OK, so people asked for pictures. There is one picture, and it is blurry, and taken from a low angle so I look like I have five chins, because Andy was well into his seventh pint when he took it on my phone... We did try to get a clear shot but the inevitable random guy is in the background being random... Witness the full horror of my Mad Scientist outfit, complete with Lab rats (only one of which visible on this picture) and cluster of eyeballs. My optic nerves kept getting tangled up :(
I was rooting around old Early Day Motions today and stumbled across the following EDM which first appeared in May 2005, less than 3 weeks after the general election: That his house is gravely disappointed to learn in this the 20th year since the end of the year long 1984-85 Miners' Strike that it was Lord Falconer, in a previous role, who advised Sir Ian MacGregor, the then Chairman of British
I've got to know Harry Wills, Lib Dem candidate for Glenrothes and his lovely wife Trudy quite well in recent weeks. I have been very impressed with how he has handled his role as by-election candidate and I'm sure he would be a fabulous MP. I've seen him come back from meeting people passionate about the problems they are facing and determined to do something about them. Anyway, much as I like him, never did I really think of him and Leonardo DiCaprio in the same headspace. Now, I'm annoyed, because I know I saw this on my computer at ...
I love Hallowe'en - I'm not so keen on the Americanisation of the event and I think that Trick or Treating is an abomination, but I love the dressing up, the dooking for apples, and the decorations, not to mention the sweeties. This year was slightly different - for the first time, the school's parents' association decided to hold a disco for the kids. I got back from Glenrothes, where I met no ghouls, demons or ghosts, although I had passed myself off as the Green Tax Witch all day, a short while before the disco started. The last thing ...
Today's Daily Telegraph brings news that even a GCHQ security expert doubts the supposed benefits of ID cards:
I blogged yesterday about two councillors in Gateshead who had been injured recently though one I didn't name as I had not received any official confirmation. Councillor Dave Bollands was taken ill last week. I can now report that the second councillor was Gary Haley. By coincidence, both are Labour councillors representing the same ward. And by a futher coincidence, both ended up at the same
"Je ne suis pas dans le bureau actuellement. S'il vous plaît envoyer n'importe quel travail être traduit" or "Ich bin nicht im Büro im Augenblick. Bitte schicken Sie irgendeine Arbeit, übersetzt zu werden" or "Nid wyf yn swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unryhw waith i'w gyfieithu." Whatever translation you want, it still doesn't read what it is suppose to. What a great blunder!
Happy Halloween to all the readers, a note to the blogging witches to not scare readers to much!
Ooops! And it's worth reading to the end to find out about the inflamed bladder.
Today's "Courier" covered the issue of parking enforcement into the evenings, arising out of the decision by Aberdeen City Council to extend its parking enforcement arrangements. Although there are no immediate proposals to do so in Dundee, as the City Council's Planning & Transport Convener, I did say that "We always keep a close eye on other local authorities' initiatives to see how they work. "We are always keen to hear how other local authorities' initiatives work, but we also need to consider how cost-effective the changes to traffic attendants' hours would be. "It's something I will be discussing with ...
....And on Songs of Praise as well. It all happened at Truro cathedral and is broadcast this Sunday. I mention it because one of the Burble brothers is amongst the men, and features on the right of this trailer snapshot (right).
So said Tom Baker to Vince Cable on Have I got news for you - a classic.
This is very entertaining. The Tory C Team.
Tom Baker, Vince, Chris Addison. Enough said. ETA: Now on iPlayer here (for the next 7 days).
I'm pleased that, earlier this week, the Scottish Parliament backed a LibDem motion - by a margin of 61 to 40 - for HBOS to be given access to a £37 billion rescue fund, arguing it should receive the same treatment as other major banks that have been handed the money. The motion, tabled by Tavish Scott, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, praised the Government's initial efforts to tackle the financial crisis but argued the rescue package "has fundamentally changed the landscape." It further made clear that "losing HBOS corporate headquarters and jobs in Edinburgh would seriously jeopardise the city's ...
It's traditional that at this time of year I have a moan about Halloween and say how much I prefer Bonfire Night. This time I have done it in my Calder's Comfort Farm column on the New Statesman website: I've got no time for Trick or Treat. It's just demanding money with menaces and, in the South of England at least, a recent import from America. Worse, paranoid modern parents insist on accompanying their children, trailing behind them with big soppy grins.A Penny for the Guy was more my style: good, honest begging with a token creative effort thrown in. ...
I would heartily recommend keeping a weather-eye open at Lidl. Their stores across the country are offering 500ml bottles of Wychwood and Shepherd Neame beers (such as Bishop's Finger and Hobgoblin) at £1 a throw. That's £1.14 a pint for an excellent beer - compared to well over double that in a pub. As always with Lidl, though, blink and you'll miss it. We've just bought an excellent guitar
Unreported World on Channel 4 showed the effect of the violence in Abkhazia, particularly the recapture of the Kodori Valley by Abkhaz and Russians. Georgian homes had been abandoned and then ransacked by the Abkhaz militias. It was quite shocking to see how there were such prosperous farms that had been totally abandoned. The reporter managed to track down some of those people who had fled the homes he'd visited. They could be found in Georgia as refugees in terrible crapped living conditions in derelict buildings. They had gone from being comfortable and prosperous to having nothing. It has been ...
It is entirely possible that Lord B. was granted honorary US citizenship by a grateful President at some point in the past, but it is a bit hard to blame it all on him.
One of the most important strategic developments of this year's US Presidential campaign has been Obama's "50 state strategy". As the target states reduced over the summer, there was much criticism of this strategy. However, today John McCain is having to visit his own state of Arizona in order to shore up the vote there. And we see the Obama campaign doing well in states previously considered
Today's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News. A moose in the lobby Chris Huhne told us in his speech at the Bournemouth Conference that this government has introduced 3,600 new criminal offences since it came to power in 1997. "Labour's new legislation takes the same amount of shelf space as 200 copies of War and Peace," he said. "And it is twice as heavy as John Prescott." So it's no surprise that a few of those offences have slipped through without anyone noticing. At Home Office questions on Monday the Labour MP David Drew raised the case of a ...
Reports of Nadine Dorries's website traffic levels appear to greatly exaggerate the truth, but the Conservative MP has not been willing to put the record straight. Earlier this month Bedford Today quoted Nadine Dorries as saying: Having so many people visiting the site can be quite scary - according to Google I had 800,000 readers in July. Google [...]
We are currently using a Wordpress plug-in called KB Linker to automatically translate certain key words and phrases into hyperlinks in our posts. So if I type Nick Clegg here in this post, the program should automatically convert that into a link for www.nickclegg.com Doing this saves us time writing posts, offers a valuable service to [...]
I was asked yesterday as an honour 'young person' what were my views on the Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross saga that has dominated our news over the past few days. I must admit, to start with, that I am not a great lover of the two comedians because they swear a bit too much for me. But, trying to look at the situation objectively this is my opinion. First of all the phone call was out of
In next-door Camden, Liberal Democrat Nick Russell held Kentish town in a by-election last night. It's Camden Lib Dems' second by-election win in just a few weeks, so great news. The Greens, who almost won it last time (in another by-election) seem to be in decline in this ward. The figures: Lib Dems 939, Labour 863, Greens 518, Cons 171, Others 83. ...
Bad news this week: News that Haringey cancer sufferers are waiting up to three months for appeals for medication has led to renewed demands for action by local Liberal Democrats. The revelation, unearthed in a recent survey by Macmillan Cancer Support, puts Haringey in the bottom four of 152 Trusts in England, with patients having to wait up to three months when appealing for the right to drugs that either haven't been assessed by NICE, or deemed too expensive.Read the full story on my website.
A pattern is emerging. It seems that no matter what happens in relation to the economic crisis, the Lib Dem response is to find the angle that mentions just how upset we are about banking executive bonuses. I hate to say this but this relentless obsession with finding the 'populist' angle - at some point it's been decided that being 'against bonuses' is our 'message' - is going to undermine our credibility. Are we for or against Taxpayers taking on massive risks to save the banking sector? Are we really going to ask the Government to intervene simply because Barclays ...
This evening I feel satisfaction to have succeeded in getting the Congress of ELDR (short for European Liberal Democratic and Reform Party) to adopt an energy policy proposal that is hugely important. This is the creating of a new European electricity supergrid, transmitting electricity along high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables. Energy losses on DC lines are far lower than on the traditional AC ones, so the new supergrid will make it economic to transmit electricity over long distances. It is feasible and economic to transmit electricity for 3000 km or more using HVDC transmission lines. This will mean that ...
How so, you ask? How generous of me! As I am likely to earn at least 17% less than them, for work of the same value or skill level. For women in senior management (like me) that gap widens to 25%. And I understand it's worst in London. This means I am earning less so that my male peers can earn more! And before you ask that's 17% less per hour between men and women working full time. The per hour gap is far higher between men working full time and women working part time. Yes, yesterday, the 30th October ...
Allerdale BC, Workington St John's Lab 452 (35.6; -14.7) Con 394 (31.0; -18.7) BNP 257 (20.2; +20.2) Ind 113 (8.9; +8.9) Green 55 (4.3; +4.3) Majority 58 Turnout 30% Lab gain from Con Percentage change is since 2007 Brentwood BC, Hutton South Con 686 (73.4; -5.1) LD Linda Price 199 (21.3; +6.4) Lab 50 (5.3; -1.3) Majority 487 Turnout 31.2% Con hold Percentage change is since 2008 Camden LBC,
And so the circle turns... and it's time to cease being a slave to conformity. I've been the Returning Officer for Chipping Barnet for nearly a year now, and we've made... absolutely no progress at all. I've been busy, although that's no excuse. Perhaps I should get on with it... It's time to do good, as a well known witch has been known to say...
Greetings from a very wet and cold, but beautiful Stockholm. Well, the nights are closing in (faster here where it starts getting dark about 3), there are only 54 shopping days to Christmas and only 8 days until we know who will be taking us into 2009 as party President. Today current party President Simon Hughes made his usual superhuman effort to attend ELDR Congress, having flown over this morning to arrive before 9 and returning this evening. In my time on IRC I have seen him make similar efforts to ensure the party is formally represented both at ELDR ...
It would probably surprise most Liberal Democrat members and supporters in the UK to learn that the party is the largest Liberal party in Europe, in terms of the percentage vote received in national elections. Because of the first-past-the post electoral system in Britain, however, the party's strength in the Westminster parliament is only half [...]
"...if you can find them..." Policies, do you mean?
Well I've now managed two days at the Obama-Warner-Periello office in Charlottesville. Setting off from my hosts' home on the UVA campus on Monday I walked into down town Charlottesville to visit the main Charlottesville office. It being the morning there wasn't a huge amount to do so, in time-honoured tradition, I was asked to go and get coffee (it quickly transpired that some coffee was already
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority are currently consulting local residents on moving two bus stops in our area: Heywood Road/Thonley Road Bus Stop NC0756 Due to traffic calming it is proposed to move the bus stop from its current location outside 321 Heywood Road, to outside 309 Heywood Road. Simister Lane/M60 Bust Stop NC0759 Due to traffic calming it is proposed to move the bus stop from its current location outside 2 Simister Lane to outside 10 Simister Lane. Please get in touch if you have views on these proposals so that I can make representations to the PTA. Thanks ...
This clip from the Simpsons is a timely reminder of the problems still to be ironed out if E-voting is to be trusted. Curt Wagner blogs at Show Patrol: Thankfully, the frightfest opens big—as in, Homer not being able to squeeze into a voting booth. He has to use the "double-wide" booth instead, but his problems don't [...]
Gallomanor, the company that organised "I'm a Councillor, get me out of here" have sent us their evaluation of this year's event. I have copied it below. As you can see, Darlington kids and councillors were the hardest working of all the particpating Councils and together we did "stupendously well". Much of the credit for this goes to Paul Dalton from Democratic Services. No doubt one Labour
We're very fortunate in the Liberal Democrats. We get to vote for the people who represent us at all levels of the Party and whilst the system may not be perfect, it reflects our world view that those in authority should be democratically accountable for their actions. And yet, we don't really use our hard won freedoms. Turnout in the last election for the Party Presidency in 2004 was just 47%.
Via The Guardian: Barclays is raising up to £7.3bn, mainly from Middle East investors, who could end up owning nearly a third of the UK's second largest bank. The deal allows Barclays to strengthen its balance sheet without getting help from the taxpayer, but its terms, which are seen as generous to its new investors, drew fierce [...]
Small businesses are very vulnerable these days, so Kingston Council has just announced that it is taking some steps to support them through the credit crunch. Many small businesses do not claim for a business rate reduction for which they are eligible, so the Council will be writing to 750 local firms reminding them about it and encouraging them to apply for the discount. This could...
Already, there's contention. For heaven's sake! What is so wrong with a cross on a piece of paper? Or at least getting the technology *right*. With this kind of cock-up hanging over the process before polling day even comes around, it messes with the mandate and the authority of whoever wins.
Via The Guardian: Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has asked the attorney general to investigate possible "criminal wrongdoing" by the MI5 and the CIA over its treatment of a British resident held in Guantánamo Bay, it was revealed tonight. The dramatic development over allegations of collusion in torture and inhuman treatment follows a high court judgment which [...]
Nope not a post about tonight's Halloween shenanigans - I'll leave it to the Mail to publish a story entitled "knife or treat" or something of that order... Nope, today is the deadline for Welsh hospitals to have emptied their vending machines of sweets, fizzy drinks, stuff with sugar in etc. Q. What's the one thing you need when you've just given blood? A. Sugar! Probably the sillies Government hospital rule since smoking outside in all the car parks was banned.
In the American presidential election the candidates are using the Internet to do a heck of a lot of campaigning, but you cant blame them as America is a massive country and the Internet is the best campaigning tool. In the UK we don't do as much of this e-campaigning as we should but we are slowly moving towards following this American example. Nick Clegg has a website www.nickclegg.com that is impressive and I think it needs more publicity. With that website Nick Clegg has gone down an Internet campaigning path and I think he has made a positive move ...
... this goal. Music Video Code by FootyFilms.com
Fri 31st
10:15
Three ways bloggers regularly beat traditional journalists when it comes to reporting standards
The usual complaint is from mainstream / traditional journalists that bloggers don't meet standards of reputable journalists. However, there are three respects in which I think that bloggers repeatedly show higher and more ethical standards than mainstream journalists. First, honesty about where a story has come from. Too much of the traditional media still uses twee [...]
For the second night running, BBC2 Newsnight's lead item was the fall-out from Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's mis-firing jokes against Andrew Sachs. For the second morning running, BBC Radio 4 Today Programme's lead item was the fall-out from Russell Brand blah blah blah. I know the Beeb feels the need to self-abase itself, and [...]
My successor in Sheffield Hallam, Nick Clegg MP, has been building his web presence recently with the launch of his WordPress site nickclegg.com. He is now looking for a web officer to build this up in the run-up to the next general election. Everyone is naturally going to be talking about the Obama online campaign over coming months, especially if he wins, as it has been both impressive and apparently effective (at least in terms of fund-raising). The modest challenge for this post is to have a similar impact with virtually no resources and starting from a third party position ...
Nick Russell, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Barnet and Camden in this years London Assembly elections, yesterday won a crucial by-election in Kentish Town. The seat was vacated following our previous councillor heading back to academia in Arizona. Nick's win means that following our recent victory against the Conservatives in Hampstead (with a 10% swing!) the Camden team has grown since the last London local elections.
"Never again". That's what we say as we look back in astonishment that our forebears allowed the great atrocities of the mid-20th century to pass with barely a murmur. How could they have been so insular, so short sighted, so amoral as to let millions die horrible deaths in Nazi Germany and the USSR? Every now and again, we're reminded of just why it happened: for the same reasons it happens today and we act in just the same way. We are those insular people. As the BBC is reporting today, millions have died in the conflict in the Democratic ...
I've just heard Charles Moore discuss the Brand/Ross episode, with his awfully arrogant privileged voice, saying that this example shows that the BBC is disintegrating before our very ears moan moan waffle waffle. Let's face it - he's probably never supported a public broadcasting company in his life - always thinking that it's ideologically unsound. Yes, [...]
Message from Sergeant Ian Campbell, Prestwich Police Team Over the last nine years I have been privileged to lead your Prestwich Neighbourhood Policing Team, working with Communities and Partners to improve Neighbourhood Policing throughout Prestwich. Prestwich Neighbourhood Police Team offer support to residents, schools, businesses, interest groups and faith groups throughout Prestwich. This year we have focused on getting Prestwich Homewatch Groups up and running again, supported by Community Bobbies. They make a huge difference to all sections of the community. Starting today with my first message I will be sending a regular message to Prestwich email contacts to keep ...
The Tory lead in the polls is now into single figures and it is something that I am sure will worry the Conservatives. Like I have said time and time again, I don't think the Conservatives are painting their true picture if they were people would have ditched them ages ago. But now people have started to read Cameron and his Cronies like books and this is going to be a blow to them. The Latest poll shows that the Conservative haven't moved up or down in the last month which would really be worrying Cameron! At least the Lib ...
In Wednesday's Shropshire Star there was an interesting piece from Rebecca Lawrence entitled "Councillors 'should not be bombarded'." The article referred to the comments of Councillor Judith Williams, Conservative Chairman of Planning on Shrewsbury and Atcham Council. Rebecca reports that Councillor Williams' comments were made in reply to an email about the planned co-location of [...]
They may be trying to sort out Scotland's drink culture on one hand. However, on the other the SNP are actively encouraging first timers to take up gambling in a vanity exercise ahead of next Thursday's Glenrothes by election. You see the SNP have slipped behind Labour as the bookies favourites. Bookies of course are more concerned about losing money than getting the prediction right, one only has to look at the last Westminster by election in Fife, when even as polls closed Labour were favourites with the bookies. Whoops, but ta. No the SNP have actually sent out emails ...
Richard Grayson, Lib Dem PPC for Hemel Hempstead and formerly Charles Kennedy's head honcho, will be appearing on television on Wednesday 5 November. The Hemel Hempstead Gazette says: Dr Richard Grayson, 39, will feature in My Family at War, which explores the family history of celebrities whose relatives fought in World War One.The makers of tonight's episode, that focuses on TV presenter Eamonn Holmes, called on Dr Grayson for his detailed knowledge of the experiences of Catholic soldiers in Belfast.The programme will be shown on BBC1 at 10.45 p.m. on Wednesday 5 November.
Been a little quiet on the blog this week - just the usual sort of excuses. Monday was an abortive attempt to carry out my civic duty - left work early to get to a scrutiny review looking at animal welfare in Haringey, but neither the councillor chairing the review or the officer scheduled to present evidence were able to attend. So, aside from a useful chat with the Director of Enforcement who was there waiting too, a wasted trip. For Tuesday night's meeting of Audit Committee the Chair did turn up. We had a longer than usual meeting of ...
I've served four years on the London Regional Executive, all of them as an Officer. The first two years were fun, the third not so much, and this year the least fun of all. In many ways, I never really recovered from the sense of being undermined by the laughably incompetent attempt to remove me from office last January. It all began to seem like hard work and I began to feel increasingly
A gem from the letters page of the current Private Eye. Christopher Boomer from Belfast suggests that the Government's recent economic strategy is based on the rules for Monopoly - in particular this extract: Q. What happens if the Bank runs out of money? A. The Bank never goes bankrupt. To continue playing, use slips of paper to keep track of each player's banking transactions - until the bank has enough paper money to operate again.
Time to revisit this important campaign site. Our illustration shows Miko and Kelly.
According to Tom Harris MP (Minister for dismissiveness and complacency), to assert that the Government serves the public, that we are its 'masters' is so 18th Century and arrogant. Of course, revising history is always one of those unfortunate necessities in modern politics. Wasn't it one Tony Blair that said, "We are not the masters. The people are the masters. We are servants of the people... what the electorate gives, the electorate can take away." Hmm that was a long time ago now. But anyway, In this modern age, he likes to think of us as 'Employers'. Which is funny, ...
Yesterday was polling day in the Kentish Town by-election. I know the Camden Lib Dem team worked really hard, so pleased to hear this by-election result from the Lib Dem PPC for Hampstead and Kilburn Ed Fordham: Lib Dem Nick Russell 939 Labour 863 Green 518 Conservative 171 BNP 62 UKIP 21 Congratulations to Nick and everyone in Camden.
Okay, I got this meme from Andy Hinton (not to be confused with Alex Hilton - learned that lesson!): 1. Comment on this post. 2. I will give you a letter. 3. Think of 5 fictional characters whose names begin with that letter and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ blog. Because this is Quaequam Blog! I thought I would limit these to 2000AD characters: Rogue Trooper: the gayest strip in 2000AD's history (that's not a criticism by the way, just an observation), the original run by Gerry Finlay-Day was about a genetic infantryman ...
Yeah Another Lib Dem victory at the polls here in Camden Liberal Democrats held Kentish Town. And yes, Labour lost again! Lib Dems 939 Lab 863 Green 518 Con 171 BNP 62 UKIP 21 Nick Russell will be a huge asset to the Council, the community and to the Lib Dem Group. He knows the patch, is very passionate and knowledgeable about Kentish Town and is able to lift his sights above the furore and have a vision... Great news for Nick, for Kentish Town and for Camden.
Picked this up from Jennie. Rules as follows: 1. Comment on this post. 2. I will give you a letter. 3. Think of 5 fictional characters whose names begin with that letter and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ. Anyhoo, my letter was B, so these were what came to mind: Bernice Summerfield - Dr Who companion through much of the NAs, which I am trying to read in order
