It's always valuable to meet with campaigners from neighbouring areas, to share ideas (and helpers!) In a change to the printed guide which has been sent out to London Region Liberal Democrats, this Saturday's Autumn Conference now features a campaigning pick-me-up. Campaign Surgery, a fringe event at 11.45, is great for development parties. Here's the idea: Are [...]
Following a public meeting organised by the Labour MP at the White Rock Hotel, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, Nick Perry, has accused the MP of being off the pace on the economy. Nick says, "On Saturday our MP was quick to criticise the redistribution of tax from low and middle income families to [...]
Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, Nick Perry, has written to the Labour MP requesting corrections to a letter that the MP sent in early September. The letter was sent to signatories of the Hastings & St Leonards Seniors Forum petition on the reinstatement of the 9am start for concessionary bus fares. Nick wrote [...]
See, there I was ready to break the habit of a lifetime and trumpet a party press release only to find that, in a moment of supreme irony, it failed to turn up on time... Actually, that's a little unfair; recourse to Google finds the errant document on Cllr Steve Beasant's website and in the news section of the Institute of Transport Management. But this does not represent the sort of fanfare
I have just this minute received this e-mail from a friend from the Congo. I've edited the names out. Please also hold our friend who was deported back to the Congo from here in February in your hearts. Please sign the petition too It's just beginning. Nkunda and his supports are looking for the balkanisation of DRC. More people will be killed Date: Lundi 10 Novembre...
and the removal of cheap alcohol from shelves. Today the Home Affairs select committee suggested that, in order to get rid of the unfortunate situation of MP's and Lords being slightly intoxicated in the Chamber, happy hours will be banned in all House of Parliament bars and that a minimum price would be placed on all alcohol. Keith Vaz, chairman of the committee, said House bars must end a "tax high, subsidise, sell it cheap" culture around drink. Only then will Parliamentarians truly represent and feel the pain of their constituents. The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) said the ...
I have a confession to make. On Saturday night, I went into a pub and bought some cheap booze. Given all the fuss there's been on the subject, including today's report from a House of Commons committee recommending an end to discount retailing of alcohol, you might imagine that I then went out and beat up a couple of pensioners, vandalised every car I could find and set light to a few houses. The truth is somewhat more prosaic. I was in my local Wetherspoon, which was having a real ale festival which featured pints being sold for £1.39. I ...
It's London Region's turn to have their Autumn Conference and AGM. Come to: Haverstock School, 24 Haverstock Hill, London NW3 2BQ (Nearest tube: Chalk Farm) On: Saturday 15 November, from 9.30am to 5.30pm. There's a packed agenda, useful training and fringe events, and guest speakers - including Chris Huhne MP, Graham Watson MEP, Tom Brake MP and Baroness [...]
According to El Reg, Microsoft has said that Windows 7 will be ready in time for Christmas 2009. Which of course means it will need to be ready a good deal before that. Now, just lately it has appeared that Microsoft had learned some lessons. They have been keeping Windows 7 simple and they have been throwing out any buggy features that might delay the launch. So we might actually get a new Microsoft OS that works the way it's supposed to. Until today: now they've hitched themselves to Christmas 2009, the process will be driven by sales and marketing ...
Nick Clegg was invited to write a piece for Danny Finkelstein's superblog Comment Central this morning making the case for immediate tax cuts. He writes: We would cut the basic rate of income tax by 4p (that's an extra 1000 quid per year for someone on 30k) by ending the tax relief on pensions for top earners, upping green taxation and charging capital gains as income. Straightforward, costed and workable.But I want to go further. More fair tax cuts for people who really need help. Where's the money to pay for it? How about redirecting spending from the NHS computer ...
I spent a wet and windy morning yesterday at the War Memorial in Newton Abbot to honour all those people who gave their lives so that we may live in peace. Despite the rain, hundreds of people lined Queen Street to watch us as we marched by, and the number of young people there to watch or participate was incredible to see. Our local MP, Richard Younger-Ross gave the reading, and we all marked the two minute silence during a brief gap in the showers. Whilst we remember those who have gone before, we must also remember the living, including ...
Interviewed in the Guardian, the new president of the Liberal Democrats, Ros Scott, says: "We have got to shout out for things we believe in: small scale government, locally delivered services, protecting the environment and no to a third runway at Heathrow."Pointing to the way that Labour and the Conservatives have agreed over Iraq and the economy, she also says: "We have got to be shouting loudly about a different way of doing things. "Too much money is spent chasing centrally determined targets and bureaucracy, she said, insisting the Labour government was still spending a huge amount on management and ...
What is the world coming to when a public vote on a Saturday night entertainment show ends up being discussed in the House of Commons? Tom Harris is even having a strop about it too. Early favourite Laura White was voted out by the judges after a sing off against Ruth Lorenzo. I've watched it now - both were fabulous and, to be honest, I'd have picked Ruth to stay after her passionate rendition of Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Laura's Somewhere Over the Rainbow was lovely, but way too similar in style to her earlier performance of Endless Love. Most ...
Every month or so the leaders of political groups on the council get together and go through the main items which are coming up over the next 12 months. Mostly it's just routine stuff - we all know that the budget has to be considered at certain times of the year for example. But it's also a chance to talk about less routine stuff and to see what's likely to come up in the future. Today's
Lynne and Robert (MP and Group Leader) have today called for a dialogue with Labour over freezing the Council Tax next year. I think it can be done. And if the PM is determined to put extra cash in people's pockets, what better place to start than with this highly regressive tax, which has gone up by a staggering 58 per cent since 2000, and hits hard many who can't afford it. On current form, dispensing with the calamity-prone Labour finance boss Charles Adje could ease us towards the target (click the label below, and more on that later). Here's ...
The Times has the latest Populas poll. It confirms the trend that we are indeed being squeezed and furthermore as I have said on this blog that our support is switching to Labour and giving it the foundations of the 'Brown bounce'; "its [Labours] recovery has been largely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats and smaller parties." The poll asks some interesting questions on the economy. It shows that the Conservatives calls for 'belt-tightening' might not necessarily be resonating with voters; "Some 73 per cent believe that increased public spending on construction projects and house building to keep the ...
My new post on Total Politics' Party Lines blog argues we could see a general election sooner than you think.
I agree with Sarah Teather who when commenting on reports that the Government is considering removing the right for council tenants to have a home for life, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Sarah Teather said: "This proposal is an admission of failure by the Government." Sarah Teather went on to say: "Ministers are considering threatening council tenants with...
This year marks the 90th anniversary of The Great War and the relevance of Remembrance Day and the two minute silence remain undiminished. More than three quarters of the population are expected to pause for the two minute silence this year. Now, we remember not only those who fought during the two World Wars but also those who have lost their lives in more recent conflicts....
Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys sing "There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama". It really is a fantastic song and I have a perverse wish for it to the Christmas Number One!!! You can buy it here for just £3.26 plus £2.44 p&p. The lyrics are here. Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys have been invited by the Irish American Democrats to fly over to Washington DC to play at a Presidential inauguration
The man who would be - and should be - Chancellor of the Exchequer is about to visit Haringey. Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat Shadow Treasury Spokesperson, will be with us on 26th November to give a talk on the current economic crisis. The event is open to non-party members, and is at Christ Church Hall, Waldeck Road, Tottenham N15. He may well have something to say about how we recover Haringey's Icelandic missing multi-millions - and how we got into this awful mess. It's at 8pm and costs £10 to Liberal Democrat party members and £20 to non-members, and you ...
A recent edition of the snappily titled 'Three Rivers Conservatives Working for the Community by Staying in touch ' has a prominent list of diary dates on the front page. One of these states: 10th November 2008 Abbots Langley Local Area Forum (Manor House Sports and Social Club, High Street, Abbots Langley) Only the Forum isn't being held [...]
This lunchtime I was at the Imperial War Museum in London for the launch of a new series of biographies called 'Makers of the Modern World' — leading figures from the Paris Peace Conferences of 1919-1923 and those conferences' aftermath and legacy – being brought out by the independent publishers Haus (who will issue my new book on [...]
The latest roundup is in place at the blog of Mr Eugenides.
In between house hunting (North Herts fell through) babysitting and charging down to Portsmouth for a meeting, I am late to the post presidential debate. Well done to Ros, regular readers will know that I had a difficult decision about who to back and I have no doubt she will do a great job of representing the activists and implementing the recommendations of the Bones commission. Also it is great to see a little more gender balance within the hierarchy in the party! For those who missed it I wanted to reproduce Lembit's statement following Ros's victory - "I congratulate ...
I'd like to report that I've spent my first two days as President-elect in a frenzy of media briefing, selection of my top team, discussing the new decor in Cowley Street with an interior designer and having carefully planned discussions with world leaders. But I can't. Basically, I've spent the best part of 2 days taking phone calls, replying to text messages and answering e mails - over 300 of them at the last count. During the campaign, I set a target that every message would get a response within 48 hours, and like an old soldier who doesn't know ...
Although I have blogged on the rumblings about the future of the One Wales Coalition Government I have played down talk that it might be entering a potentially fatal crisis. In my last entry I concluded that 'if Plaid Cymru get the Welsh Language LCO they will be prepared to accept some form of fudge on the referendum, but if Labour MPs start interfering with that LCO in the same way that they did over affordable housing then all bets are off. A warning shot has been sent across their bows.' However, this latest post by Plaid Cymru National Chair, ...
The Liberal Democrats will tonight call on the Government to cut the taxes of people on low and middle incomes, paid for by increasing environmental taxes and closing tax loopholes exploited by the very wealthy. The House of Commons will this evening vote upon a Liberal Democrat motion supporting tax cuts, as part of the Party's Opposition Day debate. Commenting,...
This is disgraceful, due to a lack of funding the Metropolitan police team for tackling Human Trafficking is to shut. Human Trafficking is a truly sickening form of organised crime. Vulnerable women from poor communities overseas are promised great lives, in which they'll be able to earn large incomes and provide for their families. When they get here they are made into slaves, prostitutes and sex slaves. They are locked up and forced to see clients who can do as they wish. The unit has been successful. Recently it arrested a 11-strong team of human traffickers, with men jailed for ...
Yesterday's Remembrance Day service at Ealing's war memorial was the first to include the names of A.H. & A.J. Robinson, two local brothers who lost their lives in World War One. Their names had been omitted when the memorial was installed outside Pitzhanger Manor in 1921 for unknown reasons, but the Council has now put this right by engraving the names at the request of their nephew. This example of a case where Ealing Council has done the right thing was in Around Ealing and was picked up on today's BBC London lunchtime news and will probably be on the ...
With just 71 days of the Bush presidency left, details of just what has been going on inside the White House for the past eight years are leaking out. From today's New York Times: "The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al [...]
The Liberal Democrats with Make it Happen have said that we need to cut taxes but for some reason today the other two parties have stolen the idea and are trying to pass it as their own. The other political parties in the UK need to realise that this was the plan of the Lib Dems and the economic genius that is Vince Cable. This isn't the first time the main two political parties have stolen lib dem plans and then made out they come up with them, its just typical of Labour and the Conservatives to do this. So ...
I was shocked to hear today that the Home Office is withdrawing funding to the Met's Human Trafficking Team. Apparently it had received £2.3 million for the vital work of detecting and preventing the most prevalent modern forms of slavery - luring or abducting people into the sex industry, or as illegal workers in this country. Now it seems the Home Office is saying that...
Calderdale Council has managed to secure £2 million of our money to spend on experimental ways of making people 'healthier'... you know, curing 'obesity.' Quite what the £2 million is going to spent on I have no idea. One of the consequences of this "Healthy Town" funding is that the Council's Santa - who works during December in Calderdale Council's 'official' Town Grotto - must now set a "positive role model" to the town's overweight population, to try to battle against the idea that fat people are 'bubbly' and 'funny' and in some way attractive. The advert for the vacancy ...
The President-elect of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed is planning on buying new land elsewhere, so that when the sea levels rise and the Maldives disappear, the people will have somewhere to go. Nasheed won a stunning victory against the outgoing President who has ruled as a dictator for decades. But this reveals some of the great problems Climate Change will create. The Maldives has a population of just 300,000, but I suspect Nasheed will have a major challenge in persuading a country like India or Sri Lanka to sell them some of their land. The Maldives may present a big ...
Just listened to Nick Clegg in a fairly sympathetic ten minute interview right at the start of the PM programme, all about the Lib Dem's plans to cut income tax by 4p in the pound (£1,000 more in the pocket of someone earning £30,000), to be paid for by taxing the rich and polluters more heavily. So well done Nick for leading the debate - I'm impressed.
Seconds out, round two. Nick Clegg has a piece over on Comment Central, taking Danny Finkelstein to task over tax policy and laying out the Liberal Democrat approach: Without growth there's no earthly way we'll be able to balance the books over the economic cycle. Far from being irresponsible, as Danny alleges, tax cuts at a [...]
More coverage of the Cripplegate Foundation's important report in the Islington Tribune.
To these marvellous servants of democracy..... I never feel the way i OUGHT to feel after an election win - i've been feeling kind of strangely numb since the Obama victory - I suppose i've felt such a part of it for what seems an eternity (since March) that I just want to know what change [...]
Liberal Democrat Voice flag's up Nick Clegg's piece in yesterdays Independent. In it Clegg opens with a rather bold assertion that; "Britain should support a troop surge in Afghanistan, one made possible by the urgent withdrawal of our troops from Iraq." He then moves onto say; "Yet Afghanistan cannot be won on the battlefield, as I saw for myself a few months ago." Obviously, the first question that springs to mind is how does the policy of supporting a 'troop surge' reflect the following assertion?? I would contend it does not and this is a problem. If Afghanistan cannot be ...
Duncan Brack and Ed Randall, authors of the Dictionary of Liberal Thought, have kindly agreed to let us publish extracts on Lib Dem Voice. Last month Henry George; this month in follow-up, the Henry George Foundation. The entire book is available on Amazon here and can also be bought at the Westminster Bookshop. Henry George Foundation A [...]
And a special treat for Haringey Liberal Democrats - but not exclusive as we are happy to share our very own superstar soothsayer - Vince Cable - with anyone interested in coming - and stomping up the price of a ticket: Haringey Lib Dems present 'An Evening with Vince Cable' Date: 26th November Time: 8pm - 10pm Venue: Christ Church C of E Church Hall, Waldeck Road, N15 3EP Cost: £10 members / £20 non members. Any non-members who wish to come can save money by becoming members. Numbers are limited so will need to purchase a ticket. These can ...
A message from Liberal Democrat Presidential-elect Baroness Ros Scott
I have received from the City Council the following temporary road closure notice. Having spoken with the Planning & Transportation Department about it, I am assured that, although it is for a maximum of four days, it is hoped that, weather permitting, the works will be completed in a maximum of two days. During the temporary closure, the 69 bus service will have to be re-routed via Glamis Road : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of tree ...
Kerry McCarthy (Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol East) and Bastard Old Holborn (Libertarian Blogger) both manage to be wrong in quite spectacular different ways on their respective blogs. Supposesly libertarian Old Holborn shows his Tory c... Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Monday Each autumn, I'm invited by Public Affairs International to give a briefing in London to foreign civil servants about relations between British political parties, the public and the media. A majority of the participants this afternoon are from Qatar and the UAE, which is an interesting reflection of current global realities. As their government ministers [...]
A handy rule of thumb for liberal-thinking people is that if Paul Dacre makes a claim, the opposite is probably true. It works pretty well: the grandly-titled Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Mail pushes the reactionary line that the country is going down the pan and it's all the fault of blacks, immigrants, gays, liberals or whichever other group happens to have been unlucky enough to stray into his scattergun line of fire (most recently Brand, Ross and the BBC). Nothing original there, of course. People have been prophecying doom for our fair lands and finding a suitable scapegoat for centuries ...
I've just returned from two glorious weeks in the Southern hemisphere. Television coverage was limited in our safari lodge and even more so on Mauritius, but both sought fit to provide us with BBC World News. In Mauritius we were able to receive the BBC for only a small part of the day - for [...]
Writing for yesterday's Independent, on Remembrance Sunday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg proposed a three-step approach to finding a solution to Afghanistan and Iraq: First, Britain should support a troop surge in Afghanistan, one made possible by the urgent withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Now that Obama has advocated such a switch, isn't it [...]
What a weekend! The Transition Belsize Food Group and I helped one of the housing estates in Belsize to start a gardening club. We took over some disused land and turned it into a community garden for food growing. This is how the plot looked at the start: And this is what it looked like while we were working: By the end we'd cleared the site, put in composting facilities, planted a plum tree and some fruit bushes, and built a path out of all the rubble we found in the site. As you can imagine we were pretty pleased ...
The Press Association reports: One of the Liberal Democrats' biggest donors is due to stand trial accused of fraud. Michael Brown, 42, who gave £2.4m to the party in the run-up to the 2005 General Election, faces 16 offences. Apart from fraud-related allegations, the Glasgow-born businessman is charged with money laundering, theft and perverting the course of [...]
Taegan Goddard offers a timely quote from Barack Obama's book "Audacity of Hope" relating Obama's first meeting with George W Bush. What tickles me is that when Bush shakes hands with someone he immediately uses a "squirt" of hand sanitizer so that he doesn't catch anything from that person. Endearing, eh? The inside of the White House doesn't have the luminous quality that you might expect
... for the next few days, while I recharge my brain.
I think the bill for £400,000 for Ian Blair's pay off should go directly to Boris. Given the Lond Mayor's £200,000 per year weekend job writing drivel for the Telegraph, he could pay this off in two years.
Carers Forum AGM As you can tell by the dates I am doing a bit of catch up here. I spent so much of October on council work that I have had little time to write it all up. I attended the Carers Forum AGM and heard the report backs on the work of the Forum over [...]
Tonight is the Annual General Meeting of Bury Liberal Democrats, in the wonderfully named Sinatra Room at Elton Liberal club. All members are more than welcome to come along and elect the Executive that will take the local party forward for the next twelve months. Tonight marks the end of my tenure as Party Secretary, as I hand over the room-booking and minute-taking reins to someone else. It does mean I get to avoid having to stifle giggles when trying to book the "Sinatra Room," but it also means that I don't get to doctor the minutes to suit my ...
From Saturday's Liberal Democrat Presidential Election count at Cowley Street: Ros Scott's acceptance speech. Special bonus scenes: The announcement of the result, clips of Chandila Fernando and Lembit Öpik and the promise of a new First Kitten. (6:34)
Despite all the ridiculously doom-ladened reports, the FTSE is still 32% higher than it was in 2003. Despite all the shenaninghans in the banking sector recently, HSBC have just said that their earnings for the last 3 months are better than those for the same 3 months last year and they are predicting 2008 pre-tax profits of $22 billion! Yes, count them: TWENTY-TWO BILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Yorkshire Ridings Society has a new line in lapel badges. We currently only have North Riding badges. They are priced at 30p each plus 34p postage regardless of how many you order. Please order from: YRS Products 39 Essex Close REDCAR Yorkshire TS10 4BY Tel: 01642 487557 Or email: Glynis Please make cheques payable to Yorkshire Ridings Society and add 50p per order to cover postage.
Last week saw Labour hold the Westminster by-election of Glenrothes.
Conservative Home has a video on a post that they have written that shows since the economic crisis has started to hit home Brown is more happy! Mind you, can you blame Brown for being happy at a time like this. He has had to go through hell and back especially since he became leader of the Labour party. His own party are against him and that is because he is a crap politician so now its his time to score points and look good. But the Conservatives like usual are using this to score brownie points again, So what ...
We hear that Gordon Brown (not Alasdair Darling - what is his job, again?) is thinking about tax cuts as part of a fiscal stimulus package. This is something that the Lib Dems have been advocating for some time, particularly that taxes on people on lower and middle incomes are particularly good candidates for lowering to stimulate the economy. Such people are most likely to spend the extra money,
Buy 5 lettercards with envelopes for only 30p with only 50p postage per order regardless of whether you order one or one hundred. Order from: YRS Products 39 Essex Close REDCAR Yorkshire TS10 4BY Tel: 01642 487557 Or email: Glynis Please make cheques payable to Yorkshire Ridings Society and add 50p per order to cover postage.
Well, now Gordon has got in on the act. The BBC reports; "Gordon Brown has increased speculation he may cut taxes, saying he was looking "at everything" Now, I have said a fair few things on this so won't repeat myself. Rather I wanted to throw this one open to the floor. Despite all this and despite the fact that we approved a tax-cutting package we are not seeing *any* benefit in the polls. Our ratings are consistently down and the last four by-election results have been far from good....so, my question to the floor is why do people think ...
A computer memory stick, which contained personal and bank details about Council staff and members, went missing last week. It eventually turned up; we are told, locked away in a cupboard. The police had been called in and a letter was about to be sent to all staff and members asking them to inform their banks. The incident is being taken very seriously and an investigation is underway to determine the sequence of events. The memory stick was not encrypted and was part of the back up system for the Council's payroll system.
Is Gordon finally going to listen to Vince Cable and the Lib Dem Treasury team? After years of ignoring Vince Cable's warnings over the banking sector, and now for a couple of months rejecting Lib Dem pleas to cut income tax it appears he has not ruled it out and may be making an announcement soon. With Dave and George planning to announce plans to call for a cut in Business rates to keep people in work, it may be that Gordon and his Darling are about to trump them. If they cut the basic rate of income tax allowing ...
It's odd, I suppose. I'm sitting in my British History class, and were starting on our topic on Consensus Politcs. The teacher asks how many of us are definatly going to vote - 9 out of 17. The teacher asks how many are probably going to vote. 2 out of 17. That's a voting percent of 64%, 2% more than the US election (thanks LDV!) but when we got onto why the ones who were not going to vote. "Well, they're both the same." I place my head in my hands and contemplate throwing myself out of the window. We ...
My Liberal Democrat colleague, Richard Wilson, who is a councillor for Stroud Green ward in Haringey, has joined the blogging fraternity. I had a look and thought it was a cracking start. Lots of good stories and good pictures - no wonder he has had a couple of press enquiries off the back of his posts already! He's at www.richardwilson.me.uk
I've hardly got my breath back after a wonderful game at the Emirates this afternoon. Fast, fabulous and sometimes frantic football - and a wonderful result. Quite a change from a few days ago, when a text from my nephew to my Mauritian hotel room informed me that Spurs had scored two goals in injury time to force [...]
Inspired by real events: Fun should be banned and cinemas and theatres stopped from providing entertainment in order to combat fun-fuelled disorder, MPs have said. The Home Affairs select committee said reckless merriment was placing a heavy burden on police resources, with revellers enjoying themselves for up to 16 hours a day. One possible solution for England and [...]
This is not a particularly new update for some people, but as not everyone will know I will post it here anyway. The council's planning department has "invalidated" the application for the site at Garston Dock. That doesn't mean it's all over and the applicants will go away. It does mean however that one of the City Council departments found a flaw in the paperwork ( an evaluation which hadn't been done) which means it can't go any further in the process without that flaw being put right. What that in turn means is that if the applicants persist and ...
You've seen the stories: massively effective political machines, registering and then mobilising people in unprecedented numbers, leading to big early voting, huge queues at the polls on the day and colossal turnout. One problem though: it's a myth. For all the numerous reports, headlines and footage we've had telling us the story of turnout soaring up, [...]
Yesterday I went along to the rememberance day ceremony at St Georges Hall. As ever it was very moving and there were an impressive number of organisations laying wreaths. I stood on the steps, with some of the other councillors, to watch the various processions. It was good I thought to have prayers from a number of different faiths towards the end.
Nick Clegg has today said that we as a Country need to speak to the Taliban. I think that is a great idea as without talks we cant have a settlement. They is no point our troops being in Afghanistan if a peace settlement isn't going to happened. The British government need to talk to the Taliban and come to some sort of agreement as at the end of the day terrorism is growing in Afghanistan and its neighbouring country Pakistan. For the full article by Nick Clegg, follow the link.
Liberal Democrat Voice brings to peoples attention proposals in the Communities in Control white paper; "Among the voluntary organisations we want to help in different ways to build stronger communities, there is a particular role for faith based groups. Britain has a strong tradition of faith-based organisations working to improve local communities. This reflects the importance placed on charitable acts, social action and civic duty in all religions practised in the UK. There are over 23,000 religious charities in the UK and many more faith-based organisations, involving tens of thousands of people motivated by their faith, working at a local ...
So, let's get this straight: Two guys think that they should take over HBOS to make it an `individual entity` (with my money as a taxpayer) because they've done it before - and have Alex Salmond's approval. When asked what plans they have on R4 they say that they don't have any but give us a chance. Am [...]
I arrived at Newcastle Central Station a few minutes ago to catch the 7.40am fast service to London only to find the damn thing is cancelled again. I should be thankful for small mercies. After all, it has been a few weeks since National Express last pulled that trick. In the space of five minutes however we have had two different excuses. The information desk tells me the cancellation is due to
Last week I directed you to a website devoted to the work of Chris Wood, who played the flute and saxophone with Traffic. I have read suggestions recently that a biography of Wood is to appear. The Radio London website says that the author is Dan Ropek, who writes: Mention Chris Wood to most people (even music fans) these days, and most likely all you'll get is a quizzical look. If you include the name 'Traffic' as well, then you may hear: 'Oh yeah, he was good, whatever happened to him?' And that, in a nutshell, is why I am ...
The Government in Westminster is taking onboard some of the more sensible and enforceable plans from the SNP's drink policy* on in England and Wales. In order to take on the problem of drink fuelled disorder they are looking at banning pub happy hours and ensuring that supermarkets do not sell alcohol as a loss leader. They said that the biggest problem faced by police forces was violence and disorder caused by excessive drinking of cheap alcohol. SNP please note this is not an age dependent issue. The report also claims that increased police powers to tackle drunkenness were not ...
Tempting as it is to write at length on Environment Minister, Jane Davidson's batty idea to use regional list seats to to encourage celebrities, sport stars and businesspeople to join the Welsh assembly as a form of secondment, I really cannot motivate myself to do so. There are a whole host of reasons why this is not the way forward, not least because it re-writes the Government of Wales Act which adopted the d'hondt top up system as a means of achieving political and geographical balance (Although a proper STV system of PR would have been much more sensible). Jane ...
I wrote about Prop 8, and the staggering 34 separate referendums on San Francisco ballot papers for Lib Dem voice. One of the things Californians were voting on was a bond issue to finance a new high-speed rail link for CA, the "Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act." Interesting the need to reassure about safety and reliability, even in the name of the bill before the Californian senate. There's lots of info about the proposed route on Wikipedia. WP also has a useful map of who voted for it - and if my geography isn't way out, it looks ...
With the Presidential election in the United States now over there is a lot of gossip, rumour and speculation about who will be in the Obama Cabinet.
So the party has spoken, well half of them anyway, and as Lembit's agent, I have to say Ros ran a good campaign. There was some unpleasantness of course bouncing around the blog world and I was personally saddened that those few members of my party that felt the need to make such comments so publically. Particularly as others were able to put over their objections in a constructive way. But hey I am new to blogging so maybe that's how it goes... Any way I wish Ros and her team well, I believe we are in for a difficult ...
