LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Tuesday 3rd June 2008

The real deal??

So, another series of Big Brother is almost upon us; when the first Big Brother was aired it was unquestionably 'the next big thing'. Eight years on it has grown beyond belief. Saturation coverage on E4 means that if you are bored enough you can enjoy the dubious pleasure of watching the housemates sleep - if you have nothing better to do, like sleep, at 3 am. All this is not to mention the numerous spin-offs shows in the UK and in several other countries. Big Brother is not 'reality tv' in the pure sense of the word. How realistic ...

Obama's almost there

The press are finally calling the Democratic nomination for Barack Obama, and those of us who want to see the Republicans shown the door can breathe a sigh of relief that the Democrats can stop fighting each other and get on with showing the Republican Party up as a bunch of neo-con warmongers who have damaged the interests of freedom and tolerance as well as the reputation of the United States and her allies.

Why Hillary won't be the Veep

The final curtain is about to come down on Hillary Clinton's doomed bid for the White House, with South Dakota and Montana the somewhat unlikely venues to switch out the lights. And it seems that Hillary may be angling for the number two spot on the ballot, saying she's 'open' to the prospect of being Obama's vice-presidential running mate. On the face of it, that seems a good idea, uniting the two combatants and pooling their undoubted talents against John McCain. Unfortunately for her, I don't think there's a great likelihood of that happening. For a start, timing matters in ...

well done the hoodies

The Youth Assembly was tonight's destination, accompanying the mayor. I was amazed to see that they were all wearing the same clothes, but it seems this was deliberate. They had designed tops to wear, all with the 'Youth Action' logo - and a hood. They had decided to have these hooded tops to prove that not all 'hoodies' were bad youths, and we shouldn't be stereotyping. Well done ! you can...

John Reid........Next Labour Leader?

According to Political Betting, Mike Smithson has just put £20 on John Reid to be the next Labour leader. Scary...........or what? Just as we thought our bleary eyed mornings were free from the grating tones of the aptly christened 'attack dog'..........we are threatened with his potential return. Yes. John Reid. Remember him? He of the reasoned argument, measured tone, gentle ways? My abiding memory is of my encounter with him on the night the Commons voted in favour of the war in Iraq. With apologies to those who have heard this tale before......it was he (in full attackdog armour) who ...

Caroline Lucas: Do what I say, not what I do?

The Lincolnshire Echo suggests that Britain's most prominent Green politician may not be as green as she should be: Green MEP Caroline Lucas arrived in Lincoln for Question Time last week by car after missing her train, it has been revealed.She missed her pre-booked train to Lincoln at Retford.The politician spoke about curbing car use during the BBC programme before being chauffeured back to London - in another car.Thanks to Fair Deal Phil.

Dalai Lama Customer Services

Hello to the mysterious internet traveller out there who came to this blog after searching for 'Dalai Lama Customer Services'. Quite what you were looking for I don't know. But I hope you found it.

New Lib Dem transport policies show up Tory contradictions

Fraser Nelson has written a piece for the Spectator rubbishing today's Lib Dem policy announcement on transport. (See the Guardian for a more balanced account.) No surprise there, though it is a typical Conservative article in that its depth of contempt for the existence of other views is so extreme that it makes you think the author would be happier living in a one-party state. But there are two interesting points about this one. The first is that its argument is essentially Clarksonite: I want to get in my car and drive as far and as fast as I want ...

Ros Scott is on the Warpath

And justifiably so. She's just had threat of bailiffs for someone else's debt. As she says: You shouldn't have to be a member of Parliament to get someone to take action. Well, you know, far be it from me to blow my own trumpet, but I've dealt with bailiffs on the doorstep for someone else's debt before - are you reading this, Kenneth X, you scrote? Used to live on St Paul's Avenue in Nottingham? - and once I'd managed to persuade them that I wasn't called Kenneth, and didn't have £20,000 worth of stuff for them to take ANYWAY, ...

Tower Hamlets: Lib Dem councillor to marry Labour chair

The East London Advertiser reports a heart-warming story of love across the political barricades: Cllr Stephanie Eaton, leader of the Lib Dem group on Tower Hamlets council, is to marry David Edgar, former senior Labour councillor and now chair of the Tower Hamlets Labour party. It comes after a whirlwind romance that both have managed to keep hidden from the East End political rumour mill.A complication, says the newspaper, is that Stephanie Eaton is likely to stand in Bethnal Green & Bow at the next general election. It would never have been allowed in Eric Flounders's day.

Obama

According to the New York Times Obama almost has the nomination as superdelegates come forward to support him.

NEW POLL: do you support road pricing?

The party has today launched its new transport programme, Fast Track Britain: Building a Transport System for the 21st Century, promising to "significantly increase long-term rail investment, introduce road user pricing to tackle pollution and congestion and hand control of buses back to local authorities have been launched today by the Liberal Democrats." You can find [...]

Have you been rung by 020 3137 0635?

I've received an automated call here in my kennel from Financial Services Data Management (http://www.fs-dm.com/) of Oldway House, Swansea. The naughty little snappers made an automated call to me with a recorded message without my prior consent. Tsk tsk. As every good dog knows, that is ILLEGAL! AGAINST THE LAW! AND REALLY RATHER NAUGHTY TOO! Grrr. Snarl. I've pawed in a complaint about FSDM to the Information Commissioner, who has an online form on his website http://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/online_enquiries.aspx

Back From Henley

I just got back from the (very winnable) Henley by-election, where I have been since Sunday lunchtime. Look, here are some photos to prove it: The HQ: The March We Have Stolen On The Tories: Breakfast Yesterday Morning: In my time there, I did four delivery rounds of tabloids and letters, and wrote really quite a lot of addresses. Stephen Kearney, who I had a quick chat to today, is very

Mafia shoot witness

The severe situation in the Naples isn't getting any better. If you don't know about it, it's just about this: The Mafia have been doing dodgy stuff with the rubbish, rubbish is near residential areas, also recently Naples people burned a gypsy camp for some reason. Basically things are pretty bad and the Mafia are behind it. Italy is one of the most corrupt governments in Western Europe, due particularly to the Mafia. (And guess what Italy just elected a right-winged Government-not good). Now a 47 year old boss at a disposal firm was due to give evidence about links ...

A (local) Henley post for (local) bloggers

Yesterday Paul Walter published the text of a letter sent by our candidate, Stephen Kearney, to Councillor Howell who is the Tory candidate in the prospective by-election in Henley. It's amazing just how much they are making of this. A post on the Tory website today clocks up a mention of the word 'local' eight times in a press release. How someone (local) has managed to drop the word (local) that many times without transforming it into political satire is one mean (local) feat. One wonders if they should do a sketch similar to the League of Gentleman in a ...

Haaretz.......does 'liberal' mean supporting genocide and terrorism?

'Our land is not Arab land': An advertisement on the front page of Haaretz.com leads to a website advocating genocide and terrorism. Haaretz.com, the website of the Israeli newspaper often cited as an example of Israel's liberal, critical media carries paid advertisements from a website openly advocating the total destruction of the Palestinian people, the murder of large numbers of Muslim civilians, the assassination of the family members of Arab rulers, and the use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons against dozens of countries.The website, Samson Blinded, claims that Google banned its advertisements from its adwords program. If that is ...

Inspiring our communities...

...to act on Climate Change. That was the title of a regional conference today which I attended with Stockton Council's Environmental Policy Manager. There were some very interesting presentations and some very challenging facts from public opinion surveys. There's a great deal of confusion in people's minds about whether climate change is important or even real. Even amongst people who think

My darling dog Seth

I have been rather quiet since the May elections. No, it is not because I have gone into an almighty sulk because Boris is the Mayor of London but that I have been looking after my darling dog Seth. Although I had known for some weeks that Seth had an inoperable tumour (the first two he's had been removed), it wasn't until three weeks ago that we both had to admit that things weren't going to be the same and despite numerous rallies, the trend from then on would be downward.We finally had to ask the vet to come over ...

The Elephant Interviews: Bloggers 4 Henley

Dear Friends, Despite Mr Boris still keeping us all wondering whether he will be keeping his promise to step down, Liberal Democrats are FLOCKING to the constituency of Henley, Thame and South Oxfordshire to support Mr Stephen Kearney. I am sure that you will all understand that Mr Stephen has a VERY busy schedule, but he has [...]

A somewhat depressing day

There is as yet no date set for it. It has however been a somewhat depressing day. I have had to take a large number of calls from the press about Alan. It is still quite a shock to realise a colleague and friend of 20 years has now gone.The weather has not helped. The rain just keeps on coming. I took an umbrella with me to work for the first time ever though admittedly it was to keep me dry

Speak to Me (Once More)!

(I originally posted this last week but it didn't garner much attention - serves me right for procrastinating and posting in the middle of the morning - so thought I would try again.) Hi all, I would like to sound you all out on the possibility of running real-time chats, via coveritlive, with prominent party members. Like most, I have been massively impressed with Millenium's blogger interviews.  The chance for us hoi-polloi to go and talk face-to-face with the top people in one of the main parties in British politics is pretty cool. However, living on the continent I am ...

Second (and last) Labour councillor on Buckinghamshire switches

Following Julia Wassell's switch to the Liberal Democrats, the one remaining Labour councillor on Buckingham County Council, Chaudhary Ditta, has now also switched. Steve Guy of Wycombe Liberal Democrats said: I am delighted to welcome Councillor Ditta to the Liberal Democrat team in Wycombe. He is a highly respected councillor and has considerable standing in the community. [...]

Clegg on Car Tax

It's good to have a bit of common sense and clarity in Parliament. Nick Clegg has spoken of axing road tax and fuel duty and having tax on how far you are driving. 12p per kilometre. There would also be a higher 'showroom tax'. It's part of a fairer system, which is so desperately needed in the UK. Clegg has also spoken of how Labour has done so terribly when it comes to public transport. Describing how Britain was, 'Grinding to a halt'. He also said, 'At a time when families are feeling the pressure of the rising cost of ...

German newspaper: How to avoid the Brits on holiday

Thought this was funny - after decades of enduring that traditional British sport of poking fun at the Germans about: / the war /deckchairs, they have began the fightback. A German newspaper has published a guide advising which resorts to stay clear of to avoid 'drunken sunburnt Brits' This was in response to the news that a British family received compensation from a court because their hotel on the Greek island of Kos was full of Germans. So for those of you who want to avoid drunken Brits, stay away from: the Bay of Palma in Majorca, San Antonio in ...

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #67

Welcome to the 67th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (25th-31st May), 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 response to Chris Rennard on Crewe [...]

Hats off to Iain Dale

Iain Dale is often criticised for being partisan and sometimes a little too close to politicians to be able to criticise them objectively. This was levelled at Iain when the Derek Conway business was at its height. However, you have to take your hat off to Iain Dale today for daring to criticise his friend and political ally Ann Widdecombe. Admittedly she is voting against the Tories, and as such Iain could be said to be putting party before friendship, but his arguments are balanced and reasoned and he avoids unnecessary abuse. Well done Iain.

New Guide to Local Health and Care Services from NELC Primary Care Trust Plus

North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus (CTP) has published a guide to local NHS and care services called "Your Guide to Local Health and Adult Social Care Services 2008". The guide is a source of advice about the local NHS and social care services that are available in North East Lincolnshire. It is being delivered to households in North East Lincolnshire Council's Linc Up newspaper. The guide, which has been produced by the Care Trust Plus, includes useful telephone numbers including emergency contact numbers, information on how to access services, and lists of nursing and residential homes. The guide also ...

The World Food Summit

The presence of the Zimbabwean tyrant Robert Mugabe at the World Food Summit in Rome (which opened today) should not distract people's attention from the importance and urgency of the issues being discussed. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which is hosting the conference, has warned industrialised countries that unless they increase yields, [...]

Rainy reflections...

One thing I've noticed consistently over the past few years of flooding events in Oxfordshire, and because a friend now lives in the village of Islip I notice it more is that the River Ray, a tributary of the Cherwell which it meets in the village, is often first on the list of Environment Agency highest level flood warnings. So what? you may ask. Well I often hear people say that the speed with which rivers flood nowadays is down to agricultural practices that make it harder for land to hold water and so it quickly flushes off and into ...

Kmkywap

As storms gather over Stormont, I give you the Governmental acronym of the day: the Northern Irish Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, or ofmdfmni for short.

'Deradicalisation' Labour style

There is something bitterly ironic about Jacqui Smith launching a nationwide 'deradicalisation' program at the behest of this Labour government, perhaps the irony stems from Labour' s loss of any kind of radical drive itself. Substantively it seeks to target 'vulnerable individuals' and provide them with mentoring and also the creation of 'safe spaces for debate about grievances' where young people can debate 'extremism issues'. One wonders if the government would willingly concede that it's own foreign policy is an 'extremism issue'. It is hard to see how offering people places to let off steam will change much unless they ...

Judas Rooney admits he lied

Wayne Rooney is, if the TV caricatures of him are to be believed, unlikely to be a member of MENSA or win any literary awards in the next few years, and his admission in court that he lied in his book when making allegations against his former manager, David Moyes, speaks volumes about the man. Rooney alleged that David Moyes had leaked stories to the press about Rooney wanting to leave Everton and hinted that this was the catalyst for him moving from Everton. To me, as an Everton fan, this seemed like Rooney was trying to blame David Moyes ...

Iain Dale and Ann Widdecombe

Iain Dale writes: I wouldn't want to be Ann Widdecombe if the government squeaks home by one vote on 42 days next week.Speaking for myself, I wouldn't want to be Ann Widdecombe under any circumstances.

The Chinese Rebellion

Most Chinese are pretty brainwashed by their government. Even University students in the UK will rush to defend the Chinese government. Well the parents of children crushed because schools were built so badly are getting quite rebellious. The Chinese government had said they would launch investigation but are now backing away from them. They're making sure the media don't talk to much about the schools. But the parents are rebelling. It's reported that parents went to file a lawsuit against a principle where hundreds of children died, but they were blocked and dragged away by police. When the BBC visited ...

Shropshire MP barred from taking cow to Palace of Westminster

I don't make these stories up, you know. This one is in the Shropshire Star: Shropshire MP Daniel Kawczynski had a beef with the Commons authorities because they have refused to let him take a cow into the parliamentary precincts. The Shrewsbury & Atcham MP sought permission to take one of his constituent's cattle to Westminster as part of a demonstration by farmers later this month. The animal was to have been used to illustrate the threat from bovine tuberculosis to Britain's dairy industry, but the Tory MP has been told cows are not among the few animals allowed on ...

Border Skirmishes Between Religion and Science

Here's three American websites I've been looking at lately. The first is CONSERVAPEDIA - the 'Trustworthy Encyclopedia'. For me it's an example of religion trying to trample all over science. I know that other Lib Bloggers have mentioned it before, but it's worth a second look. - or second warning. Don't think of it being a Conservative website in just political terms, they are sixteenth century

Henley: Withering criticism of Tory 'lies'

ThameNews.net carries some extraordinarily strong words directed at David Cameron from the Green candidate at the Henley by-election, Mark Stevenson: 'You may remember how our campaigns (in the 2001 Witney general election) coincided on several occasions, how we had a number of conversations and even joined for lunch at a country pub. I remember being impressed by your evident desire to take

Replacing a Driving License...

My driving license was stolen last week. So, on Friday, I checked out how I could get a new one and found this helpful page on DirectGov. You will see there are three options to get a replacement license - by post, phone or online. Post was a non-starter for me as I have terrible trouble getting forms, stamps and envelopes together in the same place at any one time. I thought I'd check out the online method but it was obvious from the instructions page that this was going to take some time and involve handing over quite a ...

Consumer power meets search engine optimisation

As you may have noticed, a pair of Liberal Democrats has been blogging about unhappy experiences with Abbey's Customer Services recently (in brief - they aren't very good at servicing customers). This has led me to spot a very clever piece of unhappy customer reaction, namely the website www.switchtoabbey.co.uk. The slogan "Switch to Abbey" featured in [...]

Let's hear it for our transport policy......or not?

Nick Clegg launched our proposed Transport Policy today..........though you may have missed it! Having seen the press release I waited to hear if it was covered anywhere..........er, if so, I must have been sleeping! All I have heard has been a short interview with Anita Anand on 5 Live. This is hugely frustrating, if Cameron sneezes it is news. If Brown frowns, it is news. If Clegg shows leadership and a commitment to policies that will improve the lives of our fellow citizens - er......zilch. No wonder the electorate are disaffected. What I despair of in particular is the role ...

3BT address...

Just reread last post - website/blog for 3BT at threebeautifulthings.blogspot.com

Parking

I've been in discussion with City Council Planning & Transportation officials over the past few days regarding concerns about delivery delays to some residents of the survey on parking issues. The Council's parking consultants have now agreed to meet with me in my capacity as Planning and Transport Convener to discuss the concerns and to ensure that all residents and businesses definitely get their say over parking problems in the consultation areas across the City, which include two parts of the West End. The timeframe set by the consultants for the return of the many questionnaires issued was tight, but ...

Still Not Convinced by Green Taxes

It's one of those opinions that's going to get me into bother in this party. I've already lambasted Green Taxes as being our equivilant of Clause 4 (and felt like I've disappointed a lot of people I respect and admire in the progress), and I promised to go away and have a think. And thunk I have. First, let me declare an interest. Public transport round where I live is horrible. Getting to work by it is, really, a complete nightmare - going from 15 minutes by car to about an hour and a half by bus, or financial ruin ...

What lessons can we learn while changing agriculture?

Ban Ki-Moon says food production must rise by 50% by 2030 to meet global demands. That is a huge task and if done in the wrong way it will put a huge strain on our resources. There are things we can learn from the past such as the green revolution. There are many good sides of the green revolution, food production has gone up dramatically for a start. Some problems though such as Salinization, which can happen from paddy fields in hot climates and leaves the soil impossible to cultivate for 20years. This is caused by very intensive farming. So ...

2nd Labour Councillor Defects to Liberal Democrats

The last remaining Labour Councillor on Bucks County Council has today resigned from the Labour Party and joined the Liberal Democrats. Councillor Chaudhary Ditta sits on both Buckinghamshire County Council and Wycombe District Council. Wycombe Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Spokesman, Steve Guy said: I am delighted to welcome Councillor Ditta to the Liberal Democrat team in Wycombe. He is a highly respected councillor and has considerable standing in the community. I know that we are all looking forward to working with him and gaining from his experience. The residents of Bowerdean, Micklefield and Totteridge will continue to be represented by a ...

Britain's Favourite Crime - Stealing lead of a roof

It seems that if you ask anyone involved in running any sort of building these days they have had some sort of metal theft incident in recent months, yet it is a crime that seems not to be taken seriously by the police. In a nearly village to me I know that the Church Hall, the Village Hall, the Social Club, The Primary School and another sports club have all had lead taken from their roofs in recent months, yet none of this has seemingly led to any great activity from the police. But this is a crime with consequences. ...

P C and S - a commentary

The link is to a commentary about the European Court Case PC&S. It includes the following: It is striking that the Strasbourg Court concluded that the child's rights under the procedural guarantees in Art 8 were infringed, although S was legally represented throughout. It is unclear what message it was trying to send by this finding. Was it that S's legal representatives, for the proper

'Too many parents fail to supervise the way their children brush their teeth...'

The above (currently available here but likely to be moved soon) is a sub-headline from a BBC News article. It is a prime example of the increasing moralising tone that we can expect from today's media, fuelled by the government. Such a tone is generally used in discussions about health-related issues (alcohol consumption being a current favourite) and most of the time criticises perfectly lawful behaviour. Before people start attacking me, I'll make a number of concessions. First, the issue raised by the article itself a fairly trivial one. Second, the article does confirm that the conclusion has been drawn ...

Getting inside the minds of criminal masterminds

Firstly, let me apologise for the title, its rather misleading. It has recently been reported that some how, thieves have managed to steal the woodchip safety surfacing from the children's play area in Denton. The surfacing which was recently topped up in preparation for the school holidays disappeared over the last few days and there are no signs of how it was removed. Town Clerk Ian Everest said: It would have amounted to about a ton in weight and needed a truck to get it away. It takes some believing that anyone could do such a thing. If anyone has ...

Updated: Will Boris relieve Peter Mandelson of his onerous duties today?

Updated: Sorry I conflated two roles - It's the Steward and Bailliff of the Manor of Northstead which Boris will apply for, and that role is currently held by Peter Mandelson(!). Tony Blair continues to beaver away as doubrey-feature for the Chiltern Hundreds. Thanks to Gavin Whenman and Jock Coats for the correction. If you were wondering, the manor of Northstead is what is now the Barrowcliff

Radical liberals

Just for clarification, what I consider to be radical liberalism is the tradition of the Levellers, Wilkes, Cobden and Bright. It is in that tradition that I consider myself a radical, not in the more modern tradition of socialist radicals. Whilst I go further than many of them in my desire for reform of the political system, [...]

Railway station improvements - fine for Cardiff, but what about us?

The restitution of platforms at Cardiff Queen Street is long overdue. In particular, the service to Cardiff Bay - providing access to the Millennium Centre and the Welsh Assembly building - needs improvement, if day visitors are to be persuaded to abandon road in favour of rail. But what about Port Talbot and Neath? The council leader has identified the former as in sore need of development (hopefully, to include an easy interchange with road transport), but what help is the county borough to be given by the Plaid/Labour coalition government?

Economic troubles

We have sat in Plenary for the last five years or so listening to a whole litany of statistics from Labour Ministers on how well the Welsh Economy is doing. Now official UK Government figures have confirmed what we knew all along, that we have been trailing behind the rest of the UK for the whole of the last decade: Official UK Government figures included in a report on competitiveness in Northern Ireland place Wales at the bottom of the economic performance league behind all other 11 UK regions. The table is headed by London, followed by the south-east of ...

In the chair

The South Wales Evening Post reports that two Baglan Councillors who switched sides to Labour within hours of the close of nominations and were subsequently elected unopposed have now been awarded Committee Chairs and a Special Responsibility Allowance of between six and ten thousand pounds a year each. As reported on this blog the two Councillors caused controversy a few months ago when, having first been elected for the Ratepayer Neath Port Talbot group in the Baglan Ward in 2004, they switched their allegiance to Labour just as nominations were closing. Because Labour did not put up any candidates in ...

Video of the Day

Check out this video of Jason Burke at the frontline club.

Tories claim success for their failures in road clear up.

Many locals will have seen the chaos and traffic hold ups that are being caused by the clear up works that are taking place along the A4 between Bath & Bristol. It is clear by the length of the grass and the amount of rubbish that is in the verges that this has not been cleared for some time now. The record needs setting straight the Conservative administration have failed...

Match it for Pratchett and a a banned robot T-shirt

Man banned from jet for Transformers T-shirt | The Sun |HomePage|News This, is ridiculous. Completely and utterly stupid. The paranoia at LAX when I was there in 2002 was both palpable and misplaced, but a t-shirt with a picture of a grrt big robot now isn't allowed? They'll be banning Oscar Wilde quotes next (tags: politics security stupidity) Good Omens - the Foglio comic version Complete with added bonus art auction for the Alzheimers trust. This are Good (tags: comics webcomics terry+pratchett neil+gaiman) Buy a MonQee for Alzheimer's research - Charlie's Diary This is a rather cool thing to be ...

42, Northern Ireland and Cameron's non-leadership

Is it me or is there a link between the government's (possibly premature, possibly not) triumphalism about winning round the Labour rebels over the Terrorism Bill and the latest political crisis in Northern Ireland? For weeks now, it has been well known that the Brown government has been courting the DUP with a view to persuading them to back them on the 42 days vote. If Jacqui Smith really did manage to sweet talk her own rebels last night however, then the DUP just lost their bargaining position. Cue: Sinn Fein raising the stakes and Shaun Woodward calling for devolution ...

The Stadia Tour Itinery

Regular readers of my blog will be aware that in the 2007-8 season I started to chart my travels with Livingston Football Club. So for ease of access to these guides of the grounds, ammenities, programmes etc here is a quick reference guide. Dens Park, Dundee East End Park, Dunfermline Athletic Cappielow, (Greenock) Morton Broadwood, Clyde McDiarmid Park, St. Johnstone Palmerstone, Queen of

The limits of democracy

Suffrage is... powerless and unreliable. It can be exercised only periodically; and the tyranny must at least be borne until the time for suffrage comes. Besides, when the suffrage is exercised, it gives no guaranty for the repeal of existing laws that are oppressive, and no security against the enactment of new ones that are [...]

At least the Council of Europe will stick up for Human Rights

The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg, is to write to Gordon Brown this week warning him that the proposal to detain terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge is an 'excessive' measure that will put Britain 'way out of line' with the rest of Europe and will prove counter-productive.

Benvenuto a Almondvale

Siamo il Lvingston FC Odiamo le Pars Ed odiamo Dundee Sorry just getting into practice for next session when Italian owners come to Almondvale home of Livingston FC. Pearse Flynn the Irish Chairman of teh club who bought the team while in Administration back in 2004 has sold his majority sharehoding to an Italian Consortium headed by Angelo Massone. Former Lions and Celtic boss Davie Hay is

"Maths exams dumbed down" says think-tank

The report today from the think tank Reform, claiming that maths exams are easier now than years ago, has drawn a predictable response from the government, who once again bury their heads in the sand in the face of overwhelming evidence that they're wrong. The report analysed exams for 16 year olds from 1951 and found that standards have fallen markedly. I am often sceptical of think tank reports, but I remember thinking the same thing myself at the time I took my own maths GCSE in 1996, and we have been frequently told it since. Put simply, I got ...

E-Letter From America: Alc*hol

Another guest writer? By Jove, that makes - two. Edmund in TokyoEdward in Michigan Are you an overseas Ed? Good! Phone now for your free guest-ship. Edward in Michigan knew Julian H in school. The story below about his assault on Julian H is a true account. He lives with his wife, Karin, and son, James. He is a not a member of the Lib Dems and does not represent the views of anyone whatsoever. Yesterday the government announced plans to give parents a guide to 'youth drinking'. Exclusively to Orange By Name, Edward in Michigan reveals his thoughts. --------------------- ...

The English Question needs an answer

Whereas the existance of devolution in London means that a simple 'English parliament' is not the best way forwards and having MPs with different voting rights does not resolve the issue, there is no question that the Barnett Formula combined with devolution has created some anomalies as pointed out by Frank Field who said: The fiscal discriminations cover, for example: '* frail citizens in

Noye's Fludde?

Surely there's some mistake here. Have a look at this snippet from MetCheck's short term forecast for today in OX3, Oxford. The earlier period from 10:00 to 13:00 has just passed so has dropped off the screen, but it was showing 1.8mm of rain in that period. It's been tipping buckets all morning. But the forecast seems to be saying that in the mid-evening this evening it will be 10.8mm (it was 11.7 earlier) in two hours as against 1.8mm in three hours this morning. {Metcheck, Oxford OX3, prediction for 03/06/08} My flat is prone to a bit of rainwater ...

Breathless preparations

Last night I went for a run for the first time in too long. I was distressed to find that it is still as difficult as it was last time I went. Having moved house since I last tried it, I now have an exciting new route to try, which takes me into hiterto unexplored parts of the ward such as Rainsough and Hilton Lane. Unfortunately the run confirmed what frequent leafleting excursions had suggested - namely that the entire area wasn't down hill. Today I am continuing preparations for tomorrow night's inaugural meeting of the Developing Communities LAP sub-group. ...

Twerton Councillors Surgery cancelled on 7th June

Due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to cancel the Twerton Ward Surgery that was due to be held this Saturday. A new date for a surgery of 21st June 10am The Hut Hinton Close and no appointment is required. If you need to contact me on any matter that cant wait until 21st June then please use to contact details in the about me section of this blog.

PACT reminder

The follow up meeting of the first Twerton PACT is due to be held tonight at St Michaels Junior School Newton Road Twerton tonight 3rd June at 6pm. Action has been taken on all of the items raised at the first meeting so please come along if you are able.

Day 2709: Lord Blairimort Keeps the Faith

Sunday: After the quiet 'Temple Of Light' in the Big Tent, Lord Blairmort has opened his very own FAITH ZONE in New York, pledging to devote his life to crushing the unbelievers doing, y'know, good. 'Look, I mean...' said Lord Blairimort, 'you've got to... y'know... look at the example of all those religions... Jesus, Muhammad, those guys the Hindus believe in... and say to yourself... gee, I could be like that... y'know... worshipped by millions...'During his time as Prime Monster, Lord Blairimort kept quiet about his beliefs, but he has recently admitted converting to the Church of Thatchianity. In totally ...

Taleb triumphant

As regular readers here will know, I am a big fan of the philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb. So I was pleased to see the considerable attention that he has been gaining since the emergence of the credit crisis- the latest is a profile in the Times. He follows in the sceptical traditions of Sextus Empiricus although possibly his determination to avoid prediction makes him reluctant even to describe the systems that he observes in Human behaviour. Perhaps this is part of the intrinsic problem of uncertainty- to describe certain conditions is also to change them. Perhaps more interestingly, he has ...

Three beautiful things...

I was directed to this site by a friend, lovely idea, so here goes.. 3BTs so far this morning: Cutting love-in-a-mist for the house after the drizzly rain had finished decorating them with delicate diamonds. Remembering to take my reusable shopping bags into the shopping centre rather than leaving them in the boot of the car. Admiring the fish pattern made out of the coloured marbles on a chinese chequers board.

Labour abuses non-partisan meeting on gun and knife crime

Amongst various meetings, briefings etc yesterday I popped into the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Guns, Gangs and Knife Crime. Massive meeting with lots and lots of young people - excellent! The APPG is chaired by Dawn Butler - a Labour MP. I could only stay for half and hour - and Vernon Coker (the Labour Minister) certainly made a decent speech. Various members of the audience contributed too - in the usual way. But looking around the audience I noticed they all had a printed piece of literature in front of them - pinky purple in colour. Clearly ...

Save the florists!

We've run a few bits and pieces on here about plaques - but not much on the historic blue plaques (though I sense a theme for the summer there!). But there are also a number of what you might call 'genuine residents' plaques' - raised by friends, admirers and local people who appreciate the work, dedication of their fellow residents. This one on Willoughby Road is just one example and is very charming, but of late it has assumed a greater significance... Clearly Maggie Richardson died in 1974, but until last year there was still a florist on ...

Suffolk Reviews: St Peter's Brewery Spiced Ale

Having been to Bungay, and taken advantage of the opportunity to purchase a mixed case of the products of the St Peter's Brewery, it would be remiss of me not to review their range... The tasting notes for this unusual ale read as follows: 'A rich, dark winter beer with apple, cinnamon and nutmeg added to complement the chocolate malt. Ideal for mulling and driving out the cold on a winter's

Surgery

Last night was my turn to do the Councillors' surgery for Cressington ward. I was kept very busy! Lots of issues to sort out, or attempt to sort out so I'll be spending part of today following up. We hold the surgery in a venue very near the boundary with another ward so not everyone coming along is actually from Cressington. My attitude though is to deal with the problem if I can rather than refer people on. It's not fair to delay, particularly if they have made a journey.

Wood free?

My eye was caught by this report on LibDem Voice about the first leaflet put out by the Conservatives in Henley. Interesting how 'outraged of Crewe' has turned into 'local of Henley'. It linked to a piece in ThameNews about the (very local) Green candidate, Mark Stevenson. At the bottom of that piece Mark is quoted as saying, 'But we have to be charitable about this', Mark continued, 'it could just be a stupid mistake made in a hurry. After all 'intouch' also declared itself to be printed on woodfree pulp sourced from sustainable forests. Just how sustainable are woodfree ...

The face of faceless Britain?

I am seething. Not just irritated or angry, but seething. When Mark first moved into his new house, we voluntarily forwarded mail onto the previous occupants, including letters from Transport for London and various London councils, which were clearly related to parking and congestion charge breaches. When the letters kept coming, we changed tack and returned them to the senders with a note saying that they related to the previous occupant. Still the letters came. One day last October I phoned TfL who said they couldn't do anything unless I gave them a reference number - I could only get ...

on the National Staff Dismissal Register

I previously blogged about the National Staff Dismissal Register, an initiative that should now be live. Today we received our answer on the role the government is playing in this scheme. The register is, An online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which bosses can access when vetting potential employees. Having never done anything wrong you could find yourself denied a future employment opportunity, because of the actions of a vindictive past employer. Such an employer would play the part of prosecutor, judge and jury in deciding your ...

The price of 42 days

'Prime minister Gordon Brown meets the leadership of Sinn Fein in London. The talks are expected to focus on the devolution of policing and justice powers'The vote on 42 day detention may be very tight. Will these devolved powers pay for DUP support of the Government's latest retrograde justice policy in the Commons?

Change you can believe in

I've been out on the doorstep in Torbay recently and while I cannot claim very many people have mentioned Gordon Brown and the Labour Party - the talk is all about that rotten Mayor/stupid vision/bloo...

The Independent View: Time for Lib Dems to seize educational reform agenda

Labour's mantra in 1997 was "education, education, education", but national exam results show that England is still some way off in providing good universal education. Most concerning is the lack of grip on mastering the basics - as Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families David Laws has commented, too many [...]

Thursday 29th May 6pm

LONDON WILDCARE TRUST REOPENING I had accepted an invitation to this event at the Wildcare Trust's facilities in Beddington Park. I receive many invitations to such events and it would be impossible to attend them all. I therefore prioritise by attending those events that are either directly related to my committees or within my Local [...]

Gavin Webb - update

There is now a campaign website up to support Gavin Webb: http://www.savethestokeone.com/ As far as I know, Gavin still has not been told what the exact charges against him are. Frankly, this whole thing puts the party in a very bad light. The Liberals were often the home of libertarians, some more radical than Gavin. Perhaps they have [...]

Teams invited to take part in the Lifestyle Football Festival

SOCCER teams in North East Lincolnshire are being urged to register for the Lifestyle Football Festival, taking place on Saturday, June 14 at the town's Bradley Pitches.The festival combines both a boys and girls tournament and is open to school teams, clubs, community teams and anyone else who would like to take part. Deadlines for submissions is Monday, June 2 and spaces remain in the girls tournament for the under 10s, 12s, 14s, 16s and the open age woman's category.For the boys tournament they are spaces remaining for the under 12s and 14s categories.There is a nominal fee of £5 ...

Planning Applications

A new planning application has been put in for a change of use for The Linear Way industries building on Dartmouth Ave. An entry describing this application and how you can make comments has been posted on www.readmyday.co.uk/westmoreland

Curse of the subtitles strikes again

This time it's courtesy of Sky News - Yves Saint Laurent "influenced the style of women across the road". Well, it's a change from the girl next door....

Yet more trouble for Conservative Henley by-election campaign

You'd have thought that having splits in the Henley Conservatives over the selection of their by-election candidate, or having a Shadow Cabinet member flatly contradict what the Conservatives are claiming in their leaflets would be enough bad news to be going on with for the Conservative by-election campaign. But oh no. Now Mark Stevenson, the Green [...]

He's Not that Principled

Ok so only the day after the Tim'rous Beastie that is our Prime Minister set out a non-nonsense, taking no prisoners* agenda over the 42-day detention plan. Just when you may have thought he'd found a backbone as he was spurting on about principles. Today the same paper that posted his message the Times informs us that he's not prepared to stand or fall for his principles after all. Even John

Browser wars - Firefox, Opera and IE: upcoming updates

Last time I wrote about the main three web browsers, thats Firefox, Opera and MS Internet Explorer, I came to no particular conclusion as to what I prefer. I'm still basically running all three simultaneously, since some sites just seem to work, or look better in one over the others. But this update is just about me telling you what I use. All three browsers are about to release new versions. For Firefox, version 3 is soon to come out, you can download the latest release candidate here, for Opera, its version 9.5, you can get the beta, here, and ...

Love Life

Hand drawn scrawl for today's Propaganda. You know, generally speaking I'm not sure if I'd have the guts to run a full on reverse-psychology campaign. I don't know if anyone's ever tried it in Politics, so I guess there's no way of knowing if it would backfire or not. This would be a 'we want to be the official opposition' campaign, I think. Hmm.. I suppose what happens to everyone is that they decide to play it safe and ultimately end up struggling to make any kind of impact at all. Impact comes from grabbing attention and essentially surprising them ...

Save the Stoke One

Whilst I am sure that petty threats from a minor blogger well beyond the outskirts of the Westminster village who only leaves Headington Hill once a month to buy toiletries in Crabtree and Evelyn will cut little ice with Lib Dem party apparatchiks either in Cowley Street or the West Midlands region, I hereby pledge my support for Cllr Gavin Webb, the "Stoke One". Gavin has been suspended from the party pending a full hearing for, ostensibly at least, voicing personal opinions on liberal and libertarian issues which we both largely share. If he is out of the party for ...

Fuzzy, Vague Thoughts

If you're like me, trying to imagine what a Lib Dem Government would actually be like is something quite challenging. It's a fuzzy, unclear image in my mind. What would the Newspapers and the television be saying about us? What would have happened to Labour and the Conservatives that would have allowed us to win so many new MPs? What is the mood in the country? What issues got us into power? Under what circumstances would such a seismic shift in the political landscape actually happen. For the Tories, it's not a fuzzy unclear image. The papers are saying, 'The ...

Victory - at last!

Some of 'Team Northenden' celebrating at the town hall on the evening of the count at 2am. Victory! We now have a Lib-Dem Councillor representing Northenden, Northern Moor and Benchill. It's been a long and difficult campaign, but after almost 4 years of hard work and relentless effort, the good people of Northenden Ward have voted in their first ever Lib-Dem Councillor. It is also the first Lib-Dem to be elected to either Manchester or Trafford Council within the constituency since it was formed in 1997, and I believe the first ever Wythenshawe Liberal or Lib-Dem Councillor. The work started ...

Tory calls to make maths "chic" badly miss the point

{The value of mathematics cover (composite)} Reform is an interesting think tank. They claim to be non-partisan and solely interested in the neutral pursuit of "a better way to deliver public services and economic prosperity" yet in reality have a tendency to favour reforms which involve a reduced role for the state and are not at all surprisingly firmly on the Conservative end of the spectrum. Their token Labour and Lib Dem sponsors, Frank Field and Jeremy Browne respectively, do little to confound their reputation for having a rightward inclination. All of which makes their latest publication all the more ...

Badly Chosen Ad Tag Lines

So we're half-watching an old Buzzcocks on Dave, and there's an advert on for Canesten Combi thrusH treatment. And d'you know what the advert's strap line was?You'll soon be feeling yourself againOh. Dear. * cackle *

Day 2708: DOCTOR WHO: Silence in the Library

Saturday: Sadly I did NOT watch Doctor Who this week, as I have been busy in my OWN library! Yeah Yeah, Doctor Whatever {Posted by Picasa} Daddy Richard seems to think it was quite good. Although for some reason he hasn't turned the lights off since Saturday... I haven't read 'The Time Traveller's Wife', but I understand that I may now have a fair grasp of the plot, though I imagine it involves fewer walking skeletons. But let's be honest, all the Timey-Wimey-ness is just a bit of dressing: 'Silence in the Library' is a horror story, pure and simple. ...

Tuesday 3rd June 2008

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