The Lib-Lab Pact of 1977-1978 got an almost uniformly bad press at the time and the short-term electoral consequences for the Liberal Party were pretty dire. During the 18 months or so of the pact's existence, the Liberal vote plummeted in local elections and parliamentary by-elections, as if in protest at David Steel's baker's dozen of MPs [...] 
What can Warm Front do for you? Warm Front has been running for the last five years offering grants for Heating and Insulation measures. Eligible disabled households and young families could now be eligible for gas central heating for the first time. If you would like to learn more about Warm Front and find out if you might be eligible click on the following link:- http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/environment/energy/warmfront.htm
The poll from The Daily Telegraph shows Labour holding the seat with the Liberal Democrats in third place, but importantly ahead of the Tories. This has been an interesting campaign and one where there has been such immense media interest. There are four TV appearances for our candidate Ian Robertson, with the first having taken place as [...]
I must say that, until alerted to it by my brother over the weekend, I had missed the fact that last week Lib Dem MP Tom Brake had introduced a 10-minute rule bill in the House of Commons to ban the sale of cannabis seeds. For some reason, it didn't exactly get much coverage up here. Also over the weekend, convicted athletics drug user Dwain Chambers won the British Olympic 100m trial and, if his legal bid to overturn the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban on drugs cheats is successful this week, he will now be able to represent this ...
'we voted against a Regional Assembly and now we've got one!' I am often hearing that cry, but how ignorant. There has been a Regional Assembly in the North East for a number of years, not directly elected, but made up of 2/3 elected councillors, appointed by their Councils, and 1/3 Social partners from business/unions/many other agencies. The 'unelected' assembly very much wanted a directly...
Cynics and sceptics may point out that the EU's regular claim to have brought lasting peace to the continent is akin to a certain politician claiming to be responsible for a period of economic growth longer than their actual term of office. (Ahem, Gordon Brown.) But the underlying principle is one Kant would have agreed with: multilateral world institutions are the only way to ensure lasting peace between the nations of the world. The EU is held out by those who want to keep that Kantian dream alive, having been cheated so many times by the UN and the like. ...
Watching a fascinating documentary on the Qur'an, I was suddenly shocked by a gruesome scene of a young girl - probably about 9 or 10 years old - being mutilated by her family allegedly in the name of her religion. The young girl screamed for them to stop and told them she didn't want this but her family went ahead regardless. This leads me to a question: if God/Allah/Yahweh created people, what right do clerics or other misguided zealots have to mutilate people in the name of their respective religions? I suppose this is one of those questions which will ...
I've been, in blogging terms at least, drifting a bit of late. The Campaign for a Real President has taken up quite a lot of my time of late, planning trips, acting as a sounding board for Ros and, to be honest, party bureaucracy has begun to pall in terms of its attractiveness... This weekend saw the campaign trail reach Peasedown St John, in North East Somerset, the new constituency which
It appears that those of us who are Office Bearers of the Scottish Liberal Democrats are denied our democratic rights to publicly voice an opinion regarding the forthcoming Scottish Leadership election. In due deference to these asinine rules I hereby declare that I favour no one candidate over another and that any partisan posts which you may have read on this blog are simply a figment of your imagination. Due to the rules of my party I have again found myself in the incongruous position of being censored. Happy I am not. This issue is a hivefull of bees in ...
Jack Straw has effectively shelved plans for an elected House of Lords. For those of us who thought that Gordon Brown's premiership would herald some much-needed constitutional renewal we are all in for a disappointment. Seems all this constitutional talk was just about British Day, union jacks and CCF in schools.addthis_pub = 'regnodelfines'; 
In case you've not noticed the banner on King Edwards Recreation Ground - next Saturday (19th) it will be transformed into a Family Fun Day and Market. Surbiton Rotary are organising this for the Neighbourhood for the third year running, and each year it gets bigger. Starting at 11am there will be a bouncy castle, animals, rides and stalls, plus a circus skils workshop,...
I left the office after 9pm this evening having spent the final 3 hours at my desk writing a Focus leaflet. By the time I got to Sainsburys on Victoria St, I realised I hadn't brought a shopping bag. Horror or horrors, I was reduced to getting a plastic carrier bag, the first time I have had to do that in nearly two years. Still, the bagels were on offer, bags of 5 for 79p. Mind you, until
On Saturday Labour announce new plans to be seen as tough on knife crime. Labour's tag line 'We will be tough - We will set the agenda'. On Sunday they announce that knife wielding thugs will be take on tours of hospitals to see the victims of knife crime, to much derision from the press and bloggers. On Monday Labour hastily withdraw plans to tour A&E departments with gangs of hoodies claiming the press have got the wrong end of the stick (presulably the end with the knife on it). Strangely thoug, if the press had got the wrong end ...
I was speaking to a friend yesterday who spent some time in the company of some Norwich Green activists over the previous days. My friend is thinking of getting married abroad and received a broadside from them about his suggestion that he might get married abroad. Her argument was, of course, that this would leave a high carbon footprint. It's strange though to think that this Green activist has lived and worked in Russia, South America, indeed there is hardly a corner of the world that this Green has not travelled too. Indeed if we were counting carbon footprints, I'd ...
Yes, Stephen Tall is right that it is utterly scandalous that Lembit Opik's revelation about the government keeping nearly £200m of council tenants' rent this year has received hardly any media coverage, while his break-up with the Cheeky Girl has received blanket coverage. But let's not blame the media. Who was it that splashed his private life all over Hello! ? Who was it who brazenly made 
For those - three - of you who subscribe, apologies for taking so long in delivering this last post on the NHS. Also, apologies for the fudge that I arrive at. However, this will be the last post for now on the subject of the NHS. Just a brief rundown on what we have arrived at so far: (1) There should be social provision of health to ensure as many people as possible are able to enjoy a normal opportunity range; (2) Social provision will be constrained by the autonomy of individuals to make moral and rational decisions and to ...
BELOW is the programme for the Yorkshire day celebrations in York on Friday 1st August 2008. 10.30 Yorkshire Flag arrives at Walmgate Bar after being carried from Hull for readings of the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity, in the four languages used in Yorkshire sice the first written reference to the Ridings in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles of the year 876. Flags then carried around walls of York stopping as below for readings. 10.45 Walmgate Bar 11.33 Mickelgate Bar 12.15 Bootham Bar 12.45 Monk Bar. Then the flags will be carried into the city centre for the final reading at 1.00 ...
Saddleworth's Yorkshire Day celebrations will be held five days early on Sunday 27th July, 11am at Saddleworth Museum. Mr Michael Hall, Vice Chairman of Saddleworth White Rose Society will open the ceremony and welcome the Chairman of Saddleworth Parish Council Cllr. Mrs Pat Lord who will be invited to say a few words. The Yorkshire Declaration will be read at 11.33 near the Aamon Wrigley statue, by Mr Gilbert Symes of Delph. A Local Band will lead the parade to the back meadow (King George V) playing field. For anyone wishing to go straight to the playing field, activities will ...
This year's reading of the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity in Redcar takes place at the Town Clock at 4pm on Yorkshire Day, 1st August. Silk white roses are on sale at £1 and all proceeds go to Redcar Lifeboat. To get yours or for more information please contact us. The later time is because Redcar Council is hosting the annual Yorkshire Day Civic Parade in Guisborough on behalf of the whole County. Over 250 Mayors and civic dignitaries are expected to take part in the event. At 10.15 am they will parade to St Nicholas Church from Laurence Jackson School ...
The North Riding of Yorkshire DUCK RACE 2008 takes place on Saturday 26th July 2008, at 2.30pm in Saltburn Beck, Saltburn. The Winner will receive the Colin Holt Cup. There are prizes for the first three back and a prize for most original name. Entry Form £1.00 per entry Your Name:...................................... Address:........................................... ......................................................... Telephone:....................................... E-Mail:.............................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Name of Duck:................................. Please return this form with entry fee to the Promoter Chris Abbott 39 Essex Close, ...
Redcar and Cleveland Council is apologising to residents for changes in refuse collection arrangements because of the industrial action planned for Wednesday, July 16 and Thursday, July 17. Properties expecting their residual wheelie bins, green waste wheelie bin and clear bags for cardboard/plastic to be collected on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be subject to new arrangements. Wednesday collections will now be collected on Friday, July 18, Thursday collections will now be collected on Saturday, July 19 and Friday collections will now be collected on Monday, July 21. The recycling collections of green box and blue bags will be unaffected. ...
The BBC's News at Six tonight added a very welcome sense of proportion to the knife crime debate. The programme is available until Tuesday 15th July at 18:29 here on the BBC's iPlayer and the report in question starts at 4.30 in the video file. Here's a summary: The report featured three reporters from around the country in Glasgow, Bolton and Bristol. Taking the last first, the reporter said
The Government has today published its widely awaited White Paper, An Elected Second Chamber: further reform of the House of Lords, with key recommendations including: • a 100 or 80 per cent elected chamber • options for direct elections: first-past-the-post, alternative vote, single transferable vote and a list system • the primacy of the House of Commons must [...]
Will it by any chance be this one on the BBC News website: Cheeky Girl singer Gabriela Irimia is taking a break from her Lib Dem MP fiance Lembit Opik - but the couple have not split up, her mother says. Magrit Irimia Scmal says the pair have not spoken for at least two weeks, but [...]
Nick Clegg has been Liberal Democrat leader for just over six months now. As I have argued before, that should provide enough time, and enough polling data, to start drawing one or two conclusions. I think it's pretty clear that the change of leader has halted the party's slow decline in popularity; our public support has firmed up his year. For the first six months of 2008, the Lib Dems scored between 15 and 21 per cent in the Populus, Ipsos MORI and YouGov opinion polls. This compared to a range of 11 to 16 per cent across all the ...
The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services was published on 2nd December, 1942, in the depths of World War II. The committee, under its chair, the liberal economist Sir William Beveridge, had been established by the wartime government to plan ahead for the challenges of reconstruction of the national fabric after the war. The report identified what it called the "Five giants on the road to reconstruction: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness". Each was to be enjoined in battle by a major plank of the post-war welfare state - social security, the NHS, expanded ...
The new Tory ideas and policies which use the concept of social norms and 'nudges' are not designed for popular appeal but to demonstrate to the commentariat and other opinion formers that they are genuinely preparing for government. Good. Read George Osborne's three policy proposals (that's right Tory policies; shock, horror) outlined today using advances in the intersection of psychology and economics. The policies are as follows: 1. Get utilities companies to inform its customers on their bills whether they are using above, below, or average amounts of energy for a comparable home size across the country. The logic is ...
I've been meaning over the last couple of days to write a post about Britain's supposedly 'broken society' but cricket (playing and viewing) has got in the way. I've discovered I don't even have to write the article as the Times Editorial today has done it for me already. I strongly recommend reading it. Let me know what you think.
At the recent consultation display about the Sea Stores housing development, Yate Town Council unveiled their vision for the public part of the site - a three-storey theatre and arts venue. It would include a 300-seater theatre, performance rooms, an exhibition space, bar and restaurant. If the project goes ahead it could be open by 2013. It would cost £2.5 million - largely funded by developers, who have to contribute towards community facilities as a condition of getting planning permission. Nevertheless £1 million will have to be raised to make the scheme a reality. The new venue aims to respond ...
Imagine a situation whereby two people stick £20 million of their £30million fortune in to a business. Basically, they have put two thirds of everything they own on the line to save what is a vloundering business which they know they will never get an investment return from. Now imagine a businessman worth £1.7 billion comes along, he says he wants to stick £20 million in to that business but is not prepared to pay couple in full for the £20 million they invested in the business in the first place. Instead, he wants them to make a loss on ...
Whilst I've been working the past few days I have been listening to the cricket on Test Match Special. Today, disappointingly but predictably, the match has petered out into a draw thanks to the flat pitch. But what has just happened has made me extremely disappointed and will no doubt have frustrated the paying spectators even more. At ten to five, South Africa declared their second innings having done a deal with England to call the match off as a draw. Paying punters were therefore robbed of over an hour of play because the players could not be bothered. What ...
This weekend I'm walking further than I've ever walked before. In fact I'm walking 100 kilometres in under 30 hours. This is all in aid of Oxfam and the Gurkha welfare trust. If you would like to support me and make a donation you can do so here I'm walking as part of a team of four. At least three of us need to finish for the team time to be recorded. The furthers I've walked in practice is 55k and that nearly killed me so 100k is quite a challenge.
I've always felt that people should be allowed to comment on what I post. However the level of abuse from one or two people have made it impossible to continue without some form of moderation. I'm happy to receive comments critical or supportive but I won't publish comments that are personally abusive to me or anyone else. So please feel free to comment but they will in future be moderated.
You are invited to take part in a guided nature walk on Monday 21 July starting at 7pm. The walk will follow the wildflower meadows and riverside grasslands in St John's Park Estate in Chipping Sodbury, as well as visiting nearby Ridge Wood. The walk will be led by Pauline and Richard Wilson from the Southwold branch of Avon Wildlife Trust. The walk starts from the bridge over the River Frome, Wickwar Road, Chipping Sodbury, at 7pm. The St John's Park Conservation Group is made of local residents, wildlife trust members and councillors. The group is supported by South Gloucestershire ...
In last weeks Barnet Times there was an article on Coucillors pay. In the comments section on the Times website some of the posters wanted councillors to share their diaries. Well here is mine for last week. Monday evening - attended the Hadley Residents AGM Tuesday evening - Read through the paperwork for Corporate JNCC Committee the following evening. Wednesday evening - Corporate JNCC. I also should have been at a school governors meeting but it clashed with the JNCC. I also wanted to attend Barnet FC's launch of the Kickz programme but that clashed as well. Thursday evening. Group ...
Ed Fordham has the story of how Conservative London Assembly member Brian Coleman, who is oh so keen to shout from the roof tops when it will get him some publicity, left the room for the discussion of the Metropolitan Police Authority Estates Strategy which will see the closure of 60 Police Stations across London. Interestingly Ed says: 'I should add for the record that no other Conservative
Im on Facebook so people add me on facebook!
In 1992 I still held some hope of getting fit again to possibly challenge for Olympic selection. That was also the year that the British Olympic Association passed their eligibility bye-law which renders any athlete found guilty of a doping offence, from that date on, ineligible for selection to the Team GB. Dwain Chambers in 1992 was 14 and therefore was yet to consider just how close he may
The ICC has hit the news again today because its prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has issued an indictment against Omar al-Bashir, the President of Sudan, for his involvement in the atrocities in Darfur. Involving the ICC in major conflicts around the globe can be far from straightforward - and in this case, the international community faces an extremely difficult dilemma, in judging whether everyone's objective of ending the conflict and helping those who had had their lives devastated by it, is best achieved by involving the ICC, or whether that would do more harm than good by endangering ongoing peace negotiations ...
The Lib Dem blogosphere generally does a good job of covering comprehensively the political events of the day, even though in the Information Age there's always something more to talk about (and usually someone more to discuss it). Nevertheless, some of the things the blogosphere miss can be a little surprising. Indeed, I was working on a review of some energy matters we'd missed the other night
Stop digging. This latest great excavation work from the Arizonan Senator is from the New York Times: I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don't expect to be a great communicator, I don't expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need... I don't e-mail, I've
Or is that an insult to the Flat Earth Society? There are Clinton supporters clinging to the hope that if her name is placed in nomination and the roll call of the states is conducted, she might -- still win.
The new traffic signals at the junction of Westerleigh Road and Shorthill Road - where the Westerleigh to Pucklechurch road crosses the B4465 - will be switched on tomorrow, Tuesday 15 July. There will be some testing to start with, and the traffic light specialists will be there through the first afternoon and morning peaks to fine tune the system and make sure everything is working OK. Hopefully the lights will reduce the accident rate on this very busy junction.
I thought i will start a open debate on what my reader's think about knife Crime. Knife Crime is a growing problem in the UK and i ask readers of this blog to leave comments on how they think the Government, Police. Local Authorities and Families can tackle the growing problem of Knife Crime. Please leave your tips and opinions on how to tackle knife crime and you never know Brown might pick up your idea's from here and try and make out they are his own. As i do get a large amount of visits from The Houses of ...
Redcar's Kirkleatham Museum is offering lots of free summer holiday fun, centred around its exhibition of cartoon characters, drawn by the late Robert T Nixon from South Bank. You can start in the Museum's Cartoon Workshop, open until August 31, exploring the 'No Boundaries' exhibition and then design your own cartoon character, write your own comic strip or have five minutes peace in the quiet corner and read some old favourite comics and annuals. Every Tuesday and Thursday of the school holidays, there are family crafts and activities, with drop-in sessions between 10am-noon and 1pm-4pm. Most activities take about half ...
Today I've been chasing up a couple of things. The missing street signs on Butterstile Lane and Carr Avenue remain AWOL. I was told six weeks ago that it would take ten weeks to replace them. I refuse to believe this, since it would take me less time to enrol on and complete a metalwork course and make the damn things myself. So I have been prodding the Highways Department about that today. In addition, I noticed this morning that the sign at the end of my own road can no longer be read since it has been overcome by ...
My blog has been hijacked by pornographers. Normally I get a couple of comments a week, which is all very nice, and shows me that at least it's not just me reading the blog. The other day though I logged in to find 534 comments had been left in the hour since I'd last been on. "Hmm..." I thought to myself. "Clearly my report in the Local Area Partnership meeting has captured the public's imagination." Sadly it was not to be, as I discovered that instead of a varied discourse on the merits of the Prestwich Plan, my comments were ...
{Reading_transport_1103_2} Pictured: the new ethanol-powered number 17. When I first heard about the new, cleaner number 17 bus, I was quite pleased. However, on closer inspection, is it really as green as it claims to be? The first thing that I noticed when I got onboard was that there are fewer seats - especially for people with pushchairs or wheelchairs. Anyone who has used the number 17 at rush hour will know that there is squeezing room only, at the best of times. Yet how long are people going to put up with a lesser chance of getting a seat, ...
The government's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has urged ministers to cut the drink-drive limit to zero - but only for young drivers. For anyone older than 20, the current limit of 80mg per 100ml of blood will still apply. At first glance, it seems like a good idea. Fewer young people will drink and drive, and we'll all be much safer. But there's a very serious flaw in the plan. Even with the current 80mg limit, it's impossible to judge how much you can safely drink and still get behind the wheel. Every single piece of official advice ...
Gordon Brown says he wants to see eight new nuclear power stations built like the one below at Cattenom in France. Here are ten reasons why I think he's wrong: Nuclear power is not green. Mining uranium requires fossils fuels. So does building a nuclear power station. And so does trying to dispose of radioactive waste. Over its lifecycle a nuclear power station produces as much carbon dioxide as a gas-fired power station (Van Leeuwen & Smith 2005). Better than oil or coal but not carbon-free. And it will get worse. In the not too distant future uranium will become ...
Had a meeting last week with three people who are fighting the fight for fairness for motorists. In the wake of the revelations over Labour-run Haringey Council fining motorists for being in two yellow junction boxes in the borough which were illegally drawn - I am meeting them at their request. Some may regard it as supping with the devil - but that's the point - motorists aren't devils and they have as much right to fairness under the law as everyone else. When I was Chair of Transport at the London Assembly I carried out an investigation publicly into ...
Norfolk seems to offer an excellent range of environment related events throughout the year. Yes you can find an unbelievable amount of information on the internet, but being able to meet technology installers face to face and see examples of ways in which you can reduce your impact can definitely help. Just remember that driving there has an impact, so consider public transport, cycling or walking if you can. This week Chapelfield are holding a Go Green event from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th. There will be different exhibitors each day and is well worth a visit. If you like ...
How many of you have a needle and thread at home? My wife is a teacher and runs an embroidery club after school. As the club came to an end for the Summer holidays, many of the children were asking about how they could continue into the summer, as their parents don't have needle and thread in their home. The children did say their grandparents still do, so it seems to be a generation thing. That got me thinking about our ridiculous throw away culture, where nothing is repaired anymore and everything is designed to be thrown away without a ...
I have an article on Comment is Free this morning under the title Let's hear it for Leicestershire: it is hard to believe the Pennbury site in Leicestershire would have got anywhere near Caroline Flint's eco-towns shortlist if it were in the south east.And: In his Midland England - which is to those fighting Midlandsism what The Woman's Room was to early feminists - WG Hoskins described eastern Leicestershire as 'a landscape of sharp hills, woodland, stone-built villages and many fine churches'.Let's hope that landscape remains intact and that more people are able to overcome their prejudices and enjoy it. ...
I spent most of Saturday, together with my son, running the Lib Dem stall, organised by the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats, at the Islam Expo exhibition in Olympia. Its been 2 years since the last one, so was interested to visit this and see how, under the present climate in the UK ,where any event with the word 'Islam' attached to it, brings with it the now ritualistic controversy, usual misinformation, rumour and innuendo, Of course there was plenty. Next to the Lib Dem stall, was the Labour party's stall, next to them the Conservative Muslim Forum's stall, which was ...
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who voted Liberal Democrat on May 1st. Each vote was a vote for hard work and committment to Reading. The new makeup of Reading Borough Council (Labour 19, Conservative 18, Lib Dem 8, Independent 1) means that we now hold the balance of power in the Council Chamber. This means we have been able to get part of our manifesto on the Council's agenda for the upcoming year. We are currently in a transitional period in Reading politics. Labour are in freefall, and the Council became no overall control (NOC) ...
....Brings back memories of 'Buddy, can you spare a dime?' Don't panic!
Jacqui Smith has appointed Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock to develop a national knife strategy. You couldn't make it up.
Duncan Brack and Ed Randall, authors of the Dictionary of Liberal Thought, have kindly agreed to let us publish extracts on Lib Dem Voice. Last month, the Institute of Economic Affairs; this month Henry David Thoreau. The entire book is available on Amazon here and can also be bought at the Westminster Bookshop. Conrad Russell was [...]
I was talking to a friend over the weekend who told me about a new theatre project for young people from the Fusion Youth Theatre which will take place in the school holidays from August 11th - 17th. If you or one of your children might be interested in joining this project you can find more information on the following link:- Visit www.fusiontheatre.co.uk for details. or e mail contact@fusiontheatre.co.uk Fusion Youth Theatre are offering local young people the chance to work with professional artists and take part in a fantastic arts project this August!Using a Japanese theme, young people can ...
Im Running for President Obama Watch Out!
Labour Assembly Member and blogger, Huw Lewis this morning joined the growing list of people who are asking what the All Wales Convention is for. Writing for the BBC news website, Huw says that are those inside and outside the Labour Party in Wales who question the need for such a convention at this moment in time: As someone who is currently engaged in a backbench bid to devolve more powers to the assembly (on buses and coaches) using the new Government of Wales Act, I have some sympathy with that opinion. We are after all talking about changing the ...
The Screws thinks yes.
MPs have two places of work - their constituency and the House of Commons. Where those two places are far apart it's reasonable for them to receive financial support so that they can spend their time split between living in two places rather than being able to live in just the one. That's not to [...]
It looks like the Government's plans to keep tabs on everyone's mobile phone calls and email messages are moving on a little. As the BBC reports: Government plans to collect more data on mobile phone calls and internet usage have been further criticised as an attack on civil liberties. The government is considering a new system which [...]
The link is to the story about HDLG in the News of the World. Extracting a bit from the article: A SHOCK secret police report into the Jersey House of Hell children's home reveals youngsters there WERE murdered then BURNED in a furnace to COVER UP the atrocities. Kids were shipped to the home from all over the UK and were never heard of again. What concerns me is the lack of interest of the UK
It has been quite a few weeks since I last caught the train from Newcastle to London on a Monday morning. And look at what I have missed. How about the seat reservation in coach D on a train that doesn't have a coach D? (You can always count on National Excess to bring us such enjoyable challenges!) Or how about the person sitting close by who talks constantly, loudly and in a high pitch and at
Merton, Sutton & Surrey Joint Health Scrutiny Committee This committee is an amalgamation of the Better Healthcare Closer to Home (BHCH) Joint Scrutiny Committee and the Epsom & St Helier Financial Recovery Plan Committee. The committee was to receive an update on the BHCH programme and discuss the Outline Business Case. However some members of the committee [...]
That was Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson David Howarth's response to the report last week by theSentencing Commission Working group. He went on: 'The commission is right to reject rigid US-style sentencing grids in favour of improving the current system of guidelines. 'There are better ways of co-ordinating the resources going into prisons and community sentences than the government simply telling judges how to decide individual cases. 'Britain needs an independent agency to assess what works, and which feeds its results both into Government spending decisions and the sentencing guidelines. 'This will lead to automatic co-ordination without each side telling the ...
I have no idea what problems Redruth faces with its "yoof". I have no problem with the police taking tough action to end the sort of disturbances that have been seen as the "posh kids" descend on places like Rock for the summer. But a broad brush, "voluntary" (but "we can make orders if parents do not co-operate") curfew is arbitrary and collective punishment affecting innocent and guilty alike. Clearly "liberal" Cornwall has a different version of the Human Rights Act down there. Are we to assume that the black in the Cornish nationalist flag commemorates the death of freedom? ...
Parliamentary elections are meant to elect the best person to represent the constituency. Well the Glasgow East by election took on a slightly American feel at the weekend when it held a televised debate between the 4 main candidates. Well the Scotsman has scored their performances today and place Ian Robertson the Liberal Democrat ahead of Labour's Margaret Curran with Davena Rankin of the
Many's the day I took for granted Breathing the air that sinlenced some As the North Wind blew With its head of thunder Beating its breast with a war drenched song Bathe awhile, awash in slumber Cry what's left to sleep Where you dream of the love you left forever But pity no more nor grieve For we're the kings of it all For the day we were born Now we're the kings of the Kilburn High Sure we'll always take a drop and we'll never leave a sup Your empty glass is but a tear filled eye We were ...
Commenting on Hazel Blears' announcement that new guidelines will be introduced to curb out-of-town superstores, Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said: 'With centralised public services and widespread post office closures, this is a Government that has presided over the death of the high street and the degradation of village and town centres. 'Local authorities need back-up from the Government to support their fight to save their town centres. 'But this Government's poor track record means it has a lot of work to do before anyone will believe that this will not just leave local authorities ...
Mike Gene is known to some as "The Smartest Guy In Intelligent Design": This may seem like an oxymoron but is actually quite plausible since he is one of the few high-profile ID advocates who had the good-sense to avoid associating with the Discovery Institute and their gaggle of nit-witted followers. The DI, creators of the "Wedge" document, are the people responsible (in part) for loosing the Dover trial, and drafting the new Florida legislation that promises to usher in a whole slew of Doveresque legal theater. Mike Gene keeps a lower profile than many of the "big names" in ...
So apparently the government have the answer to (excuse the pun) cut knife crime. Well it might work......... I was around in the 80's when something called Intermediate Treatment was very much in. The idea was to offer young people an alternative to committing crime whilst reflecting on their own misdemeanours. Now it isn't exactly the same as the governments current big idea , we seem to spend most of the time walking across Dartmoor for no apparent reason, but for the few who went through it, it was very effective. Unfortunately It was also expensive and so was slowly ... | < | July 2008 | > | ||||
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