Hungary's charismatic State Secretary for the Economy, Abel Garamhegyi, was in London today and gave a presentation at Eversheds' splendid new offices near St. Paul's on his country's economic performance since it joined the European Union in 2004. He'd just been at Bloomberg TV, where he was asked bluntly whether Hungary is the new Sick Man of [...] 
No meetings all day. Hooray, chance to catch up and do some filing. Or so I thought, but most of the day was spent chasing matters that had been 'in hand' and no progress. Some time was spent on writing to the PCT about the Clarence Street proposal for a new surgery so that we were not just turning up at the PCT meeting on Thursday and them not knowing what we were going to say. Quite a lot...
One of my friends says that she managed to keep a diary during the times of her life when she had nothing much going on (holidays, maternity leave, quiet times at work) but not at the very times when people might have been remotely interested in what she had to report. I feel a bit [...]
Last week, I attended a Centre for Cities seminar calling for a renaissance in the private rented sector. The event was full of public sector housing types (from regeneration officers to housing association and local authority officers) as well as a splattering of private letting agents. The crux of the Centre for Cities report was that there was a need to change the tax rules to encourage more large domestic and international investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, to invest in homes for rent (and by implication to discourage the current people that have entered the buy to ...
There has been a lot of coverage about the police violence during the STWC demonstration against George Bush a couple of weeks ago. In the middle of all this is an interesting and very disturbing story. This was the first demo I have missed for sometime, but in the early evening I had a call from my pal Yas who was there. She asked me about a guy we had both met at a Christmas Party - she wanted to be sure he did what she thought he did - a senior police officer with a hugely sensitive role. He ...
That's the wholly unsurprising news from The Daily Telegraph based on a ConservativeHome.com survey of 120 Tory Parliamentary candidates: The majority of new Conservative candidates selected to fight the next election are unabashed supporters of Margaret Thatcher's ideals, a new survey has disclosed. They advocate lower taxes and are more concerned about terrorism than global warming. [...]
Linda Jack has heard rumours that Chris Huhne is considering standing for the Presidency of the Liberal Democrats when Simon Hughes stands down in the autumn. If nothing else, it would explain who paid for that opinion poll the other day. I have been supporting Ros Scott's campaign on this blog since its launch at last year's Lib Dem Conference., because Ros is a good egg and would make a very good President. At that time it seemed likely that her only competition would be from Lembit Opik. I am not exactly an 'anyone but Lembit' man - I supported ...
I was pleased to see the government had asked the Queen to revoke Robert Mugabe's Knighthood today, but it begs the question as to why the Tories ever thought it was a good idea in the first place. Mugabe was given the honour in 1994 thanks to John Major's government. Now if Mugabe has been some sort of saint up until 1994 and had only turned bad in the last 14 years, you could accept it, but Mugabe's henchmen had been committing atrocities for some time by 1994 yet he was still rewarded with a knighthood. Apparently the then Tory ...
My apologies to Stephen Kearney and the team, but I haven't made it to Henley. I feel bad about it, but both events and prior commitments meant I never quite got there. So I will keep my fingers crossed for a Lib Dem victory tomorrow. Stephen clearly has an interesting background, having been head of an international development charity and lived on a houseboat. However, he will have to go some to cut as colourful a character as Henley's last Liberal MP, Phillip Morrell, who represented South Oxfordshire between 1906 and 1910. He and his wife Lady Ottoline had a ...
The McCarthy and Stone development on The Avenue which was so unpopular as it went through the planning process last year is nearing completion. Timothy Hackworth Court sales office is open for business and today a range of people from local businesses and the community were invited to see for themselves what is on offer. John Fletcher and I went along as ward councillors because we will 
Most of my readers must be helping out in Henley as my daily stats have been reduced by 75% (even when taking into account me not blogging much or just poorly), so I thought I'd write a Henley post then begin writing articles to post on friday when hopefully those 75% will return to my blog triumphant! From what I've seen of Stephen he seems a very sprightly candidate with a beaming smile and lots of exuberant energy. I am sure the vote will be very close but that we will return another MP to parliament. Delivering leaflets and stuffing ...
Another Green World reports that, after some internal debate, the Green Party is to field a candidate in the Haltemprice & Howden by-election. Her name is Shan Oakes and she writes on her blog: I'm looking forward to highlighting the Tories' hypocrisy on civil liberties.Isn't that what the Liberal Democrats should be doing? Later. That is a bit glib. What we should be doing is pointing out that, while David Davis holds admirable views on liberty, there are many in his party who do not share them. We should also be exposing the way that Conservative taxation policies will favour ...
When the Chancellor of the Exchequor announced the loss of two data disks with 25 million sets of personal details on last year he blamed it on a junior employee ignoring established procedures. The report on the fiasco published today shows that this was simply not the case. The fault lay with the management (or lack of it) in HMRC. Where is Darling's apology? He misled Parliament but doesn't seem in the slightest bit worried about this, let alone the fact that the department he presides over, and which Gordon Brown presided over for ten years prior to that, is ...
Tonight I attended two of the stakeholder meetings on parking issues in the West End. A very useful presentation from the consultants and productive discussion thereafter.I recently successfully moved refusal of the Tay Rope Works latest planning application (16th June - click on headline above to view). I learned today that the developer has made an appeal against refusal to the Scottish Government's Reporter. I will be strongly arguing at the appeal that the planning application is inappropriate for the site and does not have the support of the community.I had another series of phone calls from residents today to ...
At this week's Prime Minister's Questions, the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg once again took Gordon Brown to task for his Government's shameful refusal to give justice to those Gurkha soldiers who fought for this country. (You can read more about the Lib Dems' Gurkha Justice campaign here). The Prime Minister twice dodged the question [...]
Wow! We still need a cinema, more restaurants; a butchers would be nice. But never mind, we have another card shop! Now I make that at least 20 places where you can buy cards in St Neots High Street! Is our Town unique? Please let me know; but according to the marketing gurus, our 30,000 residents are desperate for a new house, have poor eyesight and are sending cards to tell everyone about it. Food? Forget it! Unless you count the dire produce of the supermarket chains. Waitrose, where even the shrink wrapped fish is apparently organic, Lidl, where even ...
I went along to the Mayor and Cabinet meeting tonight as a new round of Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) consultations were on the agenda - including here in Lee Green. There are three consultations proposed: To extend the recent Hither Green East CPZ to cover Kellerton Road and the section of Manor Lane between Soutbrook Road and Kellerton Road. See map here. To extend the Bankwell Road/Old Road CPZ to cover a larger area from Murillo Road up to Brightfield Road. See map here. To introduce a new CPZ covering Holme Lacey and Dallinger Roads and a short stretch of ...
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) would like all the members of the CIPR Government Affairs Group (GAG) to join the CIPR. A martian might look at the above statement and think: eh? Surely, if it is the CIPR GAG then they are members. But no, that is not the case. One can join CIPR GAG, attend meetings, stand for the executive and generally participate without being a member of the CIPR. However, the CIPR GAG is a sectoral group of the CIPR. Confused? Well perhaps one should start at the beginning. First though, some declaratons of interest. I ...
In the last few weeks MPs and news reports have started referring to "Mugabe" rather than "Robert Mugabe" or "President Mugabe", which is symbolic of harder attitudes. The quantity of news coverage has increased. Forms of sanctions are being threatened that we were previously told we impractical or undesirable. Reporting of other international events has been reduced to nearly nothing in [...]
Residents along Southbrook Road will be aware that Transport for London proposed earlier this year to install fixed stops along their road to serve the 273 route. Following objections from residents, the plans for Southbrook Road have now been revised. Stops will now be situated outside the Northbrook pub and the small industial estate opposite, with no stops outside residents' homes. Southbrook Road residents should receive a letter from TfL to this effect in due course. Unfortunately retaining the hail and ride system is apparently not an option, as this is being removed right across London. Stops along Fernbrook Road ...
Photo by Sabine J Hutchinson http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/ Today is already comfortably the record day for visitors to Liberal England. The reason is not some sudden upsurge of interest in the fortunes of the Liberal Democrats, but my occasional references to sightings of UFOs over Shropshire. Elsewhere: Another mysterious big cat has been sighted in Shropshire - and this one has dropped 50p;The Wrekin turns out to be a sacred mountain;I am being assailed by David Icke supporters.Is this what the end of the world feels like?
Hi all, Thought I should post about the life changes I am making at present, after 5 years I have decided reluctantly to leave Peverel OM Ltd and try my hand at pastures new. I have been offered and accepted a fantastic opportunity to become Operations Manager of a small but growing security company in Cheshunt, so back to Herfordshire, after 20 years in Oxfordshire. Well working anyway. Bit of
And so another week at Bonkers Hall draws to a close. Sunday To St Asquith's for Divine Service. At my suggestion, the Revd Hughes leads us in prayers for the health of the Duke of Rutland and his ministers, for the return to robust health of Freddie Flintoff, and for Mark Oaten to remain as MP for Winchester until the next general election. Saturday: With Clegg in Afghanistan Friday: Feeding Ruttie Thursday: The first Lady Bonkers' tits Wednesday: Remembering Sugar Ray Michie Tuesday: Brian Paddick's campaign song Monday: Lembit in the fountain
Sometimes I worry about scepticism in the party about the building of new houses. I may have the wrong idea. I'm strongly in favour of the government's drive to build the few million houses we need. House prices are too high, there is a shortage and the only solution is to build more houses. Inevitably houses will have to be built in rural areas. We do need to prioritise keep it away from certain areas and to make sure there is good infrastructure put in place. Also the drive to build on brownsites has been good. One priority for places ...
OK so has anyone worked out when Andy Murray is due to play - I think he is on court on Thursday. Let's hope he doesn't get involved in a desperate late evening five setter that grips the nation. Or if he does lets hope that the deep tennis enthusiasts are Tories. 
Pro-western and strict use of sharia law is an odd combination. But Saudi Arabia is one of the most pro-western countries in the Middle East at the same time as using strict sharia law and committing huge abuses of human rights. It would be no surprise to find extremism lurking in the ultra-conservative country and so Saudi Arabia has been taking action against extremists. Incredible so US influence does effect the actions of Saudi Arabia then? Yet why the abuse of human rights? Well 520 suspects linked to the diviant group (also known as Al-Qaeda) have been taken in raids ...
Are our 20-somethings rejecting "sex, drugs and rock 'n roll" for "marriage, yoga and a quiet life"? The New York Observer was accused of inventing a lifestyle phenomenon when it published an article on New Victorians last year . The Telegraph subsequently picked up on the story. Here I argue that today's youth aren't what they used to be. Take David. He's a teacher and a district councillor who
Quite unbelievable. Somebody has used facebook in a derogatory way to describe the attitude of Armed Forces recruits towards data protection. He thinks the recruits have got used to a 'rapid and often uninhibited exchange of information'. Well yes, that does describe the Internet generally... So hang on, how does poking your best friends' girlfriend on facebook change the way you look at data protection? Yes, I understand his general point, but to use facebook to illustrate it is quite misguided. Yes the Internet has become quite an open community where data such as where you went on holiday and ...
Nick Clegg used his slot at Prime Minister's Questions today to return to the subject of the shameful treatment of former gurkha soldiers by this Government. Gurkhas, let's remember, are soldiers from another country who are prepared to fight our wars and to die for our country. And yet the Government continues to deny the right of many former gurkhas to remain in this country if they want after they retire. Brown replied that the Government had introduced the right of residence for gurkhas who were serving or have served since 1997. That's all very well, but there are still ...
Well not anymore. Silvio Berlusconi rules in a way to benefit himself. As the richest person in Italy and owner over vast amounts of media in Italy (which he was able to use in his election) he is thought in his last time as PM to have done things to benefit his monopoly. Berlusconi has been facing corruption charges from courts from things like tax-evasion in his companies. So Berlusconi has passed a bill to help make him immune from the courts so he can battle through easily. It's also expected that another will be passed to make other senior ...
One of the things I find frustrating about trying to reduce the damage I do to the environment is that often, there doesn't seem to be enough information available to yield a clear answer as to which of two alternatives is less damaging. If you're any good at back-of-the-envelope calculations on this kind of thing, I'd appreciate it if you would have a go at these. In both examples, assume that the appliances are A-rated for energy efficiency and fill from a cold tap, the electricity is from renewable sources, and the detergents are made by Ecover. 1) Instead of ...
David Davis might have some opposition from a serious candidate. A campaigner against violence and sexual violence is thinking about standing against Mr Davis. I think that it is great to see a real candidate and serious person wanting to stand against Mr Davis. When the Lib Dems decided not to put a candidate up against Mr Davis i actually was a little bit undecided. Why should we not put a candidate up against Mr Davis but with the Party that i support making the decision i accepted that they probably know what they were doing. It is going ...
This post is a shameless copy of Jennie's over at the yorksher gob, but you know Jennie, Plagiarism is the highest form of flattery {:-)} Firstly, What Pseudo Historical Figure Best Suits You? What Pseudo Historical Figure Best Suits You? created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Dante Alighieri According to you most of humanity will spend at least some of their afterlife in hell. You have a high likelihood of being exiled, but anyone as bloody fucking romantic as you deserves what they get. You have an exceptional moral code, overshadowed by the fact that you yourself cannot uphold it. ...
Well, it was a colourful start to Wimbledon this year as John McEnroe turned the airwaves blue with his no-nonsense commentary.. and that was just the start of it. Chris Eaton upset the applecart and landed Boris Pashanski in a right old mess by beating him is straight sets leaving the crowds on Henman's Hill with a tough choice, will it be Murray's Mount or Eaton's Army this year. Nadal dropped a set (actually I'm not sure he did drop a set, it might have been a tie-break thing!), Venus Williams dropped a set and Djokovic drops out completely in ...
It was three weeks ago that Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg demanded at Prime Minister's Questions that the Government strip Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe of his knighthood: What message does it send that a man who has brought ruin and starvation to his own country continues to be honoured by a knighthood from ours? Will the Prime [...]
Polling Day in Henley is tomorrow and the Lib Dem HQ in Thame has been busier than ever. There have been numerous parliamentarians and hundreds of helpers. Our eve of poll newspaper was out by lunchtime and this afternoon everybody has been doing some last minute canvassing. Back at the start of the day, we had a visit from former Party Leader Paddy Ashdown. Paddy and Stephen Kearney went to the livestock market in the centre of Thame to speak to farmers about the issues concerning them at the moment. Wednesday is sheep day at the market and, despite the ...
Jennie has done this, so I thought I would, since I haven't written about much rececntly (yes, Heinz should be ashamed of themselves, but I couldn't be arsed to write about it). The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.' 1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. 2) Italicize those you intend to read. 3) Underline the books you LOVE.
For the first time the illustrations of a Teesside cartoonist whose work featured in some of the country's best known comics will be on display at Redcar's Kirkleatham Museum from Saturday, June 28. Examples of the late Robert T Nixon's work have formed a new exhibition which has been brought together by his family, including over 32 fantasy and landscape scenes and over 20 illustrated comics. His daughter Catherine Nixon explained: 'It's great to see my father's work in this new exhibition. This is the first time the collection has been open for the public to view and the whole ...
From yesterday's First Minister's Question Time: Lesley Griffiths: The administrative and structural arrangements that underpin devolution in the UK, namely the memorandum of understanding, the Joint Ministerial Committee and the concordats, are all necessary to make the various devolution settlements that we have in the UK function properly. However, from a Welsh perspective, some of those arrangements do not reflect the current settlement in Wales. For example, the memorandum of understanding was written in 2001, and consequently does not refer to the Government of Wales Act 2006. Do you agree that for all the constituent parts of the UK, at ...
The first event that Mark and I went to as a 'couple' was in Kent, nearly a year ago, and Monday saw us return for an evening event in East Farleigh, a picturesque spot in the Medway Valley, organised by Maidstone and The Weald Liberal Democrats. It was nice to get out and see the countryside midweek and the sum was shining as we arrived in Barming to be met by Rochelle Harris, the Local Party Chair, who ferried us to 'The Bull' for a drink and a chat prior to the meeting. Mark and Rochelle already knew each other, ...
I recall coming across a quotation saying something like you cannot have a free market without trade unions from a Liberal in the early 20th Century (or late 19th?). Can anyone point me to this and any more info along those lines?
MSPs have decided that Scottish Labour Leader Wendy Alexander broke the rules when she failed to declare donations to her leadership campaign. Meanwhile, it turns out that Cabinet members Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper and both under investigation over their use of the second homes allowance. Today has also seen the publication of proposals to tighten [...]
Heinz were close to earning praise for their New York Deli mayo ad as it represented a non-traditionally nuclear family. It was tongue in cheek humorous and featured two men as the parents in this familial skit and like all couples at the start of the day ended with a rushed peck on the cheek as one went off to work with the sandwich lovingly created by the other. All was quiet on the
Stuart Wheeler, the Conservative Eurosceptic millionaire has lost his High Court Bid to force a referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
The re-linking of the state pension to earnings moved a step further away yesterday after Conservatives in the House of Lords abstained on a key vote. The Liberal Democrat amendment would have linked ...
What Pseudo Historical Figure Best Suits You? created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Elvis PresleyThe United States has never been a democracy but actually a monarchy...with it's citizens bowing to one throne. Born in Tupelo, you are the King. You have a tendency to be promiscuous, you'll probably die of a drug overdose or be abducted by aliens, and you're also responsible for the ousting of Jesus/Yahweh from the throne of gold. Elvis Presley 100% C.G. Jung 75% Stephen Hawking 67% Steven Morrissey 67% Jesus Christ 58% Friedrich Nietzsche 58% Miyamoto Musashi 50% Dante Alighieri 50% Charles Manson 50% Sigmund ...
Fascinating. Pleasant diversion from today's travails. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7472722.stm
Lock your doors and windows - the unstoppable whirlwind of excitement that is full Council rolls into town again tonight, and you have the chance to come along and see it for yourself at the Town Hall from 7pm. On the agenda tonight are the usual suspects such as Questions to the Executive and Questions to outside bodies. But also tonight there is an interesting motion opposing Post Office closures, which I am proposing. For those that don't know, the government are "consulting" on plans to close 2,500 Post Offices nationwide, including five in Bury. What this means in reality ...
Morgan Tsvangirai, Leader of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, wrote the following in today's Guardian.
No doubt The Times has its own agenda but its claim that the Trade Unions are to demand new rights as the price for keeping the Labour Party's finances above water does need some consideration. Amongst the proposed changes we are told they want to see in the Labour manifesto are a repeal of the ban on secondary strike action and the ability to get their members opinion by e-mail or phone rather than the more traditional postal ballot. The GMB union want the upper earnings limit on national insurance to be abolished, which it hopes will redistribute tax. The ...
More news on what the bill is likely to say over on politics.co.uk
As a member of the LGBT social networking site OUT Everywhere (I encourage anyone, whatever their sexuality, to take a look) I have a Tory nemesis whom I often spar with. He recently added to a thread i started `Henley Lib Dems start campaigning`. He took issue with the Lib Dems over the big sign over the [...]
At the moment we have two declared presidential candidates, Lembit Opik and Ros Scott, both of whom have agreed to answer my 20 questions (which will be posted as soon as I have them back from both of them). But will the contest take an interesting turn if there is a third contender? I have heard that the 'anyone but Lembit' lobby are looking for someone else to take him on and that Chris Huhne is the name in the frame. Hmmmm, interesting. Of course Simon Hughes lost the leadership and then overwhelming won the Presidency. But then, the last ...
Caroline Aherne as Mrs Merton: 'Let's have a heated debate'The Ginger Chipmunk, one Hazel Blears, graced the GMTV sofa this morning. She was talking about her bill to speed up large planning decisions. There was no pretence. It is quite clear from her remarks that the government will be making a presumption that large projects will go ahead. She talked about cutting down the time for
Meeting at Bandon Hill School This meeting was arranged as a result of contact by the school governors who are concerned about the 'Your High' shop around the corner from the school. It provided an opportunity to bring everyone interested up to speed about the legality of the shop, the Council's responsibilities and the petition. As [...]
I attended the meeting in the House of Commons about the Friends of the Jersey Care Leavers. This was established by the English Care Leavers Association. I have been working with Stuart Syvret to establish the rule of law properly on Jersey. We have discussed a number of ways of doing this either involving the UK or the Council of Europe. The point about Jersey is that there is concentrated
38) Jerome W. Berryman, The Complete Guide to Godly Play, vol.1: How to Lead Godly Play Lessons (Denver, Church Publishing 2007, ISBN 9781889108957). Covers much the same ground as the previous Godly Play book I read, but with a bit less philosophical faff, so it's probably the one I shall lend out to other Junior Church leaders in future. I think we will probably borrow some of the storytelling ideas, but not the whole format (which would require investing in new storage and teaching aids that we can't presently afford.) 37) Jane McAdam, Complementary Protection in International Refugee Law (Oxford: ...
In the past this blog - via the good offices of the Shropshire Star -has shown interest in the possibility that aliens have been filmed in the county's skies. Which makes the front page of this morning's Sun very interesting: ARMY SPOT UFOs OVER SHROPSHIRESoldiers report new sightings of craftWATCH VIDEO
Now I'm all for the reduction in class sizes for our younger children, it is one of those policies on which the SNP and Lib Dems have largely agreed on the theory. So therefore you can imagine my shock when the Lib Dem/SNP led Edinburgh council pointed out that the SNP target of 18 for primaries 1 through 3 may actually be illegal to implement. The problem is the conflict between the single
When we were kids, my sister and I always knew when we were close to our relatives cos we had reached Swiss Cottage - either on the bus or in the car. It was for us the landmark that we had reached London. By nature of the colours, decor, design and signage I always had some sort of image that it had been the early retirement project of a former swiss guard, that a swiss person had one lived there... all good daydream stuff. The current site of the pub is not quite how many local folk remember it - ...
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post.13:24 is cursing at the world in general. #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
Friday: Let's begin on the COVER: Mr Sebastian Faulks writing as Mr Ian Fleming. Hmmm. Not actually willing to give up his own identity but wanting to claim the mantle of being Mr Ian (and the safety net of blaming him for anything... unsavoury!) I'm not sure how the title goes with the story, either! What he writes, though, is an entirely traditional adventure, with girls, guns, violence and a lunatic villain. So, new James Bond, same as the old James Bond. Which you can take to mean 'reassuringly familiar' or 'a bit of a knock off' according to taste. ... | < | June 2008 | > | ||||
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