... or ibarw for short. Hence my new default icon, featuring the awesome Brigadier Winifred Bambera. Doctor Who seems to specialise in awesome Brigadiers, and Bambera is no exception. She's cool, calm, and collected. She's brave and resourceful, smart and assured in her command position. She can handle herself, and she can handle a variety of weapons. And she's black. In modern Who, we don't blink at the thought that Martha can be promoted to a high position within UNIT (although, of course, her commanding officer is a white man in his fifties); in the eighties, the commanding officer was ...
The Great American Trailer Park Musical So we chose this as the first show to see in Edinburgh this year on account of how it's free with our C venues passes and it's a direct competitor of ours. Perhaps not a great choice of first show to see, since it proved a pretty daunting glimpse of the competition. We have consoled ourselves with the knowledge that this show has been running on
I'm here with Hero, it's a new musical written and performed entirely by Cambridge students, and it's ace. If any of you are in Edinburgh in the next couple of weeks, I hope to see you there (C venues, 3.45pm, every day).
So it's that time of year again, when every broadsheet but the Telegraph get terribly excited about the Edinburgh Festival. In accordance, I will, like last year, be turning this blog into my own personal record of what stuff I've seen, and what I thought of it. If you don't really care about the fringe and all the guffstorm that surrounds it, then... see you in September.
Andy Burnham, Minister of Sport, is supposed to have said today that the UK could win in excess of 40 medals at the Beijing Olympics. How does he work that one out? It has all the hallmarks of a media story that will come back to haunt him but I suppose it helps to distract attention away from Labour's internal problems so the No.10 spin doctors won't be too worried about that. The sad thing is, though, I can only name one of our medal hopefuls - Paula Radcliffe. I must admit track and field is not my sport but ...
The Independent has reprinted an interview with the great Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. If you ever think your lot ain't very good or the food is too expensive or your house is not warm enough just get a copy of Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago. No British or American author I know of has come close to Solzhenitsyn in showing man's sufferings. It is the most horrific book ever written about mankinds endurance through intolerable circumstances. With a dark humour to hold the reader. You will never complain about anything again after reading this.
It seems that John Prescott has just played the part of the iceberg, holing Labour below the waterline with his latest comments comparing Labour to the Titanic. The difference with the events of 1912 was that the Titanic was a brand new vessel which impressed people and in which people had great confidence. Labour on the other hand doesn't really count as "new" any more and anyway, is possibly
While the number of formal Council meetings may reduce to a trickle during August, Kirsten, Glenn and I are continuing to be very busy campaigning on a number of ward and Reading-wide issues as August gets underway. Last week I met with the Head of Community Safety to discuss street drinking restriction areas and dispersal zones, of which more at a later date. The Council has also just launched it's draft anti-social behaviour strategy, which I'll be looking at in detail. You can view the strategy here and email officers your views here. On Monday, Kirsten and Glenn met officers ...
Witness the evil face of cloning. See the terrible effect it can have on human beings! This evil must be destroyed. Particularly the little ones!
This is a photograph from the National Assembly website Its one of my favourite websites. One of the things I have noticed is that Rhodri-Glyn Thomas used to be in this photograph! For those who are reading this blog outside of Wales. Rhodri resigned his position as Heritage Minister for smoking a cigar inside a pub. Yes he did. He used to be standing to the left of Ieaun Wyn Jones and Brian Gibbon. He has been cropped out of the photo! Imagine somebody's mather with a pair of scissors cutting out a relative who is not in her good ...
I am very glad that Ian Oakley has pleaded guilty to his criminal actions in support of his Conservative campaign in Watford. It is, perhaps, the first decent thing that he has done. The unbelievable level of abuse and criminal activity beggars belief in a major party. Full praise to Sal and the Lib Dems who have worked closely with the Police and never stooped to replying in kind. I am very sorry that some Tories (just some, but enough) just don't seem to get it - that this was far, far beyond the bounds of anything that might be ...
My CiF piece yesterday has caused a bit of a stir. Paul Walter suspects that may have been my plan all along - the very idea! Meanwhile Tom Papworth orders me to stop "moaning over our organic, Fairtrade, decaf coffees and get on with selling our party to the electorate." Frankly, that's not my job any more. I was asked for my opinion and I gave it (also, I don't drink coffee). But there is another strand which is emerging from this debate which I am equally dismissive. That is the "I told you so" response. "Ashamed anonymous" accuses me ...
The Government has so far failed to spend any of the £42m budget it has allocated for the development of wave and tidal energy technologies, figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.Recent Parliamentary questions have found that:Ø · The entire £42m budget for the Wave and Tidal-stream Energy Demonstration Scheme - the Government's measure for allowing marine technologies to progress through their early phase - has remained unspent since it was announced in 2004Ø · The associated £2m budget for monitoring the environmental impacts of wave and tidal projects has also remained entirely unspentØ · Only around one fifth ...
What is Faceless Britain? Faceless Britain quite simply refers to the challenges experienced by millions of ordinary people every day in accessing public services. With every year that goes by, more and more services that used to offer face to face contact are being replaced by systems that are centralised, remote and inhuman. We are seeing the progression of an unaccountable state, creating increasingly remote systems that are divorced from the people they are supposed to serve.This is evident in many different areas such as: The difficulty of getting through to a benefits helpline The closure of local Post Offices ...
Lots of people on LibDemBlogs have been talking about the Blog of the Year Awards. Which includes the category 'Best new Liberal Democrat blog' (hint, hint, this blog was started in February!). Although I would expect the award to go to James Schneider or Jo Anglezarke, who have new blogs and would deserve the award. Someone should put together a list of 'new blogs' that would be helpful. 'Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office' would surely have to go to Peter Black AM or Lynne Featherstone MP. My problem with the award, 'Best posting on a Liberal ...
Last night I travelled home pontificating on a possible response to the one and only JG and his temperate (?) comments re Nick Clegg and his alleged detractors......(could this be the same Mr G who had a pop at me less than 12 months ago for not giving Ming a chance?!). Well, I had two sobering calls during the evening, one from a very dear pal, who is very disabled and unable to work and has found herself in £60,000 of debt. The other from my sister who regular readers may remember was very poorly last year, and was distraught ...
The good news is that Oakley has pleaded guilty, and there is every reason to believe that the three-years of terror inflicted on Liberal Democrats in Watford may be at an end. Just what that hate campaign amounted to has been made clear. The Telegrap sums it up like this: "Mrs Brinton had lesbian magazines sent to her home address and her work address. "Campaign material was sent to her office which had been defaced with such phrases as 'Go back to Cambridge, you evil bitch'." Oakley, who remains a councillor on Hillingdon Council, also made silent phone calls at ...
The BBC reports: A former Tory candidate has pleaded guilty to a campaign of harassment against his Liberal Democrat rivals. Ian Oakley, who quit as a prospective parliamentary candidate in Watford last month, admitted five charges of criminal damage and two of harassment. Oakley, of Ryeland Close, West Drayton, west London, asked for 68 other offences to be taken into account.Sal Brinton, the Lib Dem PPC and one of the chief targets of Oakley's campaign, gives further details on Lib Dem Voice: This campaign of intimidation included slashing of car tyres, graffiti (sexual and racist) sprayed on cars, homes, fences ...
I'm on holiday! With all the travelling I've been doing lately, and the Presidential campaign grand tour kicking off in Edinburgh next week, I decided to stay at home. Apparently, "stay-cations" are all the rage this year, for different reasons I hope, unless there are thousands of people who want to be President of the Liberal Democrats. I've spent some of my time off with my daughter Sally, who has undertaken an ambitious amount of house refurbishment with her fiance, wielding a roller and getting as much paint on myself as on the wall. Work almost ground to a halt ...
Welcome to the 76th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (27th July - 2nd August), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. Let's get straight down to it, in traditional descending order: 1. A question of balance [...]
From the comments on various web sites, it appears that the Conservatives have decided to pretend that Ian Oakley was never anything to do with them. They take offence at his description as a Conservative candidate - a post that he clearly held when he committed the offences and are seeking to remove every trace of Oakley's connection with the party. Except they haven't quite succeeded! Now the reaction of the Conservative Party is to refuse to comment. In the Daily Mail it states: A Conservative Party spokesman said they could not comment on the issue as Oakley was no ...
You may recall that back in June we reported on the man who stole five lorry loads (171 tonnes) of old rails stacked up next to the main London to South Wales railway line at Acton Turville. The BBC reports that he's now been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
I am taking a one day break from blogging due to celebrating my wedding anniversary. I will be back tomorrow.
Brown has said the first cabinet meeting will not take place in London it will take place in West Midlands. If anyone knows where the meeting will take place please leave it in a comment or email me!
And so another week at the demi-Eden that is the Bonkers Hall Estate draws to a close. Sunday The tractor has made only slight inroads here on the Bonkers Hall Estate; for the most part I prefer to use shire horses to haul my agricultural machinery. One beast in particular has my undying admiration: after a full day's ploughing, it enjoys nothing more than delivering Focus around the neighbouring villages. I will sometimes call by its stable in the evening for a word about the current political scene. Why, I asked Dobbin, was Clegg not putting up a candidate in ...
I rather approved of Michael Gove's complaints about lads' mags yesterday. Their values are crass and it ought to be possible for a politician to criticise something without being assumed to be calling for it to be banned. But now Recess Monkey had discovered that in April 2005 (in other words, in the run up to the general election at which he was first elected) Gove's constituency received a donation of £2000 from Red Fig Ltd. And Red Fig is the company that helped launch Nuts TV. A press release on its website gives a taste of the channel's output: ...
Watford LibDems were harassed horrifically by the tory PPC and the local Conservative Party. Ian Oakley has now pleaded guilty. It is appalling that the Conservative Party failed to realise what was happening and I hope they do open an enquiry.
Honestly, is there a more disproportionately over-politicised tax? Two problems with this 'ere idea of Darling, darling!'s idea to temporarily suspend stamp duty. 1. It won't work, according to Dr Cable. 2. It won't work, according to Everybody Who Has A Job And Lives In A House. Our Vince's problem is that artificial boosting is the last thing [...]
Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable sets out some practical solutions to tackling fuel poverty. Vince argues that, by introducing a programme designed to properly insulate homes, carbon emissions could be reduced by a fifth. He also calls for an end to the disproportionately high bills companies charge for those with pre-payment meters, calling for the introduction of a social tariff to ensure that the 2.25 million people currently on pre-payment schemes are not unfairly penalised. Energy companies have had a £9 billion windfall from the EU emissions trading scheme and Vince argues that they should use at least some ...
Sunday 24 August is the official day that Beijing hands over to London to become host city for the Olympics. The official start of London 2012 will be celebrated as part of the Beijing closing ceremony - and in the UK, Bath & North East Somerset Council will be joining other councils across the country in marking this special moment. Local residents are encouraged to join in the celebrations...
It appears that Ian Oakley's fall from grace and the Conservative Party isn't quite complete. Remarkably, the Watford Conservatives still feature him on their front page. Here it is, with the date clearly stated in the story below.
The Micklefield Community Fun Day took place on Saturday, organised by local residents and the Neighbourhood Action Group. New Liberal Democrat Councillors Chaudhary Ditta and Julia Wassell had a stall at the event to deal with any questions and casework from local residents. They also helped to fund this community event from their community budget. Despite the poor weather many local residents came out to support the event and have fun. The Police and Fire services were on hand to show youngsters their vehicles and many local community groups ran stalls. The Steel band gave a Caribbean feel to the ...
During the primary season, Barack Obama gave us an object lesson in how political narratives work, engaging both the heart and the head. Now, after a slow start, the McCain campaign shows us how counter-stories really work; in the process, they might be proving something thoroughly unpleasant about American politics. McCain's latest slogan, "country first," implies that Obama puts something else (himself? his race?) ahead of the nation. McCain charges that Obama "would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." His "Troops" spot claims that Obama, while in Germany, "made time to go the gym, but ...
The President of Angola Jose Eduardo dos Santos says Parliamentary elections will happen every 4 years. This is on the eve of campaigning in 2009 elections which have been delayed since 2002. The last elections were in 1992 which was followed by more war. But this is the guy that has ruled Angola since 1979, so I'm not keeping my hopes up.
To Read the Dossier that was created by Pendle and Burnley Liberal Democrats about A&E Visit
Yet more and more of our money is being wasted into Northern Rock. With the bank making major looses the tax payers money is going to be put into the Bank to make it stable. The Government should have just listened to adviser's and sold the bank of but they didn't and now we have to pick up the Bill. So Remember that the Labour Government is costing us money with Northern Rock next time you are at the Ballot! And Vote Lib Dems that party that said to the Government to sell the bank ... but they didn't listen ...
The Conservatives have sacked the terrorising Conservative from their party and have said that they cannot comment on him. Why haven't they sacked MEP's like Sajjad Karim who have committed financial Crimes out of the party? I would like to see the Conservatives sack MEP's and MP's who have committed Money related Crimes!
The Lib Dem snipers were out again, yesterday, and as usual its our own generals that are receiving a withering "friendly" crossfire. As usual the man on the roof with a mail-order hunting rifle is Lib Dem Blogger of last year James Graham, with a grumpy one-line of support from Jonathan Calder. According to James's Comment Is Free column, he has "been struck by how many people [he has] spoken to over the past few weeks - candidates, councillors and activists alike - who appear to be either demoralised or disenchanted with Clegg's leadership." One source of this disaffection appears ...
Ian Oakley, the former Tory PPC for Watford has pleaded guilty to a significant number of charges related to intimidation of Sal Brinton, the Liberal Democrat PPC for Watford and a number of Liberal Democrat Councillors, activists and supporters. There are a number of grave concerns here which need to be addressed: Firstly, who knew what in the Tory campaign HQ in Watford and beyond? Was it really possible for an individual to act alone and wage a war of intimidation against political opponents and not be detected? Did some people in the Tory camp know what was going on ...
Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable sets out some practical solutions to tackling fuel poverty. Vince argues that, by introducing a programme designed to properly insulate homes, carbon emissions could be reduced by a fifth. He also calls for an end to the disproportionately high bills companies charge for those with pre-payment meters, calling for the introduction of a...
I am getting a bit sick of the Tories chucking people out of their party, Derek Conway, Ian Oakley. Both get the "He is no longer a Conservative so we can't comment". They were both Conservatives when they committed their offences, so you can't wash your hands of them. And Iain Dale is being all pious today but just a brief look at the comments he allowed to be published on his blog when this
....the Taser, while marketed as an effective way to stop a bad guy cold without killing—and even, at times, as a women's fashion accessory—is actually a form of physiological Russian roulette..... An explanation here.
While French and Spanish judges accuse Rwandan President Paul Kagame of genocide (when the reality is, if it was the RPF that shot down the President, it was the Hutu extremists who did the genocide and masterminded it), Rwanda perhaps slightly more justifiably accused France of genocide. Questions to remain over the French role in Rwanda. France after the collapse of their colonies have had much odd involvement, perhaps interference with African affairs. Often supporting French speaking nations and keeping them on their side. The Hutu extremist dictatorship in Rwanda had forced in the past thousands of Tutsis to leave. ...
I think it's fair to say that a key battle for the future of the UK's ability to deal with climate change is being played out in a small corner of the Garden of England this week. Hundreds of people concerned about climate change have taken over a field near the Kingsnorth power station in Kent, which is where the energy generator E.ON is proposing to build the UK's first new coal-fired power station for 33 years. Coal has the capacity to overwhelm us in terms of carbon emissions. If we build a new generation of coal-fired power stations (and ...
Boris Johnson has links to the royal family according to what he has said. Well the royal family must be proud...not! I bet since the Royal Family found out that he is related to them they probably cringed. The baboon of a Mayor is really a weird and stupid person and is someone that i wouldn't Vote and he is such a waste of space that the royal family probably wants to change family connections after they found out they are related to him.
You may have heard this kind of information before. 50% of the World's adults barely own 1% of the World's assets and the richest 1% of the World own 40%. 10% of the richest own 85% of the World's assets. Two years ago Duncan Green, head of research at Oxfam said, "These levels of inequality are grotesque" and that's a good way to describe it. There are more realities: The value of the assets held by the world's richest 200 people exceeds the total income of nearly half of the world's population. 1.1bn people don't have access to clean water, ...
A classic BBC headline: MPs 'should not employ children' What?! Even if they have a chimney that needs sweeping? Share This
I notice with disappointment, but perhaps not much surprise, that the national Conservative party are trying a Pontius Pilate routine if the comment on the Mail on Sunday website is correct: A Conservative Party spokesman said they could not comment on the issue as Oakley was no longer a member of the party. The point is that these offences were carried out while he most definitely was a member of the party, and many of them while he was holding the responsible roles of either parliamentary candidate or general election campaign manager for a parliamentary candidate. As was stated in ...
I was intrigued by an entry on the LibDem Blogs listings, which has been automatically harvested from the ALDC RSS feed. This states: Liberal Democrat campaigners and activists are needed to help Elizabeth Stenton, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich Parliamentary by-election. Elizabeth is working hard for people in Crewe and Nantwich, and she needs your help to become our next MP. ALDC's staff members have already been to Crewe and will be there this weekend. Your help can really make a difference to her campaign. As far as I am aware, Edward Timpson MP is in ...
Yesterday Michael Gove made a speech attacking magazines such as Nuts and Zoo: I believe we need to ask tough questions about the instant-hit hedonism celebrated by the modern men's magazines targeted at younger males. Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available. We should ask those who make profits [...]
I think this sums up my feelings from time to time.
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed a discrete text advert on the right hand side reading "Public Liability Insurance". Its for a company called constructaquote. I'm guessing that if you ever need this type of insurance this will be of use, but they paid me (covers my running costs, buys me beer, makes me happy etc). If anyone else is interested in advertising on my blog, please do get in touch.
(Daniel Berehulak) (Gareth Fuller) These are two of my favourite pictures so far from the Climate Camp (from the Guardian)
Trying to save your fingers, bandwidth and the forests of Scandinavia, here are the latest comments on the Ian Oakley case: the Watford Observer have covered it here and here. Liberal Democrat Voice has an article with comments from a wider LibDem membership and some Tories. Cllr Iain Sharpe has his thoughts. Sal Brinton has written a piece for Liberal Democrat Voice. The BBC have covered it (and it was on the national and local TV and radio news). Yahoo have it here. Daily Mail Telegraph The Times The Guardian Metro
The Daily Mail has agreed to remove some articles critical of Poles in Britain from its website and to alter others, in a settlement with the Federation of Poles in Great Britain (FPGB), which had protested to the Press Complaints Commission over 50 pieces and related headlines that they said gave rise to negative emotions [...]
Silent noctural dogs are what I thought of when I read James Graham's CiF piece on Clegg's leadership and Paul Walter's response. The exchange is one of the most useful I've read about Clegg since the leadership contest. Essentially, Paul defends Clegg from a number of charges laid by James, who falls into camp critical [...]
I have received the following response from Postwatch, the Post Office watchdog, following my complaint about Post Office Limited's handling of the Post Office closures - see below. It is extremely interesting to note that "Postwatch Scotland did advocate for a longer consultation period however the Government decided to proceed with a 6 week consultation." Cllr Fraser Macpherson Dundee City Council 4 August 2008 Dear Cllr Macpherson Network Change Programme Thank you for your email of 1 August 2008 to Professor Alexander. He has asked me to reply on his behalf. I note your deep disappointment with Post Office Ltd's ...
MP's have said that children should not be employed by MP's and it is something that i am against. If the child can do the job to a standard that another person would have done the job at the same wage then they is no reason why MP's shouldn't employee family members. I find that it is getting harder and harder for the youth to find jobs so it is great to see MP's employing their own children or if MP's employee other young people then i am totally supporting MP's who do that. But the Problem's start to occur ...
Today the Liberal Democrats who were harassed by a conservative with his campaign have been justified as the ill minded conservative was bought to justice. The Conservative who harassed rival Liberal Democrats was arrested a few weeks ago and now is being brought to justice. The Liberal Democrats have called upon David Cameron to look into the procedures and activities carried out by the Conservatives in Watford. This low life conservative was so low that he used to damage property belonging to the Liberal Democrats and he used to silent call them. Well i am still surprised that the conservatives ...
I've just come across an excellent article about John Lilburne, the great agitator and liberal who was falsely called a Leveller by his opponents (including Cromwell). Its a great look at someone who was well before his time, a truly radical liberal who believed in individual freedom and equality before the law. He objected to the [...]
Today Ian Oakley, the former Conservative PPC for Watford, (and the former Tory manager for Ali Miraj's 2005 Watford General Election Campaign) has pleaded guilty to five charges of criminal damage and two of harassment against the Liberal Democrats and their supporters in Watford. He has also asked for a further 68 crime incidents to [...]
Catching up my Economists - I'm three weeks behind - I read about Belgium's continuing trials in staying united and setting up a viable government. Belgium's problem is that it is not country as such but a collection of 3 regions: Wallonia; Flanders and Brussels. The article is subtitled 'another step in a low country's slow unravelling' and I an inclined to agree. On a more positive note, this brings me back to an idea I considered back when I was a bit cleverer, i.e. at college, for allowing the EU to grow more organically. If you will permit me, ...
I thought the Government's idea of sending out letters to parents telling them that their kids were fat was bad enough. However, that has been surpassed by the utterly useless and spineless comments from the Tory and Lib Dem opposition. Tory health spokesperson, Andrew Lansley, said "If we are to avoid stigmatising children after being weighed then there needs to be sympathetic follow-up care but Labour have failed to address the chronic shortage of school nurses." Great Andrew! Yeah, let's tell little Johnnie you're a fatty but don't worry, the school nurse will give you some one-on-one counselling! Lib Dem ...
Sara Bedford has the lowdown on the former Tory PPC who has pleaded guilty to a campaign of harassment against his Liberal Democrat rivals. Ian Oakley, who stood down as the Tory candidate in Watford last month, admitted five charges of criminal damage and two of harassment. He asked for 68 other offences to be taken into account. The Liberal Democrats have called on Tory leader David Cameron to hold an "urgent inquiry" into the procedures and activities of the Watford Conservative Party.
Hahahahaha Michael Gove, he of anti-lads mags fame, accepted a £2,000 donation to his constituency office from NutsTV. He, and Cameron for that matter, will think twice next time they try to position themselves using this sort of paternalistic authoritarian crap. What a dunce. As Julian suggested a couple of days ago, a photoshop of this hat on Gove's head, and Osborne's from a couple of days ago would be great. If anyone fancies doing it, that'd be amazing.
Sara Bedford has a pretty full run down of the incidents against Watford Liberal Democrats which led to today's conviction of former Tory PPC Ian Oakley for harrassment and criminal damage. Mr Oakley was forced out of resigned from the Conservative party and as PPC two weeks ago, although oddly enough, he's still sitting (and presumably [...]ShareThis
Interesting contribution to the debate on the scrapping of car parking charges in Welsh hospitals in today's South Wales Evening Post. In the letters page one person explains what happened when his mother tried to visit Morriston Hospital: Most people were pleased when parking charges were scrapped by hospitals. However, parking that was once difficult is now next to impossible.Last week, my wife took her 87-year-old mother for a blood test and found cars queuing to get into car parks and every road packed, with many cars parked on yellow lines. My wife could not leave her mother while she ...
The Times is running a story about Maliki's recent assault on the Sadrist Mahdi Army in Basra. Deborah Haynes uses the language and tone of someone who is shocked and appalled that British, unlike the Americans did not help out. After all Basra is meant to be UK turf. The horror is that the UK had an agreement with the Mahdi Army not to fight them. Now Moqtada al-Sadr is considered enemy number one by Maliki and the US, even though there is a huge ammount of hypocracy in this. The British, it appears, have taken a far more reasoned ...
I've forgotten to list my top ten political blogs as part of Iain Dale's annual bout of self publicity round up. Unlike others, I won't be partaking in any "boycott." Sure, the fact that it is edited by Iain and mostly publicised by his blog, it will have an inevitable Tory-bias, but so what? Iain can only dominate these things because Iain's made a success of blogging. I don't begrudge him that and have no wish to besmirch success in the interests of levelling down. If you want "balance" then organise your own list/awards. I have (the CGB awards) - ...
I mentioned strange goings on in Watford the other day, well it appears Ian Oakely, who was the Conservative candidate, has pleaded guilty to five charges of criminal damage and two of harrasment. He also asked for 68 other offences to be taken into account, making a total of 75 offences.
Another editon of Calder's Comfort Farm is up on the magazine's website: Last time I visited the Statesman offices, Julian Clary was holding court. I elbowed my way through the crowd to congratulate him on the publication of his first novel. Eyeing the broad acres of the inside back cover, I suggested he would soon be giving up his column. "No," he replied, "I like to keep my hand in."
Over the past three years, members of the Watford constituency LibDems (of which I am a member) have suffered from a sustained campaign of harassment, intimidation and hate. Today the Conservatives' parliamentary candidate Ian Oakley, who stepped down only after he arrested and then charged two weeks ago, pleaded guilty to seven specimen offences and asked for a further 68 to be taken into consideration. The police report said that Oakley admitted that he intentionally harassed LibDem activists with the intention of 'leading to his own victory in the General Election'. He also admitted that he was 'driven to change ...
Last night's meeting of the Bury Lib Dems was well-attended and very enjoyable. Unfortunately my ineptitude in sending out the papers meant that a number of participants were wrongly directed to the other side of Bury, but I survived the onslaught of angry late-comers, and live to fight another day. I am back on work today, which is just plain rubbish. It galls me that despite tremendous scientific progress in the last hundred years which has seen everything from global communications to man exploring outer space, nobody has come up with a plan which sees me not getting up at ...
More here from BBC News.
One of the less remarked upon aspects of Nick Clegg's "Make it Happen" campaign is the deliberate attempt to appeal to a younger female demographic as part of the initiative: Rumours that Cleggy will be doing a burlesque striptease as part of his speech this autumn, or that the title of the party's final manifesto will be "Flashdance" are, however, entirely specious. Share This
I have done numerous posts on the right-winged Government of Italy. The Government is using illegal immigrants and gypsies as a scapegoat. Their deploying troops to their streets. Their even going to do finger print tests on gypsy children and put them on a database! UNICEF has criticised this and the EU is worried. The rise of the right in Italy is extremely worrying. No Surprise that the BNP reports of what is happening in Italy with pride. Yet more evidence of the worrying situation.
Ian Oakely, the Conservative candidate for Watford and Hillingdon councillor*, today appeared in court and pleaded guilty to five charges of criminal damage and two of harrasment. He also asked for 68 other offences to be taken into account, making a total of 75 offences. A fuller piece will follow later today, but in the meantime [...]
Plaid Cymru AM, Helen Mary Jones has an article in this morning's Western Mail arguing the case for Welsh independence. Under the heading 'Independent Wales is our goal for a thriving future', Helen Mary doesn't so much present an argument as a rhetorical plea to national pride. The sentence that stands out for me is where she states that 'strengthening our constitution is the key to delivering social justice for our citizens.' Actually, that is not the case. If we want to deliver social justice then we need to strengthen our economy and invest in education and training, both considerably ...
It's gone unremarked in the media here, but a huge online petition is being run in Pakistan against terrorism. Started by the Yeh Hum Naheen (YHN) Foundation, a Pakistani NGO, it is currently growing at the rate of more than a million signatures a day, assisted by a mix of offline and online campaigning, including [...]
The problem with the patriarchy is that it doesn't just oppress women, it oppresses men too. Sadly, some women like this, and now that some brave men are starting to deviate from the socially acceptable stereotype, some women are getting shirty about it (hat tip - mooism). Words cannot express how fucking stupid and short sighted I believe this to be. Why don't we just let people be people without making judgements on their worth if they show a bit of emotion?
Unlike Jonathan Calder, I am motivated to disagree with James Graham's piece on Comment is Free about Nick Clegg. James starts by saying that Nick has done quite well in the polls, with his tax cut pledge and with his summer message. He then goes on to criticise the man. Well, hold on a cotton picking moment. That's like "What did the Romans do for us?" Nick Clegg has faced a huge battle to
At Nelson Town Hall a large group of Hackney Cab Drivers gathered to protest about Mr Khan's takeaway. Last time these people got together they stopped his Taxi Base which was among the popular taxi bases in Pendle opening by getting it refused permission The Hackney Driver's are scared Mr Khan a Local Business man will take away their business if he was to open his Takeaway which has no relevance to the hackney drivers but they believe it does. Then among the crowd of spectator's and protester's Afzal Anwar PPC was their talking to constituents and doing what he ...
OK to the Olympics at Beijing will not be allowing any regional flag etc if it is not part of the recognised country that participants are presenting. There goes the colourful array you'd expect in the cycling road races as the Basque or French departmental flags are a tradition at the Tour de France. Should an American senator turn up at the game would he not be allowed to wear a pin of their
The Watford Observer is reporting that Ian Oakley, who until recently was Conservative parliamentary candidate for Watford, has pleaded guilty to two counts of harrassment and five of criminal damage. He has asked for 68 other offences to be taken into consideration. This follows a three-and-a-half year campaign of criminal activity in Watford directed against Liberal Democrat candidates, councillors, members and supporters in Watford. Many of the victims were not even party activists but merely people who displayed posters at election time. Although this case has triggered national coverage, I have resisted commenting in public until now to allow the ...
I am no expert on agriculture, but I trust that the weather that we have been having of late has been good for our local farmers. The quality of local fruit and vegetables has been particularly noticeable to our household, thanks in huge part, to the Community Fruit & Veg Project that operates out of the [...]
Fresh from ditching the policy after the 2005 election disaster the Tories have revived the 'pupil voucher' scheme. Bertie Wooster-ish Michael Gove has announced that pupils will be given a voucher and the poorest will be given a premium to make them more attractive to schools. That sounds very familiar. The Tories will of course cry that it is not the same, that it will be printed on different paper and have a new picture on it but, as the old phrase goes, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Now this new ...
I've just put a survey up on Liberty Research about future plans for Flock Together. Very surprised by the results so far. Encouragingly, some easy things that I hadn't thought were a priority are scoring very well! If you'd like to take part, it's at http://www.libertyresearch.org.uk/take/421.
Someone at the Herts and Essex Observer appears to have a sense of humour. (This may or may not be obvious after Saturday, should you be reading this then) (And yes, I appear to have been memed by Mr Graham - answers soonish, hopefully)
For all my readers from outside Darlington, frustrated at being able to read about the saga of the rising bollard, but unable to catch a glimpse of said creature, here is a nice photo of it. Yes, it's back: surrounded by unsympathetic tarmac instead of its lovely cobblestones, but once again rising and falling as our French engineers intended. A miracle of modern technology, it proudly
With the Lib Dem Blog Awards 2008 Nomination Opened. I would like to ask reader's of this blog to nominate me if they please for Best new Liberal Democrat blog- my Blog if you please http://www.irfanahmed.tk/ Best use of blogging or social networking by a Liberal Democrat- this is the bebo group that i started which is the largest Bebo Group on the Internet of Lib Dem's www.bebo.com/libdemsupporter Email them to ecampaignteam@libdems.org.uk
Dropping my kids off at Gatley Holiday Club (in the Scout hut, but moving to Gatley Primary School from September), I spotted some bags of rubbish fly-tipped on the carpark at the top of Gatley Hill. I was poised to phone the Council and get it sorted out, when our Labour opponent, Colin Owen, leaves the Scout Hut already on the phone to the Council. Perhaps we need some sort of star chart and we can all dash around the ward trying to spot the issues first :-)
The change to the lights at the Kingsway junction I mentioned back at the beginning of June has now been implemented. For southbound traffic on the A34 turning right towards Gatley, the right-turn is moved to the end of the phase (i.e. traffic goes straight ahead and left first, with the right-turn light staying red, then the northbound traffic stops and the right-turn light turns green). This allows a left-turn filter for traffic coming from Gatley, giving even more time for cars going from Gatley onto the M60 or into Manchester to get through (and, as a side-effect, giving more ...
This advert on DanceWeb caught my eye. Not something I've got the talent for, unfortunately, but flamenco dancers in Gatley looking to take their skills to the next level might want to check it out. Intermediate Flamenco dance classes with Araceli Garcia. Monday evenings at Gatley Hill House, Church Road, Gatley. (near Manchester) 7:30 till 9:30. Dancers must have knowledge of Flamenco techniques. Classes provide live cajon and a professional guitarist.
Nick Clegg MP, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, has launched an exiting new vision for Britain, and is asking for your views. Nick says:It's time for a change in Britain. Families are over-stretched. Things look bad for the economy. Schools and hospitals don't seem to be improving despite all the extra money and hard work by staff. People don't believe politicians care, or really listen. I want to do things differently. I've always thought that if we want things to really change for the better, we've got to open things up. We need to make sure people get heard, ...
{Kashgar market} I spent three days in Kashgar, the scene of yesterday's attack on some Chinese police, and where I took this photo in its famous and busy market, a couple of months ago. It's a city with a long and glorious history - first as one of the key trading points on the 'silk road' with a famous international trading market - and then in the nineteenth century as a key location in the 'Great Game', the epic power struggle between the British in India and Russia, for control of Central Asia. The opening of a Russian consulate there ...
What the BBC says: A US military jury has retired to consider its verdict after the two-week trial of Osama Bin Laden's former driver at Guantanamo Bay. Yemeni Salim Hamdan faces life in prison if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism. What the BBC fails to mention: Even if acquitted, he will probably remain in custody as [...]ShareThis
Tue 5th
07:45
LDV members' survey, August 2008 (2): what you think of Make it Happen's tax-cutting agenda
All this week, Lib Dem Voice is publishing the results of our first ever survey of party members. Some 133 of you accessed the survey via our private members' forum. We don't pretend it's a representative sample, but that doesn't mean it's without value either. We hope you, LDV's readers, find it interesting. Perhaps the [...]
Saturday saw the first game of the league and an away jaunt to the place where the Lions ended up last season, all the way up to Perth to take on St. Johnstone. At that game the Livi fans had the aim of keeping their manager in place which they did temporarily until the owner sold out to the new Italian Leone owners. Meeting up before the game we went into the new Carling Italian Bar, the former
Of course, the Guardian isn't irredeemably in the pocket of the Labour Party. On Friday, they reported on the Electoral Commission's misgivings over Labour's new campaign finance proposals. Politics is irredeemably linked with money. Politicians spend money (ours, for the most part), raise money for campaigning, and tell people what they can or can't do with their money. As a Liberal Democrat, I
You probably, like me, saw this over a year ago but just in case you didn't check out this stunning, simply stellar candidate for mayor of Tokyo.
Here's a first. I found myself in agreement with Norman Baker over the weekend. To me, Norman Baker is like Prince Charles and George Monbiot. Whatever stance they take on an issue, it's usually a dead cert I'm on the opposite side of the argument. So imagine my surprise when I read this letter in the Daily Telegraph: Sir, Arriving at Heathrow this week, I saw signs warning me that a set of doors might open (isn't that what doors do?) and, at the luggage carousels, that "trolleys operate in this area" (surprise, surprise). It isn't only at Heathrow. The ...
Who were the kids that were taunted at your school? The fat ones? Well, not content with leaving playground bullying to children, the Government want to get in on the act. The Department of Health (DoH) has announced the new National Child Measurement Programme where all reception class children (four and five year olds) and those in year six (aged 10 to 11) will be weighed, and parents written to if their child is too chubby. So far, forty per cent of health trusts nationwide have agreed to take part in the initiative. Defending the programme, Will Cavendish, director of ...
Actually, culture fans, try this, the stretch version...
... so now you can all suffer too. http://www.channelflip.com/2008/07/31/peter-cushing/ It's going to be stuck in my head for DAYS now. Ignore the advert at the beginning, though.
Just across the water from Whitstable, police were clashing with protestors near to the planned Kingsnorth coal fired power station on the Hoo Peninsula. This links to the BBC report. I have to say the footage doesn't show the police in the best possible light! The police in helmets have distinctive MP markings on the back of their helmets, meaning they were drafted in from the Metropolitan
Sunday: The SUSPICIOUS thing about the Sunday Hate Mail's leaked memo... well, ONE of the suspicious things... is that it was supposedly written last autumn in the aftermath of "The Labour's disastrous conference". So which conference would that be? Because the one I remember had the entire Labour Party buoyed up and convinced that they were about to call AND WIN a general election. The wheels only started to fall off the FOLLOWING week when Mr Frown flew into Iraq just as Master Gideon was promising tax cuts for millionaires. Between them, these two developments led to the bottled election-that-never-was. ...
