LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Monday 7th April 2008

Olympian Values (UPDATE)

I’ve been sitting back and enjoying the show that is the ongoing farce of the Chinese Olympics. I have two main reasons for not taking a stand. Firstly, I’m quite ambivalent about the Olympics in general and so singling out China feels a little hypocritical. Secondly, I’m acutely aware that in a sense both sides are right and both sides need each other in order to progress. Simply put, if the Olympics were not being held in China this summer, the profile of Tibet would not be as high as it is now (higher than it has been at any ...

Paris protestors put out Olympic flame

From the BBC: The Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay has been cut short following anti-Chinese protests along the route. Security officials extinguished the torch at least three times due to the protests before it was carried on a bus to the relay's end point.Courage mes braves.

Registration deadline approaches for 1 May elections

There are council elections in Birmingham on 1 May. If you have not already registered to vote then the deadline is 16 April. If you are on the Register of Electors then you should already have received details of how to vote on 1 May.To inform the council of a change to your details on the electoral register, or find out more about the 2008 elections, go to www.birmingham.gov.uk/elections or

Tories don't understand school troublemakers

Cameron wants to totally get rid of classroom trouble makers. He wants to send them away to specialist schools. I'm not sure how many rowdy kids he's met or has had to deal with in his life. Yes he's right teachers do have painful struggles with these. But I'm not convinced the tories have it sorted. They're not laying out plans that will give these lost kids any hope. There giving troublemakers a way out into the garbage. It's away to throw them out and separate them further from society and hope. The Tories are showing they don't understand the ...

Oxford Elections: wither the Tories Oh, yes.

The Tories know what it's like to be a minor party in cities like Oxford. Here, they haven't won a seat in this millennium and only recently have picked up hand-me-downs on the Council. The Conservatives have polled very poorly in all by-elections since 2006. Going back to that year's main elections, when half the city's seats were last contested, they came behind the Greens. But, at least at that point they focussed their resources, fighting seats they thought they could win (like -- oh, dear -- my own Headington); this time, they are attempting the strategy of stretching themselves ...

I'm a liberal, apparently

According to this very short quiz.

BritBlog Roundup 164

Try Westminster Wisdom.

It's Election Time in Worcester

How exciting, the first time I'm campaigning in an election. The Liberal Democrats in Worcester are pretty small, you could even say tiny. We have three councillors in one ward, the Claines Ward. This local election is pretty exciting in Worcester though. In a by-election in May labour pushed over the conservative majority. However they still have control and would keep it because of an 'independent'. In nunnery, the ward I live in, labour has pushed out two independents in two consecative years. Now there's one left for them to knock out. They should do it, labour has shown how ...

Local election candidates for Southport 2008

Nominations have closed for the local council elections on May 1st. Barring any last minute withdrawals, there will be 30 candidates for the seven available seats in Southport. As well as full slates for the three main parties, there are 5 candidates for UKIP, 3 for the Southport Party, and 1 BNP. The number of UKIP candidates is up from one last year, whereas the Southport Party is down from the 5 they fielded in 2007.

I don't care

I was going to comment about the desperate way in which Labour has been pushing for the second preferences of Lib Dem voters in order to stop Boris Johnson becoming Mayor of London, but I find that Gavin Whenman, Dynamite and A Lanson Boy have said everything I was going to say. I'm glad I don't have a vote in the London mayoral election. I would certainly be voting for Brian Paddick if I did, but if by some miracle he didn't quite make it, I really don't care which of Boris or Ken becomes mayor. The bumbling fool or ...

Refreshed!

Well after a weekend in London I've returned to the West Country full of beans (well not exactly but lots of Italian food!) London was the Beach Boys, Kew Gardens and a very good Italian restaurant in Richmond. But slightly spoilt by waking up to a blizzard on Sunday morning. Monday was back into the day job in the Emergency Department. It was a routine day - whatever that is in A&E. Getting home was a trial because the A36 is shut for 3 months due to roadworks and my home village is badly affected. Over an hour to do ...

This is how far A Liberal has gone

Its a funny old world, said a former PM. She was right. In my day job the one that pays my mortgage, and keeps me well away from politics I am responsible for fundraising for the University of Oxfords libraries, including the Bodleian. Within which is located the Conservative Party Archive. For which I am now actively seeking money. Oh, the irony. For the record (and in case my employers

Decorating and campaigning

The last few weeks have mainly been taken up with either decorating or campaigning, one of the reasons my posts on www.colin-ross.org.uk have been quite limited.

Local papers radically improve their websites

A welcome addition to the Internet is a proper news website from Southwark News that seems to have been launched this week. Southwark News's website until now has simply been a way of subscribing to the newsagent edition. The South London Press, who have been on-line more much longer as a result of being part of the Trinity Mirror local paper empire, also relaunched both their paper and site recently and you may judge for yourself which is better... Personally I think both are welcome improvements, particularly as you can now add comments to the sometimes accurate articles both publish ...

Watch: Duwayne Brooks backs Brian Paddick

Duwayne Brooks was with his friend Stephen Lawrence the night he was murdered. Earlier today he backed Brian Paddick for London Mayor, talking particularly about Brian’s record on crime. You can watch him explain why he is backing Brian here.

Martin Ford is innocent

Like my colleague Iain Dale (the Lib Dem one), I was dismayed to read over the weekend that there was a move afoot to try and expel Cllr Martin Ford from the Lib Dem group on Aberdeenshire Council. Thankfully, if this BBC report is accurate, the move seems likely to fail, but it is despicable that the attempt was made at all. I have blogged before about the disgraceful way in which Martin was removed as convener of Aberdeenshire's planning committee as a result of his (entirely legitimate) casting vote to refuse planning permission for Donald Trump's golf and housing ...

Trivial Connection of the Day

Recent readers will know of my admiration for Steve Winwood. Long-standing readers may recall that I enjoyed the BBC series The Lost World of Friese-Greene and was pleased to discover a musician called Tim Friese-Green. I assumed he was a descendant of Claude Friese-Greene, whose early colour films of Britain were the subject of the BBC series. It turns out that that Winwood and Friese-Green both played on the Talk Talk song "Happiness is Easy". As I always say, if only I live long enough I shall have found enough trivial connections to make sense of the world.

Chris Huhne shows true leadership qualities

From the Southern Daily Echo: Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne has said he stands by the result of the Lib Dem leadership election despite reports uncounted votes would have made him winner. Mr Huhne, pictured above, lost the race to Nick Clegg by just 511 votes cast by more than 41,000 party members in one of the closest contests in political history. It was claimed yesterday that he would have won had about 1,300 postal votes not got caught up in the Christmas post and missed the deadline. Reports said an unofficial check of the late papers showed Mr Huhne had ...

Assessment centres

I visited an Assessment centre today. I don't think most people know what it is like to be in this environment. Frankly the Assessment centres show an aspect of the system that needs to be seen to be believed. There is a form of assumption that parents are on the edge of murdering their children and are only held back by the fact that they have to phone the office every time the change a nappy

Lib Dem by-election candidate says he was assaulted

From the Lancashire Evening Post: Police are investigating an alleged attack on an election candidate who claims he was punched while delivering leaflets.Andrew Fowler, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Charnock by-election on Penwortham Town Council, was canvassing on Wednesday.The Lancashire Evening Post Yes, despite its name Penwortham is not a Cornish fishing village but a town situated across the Ribble from Preston. Even so, it is a surprise to see passions running so high in an election to what is effectively a parish council. May I recommend the Bonkers Patent Exploding Focus (for use in marginal wards)

The history of the world according to Russia Today

Russia Today, Russia's state controlled version of BBC World, broadcast via satellite, broadcast a version of world history earlier today that almost made me choke on my tea. According to someone speaking about Russian/US relations, "the Americans have never made an effort to have good relations with Russia. When Russia made an effort, in the past, back in 1962 to try and reach out towards America and have close relations when the Russians co-operated with Cuba, the US surrounded the island and tried to provoke a Nuclear War" So there you have it. Russia's siting of nuclear weapons on Cuban ...

Brown's Cadet Smokescreen, Covering the Rear

Let me start off by saying that, for a Lib Dem, I'm quite a pro-military and not at all a pacifist. I believe the military do a vital job in a dangerous world. I worry that we don't spend enough on defence. And I really think that the bizaree logic that, during the Cold War, the world was safer for the British submariners who stood ready to obliterate millions of innocent Russians if they couldn't hear the Today programme every morning. I think anyone who serves in the military deserves a lot of respect from the rest of us. All ...

What hope for children's education when the government can not even add up properly

Children's attainment is measured in national tests in levels, starting with children being unleveled, through 1c, 1b, 1a, 2c, 2b, 2a, 3c, etc. Now in the past the government have expected children to make progress of two thirds of a level progress in each academic year, meaning that your typical child will be a level 4a pupil, achieving the government's target standard of level 4. This also means that children making better progress will by the age of eleven (year 6) have achieved the highest possible level of level 5. I hope that makes sense to people. Now though, the ...

London Labour desperate and call for Lib Dems to support Livingstone

Sunder Katwala, Secretary-General of the Fabian Society*, has written to the Liberal Democrats’ eight London MPs (as well as Nick Clegg and Sarah Ludford MEP) urging them to use their second choice votes in the upcoming London mayoral election to support Ken Livingstone. This follows Peter Hain’s barely veiled threat that supporting Ken is the [...]

Evan slams Cillas psychic phone line

The Mail tells us all: [Cilla Black is] set to rake in profits from a website and phone line that offers premium-rate “psychic” advice to gullible callers. The spiritualists offer telephone advice on topics from medical problems to missing pets. But we can reveal that broadcasting regulator Ofcom is considering a complaint after she toured television [...]

NEW POLL: who would you give your second preference to in the London mayoral race

Were guessing most Lib Dem Voice readers (the Lib Dem ones living in London, anyway) would choose to vote for the partys mayoral candidate in the capital, Brian Paddick. And of course we hope he will win: hes the only candidate who deserves to. But even the most optimistic Lib Dem would recognise that Brian [...]

Our Wonderful bus service ( HA HA )

I have been back in Bath less than 3 hours and have already had a 45 minute wait for a bus that is supposed to run every 12 minutes. The number 5 Bus from Twerton to the City Centre has a few excuses as the traffic today is horrendous but not as bad to cause that sort of delay. Come on First bus get your finger out and give us the bus service that we pay for and not the second rate...

Who's on Gordon's side

Gordon Brown tried to enthuse the PLP the other day by saying Labour should be on the people's side. It seems some sides are more equal than others. The Labour line on the "families' budget" that doubled the 10p basic rate of income tax has not changed since Gordon Brown's final party political broadcast as chancellor. A spokesperson said today that "It (the budget) will lead to a significant increase in pensioner tax allowance, a widening of the working tax credit and increases in child benefit and child tax credit." Gordon lauds the fact that what was taken from the ...

PLANNING APPLICATIONS - Week ending 3 APRIL 2008

The following applications relate to properties within Stonefield and Christchurch ward. For further details contact the Planning Officer at Stafford Borough Council, 3rd Floor, Civic Centre, Riverside, Stafford ST16 3AQ or telephone 01785 619337 quoting the application number. No planning applications in Stonefield and Christchurch ward were submitted during this week.

A little help please

Catherine phones with the news that her telephone and Internet service provider Pipex has been taken over by Tiscali, which is very, very bad news as we shall now have to get rid of Pipex. Why Because of the utterly appalling reputation which Tiscali has - my ex-colleague Michael had Tiscali on his PC in the office and barely a day went past without him berating them. Catherine also has had a number of people suggesting that they would not use them. Bearing in mind that my new abode is in a rural location without cabling and that the max ...

Just so we know who was really responsible for Princess Diana's death

Despite a clear lack of any evidence, despite no actual proof, for the last eleven years Mohamed Al Fayed has tried to smear the the government, the Royal family and the press by claiming some unique kind of global conspiracy was responsible for the death of his son and Princess Diana in 1997. The facts today and the results of the inquest highlight that the main responsibility for their deaths lay with the drunk driver that Mr Al Fayed employed and trusted to drive them around. So the man who was responsible was in the employment of Mr Al Fayed. ...

Hectoring Hain

Labour have drafted Peter Hain, Labour deputy leadership loser and all-round dodgy git, to lecture Liberal Democrats on their second choice in the London Mayoral election. This seems like a strange and desperate thing to do. Liberal Democrats are likely to have two words for Hain, the former president of the Young Liberals. The first word will depend on the sensibilities of the individual voter - the second word is likely to be off.

I know Ive been missing for a few days

Just got back from a few days in Germany so that is why the blog has not been updated for a few days and I have plenty to post over the next few days and will put more up later tonight. I have never flown before this weekend so that is a first that I will tell you about.

Hypocrisy - Iraqi edition

So Prime Minister Maliki is talking tough on the Sadrist movement and getting a lot of praise in the US/UK for doing so. Sounds good what he says, doesn't it A political party can't operate in democratic elections if it maintains a militia. Fair point. However, coming from this particular man the critcism of Sadr Mahdi Srmy smacks of oportunism and hypocrisy. Maliki's allies, the SIIC, who happen to be the largest single party in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, run their own militia, the Badr Brigade. One difference is that Maliki has decided to use his allies forces and ...

Yay. The drum roll to war continues

Thought the desperate desire to have a war with Iran had left the US after the publication of the most recent NIE Think again. According to the Times, Gen Petraeus will tomorrow explain to congress that Iranian troops were fighting side by side with "militants" against the Iraqi army's assault on Basra. Hmm. Those dastardly Iranians again, always working against US interest and trying to kill US troops or our allies. Not quite. If anything it was the other way around. Iranian trained troops fighting against Iraqi "militants". Why is that Because the Badr Brigade, recently incorperated into the Iraqi ...

Don't expel Martin Ford

The Lib Dem group on Aberdeenshire Council are today going to vote on a proposal to expel Councillor Martin Ford from the group. Martin voted according to standard procedure over the Trump plans - it's normal for the chair to vote for status quo if there is a tied vote. To expel him from the group would be petty, mean spirited and pathetic. To those who intend being party of this political lynch-mob I say; what part of Liberal Democrats do you not understand

Evan davies, the thinking persons radio 4 presenter

Due to managerial intrigues I have been getting to work earlier and thus I have been able to sample the delights of the Today programme once more, something I gave up as being bad for my health, since I frequently found myself in traffic screaming at the radio to try to communicate to Dim Naughtie that he was a complete idiot who couldnt shut up if his life depended on it, or simply ridiculing John Humphrys attempts to be a bastard so that he could fit in with the gang, while committing the same sin they all do of simply ...

Strikes and revolutions

Is the Mahalla strike an isolated industrial dispute, fuelled and given greater significance due to rising food prices and a brittle regime; or is it emblematic of a great social change happening in Egypt spurned on by the crushing social conditions, rapidly rising food prices, and an autocratic "Pharoah" Revolution has been predicted in Egypt frequently. Everybody appears to think that it is inevitable that at somepoint Hosni Mubarak, or maybe his son Gamal will be overthrown. However, as this was predicted to happen in 1979, when Islambouli shouted "death to Pharoah", when Mubarak supported the Gulf War, in 95 ...

The Abolition of the 10p Tax Band - a Solution!

I may be missing something here, but would it not be possible to ameliorate the effects of this entirely, and make everyone very happy, by making the PAYE threshold £150 a week instead of £105 That would take lots of low paid earners completely out of paying tax at all, rather than paying it and then having to claim it back on tax credits, if they are eligible for them. If, as Ed MillerBand has just opined on radio four, the aim behind abolishing the 10p band is to simplify the tax system, then surely it is made even more ...

Another complaint fired off to BBC

Yet another complaint about World at One and heaven forbid they answer with the usual crap i received last time. Basically saying that on tax the Lib Dems with a solution are being silenced.

Slower Speeds, More Cycling Infrastructure

Im delighted that were testing 20mph green waves of traffic lights on Camden High Street and average speed cameras in Mansfield Road. We need to lower speeds across Camden to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The Sustainability Task Force recently suggested a blanket 20mph speed limit on all roads that are not controlled by Transport for London. The Executive decided instead to continue with its policy of rolling out 20mph zones in particular neighbourhoods. I note that the governments planned new eco towns are expected to have a speed limit of 15mph. Its not often that I find ...

Peter Hain - Back Ken or the half hearted voting system that I have no power to give you gets it

According to The Independent, Peter Hain has asked the Lib Dems to tell their voters in London to give their second choice votes to Ken Livingstone. He says that failure to do so will mean that Labour won't proceed with changing the voting system to AV. I hope that Brian Paddick tells the perma-tanned one where to get off. First of all, Hain no longer has any sort of power. He was laughed at by his Party's members when he stood for Leader and got sacked from the Cabinet by Gordon Brown. The idea that he could be a go-between ...

Demonstrations or Celebrations

I couldn't believe my ears, the police officer being interviewed by John Humphries on Today this morning, explaining that the reason the Tibetan protest was cordoned off was because it was a "demonstration" whereas the Chinese, a couple of hundred yards up the road were a "celebration" so didn't need to be treated as a demonstration. In the old days, what they were holding may well have been referred to as a "counter-demonstration" - in fact, walking past the "celebration" the hatred and anger that was being manifest by the group did not appear to be that celebratory! Anyway STWC ...

Politics Home

Politics Home, the successor to my former employer 18 Doughty Street, launched today. The site is essentially a news aggregator, bringing together the disparate news stories from around the country to one site. Its unique selling point is the PHI100, a poll of one hundred political insiders on various topical issues. As I’m sure it [...]

Drugs

We all know that the government position on drugs is decided by expediency rather than by sense and reason. Cannabis was downgraded to class C as a sop to the sensible position that it should be legalised AND a sop to those who say all drugs should be criminalised. Given the current government's puritanical tendencies and relentless pursuance of smokers and drinkers, it was only a matter of time before the idea was mooted of reclassification to class B. As Evan Harris so eloquently said on Any Questions this week (taking his cue from here, I reckon) - It's crazy ...

Johann Hari - endearingly naive or pathetically schoolboy

In the past I couldn't make up my mind about Johann Hari, the Independent's columnist without brain cell. Was he charmingly naive or was he actually just a schoolboy who got taken on by mistake and everybody's just too ashamed to sack him. Or is he just a Bel Littlejohn style spoof that no-one has yet sussed Today he suggests that we shouldn't boycott the Olympics in Beijing but all the world's athletes should join together and demand that Beijong talk to the Dalai Lama, free political prisoners and allow a real peace-keeping force into Darfur. In return, they will ...

Those revolting Labour MPs

Yes, I know but I could not resist the headline. The serious point though is by what strange twist of fate have we managed to reach the point where the Conservatives are arguing for a more progressive tax system, whilst a Labour Government, yes a Labour Government, has introduced tax changes that penalise the lower paid members of our society The Guardian reports that David Cameron is to lead a campaign to overturn the government's decision to abolish the 10p starting rate of tax. So far so opportunistic: At a news conference, the Conservative leader accused the government of "hitting ...

Should Chris Huhne really be leader

Thats the allegation by the Indys political editor, Jane Merrick: According to one authoritative account of the leadership contest last December, Chris Huhne would be Lib Dem chief were it not for hundreds of ballot papers being held up by the Christmas post. Mr Clegg beat his rival by just 511 votes out of more than 41,000 party members in one of the closest-run races in political history.

To err is human, to apologise robotic

"We are sorry that the 09.35 service to Richmond has been delayed by ten minutes. We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause." Unfortunately, I failed to be touched by the tone in the robot woman's voice. Whoever or whatever recorded it could have done a better job at synthesising or feigning the perfect combination of sympathy and remorse. As it was, the apology left me cold, not that I wasn't already shivering as I stood on the windswept platform at Kentish Town West station. I was soon having an argument with myself. Part of me thought that it was nice to them to make the effort to apologise, ...

Don't boycott the Olypics, offer Beijing a grand bargain

This is Johann Hari's excellent argument. He thinks that the athletes should demand three events before they compete: freeing ten human rights activists, bringing the Dalai Lama to Beijing for talks, and allowing a real peacekeeping force in Darfur, with the added condition that a website displaying the reasons for theses actions is allowed through the great Firewall of China. Not a bad idea. The CCP would have to accept or lose their precious coming out party. It wouldn't be our politicians acting, who often lack the moral authority, it would be oridinary athletes banding together, forcing China to improve. ...

What do you give staff who have presided over a series of major blunders

A bonus of course. £22 million has been paid out in bonuses to Home Office staff in the last five years according to figures dug up by Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne. Chris Huhne said, “How on earth can the Home Office justify these huge bonuses given its lamentable performance in recent years Immigration is in chaos, asylum cases are falling behind again and violent crime has risen sharply.” Quite.

Pluralist politics and grown-up political culture

There's a rather interesting article in today's Guardian on a letter apparently sent by Labour's Fabian Society, to Nick Clegg asking that the Lib Dems endorse Ken Livingstone as their second preference in the London Mayor elections. Why should we do that Because, they say, just like Labour the Lib Dems are committed to 'pluralist politics' and 'grown-up political culture'. Whilst very flattering to be considered political plurists, its worth remembering that; They who delight to be flattered, pay for their folly by a late repentance. In other words, rather than allowing ourselves to be flattered into endorsing other people's ...

Running for water ...

Here's a link to Greenforce where you can read all about the six Maasai warriors who will be running the London Marathon in tradional outfits to raise funds for a clean well for their community. http://www.greenforce.org/maasai_marathon/

The Dunkirk Spirit

I don't know whether it is the weather; I don't know if it is the government or the economy; I do know that I can hardly remember a time when the atmosphere in Britain has been so defeatist. The terminal five fiasco perhaps brings home the fact that the UK tends to see its mistakes in apocalyptic terms: not "this was a pretty unacceptable failure of planning", but instead "we can't get anything right". This self laceration that is often the hallmark of the whingeing poms seems to be growing worse- there seems a general sense of frustration and even ...

London Labour's PR overtures

Most advocates of PR recognise that there are inherent disincentives for any Government to introduce reform. It is a brave party that changes the system that put them into power.So its perhaps no surprise that Governments are most open to change when they are most under pressure. The Independent reports today that Labour figures are flashing a bit PR ankle in return for the Lib Dems encouraging their supporters to give their second preferences to Ken Livingstone in the London Mayoral election ('Labour asks for Lib Dem help to beat Johnson') Ken has been behind in the polls for some ...

Italian elections from abroad

I have to say that, like many Italians right now, I flirted with the idea of not voting. There are many reasons for this: Italy is in deep crisis with too many groups defending vehemently their own interest with no regard for the rest of the population and the future of the country (see the opposition to TAV high-speed trains; the opposition to the sale of Alitalia; opposition to the

Why don't we have choice in housing

With just 15 days to go before our wedding, Mark and I have spent much of the weekend making the final arrangements, and the rest of the time helping my son Jamie move into his new flat. I think that in many ways life is quite tough for young people these days. The Daily Mail had a field day with the recently announced statistics showing marriage in decline and put it all down to falling moral standards (I expect they blamed the EU as well). Talking to young people I know, it's often a bit more simple than that - ...

experience, the last refuge of a scoundrel

Liar Livingstone is quoted in the Independent thus: Livingstone is seldom far away from a dig at his Conservative opponent, who proved such an unexpected challenge. "Where else except Britain," he demands in his famous Lambeth whine, "do people get to run something as big as London without any administrative experience Go to Germany, people have to work their way up through city councils and beyond. Tony Blair spent his first term as PM learning how to do the job. That's a luxury you don't have in this city." Which pretty much reads as him saying (nasal whines at the ...

Night off the trail, and restaurant reviews wanted

Tonight I am taking the evening off canvassing to attend a work function, which ironically is at Bury Town Hall. A few years ago the thought of spending a worknight anywhere but slumped in front of the TV or out with my friends would have had me harrumphing my way through the evening in a gale of indignant unhappiness. Now of course the Town Hall is like my second home, so I dont mind at all. And theres probably the chance to recoup some time owing in lieu. So thats a double bonus. Despite my frequent delusions of grandeur, colleagues ...

Reply from BBC

You may remember my posting about this complaint. This is the official reply. `Thank you for your email regarding ‘World at One’. I understand you feel the programme broadcast on the 3 April did not include sufficient representation from the Liberal Democrats. I regret you feel the tax debate was unbalanced however our programme makers are aware that [...]

Snow in April...

Okay, waking up on Sunday morning to a thick coating of snow in London was a bit of a shock - but a great opportunity to get out there with a camera. Here is a small selection from either my balcony, Kilburn Grange park or the neighbouring streets. I'm especially pleased with capturing the Kilburn State cinema tower in snow - looks pretty iconic and stunning... The layer on Kilburn Grange was really deep and I counted at least 9 attempts at snowmen :-) The kids out playing in the snow was very special - i was struck how many ...

Better Off under Gordon Brown.

Well some of us are at least. This morning I got my first payslip since the new tax rates started. I am paying less tax now than I was about 7 years ago, so thank you Gordon! Of course those on lower incomes and young people already being hammered by student loans and no prospect of being able to buy their own homes are worse off. The new tax regime that came into effect this weekend removes the lower 10% tax band and reduces the basic rate. This means that people on incomes lower than £18,500 a year are worse ...

April Community Council Update

I have today launched my April 2008 Update to West End Community Council. Issues covered include : * Perth Road closure - impending works by Scotland Gas Networks* Heating and Service Charges Increases - concerns from Home Scotland sheltered tenants* Riverside - proposed nature park update* Harris Academy - pupil safety* Speeding concern - Balgay Hill The Community Council meets tomorrow (Tuesday 8th April) in Logie St John's (Cross) Church Hall at 7pm. You can download the Update by clicking on the headline above.

Development agencies

I have spent quite a lot of time over the last few months criticising development agencies the worst unelected QUANGO of the bunch. I have, in particular, one pet project that, although I wholly support the dream, I know it has, and will be dashed - by bad management from the Development Agency in [...]

Olympic flame ignites protest

Outside City Hall in London yesterday, I stood with fellow Liberal Democrats as the Olympic Torch passed by. We were standing in protest against the Chinese Governments repression and human rights abuses in Tibet. As we waited behind metal crowd barriers, alongside vociferous groups with opposing opinions, I wondered who the barriers were there to protect. By far the biggest crowd I witnessed was the one escorting the torch. In fact it was very difficult to see, surrounded as it was by a phalanx of running policemen wearing cycle helmets. Sort of like outriders, but not riding anything. Shortly before ...

Victoria Park

I was pleased recently to get feedback from the City Council's Leisure & Communities Department that it has again taken action to remove graffiti in Victoria Park. An Order to contractors has been placed to ensure the graffiti (see right) will be removed shortly. There has been an on-going graffiti problem here (click on headline to view earlier article from April 2007) and I am pleased that the City Council is taking action to remove it. The City Council is looking at the viability of replacing the graffitied building with a better shelter, which will provide better protection against the ...

Off air for a while...

I'm going "off air" for a few weeks. Back in early May. I won't be able to look at any comments from now on. If you need to get in touch with me personally please use the contact details at www.garstonld.org.uk. Paula

Welcome - Politics Home

Politics Home has launched this morning. It's a sort of Bloomberg for the political classes (and yes, I realise everyone has made the same comparison). PH has very little original content. But that's not a bad thing. Instead, it brings together all the newspaper reports for the day with such stats as the number of column inches for each subject. Further, it use the 'top 100 blogs' and has a live feed from these in the manner of Lib Dem Blogs. Disappointingly, this feed only appears to be for the main nationals. We shall wait to see whether sectoral mags ...

Sweet and sour times

In this mornings Metro, Portishead cite frustration with Bristol city council as an influence on their new album, Third, due for release a week today. Labour are currently running Bristol, with Tory acquiescence. Thanks go to them.

Weekly Catchup 31 March - 6th April

Weekly Catchup is your guide to what was hot on Lib Dem Voice last week. Twitter news first: we heard that Brian Paddick was holding an interview by Twitter, and that Lynne Featherstone could have sent the first tweet from the chamber of the House of Commons. An appeal for poster sites also seemed to work [...]

As Prince once said...

... sometimes it snows in April. Even in Cornwall. We had snow in the garden yesterday, and it came back again overnight. It's even snowing lightly as I speak. So naturally I went up onto Bodmin Moor to take some pics. The snow there was very patchy but the sheep seem to be surviving.

The Monday Morning Blog - believe it when it arrives

It's Monday morning and as you would expect, I am at Newcastle Station waiting for the train to London. The past three weeks have seen my train cancelled. All looks okay at the moment but I did say that in my post last week only to find my train was cancelled as it arrived in the station. So I will believe my train has arrived when it gets here, I'm on it and we are leaving the station. With

Hold them to account

{iraqposter.jpg} The Liberal Democrats have today launched a new website - http://www.holdthemtoaccount.com - where you can find out if your MP supported the Iraq War and give some ideas for holding them to account. The Conservatives are now calling for an inquiry into the war, but in 2003 they were even bigger cheerleaders for the invasion than Labour While all Liberal Democrat MPs voted against the war, the vast majority of Labour and Conservative MPs voted for it. It’s time Labour and the Conservatives apologised and well past the time for the Government to announce a plan to withdraw our ...

The supreme sacrifice

All this brouhaha about the Olympics, torches, boycotts and so on has not passed me by. I hear all sorts of stuff from the "athletes' side" about how the Olympics is not political, about how people have trained all their lives to get to this supreme test of their skills and abilities against others from every nation on earth. I have some sympathy with that. I was once quite a competitive fencer. I used to love the competitions (second in the West Midlands under 16s foil if you're interested and can believe it!) and I can only imagine the excitement ...

Baracking Hillary

Earlier today, I did an on-line supervision with one of my post-graduate students, in Kazakhstan. What an amazing world we now live in — that it is possible to interact between a remote part of Brazil and an equally remote part of Central Asia. The student’s mini-thesis is on the political marketing of the Democratic hopefuls in the [...]

Monday 7th April 2008

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