Most of the comment has been on the style of the speech. Would it reveal the private man, the warm jester, who we were assured by people close to Number 10, lurked behind the dour, vindictive, public face? Would it be a tour de force which would put an end to the speculation in the media about his future? Well, we now have much opinion - most of it surprisingly favourable - to draw on. Few have commented on the substance of the speech. For instance, who contrasted Brown's understanding of the word fairness, with that of Nick Clegg? What ...
Here's the report: The party is on the brink of being censured by the [information] commissioner, Richard Thomas, for breaching strict privacy rules when [Nick] Clegg called 250,000 voters in 50 marginal constituencies last Wednesday night after his keynote speech to the Lib Dems' conference. The privacy watchdog has confirmed that it believes the automated calls were [...]
The fact that John McCain can't campaign, debate and negotiate a compromise to a major crisis just shows he isn't up to the job of President. What a cheap stunt from a man whose economics adviser, the ditched CEO from Hewlett Packard, doesn't think his VP choice is up to the job of running a large multinational. That says wonders about Palin's perceived ability to run a state, let alone a country. The very same man whose campaign manager is being investigated by the FBI due to the $15,000 he was receiving a month (up to last month) from the ...
I'll shed no tears at the departure of Ruth Kelly, easily the worst member of a dire Labour Cabinet. Clearly, Gordon disagrees and was utterly despondent at Kelly's 3am resignation ...
{Lime Grove School site} Unite, a private student accommodation developer, are in the process of buying the old Lime Grove school site from BathNES council. The land is between the railway and canal allotments, near Pulteney Road The former special school has been empty for a year since pupils and teachers transferred to the award winning Three Ways School. The project was effectively paid for by the sale of the three redundant sites. While empty the school was briefly home to squatters before prompt action by residents and councillors had them moved on. Unite are a nationwide commercial firm who ...
So, it seems that John McCain wants to postpone the first presidential debate so that he and Barack Obama can return to Washington to work on a bipartisan plan to solve the current economic crisis. It hardly needs saying, but this is utter nonsense. There's no reason why the debate can't happen and the Senate decide on the Wall Street bail-out at the same time. People expect a President to be able to handle more than issue at once, rather than dealing with them one at a time. Can you imagine McCain in the White House, dealing with another Russian ...
Mike German A.M. gave a speech on Welsh Assembly Government Environment Policy on the 24th september 2008. The central tenet of the speech is that the Assembly Government is producing many action plans and route maps without acting in a sufficient way. The speech is aimed at Wales being able to generate its own electricity by 2050. With upland sites for Wind turbines, a long coastline that can accommodate offshore wind technology and the Severn Estuary there is no reason why Wales cannot achieve this with competent government policy. The speech is called '100% by 2050' I am passionate about ...
Peter Black, Welsh Lib Dem housing spokesperson has urged the Assembly government to combat the rising number of people on affordable housing waiting lists across Wales by bringing thousands of empty houses back into use. Peter Black has also urged the Housing Minister to amend legislation so that owners of empty houses pay higher council tax on empty dwellings or make the house available for renting. Research by the Welsh Liberal Democrats has revealed that in 2006-2007, there were nearly 18,000 empty dwellings in Wales. With a total of 87,000 households waiting for affordable housing, providing a clear strategy of ...
On 14 September I posted this: "If I was advising the Prime Minister, I would suggest a refinement of the narrative. It should become 'against the odds'. Brown has succeeded against the odds, he wants Britain to win through the economic downturn against the odds, he wants everyone to win against the odds. And then, I would suggest he call a general election in May 2009, against every one's expectation." At the Labour party conference on Tuesday 23 September, Gordon Brown said this: "Last year in Bournemouth I told you how when I was 16, I got injured playing rugby ...
I'll admit that I have on occasion been highly critical of Lembit. And if he is elected as President, I will continue to be so if I feel he's not doing the job to the best of his (undoubted) ability. I've enough friends in the party and people who listen to me, that I feel I must justify this position in some detail. Lembit is no fool; far from it. He's generally approachable, and is very good with people. That's an important quality in a Party President. He's well known but has made it clear that he would see his ...
I spent much of today emailing out the photos I took at the Vince Cable photo op at conference. Then before leaving the office, I had a quick look at Facebook and found people are already posting up the pictures. What a marvel al this new fangled technology is! Tomorrow the Steve Webb photos will be sent out.---Sent via BlackBerry
Ruth Kelly's decision to resign as Transport Secretary to spend more time with her family has attracted derision in some quarters, with much of the media believing there has to be more to it than that. Now, I don't know Kelly's motivation for deciding to quit, and it's certainly plausible that disillusionment with Gordon Brown's leadership played its part in her decision. But I think that wanting to spend more time with her family is genuinely a large part of why she's resigned, and credit to her for that. She's not the first politician this year to cite family reasons ...
I'm slightly sceptical about these '5 Must-have' or '10 Best' articles, because I don't 'Need' my iPhone to be a remote control for my computer and no one is going to try all the growing number of iPhone apps. But here are three apps that I've tried and found useful for blogging on the go: 1. BlogPress (£5.99) allows you to easily update Blogger on the move. Previously, the only applications
A few days ago Iain Dale wrote: On 9 June, Sunny Hundal of Liberal Conspiracy made a complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, accusing Tory MP Nadine Dorries of using public funds to pay for her blog. He wrote a 21 page submission of evidence. Last week, Nadine posted on her blog saying that she had been [...]
I was pleased to see that NICE has published new guidelines that recommend that Ritalin should be prescribed less often to children diagnosed with ADHD - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. As I am feeling all blogged out tonight, I shall refer you to an article I published in Open Mind magazine a few years ago: A psychologist I know gives her last lecture of each year on a paper entitled 'The aetiology and treatment of childhood'. It describes a worrying condition, with symptoms like short stature, emotional immaturity and a reluctance to eat vegetables - or 'legume anorexia'. The good ...
A bit more on Labour's pretty disgusting claims that the Lib Dems forced a council by election on Yom Kippur. Here's a round up of what the newspapers have said so far over who is responsible for this awful decision. Lets hope the Labour candidate apologises and tells the truth about it. Unlikely, I fear. "Jewish people are outraged after a London council organised a by-election Yom Kippur" Evening Standard "Haringey Council has come under fire for scheduling a by election on Yom Kippur" (Jewish News) "A Council has disenfranchised hundreds of Jewish Voters" (Jewish Chronicle) "The Council organised a ...
Two of my council colleagues Lyn Webber (Crouch End) and Ed Butcher (Stroud Green) have rightly expressed alarm today over Haringey's recycling policy. Haringey Council has let slip that it wants to get rid of on-street bottle banks and the like, as they are moving more towards even more 'comingling' of waste. 'Comingling' is as horrible as the word sounds. It is the recycling equivalent of having your mum come to visit and shoving everything you don't want visible under the bed in the spare room. Broken glass is mixed with newspapers and other waste to make collection simpler and ...
Britons like to think of their country being squeaky clean, but according to Transparency International — the Berlin-based group which ranks annually the world's nations according to their lack of corruption — the UK has slipped down four places since last year, from 12th to 16th. Chandrashekhar Krishan, the organisation's Executive Director, points to Britain's 'wretched [...]
The Assembly government building in Cardiff bay gave the Welsh Paralympic athletes a fitting return. The event at the Senedd was hosted by Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones, who said: Our Paralympic athletes have performed fantastically well in Beijing and I'm pleased that we've provided a fitting recognition of how well they have done.
That is how far a Labour County Councillor would have to travel if he ever wanted meet constituents. You can read the News Article HERE. The Labour County Councillor is living in Switzerland and thinks he can do his job as a County Councillor from their. That just shows you how low life politicians are becoming, they are wanting to claim as much money as they can of the tax payer despite them being hundreds of miles away from their constituencies. They was a case a couple of weeks ago that I didn't pick up on about the Liberal Democrats ...
My photos of the Labour conference in Manchester. Directions from the unions. No entry Nutty folks Controversial betting shop on the way through security. Warm welcome The Darfur stand which rather overshadowed the other stands. Journos At the bar The political class Who needs weekends when you get given this every morning
With James Graham in the grip of an existential crisis, it falls to me keep you up to date with the progress of the MP for Montgomeryshire. The hot news is that Lembit has resigned as Lib Dem shadow housing spokesman to concentrate on his Presidential campaign. No shame there: Ros Scott stood down from her front bench position in the the Lords earlier this year for the same reason. But do not despair: Lembit is not going all serious on us. He is to take part in a celebrity edition of Bargain Hunt. The Islington Gazette reports: Socialite Tamara ...
On Saturday I joined Bedford Liberal Democrats in their attempt to bang on every door in Brickhill ward (part of Nick Clegg's campaign to bang on a million doors across Britain). In the picture are just a few of those who took part.It was a lot of fun. Dave Hodgson and Christine McHugh, local councillors Charlie Royden (on his knees in the photo) and Wendy Rider and Bedford PPC Henry Vann made sure that the operation was very smoothly organised. And of course the weather was superb.I was expecting to speak some Italian given Bedford's large Italian population. Dave sorted ...
Liberal Democrat hopeful in Glenrothes Harry Wills was joined in the skies above Glenrothes by keen aviator and MP Lembit Opik. The duo were at Fife airport to give Harry's campaign a flying start. The Party is working hard in Glenrothes with new Scottish Leader Tavish Scott leading the entire contingent of MSPs and many Fife Liberal Democrat councllors campaigning there last night.
The Liberal Democrats made a significant step forward at their Conference last week when we passed the Make It Happen policy paper. The main issue of the debate revolved around Nick Clegg's pledge to cut billions of pounds from the income tax of low and middle income families. The party has broadly welcomed this, though [...]
So it is going to be four new Nuclear Power stations in the UK under plans floated by EDF (the new owners of British Energy). Good candidates perhaps for an upcoming accelerated protester-neutralised planning system for 'major projects'? These reactors will presumably be the French 'European Pressurised Reactor' design which is apparently running into considerable technical and economic problems in its showcase export project in Finland (massive safety problems due to mistakes in the foundations, already 50% over budget and two years behind schedule). France has been trying to sell its nuclear technology to the United States for awhile now ...
Jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia (and maybe also his brave wife Zeng Jinyan who is also under house arrest and who is bringing up their young daughter alone) is/are being tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is very welcome news in light of the Communist Government's blatant failure to uphold human rights as promised around the time of the Beijing Olympics. Hu was jailed in April apprently for 5 articles he wrote and 2 interviews he gave criticising the Communist Government in China for failing to uphold human rights. How pathetic is that? Hu has actively campaigned on behalf ...
Here's my first round of reshuffle predictions: Ruth Kelly to step down. OK so a bit obvious that one, but that was going to be my coup d'etat of front bench scrying until it was leaked! John Hutton to step down. Aha what do you think of that?! Much of the membership feel he has more clout than all the unions and the members/Guardianistas would love it, he's been vilified and demonized and he's fed up of being the bad guy, Labour has lost the city's backing anyway... The list goes on. But who to replace him - now there's ...
Nominations for the Party Presidency closed at noon today and there are three very different candidates for members to choose from. My brilliant team has been working hard for months now, and are in really good spirits for the campaign ahead. Hundreds of people have signed up to my campaign, as you can see from the website. I'm really touched by the comments people have left, and continue to leave, on the wall. People who I have worked with and campaigned alongside, and people who I've met on my travels around the country, have been incredibly positive. For months now ...
Sunday: Oh dear, they've gone and fritzed the Large Hat Collider! You're not fooling ME! It is a COVER UP! K-9 is down there, saving the world from BLACK HOLES! (No, it is NOT Captain Jack and Toychwud - they turned up on Big Bang Day all SAD because Tosh and Weevil-Boy Owen were DEADED, forgetting that Toychwud continuity is a year in the future so that hasn't happened yet! Clearly they are caught in the TIME WARP. AGAIN!)
Full Council last night was a sorry affair. The Conservatives had tabled a motion about policing in Kingston Town Centre. It implied that there was a serious problem with a large number of incidents on licensed premises. However, when council officers did some background research for the motion they discovered that the figures quoted in the motion were completely wrong. Of...
Lembit has made the right decision and quit as Shadow Cabinet Minister so he can Concentrate on winning the coming Presidential Election. Baroness Ros Scott has quit her job as front bench Lib Dem in Lords and it is great to see Lembit is giving the Party Activists his time and effort. They is speculation that another Candidate might be running but they isn't anything official yet. You Can read about Lembit quiting the Front Bench HERE.
School Governors at St Monica's RC High School, Prestwich, Greater Manchester have banned girls from receiving the potentially life-saving HPV vaccine on its premises because, they say, they do not believe that school is the right place for these injections to be administered." They also cast doubt on the efficacy and possible side effects. Even if they were a particularly skilled group of research scientists, I have no idea what right they think they have to deny girls the chance to receive their vaccinations in the easiest way possible, or their parents the chance to decide for themselves what is ...
The dust settles on what Ed Miliband described as the 'speech of Gordon Brown's life', Harriet Harman triumphantly hails the 'Labour fightback' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7633536.stmand all is well with the Labour government again... With trust so dangerously low in the government, I cant believe that the public (or the media) could bring themselves to believe that there has been a sudden outbreak of unity amongst Gordon's cabinet. What I find genuinely surprising is that the Labour strategists believe that a renewed message of unity and experience under the Brown banner is really the way to move forward. We all know that the ...
The BBC website gives us the low-down on the various ins and outs of the minor shadow cabinet reshuffle and a new entrant to the Lib Dem presidential race: Lembit Opik is standing down as Liberal Democrat housing spokesman to concentrate on his campaign to succeed Simon Hughes as the party's president. A Lib Dem spokesman [...]
I assume that Lembit's latest website is now the official one (not the one that looked like the pointy hat). It states that Jonathan Fryer is an endorser. I have asked his team whether Jonathan Fryer has officially endorsed him.
The Brown's are looking happy Here but for how long more, before this happiness comes and hits the Prime Minister in the Stomach. He cant run a Country but this Picture shows he can run a family allegedly.
In case people haven't heard, Chandila Fernando, Director of Mark Littlewood's Liberal Vision is throwing his hat into the party president race...
The BBC is reporting that Lembit Opik has stood down as the party's housing spokesman so he can concentrate on campaigning to be party president. Whilst it will be shame to not have Lembit in the Shadow Cabinet, I think this makes complete sense as it will allow him to catch up with the campaign [...]
Apparently news is breaking that Lembit has quit the front bench team. This has seemingly happened so that he can focus on his campaign for President. A bit odd if you ask me. Is this necessary? Was this expected? Andres Hanson has a quick and considered response here. More to follow. Perhaps. Update: the Beeb now finally has a report on its site - here.
The race for Party President will be more than the Ros and Lembit show. Someone called by my office late last night and told me he is running. It is going to be an interesting contest. Posted in Liberal Democrats
Halfway through a Yougov survey, we get: Who would you say was the greatest questioner of all time? Einstein Holly Willoughby Nostradamus Aristotle Jonathan Ross My mum Frank Skinner Isaac Newton Davina McCall Satre Anne Robinson Jeremy Paxman Chris Tarrant Other Don't know Well, that's a list and-a-half.
The government is making a little noticed change to the rules on benefits which will mean that, as of 6 October, the backdating period for certain benefits will be cut to three months from 12. That means some people, particularly pensioners, will get considerably less of what they are entitled to. I was talking to colleagues the other day about Liverpool City Council's Benefit Maximisation Team. They work with people who either don't know they are entitled to certain benefits - like pensions credit - or who are reluctant to claim even though they could be better off. The team ...
When I posted the link to ask the authorities in Georgia to stop the execution of Troy Davis last night, I had no real expectation that this would happen. I just felt that we should at least try to save a life from killing by the State which I think is always wrong, whatever the circumstances, but especially when there is clear doubt as to the safety of the conviction. It was with some relief that I see that indeed a stay of execution was granted with less than two hours to go. This is the second time that Troy ...
Saturday: Hmmm, well, this was a quite... tentative opening to the BBC's latest Saturday night "family entertainment" show. Will it be another "Doctor Who" or will it be another "Robbing Hoodie"? It seemed that it hadn't quite made up its own mind yet either! For every classy special effect by Doctor Who's team from the Mill or prosthetics by Mr Neil Gorton, there was a moment of crassly anachronistic dialogue that could have tripped off Robin's tongue innit. And with no fewer than four names under the "created by" credit, you can't help worrying that this is magic by committee. ...
This seems to be the week for questions over MPs and their expenses, so this time it's back to Richard Benyon, MP for Newbury and the man with the disappearing blog. A quick recap: his website says it is paid for out of MP expenses, but the blog on it had content that isn't allowed under [...]
Gladly not all Labour's lot are maintaining the line that Ruth Kelly resigned purely for family reasons. The wonderfully-named MEP for London "Mary Honeyball" is echoing the view that Kelly resigned "because she cannot support the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill due to come before the House of Commons soon for its third reading". Honeyball minces no words in expressing her sentiments about the resignation: "Kelly put her religion before the wishes of those who elected her during the second reading of the Embryology Bill. Her decision to go means that this, thankfully, will not happen again." As a perusal ...
A Video of Guido on Newsnight a while Ago. Paul Staines really likes to stay anonymous!
Jo Christie-Smith has written a thoroughly absorbing post on Sarah Palin. So far, Palin has been received relatively sympathetically compared to Dan Quayle. However, she has yet to hold a press conference, and her debut at the UN was 'pool cameras only'. Her main "freewheeling" encounters with the press have been: 1. When she was starting to drink a coffee in a diner and she was asked about
Of course this news will comes as no surprise to Lib Dems, but it's nice to see our interactive Parliamentarians getting due recognition for attemtping to connect with the electorate in new and innovative ways - this report from PublicTechnology.net was based on reasearch from the University of Plymouth and Bournemouth University: The research found that [...]
Wed 24th
14:14
LDV post-conference members' survey (2): what you thought of the media coverage of the Lib Dem confe...
Over the weekend, Lib Dem Voice emailed the members of our private forum (open to all Lib Dem members) inviting them to take part in a survey, conducted via Liberty Research, asking a number of questions arising from last week's party conference in Bournemouth. Many thanks to the 187 of you who completed it; we're [...]
Friday: The Newsnight Show's resident Replutocrat finds favour with Mr Clogg? Could my old fluffy sparing-partner Mr Frank "I invented the phrase DEATH-TAX" Luntz have completely lost his marbles this week or has he been replaced by a genuinely fair-and-balanced POD PERSON? The answer is NO. If a stage magician kept convincing you to pick the Knave of Diamonds (that's Mr Balloon in this analogy, obviously) then pretty soon his act would get OLD! Likewise, if Fluffy Frank (NOT a stage magician) wants to keep being IN the news, he has to generate SURPRISING new news from time to time. ...
Tales of Two Buses Talking about buses. What? You missed the Eddie Izard-esque segue? I had the misfortune to have a bad day and two different results on the buses yesterday and neither had anything to do with David "Blakey" Miliband. As I mentioned yesterday I was taking a midweek game in the Corporate Insurance Cup as a chance to catch up on my table topping Livingston. "You're no, you're no, we're top of the league and you're no."* So knowing that the road works around Haymarket are delaying buses I was quite expectant that my 90 second walk from ...
Older readers will remember how in 1983 Labour's unexpectedly good result in the Darlington by-election extinguished any threat to Michael Foot's leadership, leaving him free to lead the party to its disastrous general election defeat in the same year. The broadly positive reaction to Gordon Brown's speech at the Labour conference in Manchester might just about have saved his skin too - although Ruth Kelly's resignation won't help Brown. As with 1983, the problem now is both about the leader and the party - changing leaders now might do some good but not much. Back then, if Dennis Healey had ...
Anyone else getting a Google, "We're Sorry" page when trying to access certain blogspot blogs? It's very frustrating.
The first day back after summer recess yesterday led to a varied and rather long Plenary session. It was also the first opportunity to take stock of the changes that had taken place over the summer within the One Wales Government and to evaluate how both sides in the coalition are settling down with each other. Sure enough the new Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones was soon on his feet making a statement about the Olympics and the Labour Spokesperson on the subject was there to greet him: Alun Davies: I add my words of welcome and congratulations to the ...
As Chair of the regional transport partnership, TACTRAN, I was delighted to see the report of the growing success of TACTRAN's liftshare scheme - tactranliftshare.com - in today's Courier - click on headline above to view the full story. Along with TACTRAN's Director, Eric Guthrie, I recently took part in a discussion on Tay AM's "Business Matters" programme, about TACTRAN's role and the success of the partnership's liftshare scheme. You can access the Dundee part of the liftshare scheme at http://www.dundeeliftshare.com/.
Following on from the case of Lewisham East MP Bridget Prentice getting into trouble over how she is using her MP allowances, now it is the turn of Labour MP for Lewisham West, Jim Dowd. As with Bridget Prentice, he looks to be using the funds provided to help him communicate with his constituents to [...]
The Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly is leaving the Cabinet at the next reshuffle, according to some news reports she was 'disgusted' following Mr Brown's conference speech.
I've picked up, via CIF America, on a very interesting blog compiled with material from women, both Democrat and Republican from across America called Women Against Sarah Palin. Apparently, to my great relief, Sarah Palin does not represent the every day 'Hockey Mom' that she says that she does. Phew! Although I'm still not sure what a 'Hockey Mom' is and I know that's only because I haven't been paying proper attention. I have struggled to describe my feelings about Sarah Palin being selected to join McCain on the Republican ticket. What is not surprising is that she and I ...
Care of Jenny Rigg: McSweeney's Hamlet in Facebook news feed form: Hamlet thinks Ophelia might be happier in a convent. Ophelia removed "moody princes" from her interests.
Thursday: So we return home from Conference. Has anything been happening in the World? Oh crumbs... The current scores on the (repossessed) doors appear to be as follows: Of the "Big Five" American Investment Banks, Bear Sterns went under last March; Merrill Lynch was quietly bought out by Bank of America; Lehman Brothers went spectacularly bust*; and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are busily turning themselves into ordinary banks to try and get some depositors to shore up their remaining assets. That leaves NONE. Meanwhile, Great Britain has lost another bank and competition law was chucked out of the window ...
The latest issue of Total Politics carries a conference survival guide wot I wrote. Here's an extract: Conference is ultimately an extended four or five-day piss up for most of the younger delegates. Do your liver a favour and pace yourself. Perhaps have a soft drink or water between double vodka and Red Bulls, or go [...]
One of the more surreal moments of Lib Dem conference for me. The rider is the Telegraph's Jonathan Isaby.
After only six months of asking, and after only two inexplicably lenghty delays, the Council finally pulled its finger out yesterday and installed the much needed additional safety barriers at St Mary's Park. And I thank them for that. Since the St Ann's Road / Bury New Road junction was re-modelled, the exit from the park has not been properly guarded, but now it is, and the likelihood of an excited kid scampering out into the road and ending up squashed by a bus has been dramatically reduced. So that's good news, and my thanks to everyone involved, from the ...
Very interesting article on Liberal Democrat Voice by Alisdair Murray suggesting that Nick Clegg's leadership and Labour's impending wipeout means greater co-operation between the two parties and even merger possible. Meanwhile, in another place, on Charlotte Gore's blog a very vigorous debate about Labour and the left in general. I won't bore the reader by repeating myself here; suffice it to say we can debate the merits and histories of the socialist and liberal tradition ad infinitum the real question is what it means in the here and now. I have never hidden my past in Labour and on what ...
Out canvassing in Clerkenwell, in a towerblock. I knock on the door of a white woman in late middle age, who doesn't seem particularly pleased to see me. This is nothing new, canvassers are used to being greeted with low level suspicion. I begin my spiel, and ask a few questions about issues affecting the local area. "Well," she began, and her eyes darted across the hallway to the door opposite, which a black woman talking loudly into a mobile phone had just entered. "You wouldn't like it if I told you what's wrong around here." "From your tone, I'm ...
I fear that recent events have set a trap for Barack Obama - John McSame is going to show how he `rallies against Bush and his own party` on the Economy by rejecting the bailout. Barack Obama has done well with being steady under fire on this issue - now I would hope he'll do the [...]
The full meeting of Bury Council was a couple of weeks ago, and there are couple of answers to questions that might be of interest to people: I submitted a question on the delay in the consultation on the future of Prestwich Town Centre: Q Could the Leader outline why there has been a delay to the public consultation on the future of Prestwich Town Centre? This was the answer from the Leader of the Council: A Thank You Leader and Cllr Pickstone for your question on the regeneration of Prestwich. The original timetable for the public consultation once the URBED Draft ...
Families come in all shapes and sizes - the Lib Dem bloggers are no exception. On the day of their happy family reunion during party conference, I was among the bunch of blogging Liberal Democrats who interviewed Nick Clegg. And family was very much up for discussion. Our session began with congratulations on the news that Nick and his wife Miriam are expecting their third child. Nick declared that he is "incredibly happy." He continued, "As any prospective parent knows, it's quite a nerve-wracking process. My main concern is that the pregnancy goes well, the birth goes well: it's very, ...
As Peter Black and ihavecake report, the LHC has had to be stopped for repair. This means we have to fret needlessly about other ways the world might end - alien invasion, Yellowstone Park, or asteroid strike are my favourites, but why not check out Exit Mundi for more things to make you paranoid. While we're in a 'pologetic mode: sorry Mitch. I am bad fangirl. I was too distracted by shiny shiny politics geekery and forgot about your diet (and, indeed, my own). I shall go and buy tickets for your tour in pennance. Although the three dates that ...
Labour minister Ruth Kelly has today resigned to spend more time with Alan Milburn. The departure of Kelly - expected to be confirmed in a reshuffle next week - comes as a blow to Gordon Brown following his Big Speech at the Labour Party Conference somewhere north of Watford. Kelly was overheard describing his speech as "seriously pants". Appearing on Newsnight she later denied making such comments, claiming that she had actually called the speech a "spurious rant". Ruth Kelly is 40.
I'm a firm believer in the benefits of building stronger communities. The challenge is how to do it, and that's a question I'll return to in a future post. Today I'm going to look at some of the downsides of strong communities, 'cos it ain't all good, you know, and we need to understand what to avoid. Everyone does the washing on a Wednesday If you were a woman in a working class community in the first half of the 20th century, there's a good chance you lived to a fairly prescribed routine. The community (i.e. the other women) would ...
Liberal Democrats have had an interesting relationship with the government's policy of turning NHS hospitals into 'Foundation Trusts'. When the government first proposed them in 2002, we opposed the legislation in Parliament - so you might expect us to be straightforwardly against them. But in fact the picture is a little more complicated than that [...]
We'll have to wait a bit longer for the answer to life, the universe and everything... http://public.web.cern.ch/public/ Depressing reading about the new nuclear energy deal with EDF.: What's the cost to the public for decommissioning the last lot of reactors? 4 billion? More? Who will be responsible for decomissioning this new lot? Will we really be ushering in a new era of reliable and safe energy? Some articles and links for news stories about EDF and Areva: http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL205876020080220
Italo - a new delicatessan on the corner of Bonnington Square and Vauxhall Grove - just a few minutes walk from Vauxhall station - is now open. It sells hams, cheeses, salami, fresh bread - in fact everything you hope to find in a good Italian delicatessen. And not forgetting of course, filled panini made to order, together with Italian coffee. A 'dish of the day' will be coming soon, and home deliveries and online shopping are also planned.It's open from 9.30am to 8.30pm Monday to Saturday and the tel. no. is 020 7450 3773 The premises used to host ...
I have now had the opportunity to watch last night's Carling Cup game between Arsenal and Sheffield United. Silky, superb, sublime and, as much repeated this morning an average age of just n-n-n-n-nineteen. Sheffield United may have been feeling in the money, but their players couldn't even get within Kevin Nolan's kicking range. It seems impossible [...]
The results of the Transport for London consultation on the No Right Turn proposal out of Fentiman Road into South Lambeth Road are now back in. It showed that local residents from across an area ranging from Clapham Road to Wandsworth Roads strongly opposed the idea of the "No Right Turn" - 73% said no, 23% said yes and 4% didn't know. Over 800 people replied. The proposal for a No Right Turn was originally put forward because of concerns of a possible build up of traffic from the installation of a light controlled pedestrian crossing across Fentiman Road. As ...
Next Left, via Jonathan Calder reports a fringe meting at the Labour conference at which Norman Lamb said that the Lib Dems would settle for AV if offered by Labour. Here is why Norman, and anyone else who takes the same view is wrong. Let's face it, the Lib Dems are unlikely to be in a position of overall majority after the next election. So any electoral reform is going to come about either because of Labour deciding to do the right thing or because they are forced to do so as the price of co-operation with the Lib Dems ...
Just listened to the PM being interviewed by James Naughtie on the Today Programme. Put to him that Labour's (his) promise of ending the cycle of boom and but, Brown denied that we were in such a situation. The guy is clearly either in denial or lying through his teeth. His answer included the claim that the UK had enjoyed periods of high growth despite recession in other countries. Does he not understand that massive growth is part and parcel of the culture of boom and bust? If you truly want to end boom and bust then you need to ...
Wed 24th
08:01
The endlessly cheery Richard Mackenzie (you know, that bloke who stood for Labour in Henley)
Via Jane Griffiths and her wondrous anti-Salter campaign, comes this video of Richard Mackenzie, last seen coming fifth behind the BNP in the Henley by-election. To all those who came across him there... enjoy
While I was a student at York (the year was probably 1980) a couple of friends returned from a trip to Manchester enthusing about what they had found - a huge disused station with a train shed on the scale of St Pancras. It was standing empty and just being used as a car park. This was Manchester Central. Today it is better known as GMEX, the venue of the Labour Conference this week. Subterranea Britannica (from which I have borrowed the photograph) has the history of the station: From Manchester Central trains ran on the CLC network to Liverpool, ...
{Lynne Featherstone and Cllr Richard Wilson at Crouch End Post Office} I've distributed a survey to every house across the Hornsey & Wood Green constituency asking people to record how long they have to queue at the Post Office. I want to get a comprehensive assessment of the level of service following the spate of Post Office closures (five serving the area have gone). The findings of the survey will be presented to the Post Office and - if they show unacceptable waiting times - will be a good source of pressure to review the closures. I'm particularly concerned that ...
So Ruth Kelly is to leave her job as Transport Secretary. She claims it is to spend more time with her family. Of course, she has four young children and she will no doubt want to spend time with them. She is clearly not one of those who has children simply as props (hello Dave) or to abandon to her constituency so that she can claim to live there (hello Caroline) But she seems to have managed to cope with a Cabinet job and the kids for some time now. Perhaps the real reason, as the Beeb claims, is her ...
For those who like cheap shots as part of their daily political mix the Daily Telegraph aims not to disappoint. In the interests of plagarism I offer you their entire litany, an alternative view on Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour Party Conference yesterday: "I am proud to be a husband." It's not only Tony Blair who can do the emotional stuff. "I didn't come into politics to be a celebrity or thinking I'd always be popular." I left that to Tony Blair who was more at home in the company of pop stars than Labour Party activists. "So I'm ...
The BBC report that the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva will be shut off until spring 2009 while engineers probe a magnet failure. As a science fiction fan I am sure I can come up with many more ways that the World could end between now and next March if the media wish to continue the speculation.
Next Left has an account of a fringe meeting at the Labour Conference in Manchester. Among those taking part were Peter Hain and Norman Lamb: Peter Hain was running late for the event, but he had a good opening line."I am sorry for being late. But before I came here, I thought I had better go and give a speech on electoral reform."This generated a hearty cheer from Lamb on the platform, as well as applause and laughter from much (if not all) of the audience.To which Hain said:"But wait until you hear what it was. I am for the ...
A short footnote to yesterday's post about the US based hedge fund which is funding a Conservative Association in rural Wales. Although it is a different company it is worth noting from this Financial Times article about John Paulson, the New York-based hedge fund manager who made billions of dollars predicting the subprime implosion, who has emerged as the biggest short seller of British banks. The paper tells us that Mr Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Co, has bet against four of the five biggest British banks, according to filings made under a new regulatory regime yesterday. That is ...
Overheard in a lift in Manchester was David Miliband telling an aide that he had avoided a Heseltine moment. However, mere words are not enough here is a leaked memo of some other ways to make a Heselband or is that Militine impact. 10. As a junior minister get foreign governments to agree to a entente cordiale and grand concorde indeed. But be economical with the truth while hovering over trains. 9. Set out to be a millionaire by 25, in cabinet by 35 (close we take you policy role as being thereabouts plus foreign office at 41 nice one), ...
Got on this bus this morning to see that the Metro seemed to have come out for the Republican Nominee for POTUS. Or am I just reading my fluffy friend too literally?
Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Hamlet are now friends. Hamlet wonders if he should continue to exist. Or not. Hamlet thinks Ophelia might be happier in a convent. Ophelia removed "moody princes" from her interests. Etc... Hat tip to Mr Eugenides.
Joe Otten's useful heads-up on Caroline Lucas and the dogma of the Church of EnvironMentalism reminds me of something I meant to blog about a while back but left alone largely to avoid overloading the world with energy stuff. We are often reminded how windy Britain is and how much potential there is meant to be for wind generation. Heck, one Lib Dem blogger (who I will refrain from naming in
Well, when I started this blog I'm not sure what my expectations were. I knew I was up for architecture, history and fascinating insights into the character of our local community. But I didn't for a minute think I would be doing a post on the nature of a roof, but here we are. I was going to my meeting of School Council at UCS and I saw this amazing tiled roof - it's on the corner of Arkwright Road and Fitzjohn's Avenue and is truly impressive. I've put a small snap on the right hand side so readers can ...
Ruth Kelly a Minister in Brown's and a former Minister of Blair's Government is stepping down from the Cabinet, as shown HERE. It's getting better and better in Labour Party Politics with Cabinet members not wanting to risk the humiliation of loosing a General Election as a Minister, so they are stepping down. What Better way to sum up the status of the Labour Party then with a Nashiaaat (a Poem). To Brown The Labour Party has been destroyed The Labour Party will always get destroyed in every By Election The Labour Party will get destroyed at the Next General ...
I've just come back from the conference bar and there are rumours circulating that Ruth Kelly has resigned. Is it true?
Maybe i've overdosed on progressive radio - any US radio is full of doom and gloom and simply lays blame on whomever it feels politic considering its political slant. Is it me or is there something really smelly going on? 1. If haste is of the essence why haven't the markets plunged? 2. If it's not of the [...]
Well not all Americans - just the greedy Wall Street Republican mafiaL No wonder they're taking a second look - even the more principled Republican ones like Hagel.
I'm delighted to say that the planning appeal submitted by Hicks Developments for the redevelopment of 46 Redlands Road into 14 flats which we campaigned actively against earlier this year has been rejected by the planning inspector. This plan was unanimously rejected by the Planning Applications Committee in March, who agreed with us that this plan would impact negatively on the privacy of neighbours, destroy the character of the area, and be damaging to road safety. The planning inspector concluded as follows in his report on the appeal:I consider that the cumulative harm that I have identified in respect of ...
Whatever thoughts crossed my mind that weren't worth a whole post. 20:19 is running a bath. Shame it's not for me :-( # 23:42 's google-fu is failing. Anyone know where I can find pre-1983 constituency results online? Torquay preferred, but any will do... #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.
When I first met Thabo Mbeki, I was impressed. He was suave, handsome and well versed in foreign affairs. Although he could never hope to be a second Nelson Mandela, I was full of hope when he took over as South Africa's President. But disillusion quickly set in. One time, he came to the Parliament [...]
This evening I chaired a meeting of the Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel. It was a very interesting meeting, focussing on a number of housing-related reports and issues. You can download the agenda and Committee reports here. There are always items on the agenda which are routine and have to be discussed as part of scrutiny committee's 'overview' function i.e. reports on the progress of the Decent Homes programme, the annual complaints reports submitted by the PCT etc. However, as part of the Lib Dem approach to Scrutiny I am keen to see these committees getting issues on ...
I grow increasingly fascinated with the efforts of The Left. As long as I have either been involved with, or observed The Left, I have noticed this constant fixation with reinvention, with the need to 'update' Socialism, or Social Democracy, or whatever, for the new age. I wish to rant, but first I must define my terms (such is the nature of political debate) Let's say that The Left means collectivist. Let's say that The Right is individualist. I am arguing from the inner logic of the proper lefty here, so please bear with me and don't be frightened if ...
