{Ten seconders frame} There are few crossovers between this blog’s twin main obsessions (2000AD and Libby Dem politics). A few years ago there was some dig at the Lib Dems in a strip called Thirteen but that’s pretty much your lot. So you takes your references where you can get them, as the accompanying panel taken from this week’s Ten-Seconders strip demonstrates. Who could they be referring to I wonder? Share This 
Today we had confirmation that the Labour Govt. and Conservative Council do not really place a high priority on the environment. Today was day two of the public inquiry into the Borough Council's Town Centre Area Action Plan. The topic was a variety of transport issues. The Chelmsford Cycle Action Group (to which I belong) was there, calling for improvements to the cycle network. For instance,
Norman Whitlock, the Conservative candidate in Swansea facing allegations of forged signatures on nomination paperwork, has now quit the party.
The one shining achievement Labour could boast about until 12 months ago was that they had proved that labour could run the economy well. But in the last few months this myth has been blown away by economic incompetence and the ability of the government to contradict itself time and time again. Today Labour let it be known that they would try to rectify some of the damage they have done low wage earners by scrapping the 10% tax rate by raising the minimum wage. But Hang on, isn't this the same government who have been handing out below inflation ...
It isn’t that easy to get a ship to sail to Uganda you know. What with it being a land-locked country and all that.
With last week's big speech on climate change, President Bush stuck to his gambit of trying to put off adopting meaningful targets or pursuing effective strategies until another day. Maybe that should be, until another administration. It was also a handy case study of how the political right and the sceptics try to frame climate change. Framing, you will recall, is about giving people a way to think about politics, through a model or structure or question so that they see the political choices in your terms. President Bush's way of framing climate change can be traced back to a ...
Nick Clegg MP on the environment
The Guardian reports that: "In a significant climbdown, the chancellor said he would look at using the minimum wage, tax credits and winter fuel payments to compensate the estimated 5.3 million families who will suffer financially from the abolition of the 10p starting rate of tax." As someone who will be affected by the move I certainly won't be compensated for the amount of money I will lose. It seems the bag of frozen peas ain't coming my way. How are people in their twenties and thirties in anyway less deserving of being compensated than the elderly and the young? ...
Considering 100,000 civil servants are walking out tomorrow, you certainly wouldn't know from asking the average person on the street. The lack of publicity for this action has been staggering. Parents I came into contact with this week seemed to know nothing about the NUT strike, completely panicked, phoned the school to check and completely forgot about it a few seconds later upon discovering it didn't affect their children! The fact that it may affect other services they use as well didn't even enter the equation. So, just to make sure you know, according to the Guardian the teachers are ...
Patrick Muirhead writes of his time on Jersey under this title in tomorrow's Times: I was briefly the anchorman of the nightly local ITV news in the Channel Islands, an experience etched in my memory as dismal, embarrassing and shaming. I was shackled from pursuing any punchy journalism in a laughably amateurish TV outfit for fear of upsetting the station's friends, outmanoeuvred by an ambitious co-host and unwelcome in an island where I was an outsider.He is also very good on the incestuous nature of island life: In an island of 90,000 souls, one is only removed from another by ... 
I am sorry that I have not been able to put so many entries up of late but as I am approaching the last 3 weeks of my year in office things have become rather hectic and I have had very little time to update you on what has been happening. I will be making an attempt over the next few days to catch up on what I have not been able to tell you for a while so I hope that you are able to...
So I just watched PMQs and the discussion of it afterwards on the Daily Politics, which you can see again (today anyway) here. The interesting thing to note here is not the u-turn itself, it is the bizarre situation the government have put themselves in regarding the whole issue of taxation. Andrew Neil was busy putting a lovely, liberal argument to Patricia Hewitt about just not taxing people
This Daily Telegraph anti-EU story caught my eye earlier today: England has been wiped off a map of Europe drawn up by Brussels bureaucrats as part of a scheme that the Tories claim threatens to undermine the country’s national identity. The new European plan splits England into three zones that are joined with areas in other countries. The [...]
A rather bizarre experience in the Assembly Plenary meeting this afternoon when the Plaid Cymru Leader and Deputy First Minister got on his feet to defend the Westminister Labour Government and Gordon Brown's decision to double the 10p income tax rate. Who would have thought that they could lose their soul so early on in the One Wales Government?
GuardianICM Labour seems to have pulled itself up slightly, stopping continual tory momentum. With only 5 points between Labour and the Conservatives. Gordon Brown seems to be improving at how relate to the media slightly. So maybe possibly in a year's time there may be close neck and neck polls between tories and labour. Which political analysts would say usually creates a squeeze pushing the LibDems lower. On others going up 1 point, I think perhaps that just shows people's anger at politicians and disillusion with politics. Ideally, we need to be above 20% and making our way up to ...
English Buildings is in Leicestershire again. This time it's Launde Abbey: Launde Abbey was originally an Augustinian priory founded in the 12th century. Beautifully sited in this dip, it must have looked inviting with its church and group of stone buildings.Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's minister who organized the survey of England's monasteries that eventually led to the dissolution, certainly thought so. When the religious houses closed in the 1530s, of all the monasteries in England, Cromwell bagged Launde for himself. 'Myself for Launde,' he wrote in his journal.
I only ask because there seems to be an old colonel type mouthing the words in sync with Cameron! He does it all the time!
Industrial archaeology buffs are in for a treat, as a local paper would put it. Forgotten Relics of an Enterprising Age is terrific site devoted to the remains of Britain's disused railways.
According to a leading think tank, all Mayors should be directly elected. This is because they show stronger leadership and can get people to feel more part of their local democracy and elected mayors can help get decentralisation. It's very interesting research. I'm not completely convinced, I would rather have local council with more empowerment. I'm not a believer in Presidential Democracy, but a believe in Parliamentary Democracy and feel that goes down to the bottom with Mayor and Council. I would be interested in further debating it. However I think we should focus on giving the right powers to ...
{Flag St George} The idea of celebrating our national saint's day is a new one for most of us English. I can remember the St George's Day parade being a big deal when I was in the Cubs, but beyond that I have never taken much notice of it. That is changing, and I am rather pleased. Billy Bragg had an ambivalent article on the subject in this morning's Guardian: It is possible for St George's Day to become a celebration, but whether or not it can become a national day in the way the Americans have, I very much ...
I think it was ITV's Headcases which first highlighted to me David Cameron's overuse of alliteration and repetition. It is now getting to the point where Cameron is sounding ridiculous. Take this section of his remarks from today's PMQs: It is always about politics, not policy. It is always about calculation, not conviction. It is always about his self-interest, not the national interest. It's
I predicted just a few days ago that the Labour so-called rebellion over the doubling of the 10p income tax rate would fizzle out. Great predictions of our time and this one was pretty accurate! Also coming true is my prediction that a minor concession would be made, and would be spun for as much as they could get away with. Nebulous promises of jam tomorrow have been made by Brown and Darling.
India has told the USA, that it will handle the Iran-Nuclear Power situation how it likes. The foreign ministry said it didn't need external advice. That's a good step for India to take. I find America's stance hard to understand. Let's face reality the only country to have used nuclear weapons to kill is the USA. If Iran created Nuclear Weapons, the USA would notice and they would destroy Iran.
Or so a spokesman for Shropshire Tourism told the Shropshire Star: "If you think King Arthur's home was the south west of England think again. Arthur's spiritual home was Camelot - now known as Wroxeter Roman City near Shrewsbury. "Guinevere was an Oswestry lass, being born at the Old Oswestry Hill Fort. The Holy Grail was actually found at Hawkstone Park, and Arthur's final resting place is Baschurch. "King Arthur's crown jewels are believed to have been buried in Much Wenlock by Arthur's heir Cynddylan and are still waiting to be discovered."
This could happen to you: Click to enlarge 
How Gordon must have been dreading this session of Prime Minister’s Questions, after what has been one of his worst weeks since becoming Labour leader: condemned by all sides for his decision to disadvantage the poorest in society by abolishing the 10p tax rate. In the circumstances, then, he didn’t perform too badly. There was, of [...]
Excellent meeting yesterday evening with the European Society at Sheffield University. I shared a platform with two Labour hopefuls from their EP list but I was most impressed by the quality of questions and the discussion that got going on several occasions. Questions ranged from bio fuels, the effectiveness of the Carbon Trading Scheme, the merging [...]
I am not sure if I have told you about the Twerton Bath blog that is the sister blog of this one that contains many more items about the Twerton area of Bath. This is a ward that I share with fellow Liberal Democrat Gerry Curran. We have just published the latest Highway reports for the area that you may find of interest. If you want to have a look follow this link Twerton...
Disaster struck at 2.20pm today when my broadband connection dropped out. This happens a couple of times a week, and it normally comes back straight away. But today after 15 minutes, and having rebooted the home hub, still no broadband. The wireless signal was fine; but the internet connection was down, on both laptops. So [...]
Westminster City Council have rather an odd approach to business recyclers: they fine them for using the public recycling bins, yet won’t provide personal bins for commercial properties to use. Anyone know any other councils that take a similarly harsh approach?
Earlier this week I received a phone call from Toryboy Andrew McConnell inviting me to a St George's Day bash. He prefaced his remarks with "I know you're not patriotic but..........." ...........he of course got his ear bitten off! Those of us who challenge our country about injustice, intolerance, corruption, the erosion of our civil liberties, do so because we love our country, not because we don't! Yes, I am out on the streets demonstrating against the illegal immoral unjust war in Iraq, but I have also spent most of my working life in the service of this country - ...
Last Friday, we published a link to an online survey being conducted by the new Politics Home website, asking a number of questions about what Nick Clegg should do about a range of issues: in the event of a hung Parliament, in establishing the party's 'brand', and the Lib Dems' strategic options. Despite some reservations expressed [...]
Socialism is quite big in South America now. We have heard of Hugo Chavez of Venezuelia, with his oil nationalasation and his anti-Americanism. He influences over Socialist leaders in the south and central americas. I would be sympathetic with it, I think Chavez was right for him to nationalise the oil industry, because it was all going to the USA and he is bringing the money back to his country, supposingly to the poor(corruption is high). It's no wonder you get anti-americanism, when america has adandoned giving aid to the south. South America was once known for military dicatorships, which ...
Normally driving through England in the spring is a delight with trees and hedgerows bursting into the delicate greens of new growth soon to be followed by the blossom of the early-flowering species. But this year has been different—or at least I noticed it as different.  Plastic has taken over. Even in deeply rural North Yorkshire the trees and hedges are festooned with the wretched stuff and the verges are a sea of abandoned crisp packets, cans and bottles.  More populous areas are even worse. I stopped at one lay-by on the A1 in the East Midlands which can ...
Research by the Welsh Liberal Democrats reveals that 195,000 people in Wales, have seen their income tax double - thanks to Gordon Brown's tax bombshell. Ahead of their debate this afternoon, research by the Lib Dems has also revealed that Wales will be harder hit than England by the tax hike. While 11.8% of taxpayers in England will be affected, the figure in Wales - where wages are lower overall - will be 13.3%. Peter Black, AM for South Wales West, and Social Justice spokesperson for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said: "These figures show clearly that nearly one in seven ...
What is the oldest building in Hampstead and Kilburn? A daft question you might think but with no remaining habitable fragment of Kilburn Priory and no surviving medieval church I think this is a harder question that might be thought... My instinct and guess is that it is Fenton House in Hampstead. It is dated to 1693 - Willam and Mary are on the throne of England, the dodo becomes extinct in this year, France is at war with the Palatine (Germany) and John Harrison, a famous clockmaker buried in Hampstead parish churchyard is born. The house was owned ...
The death toll from the 5 years of Genocide in Darfur has been risen to 300,000 by the UN (it could be as high as 400,000). Sudan denies it saying only 10,000 have died. Which of course proves that the regime is backing and behind the genocide. Amazing how that in the face of all of this, the UN mission is still ill equipt and lacks support. Full deployment of the mandidated 19,555 won't be ready by 2009. 263,000 troops were deployed for the invasion of Iraq. So why so long to deploy a mission to stop a genocide! Well ...
Hillary Clinton has won the Pennsylvania primary - does this change anything? Can she now win the Democratic nomination? In my opinion, the only way she can win now is to take a leaf out of George W. Bush's book and steal the election. This is why... Barack Obama has 1,464 elected delegates and Hilary Clinton has 1,302. In order to win the nomination either candidate needs to hit the magic number of 2024. There are now 408 elected delegates up for grabs in the last few remaining primaries. It is impossible for either Senators Obama or Clinton to win ...
Tired of the Boris and Ken Punch and Judy show? Looking for a real alternative? Someone who has the experience to run London? Someone who understands policing? Someone honest? Someone you can trust? Then vote Brian Paddick for Mayor on May 1st and watch this to see why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mAIgMAOlII
Hillary Clinton has won Pennsylvania, but as the Democrats have Proportional Representation, it doesn't mean she is catching up. It looks very unlikely that before the Democratic Convention she will be able to catch up in delegates. Hillary Clinton says she has a broad base of supporters and will be more suited to take on McCain. However I wouldn't describe the blue collared vote, which supposing prompted her win a broad base. I don't believe Hillary has what America and this World needs. Of course I definitely rather have her as President than McCain. But Obama has the radical policies ...
{Texture like sun} According to the BBC Brown defends ‘U-turn’ on 10p tax. Yet looking at the article and listening to what he has said I can’t see a U-turn. I can see some distant promises to give old people some extra cash at winter, and some young people a bit more via the minimum wage (notice not actually via the government) and some more tax credits to those without children. However here’s the problem, at the moment to get Working Tax Credits you need be earning less than £13,000 as a single person over 26, or £18,000 (combined income) ...
In advance of Europe Day on May 9th the EP UK Office have sent out a European Quiz book. So I thought I'd use one of the quizzes from it to test your European knowledge. This one is just for fun and to whet your appetite for a larger one on May 9th, for which I'll supply some appropriate Euro goodies for the winning entry. MEP staff are banned form participating! Q1. How many members states are there in the European Union? Q2. How many official languages does the EU have? Q3. Which is the biggest country in the EU ...
The nice folks over at Sky have added me to their blog roll over on http://skynews.typepad.com/skydotcomnews - particularly good of them as they'd just asked me to appear and I wasn't able to make it. I do like their best of the (often quirky) web stories round-ups - whether or not they've got me in to talk about them! The latest collection is here.
The background: earlier this year a special election court ruled that Eshaq Khan and his supporters carried out "corrupt and illegal practices" to secure his election as a Conservative councillor in Slough. Subsequently, five people were charged by the police with electoral fraud offences, including both Eshaq Khan and the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Mohammed Aziz. And now [...]
It seems that the council’s web filter blocks my blog. Apparently this blog contains ‘Adult Material’! Good to know that my posts are not considered juvenile or infantile at least.
From what I’ve managed to gather he’s been suspended, pending review, because he disagrees with some party policy, which apparently falls under bringing the party into disrepute. I do have a couple of questions - if party policy is not to be disagreed with then how can we be a democratic party? Party policy is changed [...]
At long last I am going on holiday. I just realised that it is now May (well, in spitting distance of) and I have not taken any days off since Christmas. Does this mean I have developed a remarkable new work ethic? Or does it just mean that now I've actually learned to do my job after a year or two's apprenticeship I no longer regard it as one exhausting mental Olympiad? Of course, some of my proches like to joke that, since I 'work' for the EU institutions, I must be on a kind of permanent holiday from reality, ...
Well, I am sort-of relieved that Gordon Brown has backed down on the 10p tax rate scandal, and is offering compensation for those affected. But when, Gordon, when? The people who were going to suffer because of this cock-up are the very people who struggle to find cash from one week to the next. Adding the compensation to the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners, for example, won't ease...
Commenting on today's inquest evidence from a former RAF commander, in which he claimed he was 'censored' for voicing his concerns on safety measures in Hercules aircraft, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey said: It is outrageous that yet another one of our brave service personnel feels their concerns over frontline equipment have been ignored, or even censored. This inquest has seen former RAF personnel queuing up to say that they expressed concerns over the lack of explosive-suppressant foam in Hercules aircraft, years before its absence allowed this tragedy to happen. (more…)
Thanks to the Free Think blog for an excellent assessment of The aftermath of Pennsylvania. In particular, Mark Bell links to a really excellent article by Dylan Loewe on the Guardian's Comment is Free entitled Hillary's new inevitability. Loewe outlines why Clinton cannot win without an anti-democratic act by the super-delegates which would destroy, at a stroke, her "electability" anyway. He
 It seems that holidays, of whatever origin, are an opportunity for retailers to start charging over the odds for ordinary products just because they are somehow 'holiday-themed’. And Passover it seems is not different.  Seen in my local Waitrose on Sunday 'Wilkin & Son’ Tiptree No Peel Orange £1.65 but then on the Kosher shelves under [...]
If you've somehow managed to avoid the trainwreck that has been the interaction between Seal Press, Amanda Marcotte and bloggers of colour in recent weeks, the short version of the background to the post I am about to link to goes like this: The post is promoting a "feminism 101" book for a feminist press recently accused of ignoring/dismissing women authors of colour, by an author recently accused of plagiarising/appropriating/failing to acknowledge women authors of colour. Guess what kind of imagery they chose for the book? Scroll down to comments 81 and 84 to find out. For the long version ...
There on the stair, those little mice have got Alistair Darling to do something for those losing out from his predecessor and boss's abolition of the 10p rate of income tax. However, we have to wait and somehow survive until the pre-budget report in November to hear details of the new support, it would seem.
Give Duthus Lodge a try. I've stayed there twice now, very friendly and comfortable. Not suitable if you are allergic to dogs though!
After 5 days away in Edinburgh I have returned to my postal voting papers, and have now voted in the the London Mayor and Assembly elections. How did I vote. Well no surprises with this: 1. Local member, Tom Papworth 2. List, Liberal Democrats (including myself) 3. Mayor, Brian Paddick 4. 2nd preference for Mayor. Did not vote! I have thought long and hard about the second preference.
So Alistair Darling has 'caved in' on the abolition of the 10p rate of income tax that affects 5.3m low paid workers, promising a compensation package, which looks like it will involve more means testing, which we all know means that a lot of people will still lose out. Funny how the so-called 40 rebel Labour MPs have finally found their backbones and even their principles in the last few weeks. Couldn't be anything to do with the current local elections now could it? Nothing seems to work like the whiff of losing seats to concentrate minds. What a pity ...
Yesterday the top Scottish Labour blogger, well more or less the only one of any regularity, Kezia Dugdale posted her defence of the doubling of the 10p lowest tax rate. In the comments following this post in response to me asking if she was admitting that Labour had got their sums wrong she proceeded to give a B+ mark for this particular exam. Now seeing as my late father every July for years
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails. Not any more! Scientists at Oxford and Exeter universities now say little boys are made of banana's! What rhyme's with banana? ...
I welcome Hilary Clinton's decisive win in Pennsylvania because I think the world has suffered enough from a Republican-run White House, and I think Clinton can beat the Republican, but I don't think Obama can. Obama has the funding advantage and the backing of Democrat establishment big names, but for several reasons I don't believe enough Americans will vote for Obama when it comes to the crunch. This is supported by the fact that in the decisive big states Clinton has beaten Obama as traditional Democrat voters have turned out in her support. They know that if they elect Mrs ...
News reaches me that the police are now investigating allegations of forged signatures on a Conservative candidate’s nomination papers in Swansea. At issue is the nomination paper collected by Norman Whitlock, one of the four Conservative candidates in Uplands ward. Local Liberal Democrats called for an investigation after several residents said that their were down as signatures [...]
I refrain from using the phrase 'U-Turn' as it implies the government were facing the direction they were going on tax, looking where they were going, when in fact they have stumbled and almost tripped while walking backwards. A few can take some consolation from the government's announcement. The PLP and Labour supporters can none, as it appears necessary to bring the government virtually to its knees before it will do anything that approximates to the right thing. As ever, at PMQs Gordon Brown's retorts were well studied. "We maintain our desire to reduce child poverty" stuck in my mind. ...
Just in case you missed it, yesterday Brian Paddick had a piece on the Guardian’s Comment is Free Londoners want a serious alternative. Time and again during this campaign people have said to me: “Ken did all right for the first few years, but power has gone to his head.” But they have also said [...]
I have been ill today and off school as I had an allergic reaction to a chocolate truffle! Well whatever type of nut was used in it. It was quite serious, I was extremely ill last night. So I was able to watch Prime Ministers Questions today. It started with an angry Labour MP having a go at the PM over the 10p tax, which was rather funny. He responded with more suttle words of reassurance and of course saying what life would be like under the Tories. Gordon Brown did reasonably well as he was able to reflect on ...
Welcome, finally, to the 61st of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13th-19th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Let's get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity: 1. A second week at the top for [...]
I have just been informed of this by the City Council. It will appear in the Evening Telegraph this coming Friday : DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL (TOM MCDONALD AVENUE AND KIRSTY SEMPLE WAY, DUNDEE) (BUS ONLY FACILITIES) ORDER 2008 Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, the effect of which will be to create a bus facility whilst still protecting access for emergency vehicles to the Accident and Emergency Unit at Ninewells Hospital. Full details of the proposals are contained in the draft Order, which ...
Frank Field, MP for Birkenhead, and one of the most conservative of Labour members, has as a result of a concession by the Chancellor, withdrawn his amendment to the Finance Bill 2008. This would have provided compensation for the estimated five million people who are worse off as a result of Gordon Brown's budget. It remains to be seen how effective the promised compensation deal is. It comes after a week of fudges. Yvette Cooper announced a review into poverty. Nick Clegg commented: "After weeks of pressure from all sides, all this tired Government has been able to come up ...
Some people might think that the week before election day is a bit of a daft time for a bunch of bureaucrats to go witch-hunting within their own party, and many might think that it doesn't sound like the sort of thing Liberal Democrats do. But Stoke Lib Dems appear to have confused themselves with the Labour Party and suspended Liberal Democrat (Libertarian) Councillor Gavin Webb for being - gasp! - a Libertarian Liberal Democrat. Tristan, Alex (happy birthday!) and Julian have beaten me to blogging about it, but today it sounds like Gavin needs character references. Even from me. ...
I recently received reports from residents in Liverpool Road about the amount of dog mess in the road. One resident even said to me she hopes it is the first thing that the new councillor does for the residents of Park ward. I was amazed. "Why should it wait until after the election?" I asked. I have been working for the people of Park over the last year and was glad to take on this issue. Today I have received confirmation that Streetcare will install two new dog bins; one on the junction with Radstock Road and the other on ...
Amnesty International has today launched a hard-hitting new film about "waterboarding", the practice of torturing prisoners by partially drowning them. Amnesty's film, called "Stuff Of Life", is set to be one of the strongest campaign films ever seen by cinema-goers when the film is shown from early May. What adds to the Stuff Of Life's "shock value" is that it is effectively "disguised" as a bottled water or vodka advert, filmed in the "glossy" style usually seen in luxury consumer goods advertising. The short film, can be viewed online here and will be seen on some 50 UK cinema screens ...
Last night I took part in a Friends of the Earth / Stop Climate Chaos rally at the Friends' Meeting House at Euston, along with Secretary of State Hilary Benn, Tory spokesman Peter Ainsworth and FoE boss Tony Juniper. I was slightly startled on arriving at the venue last night to find the queue snaking down the Euston Road! I can't recall ever speaking at an event where people were queuing up to hear me before - though I suspect that the presence of the Secretary of State may have had something to do with it! The event itself was ...
Yes, St George is the patron saint of syphilis sufferers, which seems rather appropriate for a guy who is so promiscuous about being a patron saint. Apparently he's the patron saint of Aragon, Canada, Catalonia, China, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, and Serbia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, and Moscow, and as a wide range of professions, organisations and disease sufferers. What a multi-tasker! I choose to honour him by mentioning the greatest George of all. We should all watch at least one thing with Mr Takei in it today, ...
Chris Davies, LibDem MEP for the North West of England, has made himself pretty unpopular amongst some of his colleagues with his campaign to open up MEPs’ expenses to greater scrutiny. But that doesn’t stop him being right. The fact that MEPs have now voted 442 to 209 against the publication of reports which uncovered [...]
Yesterday I posted my feelings about the lack of comments from the Nationalist blogs regarding the impeding Grangemouth refinery strike and it affects across Scotland. So while talks resume today to try and resolve this issue I got to wondering just why do the Nats want to sweep this under the carpet. To be totally fair there was one Nat, Malc in the Burgh, who approached the Grangemouth story
A warning today from Police in Cornwall to the parents of thousands of youngsters who regularly cause trouble on the beachs of the County over the summer. But we're not talking about 'the usual suspects'. Nope, the problems comes from the public school set - the hoorays or snob-yobs as they're known round here. Every summer, thousands of well off young people spend a goodly portion of their holidays in places such as Polzeath and Rock on the North Cornish coast. And every evening they congregate on the beaches with crates of beer and uncontrolled barbeques. It creates havoc for ...
A short and to the point letter from Brian Paddick in today’s Times: Sir, Your headline "I could work with Boris but I couldn't trust Ken, says Lib Dems' Paddick" (April 22) is inaccurate. Let me be clear. I would not work for Boris Johnson. Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson are both wrong for London's future, [...]
Congratulations to the Railway Club for winning the Darts League. A bit of good news in whats been a very difficult period for them. I was at a meeting on affordable housing at the club a week, or so, ago. When it finished I looked in at the bar to say hello, and had a pint forced on me. Come down to the Britannia, it's the last but one darts match, win this and we've won the league, they said. Well the Britannia is the nearest pub to me, so it's a lift home and I can slide away after ...
Last night was what canvassing should be all about. A warm evening, my coat left in the car, a cooling breeze, only the occasional quasi-rabid growling horse-dog charging me, and a great reception from loads of local people on the doorstep. Unfortunately though, everything warm but the reception has stopped. Spring has lasted all of 18 hours, and today is greyer than a concrete prison cell with only a table, a chair, and John Major in it. Last year there was only one night in April when canvassing and rain came together in the most ill-advised marriage since ...
As predicted, Pennsylvania went to Clinton by between 9 and 10 points last night, which leaves the democratic race, well, exactly where it was. Obama has missed his third opportunity to knock Clinton out of the race (New Hampshire was the first, Ohio or Texas the second), but Clinton has yet again failed to significantly close the delegate (or, indeed, popular vote) deficit. Her campaign is in debt. Even if she secures 60-40 wins in all the remaining contests AND 60-40 wins in Michigan and Florida reruns which won't happen, Clinton would still go to the convention with fewer delegates than ...
As reported here, here, and here, LD Councillor Gavin Webb has been suspended from the Party. It is unclear exactly how this has happened; it seems as if the West Midlands Regional Party have suspended Webb following contact from 'The Compliance Unit' of Cowley Street. I am unsure how Cowley Street became involved in the first place. One local newspaper reports that Stoke-on-Trent City Council's Liberal Democrat group leader, Councillor Jean Bowers, was 'concerned about some of the comments Mr Webb has made in recent weeks'. Leaving aside the boring technicalities, this is the crux - has Webb been suspended ...
A hurried, late weekly catchup this week: Lots of comments on: Our poll on whether deaf families should be able to select deaf babies Allegations of Clegg’s student Tory past The Green/Brown debate We covered the ongoing London Mayoral debate with More debate on second preferences Further news of innovation from Lib Dem Brian Paddick and news that our online strategy is working Guest [...]
From ABC News: (Hillary) Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on "Good Morning America" Tuesday. ABC News' Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an
It is St George's Day. I don't have a great deal to add to my comments last year. I would however note that there seem to be significantly more posters advertising the Mayor of London's St George's Day events this year than in previous years. And the Prime Minister is flying England's flag over Downing Street. So, while last year's "biggest nob in England" was Cameron, this year's award will go to Brown. St George is of course also the patron saint of Beirut. I like to think of its southern Hizbullah-infested slums as a warmer, more attractive and safer ...
Bleary-eyed and somewhat jet-lagged, I joined a pack of Southwark and Camden councillors, Simon Hughes, Chris Rennard and other LibDem worthies early yesterday morning, for a photo-shoot with Brian Paddick on the central reservation of Waterloo Bridge, as we all pretended to be a cross-river tram. The TV crews and phoographers loved it, even if [...]
I spent yesterday evening giving a speech to the Salford Debating Society. The busy time of year meant I wasn't able to put as much effort in as I'd have liked, but I enjoyed the experience nonetheless. I'm pretty certain they were after a somewhat more important and high profile guest than myself, and [...]
Guy Lodge, Institute for Public Policy Research advocates that; "Mayoral campaigns like the current London one help to invigorate local politics by provoking interest and debate on local issues"? Is he right? I'm not so sure that he is. Surely, the success of any mayoral campaign, like the one currently being contested in London, relies more on the 'celebrity status' of the candidates than it does on local politics? It often seems to be the case that no matter how hardworking, intelligent and, dare I say it, 'nice', a person is, it's their personality or celebrity status that the public ...
39 Labour rebels, including Linlithgow and Falkirk East MP Michael Connarty, who put their name to a rebel ammendment to the Budget Bill, set for a vote next Monday were subject to a Pied Piper charm offensive yesterday. The ammendment calls for immediate compensation for the approximately 5.3m lower-paid who face higher taxes as a result of the doubling the lowest tax rate to 20p rate instead of
My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates.15:25 is very impressed with the Twitter spammer finder: zottmann.org/tts/ #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
From the BBC: Veteran rock star Tommy Steele has admitted he took Elvis Presley on a secret tour of London in 1958. For more than 50 years, Presley fans have believed the only time he ever set foot in the UK was during a stop-over at Prestwick Airport in March 1960. But theatre producer Bill Kenwright revealed Steele's secret on Radio 2.Legend has it that the reason Elvis never toured was that his manager Colonel Tom Parker was not a US citizen (he was Dutch) and was afraid that he would not be able to get back into the country. ... | < | April 2008 | > | ||||
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