Sometimes, when you're a Liberal, life presents you with a moral dilemma. One of the things about being me is that I sometimes get odd cravings. Don't worry, dear reader, I'm not pregnant, it just happens every so often. So, tonight, when returning home from walking the dogs, I got a real urge for melon. And once my body decides it wants something, nothing else will do. Mat offered to go to the 24 hour Tesco for me, but I demurred. My craving, my responsibility. Tesco is about five minute's walk away. I set off, saying hello to burlesque_bunny and ...
Labour MP and former Minister Nick Raynsford has an intriguing article on the New Statesman website today. His basic argument is that Labour's position is closer to that of the Conservatives in their depths of unpopularity in 1990 (when they went on to win the next general election) than that of their depths of unpopularity [...]
I have spent an emotional day with Georgians. "My best friend- I have known him since he was six- is in the artillery in Gori. I do not know if he is dead or alive". "The lines are down, I don't know where my family is" Make no mistake -this was a war of Russia's choosing. As the government of Georgia make a stand in the compound in Tbilisi, Russian troops have roamed at will across the country. The defeat is complete, but Russia continues to pretend that Georgia fights on. The latest nonsense is "Georgian agents are creating terrorist ...
I wasn't going to do this, but I am fed up with people talking about South Park...
There is a nice article by James Harkin in The Times today, occasioned by the publicity that Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein have been getting for their book Nudge recently. He writes: Good for Nudge. But there is a cautionary tale here, and one to which all aspirant salesmen of ideas should pay heed.Wonkish books occasionally hit the big time but their shelf life is often fitfully brief. How much influence can the authors of Nudge expect to wield in five years' time? Go to any second-hand bookshop and bear humbled witness to the debris of big ideas past, books ...
Two heavyweight AM's have been talking about Protesting at the Senedd. Peter Blacks blog today describes Nick Bournes letter in the Western Mail . Peter mentions a Youtube that was cited in blogs. The brave Crazy Dave shows how to really protest outside the Senedd. His video 'Welsh Assembly in Disgrace' can be viewed on Youtube. Its a great view and it shows one man who really knows how to exercise his freedom of speech and liberties we enjoy in the United Kingdom. Its a difficult situation for Peter. He is all for Freedom of Expression as one can see ...
200,000 more children from working families are trapped in poverty than when Labour came to power - a rise of 10% since 1997. For the first time in eleven years, the majority of children living in poverty are from homes where at least one person is working. In the UK, 52% of children who are living in poverty live in families in which someone is working. 48% children in poverty live in households where nobody works. In 1997, this was 46% and 54% respectively. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jenny Willott said: "Labour has neglected families who ...
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I've had a few queries over the last few weeks from local residents about Eldon Square Gardens, including "what's happened to the path?", "where have the gates gone?" etc Unfortuanately due to no fault on the part of the Parks Team, the project has suffered a number of delays which have hampered it's completion. This doesn't detract for a moment from the huge amount of work that has gone into the restoration of the Gardens and the massive improvement which has taken place. I had an update today from officers about the restoration projects, the main points are as follows: ...
For those interested here is a list of rowers at the Olympics who are blogging about their experiences: Blogger Athletes from Beijing Frances Houghton GB W4x on the BBC Tom James GB M4- on his own site Drew Ginn Australia M2- on his own site Duncan Free Australia M2- on his own site Jochen Kuehner Germany LM4- on Rowperfect Richard Chambers GB LM4- on the Guardian Adam Kreek Canada M8+ on CBC Jason Read USA M8+ on WSJ's China Journal Row2k has three bloggers: Heather Mandoli from Canada W8+ Mahe Drysdale New Zealand M1x on New Zealand Olympic Committee site. ...
Watching Richard Dawkins' excellent series on The Genius of Darwin this evening, I was rather struck and surprised to see a trailer for a programme called The Perfect Vagina delivered through plastic surgery. It must be my protected upbringing but I hadn't realised 1) the availability of this service and 2) that there are women who would want it! But according to the advertisement, the justification for one woman was that hers currently resembled a root vegetable. Strange though that Channel 4 are promoting the programme at this particular time. Not because it was broadcast before the 9pm watershed but ...
I'm writing this from the Dordogne, which is said to be full of Brits - and I have seen a few. But on the way down we stopped for a couple of nights in Creuse and that really was packed with ex-pats. The place we stayed in (Maison Numero Neuf) was run by a British couple, and featured great cooking. Some of the other guests were looking for a place to live. On the terrace of a restaurant of a nearby town, scarcely on the main tourist routes every table seemed to be occupied by an English family. It is ...
Can blogging hand support to Wales' fragile civil society? To do so blogs ought to inform, challenge and help shape opinions. They need to highlight what they think it's important and what they deem right or wrong. There's certainly information out there and there's also plenty of comment, which is not commentary. Perhaps blogs are a thing of the past and need to 'grow up' into specialist
In person: There will be a demonstration tomorrow 3pm at the Russian Embassy, 6-7 Kensington Palace Gdns, London, W8 4QH. Online: Join the Europeans for Georgia facebook group and the STOP Russian Agression Against Georgia group. Sign the petition here.
Two years after we stopped them opening a massive hypermarket at Feethams, and a year after they were refused permission to open a store on North Road, Tesco look like they've have finally made it into Darlington. They have applied for permission to convert units on the ground floor of the Cornmill Centre into a Tesco Express. A lease agreement has been reached with the owners of the Cornmill.
Via the BBC: A former donor to the Liberal Democrats is to be tried for fraud in his absence after he skipped bail. A warrant was issued last month for the arrest of businessman Michael Brown, whose firm gave more than £2m to the Liberal Democrats.
Photo by Sabine J Hutchinson http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/ I have written far too much recently about the Stiperstones and its abandoned mines - try the latest Calder's Comfort Farm on the New Statesman site. It seems I am not the only one who likes them. In Saturday's issue of The Times David Aaronovitch wrote:I am as captivated by the abandoned cottages and workings of the 18th-century barytes miners beside the Shropshire Stiperstones as I am by the 2,000-year-old white tombs of Turkish Lycia.I am pleased to hear it, but he is wrong on two counts. The remains you see today are not ...
Mon 11th
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Why you might want to invest your money somewhere else if the Conservatives win the next General Ele...
I don't normally read the Observer on a Sunday morning/afternoon, as it's a bit on the worthy side. However, Ros picked it up this week and, whilst she lounged in the hot tub at the family 'entertainment hub' (and it really is that good...), I ploughed through the Business section to see how grim things are getting (don't ask, you really don't want to know...). And indeed, things are getting
Apparently Dave, in an attempt to be taken more seriously and to be seen by more voters as ready to take over the country, has agreed to a session on the final day of the Tory conference entitled 'preparing for government'. The session will be 45 minutes long. Now, forgive me if I strike a note of scepticism but is 45 minutes long enough to consider an the various matters of state which an incoming Prime Minister will need to grapple with before the door to Number 10 has even closed? Luckily we know that Dave is a serious politician ...
{manchester-camerata.jpg} CLEETHORPES new events arena will play host to the hugely popular classical open-air concert on Saturday, August 23 at 7.30pm - an event which continues to grow year-on-year. Advanced adult tickets are priced at £16.00 and can be purchased on the evening for £18.00. Childrens tickets cost £10.00 (booking/transaction fee may apply). Tickets are available from the Tourist Information Centre at Cleethorpes Library, Caxton Box Office at Grimsby Library and Grimsby Auditorium Box Office. The concert forms part of the Arts Forum Festival 2008 which showcases local, national and international art and cultural practitioners. Returning by popular demand, Manchester ...
There is a danger to rushing to the barricades in defence of your man/woman/whatever, as a number of Labour activists in East London found out over Miranda Grell. On Thursday, I highlighted an apparent contradiction between the positions taken by Dr Rachel Joyce, the Conservative PPC for Harrow West, on her blog and on Conservative Home. I e-mailed her to see what she had to say in response,
{julia-goldsworthy.jpg} More than a million people are living in private accommodation that falls below the Government's Decent Homes standard, figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats reveal. The figures also show that the Government is likely to miss its target for reducing the amount of social housing that fails to meet the standard. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said: "Millions of families are seeing their money leak out of drafty doors and windows because they live in substandard homes. "With the cost of heating skyrocketing, many of these families will suffer as they find it ...
Visit that Link all Lib Dems to see the sneaky peek at the soon to be Lib Dems site and let me tell you its more like a blog then a site. The way its meant to be let me tell you the team who have designed it great job and an applaud of appreciation from me. Cant wait for the new site!
todays Independent has some very fine journalism from Bruce Anderson. It is a historical, analytical account of how Western diplomacy has failed in that part of the world.
200,000 more children from working families are trapped in poverty than when Labour came to power - a rise of 10% since 1997. For the first time in eleven years, the majority of children living in poverty are from homes where at least one person is working. In the UK, 52% of children who are living in poverty live in families in which someone is working. 48% children in poverty live in households where nobody works. In 1997, this was 46% and 54% respectively. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jenny Willott said: "Labour has neglected families who ...
Not really. Um. Am having a completely and utterly dippy day today. We went to Leeds shopping (parked in the Albion St NCP so we were half way between Lush and Waterstones, because where else might you want to go, if pubs were not involved?). Spent less than expected in Lush due to various special offers and such. Was once more BARRED from buying the HG Wells Penguin Classic Mug in Waterstones. I feel like Wayne with the white guitar with regard to that mug... It will be mine... Oh yes... It WILL be mine... Managed to direct Mat onto ...
I've had a "sneaky-peeky" of the party's new website, which is currently being finalised (but not quite yet available for general viewing). I have to say that I am unnaturally excited by it. The look and feel of it is much more interactive and much more "with it". It looks a little more like a blog than the current site and is generally much more whizzy and accessible. I particularly like the
{immingham-tram.jpg} Today I went out to see a local resident about a housing issue, and while I was down Freeman Street I spotted an old friend of my fathers. Unfortunately, I could not remember was his name (I am sure it will come back to me later on), but he was my fathers' my fireman in the golden age of steam. Anyhow we had a good old 'chin wag' on the corner of Freeman Street and Wood Street about my father and Immingham Locomotive Shed, which I was shocked to hear had closed down in March of this year. We ...
I have set up a members area a place for Party Activists from Pendle Preferably to get information from. If you think you qualify as a Party Activist from Pendle them email me at irfanahmed91@gmail.com and i will tell you how to access the members area which consists of a message board and latest info.
I was astonished by the one sided version of the world given to us at teatime today on the ITV teatime news. ITV constantly referred to South Ossetia as being "a disputed territory" and "pro Russian province", but at no point made clear that it is an internationally recognised part of Georgia, not a part of Russia. When ITV News gave their account of how the recent troubles started they by implication made out that Georgia had attacked Russia and at no point explained that they were trying to recapture territory held by the Russians which was legally Georgian. No ...
This is not an official Obama Campaign video. You'll see why when you watch it. Scared the living shit out of me, it did. ETA: This is almost as scary, although for completely different reasons: (hat-tip - or should that be blame? - to kiji_kat)
Mr Eugenides goes to Beijing. Of course, it all started in Much Wenlock.
It is now thought Russia has advanced through Abkhazia and taken the town of Senaki. Which from the map it is clear is far into Georgian territory. Georgia took half of Abkhazia back in 2006, and controlled the Kodori Gorge region. There is also talk of Gori being taken and troops have moved to defend Tbilsi. Georgia is clearly desperate for a peace deal. But it looks as if Russia is trying to teach Georgia a lesson and that they may not agree to the peace deal proposed by the EU. Russia said it was taking action to protect Russian ...
Tne days ago, I was in Sevastopol, lecturing on the Black Sea. I had an afternoon off after visiting the battlefield at Balaklava to amble along one of the Crimea's most elegant waterfronts, picking my way between sunbathing Russians. Ukraine had been independent for more than a decade now, but ethnic Russians still dominate in this [...]
A busy day Monday and apart from an awful lot of day job work starting very early morning - I have a large conference to organise coming up fast! - it included the following :* Interview with Wave 102 about moves towards local television in Dundee and Tayside/Fife as a whole. You can hear this by clicking play on the video below.*Meetings with the Council Leader and the Director of Planning & Transportation about a number of issues. I also spoke at the City Council's Recess Sub-Committee, backing the report to allow the continuation of a bus service for users ...
Liberal Democrats in Bath & North East Somerset are continuing their call for 20mph speed limits to apply on residential roads within the authority. As part of this campaign Councillors Neil Butters (Bathavon South), Paul Crossley (Southdown) and Caroline Roberts (Newbridge) recently visited the City of Portsmouth, where 20mph limits have been introduced on almost all of the residential...
Both AP and the BBC have confirmed that Gori and Senaki- entirely Georgian cities, a long way from either South Ossetia or Abhazia have been occupied by Russian troops. The overthrow of Georgia's democratic regime appears to be under way. The shock across the world is palpable. The actions of the Putin regime are simply outrageous. No state that defies Russia, even within its own borders, can now be considered beyond Russian interference, up to and including acts of war against civilians. The Bear believes itself invulnerable and will maintain violent pressure, legal, or illegal in any way it sees ...
I am old enough to remember back in the 80's that the Liberal Party (as then was) went through some contortions in deciding how to deal with the Thatcher privatisations. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but one way of deciding what to support and what to oppose is to look at whether you are simply turning a public monopoly into a private one. In such cases there is a case to be made for saying that there can be little benefit in privatisation. After all, the basis of capitalism is that greed is good and if there are excess profits ...
... between people of whom we know nothing. All of these taken from the Georgian Foreign Ministry blog - possibly the first nation to live-blog a war (and, obviously, with an incentive to manipulate photographic evidence). I also recommend these pictures of both Georgia and Ossetia from Der Spiegel.
Having just posted on my blog about the proposed move for Haringey's Civic Centre, worth mentioning that I am currently in Washington DC - where the political buildings are on a rather grander scale. On holiday here for two weeks altogether, we came to visit friends - first, an American friend from university (and her family) for Owen, then a friend of mine who I used to work with in Coventry. All in all, we have managed to get around this little bit of the U.S. reasonably well - Baltimore and Belcamp, all the sightseeing in DC, a day trip ...
Firstly, I've been promising a post on South Ossetia and a large one will be coming later this evening, so look out for that. Richard Adam Smith has an article on CiF attacking Boris for removing city funding from the Soho Pride festival, and other like "community" festivals in London. I fully support Boris on this. Smith demonstrates a type of pernicious logic which I can't stand when people talk about LGBT or any other "community". We are all individuals, we may wish to organise ourselves at different times into communities, but our relationship with the State or in this ...
I have another four must read links on topics that I haven't written on but have got me exercised enough to leave a comment or tow!! First, is James Graham's posting on internal Lib Dem organisation: Nick Clegg: COG now that I have your attention; so, OK I did right on this but only after James and a whole load of other people started. As someone who implements transformational change for a living, I can't bear watching it go horribly wrong... Then, for a little bit of light relief I commend you to, if you haven't been there already, the ...
I have just returned from school. Yes, before anyone makes a wise crack, teachers do have to work in the summer holidays! I had a meeting about the new roof that will soon be appearing on top of our building. I then decided to stay and sort out the stock order. Something I loathe. As I was sorting through the stock and there was a lot to sort through, it was really apparent that we use so much
My Lib Dem colleagues have 'called-in' the decision by Haringey's Labour Cabinet to relocate the Civic Centre in Wood Green. In a nutshell, this means that there will now be a special meeting of Overview & Scrutiny to decide what should happen - on Tuesday 19 August at 7.30pm (in the current Civic Centre) for those who want to attend. Do local residents want the Council to spend millions of their money on changing the Civic Centre? I doubt it, but we don't know for sure - because, as usual, Haringey Labour thinks it knows what is best and is ...
Georgia, a small and relatively helpless country which Russia has been provoking for years, is like Nazi Germany - according to Russian President Medvedev* Pravda is also reporting that Georgian troops burnt Ossetian refugees alive and ran over little old ladies with tanks. Perhaps these mere insults don't matter much compared to the fact that Russia is now rolling its tanks into undisputed Georgian territory, having rejected a ceasefire brokered by the EU and the OSCE. But it does reveal the arrogance and hypocrisy of Russia. Don't be in any doubt - this is a war which Russia has engineered, ...
Following the shocking revelations about my holiday reading in LibDem Voice, there appears to be considerable interest in viewing my holiday slides, as expressed by Jay Entee. So here goes, but I will spare you more than three of them. Here is a photo of a fascinating electricity sub-station which we spotted on the outskirts of Barrow-in-Furness: Here is a very attractive dog litter bin seen at
An interest in prison reform apparently. Wonder if Oakley will get the same chance as Aitken to take the practical? In case the interview is taken down (everything with Oakley's name is being slowly, but steadily sent down the Conservatives' e-memory hole), here it is: Prison Reform is a serious area of interest for me and I intend to develop this - criminals need education even more than the rest of us, for the benefit of the rest of us. We need to look closely at funding and the structure of the prisons system. The 'rest of us'?
Should politicians blog? Does it matter if a local party has a website that allows comments or not? Is it a good idea for a councillor to stick a film of themselves up on YouTube? Is the local party organiser really doing something useful on Facebook? Answering any of these questions requires more than a technical [...]
I am not one to agree with the Tories on policy, indeed my whole political life has been about winning seats, both parliamentary and council, from Tories (and I don't have a bad record either). However, it is hard to disagree with what the Tories have said today about bail laws. We have in the last few months had numerous examples in the news of people on bail who have committed further serious offences,rapes and murders, because the law on bail seems to be framed in such as way as to make the granting of bail an absolute right with ...
Bloomberg has an interesting article on campaign cash and offices for the forthcoming US Presidential election. The recent upward blip in advertising by McCain appears to be explained by his campaign needing to "empty its coffers", ready to accept post-convention federal funding. Obama, meanwhile, is free from federal rules and, after the convention, will have "two to three times" more to spend
My two weeks in Suffolk have come to an end and I'm feeling refreshed and ready for the Party Presidential campaign. With nominations opening on September 1st, and polling day just 89 days away, we've finally reached the campaign itself. I'm heading North at a rate of knots - we're just rolling into Berwick-upon-Tweed (which the Scottish guard has just described as the most southerly town in Scotland!). I'm using the free WiFi provided by National Express to catch up with stuff as I make my way up to Edinburgh where my meetings with members kick off tomorrow. I'm staying ...
Last year, Gordon Brown wrote a book on courage only for it to emerge that he had anything but. This year he is to write a book on being British. Should we therefore assume it is about to be revealed that he is in fact French? Share This
The Following Nominations have been emailed to me: Sajid Ali from Nelson Town Council Asjad Mahmood from Pendle Borough Council If they is any other nominations then email them to me at irfanahmed91@gmail.com
Nick Clegg got a worthy mention in yesterday's Sunday People in their story entitled 11bn to burn about excessive energy company profits: "The figures The People has uncovered are astounding," said Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who backs our campaign. "Energy companies enjoy a massive subsidy when many families are in a desperate struggle to pay bills. "This multi-million pound windfall should be
Now with Extra Added Silly nickname! lizbee Andrew Rilstone x2 Tetrapod Zoology Lawrence Miles Karen Healey Andrew Hickey cadhla - Best Political Blog by a Single Person kiji_kat lizw Sexual Intelligence syreene Slactivist The People's Republic of Mortimer Bad Science by Ben Goldacre Stuffed and Starved matgb Stumbling and Mumbling by Chris Dillow - Best General Blog by a Single Person innerbrat x2 Mitch Benn The Yorkshire Gob x2 Adam Buxton Pharyngula by PZ Myers Wil Wheaton minnesattva jimhines Stumbling and Mumbling by Chris Dillow Bad Science by Ben Goldacre naamah_darling - Best Group Blog or LJ Community diggerdydum Feminist ...
There's a lot more talk about the art of political story-telling at the moment. For instance, CNN.com has an article by Paul Willis, who says that the US presidential election will boil down to whose story voters prefer, even more than where the candidates stand on the issues. And within the Liberal Democrats, there is more interest. A few local parties are inviting me to speak to them and run workshops on narratives and storytelling. Two questions keep coming up. I suggest that both are really false dilemmas. Paul Willis asks: "Do you think you could be persuaded by a ...
Since Russia has launched cyberattacks against Georgia in parallel with their continuing military assault, I feel obliged to highlight sites that the Georgians have been able to use to get information about what is happening in the Russian invasion. The Foreign Affairs Ministry site: http://georgiamfa.blogspot.com/ Also the President of Poland has established a site on his own Home page in order to get further information out: http://www.president.pl/x.node?id=479 Most .GG websites are at best only intermittently accessable as a result of the Russian cyberattacks. Russian government actions over the past 96 hours- picking a fight with their small neighbour and then ...
Gordon Brown may be looking somewhat inept at the moment and David Cameron may struggle to convince people he has any substance but both must be looked upon as almost messianic figures of vision and good sense compared with Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili, who has taken his country to war with Russia. It is difficult to put into words how unbelievably stupid this decision is. With Russia unable to back down because its rulers simply don't know how to, having prepared for war for the last 60 years, the USA now gently preparing it 'sabers' to be rattled, to God ...
A man in Congleton has won the 'right' to get a second bin for all his rubbish after a two year battle, the Daily Himmler records. This will no doubt set a precedent which will allow families across the country to demand a second bin from their authority. And who's to say it will stop there? Why just two bins? Why not one for each member of the family? Brilliant! Where I live we have 240 litre wheelie bins and my family of four only manages to fill it about a third full in a week living an ordinary, wasteful ...
Another week, and as the Council's recess floats serenely towards its conclusion, we prepare for the re-commencement of battle by having our annual Councillor appraisals. I don't know what the other parties do locally, if anything, but tonight will give me the opportunity to look at areas of strength and weakness, and plan on how to become more effective in all of my roles as a Councillor - scrutineer of the Executive, representative of the people of St Mary's ward, and community leader in Prestwich. And the session also gives me the perfect opportunity to avoid going for a run. ...
Liberal Democrat questioning recently revealed a very low rate of sentencing for illegal knife sales. On a similar, and rather nauseating theme, new figures for London show that the rate of charges for knife crime have gone down by about 50% while the number of knife murders has increased: The number of people charged with knife crimes has fallen by half in London - despite a rise in teenage
After the death of the BNP Councillor who was found hanging in Burnley someone stole meat from the local Tesco Store and they took it to the wake. The BNP's death lead a fellow BNP to go out and steal meat for the wake of the BNP. Then the BNP who stole the meat for the barbecue accepted to the robbery of meat. Are these people capable of getting your Vote if they are going to steal at a time of mourning?
British Gas has announced a massive 35 per cent price rise.Millions of pensioners are worrying how they will manage to keep warm this winter. At the same time, £4.5-billion in benefits, remains unclaimed, which works out at £66 for every person in the UK. Benefit Information Services would be delighted to offer pensioners a free check to make sure they aren't missing out on their share of the £4.5-billion.For details telephone 0845 6120 474
I've been working on tidying up the recording of the recital which Sarah Wilkinson and I did in June of Schubert's song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin, so it does now fit on a CD properly. As well as the usual useful experience of learning from hearing yourself singing, it's also reminded me of the challenge of which language to sing it in, that I struggled with before the performance. On the one hand, one of the things that Schubert does best, is to combine the music with the sounds of the words themselves in Wilhelm Müller's poem cycle, originally written ...
The Lib Dems agree with the Labour Government that there should be more private and voluntary sector involvement in back-to-work support, but the Government's proposed model - the 'right to bid' - will not put the individual at the centre of employment services. The Government will negotiate central contracts with providers, setting one-size-fits-all time limits [...]
While on bail Thaksin failed to appear at a Bangkok court and has run away to the UK. He is accused of corruption, abuse of power to benefit his businesses and his family, concealing assets and other members are also accused of numerous things including tax evasion. Thaksin is very rich and he owns Manchester City Football Club as well as numerous properties in the UK. Thailand's Supreme Court has acted quickly to order an arrest warrant. I hope that the British Government do force him to go back. The evidence against him is strong and the man has robbed ...
A few days ago the Western Mail picked up on concern on some blogs that the National Assembly Commission was allegedly stifling free speech by banning members of the public from protesting with banners outside the Senedd, unless they get permission. They referred to a YouTube video in which a protester who has placed a banner on the steps of the Senedd is approached by a police officer who tells him he is a breaking a public order issued by the National Assembly Estate. The policeman presents the protestor with a document, which says: "Signs or barriers must not be ...
Since the controversy surrounding Pippa Wagstaff's removal from Facebook on the supposed basis that she does not exist, I have noticed a growing number of profiles on the part of imaginary people. There is a profile for Sali Mali and Sam Tan for example. There is also a tendency to create fan pages for famous people as if they themselves were actively running and updating these profiles. I have now discovered a profile for Charles Windsor, which is almost certainly not being run by him or his household. His current status announces that 'one feels some concern for the pictures ...
Afzal Anwar is backing his party's plans for a more Carbon Neutral Britain. According to the press release on the Pendle Liberal Democrats website Afzal has according to what i have read recently really started to shine. I attended a meeting with Afzal Anwar PPC just a couple of weeks ago and at the meeting the plans were laid out for his campaign and let me tell you Pendle is going to be hit with a big surprise when Afzal's Plans kick start. Keep visiting the Pendle Liberal Democrats website for up to date information from Afzal Anwar PPC.
Tom Harris MP this morning describes proportional representation for local government as an 'electoral and democratic catastrophe' in the same post as he praises Alex Salmond for showing that minority administrations can work. Now surely by taking his logic Labour should be in a minority administration at Westminster because democratically they won a minority of the votes cast in 2005. It's
In Redvers Road, Noel Park, there's been a problem - bus drivers and no toilets! After a brilliant piece of action by my Lib Dem colleague - Cllr Fiyaz Mughal - everyone will now be relieved! Until now, bus drivers caught short during the day, had been using bushes and the alleyway behind Hollywood Green cinema. Transport for London have now installed loos for the drivers to use. Hurrah!
West Midlands Police and partners have established myneighbourhood.info - which allows you to view the crime figures in your neighbourhood and compare them to the average across the West Midlands Police force area. Just enter your postcode to be taken to your area (you can also enter road names if you prefer). The site isn't perfect - for example, it is not always clear what figures relate to.
It is now just over a year since the borough council elections and Alamein Liberal Democrats have been surveying local residents to see whether they are satisfied with the pepformance of their local council. The surveys have been distributed to households in Roman Way, Viking Way and Lilywhite Crescent and dozens of replies have already been received. Residents have raised concerns about antisocial behaviour, poor maintenance of roads and footpaths, traffic problems and bus services. Thank you to all those who have replied. I will be personally replying to all correspondants over the next few weeks. Anyone who has still ...
The headline if you were watching BBC1 last night and the last Choir Standing should be self explanatory. If you were not watching then the answer is Bath Male Choir are through to the last 5 in the competition to be the best Choir in the land. The show again on Saturday 16th is very important so make sure that you watch and vote for the Bath Male Choir, come on Bath these...
This time it's government departments not MP's offices in the spotlight. It's daft to think that some of the largest and busiest organisations in the country can run without any new furniture. And sourcing it ethically may cost a bit more. But £500,000 on pot plants? Why not lead by example on greening the office in a [...]
Help is available from North East Lincolnshire Council to help keep fuel bills down. The SHEEP scheme offers discounted Loft Insulation and Cavity Wall Insulation and is open to all owner occupiers within North East Lincolnshire or North Lincolnshire area. Additionally, if you know anyone who is 70 years old or over and is an owner occupier, a FREE Loft Insulation & Cavity Wall Insulation scheme has been implemented (this is on a first come, first served basis - restrictions apply)For further information, please contact 01472 324782 or e-mail energy@nelincs.gov.uk
Mark this in your diary. Today I turned up at Newcastle Central to catch the 7.40am train to London and it hasn't been cancelled! I can hardly believe my luck. I don't want to count my chickens before they have hatched as the train is not yet at the station, but things could be looking up with National Excess. Perhaps they have been reminded they are a train operating company, which means they
'Tis the season for lists... All this week we are publishing the top 100 posts by Lib Dem bloggers, in descending order of popularity, for the last year - August 2007 to July 2008, inclusive, according to click-throughs from the Aggregator. (Profuse thanks to techno-wizard and stat-monkey Ryan Cullen, who runs the Aggregator, for compiling this [...]
Oh yes plenty of jumping up and down on the sofa over the first few days of the Olympics. Although hopefully the neighbours weren't too disturbed by Mister Stephen's whoops at around 10:30 yesterday morning and even earlier this morning. Mister Stephen as an ex-athlete and still competitive sportsman really is a great olympic-phile he was even caught watching live archery this morning on
I'm off to Inverness in a while to attend the memorial service for Lord Russell-Johnston. I spent the first 12 years of my life in Invernesss so he was one of the first politicians I was aware of. So many people grow up with a negative view of politicians these days, which is very sad. I was lucky enough to have Russell as my local MP, with his commitment to human rights and civil liberties during my childhood and then Bob Maclennan in Caithness and Sutherland during my teens. Those very positive role models encouraged me to get involved and ...
My wife has died. Julie is the love of my life and words can not possibly express the depth of my loss. Our wedding day last September was and will always be the happiest day of my life. I have only really known Julie since the summer of 2005, but in that time I [...]
Given that the Premier League season for 2008/09 starts on 16 August 2008 I spent sometime this weekend on the Fantasy Premier League website http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ selecting my team for the 2008/09 season.
