I got a surprising message on Facebook tonight. It said that since I was in the short list for Lib Dem Blog of the Year at LDV would I like to have an opportunity, as they did last year, to interview the dear leader for my blog. It was the first I knew about it, such has been my head buried in Debian linux code trying to get the new version working some time soon state for the past couple of weeks. But I had a root around on LDV and there it is - I am indeed in the ...
The curtain will come down on 60 years of Soho history when the private members' drinking club, The Colony Room, closes soon, so that the Dean Street building housing it can be turned into flats. Generations of writers, artists, photographers, their muses and multifarious hangers-on have used it as their social base, from Francis Bacon and [...]
Are YOU a Lib Dem? Are you of the female persuasion? Then go and fill out your bloody Who's Who thing. I've done it, it's not hard. Come on, chop chop. Jo gives you all the instructions you could possibly need here. Go on, get to it. This is basically a video of how to do an awesome Penn Jilette impression: Such a shame that it's the evil greenhouse gas of doom :( Don't forget to join Bloggers for Fluffy Justice if you're on FaceAche O:-)
I have had quite a day for invitations. This blog may be quite exciting over the next week or so!
I've been experimenting with Politigg for a few days now and am currently in the happy position of dominating most of its pages. But that isn't really much use if the reason is that no-one else uses it. So what do people think? A bad idea entirely? I should promote a social bookmarking site but not this one? Anyone else willing to experiment? I've added a poll in my sidebar, but what I'd really like from people is comments to this post.
Too long ago, I employed a young lady from the 6th Form College on Saturdays. Over the years there must have been more than 100 16-18 year olds working for me, but a few stand out as something really special. One of these was Sandi Suri. When she's back in Darlington she often comes in to see me and tell me about her burgeoning career as an independent film maker. Her dad, Dr Yash Suri, has also
There are lots of good things about devolution. One is that we in Scotland are not currently being asked "Question 12: Do you believe that more should be done by the Government to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke within private dwellings or in vehicles used primarily for private purposes? If so, what do you think could be done?" in a Government consultation. Mind you, there is some irony in the fact that the SNP Government seems to be following blindly the path of the English Department of Health in many ways - the move to put cigarettes under the counter ...
A triplet of Welsh Gold medals so far in the Beijing Paralympics. Well done to the Brilliant Simon Richardson and to the equally brillaint Ellen Hunter on the cycling track. Also to the fast David Roberts in the pool at the 100m freestyle. A deserved hat tip to Alun Cairns A.M. for emphasising that the Assembly should be giving these athletes a special homecoming, he says "I would like to congratulate Simon on his Gold Medal, which is even more fantastic when you consider what he has had to overcome in the last seven years to achieve this. "Our Paralympians ...
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage For the past fortnight, we've been asking you: what is the main point of the Lib Dem party conference? And it turns out you're an old-fashioned lot, with over one-third of you declaring that [...]
I came home to a leaflet on the doormat advertising the new Islington Play Rangers service. The Play Rangers will be leading free group play activities in parks and on estates in Islington for 8-13 year olds, in the 4-6pm slot after school. I think this is a great idea, especially as many of the [...]
The Esoteric Recordings website announces: October will see the release of an album which has been many months in preparation, Chris Wood's "Vulcan".I'm sure some of you will be aware of Chris' work as a member of the legendary band Traffic. "Vulcan" is essentially the "lost" solo album recorded by Chris following the demise of Traffic in 1974.The idea for "Vulcan" was formulated prior to Traffic's final tour and the record was assembled slowly over the next few years with contributions from Steve Winwood and members of The Wailers. Sadly Chris never saw the album completed and following his untimely ...
Anyone who is over 50 is probably fairly mortified at the sort of junk mail they receive on a daily basis, for things like stair lifts, motorised scooters and SAGA holidays. The letter my husband received today made him cringe. What was worse was that the product it was advertising was printed on the envelope so the postman knew he'd got it. Maybe it's a good thing that the post doesn't come until lunchtime so that Bob has little chance of meeting the postman. I should probably tell you that Bob is a huge fan of very modern music - ...
My friend (and fellow Lib Dem) Jo Shaw is preparing to run the Loch Ness Marathon on 5 October. Jo's going to the other end of Britain to run her first marathon - all in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Go Jo! You can sponsor her here. [...]
Spare a thought for Iain who began today with a poem to announce his diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. I'm not going to comment on the prose. I don't know enough about poetry to judge one way or another but, I can tell you this for nothing: If you catch me writing a poem on this blog it means I'm extraordinarily drunk or about to kill myself - in such circumstances, going a bit Emo is somewhat allowed. I don't know what he was expecting, but even I was was surprised to see his fellow Conservatives mock him for being ...
A busy day with : * Two surgeries (at Harris Academy and the Mitchell Street Centre) * Council committees tonight, with a packed Planning & Transport Committee agenda * Dundee Waterfront Board * Meeting with Scottish Water and a resident regarding pavement reinstatement issues * And ... good to visit the Dundee Housing Associations' Money Advice Show at Dundee West Church. See photos! A great initiative - will also be at Balgay Parish Church Hall this Friday (10.30am to 3pm)
A fellow OUTer (outeverywhere.com) sent an email to Cameron's office asking about taxes for single people - actually in relation to green taxes. The reply was: Dear xxx, I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your recent email. We are grateful to you for taking the time to get in touch. David does take [...]
Philobiblon is back from the Green Party Conference to bring you a selection of the best in British blogging from the past week. The next Roundup will be hosted here on Liberal England. So if you see a posting on a British blog this week that you think should appear, please send the link to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com before Sunday lunchtime. And, yes, you can nominate a posting from our own blog.
Popular Welsh Assembly member for Carmarthen West/South Pembrokeshire Angela Burns has moved house to the sticks. This is a photograph I took of Angela recently. An inside source gave Rhetoric the info that Angela has moved out to Login. Yes Login just in case you think it is a spelling mistake! The village is a remote West Wales village that lacks mains gas supply and until recently, Broadband dialup. It is a very picturesque place with a river running through the village centre and steep sided banks. The village is officially in Carmarthenshire. Yet some people will claim it is ...
I cannot believe the intransigence of Haringey Council. There is a by-election to be held in Alexandra Ward (cause: Lib Dem Wayne Hoban moving to Worthing) and the Council have put polling day on Yom Kippur. This is the High Holy Day of the Jewish people. The have several alternative days they could choose within the allotted timescale laid down by law - but no - they have chosen Yom Kippur. Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Robert Gorrie has made strong representations (many) about this being unacceptable - but Haringey Council have completely refused to change the day! Disgraceful. We (and ...
Andrew Murray will be playing in the final of the U.S. Open tonight against Roger Federer. In an unbelievable upset he beat awesome leftie Rafa Nadael in the semi. Roger has been there and done it so many times in Slam finals. Fourteen slam victories to his credit. Being an archchair critic (former competitive player) I think it all rests on Rogers service. If murray can return consistently it will take away a massive weapon which Federer wins so many cheap points on. The irony is Rogers second service will try and push out Murray wide to the left hand ...
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Labour councillor Alan Stanton has been battling to get yellow lines correctly painted in the borough. Alan has now provided an update on the particularly silly picture I highlighted. He has had the problem sorted out. In so doing, Alan gives us a characteristically frank assessment of one Council programme, Achieving Excellence: "I hear Haringey is splurging a few million on something called "Achieving Excellence". With the Traffic & Roads Service, a few quid on "Achieving Competence" might be a better investment." With my experience of parking (see elsewhere), I fully ...
A posting from Liberal England is featured in the Movie Monday Blog Carnival again this week.
Welcome to Cowley Street, where the London Regional Executive is in session. I'm listening to Leonard Cohen... Need I say more?
Earlier today I noticed that someone from Liberty had been reading one of my posts on the Telford penguins. I smiled. But it isn't funny any more. This evening's Shropshire Star reports: Council staff on the lookout for paedophiles have been ordered to stop and quiz any adults found walking in Telford Town Park without a child, it was revealed today.Anyone who wants to go to the park but is not accompanied by at least one youngster will have to explain why they are there.As you would expect, there is more on the indefatigable Telford & Wrekin Council Watch: This ...
And so the tax cut debate rages on within the party - on the blogosphere at least if no where else - so I thought I'd throw in my two-pence. Some consider this change of tack to be a flip-flop, which it isn't. It seems perfectly sensible, and defensible to say that despite wanting increased public expenditure in the past, this has happened already, with Government expenditure having doubled since 1997 from £300 billion to £600 billion. Therefore, we need to look at areas where this is perhaps not being spent wisely, or effectively, and either reallocate this money to ...
Having now read both the executive summary and the full commission report, I have to say I am encouraged by many of the issues the report addresses. Internal communication is clearly an area the report wants to improve, although I should say at this point that, rather ironically, the communication regarding the reports publication left a lot to be desired. Having read Chris Bones' article for LDV, I accept his reasoning for the publication being in the two stages that it was. However, he doesn't explain why we couldn't have been told that it was being published in this manner, ...
Jeremy Hargreaves has written a typically thoughtful piece about the "Where's Lemby" conundrum: Would electing Lembit as President "split the party"? No, I think that's going a bit far. But, given where people are now, I do think that the party in the country effectively imposing Lembit as President on people who actually have to work with the person in that role, would be highly divisive. The
A CNN poll taken after the end of the Republican convention shows Obama and McCain "deadlocked". Other polls show either a mild or substantial convention "bounce" for McCain, as expected. USA Today/Gallup showed McCain 10 points ahead, Zogby shows him 4 points ahead. Votemaster notes: "The Rasmussen tracking poll makes it a tie at 46% each. The Gallup tracking poll puts McCain ahead 48% to 45%."
Welcome to the 81st of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (31st August - 6th September), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed. How about starting with the most popular blog-posting, and we work our way down? Here [...]
Colgate Regular toothpaste (their bottom of the range) was 89p now £1.45! That's an increase of 62% by my reckoning. Okay, they have added a "New Improved" line to it but I'm not falling for that... I don't want an improved one, it's like forcing people to get Vista. Bah! Yes, yes free market, I could start using a different brand but where to start? Any ideas?
Alexandra ward has a Lib Dem candidate. I am really pleased to say he's Nigel Scott, who is a very experienced campaigner. He's a local school governor, and has been active in Haringey Lib Dems for even longer than me! Nigel is a strong candidate. He took on the current Labour leader at the last local elections - and nearly knocked him out, with a huge swing. He'd be great for Alexandra. I snapped him yesterday, out and about in Alexandra with Lynne Featherstone....
...but more needed! And all those shortlisted for the LDV Blogger Awards need to make sure they update their entry toute suite!! In fact more of everybody needed and especially women as only 19% of those who have either registered or added their entry are women! Bearing in mind women make up 40% of Lib Dem membership that's pants!! So, if you know any female Lib Dem members please drop them a link to the site and encourage them to add their entry! Still, if we're doing analysis by groups then women as a group are much, much better than ...
As the nation collectively paused, mute with anticipation, and the media hounds packed outside an "ex-Local Authority" block of flats in Wandsworth, the subject of the Big Defection Story was inside, typing an e-mail to a beseeching Conservative. "Sorry A*a**a**, but I have to accept what I am, I can't go on living a lie. I eat gluten-free muesli and don't shave" This is, kind of, what I wrote. I also blamed the nutters on ConsHome for forcing me away; a difficult justification to refute, methinks. Today the comment-leavers on Mr Dale's Blog and LDV are exchanging mainly-embarrassing Top Ten ...
1) I have a Facebook account but I only ever log into it if the damn thing sends me an email, informing me that my presense on Facebook is requested to answer charges of a) Having a Message or b) Having Been Tagged or c) Having been added to someone's Friends List. I go, I plead guilty, and I run away. 2) Twitter really, really freaks me out, which is upsetting because it's the first piece of technology that I've ever, ever had that reaction to. You could tell me that someone's invented a brain implant that would boost memory ...
Bloggers For Fluffy Justice now has a Facebook group as well as a Campaign Button for you to add to your blog: {For Fluffy Justice: Millennium for Blog of the Year} Join if you have a FaceAche account, and encourage others to join also, please.
Has Cameron got what it takes to run the Country? That is the question many people have started to ask and will ask closer to the General Election. They is no point the Country looking down Cameron's street for all the answers, especially when he doesn't have it in him. I don't think Cameron can run the Country. If he was to come into Power he either would do just as bad as Brown if not worse. But the people are not looking at whether he would be able to run the Country or not, they are looking at his ...
Is there really nothing else to write about Lembit Opik other than bloody Segways? Sheesh! It even makes it in a leader in the Independent today! Fortunately, Jeremy Hargreaves is on hand to provide some analysis: Would electing Lembit as President "split the party"? No, I think that's going a bit far. But, given where people are now, I do think that the party in the country effectively imposing Lembit as President on people who actually have to work with the person in that role, would be highly divisive. And once settled into post, it wouldn't necessarily get easier - ...
People have been, in the words of Lord Bonkers, terribly kind about Ros's campaign, and credited me with a key role in it. In truth, however, there is more to this campaign than two people over the breakfast table. Much, much more. For the real story about the campaign and the amazing team behind it, check out Ros's blog...
It is usual in a campaign to thank people at the end, but people have been so complimentary about the things we've been doing so far that this seems like a good time to introduce the ever-growing 'I'm 4 Ros' team. My campaign manager and agent is Chris White, an old friend and fellow council group leader, whose sage advice and sense of humour have been a source of strength from the beginning. The campaign organiser is an absolute powerhouse, with seemingly bottomless reserves of drive and energy, also known as Bridget Harris. She makes things happen, gets stuff done, ...
Characteristically I have yet to book a hotel room in Bournemouth. For Conference. As I generally like sleeping, beds, and rooves, this should be done. Any recommendations, like?
Watch this advert for the Conservatives for the Canadian General Election. It's a mood/values piece showing Stephen Harper talking about fatherhood. I'm sure it will play well with plenty of Canadian voters. I find it sickening. Can somebody sanely explain to me why whether Harper says he's a good father or not, or whether he professes to hold "family values" matters one jot or iota? How does it affect his ability to govern well? Watch the video below.
Gideon Osborne has announced that, due to the "complete economic mess" the Conservatives will have to rewrite all their economic policies. To a degree that makes sense, except when you remember one thing: They don't have any economic policies! Osborne has done a brilliant job at not saying anything about what he plans to do for three years. In fairness, he did announce three nuggest last autumn - raising the IHT threshold, lowering Stamp Duty and paying for both with a charge on non-domiciles - but even these backfired slighly when it was realised that the latter couldn't even begin ...
In a recent article it was suggested that Ealing, along with other local councils, were recruiting 8-14 year olds to act as spies. These children would be "rewarded" for informing the council if they spotted any act of littering and or the aftermath of any acts of vandalism. Some of these children are even given James Bond style code names so they can report "anonymously". Whilst reading this article the term "Little Spies" kept springing to mind. In case you aren't aware of what I am referring to; Little Spies is a concept coined by George Orwell in his infamous ...
There was more evidence of the graffiti "tagging" plague in Prestwich over the weekend, with a bus shelter outside St Mary's Park, and various walls in the area falling victim to the same vandal. It is great news that graffiti cleaning kits are now available to local people, and that young people responsible for many of the acts of vandalism have been made to clean up their mess as part of their punishment. But we clearly haven't got to the bottom of the issue yet, and we will continue to work with the Local Area Partnership including the police and ...
The dustbin-shaped spectre of town-centre grot has raised its head again this weekend in three separate emails I've received from residents drowning in a sea of discarded litter. Last year local Lib Dem Councillors launched a high-profile and successful campaign for a "deep-clean" of the Village centre, using high pressure water jets to get rid of grime. We also secured commitment for extra cleaning on weekends to get rid of the litter. Unfortunately the scourge of dirt is making a re-appearance, with particular grot-spots near to the Fairfax pub and on a couple of the side-streets off Bury New Road. ...
I am flattered to have been shortlisted for an award at the Lib Dem Blog of the Year awards. For the second year running I am in the final five in the category of "Best Blog from a Lib Dem elected to public office." The award has been re-named the Tim Garden award this year, in honour of Lord Garden, Lib Dem Blogger who died last year. Last year I didn't walk off with a medal, and since I've carried on in much the same fashion this year as last, I expect that the result this time round will be ...
If I'm being honest, it's not really for your benefit, dear reader. Sometimes it's to salve my conscience. Often it's done in anger (not a good idea, but I'm only human) but most of all it's done because something has occurred to me and writing it down often helps me to think it out. My problem in life is that I care. As I went to a Public School, this is not something I was brought up to do, so how it came about I've really no idea. Yes, it is my party right or wrong (frequently the latter, I'm ...
Don't feel bad. Always next year. Contratulations on your Deferred Success! And equal contratulations to the Nominees of Lib Dem Voice's blogging awards (She added, hastily).
1. Is an MEP who didn't make top of the Lib Dem list and has just cleared his office without a personal goodbye to his staff 2. Is all star-struck by Sarah Palin even though he has a Civil Partnership 3. Is someone who has kept his extreme cultural views `in the closet` only to display them [...]
Lib Dem Blog Awards. I can haz nomination? Yes I can. alex_wilcock says in the comment thread to the entry:For posting prolifically, always interestingly, and with diversity, for being impeccably Liberal, pro-science, able to explain things, able to send things up, for a glorious mix of short, funny posts and long, detailed, intellectual ones, for organising and writing up all those bloggers' interviews, and for having the best Doctor Who reviews in town... It just seems absurd that Millennium isn't nominated for Blog of the Year.This anthropocentrism must end. Who cares if the other parties will laugh at us for ...
Wolverhampton Liberal Democrats have launched an online petition to save Post Offices at risk of closure. The petition calls on the Government to halt the closures, you can sign the petition at http://www.wolverhamptonlibdems.org.uk/petitions/
http://view.break.com/565864 - Watch more free videos
Iain Dale, bless his cotton socks, has kindly brought The Voice's attention to his blog posting yesterday, Top Ten Signs You Are About to Defect to the Lib Dems. Would LDV readers care to reciprocate in a suitably light-hearted manner, and come up with some Signs You Are About to Defect to the Tories? Your [...]
Not Ali (Mrs Dixon), but Julia of that ilk in a Q-and-A session in the Independent: Do you feel sorry for Gordon Brown? NEIL CATTERMOLE, Ayr Yes. But nobody wants their country to be run by someone they pity.
The owner of 16b Hawthorn Road who erected a large building in his garden without planning permission has finally been served with a summons. The owner has been told he must demolish the building but has failed to do so, and sought to stall the process by submitting new planning applications at the last minute. [...]
I received a leaflet circulated by Conservative activists on behalf of Ken Andrews recently. The leaflet refers to the Close 'Your High' Campaign which your local MP Tom Brake has taken up on behalf of residents. The leaflet accuses Tom of making the campaign political. The whole leaflet is dedicated to having a go at Tom and [...]
Will Perrin has captured another example of why we need decent pedestrian access to and through the new Kings Cross which doesn't involve trailing down York Way.
Liberal Democrat Voice has just posted the shortlists for all the categories in this year's Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards. I won't list them all here, but it is good to see that the winner of Best Blog by a Lib Dem Holding Office will now receive the Tim Garden Award. I am flattered that Liberal England has been shortlisted for Blog of the Year for the third time. The full list of nominations for that section is: Dib LemmingJock's PlaceLiberal EnglandLove and LibertyNeil StockleyThe People's Republic of MortimerThe award ceremony will be held in Old Harry's Bar ...
At least not according to the European Commission if that ethnic minority is the Roma in Italy. So much for the EU protecting human rights, its increasingly a club for today's ever more authoritarian politicians to club together to justify their own actions. More at El Pais (auto translated, original here) Hat-tip to Nosemonkey.
Ulster Unionist MLA Chris McGimpsey has put his own person kibosh on Dave "caring" Cameron's plans to merge the Conservatives and Unionists once more. Interesting in light of Dave's apparently more considerate and caring conservative brand one of the key reasons that Mr McGimpsey, who's bother Michael is the Health Secretary in the Assembly, is that it would "deprive working-class Northern Ireland of an important voice". Now that is a sting in a tail not just to the merger but to the Conservatives appearance as reaching out across the political divide. All the more reason for the Lib Dems to ...
Something odd has happened to my yahoo homepage in the last couple of weeks. When I log into my email, there's an initial page with today's news headlines. For some reason, this keeps reverting to the headlines for 13 August, starting with "Stagg awarded £706,000 compensation". The headlines are now so out of date that the linked [...]
We have two new planning applications listed this week The first one is for 3 internally illuminated fascia signs at PC World Superstore at Weston Lock Retail Lower Bristol Road. The application was first registered on 3rd September 2008 and has a decision date of 29th October 2008. The application reference number is 08/02770/AR if you want...
Thank you to everyone who emailed in nominations for this year's Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year awards. The judges (Kate Bevan, Rob Blackie, Ryan Cullen, Lynne Featherstone, James Graham, me, Sunny Hundal, Mark Pack and Stephen Tall) have pored over around 80 nominated blogs to whittle them down to the shortlists below. The shortlists do, [...]
I've noticed a thread on Liberal Democrat Voice in the Members' Forum about policy making and debating at Federal Conference. My London Region colleague, Jeremy Hargreaves, has noted that Regional Conferences are far more accessible yet don't tend to be fora for policy discussions. He is, unsurprisingly, quite right. So here's a challenge. I'm willing to sponsor a motion at the Regional
Looking forward to the tennis tonight and will be cheering on (Muscles) Murray to win against Federer. Great commentary on Five Live over the last couple of nights covering the Murray/Nadal match but such a shame that the BEEB can't in some way offer tv coverage. No doubt it would involve large sums of money and re-scheduling effort to get tv rights etc (sometimes it seems like these big sporting events don't actually want people to watch them!) but I'm sure there are a lot of tennis fans who'd love the chance to see this kind of tournament available rather ...
Lib Dem Conference: On Lib Dem Voice: Reportage | LDV Events | Contribute On the official party website: Conference home | Vote-by-vote coverage I think we may have mentioned once or twice already that we have the odd event or two at conference. Just to help you keep us in your mind, LDV's resident PagePlus Monkey has now [...]
Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament do all they can to ensure that when people are elected they can be effective public representatives straightaway. Every Liberal Democrat Euro Candidate in England and Scotland (possibly not yet Wales because of delay in their selection) has had the chance to visit the Parliament in Brussels. A large group of [...]
Knowing from recent family experience that even when you think someone has won a battle with cancer they can very suddenly go downhill and lose the war I was saddened to learn, via J. Arthur McNumpty, that Cllr. Elizabeth Maginnis has also suddenly passed away. Her blog reports that she was attending a surgery on Wednesday but the Scotsman reports that she was admitted to the Western General on Thursday with a suspected brain hemorrhage. She's had been a councillor for 21 years and was working for her constituents right up to the end. My thoughts go to her family ...
This, below, is a press release about the ticket ballot for the MTV awards at the Arena later this year. Music fans in North West England to have greatest opportunity to buy tickets for Europe's most prestigious live music event MTV Networks International today announced that tickets for the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards will be distributed via a global ballot. The 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Echo Arena Liverpool, Liverpool - European Capital of Culture - on Thursday 6th November and are sponsored by edc by Esprit, Sony Ericsson and Dell. The ballot ...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/09/0... ...
Over the last year Lembit Opik MP and Baroness (Ros) Scott have been running campaigns for the election which has now finally formally started, to be the next President of the Liberal Democrats. But the campaigns they have been running have been so different that it really feels more like they have been standing in different elections. Ros stole a march at autumn conference last year by having her team hand out "I'm 4 Ros" badges before anyone had even really realised there was a presidential election coming up (at that point we didn't know that we'd have another leadership ...
If anyone remains who is unsure of Ros Scott's AWESOMENESS: she likes Alice Cooper. If not in general, then at least for playing Guitar Hero. ETA: this might have inspired a slightly rash email... The Wilson Sisters who form the backbone of Heart, however, are not enamoured of the Republicans using one of their songs. Their guitarist Roger Fisher takes a more practical approach: Fisher said he strongly endorsed the Democratic ticket, and would donate a portion of royalties he receives from the Republicans' airing of "Barracuda" to the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. "With my contribution to Obama's campaign, ...
Since the Camden Council Sustainability Task Force made its "controversial" recommendation that there should be less meat and dairy on council menus for both environmental and health reasons the debate has continued to rage in high places. Now the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, has pitched in saying: "meat production accounts for about 18% of the world' s total greenhouse emissions so among options for mitigating climate change changing diets is something one should consider." The "eat less meat" debate clearly isn't going to go away. The Task Force recommendation was stopped in its ...
The full council meeting at Bath & North East Somerset Council this week should be a long meting as we will be debating the Governments ever increasing housing numbers for our local area. In the original consultation on the regional spacial strategy the Government indicated that it wanted Bath & North East Somerset Council to take and additional 15,000 houses across its area that...
Another Labour Cabinet minister was on the radio this morning. This time it was Ed Milispoons - and what a revelation he was. There is something unsettling about a Labour MP speaking with a hopelessly plummy voice but that wasn't the worst of it. He simply had nothing to say on the subject of the Cabinet meeting in Birmingham. It was reminiscent of the early days of New Labour in 1997 when they were all young, keen and completely unaware so they tended to umm and ahh through interviews like schoolchildren on speech day. One would have hoped that 11 ...
A week before the meeting, it will be time to issue the agenda. Naturally, it will include all of the reports from the Officers, your branches, Council Group, PPC(s) and, if you're really lucky, your MP (let me make that clear, if you're lucky enough to have an MP, they're all utterly spiffing and fully engaged with their Local Party...). It will start with 'Apologies', move on to 'Minutes of the
Nick Clegg's pledge to go even further than the current Lib Dem commitment to cut the basic rate of income tax by 4p was the main topic for his interview on BBC Radio 4's The Westminster Hour on Sunday night. You can listen to it here, and read the views of Lib Dem bloggers Linda [...]
September arrives, the Cubs are sweeping all before them. Or they were. They've lost seven of the last eight, their lead over second place Brewers has dropped to 4 games (thankfully the Brewers have had a bit of a slump too, going 5-5). Apparently this all has something to do with goats and curses. Perhaps. Or its [...]
After a monster 9 hour journey back from Newcastle on Saturday, I finally reached home in Suffolk - for the first time in a month. When I left for Scotland on August 11th there was still some hope there would be a summer to come, but there's a truly autumnal feel about now. The garden was glorious when I left, and has all faded now; the surprise being a crop of tomatoes, self-seeded as a result of my mania for home composting. With only 54 hours at home, there were some domestic issues to deal with, but the priority was ...
I've just been on BBC Radio Tees talking about Darlington FC's three hour "Happy Hour" cheap drinks promotion on match days. The story was reported in this morning's Northern Echo and the radio producer was on the phone at 8.15 asking me to come on air at 8.30. Apparently, "a row has broken out". The football club's response to my criticism is that it has to compete with other establishments in
I'm in Birmingham to help my brother at a trade show. Last night we went to a rather fine Indian restaurant off Broad St and passed the ICC - the convention centre. There were rather a lot of Police outside. Although I haven't seen it reported anywhere (mind you I haven't been looking that hard), I'm guessing that this must be the venue for today's 'historic first cabinet meeting outside London since Lloyd George'. The ICC looked completely empty as we passed and I'm guessing that 'for security reasons' it had been closed for a while to allow every one ...
Did Tim Henman ever get into the final of a grand slam? Oh dear, no he didn't. Whoops!
There is something disturbing about Donald Rumsfeld. Despite all the execrable decisions that he has taken in his life and the disasters he has caused, he is by no means an idiot. At times he makes a lot of sense. I have always thought it rather odd that people mocked his "Unknown Unknowns" comment, which actually makes perfect sense if you bother to read it. Here is another comment he made on the issue of global poverty: I was involved in the so-called war on poverty here in the United States and I've traveled the globe and seen just terrible ...
Some random highlights of yesterday's canal festival: Richard sourcing dayglo orange clothesline to hold the banner Roly processing down Vincent Terrace bearing cakes Our crowd-stopping slogan "Gordon Brown got you down? There is an alternative!" The jewellery stall next to us playing wonderful live music and taking requests The Mayor wearing a life jacket over his robes to promote his [...]
Hat tip to Concerned08 who posted this comment. It appears that Governor Lipsticked Pitbull doesn't quite know whether she supports of disagrees with Sen. Barak Obama's energy policy. On September 3 while accepting the Republican nomination for Vice President she said: "...we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. "And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both. "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already. "But the fact that ...
Think back a year. Brown was riding high in the polls, Cameron was on the ropes with questions asked about his future, and Labour could openly contemplate holding an election with a good prospect of winning. Well, how times change. Now Cameron is ahead, Labour fears meltdown at the polls and all the questions are being asked about the future of Brown. So, for much of this year, we have had
Yesterday's Independent on Sunday quotes a Government Minister as saying that a lost computer disc containing personal details about thousands of justice staff is not thought to have fallen into the wrong hands. The hard-drive, contained personal details including the names, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and employee numbers of 5,000 people employed by the National Offender Management Service, who may include many prison officers as well as administrative staff and other workers. It was last seen by contractors EDS in July 2007, but it was not until July this year that the private contractor informed the Prison Service. ...
Today's Telegraph reports that an illegal convoy of the Segway upright scooters will head from the Houses of Parliament to the Department of Transport on Tuesday as part of a campaign to make their use legal on British roads. Campaigners will be joined by Earl Attlee, Earl Liverpool, and the MPs Stephen Pound and Lembit Őpik MP. They believe that the Segway could play a key role in unblocking Britain's gridlocked main roads. This presumes of course that drivers could overcome the problem of looking ridiculous in getting onto one of the devices in public in the first place. Bring ...
All this week, Lib Dem Voice will be publishing the results of our September survey of party members conducted through Liberty Research via our private members' forum. This is the second of our monthly surveys - if you have ideas for future survey questions, please email me at stephen - stephen.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot [...]
Market Harborough Lib Dems have broken new ground, says the Harborough Mail. Forget campaiging on dog mess: Gaps in fencing surrounding Harborough's new £300,000 play area at Welland Park could encourage foxes to use the area as a toilet, councillors have warned.Concerned Liberal Democraft councillors say the woodbark surface at the new Harborough District Council-owned play area - officially opened on August 4 - could be a magnet for animals to use as a toilet.Phil Knowles, Harborough's Lib Dem group chairman, said: "Between 35 and 50 per cent of urban foxes carry toxocariasis. Foxes are seen regularly in Harborough."Cllr Sarah ...
The story of the weekend had to be the one brought to our attention by Colin Ross: husband and wife Tory councillors from Wolverhampton have been caught running a brothel in their house. I don't like to be too harsh: most of us, in our everyday lives, fail to live up to the ideals we express. But the gap here is larger than in most cases. The full story is in the Sunday Mirror.
Oh what a night. The resumption of the Rafael Nadal v Andy Murray semi-final in the US Open took place on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and a different Rafa Nadal seemed to have come out when the the 3rd set continued with serve with Rafa hardly under threat on his own serve a difference from the night before. The Spanish world number 1 ended up taking that set 6-4 after returning to court 3-2 up and facing a break back point in that 10th game. The start of the 4th set both players went to 0-30 in each of the ...
Thanks to Linda Jack for pointing me in the direction of Nick Clegg's interview on the Westminster Hour on Sunday evening. In a fairly bad tempered interview given the easy ride that Caroline Quinn gives him (just imagine what a Paxo or Humphries would have made of this), he goes back to the formulation which most of the party is pretty comfortable with, namely that if we can meet all our spending priorities and "have money to spare" we should provide further tax cuts to people on "low and middle incomes." This is a complete and utter u-turn in comparison ...
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post. 17:50 recovering after a pub lunch #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
Just come back from the latest OUTeverywhere (site for LGBT community - social networking sites) event in Nottingham. Basically, members organise `posses` which means gathering in Starbucks etc. Recently there have been OUT Megaparties - London, Manchester and this weekend Nottingham. The Nottingham one involved a tour of Nottingham (nicer than you might think), Nottingham Castle, [...]
Sunday September 7th When I was Mayor one the wonderful things was being invited along to performances of the Tees Valley Youth Orchestra and Tees Valley Youth Choir. They really lifted my spirit. It wasn't just the excellent music that they performed, but the way they did it with not only skill and commitment, but with passion and joy. They are not just a group of...
At the risk of sounding like a liberal, I think we need to get this story in perspective. On the face of it (I don't discount the chance that there are facts which haven't come to light) everyone was involved consensually, their neighbours weren't disturbed and they were not causing anyone else harm. This is not Fred and Rose West [...]
As some of you may know the Islamic month of Ramadhan started on 1st September 2008 for many Muslims.
