I have have just heard the result from Witnesham in Suffolk. Andfrew Houseley reduced the tory majority to just 44 votes in a ward we didn't fight last time around. The result was Tory: 316 53.7% LD: 272 46.3% So congratulations and commiserations all at once to Andrew Houseley and to Andrew Aalders-Dunthorne, (PPC for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich). I said the response on the doorstep was very good after my evening canvassing.
There is growing speculation that the Government, pressurised by Labour backbenchers, is considering introducing a windfall tax on the energy companies that have benefitted from the recent surge in energy prices. So why aren't Labour MPs championing a windfall tax cut for all those other sectors, like property and finance that are being crucified by the economic downturn? It's just typical of socialists to want to penalise the one sector that is making any money in the current economic climate! The whole concept of retrospective taxes is frightening. Anyone running a business should know the tax and regulatory environment they ...
I've been catching up with BBC Parliament this evening, as you do, and was watching Prime Minister's Questions of 16 July and was somewhat surprised to see Gordon Brown answer a question with a factual inaccuracy (I'm a civil servant, we don't use words like 'lie'). Alastair Carmichael, our most northerly MP, asked El Gordo if he would take action over the ongoing industrial action being taken
Today is National Orgasm Day. To celebrate, I thought we could have a little poll. Anyone with an LJ log-in or open ID can vote, and see the percentages once they've voted, but the only person who will be able to see who has voted for what is me and I promise not to tell. Oh, and if you're not familiar with the Kinsey Scale, to save your googling, click here. View Poll: National Orgasm Day Obviously, some less geeky celebration will be going on in this house fairly shortly. Actually, knowing matgb and I, the chances of the celebration ...
We have held Whickham South and Sunniside in Gateshead with 72.5%. Tory vote has collapsed, down 8% to 9%.Vote as follows:John McClurey Lib Dem 1612Labour 394Cons 217---Sent via BlackBerry
This good news was given in the answer to a Parliamentary Question asked by Edward Davey MP. Mr Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what budget her department has allocated to the ReadMyDay/BloginaBox platform for each of the next three financial years, and if she will make a statement.Mr Dhanda: The Department has agreed to provide funding of...
I am at the Whickham South and Sunniside count now, waiting for the first boxes to turn up. A good turnout of postal votes is expected. Not so good at the polling stations. Rain has discouraged people from voting.---Sent via BlackBerry
I know - it's a week late. But I picked up a snippet the other day that tells you why Labour lost in Glasgow East... Apparently voter contact had been absolutely zero for years. David Marshall had done virtually nothing for years (apart from perhaps collecting money from us for his carefully chosen constituency staff). He supposedly didn't even venture into the constituency much and held few if any surgeries. When they started the by-election campaign they were starting voter identification from scratch with no reliable previous data at all. Utter bonkers. They absolutely deserve to have lost with the ...
I couple of weeks I stumbled into the Carmarthenshire County Offices in the centre of Carmarthen. You know. You go up these steps. beautifully clean into the reception area. Its got a black marble desk with a receptionist behind. Opposite this desk is a trophy cabinet. I tell ya what this councils got more cups than Man United and Chelsea put together! I think they have recently got one from the St.Dogmaels kennel club. Heres a funny thing. I ask at the desk for Press office. She says please wait over there. I put my posterior on one of the ...
Liberal Democrat Voice asks this question based on a piece in today's Daily Telegraph which says that the Labour Party's membership has hit record lows. Stephen Tall notes the high watermark of 400,000 at the height of Blair's power in 1997. Obviously there is a problem peculiar to the Labour Party here; at the time Blair did represent to many the kind of Obama-like figure that Stephen laments the lack of and the Labour Party was seen as a the torchbearer of the countries desire to throw out the hated Conservative government. However, it is worth noting from my own ...
Just a short post to say that having moved expect blogging to move up a notch as I am back with internet capability, thanks to whoever didnt decide to secure their wireless network in my local area......
Those who know me will know that I am so averse to advertising that I rarely watch non-BBC TV channels (generally only when Young 'Un is watching Cartoon Network), and NEVER listen to non-BBC radio stations. I hate, loathe and deplore advertising for stuff that I am not interested in intruding into the stuff I am interested in. So guess what I'm going to do now? That's right, I'm going to advertise! The very talented ginasketch is having a little bit of financial difficulty at the moment, and so is offering you, yes YOU, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a ...
I'm happy today, because just as I was getting to that scary part of the month where the direct debits all go out at once, I have received an extra payment from the Tax Credits people because they underpaid me last year. That makes me one of the lucky ones. In previous years, along with many other people, I have been asked to repay hundreds of pounds that they had overpaid me, when I could ill afford to do so. I have always rung the helpline immediately to report any changes in circumstances or income expectations, no matter how slight. ...
I suppose Geraldine Smith thought she was being helpful and loyal to Gordon Brown, when she spoke out against David Miliband today. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's The World At One, Smith said, "What has David Miliband ever achieved, apart from furthering his own career? If David Miliband was placed back on the backbenches, then I think he'd become the non-entity that he was before his accelerated promotion." The problem for Brown is that he placed Miliband into one of the top jobs in the Government. If Miliband is a non-achieving nonentity, what does that say for Brown's own judgement? ...
The Lib Dems' deputy leader and shadow chancellor has written for today's Independent setting out his measures for tackling fuel poverty. You can read the article in full here, but here's a snippet to whet your appetites: The recent announcements by British Gas and the French electricity utility EDF, that they plan to increase gas and [...]
On Saturday I mused that there was no obvious challenger to Brown who was "hard enough" to take him on. Well crikey oh riley, knock me down with a feather and consider my gast well and truly flabbered. Five days is a long time in politics. During that time, Miliband has grown the gonads, no doubt from a petri dish culture, which he hitherto lacked. Bambi has bounced onto the scene. Step forward
The Yorkshire Ridings Society are holding their annual Yorkshire Day reading of the Yorkshire Declaration of Integrity at 4pm near the Town Clock in Redcar High Street. There will also be readings of light hearted Yorkshire poetry. If you have a poem that you like or have written please come and read it. Ridings Society members and the Redcar Ladies Lifeboat Guild will be in the High Street, during the afternoon, selling silk white roses at £1 each. All proceeds will go to Redcar Lifeboat. They will also be in Guisborough High Street in the morning supporting the Yorkshire Society ...
...no, this space, where I've asked the BBC's iPM to look into the gender gap in political blogging and why women's blogging events are relegated to the fashion pages of the New York times. The original NYT article is here, and ensuing furore can be found here, here, here and here.
Wednesday The morning's newspapers foresee choppy economic seas ahead; we shall all have to tighten our belts, batten down the hatches and so forth. It makes me glad that I had the wisdom to lay down a good cellar of Stilton many years ago and also that I went in for this self-sufficiency business at the same time - one can only save so much by watering the Orphans' gruel. I was inspired by watching The Good Life on the moving television - that amusing programme starring the delightful Felicity Kendall. Catching sight of it upon my set once, Meadowcroft ...
Not for the first time, the comments on a Spectator Coffee House posting about the Lib Dems are far more sensible than the original posting. The other day Peter Hoskin wrote: Nick Clegg's declaration that the Lib Dems will now concentrate on snaring 50 paticularly vulnerable Labour seats at the next election ... is a puzzling one.... the potential's there for Clegg's new tactic to further divide the party, and perhaps even weaken their election efforts. You see, this is the same Nick Clegg who sold the Lib Dems as "tax-cutting" party only a couple of weeks ago - one ...
It's chucking it down here now. This will seriously cut the turnout in the by-election. If only it could have held off for a little longer. But as David has just pointed out, our peas and beans on the allotment are loving it! 4 hours to go.....
British Gas owner Centrica's announcement of £992 million profit for the first half of 2008 only a day after putting up gas prices by an eye-watering 35% has caused predictable howls of outrage and calls for a windfall tax from left and left-leaning politicians. This would be a mistake. In fact only 17% of the profit is due to retailing residential gas with the vast majority coming from 'upstream' - i.e. producing gas from fields in Morecambe Bay and the North Sea - even though this is a relatively small part of the business. British Gas is not allowed by ...
There's a must-read article in the latest Liberator taking a behind-the-scenes look at the clearly heated internal Lib Dem discussions of the Bones Commission into party reform. You can read it in full here. Three things stand out: 1. That the report receives a general welcome (albeit some way down the page): "Much of Bones is sensible. [...]
Thu 31st
17:40
Calling councillors whose authorities use the "Uniform Public Access" planning application system...
...I know we do in Oxford, and I also notice that at least three of the surrounding councils use it, so I presume this is de facto the "market leader" in public access planning application systems on the web. At least at Oxford City, very little appears to have been done to the system since they implemented it six years ago - and that MAY be the council's fault for not upgrading or whatever. However I have two big issues with it that I would like as many councillors from as many authorities as possible to complain about in the ...
Two Labour backbench MPs are calling for Gordon Brown to sack David Miliband as Foreign Secretary after yesterday's will he, won't he stance over whether he was mounting a leadership challenge. The latest new on that front is that David told Jeremy Vine on Radio two that he is "not running a leadership campaign". However, what would occur if Gordon where to sack Miliband from his cabinet? For a
Southwold it seems, is the place to be this summer. Its not just Gordon, who I hope will be indulging in the local pastime of crabbing at Walberswick ( simple pleasures for us Suffolk people) and the less common occupation of dodging protesters, who have descended on Southwold to demand more money for flood defences. People it seems have become rather attached to their homes and would rather sea water is kept out of them. Southwold is a joy. A seaside gem of a place which has managed to remain quite unspoiled and, due to wealthy people buying property there, ...
Well MP Prentice can not forget something. At the time of the May local Election he raised an issue about 27 Voter's at the home of Afzal Anwar PPC and this case that the media really picked up on was cleared and the police closed the case. Now MP Gordon Prentice is asking who can vouch for these 27 Votes. Well let me ask Mr Prentice is it a crime to live in a large family with the extended family all living together and showing a sense of family unity something that has been lost in this country? The MP ...
Gordon Brown has gone off for his sumemr hols for 3 weeks leaving Harriet Harman at the helm. I understand that he is holidaying in this country so at least the carbon footprint will be spared. Will he be back. If so for how long? I have to sa,y all things considered, he had a fantastic opportunity when he came in. His first mistake was not going to the elctorate last autumn. This left him without a personal political mandate. Sailing a ship whose direction was dictated by it's previous captain, Tony Blair. Gas price hikes, cost of living increases, ...
A number of residents have pointed out to me what a lovely job the Leisure & Communities staff continue to make of Victoria Park. As you can see below, its looking lovely during this period of summer ...
This time - Gavin's Gaily Gigest. Gavin - I'm lovin' yo' shit, Blood. They should have made it a Top 15. Gavin Whenman (not pictured left)
It appears that British Gas are making a 4.3% operating profit. Oh noes!
{Lynne Featherstone with Peter White and his flowers} First of my visits to residential and sheltered housing in my constituency to talk to my older constituents over the summer. In the photo - you can see Peter White and me with just some of the glorious plants and flowers that Peter has grown. These are outside his own flat - but Peter has made the whole of the outside area of Abyssinia Court burst with colour and beauty. It is absolutely glorious - and the picture doesn't capture but an iota of the glorious gardens. Anyway - not that many ...
The recent proposal from the government that all schools should have their own dedicated police officer is unfortunately necessary - and while it will have the benefit of improving the relationship between young people and the police, it is fundamentally an admission of failure by the government to tackle both anti-social behaviour and carrying weapons in schools but more fundamentally to change the ethos of schools and local communities into one which is united rather than divided. This is a long-term project, but it's one which the government appears to be making few moves on.
Part of Amnesty's 'The China Debate' campaign.
I'm currently engaged on a project that seeks to Link the Roman Emperor Claudius, with King Alfred the Great and Guthrum the Dane and King Henry I of England... Unlikely but true and I'm hopeful of establishing the link... Any suggestions out there?
After my somewhat frustrated posting yesterday, and leaving a correction message on the web site, I was contacted by Jonathan Isaby. Jonathan has not only apologised, but also had the blog entry corrected to make it factually correct within an hour or so of my posting. He has also been pretty gracious in the face of a grumpy posting from me! I have complained on numerous occasions when the media have given factually incorrect information, but I have never heard back from them and have only managed to get two corrections - both at the BBC web site. So thanks ...
"Horizons", a new service for lone parents, was launched in Stockton today. The partnership is between the Citizens Advice Bureau, Family Welfare Association and One Parent Families / Gingerbread. People can make an appointment by calling Angela Corner on 01642 626101 based with the CAB at Stockton & District Advice and Information, Service at Bath Lane Stockton. From the people we heard and...
THIS story about the response from police after Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher was involved in an accident at the weekend reminded me of a similar story about 20 years ago when Norfolk police stopped a speeding Lotus in Norfolk not far from the car company's headquarters in Hethel, South Norfolk. The policeman was reprted to have asked the chap who he stopped "Who do you think you are ? Ayrton Senna ?" "Yes, replied the man" "Are you taking the ... ?" Only for the policeman to take a proper look and realise it was Ayrton Senna.
As with the other reports they find little understandable logic in the judgments of cafcass. It takes a bit of time to understand the importance of this. In most instances service users did not experience a service which had been planned systematically by Family Court Advisers; case planning documents were not completed or were not comprehensive, for example. Most files had some case notes,
Having blogged the other day about how the Scottish Lib Dem leadership candidates are not making the best use of the internet in their campaigns, it's good to see that at least one Lib Dem politician does have a good understanding of how the internet is affecting political life. Peter Black's article on the subject is well worth reading.
This is the response I've now had from Ross Finnie in response to the questions I submitted to all three leadership candidates a few weeks ago: Hi Bernard Thank you for your email with your 10 Leadership election questions which I have answered in the order in which you set them. Vision First, Scots must believe that their individual freedoms are being protected, and those freedoms embrace not only human rights and civil liberties but also educational opportunity, a healthier society and freedom from poverty and deprivation. I believe these to be fundamental values in a Liberal Democratic society. Second, ...
Bad news. Rain is falling here and I am concerned this could depress turnout in the Whickham South and Sunniside by-election. The rain is not particularly heavy but it is not the gloriously sunny weather I was hoping for. I am busy sending text messages to constituents.
Some people claim that smoking on private property where nobody is forced to be is illiberal and that to ban this is liberal and that everyone has a right to go to a pub (tell that to a landlord who has the right to bar people at will). Strange definition of liberal there - using the [...]
If you use Google to search the Internet, then you can redirect some of the advertising revenue from Google's ads into the party's coffers (sorry, not your own!) if you use the Google search box in the party's free Internet browser toolbar.* Once you've got the toolbar, just stick your search queries into its search box [...]
I have written an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs 'Agenda' magazine on politicians and the internet. At 2,400 words it is a bit long to put on this blog but it can be read here.
My latest Guardian blog is now online. It covers Crossrail and Angel crossing, plus Labour's holiday mood....
Whoops a daisy. A car dealer in Kent was looking up his security gate when a Fiat van sent him flying when it hit the end of it. Police were alerted to the scene and merely helped to two men swap details. The driver of the vans other car is a Ferrari apparently and used to be this one. The police apparently believed him, well who else has a jaw like that.
The Prison's are so full with people that 31500 people have had to be let out early to control the number of people in Prisons. Many people are being made to sleep in the toilet as the prisons are too full. People ask why is this? Let me tell you that this is because this Labour Government has been very lenient on criminals which has lead to more and more crimes taking place. The only way to tackle this rise of Prisoners is by making the sentences more tougher and taking away the luxuries that are available in Prisons. People ...
Galloping price rises - here comes another one! Hikes in petrol prices over recent months gave rise to a new term, cash pedal: a stark reminder of the link between "flooring it" and the money speeding straight out of your wallet. Coming next: a cash meter under the stairs? Quite possibly, or better still, out on view in your living room. The new generation of electricity meters (sadly not available for gas) will have an easy-read display, showing exactly how much money you are spending. This will have the same effect as those whizzing numbers on the petrol pump as ...
Thu 31st
13:20
Twice as many people believe they are being sent secret messages via their computer's font than woul...
Oh yes, this is the only opinion poll finding that matters this week: 7% of people believe "Microsoft sends messages via Wingdings", whilst only 3% would vote Green. PS If you say "online poll" and "load of nonsense" I'll go and bite your ankles. It was in The Guardian. It Must Be True. Woof woof.
Why is it that Liberal Democrat politicians so often line up behind illiberal policies. We had much support for the smoking ban from LibDems - just to reiterate, nobody forces you to go to the pub, there is no aspect of coercion or forced harm there, even for bar staff. It was just a tool of [...]
So, according to Downing Street there's absolutely no threat to Gordon Brown. The cabinet is united behind him (of course) and none of them are willing to say they're trying to bring Gordon down. So, when two helpful backbenchers start condemning The Milliband and demanding Gordon has his head delivered on a silver platter, one cannot help but wonder just grateful Gordon might be at this intervention. If Gordon sacks The Milliband then he's admitting there's been a threat to his leadership and that The Milliband's been a very naughty boy indeed. In addition, released from Cabinet responsibility and having ...
The much and rightly maligned communication allowance for MPs has been in place for some time now, but how many MPs are actually spending it ? Iain Dale wrote in his column last Saturday in the Eastern Daily Press that "But as I well know, incumbency has its advantages as you can point to things you have done and achieved, and now of course MPs have the outrageous £10,000 "Communications Allowance" to tell us how good they are. " I agree with Iain that the communications allowance is outrageous and hope that any future government of a different political colour ...
A major new document setting out Liberal Democrat vision and values has been launched by Nick Clegg. Called 'Make it Happen', the new document will form a major centrepiece of debate at September's Liberal Democrat party conference.
I'm still pinching myself, but it looks as if Crossrail really is happening. Now the Crossrail Act has been passed, all they have to do is build the thing. It's been a long-time coming; the original Crossrail Bill was tabled in 1991. The final project won't open til 2017, long after the London Olympics have been [...]
Here is a perfect silly season story. A thousand British adults were interviewed to see which conspiracy theories they believe. Here are the results:Area 51 exists to investigate aliens (48%)9/11 was orchestrated by the US government (38%)Apollo landing was a hoax (35%)Diana and Dodi were murdered (32%)The Illuminati secret society and masons are trying to take over the world (25%)Scientologists rule Hollywood (17% )Barcodes are really intended to control people (7%)Microsoft sends messages via Wingdings (6%)US let Pearl Harbour happen (5%)The world is run by dinosaur-like reptiles (3%) Thanks to the Guardian for the full list. There is an article ...
Redcar and Cleveland Council have received an Early Alert of a possible extreme amount of rainfall that could affect our area between 14.00 hrs on Thursday 31st July through to 03.00 hrs Friday 1st August, 2008. This downpour may lead to surface water flooding. The Council activated their Adverse Weather Plan and have resources on standby. They will be closely monitoring conditions over the next 12 hours. Well that's OK then but we hope it clears up in time for the Yorkshire Day events tomorrow. UPDATE 17.10: Not much rain yet but it's overcast and getting cooler.
The news is full of them! From the anonymous Canadian who bought Queen Victoria's old pants at auction yesterday (cor, a FIFTY inch waist? she weren't raised on salad, were she?), to the fact that Australia's Prime Minister is descended from a knicker thief. Brilliant. I love silly season.
Fresh from Julia Goldsworthy's support for illiberal curbs on the freedom of law abiding young people, I have today received an email from Tom Brake asking for my support for a facebook group seeking to ban the sale of cannabis seeds. The debate about drug legalisation is a worthy one. I take a particular view on it but I understand why others take a different view and am happy to debate with them. (However, I would have thought that an MP would have contemplated the Party's own policy on this before setting out on this course). However, what riled me ...
With gas and electricity prices rising, one would hope that it would make green electricity (i.e. from renewable sources) more attractive. There is no reason for the price of green electricity to rise, as it is not related to the cost of gas. (You can sign up for green electricity here.) When are either Labour or the Conservatives going to make a firm commitment to changing tax policy to make
The news in today's Telegraph that the Labour party's membership is now at its lowest in a hundred years is a stark wake-up call for the governing party (and doubtless will in the well-worn cliché of tired journalistic prose "add to the pressure on the Prime Minister"). From 400,000 at the height of Tony Blair's [...]
Look at the Wikipedia bio of the Government's Chief Scientific Advisor, John Beddington. Here's an excerpt: "On 1st October 2007, it was announced by the Prime Minister that Beddington would succeed Professor Sir David King as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government [4] As Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, Professor Beddington is responsible for the UK government policy to restrict public access to information about weather, climate and climate change, including restrictions on the distribution of observed climate data, climate analysis data, climate reanalysis data, computer models of the climate and results from computer model simulations ...
There has naturally be an expression of real disappointment from residents about the decision to close Lochee Road and Nethergate Post Offices. I have today written to the Prime Minister about the matter, in the following terms: Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP 10 Downing Street LONDON SW1A 2AA Dear Prime Minister I wish to express my deep concern at the handling of the issue of the future of Post Offices by your Government. The further closure programme of at least 2500 post offices throughout the UK has now impacted upon my own ward in Dundee's West End, where after a ...
Thu 31st
11:40
Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla Stick Two Fingers Up at Hasbro and Mattel, and Other Noteworthy News.
There is something about two guys in India who doggedly refuse to be ground down by giant multinational corporations that really makes me want to shout YES!!! You see. these two guys like to play Scrabble. And they developed a version of it that people could play on Facebook. And it was good, and millions of people played it. Then the rightsholders for the game got pissy, which is, I guess, understandable. But instead of licensing the already successful game (which would have been the sensible thing to do) they went down the road of lawyers to shut Scrabulous down. ...
Read the Bexley Times story here
Government agency sees sense on drugs: enforcement isn't working. It infuriates me that the only reason - the ONLY reason - why we are not taking a far more effective stance on drugs both nationally and globally is that it is politically dangerous to do so, simply because the average person's kneejerk reaction is "drugs are bad". It's pathetic, and people should grow up and stop reading tabloids. Grrrr.
The Glasgow East by-election result has taken us into interesting and unpredictable political territory.If the pundits are correct, we may only be weeks away from another change in the leadership of the Labour Party and only months away from a General Election. So now is the time to start spending regular, column-sized amounts of words, de-bunking [...]
Who love an underdog. Supporting the Chicago Cubs can be heartbreaking at times. They have the longest dry spell in Major League baseball history. They last won a World Series in 1908, they last won the National League (earning them a place in the World Series) in 1945. The Cubs are the but of many a joke [...]
Last Friday Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye was accepted into the great Hastings tradition of the Winkle Club! Nick was given his Winkle by the President of the Club and former Conservative MP for the constituency Sir Kenneth Warren. Speaking after the ceremony, Nick said, "I am very proud to have [...]
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A Labour Minister has said the Labour Party needs to get more bold and sort itself out if it wants a 4th term in Office. Well it may be possible for the Government to have a 4th term in office but it is very difficult for them to achieve that. The Snobby Conservatives have been just telling people how they will make the country better with Cameron as they so called "Perfect example". But they haven't actually shown any policies on the table unlike the Liberal Democrats who have Launched "Make it Happen" the best vision for Britain i have ...
Now I'm a fan of David Miliband's wonkish good looks and ability to turn a dry policy summary into an exciting one thousand word Guardian piece, but the Daily Telegraph might have taken things a step too far. Screenshot of their current UK Politics homepage:
Here's a picture from the Edge Hill Graduation. This is our four new PR graduates plus me and my colleague Dr Ruxandra Trandafiou (she's the one with the fancy hat)
The Law Lords have finally ruled on the Serious Fraud Office's appeal against the High Court's decision in April that the SFO acted unlawfully in ending its investigation into the Al-Yamamah arms deal. The House of Lords has overturned that decision and declared that the director of the SFO acted lawfully and within his powers when he ended the inquiry. On the fact of it, this is disappointing. But the real issue is not whether the SFO acted unlawfully - it's the political pressure apparently put on the SFO by ministers, and the reasons behind the decision to drop the ...
The chief executive of the energy generator e.on, Paul Golby has written a letter defending a new generation of coal-fired power stations in today's Guardian and claiming that renewables cannot power the UK. He says the protesters heading for this year's Climate Camp at his Kingsnorth power station are being unrealistic. I think he's wrong. And dangerous. Renewables can power Britain given the necessary political will. An estimated 40% of Europe's wind blows through the British Isles yet we obtain a miserly 1.5% of our electricity from wind. The equivalent figure for Germany is 6%, for Spain and Portugal 9% ...
I was going to write about incest after this article, then decided not to due to lack of what I would consider good information on the internet, then I thought: 'sod it!'. The woman of the article on the Times justifies her sexual relationship with her brother on the basis of consent. I have not come across any psychological studies on 'consensual incest', where there is no force or abuse. This
Via the BBC: On Tuesday, [journalists in China for the Olympic Games] were unable to access the website of Amnesty International as it released a report criticising China's human rights record. Some international news pages and sites that dealt with issues such as Tibet were also inaccessible, journalists said. As the BBC explains: China enforces tough internet controls, but said [...]
I have linked to the Community Care story. This picks up on the key message from the interviews by Lenny Harper reported by the BBC as Jersey murder inquiry 'unlikely' Community Care have correctly identified the issue that the remains of at least 5 children have been found concealed in a children's home. It is worth listening to Lenny Harper's interview on the BBC site as he explains the
Socialist Workers were dressed as 'fat cats' and giving out leaflets outside 120 Fleet Street (which could be Goldman Sachs International - it's definitely in the same building... Any better ideas?) this morning. Gas company bosses are apparently due to meet there this morning to announce their profits while landing consumers with price rises of up to 35%. Photo to follow...
Thu 31st
09:20
The PPC Files (4): What's different about being a Lib Dem PPC compared to being a Labour/Tory PPC?
Imagine what it's like to be a Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate - tasked with leading and motivating a group of diverse volunteers against all the odds, and organising foot-slogging campaigns on a shoe-string budget that will get you and the party noticed. Lib Dem Voice contacted a dozen PPCs to find out what they really [...]
I crawled out of bed at 5am and was greeted by a pleasant sunrise as well as a pile of leaflets for delivery. I completed the two rounds I had to do by 6.30am and was back to my house in time for helpers arriving at 7am to take away more leaflets for delivery. The weather forecast is predicting showers this afternoon. Hopefully short ones. A nice sunny day to bring out the vote (ie the Lib Dem
Those British Gas customers faced with a 35% rise in their gas bills and a 9% hike in the price of electricity will not be able to find much to comfort them at all in today's press coverage. Even Centrica's attempt to justify the increases whilst simultaneously trying to make us feel sorry for them has deservedly fallen on stoney ground. After all nobody has much sympathy for a company suffering a 19% fall in first-half profits when they are still trousering a surplus of £992m. In today's Independent Vince Cable argues that a windfall tax on the energy companies ...
The clash of the big two, no not the old firm, the Nats and the Socialists Labour Party saw wodges of cash thrown at the Scottish Parliament campaign in 2007. The Nats outspent Labour by over a million pounds. So what you may ask? That is until you hear that labour traditionally the big spenders only spent £638,014. The extra seat at Holyrood appear to have cost the Nats £1,676,223 on the
Those of you who have seen The Dark Knight? Might want to check out Lee Griffin's review here. Especially the very last paragraph. * looks pointedly at innerbrat and ginasketch *
Wednesday: Well, it's not VERY coded! Mr Millipede writes in the Grauniad: "Make ME Prime Monster!!!!" Okay, he doesn't ACTUALLY say that, but he does say: "...in government, unless you choose sides, you get found out. New Labour won three elections by offering real change, not just in policy but in the way we do politics. We must do so again." Now he's covered his bottom by putting that after a big go at the Conservatories... and yet... look at that emphasis on "NEW Labour"; look at that emphasis on "REAL change"; look at that emphasis on "getting FOUND OUT". ...
Tuesday: We announce an album of all their greatest hits, including: Money Money Money (is what it costs to build a space station); Take a Chance on Me (aboard Apollo 13); and Dancing (Martian) Queen! Mama Mia! It's SURE to be the basis of a hit musical and film staring Mr Pierce! But really, HOORAY for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the American Space Agency!
