Too tired to give you actual thoughts of my own; here are some that belong to other people. Brilliant internet campaign strategy in Kansas. Yes, THAT Kansas. Nick Cohen provides a hymnsheet for secularists to sing to. In soviet Russia, harrassment sexes you. Note to self, don't EVER move to Russia. Meanwhile, in not-soviet USA, bloggers tax government! Bwahahahahaha! (in case they put content up, The Green Top has capped it). If you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear from a national DNA database, right? Three from Sp!ked: The Privatisation of Politics, Don't Blame Parents for Cotton Wool Kids ...
One of the problems that keeps coming up from constituents is trees. It seems at odds with the fact that we have enjoyed the lovely scenery and such beautiful trees in the last few days that people are complaining so much about them. The problem is when a "Council tree" overhangs a garden and the elaves drop, so people want the tree cutting back. However Council arborists are very reluctant to...
I did so enjoy the break away, but remind me, never again! Only 2 days away, and i was keeping up with a number of issues on the blackberry whilst away, but ..... Piles of post, masses of e-mails to read attachments of, phone ringing. I sometimes wonder if you leave problems for 2 minutes they start breeding! However, determined to continue our "holiday at home" we did get out mid afternoon to...
I'm glad that the BBC have an editors' blog - it makes it possible to ridicule cretins who believe that the Olympic opening ceremony is more important than Russia invading Georgia. Comment #2 is spot on.
London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon and the Lib Dem team at City Hall helped ensure that the 155 bus stop at the junction with Clapham Road and Fentiman Road was re-opened far sooner than Transport for London originally planned (full story below). It would have not been re-opened until September, but after local Councillors raised it with City Hall they put pressure on TFL and it was open again by the start of August.
The Beijing Olympics have started and I for one am looking forward to watching the opening ceremony when it is aired here tonight. There have been a number of posts all across the blogosphere about the political aspect of these games and I can't disagree that with China's woeful human rights record and seeming lack of freedom that this rates as one of the more politicised games in recent history. But I can't help but get the feeling that people are forgetting that for the 11000-odd competitors that will take part this is the absolute pinnacle of their careers. If ...
I am sitting on the train at Kings Cross, waiting to head up to the North East for a weekend of food production and meeting constituents. There will be more details soon on my allotment blog of what my food production issues involve (anyone interested can check it out at www.self-sufficientinsuburbia.blogspot.com towards the end of the weekend) but hopefully it will clear out the freezer of as
I am delighted that the significant disruption to the Perth Road/Nethergate shopping area caused by Scotland Gas Networks' replacement of the gas main, looks set to come to an end during the next week, some six weeks ahead of schedule. This has been a very difficult period particularly for local businesses but also the inconvenience to residents, with no or limited through traffic and the bus services having to be diverted. I think everyone appreciates that the gas main work was absolutely necessary but I am pleased it has been finished ahead of schedule and that the Perth Road east ...
{untitled-1.jpg} NEW TOWN CENTRE RETAIL PROJECT RECEIVES A GREEN LIGHT The Wharf Retail Park development, which could create scores of new jobs, has been passed by North East Lincolnshire Council's Planning Committee. The Henry Boot Development is planning to create 11 stores and 27 flats in the £ 30-million project which will revitalize a derelict part of the town centre. As reported in the Grimsby Telegraph, plans for the development were previously deferred because of concerns over congestion and traffic management. The plan was redrawn and now a one-way road over the river from Frederick Ward Way will give shoppers ...
Well we've all seen the silly conservative Ad's but this next one is an Army style Ad a bit like a recruitment to an Army at War. Well if they is an Army at work it must be the conservatives with in their Party fighting Terrorising Candidates and trying to stop elected Politicians from Scamming the System!
This short essay will attempt a Psychological analysis of what it is to be a blogger. In no way will it pertain to be a definitive rendering of the Psychology behind blogging. Perhaps Bloggers decide to blog for different reasons. Perhaps also there are some converging aspects to the minds of bloggers. Peter Black has given a thorough examination of the potential that blogging has. Highlighting the Internet as a new media where people can engage others. Bloggers are expressive people. They are the modern Samuel Pepys and Dorothy Wordsworths. Modern politicians such as Tony Benn and Alan Clarke have ...
In the USA the Republicans are paying Bloggers and Commenter's to leave comments and to blog in Favour of the Republicans for Prizes and Points. Well if that was the case with in the Liberal Democrats that really would help people like my self who are finding it very hard to get a job as i would Blog Full time. SO Nick Clegg Please take this Republican Plan on board and Pay us Bloggers.
After being determined to ignore the Olympics because I felt so strongly that China, a dictatorship, with appalling human rights, should not have been allowed to host the Games, I found myself watching the spectacular opening ceremony on the tiniest screen in the waiting room of a dental surgery, where my daughter was receiving treatment, and I was tasked with bringing her home. I saw the parade of all the countries and their teams, and found myself moved to tears when the pathetically tiny contingents appeared bravely waving their flags from war torn countries like Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan, and ...
Or at least that's what is happening in the US. On Sky.Com News this evening we highlighted this article from the US as one of the top stories on the web. Apparently, Republican bloggers and blog commenters are being offered points and maybe even prizes to place comments defending Senator John McCain and his policies. They are even sending out proforma comments for activists to use and websites to target. Euugh! Frankly, I can't see it taking off. The whole point of web 2.0 is that it is independent and spontaneous. Maybe Senator McCain should get on the web and ...
A few months ago, I noted that a debate was taking place on Conservative Home regarding what appeared to be a rather shambolic, and remarkably undemocratic looking selection process for the Conservative regional lists for Europe. I wasn't gloating, as I was a democracy activist before I joined the Party, and those who know me will know how committed I am to due process and transparency. My
For those of you wondering whether or not I was going to get a response to my e-mail to Rachel, it gives me much pleasure to announce that I've had a reply. I'll publish it once I get an opportunity. It isn't necessarily what you might expect...
While working on a Focus this afternoon my kids insisted on turning over from my usual afternoon background fare (TV5 Monde) to watch the Olympic Games opening ceremony. It scared the hell out of me; if you've ever doubted that the Chinese invented fireworks, you wouldn't after this. An excellent show combining elements of Chinese culture with sport and entertainment - and nothing of Nuremburg, Nich! But then it was produced by the Director of 'The House of Flying Daggers'. So why am I scared? Because I'm looking forward to the 2012 London opening ceremony. Produced by Boris Johnson and ...
Concerns have been expressed regarding the safe operation of the PUFFIN crossing on Roseberry Road, Redcar. The ideal solution to the concerns regarding the pedestrian crossing and the exit from Roseberry Square shops would have been a vehicular exit via the adjacent development onto Low Farm Drive and to this end the Highways section have been chasing the developers to consider this as a viable option when designing their scheme. Unfortunately, the developers concerned do not see this as a reasonable solution in the best interests of their development and have therefore refused to consider a link up to the ...
Don't get me wrong. I love techie geeks. Really I do. I love the open-minded culture and the sophisticated humour and the liberal politics. I'm really just a techie geek in medieval historian's clothing (there's a mental image for you). And no-one is more of a fan of pressing quirky little fields of esoteric knowledge [...]
The Case that sparked Trouble between the Muslim and Danish Community is going to the European Courts according to a report. The Cartoon the Danish drew of the Holy Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him is now going to the European Court. Well that cartoon sparked tension and it was very insulting i just hope that the Court rules against the Newspaper and gives them a tough conviction so they don't do and thing like that again as it insulted Muslim's across the World. What do you think?
Just read a post on a fellow Lib Dem Bloggers Blog and i come across something very interesting. The Link leads you to the post. The Post is about how the Liberal Democrat Press Releases are now hitting the newspapers faster then ever before. Yes we have been a party of people who have never got a lot of Media Attention but it is now changing the Ball is now in the Liberal Democrats Court and we are going to use it to our advantage. Like the Editor of the Nelson Leader said "its a three horse race in ...
So they published the National Risk Register, the list of the Big Scaries that the Government is having "success" dealing with. Lest we misunderstand the intention behind publishing this list: These are the things that will all happen if the Tories get in, of course, and the fact that we've not been bombed, attacked, or caught a deadly strain of Flu is because our Government is uniquely on the ball and committed to negating these threats. Of course, the Flu story, along with the Georgian/Russian war that's brewing, and the Chinese Olympics will give them much needed breathing space from ...
In the Guardian, Matthew Taylor and Dave Hill reflect on 100 days of Boris as Mayor of London. The overall picture is "the jury is still out", that Boris is genuinely charming and: He is bright enough to pick up anything but his attention span is short and detail bores him. Interestingly, Tony Travers from the LSE is quoted as saying that the Ray Lewis affair may not have done Johnson any harm
The Middle East peace envoy sent a digital postcard with the charming message: "Wish I was back?" Will he have your support for the EU presidency? (The image is Banksy)
I have to say that that was one of the most spectacular Olympic Opening Ceremonies I can ever remember. Congratuations to the organisers of the Beijing Games. Lord Coe, I think you have your work cut out Sir!
One might suppose that the market fundamentalists who have been running successive UK governments since Thatcher would know a thing or two about markets. Specifically one would think that they could ensure that a given market was reasonably efficient and competitive. Unfortunately this is clearly not so in relation to the railways as a small piece in yesterday's FT reports: The Competition Commission has found that conditions imposed by the government on companies that lease carriages to the train operators are stifling competition... [This] will come as a blow to the government's management of the private rail network. The Dept ...
On "wit and Wisdom" Blog i have been mentioned for having polls that the writer enjoys the link to the Post is Below:
Afzal Anwar on the Pendle Liberal Democrats is now going to be leaving his thoughts and opinions on Party and National Politics. So people who haven't until yet heard from Afzal a lot Please keep Visiting Pendle Liberal Democrats Website. Afzal is starting his campaign full steam ahead and the People of Pendle Should watch out as a lot of Liberal Democrats Publications will be hitting your letter boxes with all the latest info from the Liberal Democrats. So Watch Out for Afzal!
The Guardian's senior political commentator examines the party's fortunes in today's online political briefing. It makes interesting reading: Nick Clegg has issued a reader-friendly pre-conference document, Make It Happen, which will be discussed at his party conference in Bournemouth from September 13-17. If endorsed, it will mark the first Lib Dem shift towards a lower overall [...]
Diamond Geezer has kindly thanked me (among a cast of hundreds) for linking to his blog. Although based in Bow E3, he casts a bright eye over London as a whole; it's his love of our city and its history that first caught my eye. For example, read his postings about the Regent's Canal, [...]
I can't believe it. I have just sent a press release to the local papers on behalf of Ann Haigh, our PPC and within minutes it is on the Epping Forest guardian website. What an impact!
So the Tory myface, spacebook and titter ads are increasing apace to the point where I don't have enough time to give them the ridicule they deserve! Today's apparently depicts an extra from Take That. Forget Lord Kitchener, if anyone could send me into battle against the hun it would be Robbie Williams' body double. (Posts on LADY BLUE RINSE and the origional GRANPAPPY VETERAN)
This sign has been reported as out of action. This plays an important part in reminding drivers that Camden Road is a 20mph zone. Highways officers will send out contractors shortly to fix it.
For those who are surprised that Norman Baker should have come third in our poll of most-rated Lib Dem shadow cabinet members, much of Stormin' Norm's popularity is the result of his championing of causes just like this: A collection of 22 cross party MPs are launching a campaign to end the tradition of swearing allegiance [...]
COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS RECOMMENDATION No. R (99) 41OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS TO MEMBER STATES ON PRINCIPLES CONCERNING THE LEGAL PROTECTIONOF INCAPABLE ADULTS (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 23 February 1999at the 660/I' meeting of the Ministers' Deputies) The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 15.b of the Statute of the Council of Europe, Bearing
I bet Gordon Brown is kicking himself for not going to the opening of the Olympics. They looked fucking awesome on the telly!
In working on an ECtHR application which hopefully over time we will publish I have reviewed X v Croatia that refers to two pieces of international law (nothing to do with the EU). The European Convention on Adoption is one. This shows how far out of line England is on these issues. The second is Principles concerning the legal protection of incapable adults this is not available in a text form
The Scotsman reports that the Lib Dems are going to come to the rescue of the SNP to ensure that the council tax is replaced by a local income tax in Scotland: SNP ministers are prepared to do a deal with the Liberal Democrats which could see every council in Scotland set its own income tax [...]
I'm not a huge fan of polls such as the Iain Dale one but I figured we have to make ourselves heard to be in the game so here are my votes. No offence to anyone not included but these are my favourites. 1. Libdemvoice (http://www.libdemvoice.org/): the authoritative voice of the Lib Dems online and a must read for party members 2. Liberal burblings (http://paulwalter.blogspot.com/): Paul Walter is interesting, interested and always entertaining 3. Linda Jack (http://lindyloosmuze.blogspot.com/): an intelligent commentator on a range of subjects 4. James Schneider (http://schneiderhome.blogspot.com): very good for international matters 5. Alix Mortimer intelligent and ...
Yes. The Bones Commission. I can almost hear a collective snort. Already, on the Lib Dem blogosphere at least, the words 'Bones Commission' and 'derision' are starting to sound like committed companions. Why is that so? When so many of us really have no idea of what's in it and the few places where we have been given an idea of what it contains are more interested in selling copy and stirring the radical in us all then actually being accurate. Those of us who know people on the various committees, FE and FPC, may well have heard a bit ...
A surprising answer on Wednesdays edition of The Weakest Link. Anne Robinson asked, and this is not the question exactly, I wasn't taking notes, What is the name of the elite fighting force created by Donald Stirling in 1941?. The contestant looked puzzled, brightened and answered The LibDems! I suppose that means the SAS are by election specialists with a forceful approach to pavement politics!
Visited Sylvia Lawla Court - a residential supported block for older residents. Absolutely lovely little place - brilliantly situated for the shops and transport of Wood Green and clearly well run. And a very happy bunch they were. Definitely cross about those on the breadline with a fixed income state pension and nothing else facing rocketing prices - pushing some into financial difficulty. Other key issues were about the time having to wait for ambulances as only two hour slots given - meaning a resident has to wait in the hall downstairs for that length of time. Will see if ...
Michael White's article in the Guardian today (A Lib Dem tax revolution?) previews what is likely to become one of the major themes of the Lib Dem conference later this year. Although White seems a bit behind the times in covering Nick Clegg's call for a lower overall tax burden, he is right to focus on Vince Cable's apparent intention to shift away from the parties emphasis on a Local Income Tax. Putting either of these items up for discussion within one party conference would undoubtedly be controversial. Putting both up (although reports on the Local Income Tax remain very ...
I knew I'd heard that slogan somewhere before... How strange that a bank seemingly has the same message to get across as Nick Clegg!
I am sure it is not just me who feels that the Olympic opening ceremony looks like "The Triumph Of The Will", the infamous film of the 1934 Nazi Nuremberg Conference. The scenes of children marching in lines, eulogising the flag and the party, everyone in the stadium organised to stand and applaud at the right times. Jack booted soldiers marching with a high kick step (like Basil Fawlty's famous impression of the German's in Fawlty Towers) as they carry the flag aloft, and most bizarre of all children standing with their right hand aloft in what appeared to be ...
Well the SNP are talking of maneuvering on their position on Local Income Tax after objections from Westminster that setting the rate centrally may well be illegal. They are to open discussions with the Lib Dems about moving the policy forward with the local authorities in Scotland setting the rate for their area rather than Holyrood. All three Lib Dem leadership candidates have stated correctly
Last night was the annual general meeting of the Rainsough Tenants and Residents Association (TRA). I am pleased to say that a new committee has been elected, with a new Chair taking over the reigns of the TRA's work. The meeting allowed some of the residents and tenants to air their views on a number of concerns, notably crime and the ongoing issue of the shops. The next meeting on 2nd September will see the Police present, and we can start to address some of the concerns brought up last night. The shops issue is obviously still going on, and ...
Maldon DC, Maldon North Con 339 (40.8; -8.2) Green 200 (24.1; +24.1) Ind 115 (13.9; +13.9) BNP 107 (12.9; +12.9) Ind 69 (8.3; +8.3) [Independent Maldon Democratic Alliance (0.0; -51.0)] Majority 139 Turnout 26.5% Con hold Percentage change is since May 2007 Nottingham City UA, Wollaton West Con 2769 (62.2; +15.6) Lab 1042 (23.4; +3.0) LD Glyn Johns 424 (9.5; -4.5) UKIP 220 (4.9; -3.5) [Church of
Bath and North East Somerset Council is being urged to take a lead on environmentally friendly commuting and set an example to businesses in the local area by cycle-keen Lib Dem Councillors and Don Foster MP. Historically Bath and North East Somerset Council has been slow to assume a leadership role in promoting green travel choices. Now Councillor Paul Crossley (Southdown) has asked the Council to join the Cycle to Work scheme which offers employees VAT-free bikes, repaid by loans that are exempt from income tax and national insurance, through a salary sacrifice system. Cllr Crossley commented, "Cycling is not ...
An SNP Millionaire Councillor took his family to Afghanistan to a Militant camp to make them watch him fire an AK47. The SNP even showed his young children how to fire using a AK47. Well is this person capable of helping the community and being a People's Councillor if he took his young children all the way to Afghanistan to watch him fire a gun. This Councillor should be fired from the SNP and he should resign his seat as i believe behaviour like this from anyone isn't acceptable and especially not from a Councillor. What do you think? ...
We are always told that the Olympics should not be political. Our government refused to mandate a boycott of Beijing because they have no control over the British Olympic Association. The Iraqi team last I saw was waiting to hear whether they could go because the Iraqi government recently sacked the entire national Olympic committee. We're not supposed to score political points over this "greatest show on earth" of "amateur" sporting prowess. So why are so many politicians spending fortunes of our money falling over themselves to be in Beijing? Troughs...pigs...hmmm, spare ribs!
There's a chap I stumbled across I think when he left a comment on my blog about my little trouble with Labour leaflets during the local elections. Philip Thomas is a Conservative councillor in Pontefract, but really a libertarian who happens to have joined the Tories from what I can gather (not all libertarians claim infallibility!) A week or so ago he blogged about the moral panic going on about knife crime, much the same as I did I guess - that it's not the knife that kills or injures but the person holding it for that purpose. Like my ...
Hello to the person who came to my blog while searching for "Lembit's best friend". Not me, sorry! You could try asking around in the Grapes pub in Newport, allegedly.
Some of you may have noticed LibDemBlogs going down today. Turns out after two hours of code checking and finding nothing odd, I discovered that my webserver had run out of file space. This meant that the dump file of all the blog posts couldn't be saved in full, and in turn made LDB look ugly. Luckily for me I only needed to delete some rather large temp files to get my file space back to normal. Hopefully future service will be a bit more realiable.
Good news at least in part today as we hear that the highly-controversial licence extension application for 79 London Road has been withdrawn. It seems that applicant saw the scale of objections and did not wish to proceed with the application. As a result, next week's hearing has been cancelled. I'm hoping this will put a stop to the serious disturbance caused to local residents by late night events at this venue. The applicant has exhausted it's Temporary Event Notices for this calendar year and cannot apply for more until January 2009. This means that recorded music cannot be played ...
There's a timely reminder for other members of the YMRCotIGBSA on discworld today: remember, if you mention the number between seven and nine too many times you'll be ate alive ;)
Right, if anyone actually cares, I'm probably going to upset a few people with this, but please, don't take any of this personally; to whittle down the 300 or so political blogs I try to "always read" down to just ten was nigh on impossible. To then put them into some kind of order was pretty well beyond me. In the end I kind of chose blogs that sort of represented the various types of blogs I read - you know, ones with think pieces, ones that are group blog type sites, ones that comment frequently, often briefly and incisively ...
Never could get the hang of Thursdays. But this is particularly bad one as it is in fact Friday but not according to poor old Lib Dem Blogs.......and Ryan Cullen must be having a bit of a mare this morning. As you can see Lib Dem blogs is currently last updated on Thursday. But not yesterday for this particular Thursday was in fact the 1 January 1970 before I could walk, talk or blog. Now while
It still remains the most memorable and most bizarre news story of my teenage years. Today's Guardian has put Joyce McKinney back centre stage. Whatever happened to her? Now we know. Perhaps it would have been better if we had remained in blissful ignorance. Ian Cobain takes up the story: Utter the name Joyce McKinney to Britons of a certain age, and you are inevitably rewarded with the briefest flash of incomprehension, followed by a gasp as their memories take them tumbling back to the dark days of early autumn, 1977. It was a miserable time: there were clashes on ...
Yesterday Chris Huhne set out the party's approach to cutting youth crime: "If we want to tackle the problem of youth crime, we need to take action early to stop kids from embarking on a life of crime before it's too late. "The old parties are falling over each other trying to be tough on crime, but [...]
This morning's Western Mail poses the question: 'Is this the end of the blogger?' I have to accept some of the blame for this rather bizarre piece as it seems to have been inspired (if that is the correct term) by my piece in Agenda in which I point out the decline in the number of Welsh politicians embracing the medium. Nevertheless I strongly disagree with Robin Turner's conclusions. Robin writes: 'There was once a time when blogs abounded - even politicians were clamouring to leap aboard the blogging bandwagon. But with some bloggers running into legal problems, and a ...
The Mail reports a group of 22 MPs wish to end the oath of allegiance to the Queen, but rather to swear an oath to the nation and constituents. I believe this is absurd. In constitutional terms the monarchy is the state as it is the only confluence of all pillars of the state (not society in case you're confused Maggie). This needn't be dictatorship or autocracy as power is totally bestowed, and always constitutionally on loan, and as we know the office is wholly nominal in that sense. Now we can discuss different forms of Government as many have ...
I will be on Sky.Com News this evening at 7.30pm, looking at the top stories on the net of the day. It will also available online. And I promise neither to look like Shirley Temple nor say 'Hello' like Margaret Thatcher. Like I did last time.
Can the people who have messed Lib Dem Blogs up Please give it Back as a Blogger needs to read other Blogs and i cant get to the Best Quality of Blogging if Lib Dem Blogs is Down. WE WANT IT BACK!
Though not perhaps quite in the way you'd expect. SNP councillor Jahangir Hanif took his children to see him firing off an AK-47, whilst Conservative councillor Philip Thomas has been praising a meat cleaver and two machetes as being "cool".
The youth of today "Lack Role Models" is something the Princes Trust is saying. This brought to my mind a episode of Question Time where someone said that the Leader's in the Communities aren't the Politicians instead they are people who have got a good understanding with the people and are known through out and listened to. Well i think that is the issue Politicians yes are meant to be the Leader's but in our society we have community leaders who i believe if Politicians worked with then the youth would have better role models and i believe would help ...
When I studied argument at Slough College Thames Valley University, as part of a business management diploma, one of the people we looked at was Enoch Powell. A fascinating, but chilling man. As an exercise, we had to study a passage from one of his speeches, and critique it. As I went through the text, phrase by phrase, I marvelled at the perfection of it. Every statement elegantly followed on
46) Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders (London: Headline 2006, ISBN 9780755334148). So much good stuff in this collection it's hard to single anything out, but the one that is still haunting my thoughts is Other People, which is so much like my personal vision of hell that I think Neil Gaiman must have been inside my head at some point. 45) Fouad Ajami, The Dream Palace of the Arabs (New York: Vintage 1998, ISBN 0375704744). A thoughtful and at times lyrical account of how the post-war history of the Middle East has felt from the inside. Not ...
Dontcha just love the Echo? Whoever wrote this headline in yesterday's paper about a leakage of chocolate ice cream from a tanker lorry deserves a 99er: "Clunk, lick - every trip: Sundae driver's nasty choc as ice cream spills onto road." Later in the same edition is the regular Echo Polnocy column. Written in Polish, with no English translation, I recognised two words from this week's column:
Oh dear, dear, dear. Poor old Lembit comes bottom of the LibDem Voice poll of Shadow cabinet members. I am rather surprised. I thought I was part of a small clique of Opik-low-raters. I like Lembit. But he has always ridden two horses - trying to be a serious politician while appearing on TV programmes laughing at men playing the xylophone with their....er...honourable member and other similar
Michael White, the journeyman of the Guardian politics department, sets the scene for an interesting time at Bournemouth. He gives Nick Clegg some credit for allowing Vince Cable room to breathe, and mentions the recent LibDem Voice poll: Cable, effortlessly authoritative on economic matters, is the man the broadcasters want to interview. To his credit the likeable leader - at 41 he is 24 years
I am currently in Blackpool with some friends. I came up last night and will be back tomorrow - its just a quick little break.
The Post Office have published their consultation document on closing Goswell Road Post Office. And they've been refreshingly frank about why they're asking Islington residents to lose another post office branch - if we lose Goswell Road it will be the 13th to close under Labour. The first paragraph of the consultation document reads:"The Government has decided [...]
The abuse of the provisions relating to the "capacity to instruct" a solicitor continues in the Family Division. It appears now that this is a special trick used by some social workers and legal departments to prevent people from fighting the system.
Those of us of a certain age have memories of Joyce McKinney and the "Manacled Mormon" case in the back of our minds somewhere. The Times helpfully provides a reminder of the details: In 1977, the former Miss Wyoming stalked her lover, a Mormon missionary, to a tabernacle in East Ewell, Surrey, allegedly kidnapped him and held him in a cottage in Devon. There, the 17-stone Kirk Anderson claimed, his petite, busty admirer tied him to a bed using mink-trimmed handcuffs, slipped into a see-through nightie and forced him into sex.At a remand hearing she declared her love for the ...
The anti-knife march being organised for 20th September has now been taken up by the Daily Mirror. More information here.
The Polisario's UK representative, Lamine Baali, came for lunch yesterday. He arrived just two weeks ago, though this is actually his second London posting. He spent the intervening dozen years based in Stockholm. In the interim, much in Britain has changed. John Major's Conservatives have been replaced by New Labour, though now it is Gordon Brown's [...]
Fri 8th
07:45
LDV members' survey, August 2008 (5): how do you rate the performances of the current shadow cabinet...
All this week, Lib Dem Voice has been 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 [...]
No, this isn't a piece to do with Ian Oakley, although the events surrounding his activities in Watford have given me some food for thought. As a bureaucrat, I don't tend to do much 'retail' politics, although I've been seen near the frontline more frequently of late. On the other hand, I do read across the blogosphere and have become increasingly aware of the coarseness of a minority of the
Watching Labour Minister Caroline Flint being mauled by Kirsty Wark on Thursday evening on Newsnight showed just how far Labour have fallen, not just in the way they don't seem to care, but also in the way that they now propose things, deny them then try to cover for their mistakes. Labour's latest massive error is, of course, to have let it be known to the press that they were considering waiving stamp duty on house purchases. It appears, in the first instance, that Labour are completely unaware that the last time this was done it made things worse. But ...
The Mirror has the story of Conservative councillor Philip Thomas, who used his blog to claim that knives aare cool and to post films of fights. Mr Thomas boasted he has "a huge meat cleaver and two massive machetes" he bought "as much because I found them cool as their practical use". He threatened to use them on burglars and said: "In foolish moments..I wave them around and make swishing noises". Mr Thomas, who represents Pontefract North on Hillingdon Wakefield council, is also a teacher.
OK I realise that tomorrow is the Edinburgh Leadership hustings for the leadership of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and I've so far been fairly quiet on that front. (Although there are 4 unpublished drafts back here which you lot can't see) Bernard Salmon has asked his questions and got his answers from the three aspirants. Both he and J. Arthur McNumpty also point out the sad state of online
One in three young people, according to a survey by the Prince's Trust reported here, "do not think of their own parents as people they respect". I can't say I have ever been more moved by a single statistic about the attitudes of young people. Now we could become very Daily Mail about this and call for measures to make them show respect (National Service/ prison-meaning-prison/ 'make them clean it up' etc - choose your own favourite), but the essence of the problem is surely to do with a rootlessness of mind that is now endemic in whole generations - ...
Anyone fancy two months free DVD rentals? No catch? With an entry into a £5K prize draw as well? Thought so. Go here, type Q43MAKAPX into the box on the top left, and fill in the details--you can cancel the sub before they start charging, it's a nice little service that, for example, let us have the whole of series one of Heroes fairly efficiently, and every one of you that enters that code also gets me and SB an entry in the prize draw too. So, y'know, 2 months free stuff and possibly win me some money. A plan ...
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post.20:09 remembering about this Twitter thing after another pretty girl added me... #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
The Sun and the Telegraph have both commented on the BNP selling replica Victoria Cross medals for £12. It's not illegal, although the Ministry of Defence has condemned the sale as "an insult to both he Queen and our brave personnel". The problem is that 'fake' or replica VCs are already sold by the National Army Museum, at Chelsea, although at least the proceeds go towards running the charitable institution, rather than into the pockets of a political party like the BNP. Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry won the VC four years ago, after saving 30 colleagues in Iraq. He condemned ...
I read yesterday that Boris Johnson has appointed Rosie Boycott as London's new 'food czar' to lecture us on what we eat and how we grow it. I was about to prepare a blog entry when I fell upon a comment by Obnoxio the Clown, who made my points far more effective than I could. He concludes by saying: Oh great! Just what we need, another bossy, nannying, hectoring, clumsy-beekeeper-faced, chatterati dilettante telling us how we need to live our lives. Boris, sack the bitch and stop fucking about with this trendy lefty shit. London has more important things that ...
