Several Liberal Democrats have asked me about a technology called Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) , where CO2 is buried in the ground, and whether I would support coal-fired power stations if they were fitted with CCS. There are, I think, at least four problems here. 1) CCS doesn't really exist yet. Ask any expert in the field (unless they work for the energy companies or the government) and they will tell you that it's 20 years off, maybe 10 if a wartime effort is put into development. There are some small scale experiments going on, notably in Norway. But ...
This time last week, there were reports that the Treasury were considering scrapping Stamp Duty, or at least giving buyers a holiday from the tax, to help kick start the dire housing market. By Tuesday, Housing spokesperson Caroline Flint, was despatched to the TV studios to hold the line that it was just one of a number of initiatives the Government were looking at. As the week came to an end, Estate Agents were warning that prospective buyers were pulling out of deals in the expectation that Stamp Duty would be waived. By Saturday, the BBC was reporting they had ...
Chef has gone to the great school canteen in the Sky. I shall listen to Love Gravy in tribute.
Still on holiday we today were chased by the rain, up the coast to Aberystwyth. If you've not been there it is a pretty little town with a ruined castle guarding the shoreline and a valley squeezing a picture book Georgian town against the shores of a black sandy beach. (I should be writing guide books!) Between showers we wandered up the main shopping area searching for crap presents to inflict on work mates and friends alike. Our son was keen to find a "must have" lego set (Thank you Argos) to make his childhood not that complete disaster we ...
Dyson is planning to build an engineering acedemy in Bath. All the secondary schools want it, most residents want it, our Bath MP wants it and the Council through its planning committee decided to approve it. As a Councillor on the planning committee it was a difficult decision. The design is modern and the site is in a flood zone. However we decided on balance that the flood issue could be...
It's holiday time for us so living in such a beautiful part of the country and with the credit crunch and all we have gone on holiday to ......Wales. A mere five hours drive ,to be next to the sea! To be fair the self catering house we are staying in is simply stunning, literally perched on a cliff it and carved from the cliff face it has four massive windows pointing out to sea a flat grassed roof you can stand on to watch the sun go down (with a glass of wine in hand) and is miles from ...
I can not deny that I am much troubled by the appalling news from Georgia. The obvious determination of Russia to destroy the hard-won independence of the country is the writing on the wall for the future. Russia has gone well beyond hard-ball. The bombing of Tblisi, and the news that the Georgians are evacuating Gori- a city well inside Georgia proper suggests, pehaps, that Russia intends to occupy much of the entire country. The message that the Kremlin is giving is that any state that presumes to challenge Russian power can expect the use of every weapon in the ...
The CBI has warned that the UK economy is deteriorating faster than it previously thought. The employer's organisation believes "that the mood has darkened in the last two or three months," its director general Richard Lambert warned members in a letter. Forecasters, including the CBI, had been "over-optimistic" about the economic outlook, he added. High inflation and slowing growth have prompted fears of a possible recession. The level of inflation - which most analysts expect to surpass 4% when the July figures are released this week - had taken people "by surprise", Mr Lambert said in the letter, seen by ...
Bath is a real singing cities with more choirs per head than just about any part of the UK. Grenville Jones - one of our many Choir Maestros has three choirs and a singing charity for older people. One of his choirs - the City of Bath Male Voice Choir - now two years old - got through all the heats to the first round of public voting. Saturday saw all six excellent choirs sing in the Last Choir...
My brother and his two children - all now fully fledged Americans - visited England from Florida. They had been supporting Hilary in the Democratic race and were pretty incensed that Florida votes had been discounted in the process. As a Barak supporter from day 1 and as someone who has lived with the unfair voting system we have in the Uk my whole life I had little sympathy for his case. The...
This report from the CBI tells us all what ordinary people already know. The economy is up shit creek, and the only paddle in in Gordon Brown's hands and he is currently using it for firewood. Oh, and would anyone like to tell me where I got the headline for this story from ? No prizes, just the glory of being correct.
I don't except the way Cameron describes us as a "broken society". I don't believe the tories have ever been in touch with reality and viewing the country as a "broken society" shows that. It suggest snobbery as well, it makes Cameron look like an elitist, because it suggests he has the moral and social high ground to look down on society. If Cameron knew the people, he would know society isn't broken. Of course there are horrific things happening out there, domestic violence, violent crime, binge drinking, etc. But the reality is the vast majority of us a genuine ...
Thanks to the magic of TV on demand, I have just watched the first part of Richard Dawkins' series on Charles Darwin. Although Dawkins's preoccupation with what he sees as the evils of religious belief is not quite to my taste, he ought to be interesting and informative on Darwin and evolution. Yet the whole programme was punctuated by the false dichotomy between religious belief and acceptance of the facts of evolution, as if the two were necessarily mutually exclusive. Dawkins appeared to be putting these as antagonists to a school science class. Either he managed to find the largest ...
From todays www.electoral-vote.com John Edwards' former temporary girlfriend, Rielle Hunter, does not want him to take a paternity test. Her attorney said that she was a private person and she was convinced that Andrew Young is the father, something Young admits. Edwards says he broke off with Hunter more than 9 months prior to the birth of Hunter's daughter. How come everybody's got an attorney
As Stephen is off on his hols, I've offered to collate the 77th of our weekly round-ups (27th July - 2nd August) of the seven most popular click-throughs from LibDemBlogs, plus another five that you might have missed. Let's get straight down to it, in traditional descending order: 1. Comment is Bonkers on James Graham's [...]
... and specifically, the last link in her post here. View Poll: Donald ETA: OH MY GOD matgb JUST ADMITTED TO OWNING THE SINGLE!!! That's it, the wedding is off!
I seem to be stuck in the sixties at the moment, but there are worse places to be. So let's have what in most moods I regard as the best song of the decade. It is timeless yet also, with its references to "Terry and Julie" - usually assumed to be Terence Stamp and Julie Christie - entirely of the period. The YouTube poster claims this is a live version, but it sounds remarkably like the single to me. But never mind if they are miming - I have always loved the way you think the bass is never quite ...
The CBI has warned that the UK economy is deteriorating faster than it previously thought. The employer's organisation believes "that the mood has darkened in the last two or three months," its director general Richard Lambert warned members in a letter. Forecasters, including the CBI, had been "over-optimistic" about the economic outlook, he added. High inflation and slowing growth have prompted fears of a possible recession. The level of inflation - which most analysts expect to surpass 4% when the July figures are released this week - had taken people "by surprise", Mr Lambert said in the letter, seen by ...
Georgia is like a Terrier barking at a Lion. It is no wonder that it is Georgia backing off, it would be suicidal for them to continue a war with the military giant that is Russia. Despite Georgia backing off, Russia is continuing. They've destroyed a Georgian naval ship and they are continuing to air raid Georgia. President Bush has spoken obviously in a tone backing Georgia, he's called for things to return to how they were before the battles, for Georgia's territory to be respected and for Russia to stop the air raids. I strongly believe we must stand ...
After months of planning it was the John Owens Trophy football match today, and John was breaking the habit of a life time and doing the "kick off". John has written about the match on his blog which will be published tomorrow, and the pictures will be there too. I'll just add that whilst I was chatting to people so many of them said what a good idea it was to have such a match between a...
I have just been contacted by a local young man telling me about something that he went through today and he has asked me to do a post on it. The young person went to Morrisons to ask them for an application form and they said to him we are not going to give you an application until you bring your passport. Thinking that it was an age issue he sent in a young person to get the application and the store give it to the young person. He then went home and come back with an application and then ...
It was great seeing the cyclist Nicole Cooke winning the first gold medal for Britain! I wonder if she knows how much her sport owes to a former Mayor of Kingston? Eileen Gray CBE, who was Mayor in 1991-92, was almost single handedly responsible for turning women's cycling into a high quality international sport. Eileen was a top class cyclist herself, and was one of the...
Remember the official line that the Olympics isn't political and therefore has nothing to do with human rights? So do I. I came to this conclusion and decided, albeit with great trepidation, to get my fix of gymnastics and diving, regardless of the geographical location of the games. However, my little denial of the horrendous stories of human rights abuses handed to me by Amnesty International, has been shattered. One would think that an awards ceremony, thus following this logic, would be free from politics and would celebrate the achievements of the sportsmen and women. One would also think that ...
Sunstein and Thaler's Nudge has rather captured the imagination of British politicians. Well Conservative ones mostly but also at least one Labour MP. Mick Fealty explains all in his post Left, right or Nanny? And I am not simply linking to that post because it links to one of mine. The book "offers a unique new take-from neither the left nor the right-on many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike." Apparently, Barack Obama is very keen on it. The question Mick asks is, will politicians from either party actually begin to nudge and stop nannying? Nudge is not the ...
According to the People, Gordon Brown has got caught up in a sex scandal. Well sort of. His personal trainer rather enjoys the personal with more than one person at a time. Will all this sexy stuff rub off on Brown? Perhaps I should rephrase that? But you get the point... no that doesn't quite work either. Too much Carry On when I was a child I am afraid. And who says watching films as a child doesn't affect you?
Andrew Hickey's second Big Finish A Week is Doctor Who and the Pirates. I couldn't have put it better if I had written it myself. ♥ Evelyn. The New York Times has put up pictures and vital statistics of Olympic Athletes. These people are physically fit enough to be representing the USA at the Olympics. They come in ALL shapes and sizes. Something for the body fascists to consider, perhaps. Anton Vowl (on LC) has a faking!it style guide to pretending to be a Daily Fail reader when commenting on the intertubes. It's depressing how many of these I hear ...
I've been tagged by Andy with a meme to identify how to "fix" Doctor Who. The discussion was started by (former?) Who novelist Lawrence Miles. This I learn from Andy's blog - which is named for a quote from Lawrence, incidentally - and not from Lawrence's blog, which I don't read. I stress that because the meme sets out 25 headings to respond to and I've read those and Andy's responses, but not Lawrence's initial explanations. So apologies if I misconstrue his intentions at any point. Here's Lawrence's introductory blurb: The following 25-point programme may not be a way of ...
Antony Hook (Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Candidate for South East England) and Chris Davies MEP (Lib Dem Environment Spokesman) joined over 1,500 people at a peaceful protest ("Climate Camp") against a proposed new coal power station in Kent. If built, the new power station will put 700 million tonnes of carbon pear year into the skies [...]
So, the nominations are coming in for SB's Very Prestigious Blog of the Year Awards, and already a couple of favourites have emerged. Here's who has been nominated so far: - Best Fandom Blog by a Single Person lizbee Andrew Rilstone x2 Tetrapod Zoology Lawrence Miles Karen Healey - Best Political Blog by a Single Person kiji_kat Sexual Intelligence syreene Slactivist The People's Republic of Mortimer Bad Science by Ben Goldacre Stuffed and Starved matgb - Best General Blog by a Single Person innerbrat x2 Mitch Benn The Yorkshire Gob Adam Buxton Pharyngula by PZ Myers Wil Wheaton minnesattva - ...
Bit of a dry topic, but it's one that comes up a fair bit when you have a child. At my daughter's school, there is, as far as I know, no draconian policy banning photographs at school plays and sports days. On these occasions there are usually many camera-toting parents and relatives present. In fact, the staff regularly take photographs of the children doing the cool things that the under-tens get to do all day while the rest of us are out working, and sometimes offer copies of them to parents. This makes me and my daughter the lucky ones, ...
{national-year-of-book-reading.jpg} {neil-cartright-and-community-chest.jpg} Community Chest a local East Marsh Charity, which operates the Home Shop at the top end of Freeman Street has smashed its target to hand out thousands of free books to schools and children's centres. To coincide with the National Year of Reading, the charity launched a project to distribute books that had been donated to them. To date, more than 5,000 have been donated and distributed - which was the original target for the entire year. Community Chest is pleased to say that they have donated 250 books to the East Marsh Children's Centre and a further ...
Christopher Nolan's latest Batman film, The Dark Knight, has caused quite a stir. Last week's Sunday Times carried a piece about the level of complaints because of its violent content, then came Iain Duncan Smith and now Camila Batmanghelidjh in The Independent on Sunday. All the criticisms centre around the contention that film violence leads to real violence. This argument isn't new. When Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange was released the newspapers ran a story about a homeless man being beaten to death. Ergo, the film was the cause. There have been a log of studies about the impact of screen ...
I am doing an award for the Laziest Councillor in Pendle Council and or Nelson Town Council. If you would like to nominate a Councillor then email me at irfanahmed91@gmail.com the names submitted will be presented to the Reader's of this Blog and they can decide who is the Laziest Councillor of 2008. Please Submit All Nomination into me by the 31 of August!
Afzal Anwar has spoken up in support of the plans released by the Liberal Democrats to tackle youth Crime. Afzal Anwar: "this proposed document is one I very much welcome, it is very important that we face the issue of youth related crime and offer the offenders an alternative to crime and offer a brighter future full of prospects and opportunities." He added "I am proud of my party's efforts on crime reduction strategies and I hope most people out there welcome these also it is important that we collectively build a better, safe and secure society for generations to ...
To People who haven't Voted in my Poll Please visit the poll @ http://irfanahmedblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/poll.html and Vote and Please keep Promoting to others.
The BT phone box opposite St Mary's Park on Bury New Road is to be removed shortly. I found out last night, only be walking past it and seeing the sign inside. I don't know if people living closer have been told or not, because this is the first I've heard of it. I know that BT have a duty to provide phone boxes, and in these days of mobiles I suspect that they all lose money hand over fist. I can't imagine who would use them regularly now, except for members of the Soprano organised crime family, and people ...
A resident has contacted me about speeding traffic on Butterstile Lane. It reminded me to follow up my own concerns actually, because recently I've driven down that road wondering when exactly Prestwich agreed to open its own Drag Race Speed Way on that street. I don't know why some drivers treat Butterstile Lane like Brands Hatch, but they do all the same, and it's exceedingly dangerous - it's a residential street with double parked cars, a row of shops and a primary school on it. It's not on at all that people should be speeding down it, and whilst the ...
The Yorksher Gob continues to entertain. Yesterday Jennie (for it is she) offered this remarkably nuanced thesis of equivocal thinking on the monarchy: Bloody Republicans make me SWEAR. (that's anti-monarchy republicans, not American members of the GOP) They're such sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, patronising A******ES.If you don't want to murder the queen in her bed and dance on her
Yesterday I was supposed to do one of the most athletic things I've done in a long while by climbing Snowden, which is the tallest mountain between here and Australia (if you drive to Liverpool and then get a boat to Sydney). Unfortunately the heavens came to me, rather than the other way round, as a deluge which lasted for 18 solid hours put my climbing adventures on the back burner, and washed away a large part of my garden. In my extensive mountaineering experience (I got the cable car up Mont Blanc in 1994), a sure sign that attempting ...
Politics can be a tough business. People have genuine conflicts of ideas, as well as rival ambitions. And when MPs demonstrate greedy self-interest or hypocrisy, it gives all politicians a bad name. But I still believe most people in politics are decent and dedicated - despite the arguments and accusations that fly at election time. So [...]
I am still not entirely sure what one calls classic Borisisms. Is it Borisisms? Or Borisms? (A similar dilemma to: Is it (or indeed was it) Obamamania or Obamania? - I think the latter won over). Or should it be Borisinalia? Doing a quick google, it seems that "Borisisms" wins. There is a list of 20 here. So I don't know why I bothered to wonder about it now. Sorry. Any road up, Decca
There was mention in the media on Friday of the LibDem Voice survey where Nick Clegg came lower than a few of his shadow cabinet colleagues in popularity. What seemed to be lost in the excitement is that the same poll gave Nick Clegg a 68/29 (%age satisfied/dissatisfied) rating. If you compare that with David Cameron well after he had settled in as leader he got a much worse 58/40 rating in a
Yesterday I covered the opening speeches of the 3 candidates Mike Rumbles, Ross Finnie and Tavish Scott. Today I'll look at the answers they gave to the 10 questions that ended up being put to them from the floor. Plus take a brief look at the impact this hustings seemed to have on some of the people present. (If the question setters are reading this and I haven't totally accurately reported the
I have a piece on the Guardian's Comment is Free site about the rumours that Vince Cable is not too keen on replacing the Council Tax with a local income tax: I was a newly elected Liberal Alliance councillor back in 1986 when the Thatcher government began consulting over the introduction of the poll tax.Conservative members didn't want it phased in over 10 years: they wanted it at once. You could see the pound signs in their eyes as they calculated how much they and their neighbours would save.As a dutiful Liberal - it was party policy even then - ...
{nathan.JPG} Earlier today I went for a walk over to Grant Thorold Park with Nathan my eldest grandson, and he wanted me to have a game of football. Fortunately for me a young boy (probably about 9 years old) came over, and asked if he could have a game with young Nathan. I asked him to be careful, as Nathan is only 4 years and 10 months. However, they got on great, and grandad was able to watch from the sidelines. Nathan's new found friend Josh was a little gentleman; he was helping him out, and encouraging him all of ...
It doesn't feel like five minutes since the football season ended but yet here we are again.
Update i Have added some new Websites and Blogs to the "Interesting Links" Section.
Parents will be getting £150 bonus's from the Government to pay for soaring fuel Bills. Well the Prime Minister went to Saudi Arabia to try and solve the problem with the soaring prices but i don't think anything has happened as they probably laughed at him when he asked them. Well Brown thinks this extra £150 pounds is going to help his party to bag the Votes for the next General Election then he can think again as the people aren't that silly as everything that has happened in this last year is because i believe to the fact that ...
Whilst talking to my local Town Councillor he told me that the Conservative Town Councillor Paul Mckenna had a Blog. So when i had time i googled him and it lead me to a blog that he last posted on the 27 July 2008. The Blog is Called "Paul Mckenna A New Direction for Southfield". Well i am actually quiet impressed to see that from Pendle it isn't only Lib Dems who blog and we have a conservative. I have to say he writes a good blog oops shouldn't have said that as the blog is Promoted by George Askew ...
The Sunday Times reports that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling has been accused by his own backbenchers of acting "irresponsibly" for creating confusion over proposals for a "stamp duty holiday". The Government had attempted to seize the initiative a few days ago by touting scenario of the Government abolishing stamp duty but the failure of the Chancellor to confirm or deny the rumours just created uncertainty and left many house buyers in limbo. The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said that one in four members had seen agreed house sales fall through as a direct result of ...
Many Conservatives, understandably, want to distance themselves from their former PPC in Watford, Ian Oakley. Indeed, his behaviour was extreme and I suspect and hope, that this was very much a 'one-off'. There are a good many honest, hard-working Conservatives out there, often seeking to achieve the very best for their communities. Sad to say in my experience though, the Conservative Party has attracted and continues to attract a significant undesirable element. Loud-mouthed, aggressive and thriving on conflict, this element is increasingly prevalent in areas where the Tories are strong and where they think they should be. Sadly, they are ...
I have just returned home and stumbled upon an article on the BBC website, which I hope will inspire some of our world leaders. Today, Russian and Georgian medallists pleaded for peace as they shared an Olympic podium for the first time since the conflict between their countries. Russia's Natalia Paderina won silver and Nino Salukvadze of Georgia bronze in the women's 10m air pistol event. They finished behind China's Guo Wenjun, who took the hosts' third gold. "This medal is good for Georgia, especially during times like this," Salukvadze said after sharing an emotional embrace with her rival, and ...
This week the revised traffic accident figures for 2007 were published, and they confirmed the previous good news about a sharp fall in the number of deaths in road accidents: 1994-8 3,578 (average) 1999 3,423 2000 3,409 2001 3,450 2002 3,431 2003 3,508 2004 [...]
What? Everybody Else is Having a Blog Awards, So Why Can't I [/cranberries]? Winners will get a shiny banner to display on their blogs, if they aren't too embarrassed, and everything! Phase one, which will end midnight on Saturday 16th August, is The Nominations Phase. Please copy and paste the list of categories below into a comment, and put a link to the blog you are nominating next to each one who your nomination in that category would be. The Categories are:- Best Fandom Blog by a Single Person (for example lizbee, Andrew Rilstone) - Best Political Blog by a ...
Police are appealing for witnesses after a robbery in Yate last Thursday evening of Thursday, August 7. The victim was walking home down an alley that connects Station Road to Milton Road at approximately 11pm last night when she was approached by a man. The man threatened her with a knife and made her hand over money. He then made off with £25 back down the alley towards Tesco Express. The suspect is described as white, in his late 20s, with a slim build and spiky short dark hair. He was clean shaven but is described as having a scruffy ...
From yesterday's telegraph (see link): In his most outspoken criticism of the Jersey authorities, Mr Harper told the Telegraph: "I can quite clearly say that the investigation is being held up. There are people on the island who just don't want us going down the route of this inquiry"
Closure dates have been announced for two of our local post offices. The PO counter in Station Road, Yate (Tesco Express) will close at 1pm on September 5th, and Old Sodbury's PO counter in the village shop will close on September 4th. Obviously the Old Sodbury closure will have a major effect on the village, although the shop will try to manage without the PO facility. Meanwhile the Station Road closure will have a major effect on the large number of elderly people in the area - not everyone can get to the Shopping Centre easily. It's clear that the ...
MPs are calling for a British Bill of Rights, which would go further than existing human rights law. The cross-party Joint Committee on Human Rights wants to include greater protections for vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. Currently, our main protection in law comes from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) - an international treaty - and the UK's own Human Rights Act (HRA), which makes the ECHR into a part of our legal system, and says that UK law has to be compatible with it. My initial reaction was worry. Are we talking about legislation to ...
Sun 10th
11:33
136% leap in yob crime blamed on all-day drinking, as police struggle to control city centres
Labour's decision to allow 24-hour drinking has led to a shocking increase in anti-social behaviour, new figures have revealed. Public order offences have soared by 136 per cent in the past four years as police struggle to contain a surge of alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder in town centres across the country. When the licensing laws were relaxed in 2005, many MPs, senior police officers and anti-alcohol campaigners said the changes would have a disastrous effect. Now figures released under the Freedom of Information Act disclose their fears have been borne out by a huge rise in the number of people ...
In the past few months, I have become greatly involved in an initiative to campaign for and promote the concept of digital local TV for Dundee, Fife, Angus and Perth & Kinross. With the support of TayScreen and the Institute of Local TV (ILT), an initial working group has been formed, consisting of representatives from the production, business, business development and college/university sectors in Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth & Kinross. I was pleased to welcome representatives to an initial meeting some weeks ago to obtain views on developing regional TV stations and broadcast transmission capacity and potential demand for ...
I was interested to read this morning about the man who blasted Cher and U2 from his home has had his stereo equipment, and music collection destroyed. Karl Wiosna of Graig, near Pontypridd, was warned to turn down his music by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council after complaints were made. He was served with a noise abatement notice, which he later admitted breaching. As a result, his two tape and record decks, his radio and his tapes and CDs were seized by the council. All of Wiosna's equipment has now been destroyed and he was also fined £265 by local magistrates ...
Mr Brown has said that Britain is not broken and it is a "decent and compassionate" Country. Well if he was to stay Prime Minister and the status of economy continued declining like it is i can guarantee Mr Brown will Break it. He thinks despite what has happened in the past year with the Polls against him three By Elections that the Party Lost he still believes he and his party can steer the country forward. With Miliband Posing as a threat the coming months are going to be decider's for the Government and the Labour Parties Future.
After Blackpool I went o Coventry for Dionne's housewarming BBQ - despite the rain good fun was had by all.
It's a year since I started this blog. So happy birthday blog; and thank you to everyone who has read, commented or linked during the past 12 months.
How many people realise that this year is the 100th anniversary of the Old Age Pension Act, which was introduced by the Liberals, and which received the Royal Assent in August 1908? This act meant that all elderly citizens were able to stop working for the first time, safe in the knowledge that they would still receive enough to live on. Today the number of pensioners has increased, and the value of has declined rapidly compared to average earnings, but a hundred years later the principle of the State Pension remains.
Yesterday saw the first of four official Scottish Lib Dem leaderhip hustings in Edinburgh. It was a miserable morning - wet, grey and cold, but even so the room was almost full. It was a good opportunity to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen for ages. I'm not going to go through their speeches in detail - Stephen Glenn has done that very well himself with a different posting for each candidate. I want to give a bit of an overview with my own views on each performance. Tavish delivered a competent speech outlining his ambition for the ...
According to the Times everyone with kids will get a £150.00 pay out towards rising fuel bills this winter. Personally, considering the damage done by the 10p tax fiasco, I think the last thing this country needs is to have the noses of the very poor rubbed in the fact that the 'middle class' will get a perk (nice meal for the family or a couple of takeaways or a new set of scatter cushions...) while they just get a sop towards the crippling price of energy now. (Average bills must now be about £1000.) It is bizarre that a ...
An interesting slant was put on the affair by senior Green councillor Steve Rackett in this week's Watford Observer. Steve has called into question the legitimacy of three election results in Watford Borough, saying: "Clearly campaign workers and party activists can not function as well when they are being subjected to intimidation and harassment. It calls into question the legitimacy of the results and the legitimacy of [the councillors'] mandates." In the past two years there have been three close elections, where the Conservatives have won by 2,3, and 47 votes respectively. All were wards in which Oakley had been ...
Florrie Forde at her singing best... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aa1WnBz4R9g This is of course the Bull and Bush pub in Hampstead North End. It has been a pub since about 1721 (earliest recorded license) and became a popular day trip location for londoners and accepted travelling parties and visitors. The pub is listed and has just enjoyed a major refurbishment. Hogarth the artist is amongst those credited with drinking here... The lyrics in full: Come, come, come and make eyes at me down at the Old Bull and Bush, Come, come, have some port wine with me, Down at the Old Bull and ...
Despite the withdrawal of Georgian troops from South Ossetia, the Russians are continuing their attack. It is now quite clear that Russia intends nothing less than the seizure of both South Ossetia and Abhazia, the total military defeat of Georgia and the overthrow of the democratically elected Georgian President, Mikheil Saakhashvili. The folly of the Bucharest summit, which failed to invite either Georgia or Ukraine into NATO is now revealed. The objections of France might have been expected, those of Germany are simply reprehensible. The fact that Georgia, like Germany in 1949, faced partial occupation by Russian military forces and ...
I cannot claim to be an expert on the Caucuses, but Russia's invasion of Georgia marks a new chapter in Russia's relationship with her neighbours and her standing in the international community. A few months ago, Georgian attempts to join NATO were scuppered by concerns led by the Germans that it would antagonise the Russians. It begs the question what would have happened if Georgia had been invited to join NATO? Would Russia have been prepared to take the action we have seen today and to risk war with the West? Is it another example of how well motivated appeasement ...
A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece calling for military intervention in Zimbabwe, arguing that warfare is the only language Mugabe understands. Tonight, there are reports that Zanu PF and the opposition MDC have struck a deal that will see Morgan Tsvangirai becoming PM (in a partnership with a Mugabe presidency). I am staggered that Mugabe has gone down this route, and remain sceptical about whether he will see the deal through. Yet, it would appear for now that my call for military intervention was premature and that diplomacy, led by South Africa, has been successful. It is ...
There's nothing like an insider's view to get a real insight into the workings of a local party, so I was fascinated by Watford Conservative Craig Lewell 's view on the Ian Oakley case, posted at ConservativeHome. The spelling mistakes are all his. I actually took part in the candidate selection process in Watford and was part of the commitee that selected the candidates to go through to the open primary as I was a young Parish Cllr in the seat. (Sara: A co-opted Parish Councillor, who lost as soon as he was up for election) The candidates that we ...
No, not those "E's" that make you a little bit more chirpy and empathic when you're out at a club, but E grades at GCSE level... BBC NEWS | Health | Low marks linked to schizophrenia Low marks linked to schizophrenia A lack of diligence and attention at school could be early signs of illness Poor performance at school could indicate an increased risk of later developing schizophrenia, a study says. UK and Swedish researchers followed more than 900,000 children born between 1973 and 1983. The Psychological Medicine paper found getting an E grade in any GCSE-stage exam was linked ...
