LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 1st June 2008

Spinning towards revolution?

This posting has been a very long time in the making. In fact, as is usual, I've been more than normally ponderous about our political system since the local elections and it has prevented me doing anything else. I wanted to be careful about what I say, lest I be seen simply as having sour grapes at having lost - but I hope you will see that far from it, I am hopeful of achieving more, and for others moreover, outside the formal government structure than inside it. I have fallen out of love with democracy; at least the corrupt, ...

"water" weapon in the fight against floods

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Some photos from the past few weeks

Well, no Wallace blog post can go for long without some photos. So here is a completely random selection of photos from the past few weeks. 25 bottles of home made elderflower champagne. Leave to ferment for 10 weeks then enjoy. This carefully posed picture of me on our allotment in Sunniside, Gateshead, is designed ot make it look as if I am doing lots of back-breaking manual work. David

Statcounter is down

STOP PRESS: It's back! Statcounter - the free service that tells me how many people are reading this blog and how they reached it - has been down for a couple of days. I just get 'This program cannot display the webpage', but this graphic from Around the Corner explains what is going on. So now, like the writer of that blog, I have withdrawal symptoms. And I am convinced that no one is reading this blog.

The craziest parking bays in town?

Take a look at this photo of Eastmount Road. Newly installed parking bays on the left of the photo, on the approach to a right hand bend, narrow the road to a dangerous width. And remember, 100 metres further on is a Reg Vardy car showroom, visited by large, wide, car transporter lorries. As I was standing there, these two cars tried to squeeze through the gap: just look how close the car

Jethro Tull: Songs from the Wood

Back to the 1970s and the title track from the LP that, along with Kate Bush's The Kick Inside, formed the soundtrack for my sixth-form years. I later came to prefer Tull's earlier, bluesier efforts, but this LP and the subsequent Heavy Horses still sound good. I suspect they are partly responsible for the ruralist strain you still find in my politics.Apologies for the minute of chat at the start of this clip, but the lyrics aren't bad:Let me bring you love from the field, Poppies red and roses filled with summer rain.

The Curse of Sanders?

Devon Tory in allowances probe In 1994 Tory Euro Candidate Giles Chichester refused to do the honourable thing and resign to fight a by-election following the controversy that surrounding the declarat...

Labour fail on youth crime

Apologies for the slight hiatus in posting but I have been away at the Hay Festival and have just got home. This did not stop me noting however this headline in today's Observer. We have just been through a local election campaign in which Labour sought to focus on the issue of anti-social behaviour and attempted to blame local Councils for their failures in dealing with this issue. However, an internal government report has now concluded that it is Labour's 10-year strategy for tackling youth crime has failed: The briefing document says that around 25 per cent of under-18s have ...

Labour in Meltdown.....will Gordon be forced out?

There is no doubt that Labour, despite all the cash for honours, money from the Unions, money from the businessmen, money from those who could ill afford it and have been ill served by their support for the party...... as well as all their other woes, are in financial trouble. This piece on Labourhome makes very interesting reading. Not least the final point - There are hints that some donors are sending a message that they are happy to bail out Labour so long as the party finds another leader.

Henley Conservatives attack Lib Dem 'outsider'

Oh dear. Remember all those morally outraged Tories who laid into Mark Pack on Liberal Democrat Voice for his piece on Edward Timpson?? I will not pretend that I did not have some sympathy with their complaints...however, one wonders how they feel looking at the latest literature from Henley Conservatives which Conservative Home kindly provides us with a snapshot of; it attacks Stephen Kearney as being 'not local - he comes from South West Devon'. It is a vicious attack on the Liberal Democrats for 'for dumping their local candidate' and replacing her with an 'outsider'. So, the Conservatives are ...

Today, I Have Mainly Been Delivering in Henley

I've been to Henley today delivering with West Midlands Chair Stuart Ritchie. While there, I was videoed for the campaign outside the campaigns Thame HQ - you can see the result at www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtIPgA7WsSA - enjoy!

Where is Israeli logic?

On one side Israel is actually negotiating with Syria what to do about Golan Heights. A peace deal seems to be a real possibility. On another side they are imprizoning the whole of Gaza, and about to build 900 homes for Israelis in East Jeruselam part of the West Bank. This is dispite internation preasure for them to stop building settlements in the West Bank. Or is there actually enough Internation Preasure. I don't think there is, especially not from the Bush Administration. So does anyone understand the Government's logic?

YAY! It are posted!

Sunny has put me up on LC. I are here. Note to LJ peeps: if you can't be bothered adding the whole {[info]} liberalconsp_fd, you can add a feed of just me, if you like: {[info]} jennier_lc_feed. Just, you know, be wary of Horatio breaking his chains and running rampant if you do. ETA: although the feed of just-me does preserve the links, which the main feed doesn't. This may be an incentive or a disincentive to add, IDK. (X-posted personal journal and {[info]} theyorkshergob)

Hobbies

Whoever thought that being the Mayoress was about swanning around in posh hats would have seen the reality this morning. A very early start to wave off the Historic Vehicle Commercial Society run up to South Shields. It was cold. It was pouring down. I was to walk around and look at these old vehicles for an hour. However I do have a good kagoul with a hood, never mind the hats, and there...

Tied up and gagged in Shoe and Sandwich!

Somebody arrived at this blog yesterday after googling the term 'tied up and gagged'. Even more hilarious is the knowledge that they were then confronted with a picture of Iain Dale with Eric Pickles in the Shoe and Sandwich by-election grinning wildly. Bet that ruined the mood. Worse than an icy shower in sub-zero temperatures that... Having only just recovered from my recent escapades where I momentarily lost my tag as 'Jeremy Browne's stalker' (now recovered and worn proudly on forehead), it's time to review the month's statistics. What a month! My best week has to be May 2-9 when ...

The Scarf that spreads Muslim extremism

I have a friend at school who wears this black and white checked scarf (which I now know resembles a traditional Arab keffiyeh) in the winter. Of course we all made fun of her calling her Bin Laden and stuff. (which I suppose really isn't a nice thing to call someone) Anyway a celebrate chef on a Dunkin' Donuts Ad in the US was wearing one too. The Chain dropped the ad after a prominent American Conservative Blogger (doesn't the thought of them just make you shudder) called Michelle Malkin decided to complain about it. She said the garment was ...

Why not defend France against China

I'm not the most likely person to suggest helping out France and Sarkozy, but this is against China, a greater evil. Relations have soared between China and France, due to Tibet protests in Paris and Sarkozy suggesting boycotting the opening ceremony. Chinese Nationalists have supported boycotting French goods. Now the Chinese Government are warning people not to go to France, because of 'security'! That is actually quite serious. 700,000 Chinese visited France last year. And the Chinese do take notice of their government, it will effect the French economy, which isn't in perfect condition. We have been for a long ...

Wake up Mr. Gates

US defence Secretary Robert Gates has been accussing Burma for it's policy costing thousands of people's lives, as US Naval Ships remain at sea waiting. Well wake up! They've been waiting a month. Did he not realise this. It's taken a while for him to make this 'bold' statement. Perhaps Burma isn't the main part of his job. But has he only just mentioned this?

The Tories are right about knife crime

The Tories are right when they say a raft of new legislation about carrying knives is not needed because existing laws do the job, if only they were enforced. This government is too obsessed with passing laws rather than enforcing them. It's like some teenager in his bedroom making up a set of plans and rules for when 'he rules the world', except Labour do rule the country, they just don't look like it.

Rebellion

I know, I know... it went too far. 17 people were arrested, stations were closed, the already ho-hum weekend service on the tube was disrupted. On the other hand, what a party! Tens of thousands of people came out to drink on the London tube. The occasion being the first act of the new mayor, Boris, which was to ban drinking on the tube. I got caught up on my way home. The first or the last coaches were filled with people. Some were in Black tie. Some were in Rugby shirts, some (after a couple of circuits on the ...

Has the Kenyan opposition blended in with the Government?

In the Kenyan Presidential and Parliamentary elections the opposition ODM offered a new Government, one free from the endless corruption in Kenya. The same thing Mwai Kibaki had been elected on in 2002. Of course then there was that violence that came out of nowhere. The ODM led some protests. Then tribal militias used the election as an excuse to kill people of other tribes. A coalition government was negotiated and the violence stopped. So has the ODM been working at stopping the corruption? Well first of all the ODM gave way to Kibaki and make a huge cabinet of ...

'Think family' pilot

Islington has been named as one of the pilot areas for a 'think family' approach to supporting vulnerable families. Part of the aim is to 'join up' services to adults and children so that whole families get support (which is the way social services used to work before the childrens' services bit was separated out [...]

Abingdon is now wired

Great news for Abingdon residents and visitors as free wifi access was switched on yesterday. Abingdon Town Council has worked with local IT company CTS to provide the service which it is hoped will roll out through the town as local businesses offer additional hubs. Not only is this great news for Abingdon but it is also a great credit to my wife, Samantha, who has pushed the initiative through via the Council's website working group. Our youngest, Emma, also had great fun helping to organise the Balloon Race which took place to promote the switch on.

Conservative MEP probed over £500,000 payment to family firm

From the Sunday Times: The leader of the Conservative MEPs, Giles Chichester, has channelled almost £500,000 in parliamentary allowances through a family firm founded by his father, the yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester. Company documents reveal that since 1996 Chichester has paid the company £445,000 for services "in connection with secretarial and assistant services for the European parliament, [...]

You should be able to use Oyster on trains north of Finsbury Park

Extending the use of Oyster to First Capital Connect's overground train services running north out of Finsbury Park is the subject of my latest local column: To us public transport users in London it seems as plain as the nose on our faces that Oyster should be extended to our local overground rail (and everywhere actually) - so we can go boldly and easily wherever we choose! But no - we still have to put up with a two-tier ticket system if we want to use our local overground stations like Alexandra Palace and Haringey.We are stalled because First Capital ...

Busy weekend ...

Yesterday, Janet and I had the pleasure of attending Ancrum Road Primary School's Summer Fete and Fun Day and as you can see from the photo above, there was lots of activity in the playground (and also great stalls in the school itself). All credit to Colin, Depute Head Teacher, for agreeing to go into the stocks! (See below). Later on, we had a trip to Pitlochry (again see below) - a fabulous day! And in the evening, a family party as Janet's cousin and her husband are across visiting from the Netherlands (again, see below). Had the joy of ...

Tuesday 27th May 10am

Epsom & St Helier Women & Children's Services Review Feedback Stakeholder Event There weren't quite so many attendees at this event as at the previous one, but still a good selection of stakeholders. Paul Burstow MP was again in attendance, in stark contrast to the absence of Chris Grayling and other Conservative MPs representing Surrey [...]

Sign of times to come ...

Last week media speculation that the SNP's honeymoon is over gathered pace as three high profile policies were mired in confusion. "The SNP government suffered a 'wobbly Wednesday' yesterday as three flagship policies ran into trouble." Times, 29 May 2008 "Wednesday, May 27, 2008 may well go down in history as the day the electorate stopped loving Alex Salmond and the Nationalists." Times, 29 May 2008 "If Alex Salmond's worst day in government so far was 'Wobbly Wednesday', then yesterday would have to be threadbare Thursday." Times, 30 May 2008 I feel that no amount of huff and puff by ...

'I think that I shall never see, a thing as heavy as a tree'

Here in the countryside, where connection to the utilities is less straightforward, we tend to use oil-fired central heating and, if possible, wood burners. Ironically, with the increase in the price of oil, anyone prescient enough to have a wood burner installed, say three years ago, will be saving an unexpected fortune. Having married such an oracle, today saw my first delivery of logs, and an

Henley battle joined

Those of you listening to BBC Oxford or BBC Berkshire today will have heard me welcoming the selection of Cllr. John Howell as the Conservative candidate for the Henley by-election. It is good that the Tories have selected their candidate, as it is always slightly odd when only one candidates is in the field. But it also means we have an opportunity to highlight the gap between Tory spin on many issues and what they actually do in practice. Just one example - we got our glossy County Council magazine through the door last week telling us how the County ...

The BNP 'Given a Platform' by the Independent

Following his publication of a blog on My Torygraph, Richard Barnbrook has been interviewed by the Indy. It says a lot for how incoherent he is (read his blog if you don't believe me) that Ross Logan (the journalist) has to do so much work to stitch his words together to form them into sentences. I also like the way that Logan uses Barnbrook's own words and the BNP's own manifesto to illustrate the inconsistencies and unpalatable policies that the BNP would rather were not shouted about in public. On the whole, I think Barnbrook comes out of this looking ...

And Following on From That...

It's worth pointing out that a narrative won't, and can't, actually get a party elected. It is what people from the outside say about the why and the what. How we get elected is to have the policies that are joined together by a sense of identity that is shared out in the country, and we use robust marketing and campaigning to link our party to that identity. It's about finding people who think like us who'll be willing to listen to our ideas, to give our ideas a chance because we are, as a party, the political wing of ...

What qualifications do you need to be a journalist ?

It appears from this exchange on Donal Blaney's blog that the only qualifiaction you need to be a journalist is the ability to spell. Certainly checking the validity of a piece of research or checking out if the piece is 10 years old or not is something Mr Blaney is less interested in. It's odd, because I though thte term 'News' came from the fact that it is something 'new'. Further background to the story can be found on the Cassillis blog. Oh, and in news just in, England have just won the world cup, just in case it is ...

When MPs perpetrate a deliberate lie

The Tories claim to want to clean up politicals and the 'spin' of new Labour. Indeed, David Cameron has called repeatedly for a new kind of politics. So perhaps he might want to take action against Nadine Dorries who as has been highlighted HERE is willing to use urban myths that have been refuted by the people she quotes as reasons to support her views.

Scallywags

Pointless mixing from the Conservatives, noted in today's IoS. A senior Tory close to Mr Cameron is actively promoting the idea of finding common ground with the Lib Dems by offering top jobs to Mr Clegg. Will the public really be impressed by any party droning on about a theoretical hung parliament? The idea that it's a scenario which requires exhaustive consideration, right down to the pre-appointment of mixed cabinets, is ridiculous. Meanwhile, a very welcome return to Forceful and Moderate, reporting on last night's tube-boozing protest against London's authoritarian new Mayor.

Crucible of Terror - Part 3

Saudi Arabia is, of course, known for one thing above all others. That is the vast quantities of oil that the country produces. In terms of capacity it has no equal among the Gulf states. There are 264 billion barrels of proven oil reserves (more than a quarter of the world total) with up to one trillion barrels of oil probably being ultimately recoverable (Energy Information Administration report, January 2002). Not only is it present in vast quantities, but it is also cheaply produced due to flat land and huge deposits at shallow depths. However, Saudi Arabia's vast oil-producing potential ...

Politicians' Nonsensical Approach to Alcohol

Hot on the heels of Boris' banning of alkyhol on the tube (with, as Chicken Yoghurt says, entirely predictable results), the government has resurrected its idea of prosecuting parents who let their children touch alcohol in public. Oh, just NO. Responsible attitudes do not grow from wrapping people in cotton wool. You do not learn how to handle alcohol by not even being allowed a sniff of it before your 18th birthday. Responsible attitudes to alcohol grow, like any other skill, from slow controlled exposure under the supervision of someone more competent than oneself. To my mind it's far better ...

For Once, Boris Is Right

As from 0001 this morning, drinking alcohol or carrying open bottles or cans of alcoholic drinks are forbidden on London's buses and the underground, by mayoral decree. This will be backed up next year by changes in bye-laws, to make them formally illegal. Libertarians have been protesting, but I think on this issue, Boris Johnson is [...]

Acceptable in the eighties

Is this the best judged sax solo since Haircut 100 split up? Maybe. Influential music industry figure Alex Narkiewicz has posited that Mystery Jets' Two Doors Down might be the single of the year. Were it not from the stiff competition from Glasvegas, it might be so. There's been a load of hogwash about "eighties revivals" for some time. But now, at last, we have the magic combination of sloane ascendancy, smirking Tories and house price uncertainty - it's finally time for us all to invest in pastel suits, roll up the sleeves up, and just go nuts. The single ...

A look back at the polls: May

We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV - of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you [...]

Narrate This

If I had a penny for every time I saw someone proclaiming the need for a narrative for the Liberal Democrats, I'd have about 57p. If I had to pay a penny for every time someone actually proposed a narrative, I'd have about 56p. Narratives seem to be something of the holy grail of political campaigning. In my head though, I'm not entirely convinced that it's possible to invent a narrative. Narratives sound far more like a retrospective historical account of the whys of a political movement, or party, or Leader. Ultimately it's the story of what problems they see ...

Indiana Jones and the Paint of Doom

mental_floss Blog Â» 10 Awesome Indiana Jones Facts Lucas wrote 'The Adventures of Indiana Smith' in 73. While on vacation he spoke with Spielberg, who mentioned he always wanted to do a Bond film. Lucas told him the Indiana character was better than James Bond... (tags: james+bond Indiana+Jones films) Ubersite - The Ultimate MS Paint: It Will Make You Cry Drawn entirely in MS paint apparently. I can't do that well in anything... (tags: art cool)

The future for creative writing is digital

The internet, combined with other digital technologies has given rise to changes in almost every aspect of our lives. The internet alone has revolutionised the way we communicate, the way information is shared, and even the way we watch TV. But books have gone relatively unchanged, and they are, a comparatively expensive media. Many academic publishers have already ceased the production of paper versions of journals, in favour of the cheaper, more easily distributed digital versions. But cost-savings for publishers isn't the only advantage to the digital format. Digital forms of data are, by definition, indexable, which means searchable. But ...

Alcohol Ban on the Tube

I would have said that the ban was too restrictive. Unfortunately some of last night's revellers proved Boris's point and removed the need for him to defend his decision.

Still story time for the Liberal Democrats

Last Wednesday night, I was pleased to be the guest speaker at the Islington Liberal Democrats' pizza and politics evening. The subject was political narratives and how they work. This is the second time in six months I have spoken at such an event, so this storytelling thing may catching on. We had an interesting discussion, albeit with one or two diversions. Just as with the Lewisham and Beckenham North event in December, I was left with two major conclusions: (i) local party activists and campaigners seem to understand political narratives better and faster than some of the big wheels ...

Neath Port Talbot's 'Mr Election' retires

It is not going to be the same in the Neath Port Talbot elections office, as Peter Davies retires. (See the full official story here.) We said our personal goodbyes earlier this year, before the start of the local election campaign, but I should like to place on public record my appreciation of Mr Davies's courtesy and helpfulness over the last twelve years. This was a period of change, not just because of the settling down of the new unitary authority, but also because of the many changes in electoral law which occurred in that time. The postal vote regulations ...

The nerve of the woman

Hillary Clinton's claim that she might appeal against the Democratic Party's decision to award only half the delegates or Florida and Michigan is ludicrous when you look at the issue of Michigan itself. The Democrats said that neither Clinton or Obama's names should be on the ballots, and Obama ensured his name was not on the ballot whilst Clinton ignored this ruling and got her name on the ballot. Is it any wonder she on 70% of the delegates in Michigan when the other candidate was 'other'. What is clear is that 30% of Democrats in Michigan wanted anyone else ...

Alan Duncan contradicts Henley Conservative by-election campaign

Oh dear. Not really the best of starts to the Henley Conservative campaign. First there was David Cameron having to tell the local party what to do regarding selections after the pleas of John Maples were rebuffed. Then the BBC reported how the local Conservative Party was split over their Henley selection. And now: Conservative Shadow Business [...]

Tuesday 20th May 7pm

SCRUTINY OVERVIEW COMMITTEE I duly set off for this meeting only to arrive with a migraine kicking in, so I gave my apologies and made my way back home. Although I don't suffer from them often, when a migraine sets in all I can do is go to bed and try & sleep through it, which [...]

My day at Henley

I got up at 5am having had just had only 5hours sleep! So I walked to the train station in the city center in the early hours of the morning. I did witness an aftermath of Friday night on the streets. Having been told Henley of Thames was not where I wanted to go, I went on a train to Birmingham New Street to take the correct route to Haddenham and Thame Parkway. Having been foolish enough not to read the instructions properly. On the train I found my cheap day return ticket wouldn't cover this (despite the Internet suggesting ...

Clegg to be Home Secretary?

The Independent have a story picking up where the Telegraph left off a couple of weeks ago, with the news that, yes, Nick will hold hands with the Tories in the event of a coalition government. The job of Home Secretary is being offered to him, if he'd just sit down and behave during PMQs. If he refuses someone will run off and tell on him in the Independent. 'A senior Tory close to Mr Cameron is actively promoting the idea of finding common ground with the Lib Dems by offering top jobs to Mr Clegg. But disclosure of the ...

Day 2707: Elephants in Zimbabwe

Friday: File this story under 'people are bad news'. As if Mr President Mugabe hadn't done enough to scuttle his nation's economy by handing all the farms over to so-called 'war veterans' (or 'armed thugs who've done some intimidation work for him'), he's also torpedoed the once billion-dollar tourism industry. Who wants to go sight-seeing where the next sight you might see is another village being massacred for voting for the MDC. And, to add INSULT to INJURY, apparently he is now FUNDING his regime by allowing shady tourists - apparently mainly from America or Spain - to go ELEPHANT-MURDERING ...

Mark Oaten - Will he go or will he stay?

I note that Political Betting has a further update on the Oaten story - in an interview with the Portsmouth News he does seem to be suggesting he will go early. I do appreciate his heartfelt plea to be forgiven. Actually it is not for us to forgive him, it is his wife and she has so that is good enough for me. All I am concerned about is the timing of any early departure and I trust he will be taking advice about this.

US house prices fall sharply again

A quick update on my previous post, "How bad will the credit crunch get?": the May figures for the Case-Shiller house price index featured in that graph are out, and they are down again. The index now stands at 186.06, compared to 226.29 at its peak in June 2006 and with 200.76 in December 2007. [...]

Wouldn't it be better to sell alcohol responsibly ?

Alcohol sales have got out of hand, supermarkets pile it high and sell it cheap (3 bottles of wine for under a tenner at Asda now...) as though it were bread or toilet rolls. But alcohol isn't bread, or toilet rolls, it's a luxury item that, when mishandled and misused, wrecks health and lives and blights communities. Social responsibility for sensible drinking lies not only with families, in teaching their young how to drink sensibly and within safe, legal limits but also with the retailers in selling alcohol to the communities on whom they rely for their workforce and their ...

Suffolk Reviews: The Suffolk Show

Now I would be the first to admit that I'm not an obvious person to be seen at a County Showground but, in keeping with my newfound status as a weekend country-dweller, Ros persuaded me that I would really enjoy the Suffolk Show, a two-day extravaganza of farming equipment, livestock and various county pursuits. And so, despite an unpromising weather forecast, we set off for Needham Market

Mark Oaten - a ceasefire

Thanks to Jonathan Calder for posting a comment left by Mark Oaten on Political Betting. I found the comment to be a searingly honest and open 'plea from the heart' ('yes I screwed up') and I am most grateful to Mark Oaten for leaving it. He ends with this: i have kept martin tod, chris rennard, nick clegg and the tory candidate steve brine in the picture about all of this and done my best to

Labour's lessons from Oxford

There's some interesting online discussion from Labour perspectives about how they got their relatively good local election results in Oxford this May. Not all of the points really stand up to close scrutiny (e.g. Nick Clegg has repeatedly talked about childcare issues, as for example here) but some interesting food for thought nonetheless.

Half votes for Florida and Michigan

The Democratic National Committee met yesterday to discuss Florida and Michigan. It agreed to seat all the 368 delegates to the party convention, but only give them half votes.

Day 2706: Fishy Oil Strike

Thursday: This week, British Lorry drivers complained about the price of fuel by... wasting a lot of fuel in a traffic-jam. More fule them. In contrast, French fishermen have been protesting at the high price of marine diesel by NOT going to sea, and now the Spanish, along with the Portuguese, the Italians and the two remaining Belgian fishing boats, have all joined the action. Or IN-action. This to me seems like a sensible and practical solution to a lot of difficulties, and perhaps I could recommend that the strike action be extended for another, say, five to ten YEARS. ...

So I Caved...

... and watched Silence in the Librab. Enough people posted interesting stuff that I was interested... Actually, am watching it now. Reaction #1: Um... HOW many bacteria are there in the human and/or time lord body? Wikipedia says 1 quadrillion. That's a lot more than 1,000,000,000, yes? Reaction #2: YAY Steve Pemberton! Reaction #3: Oh great, the scary thing in the dark is something that sounds like it's from Mahabarat. YAY xenophobia! [/heavy sarcasm] Reaction #4: River really is annoying, isn't she? GAH FACE-STROKING!!! *stabbity* Stupid canon shippiness. Reaction #5: everybody seems to be standing in each other's shadows a ...

The Wet Fish cafe is just the best!

Yep, West Hampstead is pretty hot and impressive, but in addition to being cool, great fun and an amazing place to live it also boasts the Wet Fish Cafe http://www.thewetfishcafe.co.uk/ Yep, you guessed it - it used to be a wet fish shop and these two pictures that I took the other day show the original tiling counter height to ceiling and also the original old name plate from above the shop front. It is also now a great restaurant and one of the places where the food actually has taste and flavour - it really is to be recommended... ...

London past, London present

I was at a housewarming party at a Victorian terrace in London earlier. It was an interesing house. When built, it would have accomodated a clerk, his wife and children, and one or two servants. What is now the Garden Flat would have been the kitchen and scullery. Perhaps the clerk's children might have gone to a public school, if they were lucky: but a minor one. When the suburbs started to be built, the clerks would have left that household and move further out. It might have been occupied two families to each floor. After World War II, many ...

New Labour, new nanny state proposal

I see that the Government have launched a new consultation document on smoking. Whilst I don't use, and never have used, cancer sticks, I respect the right of others to do so, albeit not in my home and not in places where I am obliged to be. Again, the notion that 'something must be done' rears its ugly head. I'm not convinced, for example, that banning the sale of cigarettes in pack sizes of

Interview with a vampire. I mean, blogger.

I recently caught up with Han, who is a Multimedia Technology and Design student at the University of Kent. She is a veteran blogger, and has been designing and building web sites for herself and others for years. She is well known in the blogging community, and her main blog, www.eruanna.net was shortlisted for the 2007 Metro Brit Blog awards. She kindly took time out from her busy schedule to chat about her views on the ubiquitous blog. Darren: Hi Han, thank-you for taking the time to have a chat with me about blogging. First off, let me say congratulations ...

Day 2705: Mr Frown Risks a Meltdown

Wednesday: Just when you thought Mr Frown couldn't make his brand any more TOXIC, he decides that a heavy dose of atomic radiation is just what the situation calls for. Once again he reaches out his great clunking fist towards the right answer - reducing our dependence on imported energy supplies by diversifying our generating capacity - only to BRUSH IT ASIDE and pick the STUPID option instead! Earlier this week, Channel Furore showed the (rather sad) 'Life After People' show where, after only a few thousand years, all trace of humans would DISAPPEAR! Except they FORGOT about RADIOACTIVE WASTE: ...

Sunday 1st June 2008

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