Alex Wilcocks has challenged Lib Dem bloggers to pick out their own best blog entries in the last year. The idea is to make it easier to for readers to make nominations for the Best Posting on a Lib Dem blog category in the Blog of the Year Awards. I'm not really aspiring to that (well....) but I thought it would be fun to do anyway. So here are my best bits since 1st Sept...
Liberal Democrats in Hastings & Rye have panned a call by Policy Exchange (a Conservative-leaning think tank) for people from Northern towns and cities to pack their bags and move to the South. Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye said, "I am a Northern lad hailing from St Helens, and our move to [...]
I don't usually have a lot of good things to say about Gordon Brown, but today I am giong to praise him to the hilt for the support he has given to Adrian Sudbury's campaign to raise awareness of the bone marrow register. Adrian is a 26 year old journalist who is currently in the final stages of two different types of Leukaemia. He has been campaigning to raise awareness of the Bone Marrow Register and all he asked was that secondary school children should be given one short promotional lesson about joining the register. Obviously a wider pool of ...
Todays findings from YouGov illustrate a real concern for the future of the existence of the United Kingdom as we know it today. The poll suggests the Nationalists have 46% of the poll. This makes them 19% ahead of Scottish Labour in the same poll. Scottish lib Dem's on 14% and Scottish Conservatives on 13%. Absolutely incredible. What has happened to the Unionist parties? As a Pro-European I hasten to say the development of the European Union is partly to blame for breakaway factions within nations. It is an irony. The EU has brought a greater Union between nations than ...
{freeman-street-resource-centre.jpg} Following another busy day, I went down to the Lib Dem Ward surgery at the Freeman Street Resource. I was met by Rob Parry the Sport's Development Officer along with Denise Platts the Centre Manager and as usual I was made most welcome - they met me with the usual smile. They are performing a great service to our local community this summer - helping to cut down the levels of anti-social behaviour through positive engagement with young people. To date, this summer holidays over 1,000 young people have attended activities at the centre. Unfortunately only one person turned ...
CNN are reporting that a man walked into the Democratic party headquarters in Little Rock claiming to want to volunteer and asked to see the Chairman, Bill Gwatney. When denied he walked into Gwatney's office and opened fire, killing Gwatney. The man himself was killed after a car chase with police ended in gunfire. Updated from CNN: Chairman Bill Gwatney died at 3:59 Wednesday afternoon after a gunman entered his Little Rock office and shot him several times in the upper body, Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said. Authorities confirmed the news shortly after former President Clinton and Sen. ...
There's been a fair amount in the Press about Fun n Frolics, the party / fancy dress shop just outside our ward which needs to move to new premises. Cllr Gareth Epps, our Parliamentary Spokesperson, has been supporting their efforts, as part of his campaign championing local businesses. It was announced this evening at Planning Applications Committee, (which I vice-chair) that the application for Fun n Frolic's proposed move to Richfield Avenue will be heard at the September committee meeting. The planning committee will also be visiting the proposed new premises at the end of this month to understand the ...
In his interview on GM crops in today's Telegraph, Prince Charles gives us little confidence that he will be a rational and calm constitutional monarch. The actual recording sounds like the deranged rantings of a lunatic. Whatever the merits of GM crops, and I am a big supporter, most advocates of both sides make legitimate arguments that deserve a public hearing. With the Daily Mail and some of the fringe elements of the green movement, Prince Charles has shown himself to be in the camp of scare-mongering absurdity. Personally, I believe that had it not been for the growing industrialisation ...
David Cameron and the Conservative front bench are desperately trying to distance themselves from a Policy Exchange report which suggests that we should give up on the old cities of the north and advise their residents to move down south. It's the last thing they need - a Tory aligned think tank making such statements just at the time that they are beginning to make inroads into Labour territory. The ironic thing then, is that one of the report's authors, Tim Leunig, a Professor at the London School of Economics, is a prominent Liberal Democrat! I doubt he will be ...
I am in the local doing a pub quiz. So far we are doing appallingly. And that's being generous. The picture round was naming mountains. Only one of the ten I was sure of: Kilimanjaro - and that's only because I have seen it, from a distance.A large number of questions is about the Olympics. I should have taken much more notice of the sports news recently.Oh well. It's the taking part that counts.
Reading the Electoral Reform Society magazine today, the examples of how our present "first past the post" system is just, as the article puts in "a freak show". Examples of how the present system skews results in local government elections are shown - and the facts show how ridiculous it is. The "Carnival of the Bizarre" gives examples of "Wrong winners" : Sefton Council -...
I've had a very interesting, albeit busy week discussing the future of housing in Reading with Council officers, residents and councillors in my role as Lib Dem Housing spokesperson, and Chair of Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel. On Monday evening, I met officers to discuss the development of Reading's housing strategy. The government has decreed all Council's must have one. Despite this, the work going into this document will clearly have real value in terms of outlining what direction housing policy in Reading takes. The developing strategy aims to look at questions such as 'how do we ensure ...
{multi-storey-flats.jpg} Over two million pounds of security and environmental investment will combat anti-social behaviour and improve the appearance of Grimsby's East Marsh multi-storey blocks. The improvements form part of our wider commitment to the transformation of the East Marsh which will also completely regenerate the physical environment of the multi-storeys and the appearance of the area. We will be: Ø Modernising multi-storey entrances and painting the outside of the blocks Ø Creating recycling and compost areas Ø Creating communal community gardens and landscaping space within the perimeter fence Ø Working with Strand Community School to make the best use of ...
Prince Charles, that noted organic food producer whose food is a bit expensive for the normal tastes of a "credit crunched" UK population has spoken out today against GM foods. If Prince Charles was not making millions from organic foods and therefore had a vested interest in being anti GM, then I might take him seriously, but his outburst has actually made me angry. He talks of food security being the number one concern making out he has his finger on the issue, but ignores the fact that organic farmers, like him, cannot provide enough food to feed everyone in ...
The Tories and the media have missed the big story about Cities Unlimited, the Policy Exchange report on regional development policies. (You can download a PDF copy of it from the think tank's website.) As James Graham pointed out this morning, the report's lead author Tim Leunig is a Liberal Democrat. Indeed, during my days on the party's federal policy committee he was something of a fixture on that committee's working parties. Earlier this evening, debating the report with John Prescott on Channel 4 News, Tim said he was not a member of the Conservative or Labour parties - and ...
Martin Hall of Stagecoach Strathtay and I had an excellent meeting with over 40 residents at the Paton's Lane Sheltered Lounge this afternoon about the future of the 72 bus service. The news release below expands upon the situation - but the key points are : * There will be three full journey routes each day Monday to Friday on the "old" 72 route - now badged as the 69 and including the "old" 69 Broughty Ferry route. * There will be an additional four reduced routes (City Centre to Windsor Street and return) badged as the 72. * The ...
I did a poll "If Pendle MP Gordon Prentice Can not restore A&E to Burnley General by the Next General Election Should he Step Down" and the results are very interesting. Yes 85% No 15% The results are very interesting and many people will agree that if the results are as followed then Pendle MP Gordon Prentice should start working on a way of getting the hospital back otherwise he is going to be in for a surprise in the coming months. The MP better watch out if he can not get the A&E back. Gordon Prentice we are all ...
I've just been watching the highlights of the women's cycling from Beijing and cheering on Brits Emma Pooley and Nicole Cooke. Silver medallist Emma is so enthusiastic, it's inspiring. I hadn't previously realised that each competitor is followed by a support car. Perhaps that's what David Cameron had in mind...? [...]
PICS, the Liberal Democrat central policy resource, has offered up a standard press release on the Policy Exchange report Cities Unlimited: Making Urban Regeneration Work, which has been exercising politicians and bloggers throughout the day. The basic tennet of the argument is that Policy Exchange is "David Cameron's favourite Think Tank", set up in 2001 by Michael Gove, and that we can therefore use it to bash the Tories for abandoning the North and giving up on poor struggling towns. It is a fundamental mistake, and one that has prompted me to (unusually) reply to PICS suggesting that they may ...
Delighted at the City's success today - being chosen as a lead authority to develop the "Smarter Choices Smarter Places" initiative - I spoke about the matter on Radio Tay this afternoon. Here's the City Council's news release : DUNDEE LEADING WAY AGAIN Dundee looks set to become one of the first local authorities in the country to run a self-service cycle hire scheme following a successful bid for Scottish Government backing. The city has been awarded £2.1 million from the government's Smarter Choices Smarter Places initiative to encourage and develop sustainable and active travel throughout communities. City council planning ...
But it was hard not to smile at this item in the Guardian Diary today: Comprehensive coverage of the crisis developing in the South Ossetia province of Georgia on Sky News - it's just unfortunate that the breaking news service seems to think the war is raging in the US rather than eastern Europe."Georgia is a state in the southern United States," reads the ever-so helpful "Background on the Region" section of its "Georgia In Depth" pages. "Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution ...I expect Sky think this is the ...
At the end of May, Statcounter - the service I use to tell me who is visiting this blog - went down for a couple of days. But as far as I am concerned it was only for a couple of days and it has worked perfectly since then. Today a couple of people have left comments on the post I wrote at the time. They say that Statcounter is still not working for them. Am I lucky or are they unlucky? Someone from Statcounter left a comment on that posting at the time. I think you have some customers ...
More news of the climate campaigners who were asked to leave a Telford park after dressing as penguins and handing out leaflets. That original newspaper report has led to lively exchanges in the comments. My own favourite runs: How ridiculous! when people have been mugged in Hollinswood and Wellington......... that's what we need to be monitoring, not innocent people in penguin suits .Today the Shropshire Star reports: Environmental campaigners who had dressed as penguins today defied a ban on handing out leaflets without permission in Telford Town Park.Rachel Whittaker, of Wellington, was thrown out of the park last week after ...
There is something exquisite about this. Policy Exchange was set up by Nicholas Boles, who David Cameron pushed into London's City Hall to keep Boris on the straight and narrow, and Michael Gove, Cameron's chief right-hand greaser. Dear old Policy Exchange, albeit aided and abetted by our own Tim Leunig, decided to issue a report telling all northerners to get on the M1/M6 immediately and set up
The Guardian reports that Allison Pearson is being sued after accepting an advance for a novel but failing to deliver it: Miramax Film Corp filed its suit for breach of contract against Pearson on Friday in Manhattan Federal Court, according to Reuters, saying that although Pearson accepted $700,000 in August 2003 under a two-year contract, she has still not delivered the novel.Miramax also said that Pearson has ignored its requests for information about the book's whereabouts since 2006.When I was at school with the then Allison Lobbett, she never had any such problems. During mock O levels and then the ...
I give Obama a rough ride but that doesn't mean I'm at all keen on McCain. I have a plethora of reasons for dislike Big Mac but number one at the moment is his crazed, swivel-eyed, I-am-Churchill response to the Georgia-Russia conflict. We are not all Georgians now. His vociferous response to the Russians is going to further entrench sour relations and the rhetoric and thinking of the Cold War. We need a new language, with fewer absolutes, in foreign affairs, not a warming up of the old one. Oh, and the video below isn't really revelant. I just like ...
Have a read of Shaun Walker's account of going to Tskhivali during the fighting. He claims to have been the only western journalist there. Well worth a gander.
Obama, McCain, and Cameron all agree on one thing: Georgia should be in NATO. It shouldn't. Both McCain and Cameron want to take a far more vociferous line with Russia using Cold War rhetoric. They shouldn't. Angela Merkel was right. Georgia should not have and should not now be allowed into NATO. We should support autonomy, or if desired independence for Abkazia, South Ossetia, and North Ossetia.
Councillor Nawaz Ahmed has defected to the Labour Party and blames the Party for driving him out. Well at a time like this fellow Liberal Democrats would comment on the Defector and i would have done it if he had been influenced by Sajjad Karim to change Party but i am not going to as i believe he changed for his own Political Gain. Well Cllr Ahmed was campaigning at the last local election very actively and was among the sense of unity between a party that was showing it was not affected by Defectors but now i can not ...
Close readers of this blog will know that I'm no fan of Obama, some may even know I'm writing my thesis on his rhetoric and the American civil religion. Alex Brill and Allan D Viard have gone through his tax plan and taken it apart. What will Obama's "middle class" pander, sorry tax cut, actually result in? Much higher marginal rates for the lowest paid. Nice work Barrack. Give it a read. Don't let him become President without due scrutiny. The graphic is from their article. If you don't have time to read it, make sure you take a minute ...
Whether or not you were for or against the Olympic Games being given to China (and I was against it, due to their human rights record) it is wonderful to see Team GB starting to bring home the gold medals. (That's Team Great Britain, I should add, rather than Gordon Brown!) As regular readers of this column [...]
Should you go out to the fringe tonight, Espec'ly to Espionage. Should you go out to the Fringe tonight You'd better go in disguise. For ever blogger that ever there was* Is gath'ring at the Udderbelly because. Tonight's the night, the Scottish bloggers** decided to meet up. I'm no stranger to that strange quirk of turning up in locations to meet people who you have no other contact with except
One of my roles at school is as 'PR guru to the stars'. Basically I organise opportunities for the press to come to school and highlight all the good work that is going on in school. There is quite an excitement when we get into the press, especially amongst the teachers who are eager to see what intelligent stuff they have said (luckily they trust me to write an appropriate quote when the story
Alex Wilcox is continuing to go up in my estimation, especially as today he has had a great idea about helping us all decide on our nominations for best blog postings, without which could so easily turn into the last good posting I remember reading. He has asked bloggers to brazen out the blushes and come up with their own favourite postings from their own blogs and thereby helping us all to nominate from a position of knowledge rather than an online version of pin the tail on the donkey. So here you go, here are what I consider my ...
Lots of furore today in the blogosphere. What's the hot topic? No not the continued rape and pillage of Georgian civilians! Its the redesigned Wordpress Number 10 website! Fawkes Dale Dizzy Rouse I'd like to be a little hypocritical having not said much about Georgia and point out that the only benefit that appears to have flowed from the redesign is that you can't see the Government consultations page any more! Oh well, consultations are mostly for show anyway.
The other advantage of having my laptop with me is that I can listen to music whilst I while away the miles. Over the years, I've become quite partial to the recorded works of Glenn Gould, a Canadian-born pianist, whose renditions of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach are a key part of my music collection.Gould was something of a mad genius, with a tendancy to hum his way through
I'm actually on my way to St Andrews today, so this piece comes to you live from the 13:00 National Express East Coast service from King's Cross to Glasgow Central via Newcastle. Now I know what you're thinking, especially if you're not a Liberal Democrat. "Typical bloody LibDem vulture, the man isn't even cold yet, and he's on his way to Glenrothes to set up for the bye-election!". If only I
All of the Western powers accept that the invasion of Georgia will fundamentally change the way that NATO and the European Union deal with the Kremlin. However there is a deep disagreement about how far the West is able to go in punishing the Russian Federation for the illegal invasion of its sovereign, democratic neighbour. Some would argue that Russia has grown so strong that it is inevitable that the West will be forced to cave in. Fortunately a group of states- roughly speaking in the North and West of the NATO alliance and led by the United States- has ...
I first saw the Typhoon in action at the recent Farnborough Airshow where it gave an awesome display of power and manoeuvrability; I was therefore delighted with the opportunity of visiting the BAE production site at Wharton in Lancashire. During the day I saw work being done not only on the Typhoon, but also on Nimrod integration and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), as well as the Indian Hawk Refurbishment Programme. I learnt that at the present time 52 Typhoons are now in service with the RAF of which 13 have multi-action ground attack capability. As a result, one would expect ...
{norman-baker.jpg} Airlines that have long queues at check-ins should be fined, the Liberal Democrats today proposed. The measure is one of the proposals set out by the party in order to give air passengers a fairer deal and ensure that aviation pays its environmental cost. Other proposals in Fair for the Passenger, Fair for the Environment: A Down to Earth Approach to Aviation include: Ø Information on carbon emissions to be printed on every air ticket Ø Ruling out any expansion in airport capacity in London and the South East Ø Ensuring that BAA sells two of its London airports ...
{nick-clegg.jpg} Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg recently launched the party's Make it Happen document, which is a statement of the party's vision and values.'Make it Happen' sets out in clear language the party's position on important issues such as the economy, taxation and the health service. YOU CAN READ MAKE IT HAPPEN HEAR:
Press called for comment on Haringey Council sending out a press release on a reduction in the number of parking tickets they have issued. Given the number of people who get ticketed wrongly by Haringey and come to me to sort it out (they still haven't refunded the fines they levied on two of their illegal yellow junction boxes) the question really should be - how many do they write off out of the number issued due to wrongly issued tickets? And should Haringey not be fined every time they get it wrong? No doubt Haringey are feeling a bit ...
Update: Tim Leunig was talking about this report on the BBC London lunchtime news. He said that the "rationale" (i.e. their inductrial basis) behind cities in the north had "gone away". He was standing in London saying that. I'd like to see him say that in Manchester on North West regional television. While he may be right in a detached academic sense, if you ignore the invention of computer
The MP for Glenrothes in Fife John MacDougall finally succumbed to a long battle with mesothelioma, an incurable asbestos-related cancer of the lining of the lungs, this morning. He had never fully recovered from surgery he underwent last year and caused one Tory Blogger to prematurely announce news of his death when he had a sudden decline towards the end of the last parliamentary season and
Peter Riddell writes today, If you want to understand what the Liberal Democrats are up to, look outside London. Over the past fortnight several local papers have published almost identical stories in which the Lib Dems say that they are shifting resources to target Labour seats in their area. Nick Clegg is quoted [...]
The latest advance in furthering New Labour's dream of a surveillance society is coming with the right that will be given to local councils, health authorities and hundreds of other public bodies to access details of people's Internet use, as well as email and text messge traffic, under new Home Office proposals. The government says this is to comply with [...]
You've probably noticed that in August there are few elections taking place, so the political blogosphere gets excited over competing not for votes but for gongs. Awards are always fun, either to revel in or to bitch about, as you pretend not to be thrilled if you've been nominated or loudly proclaim you're not remotely bothered if you haven't, but I have a suggestion this time to make the Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards more interesting for everyone. And who can make them more fun? You, fellow Lib Dem Bloggers, all of you, I'm appealing for your help. ...
It was good to see Alan Campbell power over the last few hundred metres of the men's single sculls this morning for a number of reasons. Firstly he has only just recovered from knee surgery but also because his that oft forgotten part of Team GB's name. Yes the Coleraine lad was proud to remind viewers who were able to watch his post race interview with Sir Steve of the Five Golds that he was
Compensation for being the victim of a crime is essentially a form of insurance. Unfortunately for victims of crime, there is no enforceable contract with the state to provide insurance, or even to investigate a crime fully, even though we expect it. In the recent case of a rape victim who had her compensation reduced because she [...]
My latest Guardian blog, with a bit of an Olympic theme, is now online here.
Click Here to go to a very Interesting and funny Post by Jonathan Fryer
Brown isn't the only person i am keeping up at night even Cameron is awake most nights thinking of ways to stop MP's from Scamming the tax Payer and making excuses to sack Terrorising Candidates.
John MacDougall Labour MP for Glenrothes has died.
The BBC has the story: Former transport minister Tavish Scott, ex-environment minister Ross Finnie and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MSP Mike Rumbles are vying for the post. Read the full post to see what each had to say when they appeared on BBC radio.
You may have picked up that I'm in favour of drugs legalization. This is not because I think heroin or coke are a good thing, quiet the reverse, but the prohibition is more harmful than legalisation would be. Taking the selling out of the hands of gangstas would radically decrease crime (15-20% of Global GDP is in organised crime), it would combat people trafficing, sex slavery, and people living outside the law fo fear of prosecution. Police time would be freed up. We could tax them for the externalities, where they exist. Crime would drop (how many people rob houses ...
Doug Elghorn (Beijing West) asked Gordon whether the Chinese had invented paper or whether it was actually his government which had done so. Gordon said that under New Labour more paper had been created, printed and ignored than at any time in the 5000 years of the Middle Kingdom and that he considered this an achievement the opposition would be unlikely to beat. Dave rose, dressed as a humble Yangtze fisherman, complete with crane on a pole, in line with the advice of 'Team Cameron'. He asked the Prime Minister whether he planned to stay in Beijing for the closing ...
As it happens, I work for HBOS, the big Plc that came about as a result of the merger between the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland. Today I was told that I was 'at risk' of redundancy because my role is almost certainly not going to exist by the end of September. I think there's at least 195 job cuts in the IT section of the business, but they didn't ask me to sign any confidentiality agreements so I'm sure it's okay for me to say this here. We knew something was up when we got an email entitled, ...
This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the subject of Midwife Degree Programs. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com . Cancer is a deadly disease, but we do not realize how it can affect us unless one of our loved ones has been diagnosed with it. Liver cancer, which is the fifth most
It is dreadful that someone's death can precipitate such lip smacking amongst political anoraks, but unfortunately I'm not immune. John MacDougall has died causing a bye-election in his Glenrothes constituency. The SNP have a 10,664 majority to overturn about 3000 less than Glasgow East. Poor Gordon.
Last November a very close friend of mine passed away from liver cancer. As I worked alongside him I was very aware of his illness, but also his great courage in "carrying on regardless". Sarah Scrafford, who writes on health subjects, offered to write a guest post for Liberal Burblings. I gladly accepted and asked her to write on the trauma of liver cancer, in memory of my friend. She has
No, not geopolitics but women's beach volley ball at the Olympics. Well, at least they've got something to smile about. Actually they all friends really as the women hugged before the match started. Sport transcends politics in the least likely of places.
Campaigners against the closure of Burnley General Hospital A&E were out campaigning on the streets of Burnley. They had 'I Want My Hospital Back' badges that were attended for all events but all badges were sold out at the first event! These Badges are going to send a message to the NHS and to Pendle and Burnley MP's that the people of Burnley and Pendle will not settle down until we have our Hospital Back. Events like this will be taking place in Pendle so Watch out!
There's an interesting article by Mikhail Gorbachev on CiF, about Georgia. He talks of the climate over the years which have made things worse. In the early 90s Gorbachev has suggested South Ossetia and Abkhazia could have autonomy inside Georgia, this was rejected by Georgia (led by a Government totally different to todays), which made relations even worse. So over the years each time Georgia's tried to get control over the regions things have got worse. Today Georgia offers the regions autonomy, but they reject it. That would probably be the best option and then the regions could move democratically ...
Still holding fast on my Games boycott. Switching the telly over if it comes on, avoiding coverage on the radio, not buying any merchandise. Although it's pretty hard to avoid - especially if you switch onto the Parliament channel (why? I know the recess is on but isn't there political stuff that could be shown). Dear me. See links for more news of protests being stamped out....
As The Times reports: Labour has pulled itself back from the brink of bankruptcy by restructuring its loans and persuading the bulk of its backers to give the party until 2015 to repay the money. Party officials have been locked in frantic negotiations with more than a dozen businessmen who lent Labour £15 million [...]
Wilkommen, bienvenu, welcome... In just under one calendar month's time, folks, many of you and all of me will be struggling down to Bournemouth on the Friday night trains for what promises to be a fascinating conference. Over the next month, we will bring you sneak previews of the policy motion debates, straight from the teeming [...]
LAST ELECTION IN GLENROTHES Labour 51.9% SNP 23.4% Liberal Democrat 12.7% The margin between SNP and Labour than in Glasgow East. So there is the possibility of another painful loss for Gordon Brown. But what about us? Will we face another painful squeeze like we suffered in Glasgow East? I think we probably will, if you want to keep the SNP out you'd vote labour and if you want to punish labour you'd vote SNP. Well that's how it would work for the majority of voters. I hate First Past The Post. The by-election is triggered because John MacDougall has ...
The Guardian is getting itself into a lather attacking the "Tories' favourite thinktank" for suggesting that Northern towns are failures. What they don't report is that the pamphlet in question is co-written by the Lib Dems' own Tim Leunig. The summary of the pamphlet does indeed sound quite provocative. The idea that people should simply follow the money and that national governments shouldn't examine why northern towns have failed to get themselves out of a decades-long economic slump and should instead encourage people to follow the money down south seems entirely unworkable. Where are all these northern incomers to London, ...
The Policy Exchange published its "Cities Unlimited" report today. It was met with news headlines screeched at such a pitch that only certain dog breeds could hear them, because it suggested that citizens of struggling northern towns might be better moving to the south to further their prospects after the failure of current regeneration projects in the north. This suggestion grabbed the headlines, but in fact the report contained several interesting ideas on devolving powers to local authorities and doing away with the types of centralised regeneration funding arrangements which haven't worked in the past. The report makes me think ...
To judge by the BBC's coverage yesterday, the whole Olympic Games have been tragically overshadowed by a major international incident as the world discovered a nine-year-old girl miming. And they say these London media types have no sense of perspective... As much as anything else, I'm annoyed by it all largely because I didn't need a admission on Radio Beijing to tell me that she mimed, or
Oops, just as David Cameron is about to embark on a tour of marginal seats in north west England, his favourite think tank goes and inserts its foot firmly in his mouth. A report by the Policy Exchange concludes that key cities, such as Liverpool and Sunderland, have "failed" and people should be paid to move south. It would be natural for the Tories to have written off their electoral prospects in many of the northern Cities. In places like Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester they are an irrelevance, with little or no local representation. However, to dismiss their own chances ...
According to Policy Exchange, which is the most influential think tank behind the modern day Conservative Party, there are cities in the North beyond revival and people must simply leave them and head south-east. In particular cities like Liverpool, Bradford and Sunderland. So they should be totally abandoned?! Aparently this Mass Migration would solve all problems. It is utter nonsense and there is no economic, social or environmental sence in what the think tank is saying. There is already gradual migration south, but you can't handle mass migration like the think tank suggests. This is the Think Tank behind Conservative ...
John Macdougall, Labour MP for Glenrothes in Fife, has died from cancer of the lungs. The Press Association has a biography here. Our sympathies are with his family and friends.
Not content with having one neglected, largely-futile blog - I now have two. The other one is called Gingers for Limpar and is all about the beautiful blondes game. Add both to your favourites.
It's good to see Ukraine contributing money to Georgia. After all, they know Russian aggression too. The main thing will be to ensure Georgia can maintain her borders outside Abkhazia and South Ossettia - then let these areas go through a diplomatic process. There then needs to be a vision for Georgian development. There are many things [...]
I was watching a joint news conference from the Georgian President and leaders of the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine on BBC News 24 at about 9.15pm. The display of unity and support between them was quite incredible. There was talk of the need to stop appeasing Russia. A comparison was made between what the Nazi's Gestapo and the Soviet KGB did in the 20th Century, to what the Russians were doing in the region in the 21st Century. There was more talk of ethnic cleansing. And Mikhail Saakashvili talked of continued actions by Russian troops in Georgia. I'm not ...
Brown Spoke up now Miliband to say to Russia to get its troops out of Georgia and to stop the vicious attacks. Many people may disagree but the Russians are in the wrong. But what is the UN doing to stop them. The UN didn't speak up at Iraq war against the USA and UK but with they speak up at Russia i doubt it as the UN i believe are scared these powerful countries might leave the UN. Well i hope the Russians can be stopped as they have caused too much trouble already! What do you think?
According to reports Brown may have to go through another By Election as Labour MP John MacDougall has died of an illness. Well the media were very quick to pick up on the fact that Labour have another By Election ahead of them and with the current status of Labour Politics Brown will have another thoughts running through his mind and these sleepless nights will just continue until he does the right thing and calls a General Election.
Brown is having sleepless nights because he knows that the Political Monster is under is bed and is waiting to find out his dark deep secret and share it with the World. His Chancellor is thinking the same thoughts he is scared the Political Monster might open the door for the Estate Agents who want to know more about axing the Stamp Duty.
I have a week trial at a gym, so I there I went yesterday, ready to exercise and feel healthy. I took a quick look at it, while waiting for the guy who would show me the machines, and was overtaken by a strong desire to run ... run away from the place that is! At first, it looked intimidating, populated by people who are clearly quite into their bodies and muscles (although I noticed more sensible
Sometimes, I love The Oxford Mail. No, I really do. Take today: they report the Tory Policy Exchange proposal for house-buiding in the south-east, opening with: One million new homes should be built in Oxford to help the city become an economic power-house of the 21st century, a barmy academic report says today.Not having managed to hide their opinion very well, the article then -- and here it comes -- closes by saying: The Tories this morning distanced themselves from the report. Chris Grayling, the shadow minister for Liverpool, said it did not reflect arty policy.Masterful. Genius. The paper subtly ...
Well, that was the Cameronian mood music that was. A Conservative government, announced shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve yesterday, would amend current legislation so that the police would no longer need to seek higher authorisation in order to do the following to any citizen they please: Use covert video or listening devices in premises or vehicles. Watch [...]
Here is who has been nominated so far: - Best Fandom Blog by a Single Person lizbee Andrew Rilstone x2 Tetrapod Zoology Lawrence Miles Karen Healey Andrew Hickey cadhla x2 rushin_doll - 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 Septicisle - 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 ...
So, does Kilburn have the claim to be the home of William Friese-Greene and cinematography? There are certainly enough traces and claims that are fairly easy to track down. The Tricycle Theatre has a plaque on it's wall for the grand opening that pays tribute to Friese-Greene's work. But none of the biographies I have found to date suggest or confirm a north london connection and not yet a Kilburn link... other than the Kilburn plaque... Well in fact at the bottom of the Kilburn High Road, where it becomes Maida Vale I found Friese-Greene House - nothing special or ...
This news has been creating a stir (they are talking about it on the Today Programme right now). I find it very amusing. In a time when people can work from, bank from, shop from and pretty much do everything from home, Policy Exchange thinks that everyone should move into the overcrowded, overpolluted south-east? Ahahahahahahahaha! Me, personally, I hope lots of idiot scallies fall for this streets paved with gold bollocks. Policy Exchange and their right-wing chums, gazing upon our Northern paradise with envious eyes and wanting us to suffer their level of overcrowding too, are welcome to them. redatt ...
'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 [...]
David Cameron's favourite Tory think-tank, Policy Exchange (Chairman: former Telegraph Editor, Charles Moore), says that there should be "Mass internal migration" to move people from northern cities such as Sunderland, Oldham and Bolton to southern cities such as Oxford and Cambridge. This news comes on the day that David Cameron embarks on a major tour of the north. Excellent timing. I can just
If anybody needed any confirmation of the futility of David Davis's resignation and the subsequent by-election campaign fought on the issue of civil liberties then this announcement by his successor, Dominic Grieve should provide it. Whilst Davis languishes in glorious obscurity on the Conservative backbenches, his party's Shadow Home Secretary has started the process of dismantling all the good work that was carried out by the member for Haltemprice and Howarden in seeking to protect our freedoms from the attentions of an over-bearing state. If they should get back into government the Conservatives will now allow the police to conduct ...
Its the time of year for the Perseids. A striking meteor shower. Tonight i've noticed about 1 every 30-40 seconds. They should peak in a couple of hours but I've really got to get some kip. ' The Perseids are bits of debris left by comet Swift-Tuttle.The debris is like a river of small particles in space, and each year, Earth passes through it. As the bits zoom through our atmosphere at 37 miles per second (60 kps) they vaporize, creating the brilliant streaks of light. Most of the meteors are no larger than a grain of sand.' check this ...
the result of the announced recount for the list, following the withdrawal of Murari Kaushik and, subsequently, Martin Lury. As already stated, the top five remain unchanged, but the list now reads; Sharon BowlesCatherine BearderBen AbbottsJim BarnardAntony HookSimon Green (previously seventh)Zoe Patrick (previously eighth)Gary Lawson (previously ninth)David Grace (previously tenth)John Vincent
I have not posted much in 2008 and that is due to a number of different reasons but I am hoping that I will be able to change that soon. 2008 has been a fairly busy year for me with a few life changing events taking place.
