935 and 1945, and was altogether a splendid fellow. He was orphaned at the age of five but (despite my familys best efforts) was brought up at Thurso Castle by his own grandfather Sir Tollemache Sinclair. He too was a splendid fellow, who had pulled down the sixteenth century castle and had a new one built to his design. ...
Parlour Twinning Reception I had a Twinning Reception to meet and welcome the International Officer from Kaposvar City Council Kornel Karsay he said in Bath for a few days then went up to London but thoroughly enjoyed his stay and thought Bath was as beautiful as he had been told it was. The Showmen's Guild Reception Now this is the Western Counties...
Peter Black flags up the New Statesman campaign to secure proper funding for Rape Crisis. The number of centres affilated to the group in England and Wales has nearly halved since 1984 from 68 to 38. You can read more about the campaign on the magazine's website and also sign their petition.
Unusual first question: asking whether I’d vote “at a polling station” or not vote at all. Person bit flumoxed when I said I’d vote by post next time - neither not voting nor a pollint station. Usual political questions - how vote next time, last time etc. Certainty to vote questions. Then on to today’s big [...]
I'm sure for many Haringey residents around Crouch End, the site of the former Crouch Hill Recreation Centre (just off Crouch Hill, by Parkland Walk) feels "local". However, it being the other side of the council boundary - and covered by different local newspapers - means we often don't get all the news on what's happening there. So here's a quick remedy - Islington Council is drawing up plans to introduce a new school on the site, a refurbished play area and youth centre and various other changes. You can read about them on the Islington website - which also ...
I don't normally watch the "One Show" but I forgot to turn over today and Andrew Neill is on giving his take on the budget. I loved this one line in particular: "This is a good budget for the Colombian Medellin Cartel" He is right when he says that an ecstasy pill is now cheaper than a pint and a line of coke cheaper than an alcopop, and probably right that trying to attack binge drinking by increasing the cost will simply mean the real bingers take more pills or lines instead. For me, cheaper alcohol simply means that when ...
Pay attention all political anoraks who also write Focus leaflets, because here’s an exciting posting on fonts. That particularly includes you Duncan Borrowman and Ed Maxfield (sorry, private joke). It turns out that Paul Mijksenaar, the person who designed the signage at the airports in Amsterdam, Athens and Frankfurt, has Gill Sans Serif as his [...]
These are some of the 1200 photos I took over the weekend at Liverpool. Fortunately I have extracted only a handful for the blog! Lynne Featherstone starring in the new Lib Dem L'Oreal advert - because she's worth it!Inside the new conference centre What is Chris Huhne eating A bunch of members from the North East make merry in the glee club two views of the outside of the new
I spent some time not a lot watching the Chancellor Alistair Darling deliver what he must have always wanted to do present a conservative penny pinching budget that again robs the poor and protects the rich.. The sheriff of Nottingham would be proud of him as would many previous conservative chancellors for what he has done is a disgrace to his Labour roots. In our local...
It seems that Bush has ambitious plans for, errr, change. Click here to discover more.
Four local authorities in the South West; Bristol, North East Somerset, North Somerset and Bath and South Gloucestershire are said to be consulting on plans for a £20m waste incinerator in the Greater Bristol area. Is this such a good idea Im not so sure it is. Whilst I agree that incineration is preferable to burial, isnt recycling preferable to incineration Therefore the fear has to be that following the introduction of an incinerator we would see a marked drop in the amount of rubbish we recycle. When you consider that up to 60% of the rubbish we put in ...
Some industries (air travel or motor manufacturing to name but two) are intensely competitive its in their DNA so to speak. Others, like most of the formerly state-owned monopolies that have been privatized over the years, operate in markets where there is little or no competition and monopoly is the rule. So, from Thatcher onwards, successive governments have invented a whole raft of regulators to represent the public interest and substitute for the discipline of competition when these firms were privatized. Sadly, it is abundantly clear that this strategy has failed, that regulators have suffered regulatory capture and that the new ...
Well, I seem to be all right. As a public transport-using, non-smoker on a decent wage who is a moderate drinker, I suspect I’ll be the beneficiary of the 2p income tax cut overall (although the devil is always in the detail). But it doesn’t look as if too many people will be particularly happy with this year’s budget. More here. Share This
I think we are very fortunate in Stone to have a dedicated Anti Social Behaviour group sponsored by the Borough Council but drawing upon the input of, amongst others, the police, Connexions, the Alcohol and Drug Advisory service, the Town Council and the Youth Service. I’ve attended several meetings and have always been interested to see how effective inter agency co-operation can be. This afternoon’s meeting was not so well attended as most but nevertheless progress was made on several fronts. It was very gratifying to hear compliments being made about how well Stone is regarded in the County for it’s ...
From the BBC: The Conservatives say they have withdrawn the party whip from Castle Point MP Bob Spink. Mr Spink earlier told MPs he had resigned over the party’s failure to deal with serious “criminal and other irregularities” in his constituency. But the party says it withdrew the whip - excluding him from the Tory group at Westminster [...]
The Planning application to demolish Blockbuster Video and the Chinese takeaway and to redevelop the site has been withdrawn by the applicant after it became clear to them that their application was about to be refused. I am delighted that the developer has seen sense and withdrawn the application which should mean that our 2 very popular shops are safe for now....
You can find out how to improve wildlife habitats by joining in with a Working Woodlands event on Friday, March 14. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's Events Team is encouraging people to put on their working clothes and bring a packed lunch to help the "Friends of Errington Wood" with some practical tasks to improve the wildlife habitat from 10am until 4pm. Anyone interested should meet at Errington Wood Picnic Area. For more information contact the Eastern Area Countryside Officer on 01642 776911.
North East Fife Member of Parliament, Sir Menzies Campbell has called todays Budget from the Chancellor of the Exchequer neither fair nor green. Commenting on its content, Sir Menzies said, This budget is neither fair nor green. It does not go nearly far enough with green taxes, which could be used to help low and middle income families in the form of tax cuts. The Government has produced a budget that protects the rich and abandons the poor. Many people in North East Fife who are already feeling the pinch are even worse off today. None of its green tax ...
Budget Day. I really don't know why we, the media and all, get in the slightest bit excited. It was even more turgid than usual and relatively little is changing. There are no miracles - and indeed in this Darling budget there is absolutely no attempt to really tackle the big issues such as the widening equality gap. We have one of the biggest equality gaps in the Western world - but the countries that do best have the least gap between their richest and their poorest (for more on why this is the case, read my previous speech on ...
Breaking news that Tory MP Bob Spink is no longer a Tory. Differing accounts so far of what exactly has happened - Bob Spink, MP for Castle Point, seems to be saying that he resigned the Tory whip, but now they are saying that it was withdrawn from him. Either way, for the time being at least, the Tories have lost another MP. Careless. Although I would be surprised if Bob Spink follows Quentin Davies, MP for Grantham, in joining Labour on the Government benches. But he is following Derek Conway and Andrew Pelling in losing the Tory whip in ...
Budget is a great green cop out - Nick Clegg Chancellor fiddles while planet burns - Steve Webb Darling fails to meet his own challenge to tackle climate change - Norman Baker Budget will be remembered for abandoned child poverty target and gimmicks for elderly - Danny Alexander A bad news Budget - George Osborne And your view is…
Just watching the Budget debate and an backbench Tory MP just got up and announced that he was resigning the whip. The Deputy Speaker told him to sit down and he just left the chamber. I don't know who he is. He interjected whilst Peter Lilley was speaking. He was bald an wearing a pink tie. Any ideas people Update. It's Bob Spink. He's up against de-selection. BBC article here. More info as and when.
Follow-ups to three things I’ve written about recently: The gambler who sued William Hill for letting him gamble has lost his case in the High Court. Briggs J found that William Hill did not owe Mr Calvert, a compulsive gambler, a duty of care. And quite right too. After Peter Goldsmith’s proposal that school-leavers should have to [...] 
Last Thursday I attended the inaugural meeting of a group of individuals who were interested in setting up a "Greening Oliver's Battery" campaign. This would be a local community initiative as part of the wider "Greening Campaign" which aims to "Green the country, community by community". The Greening Campaign was set up in response to the threat of global warming. It is an innovative idea to
The recent controversy over the 'Civil Serf' blog which, I note, is no longer accessible, is a reminder of the high-wire act that is blogging when you're a civil servant. All of us sign the Official Secrets Act when we commence our employment with whatever Department we join, and we are asked to keep any political involvement to a minimum, as is entirely appropriate given our role as servants of
Well, another year another budget. On the other hand the BBC hit a new low. I could not believe the banality of their truly appalling coverage. Jade Goody- disgraced Reality TV star nobody- was seriously wheeled out as a commentator. This is beyond parody. I think I want the entire BBC team responsible for this turgid fiasco to quit producing -NOW. John Reith, the founding Director General of the BBC put forward three principles for the corporation to live by: to educate, inform and entertain. WTF A Budget commentary team of Trisha Goddard, Jade Goody, Colin Jackson and the rest ...
What does today's budget mean - Darling announced a £25 million 'green homes initiative. As Steve Webb points out, this is the equivalent of about £1 per home in the UK. For which I can buy about 0.6 square metres of loft insulation material which you will have to fit yourself. As you can see from the photo on the right, that's not a lot! (we're being very generous about what you can get for that amount of money). - £60 million over three years for equipping people to return to the workplace. Well, there are about 1.6 million people ...
No angry polemic this time; just a short post to express my sadness and sympathy for the friends, relations and colleagues of Michael Todd, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police who was found dead yesterday. Sad news indeed.
I was deeply disapointed with much of todays budget. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has called it a green cop out which kicks the difficult decisions on environmental taxes into the long grass and offers no help to the millions of hard pressed families struggling to make ends meet. And I agree with him. Once again I am disappointed that the government have failed to go far enough on green measures. Theyve not done anywhere near enough to address unjust inequalities becoming endemic in society. And theyve gone nowhere on helping the famlilies like ones here in Prestwich who are ...
Plastic Mac Darling obviously cares not a jot for the Scotch Whisky industry and the thousands of people employed therein. By pushing up the price of a bottle of whisky he will damage sales which leads to less profitability and subsequently to the possibility of workers being laid off. He wilfully ignored the lobbying of many Scottish MPs and the Scotch Whisky Association who recently met with Exchequer Secretary Angela Eagle MP. Speaking before the meeting Gavin Hewitt, Chief Executive of the SWA, said: The Government has recognised the benefits of a fairer alcohol duty policy in recent years and ...
With the race for the democratic nomination now entering a 6 week long hinterland until Pennsylvania votes on April 22nd, it's worth assessing the current state of the contest.The bottom line is that Barack Obama remains in a commanding position. He has a large lead in pledged and total delegates (the gains made by Hillary Clinton from Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas are likely to be wiped out by Obama's gains in Wyoming and Mississippi since), has won more states, and has a substantial popular vote lead. Slate's delegate calculator shows Clinton is unlikely to be able to claw back Obama's delegate lead - even ...
Well Chancer, sorry Chancellor, Darling was wishy washy about bringing in a ban on plastic bags so it's good that Mike Pringle Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh South has agreed to reintroduce his bill which would ensure that in Scotland if you wanted a plastic carrier bag then you would be charged 10p. The idea being that we should all go back to carrying a shopping bag with us. Personally I believe that a charge of 10p is not enough but before increasing it I would ensure that the Scottish Government delivers a free recycled shopping bag to every household ...
We've just had Alistair Darling's first Budget which was notable mainly for the lack of anything new. The main 'announcements' - bigger winter fuel payments, a slightly tougher line with the energy companies, slightly higher tax on new 'gas guzzlers' - had all been trailed in the press. When Gordon Brown used to spring rabbits from a hat at the end of his budget speeches they were generally a surprise - not that this was a good way to make government policy! - but today's speech was largely a repeat of stuff we had heard before and a few things ...
It was with sadness that I learned of the death of the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Michael Todd, yesterday. Michael Todd was a distinguished Chief Constable with a lifetime of achievement in British policing behind him, who would have continued to make a great contribution to the fight against crime. Although I never met Chief Constable Todd, I do have regular contact with local Police officers who I know admired him greatly, and will be very saddened by this tragic news. My thoughts and sympathies go out to our hard working local police officers here in ...
In the ongoing saga of "Lord Goldsmith is an arse", Jennie, having already covered it well, links today to Larry's Britishness Test, and, well, it amuse me muchlyI knew most of the quotes, and even knew many of the sources, but it's nice to see them all compiled. So, here we go, how British are you View Poll: Larry's Britishness Test ETA: Gah! Forgot the ticky box for people to say they'd done it. That was really stupid. Ah well, sorry all. Question: I deliberately uncut it, good/bad Does it work as a form of post Answers below the fold: ...
When will the grasping New labour Government ever learn that simply whacking a rip-off rise onto cigarettes just doesn't work in getting smokers to stop I'm a smoker myself and intend to give up in the near future. I'm giving up because I don't want to stink of smoke any more, because I fear for my long term health and because I'm moving in with a non smoker and don't want her to have to put up with my fumes (not that I smoke indoors anyway). I'm not giving up because my cigarettes will cost an extra 11p a packet. ...
Richard does a very funny piece on differing attitudes to coiffeur. Well worth a read. But Richard - it ain't just the girls. Last Tuesday when I was on duty I was called by a young male student resident who was out in town. He was calling to ask me to go check his room because he thought he had gone out leaving his hair straighteners turned on and burning a hole in his bedroom. He had, but such was the mess in his room I honestly couldn't tell if a fire had already happened or not!
As I've mentioned in previous postings, members of the House of Lords are neither full time nor salaried. Given that the average age of their Lordships House is 68, that's not a problem for many of them, but for those of us of working age, and 14 hungry children to support ( OK, so it's 2 but one of them is at university) it can be an issue. In the 8 years since I first came to the Lords, I've developed what I beleive is called a portfolio career, so it sounds good anyway. One of my activities is lecturing, ...
... from York to Kings Cross and hoping to get back in time for the Neighbourhood this evening. Half the trains have been cancelled because of the weather, so I'm pleased I've got a seat. And the trains are apparently restricted to 50mph so the fast 2 hour journey will probably take over 4 hours. Time to read Private Eye. I was up here to speak at a...
What is it about girls hair Last night I went leafleting. I timed the excursion to within thirty seconds of perfection, only being pelted by thunderous rain as I walked back to the car. The friend I was leafleting with was also subject to half a minutes rain, and was transformed in these few moments from a calm, rational human being into a screaming, flapping animal which I can only assume took the wrong fork when man and beast made their evolutionary split some time ago. Apparently her hair had got wet, leaving it vulnerable to frizzing. I ...
Commenting on the news that more than 11,000 military ID cards have been lost or stolen in the last two years, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey MP said: “These figures are just extraordinary and make a mockery of the security throughout our military facilities. (more…)
Alistair Darling has prematurely revealed the details of today’s Budget: Punitive tax on runaway eyebrows. Emissions limits on ministers’ hot air and cremations for alcoholics to be banned in order to meet the government’s Kyoto obligations. Reverse the UK’s -$111,000,000,000 current account deficit by putting a vertical line through the minus symbol. Introduce a ’showroom tax’ of up to [...]
Next Tuesday London Liberal Democrats hold our conference and this year, as well as keynote speeches from Nick Clegg and Brian Paddick, we will be making time for some new sessions too. Firstly, there’ll be a Campaign Briefing, led by Chris Rennard, who will update members and activists about the campaign we are now running across [...]
I ask because {[info]} matgb has informed me that I am now being syndicated to Lib Dem Blogs on Lib Dem Voice... Oh dear. Poor Lib Dem Blogs. Are they ready for my level of random spamming, I ask myself Oh well; I suspect I'll find out. I'm very happy to be welcomed by the nice "freeze duty on real ale" advert, though. The important business of the day is this: Happy Birthday {[info]} nannyo! Wave to all the nice Lib Dems ;) The less important business of the day is a trio of interesting links: 1, Is anyone really ...
As if they did not have enough political correctness to complain about in the UK, today's Daily Mirror runs a story about the French banning a number of English words from everyday usage. Amongst the words on the banned list are 'fast food, takeaway food, low-cost airline, blog and Wi-Fi': The 65-page list, on a government website launched this week, singles out more that 500 English words and gives the recommended native Gallic alternative. Sports commentators are asked to avoid "coach" and "corner" and instead say "entraineur" and "coup de pied de coin". A spokesman said: "French is a living ...
It seems to be the most difficult thing in politics to do at the moment. Darling will feel obliged, at Gordon's behest, to come up with the usual Labour-lite mish-mash of re-announcements, pre-announcements and non-events and string this narrative together as a budget. Why When is someone going to just learn to leave things alone It's bad enough in government, even worse in opposition. At least when Clegg and Cable say something the gravitas of Cable and his accepted economic wisdom give it some credibility, but the Conservatives are starting to make fools of themselves. The daily 'stream of nonsciousness' ...
The New Statesman has launched a campiagn to help secure proper funding for Rape Crisis. In their article they reveal that the number of Rape Crisis-affiliated centres in England and Wales has nearly halved from 68 to 38 since 1984. They write that the British Crime Survey suggests there are more than 300,000 rapes and serious sexual assaults each year. Most are not reported. One in four women have experience rape or attempted rape. One in seven women have been coerced into sex. Yet conviction rates have plummeted from 33% in the 1970s to around 5% now. Rape Crisis have ...
The party has a growing range of popular news feeds, designed to supply direct to you the latest information on a range of topics from mistakes at the Home Office through to the latest interviews with Nick Clegg. The following list shows the main feeds available from the party centrally. They are all RSS feeds which [...]
The new edition of Politalks, your weekly satirical news roundup, is here. This week we discuss Labour’s treatment of Nineteen Eighty Four and Margaret Thatcher’s non-death: Feel free to share and share alike, and for those who are interested, heres the transcript: Nineteen Eighty Four tells the story of Winston Smith, a man trapped in a totalitarian [...]
We learn, via the Daily Express, that the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (”Who are they” we hear you perfectly reasonably cry) has advertised for some media staff. Six, in fact. We’ll let the Criminal Justice System website (yes, the system has a website) explain about the OCJR: The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) is the cross-departmental team that supports all criminal justice agencies in working together to provide an improved service to the public. As a cross-departmental organisation, OCJR reports to Ministers in the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Attorney General’s Office. One might innocently ask why there’s a ...
Even councillors are allowed a holiday sometimes so this week we've been far afield spending time with our daughter and son in law. We don't see them very often so it's really good to spend time together and see their new flat and a new part of town. We've seen interesting places and enjoyed some good weather. When I'm back home I'll upload some pictures, but meanwhile I'm very grateful to
Torbay has managed to get five venues listed in the London 2012 pre-games training camp guide. This is a remarkable achievement, not least because Torbay is hardly endowed with the best sporting faci...
Today we will see what Labour are going to do in the budget. I hope that Mr Darling remembers the thousands of pensioners who are struggling to pay their heating bills. I remember knocking on one door and waiting a long time for an elderly lady to answer the door. When she finally opened the door she said, "I'm so sorry but I thought it was my son". I was a bit concerned thinking she may be being hurt in some way. "So why don't you want to see your son" I asked. "Oh dear it's just that I have ...
On Monday night, I went along to the Green Alliance annual debate and heard Nick Clegg give his first major speech on the environment as Liberal Democrat leader. Although much of the policy content was familiar to Liberal Democrat ears, he signalled some important new directions. On funding adaptation measures in developing countries, Nick went further and into more detail than the party has done in the past. He also made a connection between the need for robust climate change strategies where the Lib Dems scored very highly in last years Green Standard Report - and policies to protect the ...
Nick made an excellent speech at conference. I think the thing that did it for me was his sincerity. It made me feel proud that I was in the Liberal Democrats. Politicians are clever with their words. But here was a man who truly believed in what he was saying about social justice. His ability to roam the stage with no podium or notes for fifty minutes was pretty impressive too. Considering the vote on the Treaty of Lisbon problems of last week Nick was completely upbeat. He has the ability to keep moving forward despite adversity. I like that. ...
University College London Union (which is the actual Students’ Union, not a debating society) has voted 80-50 to ban military organisations like the Officer Training Corps. The OTC, like the CCF at some schools, provides military training for students and no doubt is a lot of fun for those who chose to join. On the Defence Policy Working Group [...]
It was good to see a very calm, sensitive and rational Jackie Ballard representing the Royal National Institute for the Deaf on BBC 1's Breakfast News. She was talking about the discussion of a deaf couple's potential choices over their IVF offspring. As Jackie pointed out, we are talking about one couple out of a population of 60-odd million people in this country, so this is a very rare
I’ve been watching the budget coverage with only minimal interest. My enthusiasm is lacking partly because there’s been quite a bit of early warning about the content and partly because Labour’s management of the economy is beginning to grind me down. Yet again I’ll be worse off and yet again there’ll be more announcements of change. [...]
Once again in the past week the headlines have been dominated by the cycle of violence in the Middle East. The same day as a gunman attacked the Merkaz Harav seminary a coalition of international groups released a report into the worsening conditions for ordinary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. If nothing else this report [...]
Mehdi Kazemi the gay Iranian nineteen year has lost his asylum bid to remain in the Netherlands and will shortly been returned possibly breifly to the UK. Sadly our Home Office fails to accept that the Iranian regime routinely execute homosexuals. Indeed they take the attitude that that gay people can return to Iran safely providing they are 'discreet'. How they expect Mehdi to remain discreet
Nick Clegg marked his appointment as leader of the Liberal Democrat party by announcing that he had enlisted the help of Brian Eno (electronic musician, music theorist and record producer) to act as an adviser on youth issues As I recall, around the time this appointment was made there was great excitement by some within the party (bloggers included) at the thought of actually having a 'celebrity' in our midst. There was talk of how this would be really beneficial and of how it was a coup for the Lib Dems. Three months on and the trail seems to have ...
A number of others have kindly blogged about the interesting discussion at the ALTER conference fringe event last Saturday night. From the point of view of being on the platform for the first time it was all the more interesting for me. I wanted to pick up on some of the issues that were raised, not so much by the audience, though many were very insightful questions and observations, but the issues raised by both Tony Vickers in his introduction and especially by Vince Cable in his speech. First, Tony Vickers introduced the whole event by saying that ALTER wanted ...
Andy Sloan, who stood for the Lib Dems as a prospective MP in 2005 and had been a councillor in East Hull since 2006, has defected to the Tories. A fortnight ago he voted against the Lib Dem council groups proposed budget, proposing an amendment to increase gully cleaning, and launched a fiercely personal assault [...]
I have signed a petition calling on the Prime Minister to reject the plans to encourage school children to swear an oath of allegiance to the Monarch and I would encourage others to do the same. | < | March 2008 | > | ||||
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