Have a look at this article Is this the answer? To some people not affording getting on the property ladder. Being much more environmentally conscious at the same time. Wales has a tradition of having these houses in Glamorgan and the Gower. A couple of years ago there was a very fine and good conditioned example sold in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. They would last longer, being much more eco friendly and of lower cost to build. It would encourage more DIY er's at having a bang at doing a house . I really think some planning authority should let an estate ...
Forget all of the nitty witty shitty ramblings of the political blogosphere for a moment and have a look at this picture from the Indy This amazing looking bird is something one may expect to encounter as a bird of paradise in Papua new Guinea yet it has been found at a bird table in the Black Mountains of Wales. Lady Amherst'pheasants were undoubtedly not named after someone posh!
I'm absolutely delighted to be able to say that more than 1,500 people have now visited the Camden Eco House since it was opened to the public in July. An astounding 890 people looked round it during the Open House weekend (20/21 Sep). It's proof, if proof were needed, that people want to see how a Victorian property can be refurbished to reduce carbon emissions by 80%. What's more, as far as I can tell from looking through nearly 1,000 questionnaires, Mike Wells, who keeps writing negative letters in the Camden New Journal, is the only visitor who didn't appreciate ...
Er... yeah. Showing our usual organisational skill, Mat and I have completely failed to promote our Liberal Drinks event. We've put it up on Flock Together, and... Well, I'm a bit worried now. I live in an area with an active Bastard Nazi Party. You don't have to be logged in to Flock Together to see when or where an event is, or the contact details of those involved, or anything... I mean, I know it's only a fig leaf when you have to be logged in to a site to see some of the details, but if I was ...
It's been known for some time that the Obama campaign's strategy in the US Presidential Election is rather different from the McCain campaign's. The former is fighting what we Lib Dems might find a rather familiar concept: the ground war. Meanwhile, the McCain campaign is fighting the air war, winning news cycles by feeding the national media new stories and "events" as often as they can. when
From the Sunday Mirror: One of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet has been exposed for misleading the public after suggesting his London base is a leaky ex-council flat with faulty wiring. In fact Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling is a wealthy landlord with FOUR homes worth at least £2million... Mr Grayling said [in an interview published on [...]
Rereading my post from yesterday on the Hampstead Town by-election I'm struck by how little judgement I passed on the loss by the Tories of a second councillor since May 2006. To paraphrase Lady Bracknell, as so many have done before me, "to lose one councillor, Mr [Marshall], may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose [two] looks like carelessness." Why are the Camden Tories haemorrhaging votes when their party is riding high in the national polls? Possibly because the Lib Dems and the Greens are better at local campaigning than they are. The Tories have money which helps them ...
Geoff Payne very kindly sent me the attached essay by John Gray, which says that the collapse of the American model of capitalism is as significant an event as the collapse of the Soviet model. We are now heading for a different kind,he said: I think that's absolutely right. The question for Liberals is: what kind? Because it seems to me that we might have a choice before us. We should certainly express a preference before it is too late. The two kinds of capitalism that remain on offer are: 1. The Chinese version: a technocratic and monopolistic clash ...
It's been a long campaign, and one of the problems is that you can't always find 'us time', as I like to think of it. You want to make sure that everything that can be done, has been. However, we managed to find a little time to spend doing something that I enjoy particularly, i.e. a trip to a zoo, in this case, Marwell Zoo in Hampshire. Now I fully accept that zoos are not perfect, and there
Westminster Council is promoting the idea of Silver Sunday; a day to honour older people, in the same way that Mothering Sunday honours mothers. As their website explains, "It is proposed that Silver Sunday will take place every year on the first Sunday in October, this year on Sunday 5th October. The date will complement the [...]
Just to prove that not all my choices come from the 1960s, here is a contemporary band. Not only that, but they originally came from Leicestershire - Ashby de la Zouch, to be precise. It is hard to resist the feeling that you have heard this song before somewhere (Supergrass? early Blur? early Divine Comedy?), but impossible to say exactly where. Maybe music is like writing: if you copy enough different people you become original. I suppose the band's English eccentricity is rather studied - the bass player is called The House of Lords "because he's big and all all ...
On Saturday Night Live - Sarah Palin interviewed by Katie Couric
Excellent piece by Robert J. Shiller on the Washington Post's website - Everybody calm down - looking at the financial crisis and what it all means.
The European Union rarely takes on national governments directly; after all, he who pays the piper calls the tune. However, some of the institutions are better than others and over the years the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages has done its very best at protecting important non-national languages from the nation states who seek to repress them. Near to my village in France we have a bi-lingual French-Occitan school, which I have been involved in since its inception more than 20 years ago. It always amuses the kids when this 'anglés' comes in and speaks to them in the ...
A Unknown Tory to many on Nick Clegg. Please Note some Foul Language Used The Tory on the link is ranting about the issue that Nick Clegg has said Supermarkets sell cheap Alcohol. I have to say that it is sold in supermarkets extremely cheap and Nick isn't the only person this Unknown Tory should rant at. I would like to see a post by him ranting at everyone else who think booze is too cheap!
Shazia Awan a Tory blogger who wrote a blog post for the blue blog refers to herself as a Conference Virgin. You Can read this HERE. Then on the same blog Iain Dale did a post calling himself a Conference Slut and you can read this post HERE. I don't think the Slut or the Virgin will visit the Rocket Club but people like Cameron and others will. I think the Conservatives made the Blog and linked it to their web site to make it official, is this kind of crap on a blog something Cameron and Cronies can take ...
News from Bavaria where results from the State elections there show the FDP, the Liberal Democrats' sister party in Germany, have been elected to the State Parliament for the first time in 14 years. As the governing party and the Bavarian party, the CSU, seem to have taken a beating other parties have benefited and [...]
This afternoon I watched the first Presidential debate. McCain meandered a lot before making a point, while Obama laid out his arguments but failed to deliver a knock-out punch. Here are what the news sites are saying: CNN Washington Post New York Times Telegraph Guardian Financial Times
Today we launched our Cost of Living Survey in Blaydon constituency. We deliverately chose an area where we had not done a survey before and that was, at least previously, strongly Labour. I thought it would be good to test the survey to destruction before rolling it out to the rest of the constituency. So we printed 300 copies and Peter Maughan (our PPC) and I went down to the village of
I promised to upload the text of these for those who missed or couldn't use the iPlayer versions; they're below the cuts and have been corrected against the broadcast footage. Deportation to States which Persecute on the Grounds of Sexuality and Gender Identity Conference, part of my job in the law firm where I work is to monitor asylum decisions, and I want to share with you some of the case reports involving gay asylum-seekers (none of them convicted criminals, by the way, of any kind) [1] that have crossed my desk recently, which I think will show you why ...
While catching up withe the US presidential election, I stumbled over a bit of fun here, where you can find out what you'd be called if US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was your mom. This would be along with your siblings - Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow and Piper. I'm 'Geese Whalebone' Palin. I think I would've been happy enough with plain old Whalebone. ...
Mitch will be on Go 4 It on Radio Four in just over an hour, giving a masterclass in how to write funny songs. (X-posted theyorkshergob, now_show, radio4listeners)
It's been a fun weekend. On Friday evening I went over to Portsmouth speak at a dinner organised by my old friend Gerald Vernon Jackson, at a restaurant in Southsea called the "Kitsch N D'Or" - worth going to for the name alone, although the food was pretty good. On Saturday we drove, the pretty way, up from Hampshire to Orpington for a social with local party members where we were greeted by the ubiquitous Jonathan Fryer, and then hurtled back down the motorway to Eastleigh - carefully observing the speed limits of course. It was one of those diary ...
The unveiling of the design for ID cards is another step towards the Government's creation of a 'laminated poll tax', Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne, said today. The Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed ID cards, which are being introduced by the Labour Party and were initially supported by the Conservatives. Nick Clegg has...
My co-blogger has been overcome by ditzy-chick solidarity which has led her to try to defend Sarah Palin's performance in the infamous Katie Couric interview. I accordingly feel honour-bound to present the case for the prosecution. 1) The question that floored her (about Kissinger and Iran) was an easy question. It was a closed question that could be answered with a variant on "Yes" or "No".
Bath Rugby produced a stunning display at the Recreation ground on Saturday to move into second place in the Guinness premiership with a 37 to 19 win over a stubborn Worcester side. Butch James at last got in right with the boot to seal a convincing win. To read more about the game follow this link. Bath Rugby
It strikes me that the current financial crisis is a direct result of lax controls over financial institutions over a number of years. The orgy of asset stripping of public and mutually owned businesses in the 1990s, sold to us all as privatisation for the common good turned out to be nothing of the sort. It has now left this country's economy in a weaker situation than otherwise it would have been. Successive governments have encouraged and sometimes forced through deregulation for the sake of it to satisfy the demands of bankers and others who have proved unfit to be ...
Sayeeda Warsi outlined Conservative Plans for "Social Action", whatever that means, at their conference in Birmingham today. The gist of what she said, according to the Tory press release on their new-look website was that a Conservative government would: Ensure that everyone who settles in Britain is able to speak English Ensure British history is taught properly at school Support community groups on the basis of their effectiveness, not on the basis of race or religion Challenge unacceptable cultural practicesApart form the first point, I couldn't actually tell you what any of this means. The second point on British History ...
Sunday: What with the financial crisis and all, Daddy Richard decided PRUDENTLY to split his savings between several banks. This, however, turns out merely to increase the chances of getting hit! So, today we learn that a second of his banks has bitten the bullet and gone to the great Stock Exchange in the Sky. Meanwhile, also bankrupt (morally if not financially) is that scion of Stock Market gamblers: Mr Balloon. Every time Mr Frown has managed to convince me that he is the WORST PRIME MONSTER EVER... up pops Mr Balloon to show that he would be EVEN WORST-ER! ...
The last episode of The Wire was broadcast on British television last week. Each season has taken a different element of Baltimore; the city the show is set in. It examines how these elements: the police, the docks, politics, education and the press interplay with the 'war on drugs'. David Simon, its creator, has said that the show is about the end of the American century. In season five he and the writers look at how fabricated realities can distort politics, solutions to social problems and policing priorities. I touched on this phenomenon in a recent post. Once a reality ...
Although I'm impressed by the new party website I'm not impressed by the content. What's everyone thinking about at the moment - the Economy. I thus go to the site and the top headline is about Ming's statement on Defence. I think after the `home` bit there should be some bullet points on Tax and the Economy [...]
The Labour Party really know how to ask tough Questions don't they. The Question above is just one among many the Labour Party have asked Cameron on their Page which you can view HERE. Has Cameron given a reply to any of these probably not, because neither him or his party have got it in them to face the fact they haven't got the balls for Government.
I really hope that economists and commentators will be able to look back on the past few days and record it as the week when the entire financial system of the western world was saved from total colla...
Banking as we know it is an industry largely made possible by regulation and deposit protection. There are unregulated savings schemes around, like FairPak, and unregulated borrowing, like from loan sharks. But with or without such protection, there is always a danger in having somebody else look after your money. Bankers and bank shareholders can profit from risk taking, but their losses are
In the Observer magazine you'll find a page called "Ethical Living". It's towards the back, near the horoscopes and it's all about living a green, eco-friendly lifestyle. The Quist family are moderately green: recycling, composting, cycling, low energy lightbulbs and that sort of thing. We're not going to be downsizing to mud huts any time soon, but we like to think we're doing our bit. But just when did the greenies get ownership of the word "ethical"? Back when I was a lad, ethics was a complex and interesting subject. Kant, Hegel, Marx, Mill, Rawls, the biblical authors - all ...
I have been saying for a while that Conservative support is wide but not particularly deep, well Peter Riddell of the Times agrees having uncovered evidence of some softness in the Tory ratings, not that any of this is of comfort to Labour.
First, Halifax - now B&B. My guess is that shrewd Yorkshire people had nothing to do with it at all but London spivs!
I have mentioned elsewhere a debate I had with Charlotte Gore on her blog. Charlotte doesn't much like the Labour Party; hardly surprising since she voted for them previously. Meanwhile, on Liberal Conspiricy another ex-Labour voter, MatGB took issue with me questioning whether it was really fair to say Labour and the Conservatives were essentially the same. Something struck me during these exchanges; namely the psychology of ex-Labour supporters is much like that of the jilted lover. It has been also said to me by another Lib Dem refugee from Labour that 'Labour left them' not the other way round. ...
Earlier this week we heard (again) that Downing Street has drawn up plans to end the 300-year-old exclusion of Catholics from the throne.
They is one silly Tory who has gone to conference and thought she would blog on the Tory site about Conference, and she says she is "I'm proud to be a member of a party with such a fresh and modern outlook ". Now you tell me readers of this blog. She goes by the name of "Shazia Awan" and is proud to be a Conservative. There is only one party that Muslim's in Britain would be benefited under and that is the Liberal Democrats and a party that Muslim's should be proud of. This was illustrated in the 2005 ...
Another Great Scandal, thanks to the Tory Party. One of their would be Cabinet Ministers according to a magazine has been pointed out by his ex girlfriend as someone who is not fit to be an MP. Now that just says it all, someone this PPC was dating has said he is not MP Material. This is going to be a blow to Cameron especially with the Tory Conference taking place. According to the Daily Mail the PPC told his Girlfriend: Told her a previous girlfriend had once arranged a prostitute for him as a 'present'.Said he went on a ...
The Scottish National Party are planning to introduce their own legislation to outlaw "extreme pornography" north of the border, and it's going to be even more draconian than Labour's plans for England and Wales. Here's what they say: "We have decided to introduce a new offence for the possession of extreme pornographic material. We propose that this offence will criminalise the possession of pornographic images which realistically depict: * Life-threatening acts and violence that would appear likely to cause severe injury; * Rape and other non- consensual penetrative sexual activity, whether violent or otherwise; and * Bestiality or necrophilia. The ...
From the Mail on Sunday: David Cameron faced embarrassment on the eve of his party conference last night after members of a secretive club of Tory donors were linked to the 'short-selling' of the collapsing Bradford & Bingley. As the bank was taken into the hands of the authorities ahead of its break-up or nationalisation, two members [...]
Keith Vaz is already facing an investigation over allegations that he interfered in a court case to help a Labour Party donor, and now is also facing allegations of secretly letting Gordon Brown influence the outcome of an independent inquiry into 28-days detention: Keith Vaz, the chairman of the home affairs select committee, sought the private [...]
I'm scrolling down Lib Dem blogs and a couple of names catch my eye - Tim Ball and Sharon Ball. I vaguely wonder if they are related to the unfeasibly tall Jon Ball, who nearly bought me a drink at conference (twelve quid, for a glass of brandy! Robbing gits...). ETA: and then there is, as commenting below, tyrell, who is also a Ball.. I have a relative-by-marriage who is a blogging Lib Dem whom I discovered through Lib Dem Blogs; and, of course, Mat has surname synchronicity with All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group bod Sharon Bowles... I am reminded of ...
Lembit Öpik appears to have launched his campaign with the new youtube video. Öpik appears to be a good political activist, he is energetic and a good motivator, however that's what I'd want in the party leader not the party President. I wouldn't want a President who might overshadow the Leader. Ros Scott has been campaigning for a long time, meeting people and visiting constituencies across the country. She clearly shows that she's the kind of person who wants to listen to to what the party is saying and take that up to the Leadership. Her experience as a district ...
Haivng criticised the polling firm BPIX yesterday for - uniquely amongst those doing published political polling in the UK - not being a member of the British Polling Council and not even getting anywhere close to its standards for transparency, I thought I'd have another try at contacting them today. They've never replied to any of [...]
Back in July I wrote about the campaign to save Bletchley Park, the wartime code-breaking centre where electronic computer technology was born. Sue Black is now looking for a campaign assistant. Would you be interested? She writes: I have recently been involved in raising awareness of the importance of Bletchley Park both from a historical and a computer science...
Last Thursday, Ofcom published its second consultation into the future of Public Service Broadcasting (there's a good summary of the recommendations, including those for Scotland, on the Ofcom website -click on the headline above to view). The proposals for Scotland have some concerning aspects. Firstly, Ofcom accepts that the ITV proposed merger between Border and Tyne Tees news should go ahead. For ITV, of course, read ITV England and Wales, and the suggestion of the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway getting its 'local' news from a studio in Gateshead is unacceptable. No wonder people in the Borders are up ...
With thanks to Paul Walter of 'Liberal Burblings' (http://paulwalter.blogspot.com) for this further comment about Patsy Cline: "I agree that Cline's "Crazy" is a great song. I first encountered it when I was forced to present a Country music show on a radio station about thirty years ago. It was one of the few oases of sanity in the programmes!"
The Government is going ahead with plans to force tobacco companies to display graphic images on cigaratte packets, beginning in October. Smokers are fair game. The processes of buying tobacco must be made humiliating. The products themselves should be repulsive and frightening. The price of smoking must be ruinous, to further add to the misery. Yet the Government knows that Nicotine is an addictive substance, in the real sense of the word: It creates a physical dependance with real and long term negative effects once the subtance is removed from the body long term. I know from personal experience that ...
Female politicians suffer whichever way they play it. Hilary Clinton was dissed for being too masculine: many of Hillary's attributes—toughness, control, emotional distance—are qualities that are sometimes admired in men but almost never in women. And not a true female candidate. Yet Sarah Palin is suffering the opposite - the fact she acts like a woman is letting her down. Palin was called to
Last night I joined Simon Hughes and the new Liberal Democrat PPC for Bethnal Green and Bow, Ajmal Masroor, to break the Ramadan fast with an iftar meal with Tower Hamlets local party stalwarts and some leading members of the Banglatown community in one of the biggest restaurants in Brick Lane. The place was heaving, [...]
A private business which is part of the community and on which many tens or hundreds of thousands of people rely is suffering a very poor run. The people are concerned. If this business fails then, apart from the job losses, there will be a loss of confidence in the rest of the industry. The owners and directors, who have been accused of mismanagement by some, are keen to sell. But there is no white knight willing to ride to the rescue. Potential suitors are worried about what they might uncover when they arrive and what the costs of turning ...
More on the Conservatives as the Wales on Sunday report on the 39 page dossier put together by their Welsh branch to mark First Minister's Rhodri Morgan, 69th birthday. According to Matt Withers the document amounts to a highly personal attack on every aspect of his leadership - right down to his dress sense and hairstyle. Entitled 'Rhodri Morgan: Leadership Without Purpose' the paper rakes through the Labour leader's career, laying into everything including: his stewardship of the economy; his "unique dress sense and hairstyle"; his "erratic and unusual behaviour"; claims he had "undermined the role of First Minister and ...
The North Road gap in the Highgate village controlled parking zone is finally to be closed, after months and months of campaigning (see earlier post). Earlier in the month, we managed to get the Ham and High to cover the story and Labour's parking boss had to apologise to local residents over the fiasco. To the relief of local residents, the works are now imminent, we are told, and should be in by 20th October....
This morning's Observer has the lowdown on how David Cameron's Conservative Party is caught up in the mire of City deals and short-selling that has brought the banking sector and the world-wide economy to its knees. The paper tells us that the Tories are receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds from hedge fund managers who have been making vast sums of money from plunging bank shares. This is in addition to the tens of thousands of pounds that has been poured into Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Conservative Association: After the Financial Services Authority had, in effect, barred the controversial ...
The Morriston Lib Dem team were contacted by a local resident concerned by the large puddles at the entrance to the kids' playground area of Ynystawe Park, making it difficult to access the area. After referring the case to local Lib Dem Assembly Member Peter Black, the path has now been resurfaced. If you have any issues within Morriston that you are concerned about, then feel free to contact us, your local Lib Dem team, at morriston@swanseagowerlibdems.org.uk, or write to us at 28 Vicarage Road, Morriston, Swansea. SA6 6DH.
More on 'The Bank', Highgate Hill, where the council has admitted, after weeks of pressure, that the wall on the right of this picture is collapsing onto Highgate hill below. I stopped to take a look yesterday (see pic). However, my colleague Bob Hare has being pointing out that the road closure, at the far end in this picture was totally inadequate, and was being ignored. This was putting more pressure on the road surface, as cars tend to drive near the edge of the embankment to avoid the parked cars. No water (or sand?) was put into those car-blocking ...
As a liberal Christian, I struggle with the idea of hell, that is of absolute, permanent, irredeemable damnation. I believe, or at least I want to believe, that God will forgive and accept any and all of us, as long as we let Him. So my vision of hell is not a Bosch landscape of [...]
Prestwich Local Area Partnership is making available Graffiti Cleaning Kits for local businesses that have been affected by the current spate of graffiti in our community. This leaflet is available from our Area Manager Carran O'Grady - contact her at C.O'Grady@bury.gov.uk {graffiti-n-street-care-pledge-flyer-1.jpg}
I've written to the Managing Director of KFC: I am writing to ask for your personal intervention over a local dispute regarding lamppost banners advertising a KFC. KFC Crouch End is situated in the heart of a Victorian parade and many residents feel strongly that the design and frequency of the KFC banners attached to streetlights are too obtrusive for the unique Victorian street scene. Sadly, pleas to Haringey Council to remove the banners have fallen on deaf ears. Officials cite binding contract with yourselves as reason why these inappropriate ads cannot be withdrawn. I therefore am appealing to you ...
Is it a Bird, is it a Plane no its Super Cameron to the rescue!!
Ming Campbell has called on the Government to give Armed Forces a written guarantee for looking after them because they risk their lives for the country. You Can listen to the interview HERE With the BBC being what it is, this story was the small issue at the website. I have to say Ming Campbell is talking sense and not a lot of people do that when it comes to the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces risk their lives for the country even if they have to go to illegally started wars they go for their country and they need ...
I have taken to taking a memory stick in to work and putting it on random play all. This has quite often resulted in various of the regulars singiang along or drumming on the bar. My taste in music fits well with forty-something bikers. And I range from the Beatles to Black Sabbath, and from Flanders and Swann to Blue, so it's pretty eclectic. Sometimes, though, a track can cause a rather gigglesome reaction (for instance, I had forgotten quite how much swearing Song For The Dumped by Ben Folds Five has in it...) Tonight's cause for amusement was Supercharger ...
{Nicholas Coombes and the Quarry Road footbridge} Nicholas Coombes joined local walkers and ramblers in celebrating the re-opening of Quarry Road footbridge. The bridge has been recently replaced by the university after a three year absence. Since the original bridge was closed in 2005 the campaign for its replacement has been at times tortuous, but ultimately successful. Cllr Coombes raised the matter personally with the vice chancellor and has involved the council's Regulatory & Access Committee. The committee chair, the chief executive of BathNES and other ward councillors had also written to Bath University demanding action. A local group, celebrating ...
Silly TV Licensing advert, originally uploaded by salimfadhley. This was taken outside the Foundry club in Hoxton, which I believe is just within the border of Hackney council, and definitely not within the purview of Enfield, which is approximately 8 miles to the North of the location of this billboard. Perhaps the reason for this glaring mistake can be seen by a careful study of TV Licensing's "database": It seems that somebody has nicked all their CPUs and memory - it reminds me of the days of ram-raiders!
The BBC is reporting that Bradford and Bingley is to be nationalised, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7640143.stm ) if it's true where do we go from here? I think this is going to hurt us all. Now it seems a long time ago since I was asked to vote to make Bradford and Bingley a bank, you may be surprised to know that actually I voted for it to stay a building society, somehow it didn't seem right to grab the money. Of course when it was made a bank I did take it and sold my shares, so I'm not really in a ...
