LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Thursday 20th March 2008

Nick in the North East

Nick Clegg visited Newcastle and Northumberland today meeting people at a project helping people who have had drug and alcohol dependency to learn new skills, visiting a cottage hospital whose services have been saved by people power and then holding another of his public access meetings. First stop was a project run by Cyrenians, a charitable organisation which helps people who have had drug and alcohol problems by training them in skills such as carpentry, bricklaying and plastering. Nick met management and tutors and service users and had a go at plastering for himself. Ok, I'm hardly an expert, but ...

How's this for an entrance gate...

As an entry gate this is one of the more impressive around... This is on Harrow Road and is the General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Green. It was first used for burials in January 1833 and is still widely in use. There has been some local controversy over the collapsed cemetery wall on Harrow Road, but is widely accepted to be one of the more interesting and historic - it is also one of the more attractive having been established as a garden cemtery. Interestingly the cemetery is established for dissentors as well as religious and this was a ...

Warrington - 15 years on

Given that today is the 15th anniversary of the bombings in Warrington I thought I'd share the a couple of the things that stood out for me from those terrible events. Firstly, as an Everton fan, I remember feeling quite choked up at the death of Tim Parry, the young lad out shopping to buy an Everton shirt, who was killed by the IRA. And it was this death which stood in contrast to the other thing that stood out for me that day, which was football related. A friend of mine who was at university in Scotland, who was ...

Keep Every Scrap of Paper!

Being totally freelance, I’ve long been trained by my accountant to keep every receipt or scrap of paper relating to finance — quite a challenge in some of the places I go to, not to mention the headache of drawing up the quarterly accounts in which half a dozen different currencies tend to appear. But [...]

A long weekend

The Easter long weekend is starting, and my family have come to visit, so I am taking a break from blogging for a few days. Have a good weekend.

Gossip & Rumour

My most well read blog posting to date Is Hannah Gardiner leaving Cowley Street continues, perhaps worryingly, to be read weekly almost three months after publication. It was a strange post, written in the excitement of Nicks first days as leader and the accompanying new appointments. There is a huge temptation to delete it but I have only done this on two occasions before, resulting in such cowardly feelings that Ive preferred to be brave and bold since. Perhaps it was so popular due to its controversial gossipy feel and perhaps bitchy content, in which, I now realise with hindsight ...

Hot water

Oops, it seems former Tory AM and fellow blogger, Glyn Davies, is in a bit of bother over some comments he made about Paul McCartney's lawyer, Fiona Shackleton. Referring to the point when Heather Mills emptied a jug of water over Ms. Shackleton he claims that this gave the lawyer 'a wanton and rather fetching appearance', suggested that she considers adopting the wet look on a regular basis and offered the view that she might even try wearing a T-shirt as well. Glyn takes a fairly contrite view of the whole affair on his blog, suggesting that this sort of ...

And a damned fine conference it was too, if I say so myself...

And so I have delivered my first and, quite possibly penultimate, Regional Conference. Most people seemed to enjoy it, the feedback has been positive and, thanks to the efforts of what I must lovingly refer to as the Regional Geek Sub-committee, attendance was very good. Hopefully, we made a profit... I've already eulogised about Sally Hamwee, but the contributions from Brian Paddick and Nick

At the reception

Wedding at 2pm in the registry office in Gateshead Civic Centre. There was almost a danger that Mother and I were going to bump into council officers on the day politics and council were banned. From Gateshead we went to Newcastle. We are now at St James, the Stadium that is home to Newcastle football team, for the evening reception. 200 photos taken and still some hours to go before it's all

Attn BSG fans

The cast of BSG on David Letterman, doing the top ten reasons why we should watch the new series of BSG (thanks to {[info]} ms_ntropy for the alert). WARNING!!! Be prepared for the soul-rending, buttock-clenching horror of #5 Link: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=YatjlSJNRHM

Zimbabwe Election Disaster

Mugabe rival condemns vote plans Zimbabwean Parliamentary and Presidentual look set for widespread fraud. Why Presidential votes counted centrally Tens of thousands of "ghost voters" Police allowed inside polling stations More polling stations in rural areas State media bias Food aid only given to Zanu-PF supporters Chiefs used to campaign for Zanu-PFIt's a recipee for disaster, election fraud, and destruction of democracy.Why is this so bad. Zimbabwe is in an economic meltdown. 80% are unemployed and hyperinflation is at 100,000%. Opposition is cracked down on. In 2007 there were harsh punishments to opposition rallies. I wrote an entry a while ...

Lama drama ding dong

Jeremy Page writes in the The Times: The Dalai Lama was criticised yesterday by prominent Tibetan radicals who say that his non-violent campaign for greater autonomy within China has failed and who are demanding a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Tibets spiritual leader has won international acclaim for eschewing violence since he fled Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959 and set up a government in exile in the Indian town of Dharamsala. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. On Sunday he stopped short of calling for an Olympic boycott after two days of rioting in the Tibetan ...

Is the European project still internationalist

Removed Ghanaian dies of cancer Gurkha veterans seek equal rights We are used to being told that the European project is internationalist and, even more, that those who oppose it are absurd Little Englanders. But it is worth stopping to ask whether this is still the case. On the one hand we have tens of thousands of people from Eastern Europe entering Britain. If anyone had predicted that they would come in anything like these numbers a few years ago, they would have been accused of peddling an anti-Europe myth. Nevertheless, this development certainly has its positive side, even if ...

Oi, Mortimer!

What say you we sally on over to the F-Word along with this lady from Mind the Gap and get drunk and rowdy I've been to Czerwik's and procured wine today anyway...

The Telford Panther

In case you have been missing those quirky stories from Shropshire... The Shropshire Star reports that a panther has been sighted in Telford.

The definition of hypocrisy

Chutzpah is not a term usually associated with Andrew Smith, former Cabinet Minister and, for the time being, New Labour MP in Oxford East. From those who know him, the highest compliment is 'he's a nice man.' Commentators have been less kind. But, considering what Mr Smith has just managed to do, perhaps assessments should be revised. Mr Smith was not among those yesterday who rebelled against their own government over Post Office closures. It's not really his style: he prefers to be considered a loyalist to the Blair / Brown administrations. When he was in the Cabinet, that was ...

Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Bunny is busy hiding Easter Eggs in Kingsgate Park. Yate Town Council and the Friends of Kingsgate Park will be holding the annual Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Monday (24 March) , starting at 10am. Well, actually children have to look for wooden Easter Egg tokens that they can then swap for a real Easter Egg. And this year there will also be prizes for children wearing the best Easter Bonnets. Then at 11am, Mark Regan - the England and Bristol Rugby Player - will officially open the all the new equipment in the play area within the ...

Enid Blyton's Famous Five return to television

Or so the BBC reports. Enid Blyton has long been a brand name rather than an author - the books in print under her name bear increasingly little relation to what she originally wrote. So it's no surprise when the BBC says: the Famous Five's offspring are now multicultural; their enemies include a DVD bootlegger and they sport modern gadgets like iPods and mobile phones.One of the new characters is a: 12-year-old Anglo-Indian Jo, short for Jyoti - a Hindu world meaning light - who, like her mother George, is a tomboy and the group's team leader ... "We tried ...

A Senior Moment

My RSS feed of the BBC News Politics page currently has this as the top item: Too many short sentences - Straw Should I be worried that I then clicked on this, out of curiosity as to why Straw was making an intervention on the nation's prose style Perhaps, I thought, it was a comment on someone's speech. What is wrong with me

What is it with Lib Dem politicians

Whenever one of them gets promoted to a high ranking post within the Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet they suddenly develop an obsession with something or other and go on and on and on and on about it. Surely, I can't be the only person who has noticed this Our glorious leader, Nick Clegg, has an obsession with constantly reminding us how in Sheffield, the city where hes an MP, if you're a child born in the poorest ward you will die, today, in two thousand and eight, fourteen years before a child born five miles down the road in the ...

The three who never speak

The agenda for the next City Council Executive Board includes a major report on regeneration in Garston. Its part of a long term plan which has been being worked on for years and includes decisions about use of money for a number of projects, including some on St Mary's Road in Garston. The Lib Dems had already said they wanted this project to proceed, but the exec board paper is effectively the formal decision process for this. I cannot stress too much what a major thing this is for the area. As ever with proposals like this that go to ...

New York, New York :)

So a little later than I had planned, here is what I got up to in New York, last week. We left on Sunday morning, at a ridiculously early time just after 7.30 am. That meant I got up at 6 am, showered and got dressed, and then checked I had everything before heading up to the university to meet the bus. It was strange seeing Lincoln so quiet, as if the place had been evacuated and I was the only person left. I got to bridge house nice and early, I was surprised to learn that the first person ...

Axe Parliaments YouTube ban

Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire) has launched a campaign to overturn the ban imposed by Parliamentary authorities on putting up footage on YouTube or other video streaming sites. Although MPs are allowed to take footage of the House of Commons in action and put it on their own website, they are not allowed [...]

Lib Dems get ripped off

Iain Dale’s post on the Henley College Lib Dem away-day* has been updated with a message from the College’s Secretary, Professor Stephen Lee. Amongst other things, he reveals: “On each occasion our negotiation with this particular client has achieved a highly competitive arrangement that more than achieves our requirements as a charitable organisation. In each case [...]

Lib Dems in Holyrood & Westminster united over Iraq inquiry

Good too see some joined up thinking by both our Holyrood and Westminster Parliamentarians over their calls for a public inquiry into the Iraq war. In his questions to Alex Salmond in today's FMQs session Scottish Lib Dem Leader Nicol Stephen used the opportunity to ask if the SNP would support the Scottish Liberal Democrats in our desire to see a public inquiry. The response was in the affirmative which means that including the Greens and Margo MacDonald there is now a majority (66 of 129) in the Scottish Parliament who favour an inquiry being held. I've noticed that there ...

Another Highgate by-election coming...

... but this time it is in Camden, rather than Haringey. Just heard that the Conservative councillor for Camden's Highgate ward - Paul Barton - has resigned and that polling day will be on 1st May. It will be interesting to see what the Green Mayor candidate Sian Berry does - she's stood for the council before in Camden - and not won. In normal circumstances I suspect she'd be very tempted to stand in this by-election ... but can she do that whilst standing for London Mayor at the same time

John McCain gives a dignified comment on the Obama-Wright row

Compare McCain's responses to Hannity's leading questioning to how Hillary has played this row. Watch the video below.

Has Labour passed the point of no return

Thats the stark question thats being asked today by The Timess Peter Riddell, following two post-budget opinion polls showing support for Labour below 30% in the wake of Alastair Darlings damp squib of a budget. This is the first time this year that Labour support has dropped below this level, and it only occurred four times [...]

Video of the Day

"Obama is a mack-daddy. He pimps white women and black women". Check out this pastor.

Have your say on public transport provision

People in Bury are being given the chance to raise public transport issues face-to-face with the managers responsible for running their services next week. Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA) is hosting a Transport Operator Surgery at Bury Travel Shop on Saturday 29 March between 11am and 1pm. Representatives from First Manchester and Stagecoach Metrolink will be attending, along with officers from GMPTA and GMPTE. The event is the first of four to be held in Bury this year. I am one of the two Bury Councillors on the GMPTA, and we want to hear more about people’s public transport ...

Bercow Watch: part infinity-and-one

The interim findings of the Bercow Review into childrens speech, language and communications issues have been presented today. John Bercow's decision to undertake this report for the government caused chagrin, though perhaps little suprise, amongst his parliamentary colleagues. Meanwhile, Bercows website is in for an MOT at the moment. Shall I stick my neck out and say that the moment at which he finally defects to Labour is at hand Many Conservatives have long suspected that he has simply been delaying his move until the moment at which maximum embarrassment could be caused to Cameron. If he is indeed privately ...

Zhang Qingli's pitiable ignorance: Vaclav Havel's wisdom

A Western tourist in Lhasa, Tibet, has told the BBC: The violence may have begun on Friday at 2pm but it felt like it had been brewing for 50 years. It was frustration that had spilled over. People had taken too much. That was the impression we got. Meanwhile Tibet's Communist party chief, Zhang Qingli, has reportedly told officials: "The Dalai is a wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast." Such ignorance is pitiable. Anyone who has read any of the Dalai Lama's publications knows that he advocates non-violence and compassion ...

Lib Dems launch Forces website

{Nick Harvey MP} The Liberal Democrats have launched a new website providing an online forum to highlight the work of the Liberal Democrats Defence Team lead by Nick Harvey, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary.With increasing demands made of our Armed Forces and with continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, our Manifesto pledge has never been more pertinent: we should look after our Armed Forces so they can look after us. Since this pledge we have repeatedly championed the concerns of the Armed Forces and remain distinct on defence. We opposed the unnecessary and costly war in Iraq, we have campaigned ...

Iraq: 5 Years On

On the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the Liberal Democrats’ Shadow Defence Secretary Nick Harvey MP looks at the cost of the war, “one of the most devastating foreign policy blunders and British government has ever made.” He calls for a public inquiry into the war, and for Labour and the Conservatives to apologise for their lack of judgement in supporting military action. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=EKSweWBVMM4

Will his pastor's "God Damn America !" phrase be Obama's political epitaph

Since I last wrote about the US Presidential campaign, a lot has happened. We found out that Obama won Texas on delegates - not Clinton. The Florida primary re-run has been declared dead (although the "re-seating" idea is still being mooted) and the Michigan re-run is on its death bed. So, Obama is ahead on delegates and it is going to be down to super-delegates. So, Clinton is emphasising the

Whoops she did it again

There has been some debate about whether our local MP Emily Thornberry did, or did not, vote for post office closures last year. Whats clearly on the record is that she did vote against an Opposition motion which said condemns the Government’s short-sighted plan to close 2,500 sub-post offices. And at the same sitting she voted [...]

Cabinet

Tuesday evening's monthly Cabinet meeting returned to its usual lacklustre self after the relative excitement of the budget period. Stepping in at the last minute for our leader, I collected a massive stack of papers several inches thick from my over-burdened pigeon hole. No way could I get through that lot, so I picked out a couple of papers from my areas of interest. The first was on Climate

Meetings and the weekend

Last night I attended a meeting of the Developing Communities sub-group of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership. There was lots on the agenda including updates on the progress of the Rainsough shops debate, the children’s centre, and other Prestwich regeneration projects. Of particular note are up-coming action to be taken as regards enforcement of dog fouling and littering. The local Lib Dems are on the war-path at the moment about both of these things, and it’s good to see that the Council are listening. So look out for some action in the coming months. This morning I attended the Greater ...

Servile Donohoe meekly follows party line

My local MP Daimler driving Brian Donohoe (Ayrshire Central) last night meekly followed the Government line and voted to continue closing Post Offices much to my discontent. Frankly I've never thought much of him as a Parliamentarian and he seems to me to be pretty 3rd rate. In contrast I have a much better opinion of my local MSP, Irene Oldfather, who is also Labour - don't get me wrong I wouldn't vote for her even if she lugged a barrow load of fivers up my path, but she is better than Brian "Coronation Street" Donohoe. Anyway Brian's voting record ...

What is liberalism

That’s a difficult question which provokes much debate, but there are some things it is not. It is not defined by what the Liberal Party or its successors do. True, the Liberal Party and the Liberal Democrats pursued many liberal aims, but to define liberalism with reference to one party is absurd. It would also mean [...]

Sexy

I keep on coming across appalling music videos where women act or are paraded as if they were for sale. There seems to be a very fine line between what is deemed 'sexy' in a woman and the debasing display of body parts. Men (and women) are fed an awful lot of nonsense about what a man is supposed to like and what women are supposed to be like. The driving force is supposedly sex, which is

Labour should put their money where their mouth is on Post Offices say Lib Dems

Posted by Chris: Liberal Democrats on Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council are asking the ruling Labour bosses to look at what councils in Essex and London are doing to try to save post offices. Four post offices in the borough are under threat as part of the Labour Governments closure programme, in Redcar, Lazenby, Moorsholm and Charltons. In Essex the County Council has stepped in and announced a £1.5 million plan to support post offices earmarked for closure. Negotiations are still taking place into how exactly the help will be given. Meanwhile, other councils in Essex and London are looking ...

193,737 ..

That's the total number of women, in England and Wales, said to have had an abortion in 2006. Of those 193,737, 15,000 were said to have had three or more abortions and 54 were said to have terminated eight or more pregnancies! These are the "shocking and disturbing" statistics supplied to Mark Pritchard in a written Parliamentary reply from health minister Dawn Primarolo. Mr Pritchard, a member of the all party pro-life group in Parliament, believes the statistics support claims that some women were using abortion as an alternative form of contraception and thinks that the law on abortion should ...

More Maudlin Than Maundy

I'm feeling a bit low today. I generally do on Thursdays, as the pile of tasks lined up for me take on the shape of an insurmountable obstacle -- you see, I work at my regular job Monday to Wednesday, and between that and the weekend (which of course begins early this week, Happy Easter to all) I have a lot to fit in if I'm to be effective in my Liberal Democrat roles. This week is busier than others as I mentioned in my last post, but that is not all that is grinding me down. It's reading. This ...

Five Years On

A range of opponents of the joint US-UK invasion of Iraq are set to take action today to mark the 5th anniversary of the start of the war. My party, the Liberal Democrats, will highlight the date by i...

Liberal Democrats table a bill to force Iraq inquiry

Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords will today, the 5th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, table a Bill demanding an inquiry into the war begins before the next session of parliament. Commenting ahead of tabling the Bill, Lord (Tom) McNally, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, said: “Anyone seeing the recent analysis of the war in Iraq know that those of us who expressed doubts and asked questions prior to the War have been vindicated. “We asked the right questions. (more…)

Graham's blog entry 20 March 2008

This week the European Parliament is in recess. Next week, when most MEPs' children enjoy school holidays, we will be back at work. Wonderful planning! The House of Lords has just published an excellent report entitled "The Treaty of Lisbon: an impact assessment" (HL paper 62-I). It comes in two thick volumes, the second being a collation of the evidence their Lordships took, but this should not put you off. Volume One is the clearest explanation I have seen, written in layman's terms of what the new Treaty would mean for the UK. As Gilbert and Sullivan observed, they may ...

Salmond to face griling by all MSPs on Trump

Gnat 1st Miniature Eck "two jobs" Salmond is set to be questioned by all MSPs over his involvement in the Trump planning application for a golf course hotel and hundreds of houses on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire. Of course the Gnats MSPs will be their usual supine lick-spittle selves and try to do everything in their power to give their boss an easy ride. The debate is being called as the parliament's Local Government Committee voted 5-3 for a debate in Parliament with the three Gnats on the committee trying to stifle debate. There are six key points in ...

This week on earth

My weekly politics blog round-up has gone up early for the New Statesman, because of the Easter Weekend. Treats include a link to George Osborne as the hypnotoad. As I may have mentioned before, Ive always seen him more as a gender ambiguous marionette.

Formula 1 on the BBC

I wonder how many million license fees have been squandered on this nonsense then Lets get it straight - formula 1 is not now, never has been and never will be a sport. calling this environmental madness a sport is akin to calling bear baiting harmless fun. You'll guess that I don't approve then and you'll guess quite correctly. The environmental impact of this exercise in boys playing with their toys is enormous, mind you the BBC don't seem to give a toss about the environment themselves. Which faceless BBC mandarin decided to splurge untold millions of OUR money on ...

Lib dem ward councillors told to stay away from press call

The Coatham Ward Councillors were invited by a Council Official to attend a photo call today at the re-opening of Coatham Boating Lake. Councillors Josie Crawford and Irene Curr were happy to attend as invited because they had campaigned to have the fencing removed and the lake reopened for the summer. Less than one hour before the event took place the same official rang to withdraw the invitation on the instructions of the Leader of the Council George Dunning. Councillor Irene Curr was informed that the event was only for the Leader of the Council and his deputy. Councillor Irene ...

McCain "applauds" PM on climate change

Does he actually understand climate change, if he thinks Gordon Brown has been working hard in this area. McCain is thought to be more enthusiastic about combating Climate Change than Bush. Although of course not as enthusiastic as the democrats. Obama has spoken a lot about providing jobs such as in the construction industry (which has been suffering) by rebuilding infrastructure and building green projects. I wrote a entry yesterday about McCains world tour to look Presidential like. But if he thinks Gordon Brown has been working hard, he clearly won't do much if he becomes President. He's also expressed ...

Scottish Roundup, Bus Fares and Paton's Lane again ...

Further to yesterday's blog entry about the refuse collection problems in Paton's Lane (featured in today's Courier), I have had further feedback from the City Council first thing this morning : "...the crew got access late Wednesday afternoon and the bins got emptied." I have recently written to Stewart Stevenson MSP, the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, about the about the Scottish Governments refusal to increase the level of fuel duty rebate in Scotland in line with recent rises in fuel duty, which is leading to increased bus fares across Scotland. Already this week we have seen an ...

The Iraq War - 5 years on Lib Dems demand answers

Later today our Leader in the Lords, Tom McNally, will introduce a Bill to make provision for an inquiry into the war in Iraq - its origins, inception, legality and the conduct of it. A group of us have just been out on College Green to publicise the Bill - of course, you're not allowed to have a large protest outside Parliament any more thanks to this Government, but a lawful contingent of Lib Dem Peers and MPs plus the media were there to listen to Tom McNally and Edward Davey. This has to be one of the most expensive ...

Post Offices: Labour says one thing, does another

After PMQs yesterday, I rushed to Five Live to do Simon Mayo - and guess what - Post Offices were the issue of the day! Loads of emails into the program expressing the rage and anger felt by local people everywhere. The Labour MP on the panel, Celia Barlow was really put on the spot by Mayo. The Opposition Day debate in the afternoon with a vote at 7pm was to put a moratorium on the proposed closures giving time for more creative solutions to be found. Now Celia is in the position of many Labour MPs of having voted ...

Justice for the Gurkhas

I was delighted to see yesterday's protest by the Gurkhas, demanding equal rights with others who have served in this country's armed forces. These are people who have loyally served this country for many years, and many of them made the ultimate sacrifice by laying down their lives for the UK. All they're wanting is to be treated the same as many of their colleagues in the armed forces, with equal pension rights and the right to settle in this country if they so desire. Anyone who knows anything about the Gurkhas knows that they are loyal, brave, committed and ...

Five years on

… And three years since this video was first broadcast:

London Conference getting it right on Gender Balance

I went to one of the best London Spring Conference's in years on Tuesday night. Let's face it, it was a great line up with both Brian Paddick and Nick Clegg speaking. As Jonathan Fryer says on his blog, Nick is doing really well in endearing himself to the membership with humour and just a general feeling of accessibility, like he did at the federal Spring Conference in Liverpool. Many people say that whilst David Cameron may come across well on TV and Radio, in the flesh he is completely lacking in charisma. Well, Nick comes across well on TV ...

Post Office closures - Labour majority slashed as 11 Tories go AWOL

The Government narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat in the Commons last night of their plans to close 2,500 post offices Labours majority was reduced to just 20, with Lib Dems and Tories voting together. Sarah Teather led the Lib Dem attacks on the closure programme you can follow her arguments in Hansard here (and [...]

GuardianICM Poll results, reassuring but not great

Since Nick Clegg was made party leader in the ICM poll we've been lifted from results of 16,17% to 21% (1% less than our 2005 General Election Result). That's reassuring, but we still have a long way to go. The Tories on 42% is really quite high, with labour only on 29%. Considering labour got 55% of the seats with 35% of the vote in the last election, this poll could be interpreted that if we had a General Election now the conservatives would have a majority. I think Nick Clegg has been doing a brilliant job at showing how ...

Executive Committee 19 March 2008

Last night was the last meeting of the Council’s Executive Committee for the year. The Executive brings together the eight “portfolio holders” on the Council, together with the two leaders of opposition parties, including me from the Lib Dems. The meeting had an increadably long agenda - 31 items! - so I’ll only report on the most interesting here. The full agenda, together with all the papers can be found here. Annual Audit and Inspection Letter We received our annual report from the Audit Commission on well Bury is performing. The headline is that Bury has moved from being a ...

On Post Offices

I am waiting to see the full list of MPs who voted to save the Post Office network last night so that I can ascertain whether any of the seven MPs in my region were among them. Only one of these now hold a government post so it will be interesting to see how the other six responded to the challenge. I will then be able to contrast their actions in the Commons with their reaction to proposals to close local Post Office branches in their constituency, due to be published for this area in June. The challenge facing Post ...

Salmond to Face the Music Before Full Parliament

Trumpgate is going to face a full Parliamentary debate at Holyrood, after the local government committee made the decision for its report to be before all MSPs. The report looked into the SNPs actions over calling in Donald Trump's golf course resort plans for Aberdeenshire. After the local planning committee and Aberdeenshire council rejected them on environmental grounds the finance Minster

Texts and twitters

15:09 trying to shake a headcold that's killing his concentration. # 16:00 being asked to boil SB's mooncup. Lovely. #Microblogging by SMS, it's all the rage donchaknow. Using LoudTwitter and Twitter.

5 years, for what, exactly

So, just getting in at the end, it's March 19th, 5 years since Iraq was invaded on a false pretext without any form of legal or even moral justification that held any water. As a fairly committed liberal internationalist who was in favour of the Yugoslav interventions and had argued for an Afghan intervention a long time before most had heard of the Taliban or Bin Laden, that we spent all our well earned capitolcapital on such a stupid, badly thought out endeavour still horrifies me. Worse, it makes necessary interventions in the future harder to justify to an incredibly ...

Day 2633: Bear (Sterns) Market

Monday: Bear Sterns was Wall Street's fifth largest bank and, a year ago, it was worth eighteen BILLION dollars. Which is a LOT even in devalued dollars. This week it was sold for one-quarter of a billion dollars and a promise of a lot of love from the Federal Reserve. Quite simply, the bank ran out of cash. They had invested heavily in the distinctly dodgy "capital instruments" that supposedly turned sub-prime mortgages into Triple-A quality assets. Their depositors no longer trusted them, wanted their money back and that, as they say, was that. Does any of this sound familiar ...

Thursday 20th March 2008

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